Current Plans, and some History.

If you are a new user, I have one thing to request: simply participate in the Roleplay, have fun, do not look at the other members who have been here for years as obstacles because of their large post counts. Balance will shortly come to Dominion and we'll have a site which is hopefully fun for everyone to participate in.

A brief history of this website: Five years ago, Star Wars roleplaying websites were incredibly common, especially after the release of Knights of the Old Republic, which was a great game and got people interested in the SW universe. One site was king over the others, and that was Star Wars Hutt, a site that had a mostly English staff, as well as myself and a couple other people (that no longer frequent these forums) as staff members, and a couple other people (such as Revan, and Lucin) as members. Revan and Farva decided to make their own forum, and while this was happening, Rory (the admin at Hutt) decided to alter the plot substantially, destroying a few usergroups, altering the timeline, and killing off multiple characters. This incited chaos, naturally, and I decided to take advantage of it by making my own website as well, known as Star Wars Syndicate. I managed to pull most of the Hutt members to my website and it took off, however it was then that Revan approached me and asked for a merger between the two, this wound up being a mistake on my part, as I wound up being royally screwed out of my 50-50 ownership of the site, and thus Dominion was born, of Revan's friends (and brother) and of the members of Hutt that I managed to swing to my side and leave.

Activity on SWD took off. Immediately we were the most active SW site, as Hutt declined massively. There were already 5, maybe a couple more RPers on the site, including Kain, Revan, Farva, Silvos and Rev's brother, and once those combined with the people from Hutt, posts soared. It was a miniature golden age, however it slumped after a few months, although we still picked up some solid members during that time, many of which stuck around to this day. I disappeared during the slump, making up some 5 year old excuse when really I was busy with school and friends and Halo, and other things a 14 year old would be interested in at the time, however I returned when the snow started falling and winter break rolled around. I wasn't the only one, and yet again things took off, this time through to the next Summer, this was truly the "Golden Age" of SWD, as 60,000 of the posts made came during this time, however, activity slowed as people went back to school and while we had a couple solid months, in April SWD died.

I relaunched SWD again when Summer rolled back around, and a few months later I had the idea that we'd set up shop somewhere else that wasn't restricted by the fact that we had no active Root admin (Revan) and the fact that the site really couldn't be moved elsewhere, get a domain, and had too many limitations to continue to faithfully update. Bendak and I attempted to get control of Revan's account, but to no avail, even after attempting to break into his hotmail account. I suggested we move to another site, and although there are several different iterations of this story, most of which make me seem like a douchebag, I attempted to move SWD to another forum, so as to actually have control over it, and not rest all the faith on Revan. Turns out I was banned, and since then, Bendak had control over Dominion. This was almost 3 years, to the day, ago, and since then we have only accumulated 7958 posts, 1500 of those coming in the last 4 months. 7958 posts over 3 years, meaning we've had 130,000 posts on this forum sitting there since 2007. To put this into perspective, before the reboot we were averaging 15 posts a month, for 7 months, and 200 posts a month for 32 months total. Now we're up to 375 posts a month, so it seems we have people interested, we just need to respark the activity.

Balancing Plans: This just needs to be done. People on SWD are infamous for talking, and not taking action. For two and a half years people complained about the last skin on the site, and requested change, or a relaunch of some sort, but nobody took action. I'm sure if you skinned something yourself and handed it off to Bendak he would gladly have changed it, but the point is that sometimes we talk too much without taking action and it delays any real change from occurring. I don't want to see Dominion die, and while I'm currently incredibly busy with college, a job and a social life, I'll at least make an attempt to keep things running here, and that begins with taking action.

Post Count: I'm going to, based on the reactions within the next couple days, be cutting the post count of members with 500+ posts down to a quarter of what they had, down to a limit of 500, as Zeon suggested. This will provide an even playing field and hopefully will reignite a bit of posting passion from the members who have been elevated to such a point that they can simply come and go as they please, making a single post and remaining powerful. The point that I want to make on this site is that just because you were a roleplayer on this site four years ago, when we recorded 60,000 posts in a few months, and everyone was so immensely active that it was easy to be elevated to that next tier of post count, doesn't mean you should still be capable. Revan hasn't roleplayed in four years, yet if he came back right now he'd be capable of attacking a new user, who could potentially have been roleplaying for a month, and simply flicking him in the forehead and demolishing him. That's not correct, the post count will be altered.

Power Cutoff: This is something I'd definitely like to hear people's thoughts on. Back in 2006 when I was a World of Warcraft nerd, I really wanted to emulate their system and incorporate levels and cut them off at level 50 or 60, that way people could simply reach their max level and then start a Secondary Character, or actually have challenges when they reach their plateau. I think it'd at the very least make things interested, although I'd like to see what people have to say regarding the topic.

Storyboard: I think that the one thing that this site desperately needs is some direction. I'm going to implement a new forum where we can "storyboard" ideas, and attempt to decide the direction of the plot. People can come up with ideas, and put those ideas into their own topics, and we can direct the plot from there, not down to a tee, obviously, but simply major plot points, such as: An Empire ship has gone rogue and has begun stealthily eliminating other ships in the Empire fleet before disappearing. This sparks an internal conflict within the Empire's fleet, and lots of finger pointing, and while this is going on, the Jedi attempt to attack under the guise of a civilian craft, all the while the identity of the Empire fleet's rogue vessel is a mystery, and the Empire must eliminate the new threat to them while attempting to locate and destroy the internal enemy.

Simple stuff, can be executed well, and carried on over the course of several threads, it will make people actively participate, and if they're the architect of a specific storyline, don't you think they'll want to see how it plays out?

You decide: Obviously I'm not just going to implement every idea that I have while ignoring everyone else, I'd love to hear ideas from other people, ideas that will spark discussion and roleplay. Please, don't be afraid to offer your opinions and ideas.

Nice to see you around here Sadow.......

Balancing Plans: I am terrible at skins. So if any ever recieves a skin from me, I am probably either lying or have stolen it.

Post Count: I would have to say that I am against changing of post count. Now, doing some sort of power cuff off of some sort. I'm game. But getting rid of a person over 5k in post would piss me off, personally speaking. I would like to note that their are only a minority of people on this site with over 5k in post.

Power Cutoff: My two cents, a person can put 'X' amount of post into a character. Meaning, Force powers of easy, medium, hard and master, each require 'z' amount of posts. In addition to that force forms and stances also require 'b' amount of posts for every level in them, such as novice, adept, advanced, expert and master. In addition, to go from padawan to knight, it either requires 'x' amount of post or the player to give up 'x' amount of posts to go up a 'level'. Here is an example:

Val Tislo has 1,000 post. She would like the basic force powers (speed, push/pull, Telekinesis, Force Leap/Jump) all at 50 post each for 200 posts. She would like to also have the lightsaber stance of Makashi at Advanced for 500 posts. And the force form concentration at a Advanced level for 500 posts. Leaving her with 300 posts to spend on whatever else she wants.

But this is my two cents....

SWD under my leadership was like North Korea.

However...

I'm not home for Thanksgiving break, and I have work when I get back for winter break, but I'm willing to help with the the site's css and graphics in my spare time.

I'm not the most popular person on the site, but I'm not here for glory. I've just got a bit of extra time I'm willing to contribute.

Id like to see my comrades posting again but any help is welcomed by me. Any plans you implement I am willing to do my part to contribute. Any of my plans I am ready to start work on given the OK.

It was just an example of how people on SWD like to talk over taking action, I wasn't saying we need a skin now, I was saying that when Dak was the head admin and we had a singular skin for over two years, people complained about it but there was no action taken, and I know there's a good amount of people who were able to do GFX. Point is if I could make a skin when I was 13 years old by just altering elements, then people with lots of GFX knowledge could surely make one over two years.

Now, for this example you're in the extreme minority; you stuck around for 5 years, but there are other people who were RPers years ago, and if they just randomly came back they'd be the most powerful people on the site. I get that you like being the top poster on the site... you already do have the most posts on the board in general, and you would still remain #1 on the site after losing your posts, and probably would remain that way for a long time knowing your activity. The point is the only way the site can survive is through appealing to outsiders, the same old people who have been here five years either have their own self entitlement where they believe that since they've been here so long they're immune to rules/trying, or they have just lost interest and will roll on by every so often briefly but aren't able to stick around. We have to promote new user activity and the best way to do that is by balancing the power, so to speak, and allowing members to actually be capable of reaching the level of other members.

Also, post count is so badly altered and skewed on this site that if you take the front two pages of the Overall posters you get 134,715, which is almost as many posts on the site period. Also note that is excluding my previous post count which numbered around 6500~, which would mean the front two pages of overall posters is more than the site in total, which isn't the most correct mathematically.

See, this is in direct contradiction to what the post count reduction would encourage. It would favor the old members who rarely post now, and who are no longer the lifeblood of our site (save for a couple here and there) and discourage new members. It's a good method to incorporate, however, not a method that I'd want to have if we didn't reduce the amount of posts.

EDIT: Dak - Hello. Didn't really mean to say that we needed a skin, as I elaborated on above, it was just an example.

Zeon - the one thing I'd like to see of the ideas you've expressed is the ship shop.

This post has been edited by Sadow on Nov 24 2010, 04:16 PM

A few more questions on my end:

- How is the post count going to effect the current rps that are in progress and the all of the current characters?

- I wonder if we will have to NPC all of our training in order to get higher ranks in the different orders?

If my memory serves me right, it had been in the past where 1000 posts (give or take a bit) signified that a person was a Master in a order (wither it be Sith or Jedi).

---

Personally, I would like the admin and mods to be more active.

This post has been edited by Lao on Nov 28 2010, 02:41 PM

I hate to be an asshole, but(t) when are going to put this into effect. Or are just going to sit around and talk about it?

As a low leveled RPer, and having spoken to several other RPers of similar post counts, I can safely say that most of these suggestions have my approval, Mr. Sadow. :grin:

Here are a couple of my views on the proposals.

Balancing Plans: I honestly don't know anything about skins and such. I'm always open to learning, but the most I know how to do with computer graphics is Adobe Photoshop, and even then my knowledge is somewhat limited. I'm willing to help out with those kinds of things and site organization if any aid is required, but I'll need some clearly-defined guidelines and perhaps some links to places where I could learn about it.

Post Count: The biggie. I think if post counts are cut, then the older members will leave. Up to them, of course, but they'll feel cheated. The alternative to this is, of course, to make post counts less important. On most forums (not RPG forums, of course) post counts merely represent how active you are. They are a sign of prestige, but they don't necessarily make what you say more powerful or your suggestions more practical than those of other individuals whose post counts are less stellar. So, if the maximum post count that affected your power level was...say...2500, for example, then everyone above that is merely earning prestige by increasing their post count, but they are not necessarily more powerful than someone of a lower level. This will also have the end result of leveling the playing field to a certain degree, just like you hoped to do, Sadow, and that will encourage new players to come in and not feel like they are being totally overpowered because the strongest anyone can be will be that set limit.

Power Cutoff: If the above suggestion concerning post count was adopted, then that would essentially create the desired power cutoff. I have to admit, I'm really, REALLY anxious to see this implemented because it ingrains an element of strategy to the game; you can't be a master of everything under that system, so you have to pick and choose what your character specializes in. I think that it would be kind of neat to be able to change their powers and specialities so that way you're not trapped with whatever previous choices you made, but it would be good to have to play characters who are, to some degree, flawed.

I'm not sure how that would work with secondary characters. Probably so that the secondary character could have half of your total post count cut off at the (hypothetical, not set in stone) 2500 marker. That would give people some incentive to continue earning posts after they reach the set limit.

I seriously urge viewers to consider this because, sadly, I've spent far too much time contemplating how this would work and I feel confident that it is a very practical system.

Storyboard: YES!!! I've always wanted to see something appear in the Mass Events section, or something that's actually related to a plot. Please make an official thread for story ideas and we can brainstorm. In regards to an official plot, one of the things that I think would be helpful would be to do something that is somewhat related to the original trilogy, or perhaps the three prequels. That's how you're going to get more players; only very hardcore Star Wars fans will join if its a plot that most people cannot associate with, but what won people's hearts was the film series. If that is incorporated into the plot, then I feel certain you'll see a bigger following arise here. In any case, I liked the movies. A lot. :happy:

Anyways, thank you for writing up this thread and for accepting suggestions. I'm excited that we're going to get the chance to improve this site.

Not to discredit your opinion or taper it any way Zacharias, but here are my additional cents.

= Balancing Plans and Cut off....
Wouldn't we be in the same problem, 3 years down the line if we did this. Even if we reduce peoples post count, and they were to say, post two times a day for two years that's over 1,400 posts. And that's a low balling it. If a person were to average higher then they could and would reach either the max or a higher number sooner. I am against reducing a person's posts. I am for throwing down some sort of power cap on Characters, particularly in the areas of Force Usage and lightsaber proficiency. I am game for actually posting up after threads, particularly training threads and holocron threads, that a person's lightsaber proficieny went up from 25% to 35%. Or something like that.



=Story Boarding...(Not to be confused with Water Boarding or Wake Boarding)
I personally think that Mass Events, would be like a battle on Mon Calamari with multiple different people (at least four) fighting for control of something (in this case Mon Calamari). Or other events that are, in short, large in standing or greater (+5 people). Ya, I know we don't have those kinds of numbers, at least not yet.

This post has been edited by Lao on Jun 23 2011, 09:48 PM

In regards to the balancing plans and cutoffs, that is correct. At a 2500-3000 cutoff, people could maximize their levels in a relatively short period of time (that is, if one considers a year to be "short"). There is a huge advantage in this because people don't necessarily wish to spend seven years of their lives posting so that they have a remotely scarce chance of fighting more experienced players in an RPG; they want to get jiggy with it and be able to play competitively, and that simply cannot be achieved if one doesn't cap it at a reasonable point.

Now I post more than twice a day and my post count hasn't risen all that drastically over the past several months. I think that after a year or two of serious posting you should be allowed to do essentially what the other powerful players get to do; life is too short to wait so long for such little payoff. So if newer players are really devoted to RPing here, I don't think that the fact they joined later should cripple their ability to compete and have fun. The post cutoff seems to be the most viable way (in my eyes) of allowing newer players this opportunity without destroying the reputation of those who have been here longer. It also means that this type of situation can never again happen in the future.

As for Story Boarding, you have expressed a difference of opinion in how the term is defined, and I think to a certain degree you are right. However, the Mass Events section specifically mentions (I think) that it is to be used for plot-based events, and that cannot happen until we have a plot.

My personal opinion of Story Boarding is.......you make your damn story, fuck every body else. (This would also explain the rise of LW). You train, you go out and get shit, and you make shit happen (in some sort of order). But in short, make shit happen.

Back to power cut offs and Post count.

If this, cutting people's post count down, were to happen. That would seriously piss off most off the big names that are now inactive on the site (for the most part), if they were to ever come back. And that alone would probably seal the deal, and make them never come back. If it was me, it would. So I don't think Post count reduction is not the best way to combat this problem, because post counts tend to be like a feather in a person's cap. It distinguishes them from, everyone else on this site (for better or worse).

I would like to point out that amongst the "old" members, members with over 2.5K in post, less than 10 that are active by any stretch of the imagination. And that is out of thirty people. So less than one third of the members with over 2.5 in post are active (by a minimal standard of activity). So really it would just effect the active ones.

Now, I am fully game for power cut offs. Currently, posting anywhere on the site gives a person a post. Now I can cut that down to just the RP forum and the various Temples and stuff. (And should be in effect by the time I post this.) I am fine with saying that a Jedi / Sith Master is roughly X amount of post (I am personally thinking 2000 posts) and then divvy up a persons post into Force tech. and lightsaber tech. / skills. Or they can just get better over time and through posting up and training with mod approval (some sort of requirements and stuff).

As far as a leveling system. I tried one on this site a while back and it sucked ass. So unless someone can come up with a system that is not based on post count could be pretty hard in my opinion. Because if it wasn't based on post count then it would have to be based on posting ability, which varies greatly from even the current people on the board.

But with this power cut off, I would like and am going to have some sort of literal posting ability. I know their are some people that can just wipe the floor with others, just based solely on this. That is why it ain't. And some amount of post count should come into it. This would also mean that a person, lets take me for example could not just wipe the floor with every single Jedi or Sith master that walks along, let alone Padawans and initiates. But it would give these Padawans and initiates some sort of defense or some sort not way to not just die.

In terms of "leveling," I'd say just stick with the old learning system. The fact of the matter is, most people here learn through quests/ training, so shouldn't that be the key factor in everything? Now I'm not saying that writer's finesse wouldn't factor into it, but I'd say based on a balance of those two, it should work out just fine. It's simple, has a certain pacing to it that will gradually give people more experience, as well as give the staff a bit more control on who learns what. It gives people the ability to get stronger without letting them get over-powered (save for maybe us staff members maybe hah hah).

THIS PLACE IS ACTIVE AGAIN?!

Yes, that is current.

About the post problem
Its pretty simple just make another post category. Have two post categories, one named prestige and one named rp post. The post category that relates to all posts made in non rp forums goes the prestige category and all post made in the rp forums goes to rp post.