[S] Rolling & Earning Stats for Baskets (New Option Added)

[xo maho]

Please see the edit at the bottom of this post.

Okay, so this is something that I've looked for in the past, and thought I would bring up.

I would like to see us have the ability to roll and earn stats for baskets. If baskets are dropped at the end of the month, then their owners would have the ability to earn stats for that month, as well as the next months, up until the basket pops; it would also give the owner the opportunity to take advantage of a long wait time if a colorist cannot grow a basket for some reason.

Roleplaying a basket is simple enough - the parents can talk to the baby inside and the basket can wiggle around as it gets closer to the time for it to emerge. Interactions like this happen in the shop thread and in guild RPs all the time. The logistics are hopefully simple; because it's pitch dark in the basket and nobody knows what the baby looks like, the roleplayers could mostly stick to thoughts, emotions, and sensations as the foal learns more of its parents' language and develops its relationship with its parents.

To make this a bit simpler, here are a few suggestions I've thought up to hopefully solve a few questions that could come up:

• In the case of a basket without a cert, proof of ownership (like a cert request by the owners of the parents) could be provided in the RP thread and when stat rolling.
  
• Basket roleplays could be backlogged until the time the foals have emerged and can be posted officially. [As far as I am aware, basket roleplay cannot get you stats, period.]
  
• Because the stats system has changed to allow owners to claim their soquilis' stats, baskets stats could be claimed in the exact same way, provided there is proof of ownership (through a cert or cert request).
  
• Basket roleplays could have their own relatively brief set of rules that detail the limit of a foal's perception from inside the basket.
  
• Adding baskets to a teepee could be done with proof of ownership, and could be followed up by a change of image request later.

Please post your opinions on this idea! I'd love to see them, and it would be great to develop this idea further! Thanks guys!

Edit:
After discussing this with you guys, I realized there was another, possibly better option here: rather than rolling stats for a basket and placing them in one's teepee, it might be better to be able to earn back stats (or regular stats) for a basket RP once the basket has grown to a foal or adult. This would function the same way back stats do at the moment, in my imagination: post in the stat log for basket stats with the RP, the soquili's name (once it has grown and been placed in one's teepee), and a link to one's teepee... It would just be an option, with this suggestion, to not only get stats for foal and adult roleplays, but for basket roleplays, as well. It would remove the inability to get stats for basket roleplays.  

[Jackariah Beckett]

Not sure what I feel about this, but I do have a comment =B.


I saw you mention that the parents might not know what the foal looks like. I know this is all up to the owners decision, but I think if the owners wanted depending on how they look at things, the parents would know? Since I think I have heard somewhere that the mare gives birth and then puts the foal in the basket for protection. In this case, the parents would get a view of the foal before putting it in the basket nwn.

I only mention it because it might open up the basket rp a little more.


My other thought is that if an rper brought smell into the rp, it would make it much easier to rp a basket. I.E, if the foal smelled something different and didn't immediately have the comfort of its parents voices, it would be easy to rp the basket feeling fear and wiggle around.  

[xo maho]

Jackariah Beckett

Not sure what I feel about this, but I do have a comment =B.


I saw you mention that the parents might not know what the foal looks like. I know this is all up to the owners decision, but I think if the owners wanted depending on how they look at things, the parents would know? Since I think I have heard somewhere that the mare gives birth and then puts the foal in the basket for protection. In this case, the parents would get a view of the foal before putting it in the basket nwn.

I only mention it because it might open up the basket rp a little more.


My other thought is that if an rper brought smell into the rp, it would make it much easier to rp a basket. I.E, if the foal smelled something different and didn't immediately have the comfort of its parents voices, it would be easy to rp the basket feeling fear and wiggle around.

When a soquili is born, they're born premature - premature enough that their coloring is not immediately evident and any physical features they might have are too underdeveloped to make out, I believe, which is why they're placed in the basket for protection. n.n It does eventually take on their coloring, though. <3 RP Guidebook post on the topic.  

[Jackariah Beckett]

Ohhhhhhhhhhhhh. huh, i did not know that owo.

Or I forgot. I can't tell any more .__.;;  

[one over three]

Honestly I don't really see a practical reason for allowing baskets to stat. The quality of RP resulting from this kind of situation would be really limited, and wouldn't allow the character much room to grow. If you want to explore this kind of environment in your own RPs then all the power to ya, but I don't feel it's something that should be encouraged by putting stats behind it.

Also putting a strict set of rules on how baskets can and can't be RPed means that basket RP needs to be strictly moderated. We've had lots of problems with skinwalkers in the past. Adding baskets doesn't seem like it would be a good idea.

And if I remember correctly there's no official canon on what the baskets even are per say. The RP guidebook is unfortunately a bit out of date. It's being worked on but it's a slow process.

 

[xo maho]

one over three

Honestly I don't really see a practical reason for allowing baskets to stat. The quality of RP resulting from this kind of situation would be really limited, and wouldn't allow the character much room to grow. If you want to explore this kind of environment in your own RPs then all the power to ya, but I don't feel it's something that should be encouraged by putting stats behind it.

Also putting a strict set of rules on how baskets can and can't be RPed means that basket RP needs to be strictly moderated. We've had lots of problems with skinwalkers in the past. Adding baskets doesn't seem like it would be a good idea.

And if I remember correctly there's no official canon on what the baskets even are per say. The RP guidebook is unfortunately a bit out of date. It's being worked on but it's a slow process.

Thank you for replying! 8D

Like I said, it is a "could" on the set of rules, not necessarily a must have or anything - it would go along with the "no super powers" rule, so like no omniscient baskets or baskets that can hear birdcalls a mile away or whatever, if that clarifies what I meant by a set of rules.

I disagree that it wouldn't give a character much room to grow. A foal could make great discoveries about themselves while in a basket, possibly taking with it into the world a fascination for things that it heard or felt while in its basket, like a liking for owl calls or the peaceful stillness of the night. It could take with it dislikes, as well, such as a fear of water if it was left in a puddle for a time.

Besides that, stats are currently given by word count, not by the quality or particular format of a roleplay.

As for the RP guidebook being out of date, I can't really speak to that, but hopefully one day we'll have an answer. XD

Thank you for you input, one over three!  

[one over three]

I'm not saying that RPs should all be high quality. I'm saying that I don't see the point of encouraging something that has such limited RP potential. Let me try to explain.

There's a rule I try to follow when I RP. (Whether or not I succeed is a separate conversation.)

"It's better to act than to react."

This means that to have an engaging RP it's best to have your character taking action, not just reacting to outside influences. A basket can not take action, it can only react. Outside influances that a character only reacts to CAN shape a character, but it makes for a very boring story. Even if you want to RP a foal that is very young it wouldn't be developed enough or experienced enough to make significant choices or actions.

This is what I mean by low quality RP when it comes to baskets. It's permitted. I don't think anyone would stop you. However, I don't think it's something that should be outright encouraged.
 

[LOLTERNATIVE]

I agree with this. We're allowed to RP basket stages so I don't see why we shouldn't be rewarded stats.

After all, stats are given for a minimum word count - not based on quality and I don't think that should change. I also think any RP should be encouraged because it means people are active in and enjoying the shop. Quality or possible outcomes of the RP shouldn't matter. A meet and greet that just has two soq talking gets the same stats as a complicated plot with thousands of words.

Just my opinion but it rubs me the wrong way to see a staff member say that any kind of RP should not be encouraged based on quality.  

[Kaitaia]

I'm on board with rolling for stats in basket form and adding them to your teepee if they have a cert. There isn't much of an argument in my mind for holding off until they're foals before rolling. It might help people who forget to add their Soq to their teepee and end up with a big influx of Soq when they remember if they can add baskets right away instead of waiting and forgetting.

I don't really see the point of gaining stats for RPing baskets though. You've made a great stance on what a basket actually CAN do in RP, but it still is very limited. It seems kind of silly to me for a stage that's supposed to very short-lived. I know things happen and you can have a basket for much longer, but I feel like you'd quickly run out of things.

I guess the fact that I see it as pointless and would never do it doesn't really negate the fact that it could be beneficial and useful to other people though. But that's my opinion anyway. ^^; Basically I wouldn't care either way where RPing baskets is concerned.  

[Kamiki]

Even discounting the RP thing, from someone who can get OCD about things I don't see why you can't roll your stats and get your Soq listed in your teepee as soon as you have a basket cert.

So I'm 100% on board with being able to roll stats for baskets.  

[Phail Ninja]

I'm just gonna say that in terms of rolling/adding to your teepee: they won't even be named yet, so it'd take multiple updates to initially put them in your teepee and then AGAIN to update their name. And could cause complications when trying to add stats "this pony is named x but actually comes up as ??? in your teepee still" for example.

So it does add more work and get confusing in terms of keeping track of who had been awarded stats and who hasn't.

 

[Kamiki]

Phail Ninja

I'm just gonna say that in terms of rolling/adding to your teepee: they won't even be named yet, so it'd take multiple updates to initially put them in your teepee and then AGAIN to update their name. And could cause complications when trying to add stats "this pony is named x but actually comes up as ??? in your teepee still" for example.

So it does add more work and get confusing in terms of keeping track of who had been awarded stats and who hasn't.

That's a good point. I guess I usually have names for my babies as long as I know the gender ahead of time, but that's not always the case and not everyone does.  

[Kaitaia]

That is a good point, Phail. I didn't even think about it.  

[one over three]

RP management (rightly pointed out to be a null concern) and my comment on the official basket canon/RP guide updating is from the shop perspective. My concerns about RP quality are personal concerns based on my personal experiences with RP and video games.

I'm not talking about foal and adult RP. Any kind of foal or adult RP is inherently different from basket or baby RP. If someone writes unresponsive characters then you can choose not to RP with them in the future. If you're playing a basket then you're forced into an unresponsive roll.

If stat rewards are given for that then there will be people normally uninterested in basket RP who feel like they should RP their baskets because it could move their stats up faster. You see this sort of behaviour all the time in video games. "I don't want to do x, x isn't fun. y is fun but takes far longer than x, I will do x to speed things up." I really don't like the idea of putting in this sort of incentive.

That being said, it's important to note that not encouraging something is not the same as discouraging it. If you want to RP a basket then all the power too you.

Phail has an excellent point. 8'D Significantly better than my ramblings.
 

[xo maho]

Okay, so - reading the responses, it sounds like a major issue here is getting a basket rolled for stats and then inserted into a teepee. Roleplaying a basket is something that is something that is possible - maybe as a reactive character, but some spend most of their lives doing significantly more reacting than acting.

That said, would it be possible to roleplay a basket with the intention of getting stats for it during whatever month, and then to get the stats backlogged once a foal or adult has had their stats rolled and been added to the teepee?

This would be the equivalent of just backlogging a roleplay from a previous month for stats, which is a possibility right now for foals and adults. The difference would be that it is a basket roleplay (say, if it were impossible to roleplay the foal because the owner does not have that form yet, or if an owner just wanted to roleplay a basket). Under current rules, a basket cannot get stats whatsoever from RP, as far as I can tell. If a basket RP was given back stats, instead of rolling stats as a basket and having them inserted into the owner's teepee, it would remove the need for constant and confusing updates, I hope.

Would being able to get back stats (or stats for a current month) for a basket RP be a better alternative to rolling stats and placing a basket in a teepee?