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 A collaborative world

ThoseWhoWentMissing is driven by concept and character development. The esk species is always evolving thanks to the unique interpretations of the species properties and lore that take place in players' MYO designs, artwork, and stories. We want you to look at the species and world guidelines we have provided as a framework upon which to build your ideas; in TWWM we are all telling a story together and your contributions allow the canon to be ever-expanding. 

We are a content-driven game, the points system is designed as a way to show our gratitude and reward players for their contributions to their expansion of the story of the esk species — thank you for helping us grow!

 Personal goals

The game's player levels provide a basic path through the game by gaining AP, but creating your own targeted goals will add an extra level of reward to your experience here. We highly encourage our players to set creative or technical goals for their art or writing skills, brainstorm the types of modifications or MYOs they want to bring into the game, or set community goals like gifting to others or granting Wellspring wishes. Everyone is different and we want to help you get the most out of your participation in your own unique way. 

 Flexible scoring

TWWM provides a scoring system that is intended to be adapted to one's individual needs and abilities. The scoring tiers are not rigid and should be interpreted in a way that most benefits your gameplay experience and provides an appropriate level of challenge to encourage learning and growth. TWWM is not a race or competitive game; players should hold their work to their own standards and score fairly against themselves to reflect their individual style and spectrum of abilities. If you are a less experienced artist please do not feel pressured to score your work in comparison to professionals, all skill levels are welcome and celebrated here. The visual examples in the scoring guide are not definitive, they should be used as a reference but you are not forced to match their styles or techniques. What works best for one player may not work for another, we trust our players to score fairly and responsibly in a way that provides ongoing challenge and longevity in the game and is respectful to the level of effort all players are putting into their submissions.

There may be times when a TWWM team member will contact you with scoring advisement to help provide clarifications or suggest changes. Any scoring adjustments arranged by staff members will be made in discussion with you to ensure fairness and compromise. We do not force overrides on scoring on our players unless there has been a clear mathematical error or flaw in the scoring system, we will always work with you personally and respectfully when scoring shows a need for revisions. We appreciate the thought and emotion you put into your work and never want anyone to feel that their work has been devalued when adjustments are being made and we thank you for your understanding when these situations arise.

Flexible scoring goes both ways. You can increase your level of difficulty by using lower scoring tiers or dropping bonuses that you may not have put your best effort toward and you can decrease your level of difficulty by scoring in-between scoring tiers or by being more gentle in applying the thresholds between scoring tiers to your work. We expect players to be respectful to the community by not using this flexibility in a way that does not serve your creative growth or decreases the meaningfulness of the points as a reward for everyone's contributions. Please help the staff by labeling submissions with your scoring methods when you make these kinds of adjustments or score in-between tiers, it will help us make sure that there have not been any errors and that the changes are intentional. Thank you!

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Examples of flexible scoring:

 "I want to get better at detail so I will score all my light, simple shading as flat color and save the shading score only for my detailed art."
 "My best work is flat colored artwork with lots of detail and patterning, I will be scoring these types of submissions in the shaded tier because they are complex and labor-intensive."
 "I will score my doodle page as a single submission instead of batch uploads because I don't feel like each drawing is a complete artwork that could stand on its own to receive individual AP scoring."
 "I worked on this watercolor painting forever and still can't get the shading right! I know it looks flat in most areas, but I am going to give myself the shaded score until I have more control over this medium."
 "I put some color on this drawing but it still feels more like a sketch to me so I will give it 1AP."
  "I'm new to doing backgrounds; I know the complexity of my work isn't advanced yet but I am making my best effort to draw a full scene and will score this level of work in-between shaded and full scenic until I can further hone my skills."

 Fostering a nurturing community

Here at TWWM we strive to create a community that is welcoming and supportive to all of its members. Our staff strives to maintain transparency and collaboration with all participants; each day we are working together with the community to develop the game and make this game the best it can be. We believe that players should never feel dismissed or overlooked in their feedback or concerns; your enjoyment and comfort in the group is our priority. 
We maintain an open Suggestion Box and discussion area on our group chat where you can share your thoughts with us. You can also send us a group note for more direct communication.

The bonuses for gift art and creating character relationships are intended to reward generosity and community-building. We have been so touched by the supportive and giving atmosphere in this group and we will continue to make our best efforts to maintain a friendly, safe, and supportive game environment for everyone. Thank you for sharing in this goal with us!

 Accessibility

It is our goal to maintain accessibility for the esk species by providing many free opportunities to obtain them in the game. As TWWM grows we will continue to add more frequent and unique methods of obtaining and creating new esk. We are a concept-driven game so our focus is on free, self-designed characters over premium content — we want all members to feel that they can participate fully without having to spend any money. We will continue to increase availability of adoptable sales, prizes, and MYOs as the playerbase gets bigger in order to prevent costs from ever creating a wall that blocks new members from joining or enjoying the game.

We will also continue to maintain an open resale market for premades and customs that allows the value of these characters to fluctuate organically without overly strict resale limitations. We place trust in our market participants to sell and trade fairly with respect to the content and histories of these characters. We understand that the value of these adoptables can change over time and so we allow sellers to set their own pricing. It is of utmost importance that we show compassion toward each other, toward the original buyers, and toward the original sellers or creators of the adoptables you are exchanging within the game market. It is our hope that we can continue to have a market that is dynamic and flexible.
Demand for esk adoptables is significant at this time; we strongly encourage directing sales, trades, and giveaways toward first-time-owners that are trying to enter the game.

Additionally, we want to make sure that the game's layouts and information pages can be accessed by anyone with personal or technological limitations; please let us know if you are experiencing any difficulties in using the game and we will address them promptly.