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I think what feeds some of the frustration is that with all systems like this, there's a certain amount of Inertia built into the system. Once an arc gets over a certain number of plays, it's probability of getting more plays goes up because it appears "good". It may be good, don't get me wrong, but when people are looking, they go "oh.. wow, 300 people played that and it's averaging 4 stars!" where they might look at another, just as 'Good' that's only got 20 plays at 4 stars.
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And getting that inertia started takes a lot of luck. You can spend weeks polishing you arc and promote the [censored] out of it, plugging it multiple times a day on the MA channels, in broadcast in the busiest zones of the busiest servers, and even get a poster made and featured in the City Scoop, yet still some arc you'd never heard of that looks like it was made in a few hours suddenly zooms up to hundreds of votes while yours continues to sit at a few dozen.
And once it has that inertia it tends to keep going, and going, and going. And it is damn frustrating and makes one wonder why they even bothered to put in all that work.
I refuse to plug my arc as if it was Sham-WOW. Consequently, it's sitting at 75 plays. If pimping it is the way to HoF, it's not worth it.
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I refuse to plug my arc as if it was Sham-WOW. Consequently, it's sitting at 75 plays. If pimping it is the way to HoF, it's not worth it.
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And that goes to show what pimping out an arc does for you. I've pimped out one of my arcs quite a bit, even writing a front page article in the City Scoop about its creation, and it only has 130 plays.
HoF gets you an extra slot and the ability to associate yourself with the quality of the current HoF arcs. So, working on the math, it gets you about -$5.00. It's not worth it one way or another - just a happy coincidence, I think, of pitching to the mean. After all, the real HoF-worthy arcs, the arcs that got the players' attention en masse, the arcs that really stood out and were consistantly played and 5-star rated, were Meow farms.
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And getting that inertia started takes a lot of luck. You can spend weeks polishing you arc and promote the [censored] out of it, plugging it multiple times a day on the MA channels, in broadcast in the busiest zones of the busiest servers, and even get a poster made and featured in the City Scoop, yet still some arc you'd never heard of that looks like it was made in a few hours suddenly zooms up to hundreds of votes while yours continues to sit at a few dozen.
And once it has that inertia it tends to keep going, and going, and going. And it is damn frustrating and makes one wonder why they even bothered to put in all that work.
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I think you've touched on something I've been trying to say.
Look, as I said I'm not out to demean the authors who put hard work into those Arcs. I'm glad for them and maybe I came across a bit harsh. For me I want to see good story driven Arcs get the spotlight they deserve, but lots of times see The spotlight on Arcs that are poorly written, make no sense or are just farms.
To put things bluntly I was unsettled, probably because of the ARc's more mature content or the mixed messages I think, we as players, are receiving. It's not acceptable to have certain content, but we have content that makes it to the HoF. So it is acceptable then? Do you see what I'm getting at?
Also, on my part, I misunderstood HoF to be a higher ranking then DC. Though again that is still a bit confusing. I seem to recall the developers saying they would make high ranking Arcs a permanent part of the game.
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It alludes to some adult subjects.
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For the record, that's actually covered by a T rating. "Suggestive themes" is the phrase, if I remember correctly.
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Also, "On-line Interactions are not rated by the ESRB" 
City of Heroes was my first MMO, & my favorite computer game.
R.I.P.
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I pimped mine for awhile and none of them have even close to 75 plays. 
I played Footsteps and while I enjoyed it, I didn't 5-star it. But having said that, I think once an arc reaches HoF status, it should stay there.
For the record, I did rate "Footsteps" 4 Stars.
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For the record, I did rate "Footsteps" 4 Stars.
[/ QUOTE ]I rated it 1. And it's in the hall of fame. Go figure.
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To put things bluntly I was unsettled, probably because of the ARc's more mature content or the mixed messages I think, we as players, are receiving.
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Well, if you honestly think "Ha ha, Virtue" and "Ha ha, stoners" are unacceptably adult themes, then petition the arc. If it really is out of line, the GMs will deal with it. If its not, then its not.
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For the record, I did rate "Footsteps" 4 Stars.
[/ QUOTE ]I rated it 1. And it's in the hall of fame. Go figure.
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I rated it 2 stars. The so-called humor didnt cut it for me, nor did I think the mature content was appropriate.
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Well, if you honestly think "Ha ha, Virtue" and "Ha ha, stoners" are unacceptably adult themes, then petition the arc. If it really is out of line, the GMs will deal with it. If its not, then its not.
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There's a zone in there where the content is not unacceptable enough to warrant GM intervention, but juvenile enough to be unappealing to many mature players. I think the OP is honestly surprised that so many people voting for this arc aren't turned off by that aspect.
I haven't played the arc specifically for this reason - I know it won't appeal to me to have any kind of romantic attachment between my character and an NPC or contact. The very thought makes me shudder.
And for a while things were cold,
They were scared down in their holes
The forest that once was green
Was colored black by those killing machines
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There's a zone in there where the content is not unacceptable enough to warrant GM intervention, but juvenile enough to be unappealing to many mature players. I think the OP is honestly surprised that so many people voting for this arc aren't turned off by that aspect.
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Well.. I had my students telling me that Stepbrothers was the funniest movie ever made bar none. I said "Funnier than Blazing Saddles?" And they said yes. They said "It's even funnier than Borat!".
...
But look at the box office reviews. Well told stories rarely get the kind of money at the box office that "Big Hits" do. Follow the forumla, put in some good special effects, reap the rewards.
And with the AE market kinda flooded at the moment, I'd say that going "niche" is becoming the way to get noticed. Write something that will really appeal to a small handful of pople and get ALL of them to play it.
O
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the one character is outright bisexual
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So? Sure hope you stay out of major cities at the wrong times of the year, your head might explode from all of the shock.
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another is a plant who is probably illegal just by himself
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I fail to see how this is more than "teen" rated. Better start calling the PC Police on middle schools then, they have all that suggestive anti-drug propaganda pasted everywhere.
<roll eyes so hard it causes friction>
That said, "Footsteps" got a 3 from me. It's okay but I wasn't terribly impressed (the seeming movement between "fourth wall" and non-"fourth wall" didn't work that well for me).
Blue: ~Knockback Squad on Guardian~
Red: ~Undoing of Virtue on [3 guesses]~
I've never seen the Hall of Fame status as an indicator of quality. It's more an indicator of acceptability. Just because an arc's popular doesn't mean it's "good". It just means it's good enough. It appeals to the broadest possible range. Of course, in doing so, it can't appeal to more particular tastes.
So, if you want Hall of Fame, it's not enough to make a good arc. In fact, making a "good" arc might guarantee that you won't get that status, depending on what your idea of "good" is; if your criteria for it is too specific. If you want Hall of Fame, you have to give them what they want. Whatever that happens to be. You have to appeal to the mainstream.
And there's the problem. I've played some great arcs. But they'll probably never be in the Hall of Fame--at least not any time soon--because they're too good at what they are to appeal to the widest possible spectrum of players.
I don't (and won't) write arcs for a broad audience. I like story, conceptual stuff, immersion, humor, horror, the supernatural, and some other things that'll make certain my audience will always be a "niche".
Honestly, I'm fine with that. If I ever want HoF, I'll make an arc specifically designed for obtaining it (and then pimp it up, down, and sideways). I don't see that happening, though. I'm not really into making pap for the masses.
And ultimately, that's all HoF arcs will ever be. At least in the short term.
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Very well put.
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I haven't played the arc specifically for this reason - I know it won't appeal to me to have any kind of romantic attachment between my character and an NPC or contact. The very thought makes me shudder.
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Uh, that's kinda the point.
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I've never seen the Hall of Fame status as an indicator of quality. It's more an indicator of acceptability. Just because an arc's popular doesn't mean it's "good". It just means it's good enough. It appeals to the broadest possible range. Of course, in doing so, it can't appeal to more particular tastes.
So, if you want Hall of Fame, it's not enough to make a good arc. In fact, making a "good" arc might guarantee that you won't get that status, depending on what your idea of "good" is; if your criteria for it is too specific. If you want Hall of Fame, you have to give them what they want. Whatever that happens to be. You have to appeal to the mainstream.
And there's the problem. I've played some great arcs. But they'll probably never be in the Hall of Fame--at least not any time soon--because they're too good at what they are to appeal to the widest possible spectrum of players.
I don't (and won't) write arcs for a broad audience. I like story, conceptual stuff, immersion, humor, horror, the supernatural, and some other things that'll make certain my audience will always be a "niche".
Honestly, I'm fine with that. If I ever want HoF, I'll make an arc specifically designed for obtaining it (and then pimp it up, down, and sideways). I don't see that happening, though. I'm not really into making pap for the masses.
And ultimately, that's all HoF arcs will ever be. At least in the short term.
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An excellent point, I hadn't thought of it that way.
Let's cut to the chase, Fluorescent. You feel one of your arcs (or that of a friend) deserves to be HoF or DC. Which one? Let the people decide if it should be HoF.