OOC Q and A

[Miranda of Admin]

You may have questions to ask regarding DG at the moment, and I would welcome the chance to touch base with the community.

Zeric and I will be around for an informal OOC Q and A on Thursday March 9th at 5.30pm EST (10.30 GMT?) It will last for approx one hour and we will answer whatever we can, as openly as we can.

Please do come along with any questions you may have and let others know who may not see this.

Hope to see you there,
M.

[Dabria]

You may have questions to ask regarding DG at the moment, and I would welcome the chance to touch base with the community.

Zeric and I will be around for an informal OOC Q and A on Thursday March 9th at 5.30pm EST (10.30 GMT?) It will last for approx one hour and we will answer whatever we can, as openly as we can.

Please do come along with any questions you may have and let others know who may not see this.

Hope to see you there,
M.

Yes, it is 10:30pm GMT (Dabria the Time-Keeper, at your service!), and I assume this, as usual, will be held in the Back (OOC chat) room, North of Dundee Inn?

[Zeric of Admin]

You may have questions to ask regarding DG at the moment, and I would welcome the chance to touch base with the community.

Zeric and I will be around for an informal OOC Q and A on Thursday March 9th at 5.30pm EST (10.30 GMT?) It will last for approx one hour and we will answer whatever we can, as openly as we can.

Please do come along with any questions you may have and let others know who may not see this.

Hope to see you there,
M.

Yes, it is 10:30pm GMT (Dabria the Time-Keeper, at your service!), and I assume this, as usual, will be held in the Back (OOC chat) room, North of Dundee Inn?

Yes.

- Z

[Dabria]

You may have questions to ask regarding DG at the moment, and I would welcome the chance to touch base with the community.

Zeric and I will be around for an informal OOC Q and A on Thursday March 9th at 5.30pm EST (10.30 GMT?) It will last for approx one hour and we will answer whatever we can, as openly as we can.

Please do come along with any questions you may have and let others know who may not see this.

Hope to see you there,
M.

Yes, it is 10:30pm GMT (Dabria the Time-Keeper, at your service!), and I assume this, as usual, will be held in the Back (OOC chat) room, North of Dundee Inn?

Yes.

- Z

You know if I never asked, someone would have! I just thought I would rip that band aid off, and get it over with!

Providing I am not busy failing young inquiring minds who have displeased me, I shall do my best to pop in!

[Dabria]

You may have questions to ask regarding DG at the moment, and I would welcome the chance to touch base with the community.

Zeric and I will be around for an informal OOC Q and A on Thursday March 9th at 5.30pm EST (10.30 GMT?) It will last for approx one hour and we will answer whatever we can, as openly as we can.

Please do come along with any questions you may have and let others know who may not see this.

Hope to see you there,
M.

Yes, it is 10:30pm GMT (Dabria the Time-Keeper, at your service!), and I assume this, as usual, will be held in the Back (OOC chat) room, North of Dundee Inn?

Yes.

- Z

You know if I never asked, someone would have! I just thought I would rip that band aid off, and get it over with!

Providing I am not busy failing young inquiring minds who have displeased me, I shall do my best to pop in!

[Viviyana]

I wasn't able to take the best of notes during this, but thought I would pass along what I did manage to snag. I hope that that is okay

I apologize in advance for any mistakes or if I missed something. Please feel free to correct anything or add to it. ((I didn't end up capturing any questions, it was a bit chaotic.))

Where do you see DG in five years?

Viscontessa Miranda of Admin says "I think I can say that we had storylines in consideration for the next six or seven years. So as long as we have players willing to play we'll still be going... I just don't know what the game itself will look like."

Ridder Zeric of Admin says "I don't know where I'll be in five years, so I don't know what DG will look like. M's the one who's good at thinking about the future. I just cause chaos in the moment."

Icons?

Viscontessa Miranda of Admin says "I've asked one person to submit some icons who I think may be a great addition. If anyone else is skilled in that area though they should feel free to submit."

Ridder Zeric of Admin says "I really like some of the icons we've had in the game in the last few years, and welcome more from any artist willing to contribute, but they have always been a decorative element and not necessarily a core part of the game. Some of my favourite items don't have icons!"

How are they doing with the Kane news?

Ridder Zeric of Admin says "We've both known about Kane leaving for a longer period of time than you have. So it's less of a shock for us than it is for you. Suffice to say, it makes some things more difficult. But in a way, it does also make some things easier, moving forward. It's complicated. M's probably better placed to expand on that."

Viscontessa Miranda of Admin says "As for how we're doing with the Kane news - fine? Heh. I very much value Kane as a player and an Admin, but Admin do come and go. I've seen several in my 10+ years now as Admin. We'll journey on."

Viscontessa Miranda of Admin says "As for the partnership falling apart, my feelings are mixed. I'm bitterly disappointed that a lot of what was discussed never came to fruition, and I feel personally like I've let people down by being so excited about the possibilities that now won't happen. But I'm excited that I can be in control of the game fully again and maybe implement icons and script changes etc a lot faster and more regularly then when I was having to ask someone else to do it."

Viscontessa Miranda of Admin says "Kane was a part of the partnership company. It became untenable for me many months ago because I could not easily get in touch with Coder and the other partner except through Kane. When Kane decided to leave, I decided that it would be better to dissolve the partnership entirely as I didn't have faith in progress being made."

Will they Drop Storylines?

Ridder Zeric of Admin says "We don't tend to deliberately drop storylines, but what we have experienced throughout Kane's tenure are a high number of unresolved storylines which are now left with (or perhaps never had) satisfying resolutions. We want to wrap as many of those things up as we can in a way that's fun for you, and fun for us."

Ridder Zeric of Admin says "I would say that this will mostly manifest as storylines accelerating. Some things which have taken many months of build up, may come to a head quite suddenly, as we try to move pieces around the board to get into a good place for whatever we decide the next phase of the game will be like."

What can we do to help?

Ridder Zeric of Admin says "You can always help just by logging in and having good RP sessions. Every time you're online and just hanging out in our world is all we need to keep going. Throwing your own little RP events and stuff is great too."

Will parts of the Drakon story be changed or dropped?

Ridder Zeric of Admin says "We obviously can't say too much about the Drakon storyline other than to say it's not being dropped, something will be happening, and that we hope it provides a satisfying payoff for players who have invested time in it."

Viscontessa Miranda of Admin says "Agree with Z on storylines - Kane created many that never seemed to resolve (are the nexus pillars still broken?) What I need from YOU all is an indication of what you feel is still outstanding and what you really want to see get wrapped up. I have no intention of dropping storylines but I do need help and time weaving them all into something that makes sense. And if something seems a bit off, please forgive us."

Viscontessa Miranda of Admin says "I'm going to start a forum post asking you what you really want to see resolved. That will help us prioritize."

(There was some chatter here about things that needed tended to. Zeric fixed the wounded initiate armorer, and the overpowered centaurs in the western mountains. Many people voiced a desire for the Nexus to be fixed.)

Are they seeking new senior admin?

Ridder Zeric of Admin says "I have nothing to say about seeking new admin, except to point out that it's a really common misconception that all our problems would be solved if we just had more admin. Ask any manager: just throwing more people at a problem rarely solves it! We do appreciate all offers of help and keep them on file, and we do call upon player help occasionally"

Viscontessa Miranda of Admin says "My priority at the moment for the Admin team is to breathe and regroup. I want a tighter knit team than we have had before. Aside from Admin though, we ARE going to change how we develop... I'm not going to go into that but I think it will please people. Maybe."

When they talk about increasing the speed of the story lines, what does that mean?

Ridder Zeric of Admin says "RE: Speed of storylines. Obviously in an ideal world, the storyline would be this perfect entity which sprawls out and keeps people engaged throughout. For a variety of reasons, that hasn't happened here. And it obviously can't go much further now that Kane has gone."

Ridder Zeric of Admin says "So in a sense, the acceleration is the only thing which makes sense. If we drag it out, that's not going to be fun for anyone. We need to resolve and move forward into a new phase with a cleaner slate."

What about Fartown?

Viscontessa Miranda of Admin says "I believe that some characters in game will be leading on Fartown shortly. We as Admin will support them - and that's all you're getting from me on that "

((I missed the actual question.))

Viscontessa Miranda of Admin says "Re. Downtime between events, I would like to have things happening little and often. We'll do the best we can to see that happen, as well as the bigger events that take months to reach."

Will those deeply involved in story lines be given some kind of indication as to what is next?

Ridder Zeric of Admin says "Players will continue to receive updates on social media and the forum ahead of major events. Beyond that we don't have plans to speak to individuals about the resolution of those storylines, we don't want to completely spoil them."

Is Mobile interface still on the short list?

Viscontessa Miranda of Admin says "The partnership ending will not impact the game as it stands at the moment. The work that was done already they have received money for, and that will still stand. We just might not be able to do things like mobile support as a short term goal."
Viscontessa Miranda of Admin says "To get anyone to work on coding, I have to trust them implicitly. DG is kind of my baby, and I dread letting someone loose on it who will damage it or build who knows what backdoor into it. So I'm afraid that I am going to be wary letting anyone at it, for the time being."

Will Balthazar come back to life?

Viscontessa Miranda of Admin says "Balthy is gone. Gone, gone, gone. It took me several years to finish that arc, he's not coming back now."
Ridder Zeric of Admin says "Never say never, but there are no plans to bring Balthazar back at this stage. It would undo a huge accomplishment that many of you were part of."

Cannons?

Viscontessa Miranda of Admin says "Cannons - well, again that is something that is character led and we'll have a think about how that develops."

Altitan?

Viscontessa Miranda of Admin says "You are definitely going to see inside Altitan."

Ethucan?

Viscontessa Miranda of Admin says "Ethucan has been underway for a while and will be a major part of the future - not going to be immediate though"

Is there a date for the official transfer of the game?

Viscontessa Miranda of Admin says "The game should be back fully in my hands before the end of March. It will need a half hour or so of downtime and there are some slight tweaks in payments etc, but I'll keep you posted."

Arctane?

Viscontessa Miranda of Admin says "Arctane is anyone's NPC. Don't write her off."

Can we submit plot ideas to admin?

Viscontessa Miranda of Admin says "Not at the moment. But I'm not ruling that out in the future. I'm very wary of taking too much on board right now until we're totally clear where we're going."

How is the financial stability of the game?

Viscontessa Miranda of Admin says "Financially, the game is pretty steady. It makes enough to keep going. My biggest financial concern is that if I end up paying someone for coding that is beyond our scope, or to develop a new interface etc, that will take more than we have."
Viscontessa Miranda of Admin says "We have tossed around ideas like a kickstarter or putting up premiums slightly, but I'm completely unwilling to do that until we are giving you reason to pay more. We need to be more active and easier to communicate with."

Have they considered advertising?

Viscontessa Miranda of Admin says "Yes, we've considered advertising. But again it's something I feel we shouldn't do until I am confident that the new players who might find us are going to come into a consistent, active game."

((Can't remember the question.))

Ridder Zeric of Admin says "While the Drakon story as you currently know it is going to come to some sort of conclusion, the beauty of a game like DG is that the stories take place in a persistent world. So, there may well be things from this time period which feed into or are relevant further down the line."
Ridder Zeric of Admin says "It's not like the events you've experienced will be erased from history. The 'arc', if you will, the core narrative, will reach a suitable chapter-end. And we'll start a new chapter."

What about important items such as Zanaan's timepiece?

Viscontessa Miranda of Admin says "If the timepiece is important, I'm willing to bet it will find a way to make its way to wherever it is supposed to be. But I've received a new line for Zanaan's shop, so hopefully he will come back to see those."

Pets?

Ridder Zeric of Admin says "Coder's not here any more so I can totally blame him and say that he broke all the existing pet mechanics in the game and didn't get around to fixing them. So... That would be the first priority, to get things like boxes of ducks and spiders back in. After that, we might look at expanding them one day."

They also spoke of resuming raids, and are revamping them. Zeric further mentioned that he is working on fixing the bleeding mechanism.

[bibi onyx]

thank you for this

[Ellyana Lilli]

Was sad to miss this. Thank you for the notes, Viv. x

[Valya]

Great recap, Viv. Something stuck in my mind that I wanted to speak to.

Miranda: I feel personally like I've let people down by being so excited about the possibilities that now won't happen.

Please don't feel like that. The creative process is full of successes and misses. Not mistakes. Creative people don't make mistakes. They just have less-successful adventures sometimes. You know, like deleting their characters. We're behind you 100% Miranda, and excited to work together toward the next possibility.

[Zanaan]

What about important items such as Zanaan's timepiece?

Viscontessa Miranda of Admin says "If the timepiece is important, I'm willing to bet it will find a way to make its way to wherever it is supposed to be. But I've received a new line for Zanaan's shop, so hopefully he will come back to see those."

I would also like to add that I'm unlikely to miss any relevant major plot points, as well that I can be contacted easily enough for anything I should be present for. As with my shop I am not abandoning the game, but I am stepping back in terms of time invested.

[Lavender]

I have a question that was not asked at the Q&A... Because I just thought of it while reading in Caer Laleldan Reference Library.... One of the tomes says that Fartown was erected on the site of Golden Age ruins. I was curious since we've gotten good at digging... ooc Lol... I was wondering if there might be a plan to one day not just rebuild Fartown... but see what might be left beneath?..... Just curious! ~Lav

[Pallas]

Having been unable to attend, I'm grateful for the posts regarding what was discussed.