ANNOUNCEMENTS AHOY!

[indigo_league]

Hey howdy hey folks, it’s finally time!

Big announcements mean lots of scrolling, so take a dip behind the cut to check out what we’ve been working on!

As soon as we’d been contacted as new mods, we got right to work! As a lot of you have noticed yourselves, though, we inherited a LOT of stuff to catch up on. The navigation is a labyrinth, information is hard to find, and a lot of rules and mechanics are outdated, obsolete, or just need some tuning up in general. And even with the considerable work we’ve already been able to tackle, we’ve got a long way to go.

But one of the biggest things creating issues for the game recently, first and foremost, is communication. As players who’ve spent a lot of the last six months being confused and frustrated ourselves, we’d especially like to make sure that communication between mod team and playerbase stays frequent and open, while still taking care to make the best decisions possible. Which is why we wanted to make sure we had some good, positive progress to show before making our first large announcement!

SO WITHOUT FURTHER ADO, OUR OFFICIAL ONE-WEEK REPORT:

-Housekeeping: One of the first orders of business was making sure as many of the built-up housekeeping tasks as possible were knocked out!

As of a few days ago, applications, badge requests, unanswered FAQ questions, mod contact questions, and other basic upkeep have all been caught up.
Navigation links to the various communities have been added to the sidebars of each one, and our ooc and meme communities no longer have the default DW layout!
We’d also like to thank player placide for helping us to bring the Taken list up to date! Any remaining inconsistencies should be fixed at the conclusion of our next AC.

-FAQ: Okay, there’s no getting around it. The FAQ is a mess. We’ve all just kind of been staring in horror. But NEVER FEAR! Revamping and streamlining the FAQ and all its nested pages is going to be an ongoing project. Victory Road is a game with a lot of information!
While sorting it all out will likely be done over a longer period of time, we’d like to let everybody have a sneak peek of one of our first big tasks as a team: tackling the Extended Item FAQ page, which is a particularly cluttered hodgepodge of random info. We’ve moved a great deal of the relevant information over to the Pricelist page, now revamped as the Item Availability Page!
We wanted to make sure that relevant information about both canon buyable Pokemon items AND normal everyday items was all in one centralized location rather than hidden off in nested pages that many people never see.
Of course, there’s still a lot of ground to cover from here, so we thank everyone for their patience while we dust off the cobwebs!

-Calendar: For those who didn’t see it, for the first time in six months, we have a brand new updated Calendar, complete with swarms and Freaky Friday-style events for the month of March! We’ve come up with our own new system that will hopefully allow us to keep it updated regularly for many months to come! And everybody thank Mod Wolfy for the cute little event symbols-- aren’t they adorable?

-Policy Updates: After receiving inquiries about certain game mechanics, we’ve reviewed and decided to update several of our policies:

HIDDEN ABILITIES are now able to be passed down through breeding! This will go by the same basic rules as breeding for shinies; in order for a Hidden Ability to be passed down, the Pokemon must be bred by a Breeder, and at least one parent must have a Hidden Ability already. A female Pokemon has an 80% chance to pass down its H.A., while a male Pokemon has a 20% chance-- but if both parents have it, the chances are 100%! The Breeder FAQ will be updated during our revamp to reflect this change.
CANON UPDATES no longer require mod approval before being put into effect! However, you are still required to comment to the appropriate Taken Page with your character’s new canonpoint.
APPLICATIONS, for the time being, will be checked every other week.
ACTIVITY CHECK… will be back in effect! Chop chop, everybody get your thread links ready, ‘cause FEBRUARY AC IS HERE!

-Aurora League: CONGRATULATIONS! We’re excited to announce that after successfully defeating the Elite Four, Sion and Ryner are officially the first characters with their own character-run Aurora League Pokemon Gym! You can find out more about the Collegiate Gym HERE thanks to Sion’s mun, AC - go challenge that gym, you guys!

-Sevii Islands: So we’ve gotten a number of questions about the islands (as well as the Ride Pagers), and while we don’t have anything concrete to show you right now, rest assured that we are aware of the lack of information! This is another big project we’ll be working on over the next few months, so that when we do have something to show, it’ll really flesh out the islands for the game setting. In the meantime, please send any of your more time-sensitive questions about the islands to the FAQ and we’ll answer them right away!

-Okay, so about the Type: Null thing… Unfortunately, there is no simple solution to this issue. We’ll be totally honest-- placing a pseudo-legendary like Type: Null on the available starter list is not a decision we would have made ourselves. However, as one has already been accepted, and the Alolan starter list was in effect for quite some time before we became moderators, we feel it would be unfair to remove or retcon it at this point.
This leaves us in the tough position of needing a way to make Type: Null available to the playerbase at large while still staying true to its unique nature.
Luckily, we’ve been in touch with sunnysidewalkstreet, who had some great ideas about how to introduce Type: Null as an available Pokemon in-game! We think this is something that should be open to player discussion, but we figured we’d put forward the ideas we’ve been bouncing around:

Silph Co., the company behind the artificially-created Pokemon Porygon, is at it again with a mysterious new prototype, and looking for capable trainers to test it!
Interested characters would need to fill out an IC application in person at Silph Co. (possibly with a minimum badge requirement as well) in order to obtain their very own Type: Null. (This allows there to be less of an overall discrepancy between between characters obtaining Type: Nulls by their own choice and characters with Type: Null starters, as the starter option also requires players to provide a justification on their application.)
Little does the public know, the blueprints were stolen, half-finished, from another scientific company far off across the sea. The resulting Type: Nulls available in Victory Road, while still retaining the general characteristics of the species, would have slightly lower base stats than the ‘real’ thing, making them more akin to a strong regular Pokemon than a pseudo-legendary.
The Memories required to influence Type: Null’s move-type would potentially also be available via Silph Co. Another possibility is having each individual Type: Null’s move-type be fixed and determined the same way as Hidden Power (aka, player’s choice).
Silph’s slightly-fishy business practices could in turn lead to a future ultra-secret, beastly event somewhere down the line. After all, the Aether Foundation probably wouldn’t take kindly to having their research stolen...

… and that’s just what we’ve been playing with! We’d love to hear from everyone, so please feel free to comment below with your thoughts and ideas!

-IP logging and Harassment: Unfortunately, our last announcement is a bit of a downer. While we did have IP logging turned off briefly, we have decided to turn it back on for the time being after getting several separate reports from new players who have received unnecessarily aggressive messages from someone using a sock account. We understand that in the past, there have been player issues that weren’t acknowledged or handled appropriately. However, as a new mod team, we take harassment very seriously. As such, we’d like to emphasize the following things:

There is no rule requiring players to turn IP logging off on their HMD posts. This is up to each player’s discretion and a player is not doing anything wrong by keeping it on.
Moderators will never approach a player about rulebreaking or misconduct under anon or using a sock account.
If you are not a mod, it is not your job to police your fellow players. If anyone feels that another player is “cheating” or knowingly breaking the rules, bring it to the mods and we will investigate the matter.
If anyone has an issue with another player that they do not feel safe approaching said player about without total anonymity, bring it to the mods and we will approach the player for you if necessary.
On our end, we understand that some people are nervous about giving moderators crit without being anonymous. However, we would like to make it clear that if you have something to say to us, including negative crit, you will not be punished for it unless you are wildly rude. There is also the option of the monthly gamewide HMD for anonymous moderator crit.
Lastly, if anyone else in the game has received hostile messages from a sock account recently, please let us know as soon as possible.

With all that said, we’d like to thank everyone again for their patience and encouragement during this bumpy period!

Comments

[indigo_league]

Thank you for your feedback, and we hear your concerns!

As we said in the post, Type: Null isn't something we would have added ourselves, but it is already added, and has been for quite some time. Furthermore, we have confirmed that Type: Null was NOT added as an oversight-- it was an intentional addition by the previous team. One thing we absolutely do not want is for one person to have a special unavailable Pokemon and not allow anybody else the chance to, and as such a workaround is necessary.

We're a little confused by your comment about it needing to be bootleg, as that was specifically detailed as one of the things we'd have in said workaround. A completely unbalanced Pokemon is not something that we want in-game, so taking it down to the level of, say, Larvitar or Dratini (which many players do have, and do start with) seemed acceptable. The signature move, while very strong, is not the only very strong move readily available to players in the game, nor is it something that cannot be countered.

As to how other legendaries are treated in the game: so far, most if not all Legendaries utilized in Route 29 have been TRUE, mythical legendaries-- not man-made Pokemon like Type: Null. In this case, we feel that having an in-game scientific corporation produce bootleg, watered-down Type: Nulls would not cheapen the use of other legendaries in the game, particularly since characters would have no way of ICly knowing that Type: Null is so rare in Alola, which solves the issue about IC confusion over legendaries.

We understand your feelings on the matter, and we agree that this is an unfortunate situation to have happened in the first place. But again, we must emphasize that at this point taking it out of the game entirely is not a fair option. At this point, it is about HOW to include Type: Null, not about whether or not Type: Null is included at all.

[dreamsofahero]

Saying that it was intentionally added actually makes me more concerned, given that this addition was never announced to the playerbase at large. Everyone I've spoken to has indicated they were unaware of it until it showed up in a character intro post, and given how much surprise this seems to have universally engendered... well, suffice it to say this does concern me.

The issue I have with the signature move and ability, though, is the fact that it's already a copycat of Arceus. Toned down slightly, yes, but it has some pretty hefty implications. Leaving both of these in game has a lot of implications that to me are pretty iffy. And honestly, even the man-made part isn't the best explanation, because there is one outright legendary that's also man-made.

I think that not including type: null is still a potential option for the game, and personally I think it's probably the better option in the long run for a multitude of reasons. Yes, there might be some frustration in the short term, but I'd rather deal with that than setting a poor precedent that could make more/worse problems in the future.

[indigo_league]

While we feel that the way previous announcements were handled was very disorganized and not adequate, an announcement was made about Alola Pokemon availability, and the starter list update specifically was announced and linked on the Victory Road plurk. We don’t like the way it was handled, but we can’t change the fact that it’s too late to remove Type: Null from game canon.

The truth is that as moderators of a roleplaying game, we have to consider all sides of the issue-- which means that creating a fair environment for the playerbase sometimes has to take precedence over canon mechanics or lore. Scrubbing Type: Null from the game entirely, even if “allowing” one player to keep their got-in-on-a-technicality starter, would create a situation in which a single player receives special treatment by having the most unique Pokemon in the game. Even worse would be forcing said player to retcon their starter, which was entirely within the rules at the time (even if many people had not gone to explore the Starter page and seen it themselves).

If we want to talk about setting a bad precedent, we feel that type of decision would cause a great deal more than just short-term frustration. We feel it would be deeply unfair, create an unstable ooc environment, and give players good reason to feel wary of the rules being changed on them without warning.

Neither Route 29 nor Victory Road will ever be able to fully match the Pokemon video games. In order to keep the setting functioning as a collaborative, interactive writing game, there will always be times when we have to be adaptable to situations or bend game canon like this in order to find the fairest solution. In this case, given the hand we were dealt, we feel that nerfing Type: Null and introducing it in this kind of manner is the best way to stay true to the spirit of the game.

We have put a lot of thought into this, and while we are certainly open to new ideas on how to make Type: Null’s introduction to the game smoother, we will not be considering total removal from the game as a potential option.

[dreamsofahero]

I know that the addition of the starters was announced, and in fact remember reading that announcement at the time! However, I doubt that anyone would have thought it would be necessary to check the starter list to make sure that no "special" pokemon were added. Given the very nature of this game, it seems that it would go without saying that any legendary, mythical, or in the case of Sun/Moon the ill-defined category the tapus/UBs/type: null fall into would not be listed. And, in fact, the tapus and UBs aren't, despite the fact that in the case of the latter, there's one that you're required to catch four of in the game on its mission. So something presumably went awry. Or it didn't, and type: null was deliberately included for reasons that weren't made known to the playerbase, which is an extremely odd scenario to consider given that it's unbreedable and wasn't added to the availability lists with all the other Alolan 'mons, thus preventing it from being obtained as anything but a starter.

And honestly, I don't think making concessions like this is fair to the playerbase as a whole. I strongly feel that the most "fair" way is to allow anything added by honest mistake to stand, with perhaps some special conditions, then prevent it from happening again. Because what's to happen the next time someone finds a mistake, and knowing what happened before, decides to deliberately take advantage of it and then claim they didn't know better? That concerns me. A lot. That's the bad precedent, bad OOC environment we want to avoid.

Though really, aside from the obvious disagreements as to what's "fair", I honestly don't think "fair" is always the best way to handle situations like this, anyway. Sometimes mistakes happen, and it sucks, but for the sake of keeping a game functioning smoothly, sometimes the only way to deal with it is say "sorry, our bad, steps have been taken to prevent it happening again" and move on. It's in many ways, I feel, the healthier option for a game, because when you start playing the "fair" game no one really wins in the end no matter what place they came in, because everyone gets a participation prize. And that doesn't, in my experience, benefit a game. Not in the long run, and often not even in the short run, either.

[meteorman]

I actually was one of the people that looked at every new starter addition the moment that announcement went up because I love that kind of minutia, and I saw no issues with Null being added*. It's a manufactured Pokemon that there are theoretically many of, particularly in VR where the addition of Alolan Pokemon is not related to the plot of the games and is not in adherence with canon to begin with. They're appearing on a completely different set of islands and, in the case of some, regions they aren't native to when the whole point of Alola is that it has a unique ecosystem. So arguing 'well this particular thing is video game canon' when this game has always played fast and loose in order to retain continuity and be a good panfandom roleplay experience is kind of being needlessly pedantic, I feel.

Null being added as starter you have to justify to obtain is perfectly in-line with its status as a pseudo-legendary and the suggested nerfs and completely different VR backstory are in line with that status. It is not a one of a kind Pokemon. It is not, with these suggested nerfs, all that powerful. There is no way for any character to know IC that it's special in any way other than being an experimental man-made pokemon, which is worlds different from a proper legendary and won't take away from the ~mystique~ of true legendaries any. It's kind of baffling to me that you're this insistent about something that really doesn't effect anyone negatively and is being handled with grace and thought by the mods.

*(I should clarify -- if it had been up to me I wouldn't have added Null as a starter either, but aside from shrugging my shoulders and being like 'huh' I didn't think much of it.)

+1

[greatrage]

Agreeing with this. The game already plays fast and loose with pokémon canon, so I don't understand why we're so hung up on that. If we were going to be hyper-adherent, Alolan pokémon should not be found anywhere but Alola. Full stop. Additionally, Type:Null is NOT a legendary pokémon. It is a man-made mimic of a legendary pokémon, and one that is unknown to most if not all of the characters in the game. It's stats are being nerfed and it's probably going to only have access to a single typed Multi-Attack as Silvally.

[indigo_league]

As we said in the post above, we agree that the original addition wasn't properly thought through, and it's no surprise that many folks didn't wind up checking the updated list out themselves personally. We also agree that making it available as a starter without ever following up on plans to make it available in any other method (since as you said, breeding is out) definitely contributed to the problem it later became. This is exactly why we're trying to fix the problem in the ways we laid out above.

As for the slippery slope... truthfully, this situation is extremely bizarre, and is the result of a particularly weird and unique series of events influenced by multiple factors-- the original weird decision, the lack of follow-up, the prolonged mod radio silence in general, the fact that it was brought to the game at large's attention in a surprising manner, the mod apps which THEMSELVES went unresponded to for weeks, the fact that we are new people responding to a situation created by a previous team, etc, etc, so on and so forth. To be quite frank, we've never seen anything exactly like this, and we probably never will again. If something similarly crazy happens somewhere down the line, we would probably handle it on a case-by-case basis just like we did with this issue, by being sensitive to the all the situational circumstances that led to it happening.

Rest assured, if a typo in the Ultra Ball rules led to a bright-eyed newbie thinking their character with one badge could obtain them and made a post detailing such that no one noticed until two months had passed, the "let the honest mistake stand, then prevent it from happening again" approach would be entirely appropriate! There would be no need to go rewrite the Ultra Ball rules because one person inadvertently got away with their character using an Ultra Ball when they shouldn't have been able to. This situation, on the other hand, is just not that simple.

We definitely don't want everyone to get a participation prize-- which is why we took badge requirements, power nerfs, future plotlines, and even IC motivation (no character would be able to accidentally obtain a Null, which in itself will cut down on the number of Nulls in play) into account while drafting up ideas. And, as we've said, said ideas are not necessarily the ones we have to go with in the long run. There may be even better ways to make Null work, both mechanically and creatively, in the game.

To conclude, we feel we've made the best decision we can, and while the nature of Type: Null's inclusion is certainly up for discussion, the inclusion itself is not. If you feel that there is a fairer way TO include it that still involves it being made available, we'd love to hear your thoughts!

[dreamsofahero]

Sorry for the super belated response here, I got bogged down in coding gym pages and then forgot I hadn't replied!

I guess my issue is, I feel that adding it would negatively affect the game as a whole. Having one character have it by accident and then never again if/when that character leaves the game would mean it's only a "problem" confined to a small place and time. Introducing it widely to the game as a whole means it's now a permanent fixture that can't be easily removed even if it ends up causing problems.

And I really do think it contradicts established game canon thus far. Victory Road and Route 29 before it have always adhered to primarily taking the videogames at a very literal level, down to having constant background music being a feature of the setting. Adaptations are made as needed for the sake of making a RP setting possible, but I strongly disagree with the notion that the game plays "fast and loose" with the source material. It's always been quite the opposite! Which is what makes this such a huge deviation, and I think risks losing some of the game's charm along the way.

I also think that, either way, it should be removed as a starter option, because it just... creates an inherent balance/fairness issue if people are able to continue apping into the game with it right from the start. It's unfair to the rest of the playerbase because it's an "easy" way to get it, and it's unfair to the character apping in with it because of how limited its usefulness would actually be.