Development:Signup Procedure

This is a page listing proposals for a Proper Signup Procedure for WAAPT. The basic idea is not to fall within the "accept/reject signup sheet" that is more or less a classic in forum boards but rather to try an integrative process.

Some clarifications:

"Procedure" does not mean paperwork or legalese, people. As noted below, we don't want to be Serebii. It means procedure. Substitute it "method" or "routine" if it seems to make it clearer for you.

Signup Thread

(Or equivalent)

A clearly visible Signup Thread or other equivalent tool should be made visible to candidate playerbase. In TVTropes forums this would ideally mean a proper thread in the Signups subforum, since we can not modify the Discussion Thread's opening (reminder: see how to retake ownership of the DT's opening post). The thread should follow a double purpose: first, receive candidate players who want to ask or signup to the RP; second, inform potential players about requirements, details and current status of the RP in regards to joining of new players (it should inform, for example, of when we are taking part of a "gimmick Arc").

Things a Signup thread should probably have:

• An introduction to the RP as a player community (ie.: who we are and what do we expect).
• An initial #signup form for characters.
• A link to Every's Essay on Joining the RP.
• (?) Conversation with players who want to join, offering assistance etc.
• (?) Links to relevant help eg.: character-building or character-check pages, Bulbapedia, etc.

Signup Form

This section shows some proposals as to what should a Signup Form for new characters have. A signup form should have some level of complexity that introduces a character and shows that the candidate is interested (or why) in playing, and also that helps pinpoint eventual problems. Of course we hopefully don't want to reach this (from Serebii) level of complexity though!

For the Trainer:

• Name - kinda obvious that it's required :p But might be useful if the in-universe character uses another moniker. If the Trainer has an in-universe nickname it might also be interesting to have it noted here.
• Gender - should be required.
• (Region of) Origin - most likely optional. There's not many assumptions to do in the Pokéverse in this regard, and it could be perfectly fit into an Appearance or Backstory section anyway.
• Age - most likely optional. There's not much of a reason why would it be required. Could also go into Appearance.
• Occupation or Affiliation - While our "in name only" standard is to be a Trainer, a character could also be a Ranger, a Researcher, a priest of Giratina, a police officer, or something like that.
• Appearance - a bout of physical appearance, enough that it allows us to visualize the character when we are going to interact with him/her. Could probably include particular items the character has? Should include things that go "outside the norm", eg.: if the character is missing a hand, so that we don't in-universe screw up with a handshake.
• Personality - essentially the "non-physical" appearance. Is the character carefree, cautious, does he like cake, or kittens Purrloins, etc. Otherwise it's likely the exact same considerations as in "Appearance" apply.
• Backstory - who is (was?) the character before popping in on-screen. This might as well be optional or not really need much of an explanation if a character Q&A session shows that the character, once exposed, fits well in the verse and doesn't have issues that could cause complications (such as coming from Distortion-time Sinnoh).

For the Team:

• A team listing of at least one Pokémon with some information provided for them.
• Trainer Class - not really required (and it could fit perfectly in Occupation) but it helps to know if a character's team formation will/has specialized in Dark-type Pokémon, diggers, quadrupeds, breeding, "cute" Pokémon or something like that.

For the Pokémon:

• A required basic listing would be "Name the Species[gender]" or something like that, or just Species and Gender, since nicks are definitively not mandatory. Something like "Rascal the Flareon♂" or "Male Kirlia, Female Machoke".
• While we are quite open in regards to moves, care should be had to avoid cases like "My Pokémon has been in this RP for 2 scenes and already knows Hyper Beam, X or Y elemental variant, Giga Impact, Hurricane" or worse, "... Spacial Rend, Aeroblast, Shadow Force, Sacred Sword and Judgement, with 255 in every stat". What would be a good policy here?
• Information on the Pokémon's Ability(es) and Nature might come handy, but it is definitively optional.
• While optional / unneeded for the signup, information on each Pokémon's origin should be at least take into consideration so that it can be checked against the verse's events in Q&A (eg.: for Delta, Shadow Pokémon).

Q&A

This sections shows some proposals on how to conduit player Q&A or character testing sessions to further improve the joiner's experience.