Eldritch - A World of Darkness MUX
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@Warma-Sheen said:
The writing was on the mall only about a month or two after it opened.
Having one of the 2 wizards (not counting Theno/code staff) go AWOL was a pretty clear indicator that it was in trouble. But it was fun for a time.
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@Warma-Sheen said:
The writing was on the mall only about a month or two after it opened.
It took about four to six months for that writing to appear on the wall. Everything before that was pessimism.
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@Warma-Sheen said:
The writing was on the mall only about a month or two after it opened.
I think that I would ultimately have to disagree with this. From a staff perspective, we had a lot of plans and a lot of activity months after the game opened, and a hell of a lot of player ST's putting tons of effort into things. It very much had a good run.
If not for Sinister, it probably would have folded a long time ago.
While I appreciate this thought, I can't take credit for this at all. I had a lot of help and a lot of support from @Coin and @Thenomain, as well as @Cobaltasaurus and others. I was far from the only staffer -- in fact, I mainly focused just on the werewolf side of things, while Cobalt handled vampire and Deviant and I split up the tasks for Demon. I might have been the most visible of these people, but I was hardly the only one, and they deserve as much credit for keeping it going.
@TNP said:
Having one of the 2 wizards (not counting Theno/code staff) go AWOL was a pretty clear indicator that it was in trouble.
See, this also isn't exactly how this went down. They didn't go AWOL, we were perfectly aware they were heading out and dealing with RL school stuff. I'm a student myself, and I've been struggling just as hard, but she's a Master's student, and that's a ton of work -- far too much to keep up with a MU, truth be told. That's a lesson that we've all learned through this -- the best laid plans, etc. RL is a bitch sometimes, and though there was a distinct plan in place that I was proud to be a part of making a reality, sometimes things just don't work out.
This was mostly a timing issue for all of us. It's not just one person. All of us have had conflicts come up. Laying at the feet of one person is really unfair to her.
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@Derp Mine was just an outsider's perspective. Didn't know you were Sinister there, but you were right in the middle of stuff so you know what was up. But... I'd disagree with the assessment of a 'good run'. Totally just a judgement call per individual perspective. But for all the time and effort that went into it, I think a good run would have had to last more than what it did. At least a year.
I'd be interested in knowing the amount of time that went into making the game from start to a full opening. You got to at least be active longer than it took you to make the game, right? Maybe I'm taking a harsh view cause of being disheartened at the result of it. But that sucks about the timing of all of it.
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I never played on Eldritch but I'd argue that the measure of a good run is not length but rather if the players enjoyed it while it lasted.
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@Warma-Sheen said:
@Derp Mine was just an outsider's perspective. Didn't know you were Sinister there, but you were right in the middle of stuff so you know what was up. But... I'd disagree with the assessment of a 'good run'. Totally just a judgement call per individual perspective. But for all the time and effort that went into it, I think a good run would have had to last more than what it did. At least a year.
I'd be interested in knowing the amount of time that went into making the game from start to a full opening. You got to at least be active longer than it took you to make the game, right? Maybe I'm taking a harsh view cause of being disheartened at the result of it. But that sucks about the timing of all of it.
I don't know that we were open and active longer than we worked on it. Probably not, actually--or maybe about the same amount of time.
But the amount of work and what you're putting into it is also different during the two stages. You can't really compare the building of the game, its history, a languid telling of a storied world and its people--to the mind-numbing daily grind of +jobs and apps and requests and complaints and and and and and.
While we worked on Eldritch, we still roleplayed somewhat (not as much). I also sat with @Eerie for hours on end with my feet kicked up on my desk talking about this city we were creating and its history, its people--I never had as much fun as those moments when it comes to this hobby.
So you can't compare the two, especially not when you're considering its "run", which is largely affected not just by the people who made the game but also the people who engage in it. There were a lot of little things that were disappointments and for some of us those stacked up faster and taller than for others.
I can't compare "creating" and "running" the game; but to me, the person who was at the start and the end of both, it was all one long process.
@Groth said:
I never played on Eldritch but I'd argue that the measure of a good run is not length but rather if the players enjoyed it while it lasted.
I'm sure quite a few people didn't enjoy it. Many of them because they were too pessimistic, some because they were too optimistic, but the vast majority simply because it wasn't their thing. But as long as some people enjoyed it, I'm all right. I'm gonna do other things now.
One of the many reasons I started Eldritch is because I was tired of criticizing people without having done something myself. I had run games before, but never one that was mine. So now when I see other staffers and especially game creators making what I think are mistakes, I know if it's a mistake I've made, or one I didn't; I know how hard it was to avoid, or how easy to fall into.
Nothing worse than backseat staffing, man; when players wave their hands and say "we can do this better" but then don't actually try. Maybe it was a good run, maybe it wasn't, but we tried. Good enough for me.
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Belatedly, I object strongly to not being considered one of the wizards that made the game work, when it was moving. I did almost as much to make the game more playable, more enjoyable, after it opened as before. I made decisions. I managed, and I did jobs. I may not have told stories, but I worked so closely with those who did on a day to day basis that I was a strong reason why they were more effective than they would have been otherwise.
I also encouraged and agreed to the game style that we were aiming for, the one that ultimately led to our failure.
So, yeah. I was one of three wizards.
“If you wish to make an apple pie from scratch, you must first invent the universe.”
― Carl Sagan, Cosmos -
@Thenomain said:
Belatedly, I object strongly to not being considered one of the wizards that made the game work, when it was moving. I did almost as much to make the game more playable, more enjoyable, after it opened as before. I made decisions. I managed, and I did jobs. I may not have told stories, but I worked so closely with those who did on a day to day basis that I was a strong reason why they were more effective than they would have been otherwise.
This is absolutely true. Theno's job, like most coders, might not have been highly visible, but none of this would have been possible without him. He put together endless systems, fixed endless bugs, and more than that he was there to help guide us through what we were doing through his own experience. I had to ask Theno for tons and tons of help, and he was always incredibly patient, even when I was being impatient and irritating (as I have a strong tendency to be). He absolutely deserves a ton of credit. He went slogging through the muckiest parts of the mess to make sure the rest of it was shining and pristine. He was Scotty to @Coin's Kirk -- things would have fallen apart without him.
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