12-06-2012, 05:39 PM
(This post was last modified: 12-06-2012, 05:44 PM by Belle Hibiki.)
Thing is, our reward for posting is already pretty low for the time invested.
But I guess this is all a secondary issue.
I had a larger post typed up last night, but I slept without saving my document and I bluescreened overnight, so I guess I'll attempt a short version:
In my mind, we've just been dancing around the truth for a long time now. Whenever we have debates about this, it's always about incentivizing this, or promoting that; "If only we change the CA system, people will play", "if only we can do this, we can get more sagas." But that's completely wrong. The forum isn't a game, as much as we try to dress it up as one; there was an element of that, once upon a time, but that vanished along with the automated bot.
No, what this is supposed to be about is writing with other people, of exchanging ideas, of that excitement you get when you're not fully in control of the story in your hands, where your partner(s) take you down turns in a tale that you might never have seen coming. That's why roleplaying is awesome to me, and why most of us started to do it in the first place. Writing shouldn't be something that the system has to coerce you into, it should be a labor of love, freely given. We focus so much on the 'system' and 'competition' that I think we miss that fact.
We constrain ourselves and our crazy ideas for the sake of 'balance' in what is essentially a formless construct. We deny ourselves the opportunity to build a Titanic on the waves, because we're too busy trying to build a sand castle there. Is CA an issue? Sure, but it's not the main issue.
As to the 'why', I honestly can't say. The answer is going to vary from person to person.
One thing that is a huge barrier to continuing, though, is the attitude.
It's no secret that this forum has hostility between members, and while that's not exactly unusual on forums, the long-standing nature of this place seems to have metastasized some of that dislike into a bitterness that hangs over the place like a palpable stench. I'm definitely not innocent in this. If this push for change goes forward, whatever we end up changing to, whether it's completely CA-less, a rank system, or just an adjustment, this community needs to do some trust exercises or something.
But I guess this is all a secondary issue.
I had a larger post typed up last night, but I slept without saving my document and I bluescreened overnight, so I guess I'll attempt a short version:
In my mind, we've just been dancing around the truth for a long time now. Whenever we have debates about this, it's always about incentivizing this, or promoting that; "If only we change the CA system, people will play", "if only we can do this, we can get more sagas." But that's completely wrong. The forum isn't a game, as much as we try to dress it up as one; there was an element of that, once upon a time, but that vanished along with the automated bot.
No, what this is supposed to be about is writing with other people, of exchanging ideas, of that excitement you get when you're not fully in control of the story in your hands, where your partner(s) take you down turns in a tale that you might never have seen coming. That's why roleplaying is awesome to me, and why most of us started to do it in the first place. Writing shouldn't be something that the system has to coerce you into, it should be a labor of love, freely given. We focus so much on the 'system' and 'competition' that I think we miss that fact.
We constrain ourselves and our crazy ideas for the sake of 'balance' in what is essentially a formless construct. We deny ourselves the opportunity to build a Titanic on the waves, because we're too busy trying to build a sand castle there. Is CA an issue? Sure, but it's not the main issue.
As to the 'why', I honestly can't say. The answer is going to vary from person to person.
One thing that is a huge barrier to continuing, though, is the attitude.
It's no secret that this forum has hostility between members, and while that's not exactly unusual on forums, the long-standing nature of this place seems to have metastasized some of that dislike into a bitterness that hangs over the place like a palpable stench. I'm definitely not innocent in this. If this push for change goes forward, whatever we end up changing to, whether it's completely CA-less, a rank system, or just an adjustment, this community needs to do some trust exercises or something.
![[Image: Bellesig6-1.jpg]](http://i238.photobucket.com/albums/ff137/catseye543/Bellesig6-1.jpg)