Akashima: What do you think?

[Jack Frost]

God, I rejoined the site, walked into this argument, ignored it, went through the rest of my school day, got home, screwed around for three hours, and you're all still raging about this when you've gotten completely off topic. I can't even vote yet and I have enough sensibility to realize that you're all being hopelessly immature about things that happened in the past and won't change. get back to the topic at hand so we can see something productive done. My opinion, find some active members and give them jobs you know thy can handle. If it means turning akashima over to amaranthine, who has expressed interest in it, do so.

(Sorry if I sounded like an ass.)

[Christoph]

Oh, you meant the ToC. Yeah, that was my bad too.

I recall that conversation. I'm pretty sure the conversation ended something like this:

Me: "I love tournaments and everything, but the ToL didn't exactly go well. It'll be a bitch to make our version successful. There's a very real chance that it could blow up in our faces."

Dirks: "Yep."

Me: "...Okay, let's do it."

I still think it was a good idea in principle, but we had no precedent of how to make it work -- just how NOT to. I think a shift from people coming to represent their home forums, thus creating a "warring camps" environment, would be beneficial if any sort of mass recruitment event were to be attempted again. Have a big cool event, but change the atmosphere to actually bringing people into the site to join the "Althanas family" instead of them coming to "kick Althanas's ass".

[Letho]

Althanas staff aren't malicious so much as rabidly incompetent. Letho in particular is the worst; I'm pretty sure him running the Realm of Greeting like he does kills nearly all of what little influx of new members we get. We've fought him on it and I think I've even applied for RoG mod once or twice but he's in with the people that matter slash nobody with a track record less monstrous than mine who's active is willing to take the job so it stays like it is, meanwhile they're all giddy about althanas 2.0 "Oh my god, it's going to be so awesome, just you wait!" but this is the exact same sort of gimmick the FQ and that multi-site tournament were. We need to focus on bringing people in and then KEEPING THEM, not warding them off at the gate with no wings, no magic, 1.5 speed, final destination. But again, it's me saying this so who cares, I'm trolling, so on and etc.

Letho follows the rules and does his fucking job. I didn't make the rules, all I do is enforce them and try to keep everything balanced. But if you need to vent your pent up frustration to untwist your own panties and get your kicks and act like Althanas own assholish Robin Hood, I don't really mind being vilified. It's easy to sit on the sidelines and badmouth everything, but someone has to get their hands dirty.

But yeah, this thread went so far off its tracks it's funny. At first it wasn't funny, but now it's funny again.

[Caysim Winters]

I agree, Letho.

[Godhand]

Letho follows the rules and does his fucking job. I didn't make the rules, all I do is enforce them and try to keep everything balanced.

And bitch and moan and complain and hissy fit whenever any sort of change to the RoG policy is brought up while endlessly campaigning behind the scenes to keep things exactly the way they are. You're like one of those toy accordions; no matter which way someone squeezes you you always make the same sound.

But if you need to vent your pent up frustration to untwist your own panties and get your kicks and act like Althanas own assholish Robin Hood, I don't really mind being vilified. It's easy to sit on the sidelines and badmouth everything, but someone has to get their hands dirty.

This would be a good point if I hadn't just said that I've applied for the job multiple times, but nice try trying to paint me as the heckler who would refuse to help if given the opportunity.

But yeah, this thread went so far off its tracks it's funny. At first it wasn't funny, but now it's funny again.

Agreed. It's unfortunate but people always seem to get pissed and dredge up big picture, occasionally unrelated shit when discussing althanas' clockwork gears and cogs; I guess it's hard to separate one thing from the other.

[Letho]

So the pissing contest continues, eh?

And bitch and moan and complain and hissy fit whenever any sort of change to the RoG policy is brought up while endlessly campaigning behind the scenes to keep things exactly the way they are. You're like one of those toy accordions; no matter which way someone squeezes you you always make the same sound.

It's called having an opinion. I'm sorry if my idea of Althanas doesn't coincide with yours, but in the end it's of little importance. Because I'm just one person and have relatively little say in the matter. My "campaigns" to stop the change usually fall well short because the majority disagrees with me nowadays.

This would be a good point if I hadn't just said that I've applied for the job multiple times, but nice try trying to paint me as the heckler who would refuse to help if given the opportunity.

You've applied twice from what I can see in denied applications, and only one of those application was even remotely serious. Not to mention that it was an application for, and I quote: "Bazaar staff and maybe Realm of Greeting staff". So no, you didn't apply multiple times for the job, and even when you did, neither your application nor your attitude gave us any assurance that you would be a valuable addition to the staff.

If we absolutely must continue this, please take it to the PM or make a new thread about it so we don't pollute this thread any more than we already did.

[Rayse Valentino]

Frank WAS holier than thou! He was the best writer in Althanas history! We're fucking gibbons compared to him!

I would probably let him break my be-hymen if he was still around. There was nobody on this site who I felt was some sort of genius besides him.

Anyway, Letho to me seems like some spooky ghost that only shows up if you call his name 3 times. Complaint about high levels? Elitism? Bad weather? He's there, and he's ready to take offense. This isn't to you personally, Letho, but I think mods who more or less haven't attempted any RP in months and aren't planning to should be a little more subservient to the community. You guys, while you have some trivial duties, do not contribute to the meat of the site. I respect a crappy but active poster more than a do-little mod. Granted, most of the arguing is done by people who haven't RP'd in a while, so I don't mind your responses to Godhand (that guy is SUCH a flake).

Anyway, I don't care one way or the other about what he's doing in the RoG (it's the easiest job in the world. i should know, i did it for a while). I don't know if RoG policies cause poor member retention. It seems to me that people are just flaky and have ADD and just never come back after one visit. I don't know, it probably has more to do with the site's presentation and the amount of easily-accessible interesting information than RoG policies, but I'm not graphic design major or whatever.

Uh, what was this thread about again? Oh, right. Um, why is a special sub-forum necessary for region-revamping? It's just a visual thing. There's nothing stopping you from GMing the entire region. Have a bunch of other people consider it canon and it essentially is. I've yet to see someone do something that they really wanted to be canon and for someone to tell them "no." Well, except for Letho a few pages back, but let's just ignore that for now.

Just do it! You don't need permission! Unless your threads/posts are outright deleted you are free to do whatever you want! Become the region writer! Unofficially! This 'appeal to authority' shit has to stop, because for 10 years it has not worked. You do what you want EXACTLY how you want to FIRST, and THEN worry about the consequences.

Hell, I think I'm gonna start thinking of Salvar as a snow-covered region with short summers and long winters. Due to the disturbance of the weather-mage system from the civil war, the region is reverted back to its cold, rural state that it was before the warmer weather turned it into a superpower. Maybe big trade cities and certain places could have their own personal weather-mage and thus those limited areas won't be cold/snowy, but whatever. Who is gonna stop me? Do I get points off if I make a thread in this setting? No. Can anyone use it after me? Yes.

It doesn't freakin' matter, people. In a site where you are an angel for making a thread to roleplay with other people, nobody would dare to tell you that you couldn't do it.

[Cyrus the virus]

I understand and get that it is just your opinion.

I don't really think you do, but I could have made my point a bit better. Someone before me made the point of "look all the people who like Akashima and write there a lot!", I was just trying to say that people who don't particularly like Akashima are not going to make it a priority to contradict those who do. The more we condense the forum layout the better, as has been said many times by new members and those behind '2.0'. I dunno, maybe it was a bad point to make in the first place. I certainly don't want the region to disappear.

As for FQs, amazing idea. Very very very hard to carry out. Having a large-scale setting is alright, but we really made that thing much bigger than it needed to be. Best to keep it condensed, too. Not one thread, mind you, but certainly one forum.

And I hated Chumley initially, but that's because I was a whiny kid looking to be irritated with something. I still struggle with that sometimes. In retrospect all of Frank's threads at the time were really fun to read, even if him being in The Cell and winning it (I believe) made me mad then. I don't know why I call that guy Frank like I know him, don't think we ever talked. Frank Frank.

Madison was awesome for Althanas, but perhaps (definitely) had lofty goals.

I just wanted to type lots.

[Lillith]

I have a hypothetical point, or rather an issue to raise with the earlier point about Samurai.

Given that the vast majority of Althanas is set in the technological black period between the late 1800's and early 1900's of comparable Earth history, would it and could it not be feasible that Akashima is set sometime after the dissolution of the Samurai in Japanese culture? I rather like the diminished presence and the otherwise outlaw nature they have currently. Re-establishing them in canon and general practice would be detrimental to the renegade state image, or perhaps in doing so, we could make it less traditional. Perhaps the Samurai could be the mythological and somewhat secretive 'border police' that keep Corone's spies from entering the mountains?

The revival of the hannamachi type rural culture and the fleshing out of Akashima as a region is a brilliant idea and I support it fully, but I think we should tread carefully in doing so.

[Godhand]

So the pissing contest continues, eh?

It takes two to tango. Un dos tres, un pasito pa' 'lante maria, un dos tres, un pasito pa' tras.

It's called having an opinion. I'm sorry if my idea of Althanas doesn't coincide with yours, but in the end it's of little importance. Because I'm just one person and have relatively little say in the matter. My "campaigns" to stop the change usually fall well short because the majority disagrees with me nowadays.

Holly golly gee wow fuck I wonder why that is.

You've applied twice from what I can see in denied applications, and only one of those application was even remotely serious. Not to mention that it was an application for, and I quote: "Bazaar staff and maybe Realm of Greeting staff". So no, you didn't apply multiple times for the job, and even when you did, neither your application nor your attitude gave us any assurance that you would be a valuable addition to the staff.

It's actually been more than twice, the others have just gotten eaten in crashes but that it's irrelevant because hot tip: it turns out multiple just means 'more than one', not whatever random minimum was apparently in your head. Whoops.

If we absolutely must continue this, please take it to the PM or make a new thread about it so we don't pollute this thread any more than we already did.

This here is a beautifully executed example of the 1-2 Mod Classic. You simultaneously get to land a couple of parting jabs and then SHUT THE FUCKER DOWN by telling the other guy to take it to PM's (like anyone is that fucking pathetic or deluded enough to think they're honestly going to change someone's mind just through something as internet-ly worthless as reason without browbeating them HARD in public where there's no refuge) without seeming like an authoritative douche and closing the thread outright. But enough of this! For once I agree wholeheartedly with you; my original comment was nothing more than a passing jab to let the world know I've degenerated into being Visla-level bitchy you. You were passingly relevant and so I mentioned you. No more earnest bright-eyed belief you'd eventually see what was right and vital for Althanas. You've broken me, Letho.

But enough of this. Take it to PM's or make a new thread about it, because I'm done with that in this thread. This issue here is too immediate to bother with something that will likely never get solved.

Akashima as a land probably has far and away the most niche appeal out of all the regions, or at the very least it's equal with Raiaera. The way I see it in a fantasy site you need three pillars to really appease every dork: The human lands, the elflands, and the weeaboo lands. But for some reason Akashima wasn't part of the original layout of the site. Hell, it wasn't even made by a mod if I recall correctly. The cynical part of me says that's why it never had a chance; because it wasn't mod-made, it was player made and that's why mods resent it so much and do their damnedest to hide it and relegate it to sub-region status when it's clear it could be a booming region on it's own with all the draw it has with the nerds. See, and this is my timeline but my memory is prodigious so I'm probably right, Akashima started as a land in the backstory of a character named Asuka Strikes and her sister...I can't remember her name. Probably Asuka something. It was her homeland and it was decently fleshed out. Now, this character never made a huge splash, neither one did, Hell I think only one of them even made it to level one, but for some reason or another (maybe it was because the character was a chick and everyone reads/cruises for chick profiles, see: nerds) the place really took off as a region. It started getting mentioned more and more, first just as a throwaway reference as to where people got their rice wine (I'm looking at you, Slayer), then oldbies started to dig it so they made their alts come from there, then people started doing full blown quests there in Other Regions (Ran or Reiko as he's known now alone did like twenty). Soon some fringe mods started suggesting to samurai characters that they could say their guy came from there, and then finally when the brass just couldn't ignore it anymore they (grudgingly?) made it an official region, but whether because of resentment or incompetence they made it a SUB-region and hid it where no one could find it and tagged a generic blurb and steadfastly refuse to make it a region to this day which leads us to today, here and now, where it's going to get destroyed because of a 'lack of activity', whatever the fuck that means. By that same token you could kill off Alerar and Dheathain and Fallien, but you'd be WRONG and RETARDED because these regions already have established backstories and timelines and religions and militaries and HISTORY someone worked hard on, so you'd be throwing perfectly good HARD WORK away, to replace it with 'TBD' only to moan at us later when we bitch about how the site is empty about how we don't know how hard you work and you have to come up with all these regions and so on etc. and yet here you are turning away one of the few people interested in DOING SOMETHING for this fucking site? You're on the cross and pleading but curse us out when we approach with a nail-remover.

Christ what's the fucking use?