Question for those running SFMAs. Sort of.

Hi there!

I'm Caleb Nokama, although most of you know me as "...wait...who the <censored> is THIS <censored>, and why is he posting <censored>?" As one writer among many others who enjoys writing SFMA content, I've noticed something that keeps coming up in various boards that's led me into something of a conundrum, and I'm looking for some outside observations on the matter. Since you're reading this, I figure you'll do, so here it goes.

There have been numerous posts and threads asking if anyone is doing story-driven content (also commonly tagged as SFMA), and and an equally large number of folks claiming that every single story they've come across (farms and such notwithstanding) has been, at best, comparable to the fetid waste product of something recently deceased, which, upon expulsion, proceeded to rip one in a very disturbing manner. On the same token, I haven't seen many threads or posts which praise stories found by folks. This isn't to say they don't exist, but it certainly seems they are grossly outnumbered. Now, as it's quite evident that stories do exist within the MA, I can't help but take "does anyone actually write stories" to mean "everything everyone has written so far is <abrasive expletive of choice>, can anyone actually WRITE here?!". This is likely an incorrect assumption on my part, but such is my flawed view on things.

One thing I know any writer likes is having their work appreciated. It's like anything we do really, it's just nice to think that others like something we feel we do well as much as we do, regardless of what it might be. Now, there are many incredible writers amongst us, all far better than I. My grasp of elaborate prose and eloquent expression is more akin to assailing one's own nether regions with a blunt object than anything approaching the literary, and even I like to think that someone, somewhere out there, thinks something I've written is passably enjoyable. ...at least, to the point of not causing them actual, physical pain from experiencing. I think it's safe to say then that the aforementioned writers (better than I, if you recall) should be lavished with praise and adoration for pouring their love and creativity into something for others to enjoy.

The only story I've written so far is a somewhat skewed bit of flotsam, ID 1002, "Falling Though the Void". It is (from my best recollection) one of 17 or so Dev's Choice stories up in the MA at present. I don't bring this up in the hopes that others will run the story (I really wish you wouldn't, actually...it's horrible), but because it goes in line with what started this barely tolerable wall of text in the first place: does anyone out there actually LIKE any of the DC arcs?

I ask not because I think they deserve praise, or because I think I am entitled to anything more than a badge. Rather, I ask because it seems as though any time a DC arc specifically is brought up somewhere, either here on the boards or in-game, all I ever hear about is how terrible they all are, how a retarded chimpanzee could fling fecal matter at a tarp with better end results, and so on. While I've yet to be assailed directly with these soiled bits of color commentary, I can't help but wonder if any of the other DC authors have. I can't help but wonder if people who are looking for SFMAs ran any or all of these, and thought to themselves "Well, if THIS is the so-called cream of the crop, this whole MA thing is <indelicate reference to carnal activities, forceful and unpleasant>."

I'm not going to lie, it would have been nice to have been approached by even one person, any single person, and be told they enjoyed my story. No one has, of course, and I do hear no-so-subtle rumblings all the time about how...well, "not spectacular" it is. As I've not spoken with any of the other DC writers, I can't say how their experience with this parallels with mine, if at all, so I won't comment on that. Being said though, I use the DC arcs as the example because they're clearly well known, and even being known as they are, seem to generate more animosity than encouragement. For the many writers trying to achieve Hall of Fame or Dev's Choice themselves, are they encouraged and praised for their literary work, and if so, would they still be if they achieved their goal of HoF/DC? Or would they end up in this same ambiguous grey zone I seem to have found myself in?

No doubt you're quite confused, and likely a bit upset at this point. This is arrogant and assumptive on my part, but that's because I'm a bad person with poor judgment and questionable character. This has been a sea of letters and barely coherent babble, and there are better things to spend one's time on. Truth be told, I'm not sure what I'm getting at here, and am quite a bit confused myself. I should add though that I am not angry at anyone, nor upset about anything in particular. I suppose I just felt this needed to be written, and what, if anything comes of it, will do so regardless of my intentions (or lack thereof).

On a parting note, I'd like to say that there have been numerous stories written in the MA that I've loved to run and read through (far too many to list here), and look forward to running and reading through many more. There have been so many genres, themes, characters and canons that it's almost impossible to pick a favorite. For what it's worth, I think everyone writes a good story, as everyone writes what they love. Every single author I've talked to adores their story, and with good reason, it's their own creation, something built from their interests and passions. Sometimes, it's interesting to step outside one's self (or character, for avid RPers) and see the world through another perspective, in the form of created content.

Right, endless rant/wall/thing is over, nothing left to see here. Enjoy your <insert day of week here>, and see you in-game!

PS. plz dont gank meh in RV anymoar, kthx.

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a farm has one purpose - to maximize rewards. If a farm is good for one farmer it is basically good for all farmers.

a story will never appeal to every one - even those looking for stories. So one should expect that stories that some love, others will hate.

I haven't played an DC arcs. But even if I did, I probably couldn't say if they were good - only if I liked them.

Keep in mind that most DC arcs were chosen in beta. So these are not the best of the best, they are the ones that got noticed early on.

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[ QUOTE ]
does anyone out there actually LIKE any of the DC arcs?

[/ QUOTE ]

Yup!

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The Cape Radio: You're not super until you put on the Cape!
DJ Enigma's Puzzle Factory: Co* Parody Commercials

I played through a few of them, and they're not bad, but none of them really grabbed me by the horns and pulled me in. Generally, an arc has to hook me with some new concept or idea immediately if I'm going to spend the time playing through the rest of it. Some arcs I know have a twist in them, which is why I ended up playing further (like Tangle in Time), and others just started off with an extremely unique concept and used that to reel me in (like One Million Eyes). I guess something like Johnny Sonata and the Hitmen is well-done, and I liked some of the quirky bits of humor, but the concept itself just didn't latch on to me. There was no interest in seeing what the conclusion was.

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I've played several that I've really enjoyed. I keep a written list and add to it whenever I find a gem so I can share it with my friends.

I think some of the criticism of DC arc is the result of jealousy. I know I am frustrated by the shortage of play of my arc, despite all my hard work. Nearly of the feedback I have gotten has been very positive, the worst of it said that the story was good but didn't make sense (their reason why actually didn't make sense). Despite that, I've been hit with enough zero stars (with no feedback) to knock me down to a four star rating and far, far down the page list. My arc will never be DC and I know it.

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Together we entered a city of strangers, we made it a city of friends, and we leave it a City of Heroes. - Sweet_Sarah
BOYCOTT NCSoft (on Facebook)
https://www.facebook.com/groups/517513781597443/
Governments have fallen to the power of social media. Gaming companies can too.

[ QUOTE ]
Hi there!

I'm Caleb Nokama, although most of you know me as "...wait...who the <censored> is THIS <censored>, and why is he posting <censored>?" ...etc., etc., etc.

[/ QUOTE ]

Man, no offense, but remind me not to ever ask you for the time... you'd probably respond with detailed instructions on how to make a clock.

I find the current lot of DC arcs a mixed bag in entertainment value. IMHO, the worst of worst boil down to little more than tired cliches (let's do the time warp again...and again... and again seems to be a dev fav). Others are more original and a few are quite cleaver.

All, by their mere status alone, get hundreds of plays and are therefore subject to intense scrutiny and criticism. It comes with the territory.

Not much else to say on the subject. Quite frankly, I'm more concerned about finding those few precious "diamonds" out there that don't have the recognition than I am worried about the "shabby" treatment DC arcs have received in the forums.

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One man's terrorist is another man's freedom (or freem?) fighter; just as one man's exploit is another man's feature.

Before I stopped messing about with MA, the sad thing I noticed about the DC arcs were that they were chosen early, and locked so that the author couldn't edit it further.

This means that many of the DC arcs on the front page of MA only show off bits and pieces of -early- potential, while being chock full of missing mob descriptions and spelling errors that story-focused people tend to notice and mark down ordinary arcs for.

Being locked and uneditable, the author is also unable to react to any changes on the Test Server and tweak the arc for playability. Over time, the custom mob changes and so on are steadily making the DC arcs more unplayable.

I've found a lot more clever and well-written arcs that have barely 10 plays to their name, written much later than the DC arcs. Their only sin? Languishing unnoticed in the deluge of other creative work. I sent all of the authors a personal feedback of praise, but not everyone thinks to do that.

I'm not surprised that DC arcs provoke quite a bit of jealousy and thus attract more criticism. What makes one author lucky enough to have a dev play it and like it and dev choice it, while another doesn't? It's a lottery. Pure random happenstance.

What makes it worse is that Hall of Fame doesn't work. If there were a lot more HoFs than DCs, I don't think anyone would think anything of the DCs except maybe that the devs have odd tastes. As of now, DC seems the premiere recognition award to strive for, and a lot of the early ones don't match up to what players would rate 5 stars.

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Invictus Est Level 50 Invul/Fire Tank
Malentis Level 50 Ice/Energy/Leviathan Dom (Freedom)
Black Jeremiah Level 50 Fire/Fire/Mu Dom
Sejanna Level 50 Dark/Dark/Elec Def (Virtue)
Arc #119664 - The MiniMech Cometh - Hess TF Mini-Sequel

I have played almost exclusively SFMA and played alot of good ones. I have played NO Dev's choice Arcs and the main reason is they are ALL 5 missions long and nearly all seem chock full of kill all enemies missions which is an instant turn off for me!

Also the lack of tickets in Dev's choice missions means I would rather play something unknown and get them than something already rated and not. Lets be honest for getting salvage alone Tickets are worth much much more than regular drops.

That being said, I would love to have my arcs get Dev choiced or into the Hall of Fame! Getting in to these should be all the recognition you could want, certainly would be for me, though I have no ambition to be a writer, just doing it for fun in here.

Never gonna happen though as even though both have been up since a few days after launch neither has more than 10 plays total!

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I've enjoyed most of the DC arcs I've run. And I did run yours, Caleb, although frankly I don't recall it being one of my favorites.

What I'm looking for in a story arc is something that the developers either haven't imagined or haven't seen fit to give us in the "regular" game. The Devs seem to favor telling little bits of backstory or filling in blanks they've left in their own creations--in any case, using Dev-created NPCs seems to be a prerequisite for making the DC cut.

But that's really not what I'm looking for. I'm looking for something thematically different, iconic, or compelling that the devs haven't offered us. Not just apocrypha to the CoX canon.

That is to say, I appreciated the one horror-themed arc I ran just because it was bizarre and unsettling. I enjoyed another arc because it had an iconic plot: while not especially original, it was something that I haven't seen in CoX so far.

The devs have given us substandard tools, relative to the ones they use. We can't recreate an ITF, let alone create something more epic than an ITF. We can't make maps. And what maps we have are subject to a great many limitations.

We have very limited file size to work with, as well.

I use ITF as an example, because I remember my first time running it, hacking our way through Roman legions, coming around a corner into a bowl canyon, and seeing the 5th Column mega-robots under construction, and just was beside myself. "Oh snap!" It was very cool.

Totally stale now, of course, but awesome the first time around.

We get very few tools to compete with "Oh snap" moments like that. And the devs are taking the few we have away, little by little. Custom critters are all well and good, but they seldom invoke "Oh snap!" (Although some of the AV/EBs I've fought have come close.) So that leaves iconic plots, compelling dramatic or comedic moments, and... well, very little else.

I'm presently working on a story arc inspired by the short stories of H.P. Lovecraft, simply because CoX hasn't offered us anything remotely like that. But actually implementing the story outline I made in a series of 5 missions? Frustrating as hell.

My idea is that the arc is a simulation, testimony provided in a murder case, allowing you to relive a sequence of events experienced by a certain hero. In the first mission, you are to experience his first meeting with an iconic ally. I had conceptualized it this way: the two meet in college, where they are both students by day, heroes by night. So naturally, I pulled up the college basement, and made it a free captive mission, right? For a first meeting, yes?

No. Because you can't free a captive in the university basement. You can fight a boss, collect an object, but not free a captive. Or meet an ally.

So I came up with a different idea, using a different map. And it was a pretty good map: an alleyway above a dock in Mercy Island. (This time they were both young collegiate Midnighters who hadn't met one another just yet.)

But again, no dice. (This time because I also needed a collection, to introduce a very, very dangerous book.) No collections are possible in the Mercy alleyway. So I tried making it a destructible object, but... that wasn't really what I wanted, and I didn't like the way it played...

..and frankly I'm not happy with just putting it in an abandoned office and calling it good. It's an iconic encounter. It should be in an iconic location, one that isn't so ubiquitous as to nullify the sense of macabre and the unknown I was working so hard to create.

Edit: and don't get me started on the fact that Hydra tentacles can't be manually selected from the list of Hydra enemies like virtually every other type of enemy can be. Oh no. No. You have to go with random Hydra enemies, and try to hedge them into the appropriate level range. And then you hope for a spawn of mostly tentacles with only a few Hydra men mixed in. Bloody well absurd.

So I've gone back to the drawing board, trying to revise my story outline. Just because of the absurd limitations of the tools I've been given.

What I'm getting at is this: no, I don't care for most of the arcs I've experienced in AE. Most of them just don't offer me anything new or compelling. Some of them do, but most don't. And I'm starting to see that my expectations have simply been too high.

I don't blame the authors; I blame the extreme limitations of the mission architect. And it's only getting more limited as time goes on and content is removed due to exploits.

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Qr - I played quite a few of the Test DCs, and then when it went live I was busy writing my own arc and then using SFMA to find other arcs and using the MA Arc Finder channel to find arcs to play and players for my own. Recently I thought it was time to play the DC arcs again and recognize their authors hard work with a play and a rating. I did the first 5 or so on the list, gave feedback, and then then noticed a difference between my experience of DC arc play and my playing of arcs by authors of less 'famous' arcs. I've given feedback to 'unknowns' plenty of times and had 'cheers v much! You have an arc I could play?' as a response. As far as I'm aware, none of the DC authors who I've sent feedback to have played my arc.

That's not neccessarily a criticism. If you're getting hundreds of plays and dozens of feedback tells every session, you're hardly going to be able to play everyones arcs, but, well, I'm not hundreds of people, LOL, and I want my arc played too, so I'd rather focus on players who will be more likely to play mine. DC arcs are not a priority for me any more, though I will play them all eventually I'm sure.

As for the quality of DC, the ones I've played have been pretty good I really liked the Butterfly Effect and welcome to Arxhtect Entertainment, and turgs Ghost arc is one if my favourite arcs in coh, canon or not.

Eco

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MArcs:

The Echo, Arc ID 1688 (5mish, easy, drama)
The Audition, Arc ID 221240 (6 mish, complex mech, comedy)
Storming Citadel, Arc ID 379488 (lowbie, 1mish, 10-min timed)

Qr - also, it's not like the DC authors are short of plays or ratings, LOL, or are the only quality SFMA arcs put there, so in terms of helping out my fellow MAuthors who are in the 0-100 plays range, playing non-DC in preference to DC is possibly a better use of my time

Eco

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MArcs:

The Echo, Arc ID 1688 (5mish, easy, drama)
The Audition, Arc ID 221240 (6 mish, complex mech, comedy)
Storming Citadel, Arc ID 379488 (lowbie, 1mish, 10-min timed)

[ QUOTE ]
I really liked the Butterfly Effect

[/ QUOTE ]

The first one was good. Not five-star material, but good. The second and third suffered from sequelitis. Nothing new, or particularly fun in them.

[ QUOTE ]
and welcome to Arxhtect Entertainment,

[/ QUOTE ]

Aeon has good comedic potential. I enjoyed it too, but it wasn't the sort of arc that impresses me greatly.

[ QUOTE ]
and turgs Ghost arc is one if my favourite arcs in coh, canon or not.

[/ QUOTE ]

Agreed. Easily, far and away the MA arc I enjoyed most. That's actually the one I was thinking of when I referred to an iconic plot that, while not especially original, hadn't been done in CoX. It was extraordinarily well-executed, nuanced, and emotional without being maudlin.

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Ironically, the feedback I sent turg ravinging about how awesome his arc was had to be resent as a forum message, cos he's got me on ignore ingame (quite reasonably, I hasten to add - my level of volubility in chat channels isn't to everyones taste )

Eco

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MArcs:

The Echo, Arc ID 1688 (5mish, easy, drama)
The Audition, Arc ID 221240 (6 mish, complex mech, comedy)
Storming Citadel, Arc ID 379488 (lowbie, 1mish, 10-min timed)

Caleb, I get the strange feeling that you have missed the other MA board under "For Fun" called "Mission Architect: Stories and Lore." Lots of reviews, pleanty of praise, and a completely different focus than is revealed elsewhere on the forums.

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[ QUOTE ]
Ironically, the feedback I sent turg ravinging about how awesome his arc was had to be resent as a forum message, cos he's got me on ignore ingame (quite reasonably, I hasten to add - my level of volubility in chat channels isn't to everyones taste )

Eco

[/ QUOTE ]

I must elaborate on this. Capt talks up an insane storm on the Freedom channels - to the point to where I'll miss other conversations and their flow because he'd be waxing rhetorical over stuff like AT game balance to monkey fluff on his keyboard. I /ignored him in my own defense.

One other thing worth noting: When I14 went live, I made it a point to read everyone's feedback, and respond accordingly. I log everything: Feedback is critical, for me, to know where the weak spots are. Even if narrowband testing, where I ask 20 people to play something, there's always that 21st person I didn't think of that will find "hey, your clue titles are too long!"... so in a very real sense, ANYONE who takes the time to give me fair feedback (good or bad) is doing me a huge favor. The very least I can do is acknowledge I hear their concerns, criticisms or compliments, usually discuss with them what my goal was, and if we get chatting, discuss how it could work better, or differently.

So yeah: I've answered EVERY. SINGLE. FEEDBACK. (Except for Capt's, cuz I had him /ignored. ) That's about 400ish tells, most of them within the first 2 weeks of Issue 14 going live. It's not everyone's cup of tea, but if my goal is go bigger and better each time, you can bet it all that it's MY cup of tea.

So, to the people who've been sending feedback: Even if you don't get a response, you're doing everyone a favor by keeping it constructive. The least that can happen is nothing. The most that can happen? You can help someone see a new angle they hadn't thought of.

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MrCaptainMan:

[ QUOTE ]
I've given feedback to 'unknowns' plenty of times and had 'cheers v much! You have an arc I could play?' as a response. As far as I'm aware, none of the DC authors who I've sent feedback to have played my arc.

[/ QUOTE ]

This has been something of a point of contention for me, as I cannot (due to some as-yet-unexplained bug) get feedback on the arc. I'd have gladly looked into others' stories via their globals with this method, but at the present, I have absolutely zero way of knowing who, if anyone, has sent anything at all. Not much can be done about that, I suppose.

Also,

[ QUOTE ]
Man, no offense, but remind me not to ever ask you for the time... you'd probably respond with detailed instructions on how to make a clock.

[/ QUOTE ]

The flavor of the post (as I was writing it, anyway) was half-satirical in nature. This wasn't a rant as much as a random musing, and though I realize it's difficult to convey things like sarcasm in text, it wasn't meant to be some kind of hyper-analysis of anything, just a block of nonsense. Frankly, I'm surprised anyone responded to any of this. I wouldn't have. ^_^

As an aside; even more than critique, positive or otherwise on the arc that I made (something that folks continue to avoid...), what I'd hoped would result from this was exchanges of ideas and stories. I read what MCM said, and it makes me think "Hey, I would've loved to see this guy's work, offer my thoughts on it, etc". I've always been an unknown in this game, with no established running mates or friends to speak of. I'll get the occasional teams, chats and all that good stuff, but there's not really anyone here I'd say I interact with on a regular basis. I saw in the MA an opportunity to have a common ground with other players, a chance to do the proverbial "Hey, I'll run your arc, check out Arc ID xxx in the meantime, see what you think!" routine, which is quite common nowadays. I was disappointed and a little disheartened to have instead my list of interactable people shrink exponentially, as more and more people became alarmingly hostile, to the point where I'm not exactly comfortable coming off of global hide anymore. See, that's the thing.

It's quite obvious to me that no one liked the arc I made, and I am not at all bothered by that. Truly, I'm not. This is discerned from a pointed lack of feedback of any kind, and a sort of dodging anytime it's brought up anywhere, which is read to mean "Your arc was [censored], but I'm a nice enough guy not to say that right to your face." The problem I have with this isn't others' views on the arc itself, but rather that it seems to shut the door on creative interplay, exchange of stories and ideas, and the opportunity to meet some new people in the game who share, even if only somewhat, a common interest in the MA.

I don't know how many people are aware of the fact that I cannot receive MA feedback on that arc, or how many give a [censored] about it. Maybe they HAVE been sending feedback, and think I'm some sort of jaded pleeb for not responding, or running their stories and offering feedback as well. It's a shame, it really is. Id've liked that opportunity.

In short, it's nice to see that people are enjoying the MA...I think...but I am a little down on how little it's opened the door for me to others as an avenue of mutual interest, rather slamming that door.

Regardless, thanks to everyone to took the time to respond to this rather off-putting thread. I may not agree with everything written, but I appreciate that you stopped to give me your views on things, it was actually very enlightening.

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I think you are being a bit over the top with the whole 'no one likes my arc!' I mean, you got Dev Choiced! Someone obviously liked it! How many plays has it had? What is its star rating after all those plays?

I bet its more than most of us have.

As for meeting and interacting with more people, well thats gonna be hard to do if you are on global hide all the time! Could that have something to do with the not getting feedback? Have you bugged that you are not getting any?

Don't mean to sound harsh but come on!

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[ QUOTE ]
I think you are being a bit over the top with the whole 'no one likes my arc!' I mean, you got Dev Choiced! Someone obviously liked it! How many plays has it had? What is its star rating after all those plays?

I bet its more than most of us have.

As for meeting and interacting with more people, well thats gonna be hard to do if you are on global hide all the time! Could that have something to do with the not getting feedback? Have you bugged that you are not getting any?

Don't mean to sound harsh but come on!

[/ QUOTE ]

Bugged it, yes, weeks ago. Global hide is to cut down on the PM trolling and such, got tired of that. Got sick and [censored] tired of people sending hate mails and tells for reasons far beyond my comprehension, unprovoked, got tired of all the "omfg you dont deserve that badge/rating/whatever" messages. Maybe I'm not making myself clear as to whether or not I give a rat's [censored] whether people like the arc itself or not.

I don't give a rat's [censored] whether people like the arc or not.

I saw an opportunity for healthy exchange of ideas which has fallen grossly short of my hopes for the system, nothing more. I don't want a confrontation with other players, here or in-game. I hoped I could get some feedback on something that had been bothering me, and in some of the responses I have.

That being said, I'm sorry I've intruded on the forums to voice a concern, I shall quietly remove myself from this discussion, and trouble you no further.

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I've played a couple of the DC arcs and very much enjoyed them. My favorite to date is The Butterfly Effect and its sequel. It was well-written, interesting, had totally appropriate villains, was just the correct length and difficulty, and was executed incredibly well. I've played it a couple times, I enjoyed it so much.

I've played several arcs that I thought were quite nice, and rated them from three to five stars, depending upon how good they were.

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Arc ID#30821, A Clean Break

The only problem with defeating the Tsoo is that an hour later, you want to defeat them again!
"Life is just better boosted!" -- LadyMage
"I'm a big believer in Personal Force Field on a blaster. ... It's your happy place." -- Fulmens

I have obviously misunderstood what you were saying.

If you are actually getting tells/emails being insulting or hatemail of any kind I hope you are reporting it. That is not appropriate in this game and I have no doubt the moderators/GM's would take action on this.

However, you have posted you want a healthy exchange of ideas yet you are swearing and being hugely over defensive. That will not promote a great exchange of ideas.

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Umm... Sorry that I rose to the bait on this one. But since I did, I feel obligated to make one last reply on the subject.

The issue of the relative merits of dev choice arcs is, of course, subjective and invites both comparisons to non-DC arcs and controversy. It's a difficult enough subject to discuss with straight talk in the context of the forum. Adding a layer of satire, obfuscation or false modesty would seem to me to have an effect opposite of promoting "healthy discussion".

Anyway, to the OP: Sincere congratulations on your selection to Dev's Choice. Thanks also for the insight into some of the "baggage" associated with the award. Most of us (including, I'm sure, yours truly) will never experience this side of MA "fame".

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One man's terrorist is another man's freedom (or freem?) fighter; just as one man's exploit is another man's feature.

[ QUOTE ]
Umm... Sorry that I rose to the bait on this one. But since I did, I feel obligated to make one last reply on the subject.

The issue of the relative merits of dev choice arcs is, of course, subjective and invites both comparisons to non-DC arcs and controversy. It's a difficult enough subject to discuss with straight talk in the context of the forum. Adding a layer of satire, obfuscation or false modesty would seem to me to have an effect opposite of promoting "healthy discussion".

Anyway, to the OP: Sincere congratulations on your selection to Dev's Choice. Thanks also for the insight into some of the "baggage" associated with the award. Most of us (including, I'm sure, yours truly) will never experience this side of MA "fame".

[/ QUOTE ]

Well, look at it like higher ed admissions. There are way more people who could hack it in, say, law school than will make it past the admissions committee. Especially in something where standards are way more personal, it's not surprising to find something you think is as good or better than a Dev Choice arc in the wild.

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Up with the overworld! Up with exploration! | Want a review of your arc?

My arcs: Dream Paper (ID: 1874) | Bricked Electronics (ID: 2180) | The Bravuran Jobs (ID: 5073) | Backwards Day (ID: 329000) | Operation Fair Trade (ID: 391172)

I've played about half of the DC arcs. Some of them are fairly good, but I haven't run into any where I've felt an overwhelming desire to repeat play.

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131430 Starfare: First Contact
178774 Tales of Croatoa: A Rose By Any Other Name ( 2009 MA Best In-Canon Arc ) ( 2009 Player Awards - Best Serious Arc )

"The healthy exchange of ideas" necessarily includes ones that you may disagree with. If it's just praise you want, not discussion...

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My characters at Virtueverse
Faces of the City

I've made a point to run every DC arc, and I've only got one left.

My overall opinion is that a few are awesome (Joe the Longbow Eagle, Turg Fiction, Saul Rubenstien's Discount Task Force), a couple are very good (Opera of the Abyss, Do it Yourself Laser Moonbase Project-- which was made even better by reading the contact text out loud in Mophir's voice), some are simple and entertaining (The Butterfly Effect), and some aren't bad, but don't seem all that special. The latter I chalk up to the Dev's taste in long stories about existing NPCs, because each of them was like that.

Sadly... I don't remember "Falling Though the Void", so I can't even tell you what I thought of it. But there's my answer to your question: yes, I like some of the DC arcs very much.

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Please try my custom mission arcs!
Legacy of a Rogue (ID 459586, Entry for Dr. Aeon's Third Challenge)
Death for Dollars! (ID 1050)
Dr. Duplicate's Dastardly Dare (ID 1218)
Win the Past, Own the Future (ID 1429)