[Yourstruly]

My current running theory is that cloud hosting (possibly Google’s content hosting) is being used for Haven. This in and of itself is not an issue. However, as the LLM usage has expanded, it may be that the cloud hosting service being used is not robust enough for it. These recent issues have come into play since the addition of the podcast. All the text-based LLM content is fairly straight-forward. Still a bit beefy, but nearly as much as generating audio that emulates real people.
If you listened to the entirety of the 2nd podcast, you likely noticed a degradation in the last 15-20 minutes: names weren’t said properly, it forgot things… general hallucinations.

I think it’s processing it backwards up: so as events happen, it processes audio into the pile so that once the 2 weeks is up, the podcast is ready to go (otherwise it would take it a long time to process together). But as we get into week 6 and the 3rd episode, I think the data and processing usage might be too much for the hosting Haven is currently using.

Now, again, this is all a theory based on what I can tell and what I know of LLMs in general. It may not be the issue, but it would track based on what we’ve seen and when it happens (during primetime, when events are ending, I’ve seen ‘Supernatural Rumors’ that fail because the LLM failed to process them, etc.)

Hopefully the extended downtime this time meant that a fix went in. Otherwise my guess would be that a more robust hosting service that can handle what the LLM has become will be needed.

[Yourstruly]

Update:
My T1s Invitation did increase.
I think it was texting with a T3 (as I had very little other interactions between yesterday and today: when I last checked my score last night, no Invitation. Checked today shortly after logging in: Invitation 1). So it took a long time of interaction to do it (so T1s may just have a much higher barrier / timeframe).

So the theory that T1s cannot gain Invitation is busted, at least.

I think there must just be several ‘counters’ going on behind the scenes. Tiers, types of interactions, time interacting, etc.

[Yourstruly]

This, I would not know. This is the first I’ve ever played. But also, from what people have told me, there have been fairly significant changes between H6 and H7 in other areas? So I think it’s fair information to at least collect and not discredit just because the previous iteration did it one way?

That’s all I’ve got at the moment is just here is the information at hand.
Now, my T1 should hit T2 in the next day or two. So I’ll be able to give more information on the ‘Is it just that T1s cannot gain Invitation?’ theory at that time.

[Yourstruly]

As a quick update:
Came across a T4 on my T2 today, RP’d about 35-40 minutes. No increase in Invitation.
Might be due to a first encounter. Maybe the scene was too short (might need an hour+?).

So I do think there are more factors at play (coded relationships; repeat encounters; going private; antag scenarios) than just the RP itself.

And I repeat: I am not trying to be on a high horse. I am trying to share more information so that there can be a deeper understanding and so that people aren’t avoiding others! No one deserves to lose out on RP for no reason.

[Yourstruly]

So, to lay it out completely for my end:
I have RP’d with:
2 T3’s
1 T4
(On a single character)

I have had 2 passing interactions with 1 T3
A handful of scenes (including one extensive 1-on-1 that included antag elements) with 1 T3
2 extensive scenes with antag elements with 1 T4

My Invitation has not increased. That character is a T1. The acting theory that I have (and one of the T3s has when discussing it in brief) is that maybe T1s cannot gain Invitation (we cannot make demonic bargains, for example). Now, I could have phrased my original post better perhaps and I apologize for that, but I don’t think I was ‘on a high horse’ – I was trying to provide some context as what I was witnessing was ‘don’t RP with T3s/T4s your Invitation will go up immediately!’ which is very much not the case.

Does it go up rapidly for some? Yes. *For some.* And collecting information is the key to dialing in why that is. But I think it’s unfair to those playing the higher tiers to say things that might cause people to avoid playing with them.

[Yourstruly]

I’ll be honest: the whole system does not make sense to me (as a new player). I have read the helpfile. I have had it explained. I still don’t get it. And the fact that it may throw me into something I don’t understand with people I don’t know makes me immensely hesitant to use it because I don’t want to ruin someone else’s potentially limited playtime by ending up stuck with someone clueless.

[Yourstruly]

I feel like ‘fast’ may be a misnomer. Or maybe I’m lucky?

I have RP’d with one T3. I feel like I’ve RP’d with them ‘some’ but not a lot. My invitation has not budged at all.
This makes me kind of sad as I am here explicitly because I like the unexpected, I like putting characters in bad situations. I RP because I don’t know what’s going to happen.

Time to find other T3s I guess 😉

[Yourstruly]

Henlo, I play a Fabled.

And while I am new to Haven, I am not new to RP (though I have primarily a MUSH background). I am someone who can be stubborn about remaining IC in things. One thing I have noticed about the chatrooms (NewHaven especially) is that I think a lot of people slip into treating it like a Public channel. IC/OOC blurs quite often on it (and I do not mean when one of us mischans from Newbie as we have all done it both ways).

The way I play it is when my Fabled has it mentioned around her, it’s like someone hits a rewind or reset button. She just smiles it away or focuses on some other aspect of the conversation. She even does this when someone tries to inform her she must behave a certain way or do a certain thing ‘because the gods.’ I understand it from a gamer perspective. When people see ‘character with problem,’ they want to be the one to save the character and ‘solve’ the problem. It comes from a well-meaning place.

It is a… similar attitude when it comes to the Monster situation. Everyone knows that a Fabled given to a Monster makes the Monster go away. Lives are saved. So it becomes a solution to a problem. A way to help people! And people can get lazy about certain things.

Now, even THAT said… there are certain character types where this makes sense. Antagonists who are being bothered by the monster. Pragmatists who see the sacrifice of the one to save the many as an easy choice. Being so casual about it on the chatrooms is perhaps a little iffy and you begin to get into the concept of if a Fabled does not know they are Fabled do they know another is Fabled and if you know others are Fabled can you wonder if you are Fabled but if you ask if you are Fabled and someone tells you and you don’t know you are Fabled could you live life assuming you are….

……. end of the day even if my personal preference is that people do not talk that way? There are going to be canonical fallacies no matter what, so I stick to my own lane and tune out the stuff that doesn’t jive.

[Yourstruly]

Just wanted to weigh in as someone brand new to both the game *and* the college sphere (but with a long history in MUs):

It is a hellish beast to navigate. There’s no maps anywhere and ‘map level’ only works… sort of. If you don’t know which building the room you want is in, you have to cycle through all of them. Then cycle through each floor. Which is wildly tedious. If I want to RP, I don’t want to wait 20, 45 minutes until I find the right spot: *I want to RP.*

If there was some sort of map available (maybe a player has made one and if so: props, but it should still be a staff-provided resource IMO that would even make sense as an IC tool because unis ALWAYS have maps available), that would help. The information in the help files is wildly vague and because so much is AI generated: no one has any answers to questions that crop up.

I have spent time sitting in various ‘public’ spaces (like the cafeteria, student union, etc.) visible on where, roomtitle set, and… nothing. Not any sort of attempt to join me. And I don’t necessarily blame people. I groan internally every time I spent 20 minutes just getting to a hot spot to RP. At Windermere, that can easily be doubled.

And don’t even get me started on the night it was pitch black and you couldn’t move around at all because as a new person I had *no idea* I needed to buy a flashlight somewhere so I spent a whole evening at a loss for RP because I couldn’t find my way around and after a good 30 or so minutes trying and finally landing back in the dorms I just locked myself in my room. (And I did try to generate RP from THAT as well by mentioning it on NewHaven and Windermere both, but since people can’t navigate the place even in the bright of day, it’s not like anyone — understandably — was jumping at helping someone navigate their way out.)

I’m not about to quit. I’m willing to put the time in. But I don’t blame people for quitting. We’re here to RP and if the barrier for RP is too high: people go elsewhere.

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