In a cataclysm known as the Nightfall, the worlds were almost completely destroyed by a harrowing surge of darkness.
In the shadows of the ensuing chaos a new group has taken shape. Led by an Aegyl named Kalos, the 11th Hour touts an esoteric knowledge of how to combat the darkness and restore the worlds. They might be the worlds’ best chance at survival; but nobody really knows enough about them to confirm or deny their claims.
On the brink of collapse, the universe holds its breath in anticipation. Of restoration? Of destruction? It is up to individuals like yourself to decide.
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I myself am heavily reluctant to review a good deal of the proposed changes, and even to the point where I began to question my continued involvement on the site. It took a while, personally, to piece my reasons together. This will be rather disjointed and badly written, but here it is nonetheless.
I joined World Destiny before it was considered a massive site, though it was active - I found the plot intriguing, and I loved the community. To me, the entire plot of a war is feasible if pulled off correctly, and through the reading of the main thread, it came to my attention the only consistent complaint was inactive GMing, and perhaps needing concrete background histories. On that score, I'll agree.
But that is, in some ways, the only way I will.
I have read a lot, and written some, but truth be told, I like the site I joined. It had its flaws, and it had its deviations from canon, but there was a lot that was left either unsaid or as plot holes in the original canon. In the end, however, changing the entire plot of the site would be tantamount to another site, and that is not what I joined or fell in love with. Though I hate to use the line, if you want another site, feel free to create one. Please don't change this one.
There also are a few things I'd like to point out, involving the use of FF backgrounds for FF characters. The argument has been made and sustained against this, and I completely can see the opposing position. However, the point for it has been made again and again, and there is no way to repeat one's argument without merely sounding repetitive. Being flamed for it or openly mocked is exactly the opposite of the tone that this site needs to have, and while discussion is one thing, arguing is another.
One primary reason for the alternate histories is that it can all be explained quickly, and that people know already a good deal of the story involved on each score.
However, I digress.
Before I turn this long post any longer, I'll say this. If you change the basic essence of the plot, you will no longer be able to truly call this World Destiny. I'm not the only one who thinks this, and it seems on such boards that the vibe 'if you're not with us, you are against us' or even 'if you disagree with the board being changed, don't even bother posting' is rampant. There are a lot of members who have incorporated this plot and joined on account of it. I'll admit, it also irks me to see new people - who, while I fully encourage to voice opinion, do not fully understand the tendency to leap into such discussions without having been involved in the site as a whole.
Yes, there do need to be some changes made. Bluey/Roxas, whom I do hold in high regard, has not, in my opinion, held up as a GM due to other conflicts, and that I can understand. I've been in a similar situation, as I can safely say many others here have, as well - and therefore it is not a useful, or even kind thing to chide her for it. She does still deserve respect - just as everyone else here does. However, it is correct to say that there does need to be some active GM and events to keep the site from languishing. A complete rehaul of everything is not what this site needs, for it would no longer be the site I, or anyone else, joined.
I dislike the flame wars that have started on this matter, and I do not like the tone it sets. I know there are some who are really pushing for change, but as it's been established, this is a woefully small percentage. The truth of the matter is that a good deal of people have been just ignoring this altogether, not wanting to get involved in heated discussion, or in something they just do not want to touch. I, frankly, can't blame them. Read over the 5.0 discussion log and you will not see much tolerance.
This site is one we all have put much time and effort into, and I hate to see it turn down this path. All this resentment that has arisen on account of this is pointless. All the people who ignore these threads just, frankly, don't want to get involved, even to say yea or nay.
Flame me if you will; call me what you will - at least I will know this has been read, as long and convoluted as it may be.
I've been reading the boards, actually, and have, of course, not really made much comment-- gernally because I felt whom these areguments were taking place between needn't my involvement other than, perhaps, to mediate. Also, as I've just barely gotten back into the groove of things. It's been difficult enough to keep up with little access and work had been annoyingly time consuming as it is want for being to all of us.
These are not excuses.
What needs saying has been said-- redoing it all would be taking from us the thing that finally convinced me to join after much, MUCH prodding from Gorrad and Locue. I don't regret doing it. I've met many a good friend from here, and it had, once, been fun.
Due to aforementioned conditions, that luster has been waning. It's also being considerably hard to plot with plot characters (i.e. Xemnas) without having Roxas/Bluey's final say so. I cannot say that I agree with having to do that. Plotting should be planned and happen spontaneously, as characters tend to do what characters tend to do. Hence the slowness. My issue is having her, although understandably, out of contact. And when PMs are sent, there is no response.
I'd also like to make, if you will, the Null conversation. I live with someone who tends to get territorial (sorry, hon, but I'm being honest here), and have many a long, pressure filled conversations about the matter due to said fact; we have a plot, a sub plot would be nice. However, what I wanted to point out was that I, more often than not, feel outed on this for the simple matter that my attempt was met with inflexibility by the whole site. Yet now it's accepted with open thought. That feels a tad hypocritical to me. Granted, Roxas isn't/hasn't exactly been around to honestly give me more basis for an opinion other than there'd have to be a whole other "organization" to build it on. That has been addressed. Even by myself when it first began. But as far as other views, I'd rather keep them to myself, as they are not conducive to the site, really.
Secondly-- the FF background argument. Why is it that I only see people "arguing" over the FFVII section. Yet, when I think back, it was my profile that dragged in noticeable problems with such. I'd still have records if the archives hadn't been deleted. Regardless, the FFVII cast was the first to do this, yes-- and I built Leon's history and profile not on this fact, but rather that for him to be the way that he is for a more solid, less vague background. Picking on one section, and not pointing out the rest seems a little harsh. This argument started a long while back with my profile, and yet, is it that I have a better excuse? That it's more open to other characters? More creaitivity? Less popular of a game? If you're going to poke holes, might I ask that people be fare about it, rather than flame. That's what's been getting my goat about that. Things are the way they are for FFVII to make sense in a plot developmental way. If you had someone like Zack running around, Cloud wouldn't have the sword he did in the first game-- and nor would there be a fight between them. Vincent is Chaos. That there, when sleeping, not even being woken up, is enough of a problem as he is an extremely powerful character and not to mention the fact that darkness had come and invaded.
Character mentality is everything, and building on that has become a choice. Asking us to revamp profiles and such would be erasing everything, practically, that made them that way to the players and the people who have slowly gotten involved over the boards with them.
I realize I don't have everything I want to say here, but I can get back to it, I suppose. For now, I suppose that's enough of an issue/drama. But as it is, I'm in the same boat. Involvement here just... isn't the same. And that's what saddens me, here.
Alright... I can't rant like you two can, so you both deserve a medal for that ^^;;
So, the plot is something that I seriously hate, not the plot itself, but rather, the commotion that it's bringing up. A plot is what sites revolve around, it's what makes things the way they are, if you take that away (like Sephiroth stated) it's not the site anymore. World Destiny is a site that's unlike most others I've seen. This site revolves around plot, sure, but it's the wrong plot.
This plot's filled with Sokai, Rikari, Rodence, Aren, etc. (not canon names, I'm just being lazy and merging names together) we're more interested in what our characters are doing in the OOC land known as the cbox than when we are where we intended for them to go, where it is that they're needed, in the real plot. This inactivity and total just... ignorance to what the site is one of the reasons plot isn't functioning well. When you take a character do you take them for the purpose of playing them somewhere but not where you signed them up for? No, you take them so you can actively take a part in the site you signed up for.
Sephiroth has great points, some of them he isn't voicing here, but I'm taking one he gave to me just a few moments ago.
"It's not the plot that needs to change, it's the people". Look at the plot right now, look at how we are. We're putting so much effort into changing the site itself, so much work that could be put into furthering the site itself through action. Opinions need to be voiced, sure, but we're needing to get a move on so that we have something to change.
The community is definitely what's keeping me, and a lot of us, here. I've gotten to make good friends with people, heck, I love some people here. Seph, Ren, Cadence, they're people that I love in the sense that they make me feel as though I'm the best that I can be. Like Ren told me once, there's many kinds of loves, and I've found some here, that's why I stay, that's where my roots embedded themselves.
I don't want to be torn apart because of a few problems... I want to keep those friends close, and as much as we say we can stay together, it's the site that keeps us together. I've had friends who left WD, they aren't my friends now... just people that are on my old MSN's contacts.
The community is definitely what made posting here fun. Xigbar v. Yuffie, Searching... for what?, *The Old Mansion/Woods, those were fun, I love those threads for different reasons, but they were what I loved about the site at the time. This feels more like a job to me now, to keep posting. "Yuffie, do me a favor?", "Hey, can you--?", "I need--", they're the things I hear, and I don't like doing them at times... but I do, I suck it up, I know what I get myself into on these situations.
I'm co-admin, I'm honored to be that, but it means nothing to me if I can't take pride in what it is I have a say in. I want to enjoy what it is that I'm in charge of, it'll make me more open to change, wanting to change things.
So, don't preach to me how the site needs change, how the plot is terrible. If you do, I say this; change yourself, change your outlook, make it better for all of us.
Alright then. No preaching, no arguing, no grappling, no researching. There's only one important question.
What are you going to do about it?
Oh, I know. That's HARD. How dare I ask a question that requires more thinking than just what's flitting on the surface? Roll your eyes, and save it for another day. Nod your heads sympathetically at one another and remember the good times.
It's important to have opinions. It's more important to act on them. My only goal with this section of the site was to see something happen in some direction. Any direction. However, if this inaction and sense of helplessness and victimization is the common sentiment, then I'm not interested anymore.
If you put half as much work into writing up these little rants as you did on helping the thirty-three-something members in finding some direction, maybe the site would improve.
Sarcasm. It makes my stomach delighted-- like sunshine jelly!
I suppose I just might have an answer. I already have more then 2/3 of the FFVIII timeline written, working on proper descriptions of all the worlds. As well as working on a proposal for opening up more worlds, amending rules (such as certain ones not being to travel, as that makes no sense), revising the character sheet templates, give a concise boot in the ass for Seph to get going on that enemy list, devise proper plots for individual worlds, and, might I add, all of that will be up within the week. There's more on the way, but I've taken character plotting to the back seat. With my time away form the site, I've been using it wisely.
, and it seems on such boards that the vibe 'if you're not with us, you are against us' or even 'if you disagree with the board being changed, don't even bother posting' is rampant.
Thank you, Aryn, for so beautifully proving my point by poking holes in what we say, and yet doing nothing on this thread to improve matters.
We are writing things out, and talking to people to improve what can be done. If you want to leave the site, no longer interested, by all means, please be my guest. I know what I want, and I know what the site is, not what it might become by serious rework. You have, in one post, proved most of everything we have been trying to say, and for that I must express my deepest gratitude. Would you like a cookie?
._. G-guys... can we just settle down for a moment and takes a few good, deep breathes? I think we're all just digging to deeply into the problem here...
...I have cookies.
*will have a more relevant post to the main discussion in a few min~ but serious kiddies, chillies D:*
Sephiroth, all you do is discuss theories. I've only seen you act on one.
Perhaps this might be the novel idea that I like getting approval of actions from others prior.
- I lay down guidelines for the instructors and do what I can to keep that running smoothly. I volunteered to join the instructors as the founding member.
- I brought the now-unpopular idea of using FF canon backgrounds in order to have a history that more than one person can understand. This allows for more characters that are both OCs from those worlds and other FF characters to have a base line.
- I brought up the keychain idea and fought for it on the staff board. It later was put to a vote due to MY suggestion on same staff board.
- I took arms to combat flamers and hackers.
- I wrote a post later to rally the site in order to recover from that.
- I have helped flesh out characters for people who need assistance and ideas. Theories, ne? But they got somewhere.
- I have been organizing through several other members getting plotlines written for the staff. I could even show what I have so far.
- I covered your back a long time ago to the rest of the staff, and this is what I get in thanks?
I do a lot under the radar, because I don't like bragging or bringing up such things. If it helps, it helps. But I don't appreciate your attacking me, or Leon outright - or insulting the staff as a whole.
Aryn, I would like to say that you have beautifully proved Seph's point. But I believe Seph covered that. However, I will say you have gone over the line this time in what seems to me as a direct attack against another member.
As to replying to the actual topic matter itself. Yes, I agree. This site needs not change. It needs a few improvements, such as global mods, histories, historians, etc. These have been discussed greatly. They need to be implemented still, and for that it hinges on Bluey. Yes, she's been busy, yes, it's understandable, no, I don't hold it against her.
If we change the plot, then this is no longer the site it was when we joined. The complaints that a war plot won't work? You're assuming, like the British of old, that wars are fought by having large lines of troops all nice and orderly, and politely standing still while the opposing forces shoot them down. When was the last time a war was won like that? A few missions, one or two members against one or two other members can be decisive. You do not, I repeat, you do NOT need all of both organizations to be active. The leaders, perhaps.
Character actions should not need to be run by the staff before a member can implement them. Characters can and will act to their own whims. No outside force is going to stop them. The goes for important canon characters, as well. If Xemnas says that the Org XIII is going underground, then guess what? It's going to happen, or rather, he will do his best to make it happen. Of course Xigbar could choose to be a cocky ass about it, and blow their cover, but that's all up to the characters! That's not something the staff should be deciding.
The characters are entrenched in this war, or at least, those that actually know about it. And then there's Johnny-on-the-street, who knows nothing of the sinister forces gathering in the background. The point is, this plot /works/, just as much as any other! It doesn't need to be altered!
There are some technical things this site needs to be improved, yes. They are under works, but progress on those fronts keeps getting distracted by cries of "we need to change the plot!" It's devolved into pointless squabbling and arguing, and it needs to stop.
Alright, now it's my turn. Sure, I can throw some punches, but when it comes to ranting, I'm a few notches below a fish with ADD.
I have to agree with Seph on this one. When I joined, there were a few active people that welcomed me with open arms. The plot was vague, I'll admit, but the users were very friendly, so I didn't care much. I only role-played on Neopets before (Yes. Neopets. I said it.) so I was a bit of a beginner. There was some in character/ out of character fluff with Sora (When Kurt/Xaos played him) with my old character Lexicon. But it was all in good fun. Sure, Roxas wasn't active back then either, but that was still alright.
What I'm trying to say, is that if we change the plot, I might not like the site as much. It's changed too much already, and...I wish it would go back to the way it was before.
Oh, and Yuffie? Could you do me a favor? I need a sandwich. >;3
(Aryn, I was reading your post, and after a certain point...all I could think was 'Hard like your mom?'
And Aryn, there's a lot more work on the site than just imaging, that's just what we have advertised and open to the public. There's other parts for Version 5 that aren't needed to be shown, that we're working out. It's just a large puzzle that we're making in sections then merging together at one point.
Just pointing that out. You may not post here, but I'm sure you'll be reading this ^^;;
Everything that I read in these threads, about how to improve the site -- everything seemed to boil down to, 'we'd like some more active DMing.' Like, someone to run random encounters and events. The whole structure don't have to change for that to happen, and changing the plot won't magically take that need away.
Please understand that I am so not trying to needle the mods here. I've been there, I know how it goes. I'm just stating an observation.
I have opinions, obviously, but they've been gone over already, so I shan't rehash just now.