Improving the Forums

Patronizing analogies do not improve the situation.

A lot of people are vastly underestimating the amount of work it'll take to fit characters into the new timeline. Perhaps some characters, like Lion, will make the transition almost seamlessly. Others have backgrounds that are very closely intertwined with relationships, alliances, and circumstances on the current SWFans board. It's a great deal of work, at best, and terribly frustrating, at worst, to tear all that down and try to make a new place for an established character.

I think the timeline change is a bold idea. I haven't decided how I'm going to approach it yet; I know that my characters are the sort that will need a fair bit of overhaul if I choose to use them again. Nevertheless, I have been quite frustrated with how a great many people are handling those who disagree with the changes.

As far as I can tell, the relevant pros and cons have been laid out pretty clearly. The decision has been made. Some people like the result, others don't. Those who don't are not deficient in their understanding, creativity, or work ethic. They have their reasons, and they don't need to be harrangued, cajoled, or reassured.

So may I suggest we stop retreading old ground and risking hard feelings? Since the decision has been set in motion, perhaps we should move on to planning for the beginning of the story--discussing what groups will be available, what their relative conditions will be--e.g., is there any centralized Jedi presence? If so, where? What darkside groups are active? Who's leading them? Are the imperial leaders the same? Since the splinter groups won't exist anymore, how will they be organized?

Obviously, these things need to be decided by the group leaders themselves, not by board-wide committee--but, as of yet, I don't even know where to look for such information.

The staff and members are the various groups are in the process of deciding on what to do right now. I can't speak for every group, but here is has been hammered out so far, for those feeling confused...

GJO will cease to exist, and will instead be replaced by various splinter Jedi groups. These groups won't have their own boards, but will rather use the old GJO board as a meeting point, a Jedi enclave or some such. This is due to the fact that Jedi are being actively hunted in this time line, so it wouldn't be wise to have a base of operations - even a so-called secret one. Jedi can either associate themselves with these small groups, or remain indepedent.

The Sisters of Chaos are converting their board into the Black Sun Crime organization. Members will be concered with smuggling, hunting, the usual sorts of things, though I know that numerous members are going to be Force sensitive. Given the job they'll be performing, it's pretty safe to assume they'll be using the Dark Side.

Kuklos Ataxia is going to become the planet Onderon, essentially. Lilaena De'Ville will be leading a Dark Jedi cult in the name of Freedon Nadd. Likewise with GJO, Dark Jedi can remain independent if they so wish.

TSO, as I understand is, is essentially going to remain the same. The group will move to Korriban and operate in secret, attempting to stamp out all opposite, both Jedi and Dark Jedi, in their bid for power. Again, it's not necessary to be a part of TSO to become a Sith. Many are people are adopting the old idea of the Sith acting in secret, in pairs.

Does the groups staffs include the Empire? Becasue I just started a thread to try organising Imperial players (yes I know I'm not staff but I haven't really seen much of Khendon and Telan and Visc is out of action at the moment.)

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Originally posted by Tiberius Anar
Does the groups staffs include the Empire? Becasue I just started a thread to try organising Imperial players (yes I know I'm not staff but I haven't really seen much of Khendon and Telan and Visc is out of action at the moment.)

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Yes. That's fine :)

So I am not treading on anyone's toes? I am actually doing something useful? Oh my!

Whilst we are thinking about sortign things out- what about the story arc?

Reason's I dislike the Idea.

1. It restricts and in somecases total destroy's a persons backstory for a character and I see allot of through away characters coming into the mix.

2. It restricts people to a time limit to get everything done. Some of us have limited time as is and limiting it even more really sucks.

3. All the stuff I am working on right now is basically screwed and flushed down the toilet.

4. The groups will die because of this because there will be less reason to join if there just going to change and reform in a year.

5. I honestly don't believe it will bring in the kind of people your looking to bring in but instead you will lose allot of the good people you already have.

As for me my mind is already made up I told everyone in my current rps that if this Idea goes into affect I'm writing myself out of fans. Because I won't be able to keep up with the changing storyline and basically everything I have planned now is shot to hell.

I want to state one thing seprate from what is stated above after reading the recap.

If there was no yearly reset involved i could work with this Idea. i do like the story arch aspect of it. Yet the yearly reset is the biggest draw back for me because it screws up everything in terms of my character Blade.

I could work with one reset at the very begining as I heard might be the possiblity in the recap thread.This would work for the mojority of the characters i play. It might work with the character I'm currently most worried about my first Blade ice that is if I can get a few things worked out first. But if I don't have Blade who is the character I have put the most work into here I don't think I will be able to continue here.

Like I said i am all in favor of the story arch but I fully disapprove of the yearly reset. I just want to make it clear I understand and I don't hate the whole Idea just parts of it.

Who knows, we might find one reset works so well and we're having fun with it, maybe it wont be a year it may be three or four. FWIW, it appears a timeframe for any future senario changes is hazy at best.

Just because we're going to have yearly story arch does not mean we're going to reformat/wipe clean/nuclear option the board every year. That has proved an unpopular idea.

The story arch is a seperate device than the wipe. This wipe is happening. Future wipes will be brought up and discussed when someone feels like it.

The story arch is supposed to set the tone and backdrop for everyone, and doing it every year is a way to make sure that everyone is on the same page. Next time I'm sure we're going to collectively make sure that the arch coming into play isn't depedant on one individual.

Just as a side note - when people come up with reasons they don't like the reset you have to realize that the staff has heard all these reasons 150X over the last four days.

We've also explained the reset an equal number of times.

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The forum needs a shake up and this reset is already starting a buzz. So its working already.

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It sure has created a buzz, and it sure is working. I just wonder if it's working as intended.


(And for those wondering, I've dubbed myself the self-proclaimed pessimist and cynicist here at the boards. :p )

No need to explain the reset I understand it I just don't like it plan and simple especially ona yearly basis. I like the story arch deal and it can be done with out a reset ever dang year.

From my understanding, the resets may not happen on a yearly basis if the story is going strong (besides the fact so many are opposed to it).

Yeah, the reset sucks, but unfortunately those for it way outnumber those against it.

But at least a compromise can hopefully be found about the yearly thing, which would REALLY suck.

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Originally posted by Morgan Evanar
Just because we're going to have yearly story arch does not mean we're going to reformat/wipe clean/nuclear option the board every year. That has proved an unpopular idea.

The story arch is a seperate device than the wipe. This wipe is happening. Future wipes will be brought up and discussed when someone feels like it.

The story arch is supposed to set the tone and backdrop for everyone, and doing it every year is a way to make sure that everyone is on the same page. Next time I'm sure we're going to collectively make sure that the arch coming into play isn't depedant on one individual.

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Yeah I know which is why i'm giving it a chance. even though it requires me to scrap everything I have done up to this point. even though i have to change ever single character i plan to use scrapping there whole backstories to make it work. But i am giving it a chance a single chance before i back out completly.

I also notice that the reset recap thread has only 117 views, which means not everyone is reading it. Tsk tsk.

And Blade, thank you for being willing to give it a chance. :)

I would just like to say that I am putting aside my misgivings. This is worth a try- look at the OOC forum for the sake of all that is holy (or possibly unholy). It's alive!

The big hangup seems to be the whole yearly-reset idea, which everyone needs to understand is/was only a proposal. Like has been stated, this new storyline may become so popular that we just decide to keep it going as long as everyone is having fun with it. The yearly storyarc idea isn't necessarily a reset either. It's just an annual review of the storyline, and perhaps introducing another major plot point or two that people can play off of. It would not be scrapping one storyline for another. It would just be adding to it, and letting everyone flow from one plot into the next. Like a new season of the same TV show. Major story stays the same, but some of the details change/evolve as the story develops.

For instance, we're (almost certainly) doing the time period immediately after the Emperor dies. The Death Star II's focusing crystals were destroyed, most of the main characters are dead, and both the Rebel Alliance and the Imperial Navy are licking their wounds. For something like this, we're incorporating all kinds of potential storylines: obviously, the loss of the Emperor will cause a political shakeup in the Empire. Let's not forget that the Ssi-Ruuk are attacking Bakura at this very moment, although it might turn out differently given that the Imperial fleet isn't as badly damaged as before. There are literally thousands of fresh options for RPs, something that Fans is lacking right now.

Now, fast forward 5 years. Perhaps we could do a recreation of the Thrawn Campaign, altered to fit into the current SWFans timeline. The characters you used during the first reset don't necessarily have to change, perhaps they're just 5 years older, with more experience or some new skills and toys. There is an immense amount of flexibility in this idea.

Note that I'm just using this as an example; I don't advocate that we write over EU stories, but it's an example of the degree of freedom we'll have.

1. A question -

After reading the recap thread, my opinion of this idea has changed from "not too sure 'bout this" to "this could be pretty good". The question I have is - if, say, I bring Hera to the new reset theme with not much of her history and as a fledgling in the darkside the first year...at the reset time, in the new year, could I bring her back as rank of Master (as she is currently). Or to ask more clearly: do the ranks as they are now hold true to be transferred over to our characters as we wish from year to reset year? A padawan one year, a Master another year just to change up the scenario?


2. A suggestion -

On an entirely different idea, what about having a night of the week specifically (but not exclusively) designated as "quick post night" or something.

For example, I remember having lots of fun when there were tonnes of ppl online and the thread was moving so fast that ppl were posting even before you could type up a reply. If we had one night, say Friday for example, where you knew posters were going to be there to do "quick" threads. Kind of like a "pickup volleyball game" scenario where whoever shows up, plays. The thread/s dont have to be of earthshaking character development, but simply a chance to create and post and interact with whoever happens to be about. It would provide a chance to roleplay with ppl you dont necessarily rp with, plus you wouldnt be sitting for ages waiting for the person who is supposed to post in your other threads while you linger about wanting to do something but not being able to.

You could have specific rules for these threads like, only 2
sentence posts - or 3 minute reply time... or something.

(I know Im MIA from SWF mostly, but am thinking of recommitting, so thought Id pipe in my thoughts)