Alright, main body: of course timeskips are not preferable in a character-driven role-playing story game. We're making good characters here, ones with interaction and depth and development, and I understand that needs time.
Our members like the entirety of team KESS, half of JPCL, and so forth aren't able to check in very often. I'm not blaming anyone for not being able to check in or post often; that's just the way life is. Unfortunately, that reality means that if people aren't able to do anything then they may keep losing motivation and interest until they drop out, and then we have even more problems to deal with.
One of the problems is, most likely, too many characters. Allowing people to have two was a mistake, and allowing anyone to antagonize multiple missions was probably a mistake too. The antagonization thing was unavoidable, however, as only some brave souls are able to be on often enough to serve their noble evil purpose, but eliminating multiple characters might help lessen responsibility and increase focus. How next could we come together as a RP and get both development and flow? I don't know. I'm not good enough.
Perhaps I've been possessed by the wrong sort of idea about what this RP was meant to be. I wanted us to get through a lot of time, various impactful and exciting events, never imagining that to really get into rich storytelling and charactermaking that it would be the right idea to slow way, way down. I've been assuming that if we were to slow way down, so many people would be counterintuitively left behind, and grow disinterested. I prescribed a schedule hoping that it would keep us on track is a group, but alas, in attempting to put us in a box I only squeezed us too tight.
@Crimmy don't needle me with ethos, I know how important people's lives are. I wasn't making demands, I was acknowledging that no such perfect world existed and I could never expect it to. That logic both spurred me to make a schedule and now makes me realize that was the wrong choice. And the answer to your last question: because I don't know how to fix it. Even if every problem were spelled out for me, I could not generate a solution that pleases anyone on my own.
But I'm going to try.
@Everyone, listen up:
The choice I have is between two systems of operation. The one I've been using is to maintain a schedule, giving time but enforcing deadlines to keep the entire group on track, making steady progress toward events that everyone can be involved in. This is more of an ideal system, meant to entertain larger numbers of people, and more and more seems less and less feasible.
The alternative as far as I can see: slow down. Live every moment so that our characters can live and grow like real people. Break out a timeskip like a fire axe from its case: only in emergencies (empty space) and when agreed to by a majority of the people. No more boring classes, but no pushes toward action either. Take the risk of marginalizing players, and not replacing those who go.
The idea of moving slowly but more meangingfully does seem like a better idea than screwing over both people who want to move either faster or slower. It would mean that this RP could die rather than living on fumes, but a death for a purpose is better than forced life, right?
So I'm putting it to democracy on two fronts:
Question A: Do we slow down, removing forced deadlines, timeskips, and new players?
Question B: Do we eliminate multiple characters, making senior teams into NPCs that can be controlled on special occasions?
