Jump to content

Survival Horror and monitoring elements


Morrigan
 Share

Recommended Posts

  • Admin

So an element that I had originally thought up and will be re-implementing into the Zombie site I'm considering making.

 

An important element of survival horror is that you are kept on your toes and that you can't start out with the "ultimate zombie killing/surviving everything". While I know that everything is about the "story that you build" more than anything but I want to be sure that there is an element of thought put anything and that "pre-planning the inevitable" doesn't happen.

 

I have a plan in place that weapons/vehicles etc must be apped before they can be used IC. Another element is that it's completely open world which means that no thread may be private.

 

My question for those that run horror sites:

How do you incite your players to actually partake in the horror element? What are your methods to get your members not to just mill around?

 

For those that play in Horror settings, what are your big draws? Do you like when a site forces you to think on your feet or do you only like one hundred percent control over your story no matter what?

0_mainsignature.jpg

image.png

Profile set made by myself and original Artwork by Fae Merriman, my daughter.

 

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I've never run a survival horror site (never tried) so I can't offer any insight here. Though I very much prefer the keep on your feet aspect. (I feel it suits the situation better. I feel that in that kind of situation most people aren't going to be doing a lot of planning. Most are going to be reacting to what's going on. Kind of like what happens in an Earthquake or major disaster.)

 

The thing that kind of gets to me is that here has to be some level of threat and danger, players can't just go "I'm in a safe zone, can't touch me."  Or have cases where people do stupid things because they expect plot armour will protect their character. (Like poking a zombie? Stupid plan.) But at the same time, you have to be careful because if you go enforcing consequences for their actions they're likely going to get upset and leave. (Because how dare you do that to their precious character ?!?)

 

If I were planning to be an admin of a horror game, I would:

1- Explain there is no plot armour.

Spell it out very clearly in my rules/documentation that death is a very real occurrence and character should remember the fact that they're very much never safe. Players should always keep in mind that their characters will suffer consequences for their actions. 

 

2-  Use APP. 

I'd avoid APC because it encourages people to get attached to their characters. Seeing the pretty face claims, signatures and whatnot just adds to that. Plus if/when characters die it means their account is kind of rendered pointless. And when they want to use a new character they have to go through that process to create a new account. (Which means more time spent and thus more likely for them to value the character more and want to keep them around longer.)

 

3- Make apps quick/painless.

I would keep apps short and sweet whenever possible so that if a character does get killed it's not much work for players to app a new one. 

It might also be cool to have a few random generators to help create characters. (I would see if I could whip together a small script that helps create a character. For example you push random and it'd spit back a potential name, age, gender, eye colour, hair colour, if male then facial hair type... like moustache. And have it in the format used for the character sheet so it can be easy copy/pasted.) 

 

4- Avoid face claims.

Like mentioned above these create attachments to characters and many people can't stand to see their characters suffer or get killed off. Plus having face claims is an extra step in creating a character. And is a step that many people get hung up on. (I mean it's a big enough step that directories have a help me find a face type things...) So I would avoid them at all costs.

 

  • I read this! 2
  • Agree 1
"There are three sides to every story... Your side, their side, and then somewhere in the middle is the truth."
Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • Admin

I'll definitely consider sacking APC and faceclaims as I do see those potential hurdles. Thanks @VirusZero This was something I considered before and I might change it. Previously it was allowed that you could use any "realistic" faceclaim. Which meant renders, drawings etc were acceptable but anime and cartoons were not so I'll see what to do about this. I agree that this could be a large dilemma on my side though I like to see who I'm interacting with.

 

One thing is it will basically be "no app" but they can if they want but there will be no formal approval process. The character is created the moment you give them a name basically.

 

One thing that I thought could be fun to encourage death or even the creation of, at minimum, fodder characters like what you're describing would be a "death of the week" (or month or whatever) type thing that members can submit their characters death to a thread and each time a best death would be voted for and posted for everyone to see. I think that it would make them feel like growing with and dying with the game is rewarding in a way.

  • I read this! 2

0_mainsignature.jpg

image.png

Profile set made by myself and original Artwork by Fae Merriman, my daughter.

 

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I always liked it when staff threw a curve ball out of nowhere, whether it be in the form of a sitewide (X area is effected, all threads there must adapt accordingly), or using an NPC account to put in a random encounter.

 

There's also the rule of 'IC consequences', which when coupled with some lore can make for a dangerous setting by default. Shoot a zombie? You've just attracted an entire city block full of them. If you have little things like that in place it might make members stop and think before going Rambo.

 

That's all I got, probably not that useful since I haven't ever been a part of a zombie survival game. Good luck nevertheless!

  • I read this! 3
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Absolutely having curveballs makes things exciting. The consequences account thing is a really good idea for this sort of board because you never know what it will bring or when it can strike. I mean it could be something like a character finds extra ammo for a gun or something chaotic like an NPC fired a gun off nearby and something shambling is on the way.

 

I also think it'd be a good idea to have some extra documentation on weapons and their use because not everyone understands them. (Guns in real life do not behave like they do on TV or in videogames. If you've never fired a gun... find someone you know/trust and go do it. It's an experience worth having.)

 

Spoiler

Guns are something The Walking Dead gets both oh so right and oh so wrong at the same time... They're right that guns make noise and attract a lot of attention. But then they conveniently forget that bit and use them a lot. They'd all be half deaf by the end of season 2. Only Daryl would possibly have any hearing left (due to his use of a bow). 

Plus there have been times they show bullets being stopped by dead bodies. This would not happen (for 2 reasons really). Especially if they were being shot at with higher power rifles. (High power rifles are designed to go really fast and punch right through things. Rotten flesh would not hold up well at all. So it'd be even less protection than a live or recently deceased person. So because of that, even a single 9mm bullet could possibly take out 2 or even 3 walkers before getting stopped.)

 

 

  • I read this! 4
"There are three sides to every story... Your side, their side, and then somewhere in the middle is the truth."
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Whenever I do an "open world" set up, I always throw in a little notification board somewhere where staff can post Random Occurrences, IC events, and in one case we even had a "monthly" tabloid newsletter full of rumors about various characters. Sometimes members jump for the events, other times they fall flat, but over-all it worked fairly decent.

 

In the pan-fandom crossover I have, I left my Admin account open specifically for the use of bestowing rewards and such in the threads (or important boss NPCing if needed too). Our rewards usually take the form of special items and such that the characters can use in thread.

  • I read this! 3

 

OnyxSiggy1.jpg.c76f2c1acc64a865bdf5164f4c085020.jpg

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Guest Archaic Cyborg

I've played in SH and I'm soon re-opening my own. I use APC, I put an emphasis on ICA=ICC, and I use an NPC account for my Random Events plot system. Characters can enter the game with a short list of small items, and a list of future items/potential rewards. I'm too lazy to use a Points / Shop system. X3

 

There are a lot of games on InsaneJournal where characters are automatically given an indestructible tablet, mobile phone, etc. I created my game as a response to that, because there were no SH games where... Survival mattered. Too many games exist where characters can literally spend their entire time texting and posting cat memes to the IC network. 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • Admin

Yeah! That's part of what I am designing this site for. I'm also doing it because I want to play a Zombie Apocalypse that you get to actually play through the start of it. The part that is always skipped over. I want to see how people react to hearing about attacks on TV or through social media etc.

  • I read this! 1

0_mainsignature.jpg

image.png

Profile set made by myself and original Artwork by Fae Merriman, my daughter.

 

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 1 year later...

I ran a group a while back that was sort of like "Until Dawn" with the whole butterfly effect sort of style [ I run most of my sites this way now ]. Especially for a survival horror this can go a long way but takes a LOT of work to keep up because not only do you have to pay attention to EVERYONE'S work you also have no defined timeline until one event is over.

 

So say you have four people, two are murderers and two are innocent. Your members are the judges. They decide via their moral compass to kill or save these people. If they kill the innocents and let the murderers go, maybe later in an event those murderers kill someone important. If the innocents survive maybe they are against the idea of your team killing people.

 

It's very involved, but horror things usually work really well and it draws members in very nicely.

  • I read this! 1

bdNwvS3.png
 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • Admin

This topic has been locked as it is over a year old. Please start a new topic if you are interested in this subject.

0_mainsignature.jpg

image.png

Profile set made by myself and original Artwork by Fae Merriman, my daughter.

 

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Guest
This topic is now closed to further replies.
 Share

  • Recently Browsing   0 members

    • No registered users viewing this page.
×
×
  • Create New...

Important Information

By using this site, you agree to our Terms of Use, Guidelines and Privacy Policy. We have placed cookies on your device to help make this website better. You can adjust your cookie settings, otherwise we'll assume you're okay to continue.