New Extensive CL RPG Project: Input Required

[Chad Rains offline]

This thread is here to get a general feel for community involvement in this new CL RPG project. The current webpage with updated details and polling is available up here

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'Project Carthage' is a brand new RPG (Role Playing Game) based in the Code: Lyoko universe that is largely being designed from scratch by myself. What sets this game apart from most Forum based RP's that you may be accustomed to is that the different areas of the CL world are clearly and distinctly separated, the roleplays are live up to the second and force shorter poses, further creating a more spontaneous and less scripted roleplay. And the design of the game allows for some loose control over players actions so that, in comparison to forum RP's, people won't be stepping on each others toes.

Now to cover some possible skeptics in the audience: Yes, I am affiliated with the game a large number of you have come to know as 'LyokoMUSH'. In fact, I am the current owner. Project Carthage, while it is very similar in both the core game it's based off of and some of the design, it is not to be affiliated nor would I like to be affiliated personally with any known negativity floating around LyokoMUSH. Project Carthage is a brand new game run by a fresh staff roster. This game is designed as purely a scratch rebuild of LM with no ties to previous staff and associated reputations it has garnered.

The current planned design is to have much of the areas surrounding Kadic and the school itself fully built and detailed, offering those who wish to be students their own dorms in the school. Those who desire to be graduates of Kadic will be offered Apartments in the complex in town. Some areas outside of the suburbs where Kadic is located will also be included. Some of which you may be familiar with from LyokoMUSH.

The factory, lyoko, and areas therein are still being debated on as of writing this.

Project Carthage is designed from the ground up to be player friendly and allow more involvement by the players in many of the plots as well as accepting of continued suggestions for game improvements by the players.

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This thread's primary purpose is to gather a general idea of what kind of player participation there would be expected with this game and also, of course, to get any suggestions or questions you may have about the project.

If you have any questions or concerns, no matter what they happen to be, please do ask here or PM me if necessary. I want to reiterate the point above that this project is here to stray from the previous negativity that has floated around LM.

[adrimarie offline]

I'm pretty sure you don't remember me, but I was once a former RPer in LyokoMUSH back in the early year... you know... the one who was recommended by one of your (former) prominent players to have potential to be your "Yumi Ishiyama" in LM? Yeah... the one that you and your LM staff decided to "stalk" me to my RPing thread in TL that I myself even created and judge me for my RPing from there instead of my RPing in LM altogether that you all decided that I'm not "good enough" to be your Yumi in the RP? The same person who went in to a "trial" with you, the entire staff, and some other people for what you have done to me behind my back? Yeah. That person.

I've made friends with some of the former LM RPers after I left LM (I'm pretty sure you realize that I left because of that incident) and they all had a common issue that lead to LM's "previous negativity", and that would be the entire LM staff themselves (you included, no offense) and the way you guys have been treating your players. I don't exactly know what LM's past is that lead you and your staff to become egotistic dictators over the newer players, however, since this thread is all about input in your upcoming new RPG project, my major input and concern regarding this new one is the obvious--- how you and this new staff are going to treat the new players once they join and actually start getting involved in the game. Are you going to have that same "initiation process" in this RPG game like you have in LM? Are you going to go past your written rules and do something atrocious such as stalking your players at other forums and "evaluate" them for the way they RP right then instead of evaluating them in your RPG game itself?

That is the MAJOR flaw that I have spotted in LM--- lack of communication between the staff and the players. If you seriously want to attract players to this new game, the major factor in making this RPG "community" successful is the communication between staff and the players, which includes giving each other respect and understanding from both sides. I mean, who on earth cares about all these cool features and its interactivity that would actually "wow" the players? That's not the main attraction that makes a community (general or RPG) grow and be attractive to the masses. Don't forget that it is the players themselves--- not the staff or these ultra-cool features alone--- that makes an RPG community active, popular, and well recommended to those who may be interested in this sort of thing. Without any players, there is no community.

Look, I apologize if I have started my input with a negative note, but I felt that this needs to be said right off the bat. I would have said the same thing to you and the entire LM staff a long time ago but then again, considering the way you acted towards the players back then, there wouldn't be much of a point of me on saying that. As an RPer (forum or MUSH or whatever), I'm not looking for "cool features and interactivity," I'm looking for a community, to make friends and to have fun RPing without too much limits. What happened in LM and the staff's practices in dealing with the players (esp. new ones) pretty much removed the "fun" and "enjoyment" in RPing altogether (thus the negativity in LM in the first place). If you say that you're seriously treading away from all that negativity of LM, then this communication issue is something you need to look in to as a priority.

[Chad Rains offline]

No offense taken at all. I quite understand your concern and whether you believe me or not, I am mostly on your side of the argument here. Despite being on the staff and now owner, I have not once fully agreed to the the repeated negativity towards the players. And I DO wholeheartedly agree that it is mostly the players who make the community. This is the whole reason I want to make this project a reality if at all possible. A number of staff members whom I will not name have recently attempted to do all that's possible to kill off LM by repeating the aforementioned negativity towards players and I've just gotten fed up with putting my hard work into keeping things running when they just undo all that work in the end.

Communication-wise, yes. I TOTALLY agree. Under circumstances not under my control, one staff member has went totally AWOL after a minor quarrel with him acting all childish about things. Another went totally apprehensive and paranoid a few months back and has since refused to even be bothered to help with day to day activities and responsibilities and has since went his own way to his own non-CL mush and managed to drag some players permanently from LM by lying through his teeth. So yeah, I do understand the communication point and it just further adds to the reasoning behind this project.

This 'fresh staff' in the beginning would only consist of myself and that is all. This means no Deimos/Kharaa, no Barris/Phobos. Just me to start out. I MAY bring in one or two old staff members IF I deem it's needed to keep things running smoothly, but I'd only choose those I can trust 100% to uphold the positive, player friendly tone.

Like I said, this project is brand new and intended to lose all the aforementioned negativity targeted towards players. I'd rather any affiliation myself or this project has with LM be dropped completely if at all possible.

[adrimarie offline]

I'm glad you're understanding my concerns regarding my issues on RPG communities in general (I'm not just talking about LM here but on other communities as well). I'm really glad that you are actually prioritizing communication, which I feel is the most important factor in any community around (online and offline). I never felt any form of community or any sense of a welcoming environment from both sides (staff and players) every time I stepped in to LM. Sure, there's a "hello" and "hi" here and there from people, but afterwards, now what? You know...?

I'm not one of the people who "spread rumors" considering how bad LM was towards the public, however, I've experienced all of this negativity on my own (that incident that I mentioned in my previous post was a good example), which is definitely something that I would not forget. In fact I was actually warned by two former LM players whom I happened to meet in both here and in TL when I was considering joining LM (after a recommendation of course) that I shouldn't join, but I'm the type who prefers learning things the hard way. I know it hurts and it is harsh, but I felt that it was worth it.

Kharaa/Deimos and Vincent/Phobos (I sorta/kinda knew Vincent in TL as I'm a part-time mod in there) are probably the worst administrators (no offense) I have come across. Though they didn't exactly mistreated me directly, I've seen the way they mistreated some of the players in there which included a few of my friends. They weren't any different with their behaviors in TL either (kinda makes me wonder why they're still there in the first place despite of their atrocious behavior with people there...), and personally I just find that a major turnoff.

Well, I wish you the best with the RPG, looking forward to it. I may consider joining once it's all set up.

[comex offline]

Good luck.

Seriously.

[twilightchaos09 offline]

I think I might consider joining as well. Could be fun.

[JeremysGirl offline]

Are there going to be FC's and are canon couples enforced? But, I will join. Sounds fun.

[Chad Rains offline]

Are there going to be FC's and are canon couples enforced? But, I will join. Sounds fun.

The set plotline that's gonna be followed is still yet to be determined. But there are going to be Feature Characters which will selectively be offered under a similar probationary/monitored basis. Canon couples will be strictly enforced since I'd like things to remain as Canon as possible in regards to the universe in general.

[JeremysGirl offline]

I guess I can try, but the canonality is what made me leave LM twice before.

[adrimarie offline]

But there are going to be Feature Characters which will selectively be offered under a similar probationary/monitored basis.

Well, you answered one of my questions in my first post of this thread.

I don't know, I'm not very keen on this "featured character" idea, nor any of this "highly selective" initiation/probation process thing that you're planning to have. I mean, if you're going to "stray" away from LM this is one of the things that you need to seriously make changes on. It's because of this highly selective process thing going on that you have in giving the roles of the original characters to players that prevented LM from obtaining players portraying the Lyoko Gang in the first place. This whole thing sounds more like an audition for a Broadway play or movie than actual recruitment for an RP. I think you're just asking too much, and because of this whole selection thing, I don't think a lot of players would be even interested in playing the Lyoko Gang or any of the original (or "featured," I don't know how you call it) at all.

Some players RP these characters in their own perspective, but that also depends on what plot/situation the actual RP is. I mean, if you're going to have this selective process and do the same thing over again (like what you guys did to me in LM in the past that made me leave for good), then this new RPG isn't going to go anywhere.

Besides, none of us are "professional" roleplayers here. I'm pretty sure many of us know the series inside out which includes the characters themselves. Who are you or the staff to say that you know more than we do? That was one of the mistakes you guys have done to us back in LM. I think a serious change of tone and attitude is needed in this RPG. I just think you're asking too much.

[Chad Rains offline]

Once again, I want to reiterate here, if only for new people reading this: LM's past should be absolutely no excuse for judgement on this project, as hateful as those events may seem from adrimarie's words.

Fact of the matter is, regarding feature characters, either you have them or you don't. If you don't, then where does the 'CL' part of it come in? I have /NO/ problem losing feature characters altogether. But then where does the whole CL feel go? If you do have them, then there has to be SOME kind of limitation in who gets to play them and how they are played. Whether you agree with it or not, there have been a handful of players who have previously shown they cannot get away from doing basic 'say' poses in active RP's and while I never discriminate fully against this, I'm certainly not going to let them try out for a feature character unless they can improve. This is an EXTREME case mind you.

Now I have never once said how I plan to set up the FC's. FYI, I was originally planning to merely let players attempt to RP /AS/ the FC's for a set amount of time and go from there on deciding whether they'd be able to play the part.

I never once said I expected people to be 'professional roleplayers', but on the opposite end of the spectrum, it is made difficult to deal with previously mentioned players who stick to strictly 'say' poses and make no attempt to improve. And while I make no effort to discriminate against them personally, I really rather not give them FC roles unless 1) there have been no others asking for the position or 2) there IS someone in the position but they are even worse in ability. Yes, if they improve their skills, I will let them try out again, but if not, oh well.

NOW, I merely decided to offer the IDEA (again, this project is not a definite and I'm just trying to see if anyone would even be bothered in trying to participate. If I don't get enough people giving it a chance or I get enough negatives, this all gets flushed. Plain and simple.) as a way to offer an olive branch to old players who have been lynched by old staff so rudely and without legitimate reason. In a sense, I'm also using it personally to get away from said staff who have done nothing but create problems 'behind the scenes'.

Again, I want to make peace with new and old players alike as much as possible. The above guidelines I have mentioned are only there as a baseline for some kind of structure to begin with. By no means is any of it set in stone. It never has been. I have never explicitly stated such.

To reiterate: The actions of LM that adrimarie has been repeating here, while true and harsh and and inexcusable, they should not be used to judge this project in any way.

[Chad Rains offline]

I just wanted to add an update that I will be making an attempt at a preliminary opening in the next week or two, maybe sooner. I have gotten most of the required code work done including character generation. Building is taking place right now and is gonna take a few days to complete Kadic and the surrounding areas. Kadic is the primary focus to get things to a situation where players can take comfortable residence.

Also, by suggestion from a former staff member, I am currently working on a flowchart to plan out a new function to help manage the feature character situation a bit better and appease everyone. This would be that, while a specific character is not in permanent ownership, players can temporarily take psuedo-control over those characters for the length of a roleplay if they desire. This would also serve as an unforced judging period if someone is seeking permanent (till other situations arise deeming needed action) ownership of an FC.

Secondly, a plotline and reference-able history is being brainstormed to have some sort of state for people to start from out of the gate. A focused 'base' so to speak.

I'll have more details once things get closer to opening up.

[Chad Rains offline]

I just want to make a final update here that more than likely either tomorrow or the day after I will be opening things up to public registration. There's still a few minor things that need sorted, but everything necessary for open registration is in place. 99% of building is finished, majority of the code's in place for handling dorms and such. I just have to take care of one or two items on my todo list between now and then.

[Exploder offline]

So, is this replacing LM? Because I never could access it after the server problem a few weeks back, so I was wondering.

[Chad Rains offline]

So, is this replacing LM? Because I never could access it after the server problem a few weeks back, so I was wondering.

It will be replacing it if it gets enough support. Else it's just gonna be dumped and things will go back to LM

In any case, it's up now after some delay. You all can access it at wpkr.homeip.net:7247. I don't currently have a site up yet but will be working on one in the near future. If you need any help connecting, let me know. Mostly it's all in a release candidate mode while some minor systems still need to be put in place.

Also, Colonel Catastrophe, if you can let me know what your old character was, I can look into it from there and see if there's anything specific causing a problem.

[Exploder offline]

On LM, I was Jeff (the band nerd one).

And I opened up the address in Flock, and all that came up was a bunch of code.
So I thought, hey, maybe it's in SimpleMU, so I tried that, and it didn't work at all.
Is the port also 7247? Because I got the standard error message "host cannot be found"...

Here's what I did on the New Connection Wizard:
Site Address: wpkr.homeip.net:7247
Port: 7247
Type: MUSH
Name: Project Carthage

Did I mess anything up (probably the port if I did)?

[Chad Rains offline]

No. The address is correct. Try '/qcmush wpkr.homeip.net 7247' in SimpleMU when it's not connected and see if it goes through. I don't know why, but it keeps doing that for a lot of people recently. I will have to investigate.

[Chad Rains offline]

Just so you guys know, in the past week or so of being open, Project Carthage has gained a lot of activity and success but is still in need of players willing to take FC positions and, more importantly, remain active in roleplays.

Right now in the way of FC's we have Yumi, Odd, and Ulrich open as main characters. William is off limits for the time being to be considered. As well, secondary characters such as Sissi, Milly, and faculty are open as well. Anyone can take up these characters as a temporary position. Just have to have a pre-existing character and get in contact with Antea or another logged on wizard ingame to get the ball rolling.

Over the weekend while I am gone, I'm gonna make an attempt at finishing a few pieces of additional code to facilitate better FC interaction, notably an out-of-plot room where people can pick up an FC and begin roleplaying them as they wish. I will also attempt to make this available to on-grid in-plot rooms for people to use.

And lastly: I have added a few IC communication functions including an ingame IRC chat room for chitchat to happen IC at will. There is also an ingame bulletin board and suggestion box to get your ideas and suggestions in to help further the game along. Though the bulletin board may soon be replaced by an out-of-game version merely for ease of use.

If anyone is interested in joining up and checking the place out, you are more than welcome and highly encouraged to do so. Again, the address is at wpkr.homeip.net:7247 and if you need any help connecting, let me know.