Alright, I have something new to posit.

But before that I want to seriously question the necessity of 'where is everyone right now and what are they doing because I don't want to read the IC' table.  I think my quote just there pretty much sums up what I think of it.

[b]And now to the new thing:[/b]

I'm thinking of involving a Bonus system for character upgrades.  Sure, the first round of small things, like adding a sight to a weapon or replacing one that got broken or making a new bit of armor, would be free.  But after that, it makes sense to me that substantial upgrades ought to be earned.  And the way I'm thinking of doing this is this:

More challenges and contests!  And few to none of them IC!

Let me explain this using my first idea as an example.  Let's say I want to create a team of seniors at Beacon that are basically the A-team, a bunch of powerful dudes/gals who're ready to graduate and could rock a Riesen no problem.  I would ask everyone interesting in having some creative fun (and earning Bonuses) to create a new character with certain themes in mind, like "theme: beast" and "character must be human".  Some sheets would get posted, I'd be all subjective, and the winner gets a OOC Bonus that allows their IC character to make a big upgrade in Armory class.  Such a upgrade might be something like a poison-breathing mechanical mouth on your shield, special dust shells to use in your tank, or an alternate form for a weapon already owned.  I'd probably also allow advances in Semblance, where a user discovers a new and lucrative depth to their Semblance they've never been able to coax out before.

There would also be challenges like 'write in five hundred words a brief story about your character finding his way through a maze and battling guards' and "work with someone else to exchange characters and write a five-hundred word short story from their character's perspective".

I've set up a tally vote on the conference document for this purpose.  Please take a side; I expect to see twenty-seven votes within the next few days.  Just write your username or a comment or "+1".  Thank you for hearing me out!