Timeline Announcement

[admin]

[/b] be such a timeline. Continuity is generally not a problem in RP; it is the member's responsibility to understand their character's history in regard to other characters', not the site's. Also; I ask for those who have suggested a timeline to think about the amount of members we have. There are current more than 20 active characters on the site, and it is technically only the third day it has been open. Imagine what a timeline would look like if it recorded every character's events and actions; think about how it would look with, thirty, fourty, or even fifty characters. It would be too complicated to be worth having.

Instead of creating one all encompassing timeline, we encourage members to create personal timelines for their characters. While there is technically no site continuity, people are welcome to create personal timelines that show continuity for their character. .While members are welcome to create these timelines, the timeline is only as relevant to roleplay as members decide it to be. Members decide how much it impacts their characters.
These timelines should be created in the Journals section of the character center. It is up to members to chose their own formatting for this; but please make it so other members can understand the continuity of your character.
Members are allowed to make notes in threads (if they are the ones creating them) that concern dates or times, but if other members choose to not worry about it, it doesn't matter. Members are not to be correcting other players about timelines. So no pointing to a member and saying "that can't happen because they haven't met yet". You have to just let things like that slide. This is a game, not real life.

The seasons are the only things which change, or give an idea of time on the site. The staff might do special holiday weeks for Christmas or Valentine's Day, but will warn the entire site before they do so. Unless otherwise stated, you can find the season and the time in the STATISTICS section of the sidebar.

Also, as a side note, there is a "Character Relations" thread in the General section one of our members started. If you want to, it is encouraged you pop in and make note of your character's relationships so the member who created the thread can make the relationships as current as possible.

Thank you!
~The Staff[/ul]

[violet rose pearson]

Tips to make roleplay fun when you have wonky continuity:

1. Never assume anything about another character that is not yours.
Here is an actual example. This happened to my other account and I'm fine with how things happened. But it is important to discuss.

Ludvig is the doctor and tends to be creepy. So far, he has met Junko and Vivian. In the Teacher's Meeting discussion, Zahra enters the room and talked about the creepy encounter she had with Ludvig the previous night. Zahra, from another thread, had decided to take a student to the infirmary. Zahra assumed that she had met Ludvig even though that had not happened with posts.

Now, I'm fine with this. But for others, this could be upsetting. Imagine if your someone came up to your character and made reference to a fight that hadn't happened because you decided to have the event take place on Wednesday when you were having the fight on Tuesday. That is unfair to that person. They are the ones that get to decide things about their character, not yours.

Ways around this:
1. Don't worry about when things took place.
2. Assume that some other random person was there or that you did it yourself.

2. Be willing to let things slide
In the long run, it is the events that make our memories, not the memories. We remember the stories of when we first met each other or that first kiss. We don't think as much about the day of the week, the or the date at the time it took place. With wonky continuity, things are going to get messed up from time to time.

Using the Ludvig/Jahra example again. If a thread is later created in which Jahra brings up the student, and Ludvig is there, we will play that out. Now the people in the fight scene might view this as the first day of school. But the Teacher's Meeting is a couple of days into school and Jahra and Ludvig are meeting each other for the first time. Technically this means that Ludvig and Jahra met for the first time on the third day of school even though they saw each other on the first day of school. Does this really matter? No.

Ludvig gets to be a doctor and Jahra gets to help a student in one scene. Ludvig and Jahra get to meet each other for the first time in the other. Both have fun, both get to RP, and the world doesn't come to an end.

3. Don't wish your life away
This is a very, very hard piece of advice. What happens is two people are online in a scene that have several people participating. They have dozens of interactions, rush the time to later in the day, and leave. This leaves a scene when two people got to have fun and the rest of the people missed out.

If you are in a situation where there are more than two people involved, do not time skip. Give them a chance to be involved. If you want to do something else, jump onto another thread somewhere. It is very possible.

Example:

Veronica is currently at dinner with a bunch of students. Veronica is currently talking with Caitlyn in her dorm room.

The world is not coming to an end. That is because I'm not talking about anything that is taking place in the dinner, nor am I rushing people through dinner. And if Caitlyn's roommate comes in and I meet her for the first time even though she might show up later in the dinner thread, I'll just shrug it off and use Rule #2.

Conclusion: Think of the other person
We are all here to have fun. But if you aren't thinking about other people and their desire to have fun, you are taking that away from them. Wonky continuity is very, very doable and with a little practice, you will find it is heck of a lot of fun.

Reminder. Your personal continuity in your journal does not apply to anyone else. Do not force that continuity onto another player.