Character Submission Closure
Hello,
I recently was writing up a character submission, and while I was proof-reading it, the narrator closed the submissions. When I went to save, I was told that I could no longer submit what I had spent my time on creating - a character rooted in ideas based on the story he wanted to tell.
I would've loved the opportunity to, at least, submit what I had written. Thankfully, I copied and pasted the text into another document, otherwise, it would've been lost completely.
Is it possible that if you are mid-character creation that you be given a timeframe to, at least, save what you've written (even when the narrator closes submissions)? From the looks of it, I clicked "Save" 2 minutes after he closed it. I would've loved for the narrator to get the chance to see what ideas I had for my character.
Now, I have no way to let him know that I really wanted to take part, because I was 2 minutes too late.
Joel
shared this idea
-
Robert Mohr
commented
Just wanted to chime in on this--Boyd's suggestion below is *very* good if you encounter this issue. Let people know that you are currently working on an app, and they may be willing to hold the game open (or at least tell you if they already have the cast they want, so you don't waste any time). I personally do my best to keep track of who has expressed interest in my games and to check in with players if they expressed interest but I haven't seen something yet as the end of submissions approaches. If you find you take a longer time to do apps, or are apping near the end of the established open invitation period or when the game displays several characters selected, *absolutely* contact the narrator and notify him that you have one in the works. It isn't presumptuous to do so at all--you're not demanding the character get accepted, just making sure he knows something is still out there so he can have a look.
-
Contemplar
commented
Yeah, I actually tried that this last time. It's easy to forget that in the play-by-post roleplaying community, people tend to be more accommodating than your usual online RP slum, haha. It's a little awkward because it can feel pretty presumptuous-
-
Boyd.Crowder
commented
As an interim fix, I recommend that prospective applicants contact the Narrator directly via the "private message" feature and inform the Narrator of their intention to create a character. if the Narrator knows you're working on a character, they might even send you a direct invitation in order to circumvent an imminent closing of the open invites
-
Contemplar
commented
One thing that has bitten me quite a few times now, is that in the middle of polishing my initial character submission for a game, the open invites are closed. On it's own this doesn't seem like a problem, but the mounting frustration of having a good six characters in a row shut out when 80% finished (due to more detailed bios) can be a real sore spot.
The option for narrators to close open invites, but to allow a grace period for current character applications to finish up and submit would be greatly appreciated. The narrator could specify a time period, and an alert similar to the 'there is new activity!' prompt could be given to the potential player.
-
Joel
commented
Though, perhaps, a PM system would do the trick. I would've been able to message the narrator and let him know that I had a completed character that I wanted to contribute.