Post by Lady Edfeil on Sept 21, 2006 13:37:25 GMT -5
In making this post on an open board, I am breaking a policy of my own, long held, that matters of serious and ooc concern about the room should not be discussed on an open board where they too easily cause wounds. I do not want to hurt anyone, and perhaps my wish to refrain from hurting anyone seems strange in the eyes of many. I prefer the quiet spoken words in person, where I can try and see someones reaction and try to make sure I don't make mistakes, over the open forums in which posts can so easily be misinterpreted. However, perhaps this once it is best that I chose another road and ask the opinion of all to be shared openly.
Lately I have been feeling a triffle alone in my care for Windstorm. Despite trying to do everything I could to prepare the room for my reduced absence for a while, I find the room mostly empty, even though I'm trying to keep playing at European hours. I know sitting in a room that is empty and waiting till people show up isn't fun, but sometimes there are probably four or five people waiting for the room to be filled up by others before coming in to be entertained. I know that I nor my character alone are interesting or exotic enough to atract people.
I've heard a lot of thoughts about WS's future, and I have to think hard about it myself. We are one of the oldest still standing roleplaying rooms. Some people say there is no future in roleplaying freeform anymore. That everything is going to be taken over by mud games that don't require a commitment to be here at a certain time or to get along with people.
Some people will say that WS is going down because we have no ruler. I know that since Agustins dissapearance I have been slow to step up to the plate, but that was and is mostly because I have never had a desire to rule, and that I was tired of whispers behind my back that I enjoyed the power and that everything in WS had to be arranged by me.
I am prepared to step up to the plate and become from princess to regent, because I care. But it may already be too late. I feel often that I am the only one who cares whether WS lives or dies. If that is so, I should probably try and give the room a wonderful finale and then let it sink into the oblivion of roleplay and become a wonderful memory to the people who once called it home. I know we can't recall the past. I know we can't go back to the good old days, with members that are by some of the more recent (say the last three years) members, just a name, and not even a memory. I also know that I can not, on my own, provide for the more exciting storylines that a lot of people seek. I can't stage in room spars and battles when there are just two people in the room, and I can't provide sixteen diverse and all atracting storylines on the board.
Before I got married I was asked repeatedly: You will not let WS go now that you are married are you? I promised no. But it seems as if everyone else has in my absence. I know that everyone has their own personal lives and their own personal problems. As you probably know, my own life recently has changed quite a bit. I can't tell anyone what to do with their time and I have grown tired of begging people to attend. Windstorm should not be a place where you come out of obligation or because I ask you. It should be a place that is a home online and that you love, even when there comes the usual period of eb after the flow, in which the people who are entering are less in number or inspiration.
I am asking everyone, members AND non members, people who are friends of Windstorm and people who are regular visitors as well as the people who bear the Windstorm Castle in their tags, to help me consider. I have no authority to close Windstorm, but I wish to know if I am just fighting a losing battle that will drag this rooms end out in an endless series of hapless tries to breath life into it again. Few rooms survive a change of leader. It is one of the things everyone knows who has been playing for a long while.
I can't deny that writing this post hurts. I had never thought that I would need to write it. But I want to know whether I am making a difference here, or am just someone who can not let go of what is lost already. I hope and pray that, while Agustin was still here, and afterwards, whatever faults I may have made, no one can at least doubt on my devotion to Windstorm and what I saw in it. An online home for people who, despite their differences, could learn how to respect eachother as fellow roleplayers. A place where you could meet and make friends. And a place where roleplaying quality was important. I may have failed in that, but it was never for a lack of trying. I can not alter people, I can only ask.
So, I am asking of you, does Windstorm has a future, and do you want to help make it, or do you think we would be best off to come together one last time and find a way to close this wonderful roleplaying book with one last adventure?
May you all be loved and blessed,
Eva/ Lady Edfeil
Lately I have been feeling a triffle alone in my care for Windstorm. Despite trying to do everything I could to prepare the room for my reduced absence for a while, I find the room mostly empty, even though I'm trying to keep playing at European hours. I know sitting in a room that is empty and waiting till people show up isn't fun, but sometimes there are probably four or five people waiting for the room to be filled up by others before coming in to be entertained. I know that I nor my character alone are interesting or exotic enough to atract people.
I've heard a lot of thoughts about WS's future, and I have to think hard about it myself. We are one of the oldest still standing roleplaying rooms. Some people say there is no future in roleplaying freeform anymore. That everything is going to be taken over by mud games that don't require a commitment to be here at a certain time or to get along with people.
Some people will say that WS is going down because we have no ruler. I know that since Agustins dissapearance I have been slow to step up to the plate, but that was and is mostly because I have never had a desire to rule, and that I was tired of whispers behind my back that I enjoyed the power and that everything in WS had to be arranged by me.
I am prepared to step up to the plate and become from princess to regent, because I care. But it may already be too late. I feel often that I am the only one who cares whether WS lives or dies. If that is so, I should probably try and give the room a wonderful finale and then let it sink into the oblivion of roleplay and become a wonderful memory to the people who once called it home. I know we can't recall the past. I know we can't go back to the good old days, with members that are by some of the more recent (say the last three years) members, just a name, and not even a memory. I also know that I can not, on my own, provide for the more exciting storylines that a lot of people seek. I can't stage in room spars and battles when there are just two people in the room, and I can't provide sixteen diverse and all atracting storylines on the board.
Before I got married I was asked repeatedly: You will not let WS go now that you are married are you? I promised no. But it seems as if everyone else has in my absence. I know that everyone has their own personal lives and their own personal problems. As you probably know, my own life recently has changed quite a bit. I can't tell anyone what to do with their time and I have grown tired of begging people to attend. Windstorm should not be a place where you come out of obligation or because I ask you. It should be a place that is a home online and that you love, even when there comes the usual period of eb after the flow, in which the people who are entering are less in number or inspiration.
I am asking everyone, members AND non members, people who are friends of Windstorm and people who are regular visitors as well as the people who bear the Windstorm Castle in their tags, to help me consider. I have no authority to close Windstorm, but I wish to know if I am just fighting a losing battle that will drag this rooms end out in an endless series of hapless tries to breath life into it again. Few rooms survive a change of leader. It is one of the things everyone knows who has been playing for a long while.
I can't deny that writing this post hurts. I had never thought that I would need to write it. But I want to know whether I am making a difference here, or am just someone who can not let go of what is lost already. I hope and pray that, while Agustin was still here, and afterwards, whatever faults I may have made, no one can at least doubt on my devotion to Windstorm and what I saw in it. An online home for people who, despite their differences, could learn how to respect eachother as fellow roleplayers. A place where you could meet and make friends. And a place where roleplaying quality was important. I may have failed in that, but it was never for a lack of trying. I can not alter people, I can only ask.
So, I am asking of you, does Windstorm has a future, and do you want to help make it, or do you think we would be best off to come together one last time and find a way to close this wonderful roleplaying book with one last adventure?
May you all be loved and blessed,
Eva/ Lady Edfeil
