Things unique to the ToO

The Town of Odyssey is set apart from the average message board through a number of features.



The Format

The ToO is set up not just as another online message board, but as a virtual town. The forums are locations, the administrators and moderators are city officials, there is a currency system. All this is intended to assist the members in visualizing themselves not as simply posting messages on a website, but as interacting with real people in a real place.



The Money

Part of being a virtual town is having a virtual economy. Posting on the ToO earns members money that they can save up and use. They can hold it in the Vault, or spend it at the Shops to get items for their profile. There is also a weekly raffle they can buy tickets for. One of the main uses for ToO money is the elections.

Historical Note:
In the early days of the ToO there used to be a job system. Members could use their money to purchase different education degrees and vocation degrees. Certain combinations of degrees and post count allowed them to get different jobs. Each job would give the member a certain amount of money per day. There was also a virtual stock market members could play to try and make money. These features are no longer available however.



The Elections

Since the ToO is set up like a town, the leadership is as well. The administrators, known as the Mayor and the Chief of Police, are elected every four months. This allows the position of leadership to be open to all.
During a ToO election, a special election forum is created to hold the political threads. The candidates post their platforms for people to see. These are lists of things they will do if they are elected, like games and events. To get on the ballot, a team must raise a certain amount of money. Members donate to teams they like to help them make it. After the deadline, the teams that raised enough money are put on the ballot and there is a debate. This is where members can ask the candidates questions and see where they stand on different issues. Then the members all vote on who they want to become the next Mayor and CoP.
The winning candidates become admins and run the message board for the next four months. They appoint some members as moderators, known as the Police Force, to help see that things run smoothly.



The NPCs

NPCs, or Non Player Characters, are characters from Adventures in Odyssey that show up on the ToO now and then to interact with the members. Most of the time when an NPC shows up it’s because of a Story Arc.



The Story Arcs

A Story Arc is a time when there is a mystery or other event that affects the ToO. It’s like a movie. There’s a plot to what is going on, but the members don’t know what it is. They are people in the movie trying to figure out what is happening and what to do about it. Some examples of Story Arcs that have happened in the past are The Bank Robbery when everyone lost their money and had to figure out who took it and how to get it back, and Regisville when Dr. Blackgaard took over the site and the members had to figure out how to stop him.



The Shops

Members can use their money to purchase virtual items from the Shops. These items are added to the member’s inventory on their profile. They don’t have an affect on interaction with the message board, they are just for fun.
Members can also set up their own shop threads in the Crestwood Avenue forum. Here they make and sell or giveaway items like avatar and signature sets to other members.



The Arcade

When members want to take a break from posting they can play games at the Arcade. They cost one quarter per play and have a high score leader board. There aren’t too many, and some are a little buggy, but it’s just for a fun little side feature. The focus of the site isn’t gaming, it’s conversing.



The Blogs

A subsection of the ToO holds the Blogs where members can, well, blog. It’s not too widely used, but it’s there if people want it.



The Television

ToO TV is an interactive player for various AIO podcasts.



The Chatroom

This isn’t unique in itself, lots of forums have a chat feature, but the ToO Chatroom is unique in some of its details. For one thing it isn’t actually a part of the ToO, it’s a personal IRC server run by one of the members who offers it for ToO chat. Another unique thing about it is Mabel, a bot that users can interact with. The server keeps various stats on recent chat activity.



The Topic Hall of Fame

Something else unique to the ToO is The Topic Hall of Fame. This is a place where members can nominate threads that they think are noteworthy to be placed on a ballot. Each month there is a vote, and the winning thread gets inducted.