Announcements of the Admins:
Change of the length of school year:
We started with addressing character years. Right now it is 1 RL Year= 1 Character year (meaning 7 Years of school would be 7 RL years). We have also considered changing it to 6 months for 1 RL year (meaning 7 school years are 3.5 years).
It will not be a constant party time because we do not celebrate every feast coming along the way (We might have a poll every school year to ask the students and facults what holiday they want to celebrate ICly)
We are going to put a poll on the website. This poll will eventually decide which way we go, we just wanted to explain to you the suggestion, before we opened the poll, so you had a heads up.

Concerns have been brought up about students not being able to RP their characters for long. So this comment has been made:
“As for the topic of the ‘adult character’ sim , I think that might be a rather good idea. Hogsmeade could be created. If money is an issue, I think fund raisers or raffles, auctions etc could be had, art auctions etc. I’ve done this kind of thing for some of the biggest RP sims in SL, to keep them going. It could work. Just throwin that out there. I’m willing to help however I can, as this is what i do for a living, game design/development etc. and i’d love to help out.”
Answer: That would be implemented at the end of this semester most likely, so only after this one ends do we begin that way. But yes, we can hold fundraisers and all that, I think the problem is right now we’re getting very little donations to keep 1 sim running, so its scary to even think about 2. We will keep you in mind if we need help though! But we need to see the results of the poll before we even proceed with when it begins.

Act your Character’s Age
Okay so the next thing we are going to discuss will be acting the age of your characters. I know a lot of us haven’t been the age of our characters in ten or more years so it’s really difficult sometimes to remember how you would have thought and acted and felt at that age. We know many things are very fun to play around here especially with all of the attacks and the stress in the RP but we would like to kindly remind you to act your character’s age when it comes to attacks, stress, and also to your professors and upperclassmen. If you are unsure how your character may act to something or someone at his or her age, we are available any time to give you pointers on how your character may react in reference to his or her age and maturity. Be it with spells, potions, any kind of magic of overall behaviour. We know there are differences in characters but please remember your age.

Do not ignore your fellow posters
Please remember, we know that your character would gladly just ignore the Professor or a Prefect and that is fine, but to ignore a post and walk away is not fine. So if you want to do that, please write a post how you ignore someone before you leave. That will show your partners that you acknowledge their post but your character does not care. BUT on the other hand we are a boarding school and you might want to think twice about just ignoring your Professor’s or Prefects orders or punishments because the logical consequence would be more IC punishment But in any way, id you chose to do so show your posting partners respect with showing that you read their post with ignoring them ICly in a post before you leave.

If there have been multiple complaints about someone and one believes the issues OOC and not IC then they are expected to report it to an Admin and the Admin team will investigate accordingly. If its an IC issue, Prefects and Professors can handle it ICly, like reprimanding them. But if someone harasses or is rude to you OOC – that’s something only admins can handle.
If from your IC perspective you feel that their IC behaviour would warrant removal of the position, than p[lease discuss it with us and we may consider reassigning the potition.

Keeping it PG
In some classes, i have seen and heard, that people use actually inappropriate things for them. Like that they wanted Marijuana planting in classes or that they called someone a "bitch" no matter if thoughts or words. Or they they are skinnydipping in the lake or something. Please please remember that we are a PG sim. We WILL get in deep trouble if you keep that up. There are enough ways to express yourself without going out of PG! Thank you!

Thoughts in Posts
Some people do not like to see how people voicing their thoughts without any outer reaction because they cannot react to it. We are convinced that everyone should be able to RP the way they want. The main rule here is.. everyone RPs in their own way, some add thoughts, some memories, some do not. Really this is all down to personal preference, if you WISH to post thoughts to give others PLAYERS a look inside your character's head, then that's cool. No-one should be taking this personally as a PLAYER. It is very improtant that people understand the differences, and to the point of not having something to react to, that really isn't the point of posting it. It's about having a more rounded character that makes the RP experience and storytelling of the scenareo function to it's full potential.
Live and let live, tolerate and accept every style of RP.

Question and Answer Round
Q: I know currently ICly it would be a crazy thing to think about. However, I know the Quidditch system is being remade/rescripted. May I ask the reason of this and any information about how the process is going? I know you have a lot of work to do, I'm just a nerd of playing Quidditch and holding practices:D I think if we would be able to know a bit more about how the system will work we could develop and other awesome addition to the sim what could attract more people. I was also thinking about making a tutorial video about how the current (and a bit unstable) system works, at least to courage the newbies and demonstrate that riding a broom is not that hard:)
A: Quidditch wise, i've spoken to 2 different combat scripters and we're hoping to get that system in play. The reason why we would rather not use the current system is because we found that many folks are cheating, using gadgets to add on as HUDs. The maker of the system is not in good terms with us and will not help us change or tweak some of the things we wanted tweaked, for example beaters etc. We can play this for fun, but to put it out as a Quidditch Cup system, we're not willing at all right now.

Q: Real Life takes precedence, it always does and always will. Some people also do things other than HYS on Second Life. It would be much appreciated if there were proper notice on upcoming large-scale events. I did not see any notices indicating these attacks in the days leading up. It doesn't have to be "The X will be attacked by Y on Z."; something as simple as "There is a major plot event scheduled for Saturday the LNMOP. Don't miss it." Due to the poor nature of SL's messaging system, these notices need to go out at least a week in advance and then a few days in advance. It's disheartening to log in on a Saturday afternoon to a flurry of notices about something you missed... when you weren't really doing anything special with that day and could have made the time to show up if you'd had advance notice.
A: We actually are doing that from now on. We had a chat in the RPD group about exactly that. We are having a new Summary overview on the website for the 'already happened' events and now also start to send notices in advantance during the week before an event (that just did not happen yet after we decided that so you did not see it). The thing is that many people do not read or get notices. So we can just ask everyone to please check the archive when they log in to make sure they did not miss anything. But we will also add the in advance notice on the current plot summary website, that you By the way can find on the homepage under the "Information for Current Members" tab right on our website: http://hogwartsyourstory.com/

Q: I'd like to know how special abilities are being handled currently, and how they plan on being handled in the future. When I joined, the website clearly stated limitations on various special abilities as well as the fact that there was a limit of how many could be had etc. However, I would like to know why alts are being allowed to apply for special ability slots over mains, and what is being done about players whom become inactive in RP, that have special abilities, while those that are active remain on waiting lists? I have been told different things each time I inquire and I'd just like some clarifications.
A: As far as special abilities, we give them out according to who we feel is going to be responsible with the role, especially in terms of using the role to metagaming, etc. If they are inactive then at that time we would take into consideration our waiting list but as far as our current special abilities and people that have them, they are all extremely active members of our RP and that's how they got into those positions. I personally handle the ALO's and a lot of the applications so if you have anything specifically pertaining to your application for special ability you can always feel free to come to me about it.

Q: Also, the 'master schedule' that is on the website currently--is that being updated, because I've tried to base my RP time around supposed scheduled classes and more often then not, they never happen. One of the main attractions for RP'ing here for me was the fact that there were scheduled events I could always attend because they were planned and I could work my schedule around them. This no longer seems to be the case. Is this being revised? Or are all classes going to be done via 'on a whim' and through 'notices' now?
A: To the Master schedule. It is not that the Schedule is not updated, it is that RL happens and Professors do not show up. We just recently updated it regularly to our knowledge. Though when a Professor has an RL emergency and cannot come we cannot control that. Please keep in mind that this kind of thing can happen As said we are updating it *to your knowledge*

Q: Also, do you have any plans of adding in an actual room of requirement?
A: When it comes to the room of requirement, we have it... you just haven't found it yet. We have left the room of requirement as an empty room, due to the fact that we cannot know your requirements, so you'll have to RP as best you can in the empty space. But to add it is pretty obvious it is a Room of Requirement and not an empty classroom or something.

Q: And is the potions club going to be formed at some point? I was also curious about the way potions are crafted/discovered. I noticed on the website there's a listing of them now, and I'm incredibly intrigued. Will there be a system put into play for that, something that's fair and realistic and actually takes real RP time to do?
A: We almost had a system for the potions thing, but that never took flight as the person in charge of it ended up giving up lol… but we'll try and figure it out. However, at this point in time, RP out your potion making, it's how our only potions instructor prefers it at this point in time as well.
An answer from our Potions Teacher: As far as the potions club, I don't believe that at this point in the year it really makes sense to try to start it up. For the new school year, however, it will be started. I have a bank of recipes, as well as ideas for practicals such as potions gambits and working with the dueling club in a 'combat' simulation. As far as a 'system' of any sort for potions? This is not Pottermore or the Potterverse video games. If you want a 'system' where you can click to create...those are your games. This is a roleplay sim, and as far as I am concerned, rp can be done without some system dictating it. I've added a list of potions which can be found in the library, as well as potions which would have been taught per year, so everyone really has a fairly large bank of potions to RP with. As far as discovering the ones in the library... RP it out, or talk to Livius. I made the recipes for all the potions found in the books I made. Making a recipe for all of the Potterverse potions is way. more work then I intend to put on anyone's plate. That doesn't mean you can't rp finding the book and trying to figure out how to potion from just a recipe. It doesn't assure success, but that's true of anything in RP.

Q: Uniform - Remember the canon guys. Harry Potter didn't wear his high heels because that's where his personality was contained. I don't recall any uniform issues in the books besides Ron's untucked shirts, perhaps? I know some guys are low on moola, and in The Alley there are free uniforms. To those rebellious students, that's totally fine, but don't continually repeat the infraction, UNLESS you want it to become a large issue.
A: Yes and we are also working on really awesome free uniforms to those who need them as well! Actually the rules at the Landing Zone state that you are to be in your uniform from Monday to Friday UNTIL Dinnertime and in every class. After Dinnertime and during the weekend you can wear normal clothes unless you are in a class! And please listen to the professors about the robes! Because of the CURRENT Plot Situation you HAVE to wear ROBES at ALL times. It would also be safer in the RP situation to wear Uniform and Robes even outside the classes at during weekend for safety reasons! But we are looking into changing the rules to be more canon with a boarding school and will inform you about it when time comes.

Q: That aside, I just want to remind people, even myself, that para-rp isn't a necessity. Sometimes the best things are contained in one line. I don't want to dictate the BEST way to do things or anything, I just want to lessen the hate on the short posters. It's quicker, and sometimes it is a great deal funnier, more emotional and so on. Either way works fine, but it's worth remembering.
A: Ditto, it's easier to adjust to the RP that is around you.

Q: Please don't hurt me for asking this. I know you are busy and all the kudos are for you all, I'm just curious. With the accio keys you managed to save up quite a lot of prims (im not a builder, just a prim swallower rezz maniac, so I dont really know:]) So, the rest of the prims for the sim might be enough to build up a basic Hogsmeade? Or do you have any ideas with Hogsmeade? That would surely give some more place for people to RP and also for adults.
A: oh we do have ideas for hogsmeade XD but this sim doesn’t have the prim space for rentable homes in hogsmeade, but we will have one at some point.

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