Digital Experience in Romancing Jan

Greetings Gentlepersons!

A few players have reached out with concerns that they need to be involved in the website Forums or the unofficial Discords in order to play the game. Others are worried they are missing out on the "full experience." So I would like to explain a few things about how this game is designed to be played; what the writers look at when developing content; and how you, dear player, can affect what goes on in the world.

The intention of this game is to be as low tech as possible from the player end. There are plenty of online role playing games in the world. I have built and run and played many myself. They are wonderful and they have their place, but in making this game I wanted to create something that would give us a break from the screen and create a physical contact, even with that contact just being letters, that we do not get in those games, and during a pandemic, can not get in real life either. Thus all official gameplay ONLY takes place through player mail that is sent to our PO Box.

The sources of truth we use to create the periodicals and NPC letters are the content that is in your original character survey, any updates you might send us through email, and what occurs in the letters players send.

The forums are our official, monitored space for out of game connections. The staff uses them to answer questions and occasionally to do a quick feedback query. The Discords are completely unofficial - they are fan-created and controlled hang out spots. Neither the Discords nor the forum are sources for content; how players use these tools to coordinate in-game interaction isn't canon until it ends up in a letter.

Why allow the Forums and Discord then? Because we believe in letting community build organically. We understand that some folks might find it intimidating to start conversations with people they don't know using just the few lines in the periodicals about them. The forums and discord are an out of game path for folks to jump start their interactions. Additionally in social games such as this people will naturally coordinate out of character connections with friends, having spaces like these gives other people an opportunity to join in on that, if they so wish, without it becoming exclusive to only people who join with an already set friend group.

Remember: No one is getting any advantage as there is no winning or losing in this game. For a richer game experience that remains completely off-line consider taking one of these approaches.

- Jump right in! Write to other players or non-player characters, perhaps including how you "met" in the past -- "I recall meeting you at this dance two years ago..."

- Read the periodical closely for openings - Respond to a player's ad with an inquiry. Perhaps you enjoyed a drawing they had published. Was there something about a player in the Suitor's Corner that caught your eye?

- Make yourself an interesting correspondent by submitting a contribution to the Editors, Ms. Imogene Pettigrew or Mr. Sessile Urban - essays, advertisements, poetry, art all welcome (you can also make an online exception and submit your content via https://airtable.com/shrxGGV79Cw4Z2Gus)

Or you can also wait until you receive mail to reply, but if you are not sending out mail to either player characters or non-player characters, we will only have your initial character description to go off of when writing about you in the periodicals. Some folks prefer it this way, but if you want to see more about yourself in the periodicals, we need to hear from you about what your character is up to! Want more letters? Want to have more influence on Society? Remember this key piece of advice: If you want to be in the museum, you must amuse!

As always we appreciate the feedback we receive and will continue to make adjustments or highlight the reasons that we have designed the game to work in specific ways as we can.

With my appreciation of your support,

Athena