Fan Made IC Storyline Season 1 (Pay attention to this!!!)

[Jadawin12]

Hey folks,

I've been thinking about this for a while and after I posted

this Show Spoiler

I think the greatest problem we have is that the Fan Created storylines have such little weight to them in your average players eyes. We are seen not a the movers and shakers of the Cavern but as people with too much time on their hands who are too into the game. However that isn't the way it HAS to be. The Relyimah Imager Incident and the Bahro Costume Incident showed that people want storyline but they also want it to seem 'official' and there are a number of ways to fix that.

1. Cooperation, right now there are plenty of storylines but most of us are 'going it alone' that quite often limits us, beause instead of the story living and growing it is dependant on when that person is online.

2. It needs to affect all of us, every Guild, every group. It needs to show that it isn't just an isolated incident but one for us all.

3. Minor Celebrities, Those explorers mentioned in Sharper's Journals, J.D. Barnes, Julian Lapin, Echo Mackenzie, Vincent Kingsley, Sidney Austin, and others. These people to some small degree are seen as 'blessed' by Cyan what they say is more Canon and usually IC. Having at least one or two of them involved in the storyline would greatly improve things.

4. Cyan's help, yes I know they are busy, yes I know they don't have alot of spare time or money. But as the Sub Rest Hood shows at times they are willing to be generous. We could ask for small things that perhaps Cyan could provide adding additional 'proof of canon' to our storyline. And maybe even a way to bring small peices of Fan Created content into the game.

I figured I should start brining the idea to the different Guilds and groups. So what do you folks think are you interested in making an Fan made storyline? I have some ideas, maybe we could get a project page and from there share and build something really great. I could really use the help to make this a reality. Thank you.

[Paradox]

When Whilyam had some changes made to the SR 'hood for storyline purposes it was immediately distrusted by a number of people as cracking. I have very little hope that any storyline will be able to get off the ground, especially when the community seems more interested in pointing fingers and accusations than actually experiencing the story.

This is why we cannot have nice things.

[BAD]

Not to mention the fact that of the many people qualified to write or make really high quality stuff have little to no time to devote to Uru. Fan stories are a hobby, and some people take their hobbies very seriously, but most people just do it for fun, so they don't want to join or create an environment where they feel pressured into doing things. It's frustrating when you want to see good stuff right away, but that's just the way it is. Patience does pay off though. Eventually.

[Jadawin12]

Paradox: Yes there were fears primarily due to the fact that there have been cracking incidents in the past part of my goal here is to show that not everything new is either haxxors or Cyan but that their are talented people working to keep Uru alive.

Bad: As someone with limited time myself I understand that fear, however some of the best storylines are subtle (at least to start). such as a message appearing in all the Guild imagers (and as many others as we can) People recieving mysterious KI messages, Ohbot saying strange things, figures appearing in the shadows and running away instead of interacting. This storyline could build over a number of weeks and those who wished to be directly invovled could be schedualed in as best as they could. Most of these actions would only take a few minutes or an hour a week which most people can spare.

I have been accused of being impatient (usually justifiably) before but my stance has always been if you can make something great, and make it now why wait?

[Whilyam]

I'm... just going to make my content and organize my group. I'll ask Cyan for their help when they make that a requirement for people to see that content (or when I feel like it, whichever comes first). I have my own content and content I'm working on as part of a group. If people take it to apply to all of them (why they wouldn't, I don't know) that's great. Also, one of those "celebrities" I own. In the end, I'm going to make the content I want to make how I want to make it.

[BAD]

I have been accused of being impatient (usually justifiably) before but my stance has always been if you can make something great, and make it now why wait?

Heh, true, but the two ifs are pretty big ifs.

[Jadawin12]

Whilyam: I undertsand your view... and I'm not trying to say all of these steps WILL happen or that everyone Or trying to strongarm anyone in. I just have a project that I want help with that if everything goes right might give our player created storylines some props and stop everyone from yelling "The Crackers are coming!"

I have been accused of being impatient (usually justifiably) before but my stance has always been if you can make something great, and make it now why wait?

Heh, true, but the two ifs are pretty big ifs.

I only count one.

And you sir just don't know how amazing I am

[Aloys]

It seems to me that the biggest problem is not only sucess (measured audience etc) for fan stories but also (more important) legitimacy in the Uru universe/canon. So that they are not seen as mere intrusions, hacks, or 'what if'/parallel stories..
And this legitimacy can happen *only*, let me repeat that: only, heck let me even spell it: o.n.l.y, with Cyan's help. And that means: inclusion in the official storyline and content. It's that simple, unfortunate as it is. Anything else that we do will only ever be *partly* legitimate and some people will look at this as a side thing. Much like for fan Ages.
Of course there is the concern of quality of production, the space it occupies in the game/forums (number of people/guild involved, update frequency) etc, but regardless of what we do what we produce will always be treated differently by the general Uru community unless there is actual Cyan involvement. Yes that is sad, for everybody (us, Cyan, and the community); but that's how it is. Of course even with Cyan involvement it will still be treated differently, but at least people would stop throwing stones at us, so I guess that counts as an improvement.

What kind of Cyan involvement are we talking about? Not much actually. A pretty small DRC story arc, essentially public announcement/acknowledgement of the DRC that things are happening, IC DRC posts on the DRC forum quoting precise people and events etc.. And obviously some ingame content to give it more weight (KI/Imagers messages if that fit the stories). Again the Sharper journal is just the best example of how this can help. Of course the actual shape and frequency of those updates depend on the story and how often (or not) it is updated.
Although this not a lot of production work for Cyan this is still difficult if only because fan stories are not always planned in advance and organised, and Cyan would need to follow that closely.. And then obviously there's the fundamental decision for them to say that they are officially, and actively, supporting fan stories.

But people who are really motivated by that should not be intimidated, they should try to organise themselves, show what they are able of, and eventually contact RAWA with a formal proposal.. It is always the best way to get things rolling.

[Whilyam]

RAWA has not been responding to any of my proposals recently.

[Aloys]

That's because of his timezone. He is in the RAWA timezone, which has the peculiarty of being a variable timezone, usually shifting between GMT-8 and GMT+3728^3. Emails might take a while to get to his inbox. (yes, emails are actually affected by timezones-- I've been trying to convince my bosses of that for years.)