Safety First
Chat expands to support safety cards.
As we have been working on Shard we have learned a huge amount about the differences in how people play D&D from our amazing community. We try to learn as much as possible and use that so that we can accommodate the greatest diversity of users possible. Our latest feature of safety cards is a great example of this. In our own play, we have generally played with a close knit group of friends and as such have rarely had issues with players being uncomfortable with content in the game or with how people choose to play. We have learned from our community that not all games are like that. Sometimes players don’t know each other well. Sometimes the game content is particularly sensitive and sometimes players are just stepping outside of their comfort zones. In these cases Shard needs some extra tools to get through these challenges so that everyone can continue to have a great time playing D&D, which is our ultimate goal with Shard.
For the safety cards, Dessica has been a big proponent of the feature for a while and has helped us to build this feature. She uses roll playing games as part of her therapy sessions. Here is her description of the new feature:
Hello Shard Team, Dessica here, it’s been a long time since my name has graced the contribution pages. But I’d like to talk about Shard’s new feature that was just added in. If you utilize any TTRPG safety tools then you will be happy to know that the X-Card is now here in the chat system. This system was developed to help players navigate potentially sensitive moments during a game. If you utilize consent forms, and any form of Lines and Veils with your players to help navigate violence, gore, etc. Then this system gives you and the players one more tool in the kit. As a DM who utilizes these features for my games, especially my therapy games it is important to the well-being and respect of your players to navigate sensitive topics in a supportive and safe way. With that said lets talk about how to use the new features.
As long as you are not typing in the message window, you can click on the emojis and you will see the option at the bottom of the emoji window to place the X-Card to stop what’s currently going on, the N-Card to slow down, or the O-Card to keep going when it’s around a touchy subject for your players. Now not to worry players, only the DM and the player who pressed the card know who fired it off, it will show as anonymous for everyone else. Additionally, only the DM and the player that pushed the card can click on it and delete it. I am super excited about the launch of this feature as I have been championing it with Darren for some time now. So seeing it being brought into the main features of Shard once again highlights why I love this team so much. Until next time gang!!
Dess
If you would like to learn more about how you can use this in your game, here is a link to a document recommended by Dessica.
Keep letting us know how you like using Shard and how we can make it better.