@Cupcake Fair enough! My own was that, outside plot-running sessions (mine or others') I couldn't find things to do, so I gave up.
Either way I agree, it's a shame but not staff's fault. The circle of MU-life. 
I don't know what everyone else's definition of sandbox is, but, to me, from a design standpoint (and I was there for at least, like, 20% of the design process), BITN was designed to be a venue for telling horror stories. I've worked on games that aimed to provided a simple sandbox (RenoMUSH being a prime example). BITN was not that.
Staffers, myself, Inf, Amora, Elysia and more were dedicated to running stories when we could. We had, at some point, ST rewards that were so obscenely generous they pissed people off.
And yet, there was never enough. And so interest faded.
I think I hate MUers.
I'm a rodeo clown.
Consider allowing for a revival. Set a date 6 months hence, announce it, and see who shows up. If the idea and execution were good, but quiet bothers you, then yeah close up. For the season
And see if the season returns again.
(Announcing well ahead of time is crtical here.)
@tragedyjones I liked the premise of BITN, and I don't think it was BITNs fault that I lost interest (it was work related, coupled with finding a game I found more fun once I started getting spare time again).
That said, it definitively felt like a sandbox game.
I loved the premise, and only left because of my own flakiness. It's a shame to see it pass - I hope that someone else revives the idea of a mortals game - I might suggest one that covers less geography, though.
@Pyrephox said in Bump In The Night: A Chronicles of Darkness MUX:
I loved the premise, and only left because of my own flakiness. It's a shame to see it pass - I hope that someone else revives the idea of a mortals game - I might suggest one that covers less geography, though.
In the wake of BITN closing, I'm setting aside my other project to pick up the mortals game I'd been kicking around for a while that I set aside for BITN. (Two mortals games would have been, I think, too diluted, so it got shelved at the time; it's a niche, and not a big niche.)
There will be something, eventually. I don't think it will necessarily appeal to the same target audience, but there will be something for the die-hard mortal crowd, even if it takes some time to get there.
@tragedyjones said in Bump In The Night: A Chronicles of Darkness MUX:
I don't know what everyone else's definition of sandbox is, but, to me, from a design standpoint (and I was there for at least, like, 20% of the design process), BITN was designed to be a venue for telling horror stories. I've worked on games that aimed to provided a simple sandbox (RenoMUSH being a prime example). BITN was not that.
It might make an interesting topic since I suspect that a lot of us use the term in different ways. For me, I think of a sandbox as when stories can exist in complete isolation, and things that could reasonably effect other characters on the grid don't even if their characters would know/react to it. Not necessarily a bad thing at all, just a different style.
some fucking idiot who people only like because he's good at taking credit for the work of everyone under him, just like every other fucking L&L headwiz.
@Apos said in Bump In The Night: A Chronicles of Darkness MUX:
It might make an interesting topic since I suspect that a lot of us use the term in different ways. For me, I think of a sandbox as when stories can exist in complete isolation, and things that could reasonably effect other characters on the grid don't even if their characters would know/react to it. Not necessarily a bad thing at all, just a different style.
We actually had a bit of a hooplah about this. More than one. We expressly did not want people to play in a vacuum, yet also wanted people to run stories of their choosing. Sort of conflicting ideas, at times. We also wanted to make sure players could play stories they wanted to play, and didn't necessarily have to be part of the meta-plot. I think, in the end, we erred a little far to the "let people be", and the result was people feeling disengaged. Though, honestly, I've fretted a lot over how to keep players engaged, to allow them to feel consequences and feel like their actions are affecting the story, without forcing them to do things they don't enjoy. I don't really have an answer.
That said, I tend to agree with your definition, and don't find BITN to fit. See the players that left because they couldn't run things in their vacuum, or the people who strongly disagreed with the rules we had that your story had to fit into the broader game.
@skew said in Bump In The Night: A Chronicles of Darkness MUX:
We actually had a bit of a hooplah about this. More than one. We expressly did not want people to play in a vacuum, yet also wanted people to run stories of their choosing. Sort of conflicting ideas, at times.
I feel like this game in the beginning had a great idea and it could have stayed on track early on. By empowering STs and rewarding people well for playing things were /moving/. STs were able to create stories and a lot of those stories were not in a vacuum due to the construct of the organizations most PCs belonged to. This allowed for stories to grow organically and to bring in new players. The idea that an ST could run a plot, a scene and get things going would then allow for players to meet and RP plans, to do a number of things that are fun for players before going to the next scene or plot. Then for those that liked the monster of the week type thing there was events for that.
Players get on games to have fun. I mean that's the bottom line right? Why else is it called a game?
All games have rules and guidelines of play.
That helps keep people near the same page.
If you expect support from someone, you have to work with them. Not at them. Not against them.
When running the game, that relationship should be skewed towards others working with the runners, so they in turn can support the players back.
This might be an odd question but as someone who never played there what lead to the closing?
Since all I know about the game comes from here we had one post talking about activity being up, then the next one 17 days later announcing the closure. I know it does not actually concern me but as a typical internet rubbernecker I am curious.
@ThatGuyThere For what it's worth, even I do not actually know, and I'm staff. So. I have a feeling that if people are keeping it private, it's going to stay that way. As folks are not muck-raking at one another about it (basically, being adults enough that even other staff don't know), it's probably best to leave it be.
I can say this much: as staff, there were no gigantic explosions that I know of/were pointed out to me as the cause.
@ThatGuyThere I did post up some details in game, and so I have no problem sharing them here. Some of staff wanted to shut BITN down, and conduct 2-3 month long plot arc to see the game out. Some of staff did not want to shut BITN down. The result was a conflict of opinion (aka, argument), and the game owner (that's TJ) decided to shut down.
@skew But wasn't he already uninvolved with the game by his own choice?
@Kanye-Qwest No. TJ did put Amora in charge of "most things", but he was always involved. Or, well, we did have like two weeks where he was MIA, but we had some warning for that, it was RL stuff, he left a means through which we could contact him. Even as Amora took over most of the leadership stuff, TJ was there there, still chatting with us, still giving ideas, still weighing in. He was also still logging in, just about daily.
It wasn't until the very end (say, two weeks ago?) that TJ was really not involved, and that was after we had already started the talk about shutting the game down (via plot).
And then, of course, BITN is his game. It was his brain child and it was paid for out of his pocket. When he made Amora "head staff", he clearly said he was maintaining the control to do exactly what he chose to do. So, long answer, but still "No, TJ was never uninvolved."
And just to clarify a further, @surreality did offer to take over paying for BITN, which TJ decided he didn't want. (And, best I can tell, this had nothing to do with surr in particular, and was a general desire to see the game end.) Afaik, surr was simply offering to take over paying for it, if that was the reason behind closing it. Oh, and, also, she wanted her pretty wiki to stay up and available to the public.
@skew said in Bump In The Night: A Chronicles of Darkness MUX:
And just to clarify a further, @surreality did offer to take over paying for BITN, which TJ decided he didn't want. (And, best I can tell, this had nothing to do with surr in particular, and was a general desire to see the game end.) Afaik, surr was simply offering to take over paying for it, if that was the reason behind closing it. Oh, and, also, she wanted her pretty wiki to stay up and available to the public.
For all its worth, that wiki will forever live in my heart, no matter what. u___u
The wiki stuff from BITN -- at least some of it thus far -- is backed up for grabbing. It really was made to be stuff for everyone who wanted to use it. It's not in ready to use form (yet, and will not be for a while because I do not have time to explain things or walk people through it right now please do not ask yet) but a good portion of the wiki templates and such are safe.
<2 @SunnyJ Thank you!
Oh fucking well.
@surreality More than deserved! X)
For anyone who is interested in seeing how BITN "ended", or sharing some details about your character's story, or their epilogue, or whatever else, I've put up a game in a play-by-post format. At present, there's just the two closing logs, but I'll be adding more details as I have time.
To "play", you'll need to create an account, a character, and submit for approval. Characters only need like 3 details, so... it's easy!
Consider allowing for a revival. Set a date 6 months hence, announce it, and see who shows up. If the idea and execution were good, but quiet bothers you, then yeah close up. For the season
And see if the season returns again.
(Announcing well ahead of time is crtical here.)
