Alright so I less want #1 then I have some problems about #2 currently. So I'm going to try and explain the feelings that I am having.
Here is how I see it.
Anyway rambling done. I've just had a lot of thoughts about these RPs for a long time and it was nice to organize them into a cohesive structure.
Here is how I see it.
What are we necessarily trying to do by switching over to a new thread? It seems judging from chats in Discord and Wraith's prompt its to gather up new blood to revitalize the RP? And personally I don't see the reason for it you know? Ask any experienced GM how an RP goes the distance and its having a reliable core group. Look at all the RPs that have gone the distance on the site now and old guild what did they have? A core group of players that stuck with it. If you want to ensure the survival of the RP you got to look after those players.
To that end, I feel that the move will harm us in that regard. Look what happened with UOU for example. Switching threads effectively breaks any kind of narrative cohesion and consistency. It particular it hurts anyone (such as myself) that prefers long term storytelling over the small bit-sized arc structure. Because now people will literally have to dig up old threads to read the entire narrative. And also it puts an unnecessary pressure of "oh well I have to move uber fucking quick because Crisis is going to nuke the the thread in three months anyway." Something which you guys specifically said wasn't going to be a concern this go around and that you would be able to continue your narratives through crisis.
To that end I will also speak of the effectiveness or lack of effectiveness rather of the suggested move. Long-running roleplays get new applications all the time, those role plays just aren't really us. That has something to do with us as players not because of the GM and frankly it is the childish claiming culture that we have going on. @Lord Wraith I'm gonna call you out the most on this because you are a man and I know you can take it. We joke about your protective claim over Gotham but its actually a problem. Gotham is much bigger than Batman my dude, but you are potentially limiting new people's possibilities of the characters that they want to play. Not to mention any one's real hopes of playing someone else in the Bat fam. And this goes beyond claiming areas. Whole characters that could rightfully stand on their own and antagonists and the like have been scooped by people without even being used. We take away people's options before they are even there. I'm also part of that problem and to that end the only way we would be able to fix a change like that isn't a thread shift its a cultural change, because trust me I'm part of that problem to taking Swamp thing and such. It is to strive to be more like Maxx and Webby. Both of these players show a maturity that is beyond all the rest of us because they are ready and willing to give up antagonists, supporting casts or work with players so that everyone can use the characters that they want. And that's how real comics work! That is in part because of why they are so awesome because of the sharing of characters and the collaboration, but the current system doesn't encourage that. Instead it encourages grabbing all your favorite toys and not letting go.
The other problem kinda falls in the same area. We have already taken claim over a lot of A-listers with more to come from folks we know who are joining and other characters. Currently two of the only A-listers that I know of that don't have a sheet in the works are Hulk and Aquaman. All the other big names have been taken and also a whole damn lot of other heroes have been snatched up through supporting casts as well. We are limiting the options of new people severally and not even giving them a shot at the story they want to tell. It would be like going to an ice cream shop and finding out they are all out of ice cream and they only have cones left. And don't get me wrong you can do great things with B-listers and lower but unless somebody really wants to play that character you aren't going to catch any new blood that way. And the only way I could see us fixing such a problem would be making everyone have to reapply for their character again in Season 2. Which presents a whole nother bundle of problems that I don't think anyone would want to deal with.
And realistically consider how many new players are we going to draw in from the switch. Consider our last batch of new people that came through, we were only left with what like Ceta in the end? So if we consider that to do be a solid working point to go off of for every completely new person to join we will only gain one person? And beyond that consider how many other new people have joined and left, honestly really Ceta is the only new blood we have managed to keep. And if all those new folks ended up dropping out, I don't think it is a coincidence. I think it is a sign of a bigger problem that we have.
There is a reason that these games have a reputation. A bunch of people don't just end up thinking that we are assholes for no reason. And in some ways they are right. We are combative, we argue a lot, we are over protective of our characters and ideas. We play favoritism towards our friends sometimes to the detriment of others. When your RP becomes the definition of an Old Boy's Club of course new people aren't going to join. We actively push out new faces not invite them in. We have a lot of problems and that is never going to change unless we try to be better people and I know that is asking a lot from the most of us lol.
So to summarize I'm opposed to Option #2 if we are just trying to use it as a quick cash-grab to get new blood. Because that is not going to work, we have seen it not work before for the reasons above. I will support Option 2 if we make a commitment to try and change the culture and the nature of the RP moving forward because that is the only way that we are going to get new folk's to not only apply but to stay. If we honestly take a moment to reconsider and think about why all these RPs fail in the first place instead of jumping to a perceived easy solution to the problem. Because the problem isn't that we have a big scary thread, people jump into big scary threads all the time, look at literally any other sandbox RP lol.
No the problem is we are assholes and the environment we foster does not encourage nor support new players in the first place.
To that end, I feel that the move will harm us in that regard. Look what happened with UOU for example. Switching threads effectively breaks any kind of narrative cohesion and consistency. It particular it hurts anyone (such as myself) that prefers long term storytelling over the small bit-sized arc structure. Because now people will literally have to dig up old threads to read the entire narrative. And also it puts an unnecessary pressure of "oh well I have to move uber fucking quick because Crisis is going to nuke the the thread in three months anyway." Something which you guys specifically said wasn't going to be a concern this go around and that you would be able to continue your narratives through crisis.
To that end I will also speak of the effectiveness or lack of effectiveness rather of the suggested move. Long-running roleplays get new applications all the time, those role plays just aren't really us. That has something to do with us as players not because of the GM and frankly it is the childish claiming culture that we have going on. @Lord Wraith I'm gonna call you out the most on this because you are a man and I know you can take it. We joke about your protective claim over Gotham but its actually a problem. Gotham is much bigger than Batman my dude, but you are potentially limiting new people's possibilities of the characters that they want to play. Not to mention any one's real hopes of playing someone else in the Bat fam. And this goes beyond claiming areas. Whole characters that could rightfully stand on their own and antagonists and the like have been scooped by people without even being used. We take away people's options before they are even there. I'm also part of that problem and to that end the only way we would be able to fix a change like that isn't a thread shift its a cultural change, because trust me I'm part of that problem to taking Swamp thing and such. It is to strive to be more like Maxx and Webby. Both of these players show a maturity that is beyond all the rest of us because they are ready and willing to give up antagonists, supporting casts or work with players so that everyone can use the characters that they want. And that's how real comics work! That is in part because of why they are so awesome because of the sharing of characters and the collaboration, but the current system doesn't encourage that. Instead it encourages grabbing all your favorite toys and not letting go.
The other problem kinda falls in the same area. We have already taken claim over a lot of A-listers with more to come from folks we know who are joining and other characters. Currently two of the only A-listers that I know of that don't have a sheet in the works are Hulk and Aquaman. All the other big names have been taken and also a whole damn lot of other heroes have been snatched up through supporting casts as well. We are limiting the options of new people severally and not even giving them a shot at the story they want to tell. It would be like going to an ice cream shop and finding out they are all out of ice cream and they only have cones left. And don't get me wrong you can do great things with B-listers and lower but unless somebody really wants to play that character you aren't going to catch any new blood that way. And the only way I could see us fixing such a problem would be making everyone have to reapply for their character again in Season 2. Which presents a whole nother bundle of problems that I don't think anyone would want to deal with.
And realistically consider how many new players are we going to draw in from the switch. Consider our last batch of new people that came through, we were only left with what like Ceta in the end? So if we consider that to do be a solid working point to go off of for every completely new person to join we will only gain one person? And beyond that consider how many other new people have joined and left, honestly really Ceta is the only new blood we have managed to keep. And if all those new folks ended up dropping out, I don't think it is a coincidence. I think it is a sign of a bigger problem that we have.
There is a reason that these games have a reputation. A bunch of people don't just end up thinking that we are assholes for no reason. And in some ways they are right. We are combative, we argue a lot, we are over protective of our characters and ideas. We play favoritism towards our friends sometimes to the detriment of others. When your RP becomes the definition of an Old Boy's Club of course new people aren't going to join. We actively push out new faces not invite them in. We have a lot of problems and that is never going to change unless we try to be better people and I know that is asking a lot from the most of us lol.
So to summarize I'm opposed to Option #2 if we are just trying to use it as a quick cash-grab to get new blood. Because that is not going to work, we have seen it not work before for the reasons above. I will support Option 2 if we make a commitment to try and change the culture and the nature of the RP moving forward because that is the only way that we are going to get new folk's to not only apply but to stay. If we honestly take a moment to reconsider and think about why all these RPs fail in the first place instead of jumping to a perceived easy solution to the problem. Because the problem isn't that we have a big scary thread, people jump into big scary threads all the time, look at literally any other sandbox RP lol.
No the problem is we are assholes and the environment we foster does not encourage nor support new players in the first place.
Anyway rambling done. I've just had a lot of thoughts about these RPs for a long time and it was nice to organize them into a cohesive structure.
4x Like
2x Thank
2x Thank
