Head Admin Q&A

[Cellar Door]

Q: What's it like having a group of internet friends that you may or may not be closer with than your real life friends? And do you feel like your friendships are richer because they're more diverse, or lessened by the fact that you don't know many of them on a real-life basis? (Or in the biblical sense? ;D)

[PandaMattMatt]

I understand the reason that Custom Items need 3 approvals. And I understand that Pet Sheets are essentially living items. What is the reason behind a Pet Sheet requiring 3 approvals? I've done it a couple times now and it feels very much like an even simpler Character Sheet. Characters, even when they start at higher levels only require 2 approvals, but pets, since they are items require 3.

[cntrstrk14]

Q: What's it like having a group of internet friends that you may or may not be closer with than your real life friends? And do you feel like your friendships are richer because they're more diverse, or lessened by the fact that you don't know many of them on a real-life basis?

A: Huh. This is something I don't really think about any more. I remember thinking about this when I was younger, how I had this group of friends I had never met and thought it was kind of weird. I thought of them separately than my real friends. After 10 years of running this site though, raid leading in wow and playing competitive games I... just don't draw a difference much. NA people are just another clique of friends I have. I mention you guys in conversations to other friends normally like "hey, so my friend said..." etc. I haven't thought it "weird" in a very long time though. I guess hanging out in real life doesn't make a person any more "real" to me. Talking on Skype makes a person just as real to me than anyone else. Now, people I have not spoken to on Skype is another question, they are more like acquaintances because I don't feel like I know them well.

One thing I use to worry about when I was younger was that people online were lying about who they were. That is still possible, though with voice chat things like age and gender can kind of be figured out. But I guess I also realized at some point that people in real life can lie about just as much as people on the internet, just different things. At least with NA I know that we are all here because we love the game. No one sticks around a game like this "just because", there is a lot of work involved in playing the game. So I guess it doesn't matter as much if you choose to lie to me about who you are, I know that you really enjoy SOMETHING about the site and that we have that in common, so that is enough.

Anyways, I don't have a lot of specifics to say here. It's an interesting question but not one I have anything specific I want to say. Each person I meet is judged individually so I can't say if internet or real life friends are closer to me as a whole. There are plenty of you that I am closer to than real life friends and there are tons of you who are not. I also think my group of friends in real life is pretty diverse, growing up just outside a major city like Chicago. My friends have a wide variety of interests and backgrounds and upbringings, so the fact that the same applies to online friends doesn't really click for me as different.

Q: Why do pets require three approvals and why are they grouped under items? They have much more similarities with characters, which only requires two approvals.

A: This question is pretty straightforward and follows a theme in this Q&A thread. The answer is that its because not a lot of thought was put into them. That being said, I think a better question is "what is an optimal amount of approvals for any creation?" to which I would answer three. The only reason that a character has two approvals is because we want to lower the barrier to entry so that new people can start playing the game as fast as possible.

Pets on the other hand are a seldom used system and one I believe most staff will not be able to tell you the rules for without looking them up. For something that comes up so seldom, I feel much more comfortable having staff triple check for approvals rather than simply double checking. There is not a lot that goes into making a pet, but that should also mean that the three approvals are easier to get.

That all said, I think pets are fine at three approvals. For more information on why certain things require certain amounts of approvals, check out my earlier answer to your similar question here.

[Kouta]

Dear Tony,

What was your favorite part of NA to create? (site, system, npc, jutsu, w/e)

What was your least favorite?

[dowhatnow]

Additionally, and I know this may seem like a joke, but have you ever considered making NA a more tangible game?

 

To clarify: in a perfect, non-litigious society where copyright infringement was less likely to happen based on derivitave works, did you ever imagine NA as a videogame?

[Cellar Door]

To further clarify: Where do I download the game?

[Azure]

So this has bothered the hell out of me after I noticed it.  And if anyone else who has tried to mentally memorize the main site, they will feel the pain.
 

Gennin

0-20 damage points - 1 tech point
21-40 damage points - 2 tech points
41-60 damage points - 3 tech points
(60 = Max Ninjutsu/Genjutsu Damage, the extra 20 can be used for effects)
61-80 damage points - 4 tech points
(80 = Max Taijutsu Damage)

Chuunin

0-30 damage points – 1 tech point
31-60 damage points – 2 tech point
61-90 damage points – 3 tech point
(90 = Max Genjutsu Damage, the extra 60 can be used for effects)
91-120 damage points – 4 tech point
(120 = Max Ninjutsu Damage, the extra 30 can be used for effects)
121-150 damage points - 5 tech points
(150 = Max Taijutsu Damage)

Jounin

0-40 damage points – 1 tech point
41-80 damage points – 2 tech point
81-130 damage points – 3 tech point
131-170 damage points – 4 tech point
171-220 damage points – 5 tech point
221-270 damage points – 6 tech point
(270 = Max Genjutsu Damage, the extra 120 can be used for effects)
271-320 damage points – 7 tech point
(320 = Max Ninjutsu Damage, the extra 60 can be used for effects)
321-380 damage points - 8 tech points
(380 = Max Taijutsu Damage)

Sennin

0-60 damage points – 1 tech point
61-120 damage points – 2 tech point
121-190 damage points – 3 tech point
191-260 damage points – 4 tech point
261-330 damage points – 5 tech point
331-400 damage points – 6 tech point
401-470 damage points– 7 tech point
471-540 damage points– 8 tech point
541-610 damage points– 9 tech point

 

Gennin is broken down in increments of 20,Chuunin in 30--Jounin starts at 40 and then shifts to 50, Sennin starts at 60 and shifts to 70. Why the shifting numbers?

[cntrstrk14]

Q: What was your favorite part of NA to create? (site, system, npc, jutsu, w/e). What was your least favorite?

A: Huh. This is a really strange question because I just couldn't think of an answer. Let me first answer this as a player, and the answer of which you can probably figure out just by looking at my creation listings. This is a little misleading, because if I set out to create something for the Main Site it is not listed here, I just made those things first in admin chat and them would push them to the Main Site. Some of my creations ended up being put on the Main Site later. So for the most part, the below is stuff I made "as a player". But let's look at this statistically...

 

94 Ninjutsu
27 Taijutsu
24 Genjutsu
19 Taijutsu/Genjutsu Hybrids
01 Ninjutsu/Taijutsu Hybrids
00 Ninjutsu/Genjutsu Hybrids
165 Techniques Total

06 'Effects' for Techniques (All of which went on to be Main Site later, 5 as status effects, 1 as a mechanic)

27 Positive Skills (3 Clan Only; 4 of which became Main Site)
03 Hindering Skills
01 Neutral Skill (Talent Shift; later became Main Site)
31 Skills Total

02 Clans

06 Bloodlines

04 Weapons (3 for Syaoran; 1 for Tsubasa)
09 Armor (5 for Syaoran; 1 for Tsubasa; 3 General)
12 Other Items
06 Item Abilities

01 Summon Family

01 Organization

 

So, just looking at this we have some clear outliers. Hindering Skills, Clans, Summons and Organizations all stick out to me. The most interesting is the clans -> bloodline relation. I really like making bloodlines, but I loathe making clans. Which makes sense that I've only make two clans and six bloodlines then. Hybrid Nin/Tai and Nin/Gen are interesting because there was no real "reason" to make a technique a hybrid unless its obvious in flavor or it is for a specific character. Most Nin/Tai hybrids can be just Taijutsu or Ninjutsu. Same with Nin/Gen. The only reason Tai/Gen is so much higher is because that is the focus of my second PC, Tsubasa.

Ninjutsu is the obvious winner for techniques, with almost four times as much as any other technique category. Not too surprising, I've always enjoyed magic, so having the most creations in Ninjutsu is not too surprising.

As a staff member, I'm not entirely sure what system I have "liked" and "disliked" the most in creating. I tend to get myself excited about whatever I am working on- even if I never plan to use a system on my own characters I always imagine what it would be like to have a character with it or to be excited with it. So I always approach a system with a mindset that I will use it. Some have been easier than others. For instance, puppets and poisons take the longest time for me to care about, as they were harder to get excited about for me personally. But when I did get excited about them they just kind of flowed. Other staff members have picked up slack for systems that I have a hard time with, but in the end there are no systems I truly "disliked" making. Just lots of frustrating challenges- but those are often the most rewarding when I find a solution.



Q: Have you ever considered making NA a more tangible game?

A: Yes. The idea floats across my mind every few months. I have the abilities to make a game, and I do love NA. There are two major reasons that I do not believe NA will ever be a more "tangible" game. At least not in a way that would replace what it currently is (maybe as a companion game).

1.) Copyright issues. To make it a game we would need to strip out reference to Naruto, otherwise we could get hit with a cease and desist and that would just be awful, especially if it brought the large eye of the law on this site for some reason. And if we were going to strip out the Naruto core of the game, that would probably leave a lot of people a bit alienated. This is the lesser reason however...
2.) NA would not function well as a more tangible game. At least not one that I could accomplish without a really good team and a budget. A lot of the fun of the game comes from the fact that a player can make their own content. It functions best as a tabletop style game. Putting the game into a structure like a video game is going to limit creativity no matter how well we do, because the matter of fact about the game is that I don't know every way to play. New players come and have new ideas I've never thought of, and part of the fun in my job as staff is finding out how to fit these new ideas in. If this was a traditional game that would mean constant patches and changes to the code to allow new ideas to function. While fun, that is a lot of work, and I don't know that the experience would be that much better. It would also be a scaling nightmare. If the game got popular and more people wanted to play, there would be no way to keep up with the content and keep it quality like we do now. We have a pretty full staff to keep ideas approved and that helps assure only quality content makes it into battles. The more users that would come, the larger staff would become and the harder it would be to maintain quality control.

So, in the end, I really think that NA works as a free style tabletop style experience. Maybe one day we can create something in the same style of NA, but if we ever did it would be its own thing and I entirely believe NA would continue on as it has.

Wow, that took longer than I thought. Now let me tell you a story of NA 4.0 and the "plans" we had. The year was 2004 and Gaia Online was just becoming big and the new hot internet shit for nerds like us. A lot of our early members (myself included) played on Gaia during or before joining NA. We had a big plan to make an avatar like system attached to the site as well as an interactive map just like theirs. The problem with that is... we didn't have the resources to pull it off. A system like that is huge, and not just something you can do out of no where. The map would be the easiest part to make, but even that takes a dedicated artist to create the map. We had someone at the time try, but I'll be frank with you. It was not very good (sorry if you read this!). So we fell back on a general map like we had now that was made by yours truly with some photoshop and tracing of the canon map and that was the end of it. Just a piece for reference.



Q: Why doesn't the range of cost points for each ranks jutsu point listing stay even?

A: This was a feeling thing. The caps for cost on techniques I believe existed before the jutsu point system*. So we had cost caps for each rank of technique (Sennin didn't exist originally, I'll get to this in a moment). Then the Jutsu Point system came along and we liked our caps. There was a problem though. We didn't want techniques costing twice as much JP as you went up in rank. We wanted a 2 Jutsu Point technique at Jounin to be worth more than at Chuunin. So we increased the caps, like you said: 20 -> 30 -> 40. But the cost caps didn't go up in that ratio, they went up in 80, 150, 380. So we needed to play with the amounts some. In the end, we settled on what we have now as a chart. I believe it was decided that the JP cost was something you only do once when you make the technique, memorization was not something we were concerned with. Feel trumped the pattern in this case, and the system we have now felt better than compeleting a pattern just for the sake of completing that pattern.

[Rei]

Dear Tony,

I have an odd question but bear with me. I’m interested in expanding the NA mythos by introducing a new country/land mass/nation-state or “modernizing” the lore behind an unused canon village. What’s the best way of going about this without stepping on someone’s toes? Should I create a wiki entry? Ask a GM to run a thread? Or do I need staff permission before I potentially rewrite the world history?

[cntrstrk14]

Q: I’m interested in expanding the NA mythos by introducing a new country/land mass/nation-state or “modernizing” the lore behind an unused canon village. What’s the best way of going about this without stepping on someone’s toes? Should I create a wiki entry? Ask a GM to run a thread? Or do I need staff permission before I potentially rewrite the world history?

A: First thing first, I suggest that you only expand on a portion of the mythos if you plan to actually use it (either as a GM or in character). This is because we tend to leave things blank so that when we have a cool idea or need to use a location we can use canon stuff to fill in the blanks and suit our needs. Modernizing an area or creating a new place on the map "just because" just cuts off future options for GM's for no really good reason. For instance, if you wanted to expand on the Country of Snow back in 2009 just because you thought it was cool, you may have made a bunch of decisions about it that would have made the war with Iwagakure more difficult just because.

That said, there are a great many ways to go about this, but all of them do require one thing. You're going to want to get in touch with an admin or moderator at some point to make sure that there isn't already existing lore in NA. At this point, NA has been around for over ten years and lots of areas have been GM'ed or touched on by a lot of different game masters. Between the members of staff we have a pretty lengthy knowledge of what has and hasn't been used or expanded upon already. So we will be able to help you on your path. No matter if its an existing place or a new one its the same process.

Canon Areas: You will need to make sure you don't contradict things that have already been defined in NA. You will also probably have to justify the scope of what you want to do. When you pin down information it becomes canon, and this cannot (or should not) be changed later.

New Areas: You will need to answer the question "Why can't you use an existing location?". Making new countries just because is really difficult. Locations in countries are much easier as the countries are very large areas with much that they can contain. But anything that would be visibly drawn on our map is going to be incredibly difficult.

And that's about the best answer I can give. If you are interested in doing this please don't hesitate to contact staff, we want to empower people to explore the NA world, and we will be happy to help out!

[MadKatters]

Necro-bump.
I have a Really important question.

 

Where do I Download the game? I've been wondering this for ages. Is there a steam client I've been missing? Are we console-locked?

 

On another note.
Cellphones on NA, why we no have?

Dr. Pepper or Dr. Thunder?

 

Potato or Potato?

Have you ever contemplated making NA like some of the other more 'modern-era' attempts at a freemium style RP?

Tell us, really. Is KC Bald? Is that just like... a super bad wig?

[cntrstrk14]

Q: Where do I Download the game? I've been wondering this for ages. Is there a steam client I've been missing? Are we console-locked?

A: I will direct you to this post for your answer. We are not console locked, we've actually ported to thousands of new devices as mobile phones and tablets have expanded with each year. Our client developers have worked pretty hard to keep up to date with each new port, but they've done it pretty successfully. We are on PC, Apple, iOS, Amazon, Playstation and Xbox. Nintendo has been a bit tricky as their web portal interfaces have had needless parental and child locks, but we'll get there eventually.

 

Q: Cellphones on NA, why we no have?

A: There has not been an official hand of god post anywhere about this but we have relaxed this some. We've had handheld game systems pop up and some cell phones. The general rule we've used to keep the feel of the game though is that networks are not very great and there are a lot of dead zones. Also, villages have their own network and don't directly connect to infrastructure outside of them for security reasons. Maybe one day I will write up a new technology guide post that incorporates the shift's we've done since Boruto, but you can find some older answers here. The Micro/Macro/Global break down is pretty relevant still. 

 

Q: Dr. Pepper or Dr. Thunder?

A: Dr. Pepper, not even a real question.

 

Q: Potato or Potato?

A: Potato.

 

Q: Have you ever contemplated making NA like some of the other more 'modern-era' attempts at a freemium style RP?

A: Given that I work on a game like that currently I have. The donation system is about as close as I will probably ever take it to be honest. The heart of NA is the ability and freedom to create anything you can imagine in the world. Putting the game into video game format would ruin that. And I don't think that having unlimited real money bundles for stuff would make this site better. I offer the one time character bundles that gives a boost and some donation awards around character re-rolls and re-stating as convenience things, but any more than that and I think it would ruin the game. 

 

Q: Tell us, really. Is KC Bald? Is that just like... a super bad wig?

A: KC is not bald, in either place.

 

 

[PandaMattMatt]

Why is the maximum level 120 as opposed to 100? It always seemed so random or arbitrary to me, but I'm sure it's not. 

[cntrstrk14]

Q: Why is the maximum level 120 as opposed to 100? It always seemed so random or arbitrary to me, but I'm sure it's not. 

A: I honestly could not tell you the answer to this question. I'm not sure if it was a decision I made or one that was put upon the system before I fully had control. I would likely have to dig around in 3.0 Admin topics to find this answer, though I'm not even sure when a "cap" was added? It may have been in 4.0. Honestly we were likely influenced by World of Warcraft which came out around the same time as early NA. They had a level cap of 60 instead o 50 originally and it probably helped normalize stranger level caps. Maybe it was a math thing? But I doubt that. Our total EXP to level 120 is 69,000 EXP which is not a neat number. The level brackets didn't go in 40's or 30's to require a 120 stopping point. The best guesses I have are as follows...

 

1.) We were discussing a level cap of 100 for "normal" players. Originally the four ranks of NA for ninja were Genin, Chuunin, Jounin, Kage. It wasn't until later that "Kage" would change to "Sennin" so that more than one person could obtain the rank per village. It's possible that we used 100 for normal players and went up to 120 as a "prestige" level that was originally intended just for Kage. Then when we moved from Kage to Sennin we kept the cap at 120.

 

2.) We wanted to be twice as cool as World of Warcraft.

 

[Kouta]

Q: Why do we wait until Level 30 to do Elemental Specialties? Lots of people roll them early, and a specialty can definitely help inform a build in the future? So why not hand all the kids their little chakra paper at Level 0?

[cntrstrk14]

Q: Why do we wait until Level 30 to do Elemental Specialties? Lots of people roll them early, and a specialty can definitely help inform a build in the future? So why not hand all the kids their little chakra paper at Level 0?

A: Two reasons.

1. We don't want to do everything at level 0, moving things to higher levels lowers the barrier to entry for new players to make characters. We already have Paths and everything else at level 0, we don't need more things for a player to have to learn and worry about. 

 

2. Also because progression is important. We put it at 30 and 80 as milestones for players to reach. The one at 30 could probably be at a place with less going on, like 20, but when it was made it was a lot easier to get to level 20 which would have made it "too close" to level 0. So it's at level 30 because that's where it is, it's part of leveling up and the reward for doing so.

 

3. I lied when I said two. There is canon precedent. Naruto didn't learn his specialty until later in the series, its implied that specialties are something that a person learns later in their career when they've learned more rather than straight out of the academy.

 

That all said, you can roll early if you want to know what your specialty is (it says so in the specialty rules), and you can even get the subtle element if you want early and get refunded later. So for the players that are not new and want to grab their specialty information early they can, it's allowed.

 

[almondsAndRain]

1. By and large, you decide on most aspects of your character when you create them. The only two exceptions I can think of off the top of my head are Death Bonuses and Elemental Specialties. Why are they random? Early on, were other aspects of Ninja Academy random, a la character creation and leveling up in D&D?
    
2. Why is the majority of the game spent with a level-based advancement system as opposed to one where experience is spent to purchase abilities individually? And why does the system switch from level-based advancement to our CXP system later on?
    
3. What old system or rule are you most happy about changing or removing? How was it bad or otherwise problematic, and how does its replacement do its job better?
    
4. Skill-locked techniques and forbidden techniques operate in a similar space, with two caveats: forbidden techniques get you in trouble if you get caught using them and are limited to Jounin and Sennin, and forbiddens cost more technique points than normal techniques while skill-lockeds cost skill points. Mechanically, both tend to be stronger than other techniques of their rank and have odd or unique mechanics paired to them (unless the forbidden is just a bomb, which is admittedly common). 
   How do you decide whether a new technique or type of technique should cost more skill points (Rasengan, Shintenshin), more technique points (Balefire, Kan-Laon), or both (Gaihiton Jutsu)? I'm assuming it's a power thing, with more potent abilities costing SP and less potent ones costing JP, but there is still some overlap between the two types of techniques, and a pumped up forbidden will be stronger than a Sennin skill-locked in terms of pure damage.

   I... suppose one thing I'm actually asking is, "Given the overlapping design space and similar mechanics between forbidden techniques and skill-locked ones, why do they both exist?"

    

5. Kicking away the mechanical questions, if you could retroactively make any changes to the history of NA’s universe, what would they be? What parts of NA’s timeline do you regret making or allowing?

Edited November 14, 2019 by almondsAndRain

[Miso]

Those are some legit questions. I'd like to know the answer to those as well, specially the NA history bit. I'm calling a cop out if NCIA is the answer though. lol

 

 

Question.

Would it be possible to make it a D rank mission to build some of the NA Wiki's wanted pages? Like how the character registration is but for things such as clan pages, events, and other things of that sort? Obviously curated so it's not just a turd write up for incentives but effort does go into those things and helps with an aspect of the site.