Better Late Than Never(**Note, this thread has been put in Chat so people may reply.**)
You know, I'm sorry I wasn't here a month ago, when events conspired to bring everyone back for a week. I refer, of course, to the attack on ezBoard that sent people rushing to the board to see the damage. I only found out about it last week, myself, when I got word of it from Horizon via Evi. I wanted to reply at the time, but I was on vacation, and I was also hoping to wait until I heard back from ezBoard about our still missing posts after contacting them, hopefully with good news.
It looks like ezBoard is still reeling from this extremely thorough and malicious attack. And unfortunately, so are we- I've been informed that the missing posts can be effectively counted as dead and buried. I haven't made a full accounting, but it seems it was mostly our newest posts (those from the last year and a quarter or so) that suffered, as well as those in Europe- a double whammy for the Carloman event, which is utterly destroyed. Most of the news items are also dead links now as well, though I've left them as-is for the time being.
So- where does that leave us? I admit, it makes continuing as we have been rather hard since our newest posts were the hardest hit... Ironically, our all being together in one place made us an easy target. I just never thought we'd be "attacked" in any OOC way. And yet, we've been through worse hardships before, and I don't want to see this place go away. Yes, it's been going away already, but like a branch which has been pruned, I hope this can be the catalyst of our renewed growth. However- that decision may not fall on me...
Look- let me level with you guys. I haven't been taking very good care of this place, or really any care of this place, for the last half a year. Without steady RP, I just started to think maybe I should let NWC fade away. I let Gold lapse, as many of you have noticed, and after a while I thought maybe the shell of NWC would just lie here undisturbed, gathering dust on some hard drive until ezBoard's next inactive board purge. The recent crisis, however, has proven me wrong. Well, no, I was always wrong- I shouldn't have just let this place slip quietly away with nary a word to chance one more try or commemorate its death. But the attack on ezBoard has proven that people do still care about this place and do still check it on occasion.
So here it is- all cards on the table: I cannot in good conscience continue to lead NWC. I cannot guarantee I will have the time necessary to invest in maintaining a quality roleplaying board, nor can I swear I have the roleplaying experience to know what is needed of a good roleplaying board administrator. I don't mean that as a slight on myself or the way this board has been lead- it's just the adamant truth. I lead a busier life than I did when I snapped up the mantle of leadership years ago. And I have learned a lot from writing and rewriting rules about what I do and do not know about roleplaying and the culture of roleplayers.
That said, I love roleplaying, and I love NWC. I still have faith in the ideas behind NWC, in its strong backstory and potential for growth in many directions. But as I said- I cannot continue to lead this board myself, no matter what I want. I would, as previous leaders have done, appoint a successor, but I do not want to foist that responsibility on anyone who is too busy themselves for it, nor make anyone feel they are being saddled with a burden they did not want. Furthermore, I have seen all of you roleplay and seen all of you speak as yourselves, and I think any one of you could make an able leader for this place in your own ways.
So instead of asking anyone else, I ask you all to ask me. If anyone is here reading this and wants to fill the soon-to-be-vacant position of NWC admin, private message me. I still get notified when I have PMs on ezBoard; I just haven't gotten any lately. To keep this relatively expedient, I would ask that anyone who is interested contact me by July 27th, which is nearly two weeks from now. That's far enough off that hopefully people who hardly ever check this will still see it and close enough that it won't cause this process to drag on forever. I'll also be using E-Mail All Members to get the word out to everyone possible about this. On the 28th, I'll either formally close NWC if no one has arisen to take over for me or turn it over to its new master. (If we're lucky enough to have more than one person take interest in the board, I'll use the same method I used to seed the Carloman Tournament. )
Once selected, I'll turn over the ezOp to the new administrator, making them the owner of the board. I'll also remove my own admin access from this account and my old one. Of course, the admin will be free to continue on ezBoard or not, but that's up to him or her. Everything that is NWC, I will transfer to the new admin. Most of the images on this board technically belong to Evi, but she has agreed that they go where the board goes. And if there's anything else I've forgotten to mention, (oh, like the actual HTML of the rules) all that obviously is part and parcel with this too. I'm not the type to be a pain about holding onto "my" stuff; it belongs to the board and the community now. The only thing that I cannot, unfortunately, turn over is the webspace I purchased for the eventual new site and board; I am going to be putting it to another use. If the new admin is so ambitious as to want to move to a private site and/or board, however, and wants the newworldconquest.com domain name, that I can arrange a transfer for, if necessary. And- well- that'll be that. The new admin will be able to take NWC where he or she sees fit.
I'm very sorry to have to make this decision, as I love NWC and all of you I have played with in it, and I wish I could continue with you all. But I know I am neither the first nor the last person to have to give up higher responsibilities to a web community because real life has placed too much pressure on me and left me with less time than such an endeavor deserves from its manager. I hope that someone capable and creative takes up the reins from me, for I do not wish to close this place if I can avoid it- and I know that if any of you who came here regularly were to take over, you would be capable and creative.
I too would like to see this place continue, but I fear that this may not be...however, even if this board may perish, NWC might yet live on in spirit.
I am in the process of co-designing a tabletop system with NWC in mind, and instead of being a dedicated hack-and-slasher like D&D, it is meant to be a game for people who enjoy telling stories through their roleplaying. With any luck, the creative, innovative spirit of NWC may live on even if the board itself does not manage to survive.
I hope people wish to stay and continue the game, I'd love to see where else this can go.
Lurking
Ugh. How long has it been since I posted here? Too long to be sure. Part of me is almost glad that I ran out of time when I did - entering the Carloman tourny like I planned toward the end might've been more loss than gain. (Stupid hackers...) I am sorry I didn't get to keep up with it or enjoy playing with you all though. And I'm sorry you didn't get to see Evi in a dress. *grins evilly* That was my initial plan, I guess I can tell you all now...
As for me...well, honestly, I'm in the same boat as Loch. While I sorely don't want to see this place go, the reality is that I've moved on with my life. I do very little RP these days due to my trying to focus my writing on completion of an actual project for a change. That combined with a job working as a freelance webdesigner, my cousin coming to town for a month, and the normal responsibilities of life, I just can't keep this up, as leader or as player unless something really drastic changes. I've taken responsibility of a guild in World of Warcraft and this too makes me unwilling and unable to try to run yet another project regardless of how much I love it. You might say I love both too much to not give each my full attention.
I do, however, think your idea's a good one Scopeshot. I hope it works out! I'd love to see something great come from this. I know I was harboring secret if unlikely hopes that perhaps we might someday turn this into something publishable or usable myself - if that could happen in any form I'd be pleased. Here's to hoping! I too hope to find something to do with Evi herself. She's been one of my favorite characters to write recently and I really hate to lose her. It shouldn't be too difficult to separate the NWC segments from her and possibly turn her into something a little different...we'll see what happens. Rest assured that this time, unlike so many of my prior characters, I will back up all of my posts from her so I have them for future use! I can't tell you how long my heart stopped when I heard about the attack...
Anyway, for those of you that I only know from this board, I wish you all the best, regardless of whether this place stays open or fades away. I'm sorry I didn't get to spend more time here or get to know you better, but I enjoyed reading all of your work and seeing what creativity you all possess. I hope I was able to entertain and amuse you as well with my own contributions, though I realize most of them were kind of self-contained. If there's anything I can do for any of you just let me know. Feel free to email me, my address is still the same - shirahime@secondimpact.com. For those of you I know from other places, I'll still see ya around as much as possible. Even if I'm busy, I'm trying my best to stay available if I'm needed or wanted. Just drop me a line as usual, OK?
I'll keep checking back to see what finally boils down in the end and to get Evi's stuff backed up. If ya need anything or have anything to say, go for it. Otherwise, take care and enjoy whatever new forums or outlets for your writing that you find.
Class Reunion
Glad to see some people are still paying attention. And your project indeed sounds like a worthy endeavor, Scopes! I'd love to see such a project come to fruition. Not just for NWC's sake, but because I think there is a sore need for such a system in the tabletop roleplaying world. I'd love to be kept posted on the status of that! Even if it moves away from NWC or NWC dies, it sounds like a great project.
As for the rest- well, I'm still holding out hope that someone will drop by or get my e-mail and decide they have the time and drive to do this. Still, I do agree it's been a great time here RPing with everyone, which is part of why I'd be sad to see it go. So many great characters, so many great stories... even if so many have been lost to the hackers.
Unfortunately, I do have some further bad news on that. Evi's comment about not losing any of her stuff brought to my attention something else we have lost: Not only have almost all new posts since April of 2004 vanished but any posts edited since then (Like, oh, when we updated our character sheets to bring them up to the new standard?) have reverted to their state as they were in late April of 2004. (Sorry, Evi, that includes your brilliant writing sample! Hope you had that backed up somewhere...) This board is quite literally back to the way it was more than a year ago, except for the graphical appearance.
I'll keep checking by here for updates. And if anyone has any ideas for alternatives to turning this over to a new leader or closing down (Hey, let's make it NWC, the CCG! ....nevermind) filfre to post them here as well.
Goodbye
Well, I gave it time... and I even waited a few more days, hoping someone would show up at the eleventh hour. Or maybe I just didn't have the heart to do what had to be done.
NWC will never die- not truly. I know it will always live on in those who truly loved it, and it seems it may live on in other ways as well. I would be glad to see it survive in some form or another, somewhere. But for now, I don't want to hold the hopes of anyone still floating around this place any longer. I am closing New World Conquest RP Board. With a heavy heart, to be sure, but I am closing it.
To those who come after, who see this blasted shell lying here, know that we were once a proud and lively roleplaying board. But a number of false starts and failed attempts to generate consistent interest, as well as a hacker's malicious annihilation of more than a year's worth of data, sealed our fate. It was a good board with an incredible premise and beautiful backstory, easily the better of any other RP board I've considered before or since. The people it attracted and kept, though not numerous enough to keep it alive, were talented writers who created unique and believable characters who lived fascinating, adventure-filled lives in a world where it could have been easy to be mundane or stereotypical.
Though only a few dozen ever knew of its existence, the world of RPers will lose something beautiful when this board goes away.
I am going to close all the forums to non-admin posting now. Well, all except this one. I'm going to leave Chat open. Partially so anyone who wants to leave a bouquet of flowers and last respects here can. And partially, no doubt, because in a corner of my heart, I will always hold onto a hope that I will see this board rise again someday, and therefore I cannot kill off the last hopeful seed of its existence in good conscience. Just as I will never delete the rules and backstory from my personal archives, even if they someday come off the web server where they are now.
But I wouldn't hold my breath, folks. I'm closing this place to give closure to those like Evi, Burke, and myself who are still waiting to play here, and we have already seen that for now, no one is going to step in and magically revive this place. It is time to move on.
Most of the news items are also dead links now as well, though I've left them as-is for the time being.
)
And your project indeed sounds like a worthy endeavor, Scopes! I'd love to see such a project come to fruition. Not just for NWC's sake, but because I think there is a sore need for such a system in the tabletop roleplaying world. I'd love to be kept posted on the status of that! Even if it moves away from NWC or NWC dies, it sounds like a great project.
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