Speaking of the old multiverse, the PW mods should really look at it and figure out what when wrong. Why did it lose interest so quickly? What should we do to ensure it doesn't immediately die? Those kinds of questions should be asked and answered to make sure this PW lives for a long time.
There's such a thing as too much freedom. It resulted in a few death-spelling discrepancies for that RP, where the cast was irreconcilably divided on key details such as:
- Characters' powers and abilities
- The tone of the game (some people taking it seriously, others creating "joke characters")
- Intentions (e.g. genre)
- Writing level
The game didn't have a vision, and by playing
too loosely with player freedom it made sure that no one could ever really lock down a certain tone or direction. For example the people who wanted a lot of character development among the crew on a spaceship were distracted by dogfights and shootouts, whereas the action people were bored by development of characters they hadn't yet come to care about. Or, the
Star Wars, "Fantasy with a coat of space-paint" people were at odds with the hard-science
Star Trek crowd, etc.
Instead of being another Science Fiction universe where "© ANYTHING Can Happen™!" the next one, at least if it wants to survive, needs to understand that too much player freedom is just as bad as too little; that when players are pulling the story in opposing directions, a sandbox is just as suffocating as a railroad. It needs strong leadership and at least a loose idea of the direction in which it wants to corral players so that they're always acting within the story as a cohesive cast, a unit, rather than like hounds chasing squirrels. They can't be competing with each other for head space and contradicting each other's ideas at every turn.