Open Discussion

[Deleted]

Re: Posting and Activity

I'm just gonna refer y'all to this example

untraveled.b1.jcink.com/index.php?showtopic=16

When the activity checks were a thing, it was hella effective.

[Deleted]

Jul 22, 2014 14:22:24 GMT -7 Roger said:

Jules and I were looking at a post-apocalyptic site for example that was inspired by the Fallout series and had the same feel but was a unique setting as crafted by the admins and members. In such a setting I believe you would get the majority of RPers who are there for "the feel" of the setting plus you would also pull in the lovers of the series who are bored with the same-old same-old after all this time. Being a unique setting also opens the site up to people who just like the genre but have never seen the show. For BSG as an example, how many people said "oh, but I haven't seen the show" as a reason not to join or delaying their joining? You don't have any of that with unique lore.

Jul 22, 2014 15:31:17 GMT -7 Edith Hunter said:

As far as the new lore or whatever, I'd probably need to see what the general ideas were - if it's completely not FF any more or just FF with the timeline adjusted for a new spin on the same ol' 'Verse. Like, we've descended into a 'rebellion era' or it's post huge conflict that has left most worlds in ruins.

I'm all for either or, but changing it would probably mean a new site, etc.

It sounds like there are varying degrees from which we can approach this new Lore.

-Strictest/truest to form/purist viewpoint: events, names, locations are unchangeable and firm. ex: the firefly crew exists, the Alliance controls central planets and are "evil", and the battle in orbit of Miranda took place

-lower tier of lore: events and names can be manipulated, but locations are consistent (alternate timeline-y)

-lowest tier: lore takes a backseat. Names, locations, events, are all subject to change but still in the spirit of the influence. ex: Sci-fi cowboy western with some references to a past war. An evil empire is present

Roger Davis does your other story fit into one of these categories? Or its not as black/white and more of a blend? What does your story prioritize in that would make it different from a pure lore or an AU lore

[Roger]

It would fall under lowest tier. Everything is different: characters, organizations, locations, politics, timeline, etc.

However, the "feel" is the same. Such elements that would carry over include:
-"Earth got used up" leading to an exodus and terraforming of a new cluster of stars with numerous planets. The how and the why is slightly altered.
-There is still a "divide" between the haves and have not planets where the "Core" planets are generally wealthier and more advanced while the "Rim" is poorer and less advanced. This keeps the same sci-i/western feel of the Verse.
-There was a recent verse-wide war which had a major impact on politics and of course the lives of most people.
-Space travel on ships is "teh shit" and the focus would be on that. Same basic missions and such.

It differs in that:
-We better explain the history of why we left Earth, how it happened, the basic science behind the technology, etc.
-The "geography" is different, with the "Core" not actually being centrally located... or called the Core, just a richer section that was colonized first.
-The big war was fought for slightly different reasons and had a different conclusion.
-The "Alliance" for lack of a better word is not the all powerful omnipresent bad guy. It is merely a military alliance of SOME of the more advanced planets.
-The Alliance does not have universal control nor are they really even a super government. Many governments exist and many independent nations exist. Thus there is an interplay of politics instead of juse "grrr damn Alliance".
-The "Alliance" lost the war because these numerous independent states along with the advanced planets not in the Alliance joined their forces. However, it was a very loose confederation and there is always the threat that the Alliance will attack again. Maybe this time they'll win. Maybe some planets won't join the coalition or maybe even go over to the otherside. Who knows? It makes shit interesting in the background.


Those are just some of the most basic ideas we came up with. If you can't tell, it was our opinion that the Alliance was overdone in Firefly, and although we liked the idea of a wealthy and advanced alliance with great ambition, we didn't want them to be the only game in town nor did we accept the overly simplistic explanation for how they came to power and why other governments didn't exist elsewhere.

If we were to go the route of new lore, we could pick and choose other areas of the Firefly to take what we like and alter or abandon what we don't borrowing from other sources or from our own imaginations. Think the two languages of Chinese and English is dumb? Well, we can talk about it and change things up. Think reavers are also a silly boogyman that causes only insane character apps? Good, so do we. Etc.

[Deleted]

Jul 23, 2014 21:43:09 GMT -7 Roger said:

It would fall under lowest tier. Everything is different: characters, organizations, locations, politics, timeline, etc.

However, the "feel" is the same. Such elements that would carry over include:
-"Earth got used up" leading to an exodus and terraforming of a new cluster of stars with numerous planets. The how and the why is slightly altered.
-There is still a "divide" between the haves and have not planets where the "Core" planets are generally wealthier and more advanced while the "Rim" is poorer and less advanced. This keeps the same sci-i/western feel of the Verse.
-There was a recent verse-wide war which had a major impact on politics and of course the lives of most people.
-Space travel on ships is "teh shit" and the focus would be on that. Same basic missions and such.

It differs in that:
-We better explain the history of why we left Earth, how it happened, the basic science behind the technology, etc.
-The "geography" is different, with the "Core" not actually being centrally located... or called the Core, just a richer section that was colonized first.
-The big war was fought for slightly different reasons and had a different conclusion.
-The "Alliance" for lack of a better word is not the all powerful omnipresent bad guy. It is merely a military alliance of SOME of the more advanced planets.
-The Alliance does not have universal control nor are they really even a super government. Many governments exist and many independent nations exist. Thus there is an interplay of politics instead of juse "grrr damn Alliance".
-The "Alliance" lost the war because these numerous independent states along with the advanced planets not in the Alliance joined their forces. However, it was a very loose confederation and there is always the threat that the Alliance will attack again. Maybe this time they'll win. Maybe some planets won't join the coalition or maybe even go over to the otherside. Who knows? It makes shit interesting in the background.


Those are just some of the most basic ideas we came up with. If you can't tell, it was our opinion that the Alliance was overdone in Firefly, and although we liked the idea of a wealthy and advanced alliance with great ambition, we didn't want them to be the only game in town nor did we accept the overly simplistic explanation for how they came to power and why other governments didn't exist elsewhere.

If we were to go the route of new lore, we could pick and choose other areas of the Firefly to take what we like and alter or abandon what we don't borrowing from other sources or from our own imaginations. Think the two languages of Chinese and English is dumb? Well, we can talk about it and change things up. Think reavers are also a silly boogyman that causes only insane character apps? Good, so do we. Etc.

Well I'm sold.

Being able to pick and choose aspects while also respecting the spirit of the FF/S series sounds dope. I think it would give writers a lot of creative freedom to create new places and people. I also agree that the whole Alliance super-government could be changed up, and we could write-up a new (or additional!) chaotic neutral enemies like Reavers.

Along with tracking who's gonna be around to revamp the site, we should start a poll and see if everyone is cool with this new idea.

if such is the case and we're all in agreement, then writing new lore would be the next awesome step. The only trouble (if any) I see in creating something new is potentially disputing over details. When its true to the FF/S lore, a lot of things are already established like names, events, locations. With new lore and the ability to make it into whatever you feel like, people may/may not agree on what to pick and choose from its inspirational source.

But still, I'm down for a new FF/S.

[Kitten]

*random Kitten passing through*

[Roger]

Well, hopefully there won't be anything that people disagree with so much that it would cause a major issue. And then there is always compromise where there is one thing Person A really wants and one thing Person B really wants. If that still doesn't work, well, we're boned.

Re: The Alliance and Reavers

The idea was that there would still be similar threats in space, but it would just be more realistic. Giant 5000 man battlecruisers patrol all of known space and have limitless reinforcements behind them... that stinks. Crazy zombie-like murderers that are somehow immune to radiation raid the fringes? Seems a bit far fetched.

However, there will still be military/police forces that patrol. No power will be ultimate and limitless. Some might even be really weak. No one has ultimate jurisdiction but rather jurisdiction might be an issue, or maybe they hassle you just because you came from planet X and this military force hates those guys. Then these various sovereigns compete. Maybe you could actually join a small battle on one side or more simply get a job directly from a government to do shady business in the other place's territory. Back with firefly's single government, that kind of thing was unheard of.

Reavers will just be replaced with increased pirate and slaver activity. They're bad guys and some of them are indeed mad, but they're more within the realm of possibility. Now that there isn't an intergalactic policing force, it's also easier for them to exist and operate outside the jurisdiction of the various parties that want them eradicated and in fact they might have safehavens with other sovereign states. There are also tons of them compared to the approx. 5000 reavers that existed in the 'Verse which was a scary thought but posed very little serious threat to anything more than an isolated town simply because they did not have the numbers nor could they ever hope to have the numbers (trust me, Jules and I spent hours trying to determine if the Reavers could wage a real war).


I'll start a new thread with the ideas I have so we can break that out of this thread instead of derailing the topic.

[Aven]

You wanna bring this site back? I'm game.

[Panda]

Jul 22, 2014 14:22:24 GMT -7 Roger said:

For BSG as an example, how many people said "oh, but I haven't seen the show" as a reason not to join or delaying their joining? You don't have any of that with unique lore.

I may have been one of those people... Sorry Roger Davis ^_^;;;


I think the thing that needs the highest priority would be advertising. Especially now that Firefly Online is starting to pick up, old (and new) fans of Firefly are going to start getting excited to get into the series again and what better way than to join a RPB? It's been a while since I've advertised, but I think I still remember the general jist of how to do it well

Also, this is my own personal opinion and you may shoot as many holes in me as you'd like for it, but I find that the forum layout is a bit daunting and confusing. The collapsible tabs for each system/category is nice and it makes the board neat and easier to read, but unless you're active in a certain area, it makes it hard to know where to look to join a random thread if possible. Wouldn't it be possible to just put all the systems in one category and make the planets be subboards in those system boards? It's been something I've been thinking about and I really can't think of a solution because of how big the 'verse is, but I think it's worth looking into if people are considering changing the layout of the forum.

[Roger]

I don't know if I follow you. How would further burying forums within forums help people find threads? I think the collapsible tabs is fantastic and works fine for our purposes (and more sites should have it).

Especially for a site like ours, I don't think there is an issue finding threads. Maybe if our site population balloons then it could be an issue, but we can cross that bridge when we get to it. Also, if we have dozens of RPers then one would guess open threads might actually be even easier to find because there would simply be more of them.

As it stands now, our site is small enough that one can find places to RP in a number of ways other than scouring every single forum (which frankly isn't that much work on its own). The recent posts/recent threads feature lets you find recently started threads/active open threads. People can ask for plotting partners in the character central area of the forum. Those on ships can discuss their RP options with their fellow crew (which is about 90% of our RP). Finally, anyone who really wants to RP can post in the chatbox. Since we're a small site with a friendlier than normal group of people, it won't take long to get a helpful response.

If you're having trouble finding open threads to join then I don't think the organization of the site is the problem. The problem is that there are just no open threads to join. No amount of reorganizing is going to solve that problem.

[Wisper]

Any active threads should show up in the "new topics" when you hit that link, granted it shows any new topics not just RP ones but still, it's there

[Deleted]

Jul 25, 2014 10:04:45 GMT -7 Panda said:

Jul 22, 2014 14:22:24 GMT -7 Roger said:

Also, this is my own personal opinion and you may shoot as many holes in me as you'd like for it, but I find that the forum layout is a bit daunting and confusing. The collapsible tabs for each system/category is nice and it makes the board neat and easier to read, but unless you're active in a certain area, it makes it hard to know where to look to join a random thread if possible. Wouldn't it be possible to just put all the systems in one category and make the planets be subboards in those system boards? It's been something I've been thinking about and I really can't think of a solution because of how big the 'verse is, but I think it's worth looking into if people are considering changing the layout of the forum.

I was JUST saying this earlier! Part of what can deter newcomers is the look and feel of the site. Granted, I'm a stubborn bastard and took the time to learn the layout for our site(s) but not all people are as dedicated as that.

Jul 25, 2014 12:51:41 GMT -7 Roger said:

I don't know if I follow you. How would further burying forums within forums help people find threads? I think the collapsible tabs is fantastic and works fine for our purposes (and more sites should have it).

Especially for a site like ours, I don't think there is an issue finding threads. Maybe if our site population balloons then it could be an issue, but we can cross that bridge when we get to it. Also, if we have dozens of RPers then one would guess open threads might actually be even easier to find because there would simply be more of them.

As it stands now, our site is small enough that one can find places to RP in a number of ways other than scouring every single forum (which frankly isn't that much work on its own). The recent posts/recent threads feature lets you find recently started threads/active open threads. People can ask for plotting partners in the character central area of the forum. Those on ships can discuss their RP options with their fellow crew (which is about 90% of our RP). Finally, anyone who really wants to RP can post in the chatbox. Since we're a small site with a friendlier than normal group of people, it won't take long to get a helpful response.

If you're having trouble finding open threads to join then I don't think the organization of the site is the problem. The problem is that there are just no open threads to join. No amount of reorganizing is going to solve that problem.

I just wanted to put out there that the admins have always been truly dedicated and worked hard on the site(s) over the years, and are appreciated. With that said, it still doesn't mean that there's no room for improvement.

I think that if people are serious about coming back and contributing to the site, then this can be a team-building dedication-proving process. If multiple people are willing to seriously work on this (including me!) then I don't see why we can't at least explore this option.

[Vex]

TBH... I can't read most of this. Too long. But, I've got a TL;DR gist of it.

Captains need to be strict. I freely admit to being the worst offender. With my hit or miss activity, I really should not have been Captaining one ship and co-captain/basically captaining two others. My Firefly mania and desire to play was too much and so I kept creating more because I wanted more to play. Unfortunately, when things picked up, I took on more than I could chew.

Hindsight is 20/20. I definitely won't be doing that again. It's not fair to everyone else.

While I've added my thoughts to the other thread, I don't know if making an OC world is the answer either. That honestly sounds like MORE time consumption in developing the site, lore, etc, not less. Given that the point of this thread is to streamline it and make it easier, this could be going down a wrong tangent.

[Roger]

I agree with Vex. On the captain thing of course, but I also tend to agree about a completely original universe. Yeah, I know that I proposed the possibility and outlined an idea, but that's just what I do. An original site solves some issues with retaining members while creating others. It helps some problems our staff would face but would involve numerous more in the creation of our setting.

It's not something to be chosen lightly, and to be clear I'm personally on the fence about it myself no matter how much I may talk up the idea and the possibilities.

[Deleted]

Jul 29, 2014 19:46:12 GMT -7 Roger said:

I agree with Vex. On the captain thing of course, but I also tend to agree about a completely original universe. Yeah, I know that I proposed the possibility and outlined an idea, but that's just what I do. An original site solves some issues with retaining members while creating others. It helps some problems our staff would face but would involve numerous more in the creation of our setting.

It's not something to be chosen lightly, and to be clear I'm personally on the fence about it myself no matter how much I may talk up the idea and the possibilities.

Firefly Online is coming out soonish eventually. Things like that might spark a Firefly RP revival.

Don't get me wrong, I'm all down and ready for OC lore, but if your intention is to passively recruit (meaning just having people stumbling into the site and trying it out) then I'd say keeping the lore the same so it's not overwhelming or confusing.

Or (and this is totally a possibility) people who already RP other shit might also be fans of the series and try out the game and then get inspired and might try to start or find a site. Odds of that occurring aren't too impossible, considering that we're all fans of the series/movie/lore as well as creative writing. My point is, slightly different OC lore wouldn't be the biggest deterrent for dedicated writers.

And yes, you want dedicated writers in your site and this new lore process would seem to weed out the writers who put enough effort to visit sites but never even complete a profile.

[Roger]

Alright, so I just archived the old directory threads and started new directory threads. I have also moved all old characters so new ones can be made. If you're looking for an old character to copy information they can be found here.

The only things left to do are:
1) Update the list of planets to account for population changes, newly terraformed worlds, and affiliation to new governments.
2) Possibly archive some RP threads if they are considered not "canon" for this timeskip period.
3) Start RPing.

For you guys, you can get going on new characters and then RPing immediately.