SITE DISCUSSION: Setting Changes

[Emma]

Hi, guys! This discussion is an announcement because I'm also declaring that THERE WILL BE NO MORE MAIN PLOTS. After months of futile resistance, I've given up. =P Even with less members, stricter rules, more character freedom and everything else I've tried, it's just a hassle and a site-killer.

So, instead, do you all remember The Coldest Sleep, an announcement I put up after the end of Chapter 1 of the main plot? Here's the link if you don't. As you can see, the events here led in to Chapter 2, which included characters attempting to save Queen Dellanir and get the artefact that Malandra wanted.

From now on, the staff will post up something like that approximately every four months that changes the setting, forwards the plot, and you guys can RP it and react to it however you please. However, we're having trouble thinking up exactly WHAT should be changed. Ideally, we'd like it to be something that increases posting traffic in Du Weldenvarden, but if you have any ideas for any changes you want to be made- new lands, sudden political changes, anything, PLEASE tell us. We'd like to know what interests YOU as the roleplayer.

The only changes we won't take are a) war and b) humans being able to become Riders. Those two are pretty radical and it's just too soon for them to happen. Anything else, please tell us here. =) You can even PM what you'd like to see to me, if you'd rather not put them here.

So, yeah. XD Please respond to this ASAP!

[Kite]

My changes would be this:

JUST IN: Sudden Birth defect arises in many human children! Citizens of Broddring are frightened out of having babies!

JUST IN: Multiple rings of freelancers and independents have been discovered and eradicated in a swift move from the now Rider-controlled militaries!

JUST IN: The ports of Broddring and DW are closed in the raids conducted by Rider controlled army units! All out of continent shipping by both land and naval blockade is in effect!



Effect on story:
Few new human Characters
No new exotic Characters
No new independent Characters

Stimulates growth within the Elven community and the factions, and therefore spurs a growth in faction and DW play.

Its a far-fetched dream, I know, but its mine.

[phrostphyre]

Good shit, Kite. I think that we're all clear on mine.

An Alban and Broddring political alliance could cause the third, to keep Alban soldiers flooding Alagaesia. Just a thought, to work in with what Kite was thinking.

[Angmor]

Aug 1, 2011 23:49:10 GMT -5 Kite said:

My changes would be this:

JUST IN: Sudden Birth defect arises in many human children! Citizens of Broddring are frightened out of having babies!

JUST IN: Multiple rings of freelancers and independents have been discovered and eradicated in a swift move from the now Rider-controlled militaries!

JUST IN: The ports of Broddring and DW are closed in the raids conducted by Rider controlled army units! All out of continent shipping by both land and naval blockade is in effect!



Effect on story:
Few new human Characters
No new exotic Characters
No new independent Characters

Stimulates growth within the Elven community and the factions, and therefore spurs a growth in faction and DW play.

Its a far-fetched dream, I know, but its mine.

Well, while I think this might be an interesting idea, I would advise extreme caution there. Yes, there are a bunch of human or exotic characters with no particular allegiances. Some might argue that there are too many. But whatever your opinion, the simple reason that there are so many of those sorts of characters is because that's what the people want to RP. They wouldn't do it if it wasn't the most fun thing to do. You've already proposed a plan to make it more advantageous for people to join a faction, and I would say stick with that. I've already started feeling the effects of that on my neutral character, because having no allies means he's in danger everywhere he goes. Stick with that plan, but don't place restrictions on what people obviously have fun RPing.

In the end, you just have to ask the question: are the members here to serve the plot, or is the plot here to serve the members?

Probably only three people here will remember Lethrblaka, the great grandfather of this site. But I think back there, and they never had any character restrictions beyond Riders and shades. That site ran for three years, and never really had any main plot. There was this one battle, and then this one side-plot where Eragon got captured. Both of those failed miserably. And yet, all of us had an absolute blast over there, even though the main site plot pretty much went nowhere. The simple fact is that no one really cared too much about the huge, world-shattering events. They just cared about their own little inter-character plotlines and stories, and how their own characters were shaped by comparatively small events.
Phrost's idea is evidence of this. He saw this thread and his immediate response was to propose something that mostly just affected his characters, and maybe a few people that chose to RP with him. Unless you're staff, the average member is not going to be holding the perspective of the site as a whole, nor should they have to.

So for all you TL:DR people out there: My point is, just let the members run with their own ideas, and leave the huge world-shattering events alone for a while, and just see what happens. You just might be surprised.

So, there's my two cents. I'm done ranting now.

[Nayeli]

Your Busy Admin comes with her TWO CENTS as well...

Kite, your ideas are very interesting

Phrost, your ideas are as well, though Angmor does make a point with it really only effecting a few members who would be Roleplaying.

I do like Angmor's idea about just letting the site run with no plot at all, maybe just for a little while. We could talk about things and how they are going and if we want to add something in to get something stirred up on the sight, but other then that, just letting the members run with it.

Now, here is my own ideas. Maybe we should hold off on some of the Exotic and from different country characters. We need elves from this land, we need humans from this land, were cats from this land, and others like it. Maybe we should just put a hold on everything that is not from this land and ask for more.

Now, something to happen in DW, we could always get something going on with the kingdom and the riders. Since everything is suppose to be at a peace, maybe the King wants to send someone to keep a eye on the Queen, as well as the riders want to do the same. I don't know who would be sent, but that might get some stuff going on in DW. With someone there from the Kingdom, people from the Kingdom might start posting.

Or, we could always do some kind of thing where we pick certain people at random to roleplay in places such as DW? As a challenge and if they get it, they get something in return. Not sure what that would be, but hey, it is a idea.

[Riley]

So here's my two cents.

I like Angmor's idea. Leaving it for the members to run with for a while sounds like it could be the best. For the most part.

I also like Nayeli's idea about picking people at random and rewarding them. It'll give them an incentive to reply and finish it.

My idea is thus: Leave it to the members, but do something special every now and then. Also if you're going to pick people at random, then maybe tailor the reward for their character. For example, say there's a Shade who participates in this random event and does well. What could you give a Shade that he or she actually needs? I mean think about it, they can make anything they need out of magic. So with that, maybe the reward could be a unique spell, or maybe a mount specially tailored to them. Not everyone can ride a dragon, but what about the dragon's cousins? The fanghur.

So yeah, it's kinda just a combination of the two, but that's the way I see it. I went to a site for a few years were they just left it to the members. The members were allowed to do events every so often, and the staff would post up events with rewards. Or they would have a contest with awards. We had a blast, and that site stayed active until MSN groups shut down and we all came over to proboards.

Every RP site I've been on that was successful had something like that going. I'm not saying to not have a site plot, they can be fun, but do them slowly. In small short bursts. Small victories add up over time.

[Angmor]

Aug 3, 2011 19:40:55 GMT -5 Riley said:

Every RP site I've been on that was successful had something like that going. I'm not saying to not have a site plot, they can be fun, but do them slowly. In small short bursts. Small victories add up over time.

That is exactly my point. RPing, in my experience, has only two speeds: Slow, and Rushing It. Making huge, sweeping changes in one thread is just simply too fast. RL events just don't move that way. If you look back over those three years of life on that site, I would be willing to bet that the plot didn't actually move all that far. Worlds only change when characters do, and characters do not suddenly become something else over the course of a single day.

As for the rewards system... You mind explaining that for me? With my experience, both myself and the sites I've been on have toyed with that idea, and it never caught on. I mean, when you allow people to basically make anything they want in character creation, adding more is usually a bit superfluous. When it comes down to it, possessions are just extensions of a character, even if it's just in a small way. So giving a character a sword that can smash through stone or a Griffin that can shrink to pocket size is like having a hot pink patch on a drab-green shirt; you wonder why the heck it's there.

[Nayeli]

Well, if someone won a challenge they would be recognized site wide and maybe even something like a custom name or image. I am still thinkin' up ideas. They might even get a chance to play a character or type of character that is rare, but this will all be discussed between the staff when we start having challenges right now, it is just, post and have fun.