The Bribe
It is my view that the wiki I host provides lots of valuable information about our game in a format all of us can reference easily and update continuously. Some players seem significantly more motivated to contribute information than others, however. These facts have moved me to test a system that encourages players to contribute information to the wiki.
Personally, I think that our Exalted already get sufficient Experience handouts every week, with the average being four points per week PLUS story bonuses of five points. Initially, it occurred to me to reduce the current weekly award to an average of three points, and to reserve the fourth point for those who contribute to our group wiki. Unfortunately, that feels like the stick, and I would prefer to use the carrot.
As such, I am now testing a combination of our established average for our group, of four Experience per game, and awarding one bonus Experience point to any player who contributes sufficiently to the wiki before the next game. Normally this will mean that each player has one week’s time to earn one bonus Experience point.
So, what is “sufficient” to qualify for "The Bribe"? Currently, I am insisting that a person must contribute at least 500 words of text per session they earn the reward, and that this text must be cohesive, interesting and make sense. Initially, some of you could probably just do a lot to beef up your character writeups, but we should be fine with people regularly doing weekly journals of events from their characters’ perspectives.
The purpose of the bribe is to encourage everyone to contribute to the game during non-game days by contributing to the wiki about the game. Posting qualifying information will help everyone have a stronger reference for what happened in the game. It will also help reinforce the roleplaying aspects of the game by showing the same world through different characters’ eyes.
Posting valuable information when you miss a game session will still earn you one point, however it is unrealistic for a player to be able to continue to contribute valuable information if she misses lots of games. Missing lots of games inevitably will cause the information posted to be “fluff” or “filler” rather than relevant information about what is really happening in the game.
Each person may only get the reward once per game session, regardless of how much you post at a time. Quality is important – posts that seem lame or just “reaching” for free Experience will be denied the bribe. Obviously, this is going to be somewhat arbitrary, with me being the arbitrator, but if it causes too much argument I will simply end the program. Oh, and for those that need an example of length, this article is 500 words, including title.
