What Changes Would You Like To See [Important]

Age : 31 Posts : 1490

In light of the recent inactivity in US and several discussions between myself and a few members both staff and otherwise I thought it would be worthwhile to take a somewhat more open route. Whilst I know there are several topics in the forum assistance section still due for revision, I thought it would be well prompted to ask the member base of US (or at least whose who care enough to post here) for a fair degree of input.

Now bearing that the nature of this topic might quickly give way to more heated discussions I ask that all responses are kept clean and I would largely prefer that the subject of said topic does not get derailed. With that in mind I would largely prefer if you are to propose a suggestion that you elaborate in specific descriptions on what exactly it entails as to avoid confusion. As it stands not all of these suggestions will be considered, but it is still welcome to hear them.

As is now the only topic which I will mark as generally taboo is the staff roster and/or staff inactivity. This includes possible additions or removals.

As of right now everyone who previously had their forum assistance permissions revoked has had them returned, but everyone who posts here be warned if this topic becomes derailed by asinine remarks or flaming of any nature I will not hesitate to revoke the posting permissions of any involved until this thread has been completed. Polite responses and discussion only please.

Posts : 1729

In addition to the already numerous changes summoning is calling for; inclusion.

US summons have always been nerfed to keep them from being a game breaking advantage. That said, despite this promotion for fairness, only ninjutsu users can have more than one summon. Further, non-ninjutsu users must attain S rank before they can even think of having even their one, singular summon.

So, I think it might benefit the forum if the Summoning jutsu was reclassified as one of those things everyone of every rank can learn, regardless of speciality, and allowing even people without ninjutsu as one of their specs the full amount of summons.

Age : 31 Posts : 1490

We actually already agreed to make the summon technique Universal I was just intending to announce and alter the technique itself when I finished the system as I've been working on updating / altering the it in conclusion to the numerous topics about it, but it's on a already long list of things really.

Age : 34 Posts : 1492

Id like to see more of a member driven world. Plot and stuff is whatever, but if someone burns down the Hokage tower, there shouldnt be posts a week later like nothing happened. That kind of thing drives the world, and here everything just kind of resets or is ignored.

Also, Ultimate Conflict pl0x

Posts : 1729

Also, while I'm on the subject of the whole "opening things up" bit; Medical kits. While I get a lot of them, some of them are just... Really, do I strictly speaking HAVE to have extensive medical knowledge to figure out how to use gauze and bandage tape?

Posts : 757

I think the systems for the most part are perfectly fine. The site is set up pretty well. One thing I would do is tweak the crime system. For instance, make it so people have more of an incentive to break rules and have village kages post their custom security systems up and how they operate the entire village.

Age : 30 Posts : 1637

Izayah wrote:: I think the systems for the most part are perfectly fine. The site is set up pretty well. One thing I would do is tweak the crime system. For instance, make it so people have more of an incentive to break rules and have village kages post their custom security systems up and how they operate the entire village.

I like this idea.

Age : 29 Posts : 1585

BK-201 wrote:: So, I think it might benefit the forum if the Summoning jutsu was reclassified as one of those things everyone of every rank can learn, regardless of speciality, and allowing even people without ninjutsu as one of their specs the full amount of summons.

Also, while I'm on the subject of the whole "opening things up" bit; Medical kits. While I get a lot of them, some of them are just... Really, do I strictly speaking HAVE to have extensive medical knowledge to figure out how to use gauze and bandage tape?

I agree with these two suggestions.

TwinnyPuppy wrote:

Izayah wrote:: I think the systems for the most part are perfectly fine. The site is set up pretty well. One thing I would do is tweak the crime system. For instance, make it so people have more of an incentive to break rules and have village kages post their custom security systems up and how they operate the entire village.

I like this idea.

Me too.

Age : 34 Posts : 1209

Please remove summoning. Honestly it rarely is used in a fight and there seems to be more problems with that system than any other. The site has tried to standardize summonings and the fact is that it's very difficult to do so and as a result there seems to be a great deal of issues arising in regards to what is appropriate at what rank.

Izayah wrote:: I think the systems for the most part are perfectly fine. The site is set up pretty well. One thing I would do is tweak the crime system. For instance, make it so people have more of an incentive to break rules and have village kages post their custom security systems up and how they operate the entire village.

I don't really agree that there needs to be more incentive for people to break the rules and such. If it's part of your character's development then go for it but why should their be prizes given for such choices beyond what people get for simply RPing?

BK-201 wrote:: Also, while I'm on the subject of the whole "opening things up" bit; Medical kits. While I get a lot of them, some of them are just... Really, do I strictly speaking HAVE to have extensive medical knowledge to figure out how to use gauze and bandage tape?

I agree with this. I'd think trained field operatives, no matter their specialty, would now how to apply gauze and bandages and disinfectant and even take those fancy blood pills that somehow magically restore a body's blood supply. I don't think we need to study medicine to take it.

The traveling system needs a revamp too. The fact is that in it's current form the system punishes those who are active as most people who remain active RPers tend to be in at least one topic at all times. Since the traveling system seems to require that one concludes all their topics in one country before moving on to another, this means that a person needs to start declining or dropping topics with others in order to go to another country. From an OOC standpoint this can be rather bothersome for those who try to plan things out because there are times when RP partners go inactive or become slow and this results in topics taking weeks or even months to conclude. That means that your character is locked in the country until that topic is concluded or you just outright drop it. In that time, if you wanted to be safe, you'd have to keep yourself from joining any other topics. So for those who RP often, their characters literally never leave their country unless the person starts taking on less topics, meaning slowed char development. In it's current state, all the traveling system does is hinder character development on almost all fronts. There needs to be a more lenient policy.

The other thing that could be changed is the three topic limit. Once again this is a policy that punishes active members by limiting them in the number of topics they can be in. As I stated above, if someone happens to end up in a topic with someone who vanishes or slows down considerably then they are pretty much locked in unless they abandon the topic. It's a needlessly strict policy, just like the traveling system and both should be done away with or adjusted to be more flexible.

Age : 28 Posts : 3145

I'm also for completely removing summons, for making travel easier (in particular, for criminals, who shouldn't have any restrictions in that regard), and for a bigger topic limit or no limit at all. If you're a dumbass who overworks himself by being in 50 topics at once, then that's your problem. Rather than limit the amount of topics, you could limit the amount of evals that a person can submit per week/month, so that roleplaying is done for the sake of roleplaying and not for the sake of racing to S Rank.

Allowing people to have medical kits is fine too.

Also, consider dropping the limit on non-specialization jutsu (5 jutsu limit per non-specialization) and let's not be ridiculous - only S ranks can use C rank non specialization jutus?! That's crazy. I'm pretty sure Jounin were also allowed to do so in the past, and it makes sense canon-wise to allow that. Don't know who changed it, but whip him for me.

Posts : 757

@Kite

What I mean to imply is for character development/plot development. The crime system right now is too absolute for the Kage and offers no room for people attempting to break the rules. Plenty of rules were broken in the manga and they could barely get around to finding who did it. (Orochimaru in the Chuunin exams before he revealed himself, killed a bunch of people and no one was the wiser) It's easier to have a plot if you have someone naturally causing chaos, than to manufacture one. If the Kage decides that X person needs to be brought to punishment under the current system then they stop role playing. A better system would be for the Kage to have to create a mission for his ninja to find X criminal to bring them in etc etc.

As far as medical ninja kits go, if it was the case that everyone knew how to operate a basic first aid kit then why do top tier ninja in the manga never bring them? And I'm talking beginning of part 2 top tier. Not saying you shouldn't have them, but where are you going to use them? In social and mission topics? maybe? But what about in actual combat, no. You probably wouldn't have the time to use it in an actual match. What's the point of having a medic kit if 1. people aren't dying anyways and 2. once the thread is over your injuries are always assumed to be healed.

As far as the three topic rule, instead of allowing people to make more than three topics you should decrease or increase points earned for the amount of time someone spends locked in a topic. For instance if I show that I am an active role-player and I'm forced to wait a week for someone to respond or all my topics are locked up then I should receive some sort of compensation. Allowing infinite topics just creates a mess of dead RPs that make the forums look bad in my opinion.

Age : 28 Posts : 3145

Why are you so fixated on compensation? o.o

If you can't roleplay with people because of being locked in topics, it doesn't matter how many extra points you get. The point of being on a roleplaying forum is not to hoard imaginary points.

The point of being on a roleplay site is to roleplay [with people]. US is one of the most restrictive sites that I know of, in regard to the very thing it's supposed to be focused on. Roleplaying.

I prefer 50 unfinished topics, over 5 complete topics and no userbase.

Age : 34 Posts : 1209

Izayah wrote:: @Kite

What I mean to imply is for character development/plot development. The crime system right now is too absolute for the Kage and offers no room for people attempting to break the rules. Plenty of rules were broken in the manga and they could barely get around to finding who did it. (Orochimaru in the Chuunin exams before he revealed himself, killed a bunch of people and no one was the wiser) It's easier to have a plot if you have someone naturally causing chaos, than to manufacture one. If the Kage decides that X person needs to be brought to punishment under the current system then they stop role playing. A better system would be for the Kage to have to create a mission for his ninja to find X criminal to bring them in etc etc.

This wasn't exactly what you said in your last post, or at the very least it wasn't what I took away from what you were saying. When I read your post, I was lead to believe that you were looking for some sort of compensation for going the "criminal" route. In all honesty, just do what you want within reason and most of the time it should be fine. The consequences you will face will be taken IC wise, I believe. Now if your character is just going on a mad killing spree in the middle of a public place then I'd argue that it's up to the eval mods whether to validate the topic or not. I don't see much issue with the system. All it does is try to standardize the approach taken by the site toward criminal offenses. What you are suggesting here is already addressed in the system.

US Admin wrote:: To help set the definition of a criminal act, this system provides a thorough list of actions that can be viewed as criminal. The list itself is one that, de facto, applies across the entire roleplaying world, meaning whether you are a ninja within Konohagakure, Kumogakure, Kirigakure or even outside of these villages, these laws shall still apply to you and punishment will still be handed out when and if caught. That said, the three villages, Konohagakure, Kumogakure and Kirigakure, hold the power to opt out of the universal laws if the acting Kage at the time so chooses. Meaning none of the universal laws may apply to somewhere such as Kirigakure, yet Konohagakure may have all the universal laws apply within their borders.

There's no need to alter the system. It does what it's supposed to do and what you want it to do. There is nothing in the system that says you will automatically be found out as long as you realistically cover your tracks. Just be aware that the black ops of the village are very good at what they do and there is a big gap between a genin haphazardly butchering a civilian and an S rank criminal skillfully assassinating another ninja.

Izayah wrote:: As far as medical ninja kits go, if it was the case that everyone knew how to operate a basic first aid kit then why do top tier ninja in the manga never bring them? And I'm talking beginning of part 2 top tier. Not saying you shouldn't have them, but where are you going to use them? In social and mission topics? maybe? But what about in actual combat, no. You probably wouldn't have the time to use it in an actual match. What's the point of having a medic kit if 1. people aren't dying anyways and 2. once the thread is over your injuries are always assumed to be healed.

There are times when in a social topic or a mission that the need for medical attention arises. Usually it is preplanned, yes, but without the ability to carry gauze packs or bandages, treating these wounds becomes much harder. If you read BK-201's post, you'll see he isn't talking about advanced equipment, but simple things like bandages and gauze. I am also advocating for being able to use pills. Millions of people take medication and pain killers and other medicines every single day and most of them have little to no clue of how it works; they simply know that it helps them with their problem. As for a combat situation, I could see the usages of chakra pills or blood pills being useful or even treating an injury during battle if you manage to hide long enough to do so. It's not a complete repair, but simply a patch up job to keep yourself from bleeding out in combat. There's no need for these simple things to be restricted.

Izayah wrote:: As far as the three topic rule, instead of allowing people to make more than three topics you should decrease or increase points earned for the amount of time someone spends locked in a topic. For instance if I show that I am an active role-player and I'm forced to wait a week for someone to respond or all my topics are locked up then I should receive some sort of compensation. Allowing infinite topics just creates a mess of dead RPs that make the forums look bad in my opinion.

Because the issue isn't the lack of points, it's the fact that topic progression is being slowed. If I'm in three topics in Fire Country and I want to go to Water Country, the current system makes it so I need to conclude all three topics before leaving. The problem with that is even if I manage to finish two of those topics, chances are at least one topic will stall and thus lock me into the country. Even if I didn't want to go to another country, if I'm in three topics and someone wants to RP with me or I want to RP with them then I need to wait until a topic finishes so I have a spot for them. It's fine for less active RPers who will usually have one to two slots open but for more active RPers this is punishing. It basically halts character progression and serves to frustrate members because now we want to finish our topics as soon as possible to make new topics. Again, this isn't about points, it's about RPing.

If there was a compensation system to be devised then it would be very difficult to figure out the appropriate compensation for each topic, making the job for eval mods much harder. The idea is simply a poor one when the solution is so very simple: Remove these overbearing restrictions.

Posts : 757

Actually it doesn't. There are laws for NPCs. If it did what I wanted it to do then Kages would need to post up what type of security system they have and also post where its most effective in. If I go to a party in the ghetto and kill everyone in the dead of night with some type of gas or whatever silent jutsu then what happens? The system doesn't explain that. All I know is that I go to jail. I don't want to assume what would happen I want to know, because the manga is always inconsistent on what happens to criminals.

Lets say I pay off an NPC to throw a deadbody in the middle of the street. What happens? Are there ANBU watching me in the bathroom or listening to me make a deal? The system needs to be better clarified so people looking to do something more than be a normal ninja can actually do it.

I also don't think someone breaking the law should be forced not to RP. They should be force to do something else like RP their selves in jail to get out/do their time. Basically, in my character plot my guy struggles against crime in the ghettos of the village. So if I kill his enemy technically I committed murder and the Kage and force me to sit out 11 days. I just want it explained actually how that happens. If I'm going around killing people you just cant say "someone told" you have to have probable cause and you have to be able to prove it. Right now the system just says "kage is god, his word is absolute."

I also am still against making an infinite number of topics just because people aren't role playing. It should just increase to like five

Age : 34 Posts : 1492

The answer is simple enough:

Topics increased to 5.

Remove OOC reprecussions for commiting crimes and instead put in IC reprecussions so that the site isnt causing stagnation because no one will do anything besides be good little boys and girls and train. If I want to burn Konoha forest, let me burn the forest and reprimand me with IC commmunity service/prison time. Dont make me not RP for x amount of days.

Posts : 757

THANK YOU VITO

YOU GOT IT afro

Age : 34 Posts : 1209

I agree that there shouldn't be OOC punishments like being banned from RPing for a certain amount of OOC days, since once again, it is a policy that discourages RPing (I don't know why this site has such policies) but I don't see where you are getting this idea that the Crime and Punishment page is only detailing laws pertaining to NPCs. It's not as far as I can tell. Those are guidelines that can, if the Kage chooses, be ignored. As for your scenarios, I'd argue that you should just do what fits your character. No one is going to design a system that is going to tell you down to the letter what will happen if you decide to go on a killing spree or whatever else you are planning.

The truth is that rarely does anyone care about other people's RP. If you want to kill someone in the ghetto then go ahead, but most people are just going to ignore your topic. No one is going to read it or care aside from eval mods and one or two members who are interested in you or your char. Honestly you could get away with a lot. I'd urge you to make it realistic but as I said, no one cares, really. Just don't track blood on the carpet when you come home.

Izayah wrote:: I also am still against making an infinite number of topics just because people aren't role playing. It should just increase to like five

No. Just take off the limiting number. It's a needless restriction and there are people who RP quite a bit and as a result end up getting stuck in topics with slower partners. The number restriction is an asinine concept that needs to be done away with. I know several people who don't even follow this rule because of how pointless it is.

Caranore wrote:: If I want to burn Konoha forest, let me burn the forest and reprimand me with IC commmunity service/prison time. Dont make me not RP for x amount of days.

No one's going to acknowledge this and chances are you wouldn't be reprimanded IC or OOC anyway, so have at it.

Posts : 757

If that's the case then why does the system exist in the first place? Thats more of a question for the mods though

Age : 34 Posts : 1209

Izayah wrote:: If that's the case then why does the system exist in the first place? Thats more of a question for the mods though

US Admin wrote:: With the existence of Nukenin and corrupt or malicious village ninja, it is widely accepted that there is such a thing as crime within the roleplaying world on Ultimate Shinobi. However, this crime, especially when committed by the lawfully abiding village ninja, has largely gone unaccounted for, creating a drop in realism. Crime itself has never been fully defined either, it is rather vague to say what is and what isn't a criminal act. What this system aims to achieve is to define criminal behaviour through the creation of universal and village specific laws, as well as entailing the punishments that may be forced upon a person if found to be guilty of crimes.

Kite wrote:: Now if your character is just going on a mad killing spree in the middle of a public place then I'd argue that it's up to the eval mods whether to validate the topic or not. I don't see much issue with the system. All it does is try to standardize the approach taken by the site toward criminal offenses. What you are suggesting here is already addressed in the system.

Age : 31 Posts : 73

Hmm

Well, I'm going to have to throw in my vote with the others who have said the world isn't self-driven. Things aren't very interactive and the world doesn't feel alive in a sense. Things rarely clash and go boom at all and there just doesn't feel like there is something brewing or an intriguing story in the works.

This is just my opinion and all, but I would like to see things actually happening. Alliances being struck between villages, foul play occurring, backroom politics, espionage, faction-based warfare, or something else interesting that would get things burning before you put oil on the fire.

Age : 28 Posts : 3145

The problem with the world being "interactive" is that everyone's topics would have to be read and closely followed in order to make sure that something "important" hasn't happened.

Whilst eval moderators do so anyway, regular members don't read every single topic (don't lie to me). The staff could tell the members if something has happened to affect the world, but then it seems like extra, unnecessary work. Also does staff decide if a topic should have an impact or not?

And regardless, people will do stupid things just for the sake of impacting the world permanently. Again using Caranore's example, there is no real reason to burn down the forest and the IC punishment for doing so should be very harsh. Fact is, Caranore's character would not get punished nor probably have a very good reason for burning the forest down in the first place, but with this system, everyone else would have to acknowledge the fact that he did something stupid and his stupid action would forever mar the world. Yay for interactivity.

Age : 31 Posts : 1495

We wouldn't really need to read every topic (theoretically)

The last Naruto RP site I was in had this little thing like a newstrip which posted interesting stuff as they happened 5-6 at a time. The responsibility was on the eval mods to do that, if a mod reads something about something in the village there's a small heads up about it. In this case there could be a topic for every village in the Administration category where interesting developments would go. For example after evaling a topic where the forest goes down the mod goes:

"This and this guy just burned down Konohagakure forest, somebody should like go kill them or capture them alive and get like 10 AF or something."

It would be up to Eval (or some new kind of mod) mod to decide over stuff like small rewards for participating in these small plots and they would eventually go away and be changed from the topic by other small plots.

Then again the site totally went down in flames so maybe it's not a great idea to copy it... :/

Posts : 757

Kite wrote:

Izayah wrote:: If that's the case then why does the system exist in the first place? Thats more of a question for the mods though

US Admin wrote:: With the existence of Nukenin and corrupt or malicious village ninja, it is widely accepted that there is such a thing as crime within the roleplaying world on Ultimate Shinobi. However, this crime, especially when committed by the lawfully abiding village ninja, has largely gone unaccounted for, creating a drop in realism. Crime itself has never been fully defined either, it is rather vague to say what is and what isn't a criminal act. What this system aims to achieve is to define criminal behaviour through the creation of universal and village specific laws, as well as entailing the punishments that may be forced upon a person if found to be guilty of crimes.

Kite wrote:: Now if your character is just going on a mad killing spree in the middle of a public place then I'd argue that it's up to the eval mods whether to validate the topic or not. I don't see much issue with the system. All it does is try to standardize the approach taken by the site toward criminal offenses. What you are suggesting here is already addressed in the system.

No need to start a debate dude. If nobody pays attention then a system doesn't exist, no matter what it says in black and white. Just like the tech thingy and how we were set back so far for no reason. Nobody payed attention to it, therefore it didnt exist.

Age : 34 Posts : 1209

Izayah wrote:

Kite wrote:

Izayah wrote:: If that's the case then why does the system exist in the first place? Thats more of a question for the mods though

US Admin wrote:: With the existence of Nukenin and corrupt or malicious village ninja, it is widely accepted that there is such a thing as crime within the roleplaying world on Ultimate Shinobi. However, this crime, especially when committed by the lawfully abiding village ninja, has largely gone unaccounted for, creating a drop in realism. Crime itself has never been fully defined either, it is rather vague to say what is and what isn't a criminal act. What this system aims to achieve is to define criminal behaviour through the creation of universal and village specific laws, as well as entailing the punishments that may be forced upon a person if found to be guilty of crimes.

Kite wrote:: Now if your character is just going on a mad killing spree in the middle of a public place then I'd argue that it's up to the eval mods whether to validate the topic or not. I don't see much issue with the system. All it does is try to standardize the approach taken by the site toward criminal offenses. What you are suggesting here is already addressed in the system.

No need to start a debate dude. If nobody pays attention then a system doesn't exist, no matter what it says in black and white. Just like the tech thingy and how we were set back so far for no reason. Nobody payed attention to it, therefore it didnt exist.

There was no attempt to start a debate here, as you can see. You asked a question and I merely pointed you toward the answer located in a systems page that you are trying to argue against and also in an answer I posted earlier in this very thread. But since you seem to be insistent on arguing with me then let me point out why your logic is flawed. Simply because you do not pay attention to something doesn't mean that no one does. Secondly, just because something is neglected does not mean it doesn't exist. The fact is the system does exist and the purpose and rules of such a system are clearly laid out. You are arguing against it, but the more you post the more it becomes obvious that you have not read it or have failed to understand what the system says. So please go read over the system you are trying to change before you come here trying to change it, thank you.

P.S.

By the way, if you tell someone to not start a debate then common sense would dictate that you not continue to argue your point, especially with flawed logic.

Age : 32 Posts : 1178

^
True dat.

I would also like to say that I agree with the whole player driven world. Our world events always failed up to this point while the things other people come up with never make it through at all. As for the summoning thing, I do not think we should make too many changes to it, seeing as it might make the additional perks of the Summon Related SC's less potent than other SC's we have of a similar rank. Aside from that, I do believe the whole balancing would be a good idea.

Other than that, I don't have a lot to say, most of my muse to write left a month ago.