Alright, guys - all of you - there's something I need to say. An insistence I have to make. There's no real "right time" for this, and what I need to say is not going to be sugarcoated. It's just something that I strongly believe needs to be said. Please read this all - if you have to read it tomorrow then just wait until the morning, but this is extremely important.
We need to do better. No only with the story, but with each other. If we cannot do this, Liberation of Earth cannot be continued. I will call it to a close. Let me talk about the latter issue first, and that topic will shift into the issues with the story.
For the majority of Liberation of Earth, I've seen such a negligible amount of discussion in this think tank. Whatever the reason for the silence, it needs to stop. We're all friends, and we lose something if we don't have casual discussion here. It doesn't all have to be the story, just try to talk more. Whether it's daily, or at the very least every other day, there should be conversation on the think tank. The fact that it feels so empty, and people will ask questions (like Dahl did above awhile ago) and their queries are just ignored only for the subject to be choppily changed reflects a wider problem.
The cohesion of this story, and the activity levels of the participants. I realize I've been gone, and that hasn't helped things, but the sheer low volume of collaborations was nevertheless surprising. I don't expect there to be a slew of collabs every week. Sometimes content is slow. But I can no longer afford to accept excuses for why people vanish for weeks at a time, or even longer - over and over. This is a group effort, and we seem to forget just how damaging a weak link is. Sure, you have your big players (I won't use names, you know who you are): the people who post content often. Even they aren't doing the best of jobs, I don't think anyone in the RP has been consistent with their content.
And then there are your low-frequency posters (again, you should know who you are). The ones that have shown me plans and then done next to nothing with their characters. This is incredibly damaging, both to these people and the rest of the crew. You get characters that feel out of place, that don't know anyone despite the Avenger being a small town. In small towns, everyone knows everyone to some extent. But you have to show that on some level, or it feels forced. Altogether, we need consistency and active participation from everyone. Right now, we don't have that.
And what are the effects? First of all, the base RP feels disjointed. To describe it with a metaphor, it feels like watching a couple of different TV shows on multiple monitors. It does not feel connected enough like the confined base it is. Feels as if you could take certain groups of characters and place them in different stories and not much would change. It shouldn't be like that. Like I am fond of saying, though, I am not going to present problems without offering solutions. What is the solution to this particular problem with a lack of connection? The best answer is the simpliest one. All RPers need to make a conscious effort to interact with other people. They don't need to RP with every single other character and certainly aren't required to write as frequently with one RPer as another, especially if they don't have a ton of time.
But the simple fact is... we are a group of eight people. It doesn't make sense to RP with one or two other members max, at it most assuredly hurts the overall story to be highly selective in who you interact with. I've received the criticism that the story seems to be too much about one RPer or the other before, and such feelings arise precisiely because there's a lack of cohesion between the cast. We're all friends, we should all write with each other. The only real exception is obviously Tax because he's on the other side of the world, but no one else has the timezone excuse. At the most we're different by 3-4 hours.
Insistence 1: Make an effort to expand your collaborating to more members. (Sidenote - Don't forget to leave some aspects of your character development open to influence by others too. If all your character growth occurs due to and inside solos or collaborations with just one person, there is something wrong with your approach to a collaborative work.)
Secondly, the base RP is not the only thing that is hurt by a lack of consistency and active participation. There is also the issue of missions. In Liberation of Earth, I have given up on the concept of promotions and skill level ups due to missions for a very specific reason. It required everyone to go on the same amount of missions. I realize that such a demand is frankly absurd. However, that does not exempt the cast from the reluctance many have had to go on operations. As I stated in the rules, I realize that shit happens. Life gets in the way. But while I can accept that fact that people are busy and can't make it all the time, I can no longer let people off the hook just because they're upset emotionally.
Insistence 2: Make an effort to be on missions despite obstacles.
The simple fact is that the less you go on missions, the less involved you are in the overall plot of Liberation of Earth. Yes, I as the GM ultimately am responsible for the actions of the enemies and that of our Commander, but what occurs on missions is supposed to influence the base RP (Ex: If someone dies the mood is a lot more somber) and also affects the attitude of our leader and our enemies. (The more we win, the tougher they're going to get, for instance.) If you picked a soldier character, you chose to bear the responsibility to make it onto missions more than once in a blue moon. If my schedule and yours seldom align, we can work something out.
But if you got into an argument with your parents, a spat with one of your fellow RPers here, or something emotionally draining of the sort... you need to soldier on. That sounds callous, but consider this: writing has proven itself to be therapeutic to all of us. We write because we all like to create stories, and enjoy a sense of escapism every now and then. We enjoy seeing our characters fight through hardship. We cherish their personalities and are on the edge of our seats to see what happens next to them. At least, we that's how it should be. The less you go on the missions, the less you're active in collaborations... the less you are enjoying the story.
This goes for me too. This is the reason why I insist that we collaborate more frequently and across a more interweaved network. This is the reason why I insist that we go on missions more often than we do. This is meant to be fun. But so long as we are divided and let our emotions and apathy hold us back from doing what needs to be done to make this enjoyable, it won't be.
I want everyone to do better. Including myself. Including my closest friends, even those I tend to argue with (often, these people are one in the same). Including all eight members of the cast of Liberation of Earth. If we can do that, demonstrably, then I can be excited about the places LoE is going to go. But if we can't, if the next few weeks consist of more of the same apathy, disinterest, and disregard for what needs to be done... then I'm going to call it quits. I have many story ideas spinning around in my head, but I chose this one because I could do it with you all and truly believed I could make it good. If my confidence isn't restored, I'll go chasing after one of these other ideas.
We stand strong as a team, or we fail as a team. There's no partial success to be found here.
