Closing Down

[Kat]

I don't know, Zeis, I kind of like the fact that the Eyrie is newly established and that the culture is being built is part of the appeal of the site. And I do really, really like my characters, so I'm not hugely keen on the idea of shifting the time. I would be interested to see what other people think.

I do think, though, it would be interesting to introduce another set of riders, probably in one of the other continents. I mean, it makes sense that at least a few more simourv would exist, and I see no reason to avoid introducing them. I already suggested one idea, which would remove the problem of losing Eceph as a leader, but maybe we could have our riders actually come across another more established group, and we can mix them. Then we could have some transferring back and forth.

[winged]

I think Zeis is on the right track, honestly. It's all very new and exciting to be the first generation, but...at the same time, it wears off quickly and then what? I think perhaps a spin-off further down the line would be interesting! ...(totally not saying that because she wants to see what sort of legacy Ichi left behind, nooo).

Seriously though. Srsly.

[Kat]

But I have plots I want to play out...
On a less selfish note, that would also require quite a bit of planning, at least so that we plotted out our own characters' like--legacy, which might be kind of difficult.

I would just be sad to abandon the characters I already have. I'm not willing to give them up yet.

[Kilnarak]

Could always go a route like The Coldfire Trilogy did. Some of the people who went to the other continent survived, but it was a hard trip between both places. They eventually flourished on the other continent, and have a more established society there, but have little desire to reach out to their sister-societies on the mainland until so-and-so event happens. Or until someone from our side goes over there. Or until their gray says "Hell with this, there's not enough room over here! I'm going over there and stealing their place 'cause there's fewer simourv there."

Or something. >>; I'm kind of distracted. But yet. That would allow for having both our current characters, and another more established setting for rider-pairs on the side?

[Kat]

I was thinking something like that, too, Killy, might be viable.

EDIT: I had an idea while I was in the shower!

Okay, what if it turns out that there is a whole separate Eyrie on the Southern continent, and that that Eyrie has been around for a few generations. But the Southern continent is much, much more brutal and koxi controlled than the Northern continent, like super hostile, and recently the Southern Eyrie fought a more organized and smarter group of koxi. The battle killed off a lot of their numbers, like a LOT of them, even though the Eyrie managed to control the attack. The Eyrie had so few riders left, that they could not function as an Eyrie any longer, so their simourvs start talking about a new Eyrie in the North. The riders decide that they need the help of our Eyrie, and so they send a small group to ask our riders to follow them. Some of our riders travel to the new Eyrie to bolster their numbers. It would be important, because if the koxi in the South are becoming more intelligent, then they are more dangerous, and our riders would want to control that population to keep them from spreading to Pohono.

This way, we could move the roleplay to a more established Eyrie culture, and also keep some of our characters. We would bring over the ones we wanted to keep the most, and leave the others over at our Eyrie. Then, we could transfer characters back and forth at will, which would open up that avenue.

And, I think it would be interesting to have our characters adapt to new conditions a second time, especially in a place with an established hierarchy and culture. I think of it like the Weyrs from the past that Lessa brought over in Pern.

[Aikaph]

Dear Bre-Admin,

I had a little idea in mind for a sister-site, but after discussing it with fellow members, I realized that just making it up out of the blue would not work. And plus, I’m not sure if I’m ready to take care of three sites, nor do I know if I’d be good admin material.

*sighs* I’m avoiding the point of this. The thing is, if I rallied some of the other member who were willing to do this, could I hold an expedition to one of the unexplored continents? It has to do with the plot I had thought of. A group of Riders wanted to figure out what was on those stretches of land filled with superstition. So, armed with what-have-you, they set off and find that no, there are no carnivorous trees, but Wild Simourv everywhere. The Simourv, terrified by the Emily, had fled to the continents that were as of yet unexplored by these “intruders.” And then I’d have a link to the sister-site, and things would go from there (i.e. building up the site, getting staff members, the like). It would be kind of like a wild animal RP, only with Simourv. I don’t know what would happen to the Riders, nor do I know if they’d bring their friends and cause plots or what; I’ve only got a rough idea for it.

Of course, you wouldn’t have the Unexplored area if you didn’t already have little plot plans, and (like I’ve probably said a billion times) I don’t know if I’d be able to handle being admin/taking care of three sites/etc.

If you see any issues/don’t think this is a good idea, please let me know. This was just a little idea floating around in my head, and I didn’t really know what to do with it. This is just in case I finally go ahead and actually put some serious thought into this.

Thank you,

~Aikaph

That was the plot I had for a sister-site, and the plot Bre had in mind. Then, people could play as wild simourv, and we could possibly see different colors (I mean, many of these had been there for forever). It would be interesting, and we wouldn't lose anybody.

Questions, comments, concerns?

[Lan]

I'm so glad you all are so in love with this site that you're constantly coming up with ideas to save it. It really moves my heart to read all of your posts. However, I'm going to bring up something that Bre said that no one seems to be addressing:

Time. Commitment. Dedication. Responsibility. Organization. These are not just important but VITAL things to keeping a site running. A site doesn't fall into place simply because it is loved into existence, but because it is WILLED to survive. It takes work and effort and the ability for people to step up and do the dirty work that needs to be done and find the time to make it work.

This includes:
-> advertising like CRAZY
-> taking care of the advertisements/affiliations that are submitted to our site
-> keeping the records updated
-> looking over character applications and writing responses to each of them while keeping character slots/records updated
-> changing seasons/updating the census
-> thinking of plots
-> making sure said plots go through
-> volun-telling people to post for plots if need be
-> organizing a flights list that is coherent and logical
-> making sure every candidate gets searched
-> running/planning/organizing hatchings in a fair and methodical way
-> keeping up with lessons
-> going through to archive threads to keep the boards neat
-> answering any and all questions posed by an prospective members
-> handling any drama that happens to occur OOC
-> AND ABOVE ALL: making sure all of the above and more gets done in an orderly and timely fashion even if you have to do it all by yourself!

And that is just what I can think of off the top of my head. There's lots more that has not even occurred to me in the few minutes I've used to type this up.

I love GS too. I love the characters and the people. And, if I felt like I'd have the backup, I'd be willing to organize the site and make sure everything runs smoothly. However, I'm not a super-human. I KNOW I can't run a site by myself and I need a dedicated and responsible team of staff behind me that has the time to put into GS and can be there even when I can't because of occasional IRL problems. I know you guys are dedicated. I know most of you are even responsible. But the time factor just isn't there.

The most posts that have been made in the past few months have been the posts saying goodbye and the posts in this thread. I had to go through all of the advertisements myself. I've had to archive and take care of character acceptance forms for the most part for the past several weeks. As far as I've seen, there have been no new lessons posted even after Bre tried to inform the Masters that they can skip some lessons so that we could get caught up. Not even the flights have gotten any attention... nor has there been any real interest in flights for the greens that are not played by staff (there were supposed to be three flying every month, but that quickly ended up not happening).

Right now I think the best bet is to go with a plan that shifts everything to another site... something like what Aika or Zeis has suggested. Get a new staff, a new organization, a new Eyrie... it'd be the smoothest transition. Maybe not have it so far in the future, but have something that just sort of takes place after Eceph's death? There could be a martial law sort of going on until Laraph flies or (if Winged would prefer) a wild gray lies a clutch after flying up from the Southern Continent? OR you could play out a new Eyrie on the Southern Continent that is unaware of the Northern Continent and then send in an "expedition" party of whatever characters you want to keep and just let them end up staying there? I like this latter idea better. It allows for favorite characters to be kept while still allowing a smooth transition without some sort of traumatic death scene, and lets there be new management the easiest way possible as new blackriders/grayriders could easily be apped.

Like this idea? Any thoughts? Feel free to take it and run with it if you have any fondness for it. However, if any of these ideas are going to happen you'll need to figure out:

1. Who's going to head the project and maybe one other person to co-admin. (I'm the first to admit I don't have the time to staff another site, as I'm a full-time physics student that currently is spread thin enough as it is)
2. Who else is going to help create the idea and mod it.
3. What exactly the new idea is and what sort of plot will bring it about.
4. If you're going to be bringing over old characters, who they're going to be, and how that's going to be done.
5. How many members will be transferring over there and a set plan on how you intend on getting new ones.
6. Above all, an action plan that you stick to even if it hurts.

And those are my words to you... long and rambling and perhaps even a little heavy-handed, but I feel like it needed to be said. If you guys really decide to buckle down and take the time it would require to make a site run, I have no doubts that you can make an empty house a home again. However, if no one is willing to tackle the big questions and afford themselves the time to do so, then any attempt made no matter how heartfelt would crumble and fall.

If you do feel like you still want to RP but don't have the time to run a site, though, I really do wish I could see you all on Dali. Bre and I in particular would love to see reincarnations of characters here shifted over to there. We love all of you dearly and really don't want this to be a goodbye, even if this particular site can't be worked out.

Also, if you wish to contact me for any reason, here's my info. No matter what it is, whether you get a site up and running that'd you'd like to see me at or if you need help with something or if you'd like a link to Dali, just drop me a line (obviously, I'm still going to be checking back here too until anyone makes any definite moves in any direction, but just in case you want something more concrete):

[e-mail]

[Kat]

I am the first to admit that during the school year, my time is really shaky, and I believe everyone is in the same situation, however; I believe that if we revived the site starting in May, we could really get the place going again in time for school to start when activity would slack some. The other thing that I think is that the site does not have to be constantly super active. I really believe that as long as people are around, then there is no reason to completely abandon the site because people are busy. To me, even if it ends up just being a roleplay between those of us who are around/ those of us who want to roleplay here, at least we can roleplay and enjoy it. If we shut down the site, that's it.

However, I am not against trying to revive the site completely and really resurrect it.
I believe that is totally viable.
I know I will at least make as much effort as I can to post in the threads important to the move even while I am in school.

Also, I like the movement to the Southern continent idea, because then we could shift all the information to a new site and start over, as well as moving our characters over there. And, it would allow us to pare down some characters without completely eliminating them.

[Quill]

[Sorry if this is short but really I cannot think of much to say]

I love this place and though I'm busy with college and fencing, I could do this. As of now and the future, I am not involved in any sites. [The only exception to this might be Dali.] I would be more than willing to co-admin or just help out with many of these tasks. By myself? I could not do it all. Heck, I think we could manage giving some people certain duties like character accepting and thread management. [Honestly, I think every staff would be able to cross.]

I think this might be the best. Either Eceph die. Blacks and Laraph [if Winged so desires] take over, but after a while, everyone realizes this cannot go on so a team goes to the Southern Continent to perhaps find another unattended clutch where they find a more plentiful land with more simourv and multiple Eylings. This allows old characters and new characters. A new site would be in order.

This is just one of the many options, but right now, this is the most appealing.

[Para]

I have a pretty good amount of time, and I don't see my time getting cut off (for major periods of time; there will always be days traveling or a few days of vacation or whatever) enough that I couldn't work around it at least for a few years. I'm on a few other sites, but they're not roleplaying and I don't have any particular responsibility on them; I could easily cut down my time on any of them or outright abandon most, and not really care that much. So I have the time to do just about anything, and I'd be willing to.

What I don't have is any experience, so whatever I do I'd probably need someone to spend a few days or a week (depending on what it is) explaining what I'm supposed to do and correcting me when I screw up, and anyway I doubt I'd be any more than last pick for mod/admin/something else really major, but if staff positions were divided more so that some people had minor, really specific jobs, I could do a few of those. Going through Lan's list... advertising, I doubt I'm outgoing enough to be amazing at, but I'm certainly willing to try. Character applications I think I could do; I don't roleplay apart from here but I write a lot, and I've helped edit and sort of teach writing fairly often; I can spot potential problem characters fairly easily. I might need to ask about what are some roleplay/GS-specific problems, but I think I could do it. Plots I could think of, though I'm not sure anyone would want me coming up with plots on my own as some of them can tend to be weird. A lot of the rest seems to amount to making sure things are organized, make sense and aren't forgotten, and while I obviously couldn't do that for everything, I could do that for some section or aspect. OOC drama I'm not sure about, but I think I could probably at least help with handling.

So, basically, while I can't do much by myself, I can and will at least assist anyone who does take over here or a spinoff site.

[Aikaph]

I like the idea of moving to another place where they 'migrate' to a new area. It sounds interesting and, like you said, would allow for old and new characters alike to come around. =3

However. I'm in marching band, and I'm going to be taking Latin over the summer, so I won't have that much time on my hands. What time I do have would be given to this new site (if/when it is formed). If people trusted me enough for certain jobs, I could take them on. Possibly.

As for mini-staff things that I could do:

Advertising like CRAZY: I could do that. On the internet, I'm fairly outgoing, and it's not THAT hard to recruit people... right? >>;
Taking care of the advertisements/affiliations that are submitted to our site: Maybe. Probably not. I'm no coder, and even if it does not, I'm not a really good judge. Mediator, yes. Judge, no.
Keeping the records updated: Considering my thin amount of time I will have, no. Plus, I'm more than a tad scatterbrained sometimes, and this would just overwhelm me. =\
Looking over character applications and writing responses to each of them while keeping character slots/records updated: Again, a no. I mean, I could give a few pointers here and there, but a full-on evaluation? No way. Sorry. D=
Changing seasons/updating the census: I could maaaayyyyybeeee do that. I'm pretty sure I could handle a census/season-changing job. =)
Thinking of plots: Easy. I think of them all the time. (and Para, don't worry; I'm sure that your plots cannot be as weird as Patybra and Oorths'. They thought of speed-dating, teaching a Weyrwoman's child to sing the k-i-s-s-i-n-g song, and a scavenger hunt that spanned the entire Weyr. XD)
Making sure said plots go through: Noot so sure on this one, so I'll just say possibly.
Volun-telling people to post for plots if need be: No. I'm not assertive.... Well, I don't think I am... Am I? o.o
Organizing a flights list that is coherent and logical: Coherent? Logical?! Sorry, those words do not apply. |D
Making sure every candidate gets searched: Depends on the number of candidates. If there's a few, then yes. If there's, like, a BILLION, forget it.
Running/planning/organizing hatchings in a fair and methodical way: Probably not something you want to leave in my hands. >>'
Keeping up with lessons: Considering how I'm having trouble finding which lesson Pr'sel is in, that's a no.
Going through to archive threads to keep the boards neat: I'm pretty sure this could be done, once somebody teaches me how... ^^;
Answering any and all questions posed by any prospective members: I'm pretty sure I could answer questions, as long as they aren't nitty-gritty teeny tiny details.
Handling any drama that happens to occur OOC: I could handle this. Again, depending on the severity of the issue.
AND ABOVE ALL: making sure all of the above and more gets done in an orderly and timely fashion even if you have to do it all by yourself! Yeea-no. Oops.

So, that's my blurb. It probably didn't help at all, but hey. I can't think of anything really coherent to say right now. *shrugs* Take it as you will.

[Kilnarak]

Doin' like Aika here, with Lan's list.

-> advertising like CRAZY - I can do "post ads on other sites" fine, that isn't so hard, just have to set aside a day to do it.
-> taking care of the advertisements/affiliations that are submitted to our site - If the code isn't too difficult for affiliations, sure. For advertisements, it'd just be moving them to the correct place and/or locking them, wouldn't it?
-> keeping the records updated - I think this could be do-able.
-> looking over character applications and writing responses to each of them while keeping character slots/records updated - I think I'd give more moderators the ability to do this than just one or two.
-> changing seasons/updating the census - Again, it's a once a month type thing, yeah? It should be do-able.
-> thinking of plots - We all do this. ;p
-> making sure said plots go through - This is a little more difficult. I could make a game attempt at least.
-> volun-telling people to post for plots if need be - I already do this. I imagine Zeis and Khealis can tell you lots about it. >> I try not to so much with other people, 'cause I feel more like I'm bothering...
-> organizing a flights list that is coherent and logical - Could probably do this, maybe, with other admin help? Getting people to actually run their flights in a timely manner might be more difficult, but.
-> making sure every candidate gets searched - Sort of already did this with that giant list of doom. That I should probably update at some point, if this site is going to continue.
-> running/planning/organizing hatchings in a fair and methodical way - With the help of other adminfolk, yeah.
-> keeping up with lessons - This might be more difficult, since I have trouble keeping up with the ones I'm in already. I think maybe I'd change lessons a bit, put more time between them so it doesn't seem like they all happen at once without much time to respond. It would also require making sure candidate lessons go up, but again I think fewer might be better, with varied topics per... class? When they're all the same each time, it gets a little dull, so perhaps trying to vary it a bit more might work better.
-> going through to archive threads to keep the boards neat - I'd probably want to subdivide the archives further, if it's possible. *cough*
-> answering any and all questions posed by an prospective members - Lotsa people do this already when they can, so yeah.
-> handling any drama that happens to occur OOC - I'd give it a shot, and having other admin to back me would help.
-> AND ABOVE ALL: making sure all of the above and more gets done in an orderly and timely fashion even if you have to do it all by yourself! - Do-able, I think, with other admin who are willing to help. I'd actually lean toward a slightly more relaxed set up, but yeah.

[winged]

I think it'd be a fairer transition for everyone if you started off on another forum, as opposed to reviving everything here. Because I, for one, don't want to see my characters offed because they don't 'fit' in with a new direction everyone decided to take. I think that's the fairest way of going about things.

[Kilnarak]

I'm not sure I entirely see the point, although I suppose it might be cleaner that way. The only issue I see is that some people might want to continue/finish threads here. Although I suppose, so long as this forum doesn't get outright deleted, they can always just link back to the original thread, and then pick up from there on the new forum? Although even then, on the new forum certain characters would still need to be either killed off or demoted to NPC status (like Ro'za and Eceph, for instance). From what I understand it would still be a continuation off of here, but with a little bit of weeding, some plot twists to accommodate for said weeding and the opening up of the Southern continent (and the option of already established riders), and possibly a reworking of some of the rules to better accommodate slow times (like now) when most of the members are busy with the ever interfering aspects of Real Life and School.

[Kat]

I think we should move as well, especially since I think it is best to actually relocate the whole game to the South. Then we can assume that certain important characters are at our current Eyrie, and not have to worry about transitioning them or killing them off.

Also, as a note, I think it will take awhile to get everything set up, and I think the best way to kill the roleplay would be to stop roleplaying, so I was thinking that things could go on here while we were waiting to set up the other roleplay and while we were making it. I mean, we have some things we need to finish, like Altaph's hatching, after all.