[ QUOTE ]
I just don't see why City Hall would have to be involved. I could draw up a petition in real life right now about, I don't know, putting up more street lights and go around getting signatures. I wouldn't have had to get approval from anyone to do so.
[/ QUOTE ]
you could but unless the company or government who are supposed to be the ones making the change actually give two damns about what you want done then there's no point - without some sort of idea that there'd be an agreemet to do something if you get these signitures the entire exercise leaves a foul taste in the mouth.
"i got all these signitures! change the city!"
"no"
"oh.. you don't care about what the people want!"
[ QUOTE ]
you could but unless the company or government who are supposed to be the ones making the change actually give two damns about what you want done then there's no point - without some sort of idea that there'd be an agreemet to do something if you get these signitures the entire exercise leaves a foul taste in the mouth.
"i got all these signitures! change the city!"
"no"
"oh.. you don't care about what the people want!"
[/ QUOTE ]
The idea behind a petition isn't to fulfil one end of a formal agreement drawn up in advance - I can't think of any actual petitions that follow that approach off the top of my head - but to demonstrate the public support for an idea. And I can think of a ton of petitions like that. Even if I couldn't, two quick visits to http://www.petitiononline.com/ and http://petitions.pm.gov.uk/ would set me straight.
Of course whoever the petition is submitted to can ignore it, but they do so at their peril. They are put under pressure to submit to whatever the petition asks for, because if they ignore it they show they're not willing to listen, and they run the risk of the petitioners taking further action - e.g. boycotting, or not voting for them, etc. That's why there's always a point to them.
So I really don't see why it would have to be officially backed by anyone. I'd think it odd if it was.
Ok i fall into the doorway from a hard day at work and think il check whats going on the RP threads. I figure 7 or 8 new things to check out then on to other business. Arrrgh pages and pages to look at. Anyway there are bits in there i should respond to, and chances are there is stuff i missed. However the stuff i did see...
[ QUOTE ]
a Wall of heroism be made in a city park so that any who come to paragon can read the names of those who died for the city, masked vigilante or regular joe,
[/ QUOTE ]
Me and Rachel like to dub this the "War Wall" as in the other reminder of the conflict.
[ QUOTE ]
Maybe Brit should post something like that in the ideas section for inclusion in I10.
[/ QUOTE ]
Already sort of did it in the New RP/Community Meeting Places Thread and even linked the little story piece with Rachel's to the suggestion thread.
Memorial Garden Suggestion
[ QUOTE ]
Yes, I wrote the tabloid article here on the forums, but it doesn't appear to be that one that's caused any trouble, in fact it hasn't generated any response
[/ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
"Brit!, Don Radley, Paragon Inquirer. Come on big man you aint just gonna fob us off with that. Come on buddy give us something quote-worthy."
The Inquirer was one of the papers that had done the most damage with the whole Heroes for People thing. Anger flashed across Britanic's face. He knew he shouldn't do it and no doubt he will hear about it for many a day to come but he had no patience for the guttersnipes at the moment.
"You want something quote-worthy, quote this..."
"Kiss my flag flying....PWAAARP!!!"
Though the words were drowned out by the horn of a passing car everybody knew what he was about to say. Besides the two fingered gesture which only needed one in America said it all anyway.
[/ QUOTE ]
Actually Brits reaction to the Inquirer reporter(Even if the guy hadn't wrote it himself) was due to said article. (But I suppose Inquirer reporters get that all the time anyway. 
)
[ QUOTE ]
Unfortunately, since Brit and Rachel have now heavily identified themselves with the petition in front of the press and (I think) TV cameras, we could also assume that signed petition forms are likely to start being handed to them by gushing fans. (I see about five dozen giggling girls gathered around Brit while Rachel looks on with a cheesy grin on her face, but I'm only working on the personalities portayed in the micro-story.)
[/ QUOTE ]
You are spot on Ravenswing. Rachel came to Brit with the compromise idea and thought he could fix things. Suzi left Brit to ensure he doesnt get dragged into the mess, so he figures if he gets involved now he can try some damage control, show Suzi he is involved so she need not protect him through her absence, and make up for his own original disinterest which could of prevented the conflict in the first place.
He is hoping that the innocence of Rachel will help convey Suzi's original sentiment and defuse the entire situation.
Though Brit has put himself in the limelight with this, he has made some effort to downplay his part to some degree.
Wearing a suit rather than costume at the conference for example. Anyone who as ever spoken to Brit about his costumes will know that they are intentionally flashy to draw enemy attacks. the wearing of the suit at the conference is a form of symbolic camoflage.
There is a hell of a lot more i can comment on but for the moment il leave it at that.
[ QUOTE ]
So I really don't see why it would have to be officially backed by anyone. I'd think it odd if it was.
[/ QUOTE ]
so it's perfectly acceptable to use whatever means they're using to track down heroes to their homes to harras them into signing a petition?
I think i'll wait for the OP to reply to some other issues before continuing
[ QUOTE ]
so it's perfectly acceptable to use whatever means they're using to track down heroes to their homes to harras them into signing a petition?
I think i'll wait for the OP to reply to some other issues before continuing
[/ QUOTE ]
Did I miss the post where the OP had petitioners tracking down heroes to their homes?
The majority of posters seem to have had their characters approached in a public place. Those who've had their characters approached at home - well, they'd be the best people to ask why, not the OP. But most of them accounted for it anyway, either by having someone they knew (another character?) presenting the petition, or by having the petitioner knowing that they lived there and looking for them specifically - precisely why, you'd have to ask the poster - or being recognised outside their house.
I don't see any indication in those posts that the petitioners are tracking down all heroes and harassing them. Unless I missed it, but even then that would be something to take up with that poster, not the OP, surely?
the OP could clear up this sort of thing in a second so like i said - just waiting for issues to be sorted.
It's already clear isn't it? The OP posted:[ QUOTE ]
You see, Suzi merely printed out a few dozen copies of a petition form and handed some to friends. As yet, not one person has RP'd delivering such a list anywhere, and Suzi did not provide any instructions as to what to do with them that I can see in the letter.
As far as I know, a load of young male heroes, none of whom know Suzi directly, are going around idealistically with copies of a petition that noone knows what to do with.
[/ QUOTE ]
They're hardly going to come back and say, "Oh, and it's officially backed by Paragon City Hall and all the people collecting signatures have been issued with a list of the residences of all registered heroes." are they? 
It seems pretty clear that it's an informal petition that's spreading naturally, and that seems to be how everyone in the IC thread has been playing it as far as I can see.
there were questions other than the city hall issue, reguarding the OP's intention of how the petition would be collected, stored and counted.
edit: who said they were issued the list? they could have stolen it or "obtained it" from somewhere partial or full. there's many things that need to be clarified - are they "cold calling" on hero's houses are they staing in plaza's like those annoying gouranaga people (the first time is cute.. not so much the 50th).
[ QUOTE ]
edit: who said they were issued the list? they could have stolen it or "obtained it" from somewhere partial or full. there's many things that need to be clarified - are they "cold calling" on hero's houses are they staing in plaza's like those annoying gouranaga people (the first time is cute.. not so much the 50th).
[/ QUOTE ]
It was an example. But yes, they could have stolen a list or whatever, but as I said what they'd done would be questions for whatever poster has them doing so, not for the OP! If another poster has a petitioner calling at their character's house, how is the OP supposed to know how the petitioner knew their address?
If you want to know if petitioners are cold-calling, ask whoever had them possibly doing so. It's entirely reasonable they could be regardless of anything the OP says - the OP isn't claiming control of all possible collectors of petitions, quite the opposite.
For my part, the campaigner was a regular person standing outside one of the hospitals trying to collect signatures.
So far I have been told I can't write, that English doesn't seem to be my first language, that I'm doing it all wrong, and that I must be [censored] at my job as a marketer, yet somehow I'm the one being told I may have seemed insulting? 
Let's try to live and let live, please.
1. Original topic said petition 'was being circulated'. Circulation could have been by White herself, anyone that wanted to join in, or whatever NPCs players need to use to involve themselves. It was not dictated because this is freeform. You make this part up so that you can 'opt in' by your own creation. I'd thought everyone did so admirably until someone now wants to know how a character they created discovered where they live... er, how the heck would I know, they are your invention.
As it turned out, only one or two characters decided that the petition came to them via White. Others invented their own NPCs who were involved. If those people didn't invent how that NPC was involved, that's hardly my fault or problem, unless you have sent me PMs I have ignored.
2. The petition was as seen. That is, no official backing, just one heroine trying to make a difference where she saw too much media focus given only to costumed heroes.
3. Anyone bothering to research the matter can easily discover that White did ask for help from two other heroes prior to writing the petition, particularly in running it past PR and legal experts. This was via public IC roleplay in Pocket D.
Those two characters (Britanic and Crimson Archer) have both made IC posts elsewhere mentioning this, which I why I repeat it here. After 2 days had passed without either character getting back to her about it, well she didn't want to press them on something they were volunteering to do, but Suzi doesn't know how much time she has. All of the Hyperion Watchmen are believed to be under threat of random death due to the powers they gained being unstable, and able to kill the possessor.
So yes, impulsive, rash, and not thought through. Yes, passionate rather than logical. And yes, for this to be freeform, I could not dictate how other characters got involved without that in itself dramatically limiting those who could get involved.
But if you don't like how you wrote yourself into the plot, I really can't accept blame for that unless you PM'd me and I gave wrongful infomation OOC. IC posts can be false, misleading, etc.
That's my last OOC post discussing me and my motives or abilities as a player on this topic because simply put, the player should be irrelevant.
What is relevant is to use this thread if necessary to clear up any questions where my knowledge of original IC events is needed. E.g. if someone were trying to discover the origins and motives of the petition and asked on of the pocket D barstaff what they may have overheard, or who has been seen talking to White, etc.
http://www.savecoh.com/
I never suggested i was unhappy about how my characters were written in briefly or otherwise - it's just slightly confusing that you keep saying it's all freeform when there's some stuff that it is still your resposibility to sort out involving the transit of this idea from White - through the PR and legal and then onto the streets.
the way you're describing events it seems to me that;
1. white came up with idea from chats with other SG heroes
2. she drafted a petition
3. ran it past "experts" who told her to change it
4. she ignored the advice
((here's where it gets fuzzy))
5. she asked her friends to sign it - they did without comment on wording?
6. ... her friends took copies and passed it on? which then got passed on to more people thinking it was a good idea
7. People started to object. tabloids got a hold of it blah blah blah and here we are now.
so.. from where i'm sitting it appears that there's no plans made for storing or counting or validating any information collected. This i see to be white/your responsibility to clear up for us please.
I would like to point out (for informational purposes) that Luminescence/Samantha Huntington has a) Never hidden her identity and b) has a well known residence.
I chose to have a signature-seeker get her at home, simply because there are a lot of people who know that's where she lives, know that she's a hero, and therefore it seemed logical to do so. It was my choice, and was not in any way influenced by any other characters than my own - notably that Richard does (generally) try to keep his heroic identity a secret, so I couldn't have him sought out at home, and I wanted to examine the 'asked at home' scenario.
It's too late for me to go into why I chose a young man for either of my tales, but the reasons aren't quite anything anyone else has posted. I'll try to get that done tomorrow.
The wisdom of Shadowe: Ghostraptor: The Shadowe is wise ...; FFM: Shadowe is no longer wise.
; Techbot_Alpha: Also, what Shadowe said. It seems he is still somewhat wise ; Bull Throttle: Shadowe was unwise in this instance...; Rock_Powerfist: in this instance Shadowe is wise.; Techbot_Alpha: Shadowe is very wise *nods*; Zortel: *Quotable line about Shadowe being wise goes here.*
[ QUOTE ]
((here's where it gets fuzzy))
5. she asked her friends to sign it - they did without comment on wording?
6. ... her friends took copies and passed it on? which then got passed on to more people thinking it was a good idea
7. People started to object. tabloids got a hold of it blah blah blah and here we are now.
so.. from where i'm sitting it appears that there's no plans made for storing or counting or validating any information collected. This i see to be white/your responsibility to clear up for us please.
[/ QUOTE ]
I don't think it is fuzzy, Quilla.
'You see, Suzi merely printed out a few dozen copies of a petition form and handed some to friends.'
She printed out forms and gave them to her friends. It got circulated from there, obviously, because the whole starting point was that the petition was circulating. It's apparent that some of them did indeed pass it on, and that's how it's been played in the IC thread. Whether any of them disagreed with the wording and didn't pass it on is interesting, but a matter for whoever might be playing those characters. From the point of view of the rest of us, they opted out so we're not interacting with them - it's moot.
As for there being no plans, that's been answered already as well: 'As far as I know, a load of young male heroes, none of whom know Suzi directly, are going around idealistically with copies of a petition that noone knows what to do with.' Yes, there would appear to be no plans. That's pretty clear isn't it?
For my part, the campaigner collecting the signatures would be intending to pass the form back to the friend he got the form off, who was in turn going to pass it back to their friend who they got the form off, and so on. At some point someone further up the chain will collect them - perhaps it'll all get back to the originator of the petition, perhaps someone further down the chain will be unable to get back in touch and will just take the responsibility for collecting them themself and deliver them to City Hall, perhaps the petition will just die out. That's how these ad hoc spur of the moment things tend to work.
[ QUOTE ]
'As far as I know, a load of young male heroes, none of whom know Suzi directly, are going around idealistically with copies of a petition that noone knows what to do with.'
[/ QUOTE ]
that seems to imply that the idealistic heroes don't know what to do with the petition - i'd like to think the organiser would have some clue as to what she would do when face with bits of paper that have lots of support on them.
As I see it, we were presented with a petition, which we were told was being distributed in the original post. Therefore, using ONLY the IC knowledge from that original post, it is wholly reasonable to assume proper distrubution and collection channels, and that's the way all the IC posts have handled it as far as I can tell.
Yes, the petitioner NPC's are created by the individual writer, BUT once the petition is signed, I and I presume all the other contributors have made the totally valid assumption that the signature is passed up to the organisers, and therefore become the OP's responsibility to deal with.
I do not see this as an unreasonable assumption; Ammon started this plot off, it's now Ammon's job to deal with the signatures, including the complete list provided by the Scotbot, that have been handed to him. It's not our job to RP the handing over of the signatures, as the OP made it clear the petition was being distributed in an organised fashion. All we needed to do was to sign, or not sign; and the rest is up to Ammon. Like it or not, this is HIS plot, and this makes him the GM for it, whether he wants to be or not.
Now it seems that this reasonable assumption is wrong, there are no official distrubution or collection channels; the whole thing therefore comes across as a pointless exercise and has resulted in one of the earliest public RPers in CoH withdrawing from roleplay entirely, due to frustration caused by this petition.
If Ammon doesn't want to accept the responsibility of GMing a plot HE created, then there's no point at all in playing it out and people are likely to just ignore the whole thing and retcon it out of their characters.
@FloatingFatMan
Do not go gentle into that good night.
Rage, rage against the dying of the light.
[ QUOTE ]
(...) has resulted in one of the earliest public RPers in CoH withdrawing from roleplay entirely, due to frustration caused by this petition.
[/ QUOTE ]
Now this is proof enough that it's time to end this in an orderly fashion. The RP:ing have been interresting but now it's getting to people.
[ QUOTE ]
Ammon started this plot off, it's now Ammon's job to deal with the signatures, including the complete list provided by the Scotbot, (...) All we needed to do was to sign, or not sign; and the rest is up
to Ammon. Like it or not, this is HIS plot, and this makes him the GM for it, whether he wants to be or not.
[/ QUOTE ]
Sorry to say it Ammon, but FFM is right. It's you, and only you, that can end this. I don't care how. My hero GoodGuy signed and would like to see something good come out of it, but OOC I don't care. I only feel that the situation have to be resolved. Soon.
(edit: I just read Pious' post. Very well written and a nice way to try to defuse this. Well done!)
[ QUOTE ]
Therefore, using ONLY the IC knowledge from that original post, it is wholly reasonable to assume proper distrubution and collection channels, and that's the way all the IC posts have handled it as far as I can tell.
[/ QUOTE ]
I haven't seen any of the IC posts talking about collection of the completed petitions. They've just had people collecting signatures. That can happen quite naturally, as I described. It is not clear that it's being done in an organised fashion. Quite the opposite (er, opposite as in it's clear that it's not ultimately organised, not opposite in that it's unclear, unlike this sentence )
It's quite obvious what's happened to the collected signatures so far. Nothing. If the OP hasn't come back and said 'these signatures have reached me and they've been handed in at City Hall' then they haven't been, have they? That's quite reasonable. Petitions normally run for a while. Don't be so impatient.
That said, if anyone wanted to have their collector unable to contact the OP (presumably after actually trying to do so OOC) and collect the petition forms together and hand them in at City Hall themself, they could. But no-one's done that either. Of if they wanted to have someone in their chain have second thoughts and dump the lot they could do that too.
I'm quite taken aback with the seeming demand to know the outcome and plans of things here in advance. I certainly don't expect that when roleplaying.
I didn't say I want to know outcomes in advance. I said I made the reasonable assumption that a signature, once given, would make it's way to the petition organisers, as going by the way the whole thing was presented to us, it WAS an organised petition. No mention was made to it being otherwise, and without that, it's a natural assumption to make. Nor am I the only person to have made said assumption.
Ammon posted an IC petition, people have responded either signing or not signing. It's up to Ammon to tell us what happens next. Personally, had I originated this I most certainly would have responded to things like a huge wad of paper with every hero in the city's signature on it being brought in. Ignoring significant events like that is either bad GMing, or leads people to believe the plot is railroaded, with unforseen events ignored as they don't fit the profile.
@FloatingFatMan
Do not go gentle into that good night.
Rage, rage against the dying of the light.
[ QUOTE ]
I didn't say I want to know outcomes in advance. I said I made the reasonable assumption that a signature, once given, would make it's way to the petition organisers, as going by the way the whole thing was presented to us, it WAS an organised petition. No mention was made to it being otherwise, and without that, it's a natural assumption to make. Nor am I the only person to have made said assumption.
[/ QUOTE ]
But there are also plenty of people who haven't made that assumption. And what do you mean by 'the way it was presented'? With the initial statement that it was 'circulating'? That's hardly a sure sign of something being organised. What about the complete lack of any deadline to the petition, or a formal statement of what will be done with it? Those are pretty clear indicators of it not being organised, aren't they?
[ QUOTE ]
Ignoring significant events like that is either bad GMing, or leads people to believe the plot is railroaded, with unforseen events ignored as they don't fit the profile.
[/ QUOTE ]
That's odd, because personally I find myself thinking that effectively demanding (which is what accusations of bad GMing and/or railroading are likely to achieve) the OP does certain things is bad playing. Isn't this a freeform thing, as the OP has said?
If whoever initiated that particular bit of plot wants to know what the OP would do with the signatures, here's a crazy idea - PM them and check that it's possible to get the signatures back to them. If they say then it's in their hands. If they do nothing - hey, guess what, that's an entirely reasonable thing to do! They could sit on it for a week if they want. Nothing wrong with that.
[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
Maybe Brit should post something like that in the ideas section for inclusion in I10.
[/ QUOTE ]
Already sort of did it in the New RP/Community Meeting Places Thread and even linked the little story piece with Rachel's to the suggestion thread.
Memorial Garden Suggestion
[/ QUOTE ]
Good, but put it somewhere clear and open in its own thread. Embedded in another thread it can easily get missed and it's a good idea. So put it in its own thread.
Disclaimer: The above may be humerous, or at least may be an attempt at humour. Try reading it that way.
Posts are OOC unless noted to be IC, or in an IC thread.
Thought id clear up something I noticed.
Quilla.
[ QUOTE ]
3. ran it past "experts" who told her to change it
4. she ignored the advice
[/ QUOTE ]
Ammon.
[ QUOTE ]
3. Anyone bothering to research the matter can easily discover that White did ask for help from two other heroes prior to writing the petition, particularly in running it past PR and legal experts. This was via public IC roleplay in Pocket D.
Those two characters (Britanic and Crimson Archer) have both made IC posts elsewhere mentioning this, which I why I repeat it here. After 2 days had passed without either character getting back to her about it, well she didn't want to press them on something they were volunteering to do, but Suzi doesn't know how much time she has. All of the Hyperion Watchmen are believed to be under threat of random death due to the powers they gained being unstable, and able to kill the possessor.
So yes, impulsive, rash, and not thought through. Yes, passionate rather than logical.
[/ QUOTE ]
Crimson Archer.
[ QUOTE ]
The original conversation ended with Crimson Archer offering to get his cousin (a lawyer) to draft up the petition (originally White Vampyr's idea), but White was obvious so empassioned by her idea that she couldn't wait, leading to the document as read.
[/ QUOTE ]
Crimson Archer.
[ QUOTE ]
Hed been given a copy of Suzis petition of course, but hadnt really read it. Jay had smiled and just signed it, confident that he knew what it said, based on the conversation theyd had.
[/ QUOTE ]
Me. [ QUOTE ]
Fact of the matter is after analysing things for himself after Suzi disappeared Britanic blamed himself for the current conflict. Britanic remembered Suzi asking him to see if he could get one of his lawyers to look at the petition beforehand, he had forgot. Had he been interested enough in Suzis cause he would of got that lawyer to check the document and chances are the flaws would of been caught before hitting the streets.
[/ QUOTE ]
Me.
[ QUOTE ]
Even when he collected some of the signatures he still hadnt read the document. It wasnt until Suzi actually went missing he took the time to read the petition.
[/ QUOTE ]
As you can see Suzi had sought to have the document checked out beforehand, but in the end she was let down and went ahead on her own resulting in the flawed document.
There is some more info I could give out but seeing as im over two hours late for work I best think about getting a move on and thinking of a decent excuse.
Ye gods! I return to this? I think I'll go back to just beating things up until this blows over.
I take that back for a moment: [ QUOTE ]
((Please sign below as any character that would support this petition, and feel free to direct other players to the thread if your character would be helping get signatures on the petition))
[/ QUOTE ]
This paragraph is the only original source for who is 'organising' the petition. It actually says nothing about how this is being organised, who is handling it, any lines of communication. People just ran with it.
The initial response was people simply 'signing' the signature. I felt that my character War Crow would not sign it, and that that required some explanation which the straight signatories did not, so I invented an NPC to ask for a signature and be rebuffed. I felt that was reasonable since the original post does state that others may be involved in collecting signatures. (It does indicate that by asking for people to post if they wish to help.) The person meets Crow in his office and that's fine because he's the COO of a public company which uses him in its TV advertising. (Think the adverts from Ghosbusters 2 originally, though they started employing professional directors and things after a while and he looks less like a total moron in the more recent ads. )
So, once again, I think I'm responsible for starting all these NPCs running around collecting signatures. However, I think my assumptions were reasonable, and I can't be held responsible for anything anyone else might have done after that.
I think the small amount of released information regarding this storyline has resulted in people improvising. I think that is causing confusion and too many plot problems. I think that some of the 'attacks' on Ammon have been badly informed and a little too active, but then the informing that's going in has been fairly poor. I think Ammon is being a bit defensive about his idea, which is resulting in people defending things which should have been just sorted out.
Mostly, I think that no one is in control of this 'plot' anymore and it's fallen into chaos and bickering, and it needs to be shut down.
As I've said, this plot cannot result in anything actually happening. If we get a memorial park in I10, we can look back and say that "that damn petition did some good at least." But we aren't going to get a reply from Cryptic about that anytime soon, and we cannot change the world our characters live in, except on a personal level.
IMO, best thing to do is to hold some press conferences, calm down the press, let it blow over as these things do in real life. (PS. Should have started this in summer. The papers will print any rubbish to increase circulation in summer, they usually have real stories to print outside the holiday season.)
I think that really is enough from me. I personally wish I'd never got involved. This has reminded me why I stopped roleplaying on Union six or eight months ago.
Disclaimer: The above may be humerous, or at least may be an attempt at humour. Try reading it that way.
Posts are OOC unless noted to be IC, or in an IC thread.
[ QUOTE ]
But there are also plenty of people who haven't made that assumption. And what do you mean by 'the way it was presented'? With the initial statement that it was 'circulating'? That's hardly a sure sign of something being organised. What about the complete lack of any deadline to the petition, or a formal statement of what will be done with it? Those are pretty clear indicators of it not being organised, aren't they?
[/ QUOTE ]
In RL, when somenoe stops me in the street and asks me to sign a petition, I don't NEED to ask them how long it runs for, or if my signature will make it to where it will be used, or even that the petition is organised rather than some random trash; such things are assumed automatically. If someone is going around with a clipboard asking for names, then the public are going to assume all of that as a matter of course.
If people responding IC to this petition assumed different, then they would have also posted the collectors delivering said signatures to central points, or RP'd asking for such information. But like me, they didn't as they made a reasonable assumption that there was no NEED to, as it appeared to be an organised petition. We still have not been given any IC reason to know otherwise.
[ QUOTE ]
If whoever initiated that particular bit of plot wants to know what the OP would do with the signatures, here's a crazy idea - PM them and check that it's possible to get the signatures back to them. If they say then it's in their hands. If they do nothing - hey, guess what, that's an entirely reasonable thing to do! They could sit on it for a week if they want. Nothing wrong with that.
[/ QUOTE ]
Nothing wrong with it per se, but I don't think it's unreasonable to expect a GM to respond to IC actions visibly. Several days have passed since the Scotbot handed those signatures over. Once the player took that action, it was down to the GM to respond in some way, even if such response took the form of a private PM. It's still the GM's job to let players know actions have been acknowledged in some way.
@FloatingFatMan
Do not go gentle into that good night.
Rage, rage against the dying of the light.
[ QUOTE ]
...the whole thing therefore comes across as a pointless exercise and has resulted in one of the earliest public RPers in CoH withdrawing from roleplay entirely, due to frustration caused by this petition.
[/ QUOTE ]
It has come across as pointless excercise as any RP. It has created character development, plot twists, actions and opinions. And given something to think about to many people. However, if one wanted, he could've stayed well away from the whole thing, as I know several people who have, for various reasons. (Me included. None of my chars have been involved in this in any way. Because of my limited time, and because of all this OOC-sniping)
However, blaming publically another player for someone's quitting, is harsh and unfair. I dare say, if the said player had been having wonderful time playing with his friends, he could've just ignored this thing and carry on doing his thing. If one person does something you don't enjoy / agree with, you stay away and do your own thing, don't go into middle of it, complain about it, and then leave and blame the others who were just doing their own thing for being Bad People.
[ QUOTE ]
If Ammon doesn't want to accept the responsibility of GMing a plot HE created, then there's no point at all in playing it out and people are likely to just ignore the whole thing and retcon it out of their characters.
[/ QUOTE ]
Yes, it is Ammon's plot, and whatever happens to the signatures collected is up to him. But considering the main organiser has gone missing, I'd assume the signatures aren't being delivered anywhere until she re-surfaces. And even then, who knows what happens? Maybe she's decided it was stupid petition and destroys the signatures? Getting all huffed up over it so soon is quite unnecessary.
I very much doubt that 'people' in general are going to retcon it out of their characters, no matter what happens. Among the 'people' I know, retcon should be avoided whenever possible. You're of course free to retcon anything out of your character when a plot doesn't go where you think it should or it isn't handled in the way you think it should.
Personally, I think this kind of initiative and moment to engage lot of the roleplaying community is a very good thing, and I appreciate it, even if I haven't taken part.
Blackdove
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Then it should be one of those friends to post it.
If it's an NPC friend, it still falls under the same player's responsibility.
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I disagree. It wasn't specified how any individual character would see it in the IC thread, and plenty of posters have had no problem whatsoever taking that and coming up with specifics, that have resulted in some of the best RP material I've seen on these boards - certainly the first to inspire me to take part.
I don't think it's necessarily up to the initiator of something like this to have to spell out all the exact specifics. I think this, as it is, and going by the IC thread, is working very well.