Changing To A DC Centered Site [Mandatory Please Read]

So I've been thinking lately and many of you have heard as to what this thread is about. I have been thinking about altering the site into a dc centered site. This meaning you can explore the entire dc world and the entire world of dc rather than just the teen titan focused parts. All but maybe 1 or 2 of us now are in our 20s or older and to many rping teen agers and their drama over and over has gotten old and to some it hasn't lost its charm. Either direction isn't bad. THough the majority saying that they prefer mature or did well with both.

So I decided that if we go with dc in general we could have the site focusing on adult characters, while allowing teens and kids to run around still for those who prefer teen based rp. Though this new set up shining light on more mature topics so the parts of our brains stop going i need to dull this down for the kids when frankly we haven't had an underaged member in a long time now let alone one that didn't naturally rp mature themes.

Now many of you may go but wouldn't changing what we rp cause less people to come to our site? To be honest in the past few months nearing a year we have only truly had 1 new member that is still around. To me the top priority is to make the site the best it can be and the most fun to those of us who are around then when we hit that point we focus on getting new members again since we currently run on our current members and the friends we invite. Now there are a few ways we can go about doing this.

Aka this will be happening definitively but it up to everyone on the site, staff and members alike, to vote on how we do this since there are many ways. And for those who are squealing cause they know one way is the magical red button that half the people like on the site and the other half smack others for wanting it. If we do it we will work with plot lines on the site on how to bring your characters here to the new universe we would roleplay in so you don't lose your progress. So please smack us only slightly weaker please if it happens due to popular vote.

1. Reboot:  

”Click for a history lesson”:

THis boot would i belive be likely the first in a long time to happen only shortly a year later after the last boot. Though this one hopefully could work like version 3 of the site where we set up a plot line of the new uni then smash our selected characters into the new uni as people who were picked up for whatever plot reason we will have and dropped into this new adult world. When this happens these characters will be permitted due to their sudden world change to be aged up or even down to meet the age the rper may wish for instead. This new uni would be the dc centered one in which we prefer to keep things more mature.

Due to some not liking others who hadn't met their character yet knowing their powers and weaknesses there will be a thread where people can say this character of mine does not exist yet in the uni we will be joining thus these new reboot characters not knowing your current characters (Yes this is here for you bloo you're one of our main rpers if this happens i want your main issues with bringing old characters to new boots to be out of the way so if you want you can bring in your new characters that we all love in and not have this issue. That and others may want this too.)

2. Time Skip: We skip into 10 years into the future and while members re update their characters to fit the time skip we edit the site to fit the new dc theme. For those who don't want to age up or skip their character that forward to that age we can have them be grabbed and thrown into the future as they are and thus to others they just vanished one day only to be returned currently. Which is the only painless way i can see doing this part desite it still stinging some others and their plot lines. So i apologize there but with any big change that will be an issue.

3. Simple lay out change: This is my honestly least favorite method due to the fact that it just adds more sections and likely no one rps in those sections and nothing really changes but site looks  due and saying we are dc in general site. I know i sound bias in the description but this is what it will likely end out being due to what i've seen in the past. But this way will be the staff adding more sections the name of the site and that's about it. This though allowed all characters and plotlines to continue as is. For those who aren't ready for a big change this is what you need. Though for the purpose of altering the site to fit one that is for dc comics in general and plotlines to match more adult aspects a bit harder. I have this option here just in case everyone isn't ready for a big change yet.

This poll will end in 3 days or until everyone has stated that they have voted since i will request you post that you voted in general here so that i can figure out if everyone posted that primarily rps on the site. Before you ask im making this multiple choice so i can't go by numbers of how many votes. For those that don't know what that option means what is means is you can vote for more than one option if you don't mind either way.

By the end of this poll the option with the most votes will be chosen since it is the one that most wanted. If everyone voted before the 3 days are up the then poll will be one early, you may cancel your vote and vote up until the poll closes.  I will for each day post in this and link this in the discord chat to remind others to vote and i will tag nearing the ending those who i need to vote who rp regularly or have in the recent past that i know are still around. Thank you for your time.

Firstly I wish to express my apologies for not being helpful earlier on not really giving thoughts on this, I been on a Fate spree so my thoughts were elsewhere. After laying in bed on it I come to realize that RP in the DC universe as a whole is much more appealing then just being in Jump City. Mostly because I enjoy the comic mythos and the like, as well feel like actual superheroes fighting in epic battles. As well the more philosophical storylines in comics that are too complex for the Teen Titan genre. Kinda like how the Comic Tt is too Cartoon Tt. Anyways too the point at hand while I feel a reboot would be good to help give a clean slate for a DC setting than a time skip. So I have to give a vote to the Reboot option

I voted for either 1 or 2. My reasoning being that the "teen" setting isn't enough of an issue for me that it's caused me lack of activity. I have other more valid reasons. But I would not mind a change to include the vast world of DC, and as Ty mentioned it has opportunity.

A time skip does not really affect either of my characters in the slightest, so I am fine with either option.

I honestly don't think I could choose any of the options...

I just made my characters (well, Tachi the most recent), and I wanted to at least rp them as the ages they were when i made them, especially Tachi, because while Addom, who's an adult alien, wouldn't change much, Tachi is basically a teen and there was a certain mannerism I wanted to rp her as, I prefer hand aging a char over time skipping.

I would be most comfortable with the reboot, but not by much, because I really hate the idea of other people who had so long to shape their char's and relationships lose it all, even if I only barely started.

And I would hate for the staff to work on expanding the site but it not gain any traction...

Reminder post, if you have already voted please as i asked in the above post that you have voted, if i missed anyone in this tag i'm sorry.

@Emmz
@Hotwire
@Lone_Badass
@Hellbreaker
@Sterling
@Dar
@Pikazard
@Rin
@St. Jommy

Are you kidding me? ANOTHER reboot? The teams seem to have just been made. What reason does a reboot have other than to piss off the people who work hard for their characters? Why develop anything if you're going to just rip it away from the people? Where's option 4, don't change anything? I've been here for every single reboot, and the reaction is the same, people get pissed off and leave, we've lost some of our best members this way. A time skip? For what reason? The only logical choice is choice 3, but we simply don't have enough members to support a big site. The bigger the site, the more people you need to make it look not dead. I lost interest in this site a long time ago, why develop anything when it gets ripped away?

i voted

St. Jommy wrote:

Are you kidding me? ANOTHER reboot? The teams seem to have just been made. What reason does a reboot have other than to piss off the people who work hard for their characters? Why develop anything if you're going to just rip it away from the people? Where's option 4, don't change anything? I've been here for every single reboot, and the reaction is the same, people get pissed off and leave, we've lost some of our best members this way. A time skip? For what reason? The only logical choice is choice 3, but we simply don't have enough members to support a big site. The bigger the site, the more people you need to make it look not dead. I lost interest in this site a long time ago, why develop anything when it gets ripped away?

Stay awhile and listen -deckard cain voice- I've been dealing with losing character progress for a long time due to people dropping out of threads, a character arc, a misunderstanding that could have been avoided had egos been put away, or posts I make going 10+ days of no one posting in them while I have a real life job that drains me on a near daily basis.

Your concerns are noted. If you have something more constructive to add, feel free to. Just bare in mind that just because not everyone shares your opinion of what's best for the site, it doesn't mean their opinion doesn't matter. We're all here to have fun at the end of it all.

I have no opinion on the matter, I cannot muster the muse to rp here anymore, I find discord rping more enjoyable as I can barely find anywhere to place Hazel here, which is very likely my fault, but either way I have no opinion on the changes.

First things first, I can see there was some effort being put in to try and make easing in to this new change with old/existing characters. But I think what can be taken away from those still protesting against the reboot/timeskip suggestions is that it's simply not enough and the core dilemma of character development work and progress being wiped is still there. And some members are simply just tired of that. If the top priority for this change is to make things fun for the existing member base, then this point can't just be swept under the rug with a 'deal with it' attitude backed by a 'majority vote' poll result.

Let me know if I missed it, but based on what was in the opening post, I don't particularly see any part of the implementation of the change that absolutely necessitates a timeskip or reboot. The fact that the 3rd option is a possibility proves this. I'm also a bit confused about the talk of 'adding new sections' because don't these other DC locations already exist in the World subforum? Are you gonna just bring them out and give them more visibility? Again, I don't see where a timeskip or reboot is necessary to achieve this.

The other main point for this change seems to be the issue of mature topics being dulled down for the 'kids' of the site. Don't we already have those tags for more adult/mature theme threads? So I'm a bit confused at this point too. Unless you are referring to situations where you want to rp mature actions in a thread that doesn't have these tags. In that case, isn't it more sensible to instead respect the thread creator's wishes to not have mature content in his topic? In any case, a wish for more opportunities to do 'mature' topics seems like it only needs a rules change to implement. Something like doing a reverse of the current situation and making mature topics the norm with thread tags for topics that don't want mature content in them.

People have long been creating and roleplaying characters much older than teens. This isn't something new. It of course follows that their actions and stories include more mature themes and plot lines. I don't believe there's any rule on the site denying them that. If anything, they have almost complete freedom on their characterization. The only thing they are particularly limited by is the power-level restrictions imposed on the site, since characters are supposed to be 'Teen Titans' level. This point would probably take the most work if indeed a rebalancing of power-levels will be coming for the DC transition. Rather than a total reboot, soft revamp of characters should be sufficient though, if not training topics to become stronger. Lots of ways to go about doing these adjustments without screwing over existing development.

Considering all these points, my suggestion for another option would be to directly introduce a 'mature' DC-like plot line to the site which would lead to a more global focus and expand the stories beyond just Jump City (perhaps 'unlocking' new locations as the plot moves along). Since this proposal for change was made, I'm assuming there's already an initial plot either already written or in the works for the new DC centered site. Why not use this as a transition point then? Make it something that starts in Jump and develops into a worldwide thing. I'm more than happy to help out with the creative department to get this done. I don't rp but brainstorming in chat is totally doable. From there you can just keep introducing more global stuff, drawing the focus away from Jump and the Titans. This way everyone keeps their development and transition to the DC centered site won't be awkward or abrupt for those who want to retain their existing characters.

I'm aware this is super similar to option 3 already and the issue there seems to be adding new sections where no one rps in, making the site look 'deader'. My proposal to that is to simultaneously delete/merge sections. Let's be honest. Not all forums and subforums are used as often as others. And some of them even overlap more than occasionally. This is where we can probably hold a poll to see which ones need to go or just be merged with another subforum.

I'm going to assume what was shared in the initial post was far from the entirety of the plan to move to a more DC centered site. If there are any unmentioned details in the plan that support the need for a reboot or time skip, it would be nice to hear them. More details are always good. And who knows, it might be convincing enough to change people's minds about this whole thing. Because one thing's for sure, this poll and basing a decision on the votes of a 'majority' in this poll is not going to sit well with several people. Right now the 'majority vote' isn't even half of the total active member base. So that's a lot of indifferent to unhappy members whose toes you might be stepping on should you go through with this. And I say this even if the results change and some other option takes the lead. Change itself is not bad and definitely feels fresh. But there ought to be ways that you can go about doing it without ruining it for some, right?

- Your friendly neighborhood lurker who may or may not return to rp because rl stuff, muse, etc.

P.S. I wanna be fair so, to those who voted for the reboot or time skip, I'm curious what exactly you're hoping for that you can't do in the current environment, assuming rules are changed to allow more mature plot lines and other major DC locations open up for rping. And is a clean slate for the entire site and not just your own chars really necessary for that? I tried to address some points above, but hey, no one's perfect.

I know the future seems unclear at this point. I'm not sure if the site in its current state can survive the loss of Energy. There will, I'm sure, be plenty of discussion on that later and elsewhere. But should this site continue, I'd like to say that a change in setting and focus is definitely needed.

For me, Jump City has become a box. It's a regular city, apart from the fact that there are superheroes in it. It is not an interesting place to explore, and it does not provide a lot of inspiration for character development and growth. I feel that shifting our focus to a global scale will alleviate this box mentality, and attract more new members to the site (something we desperately need).

There are advantages to a box, of course. Everyone can meet anyone else, and they probably will. In a world setting, I'd like to see a small number of "home bases" from which different factions can base their operations and have bonding moments.

I don't feel there is a need for a reboot. I wouldn't be opposed to one, however, I feel reboots make people think they have to remake the same characters they've already done, which has become boring. Seeing three generations of Grace grow increasingly difficult to RP with has made me value new, fresh, and original characters. Why tell the same story again when we can tell a different story entirely? A world wide setting allows us to do that, while still maintaining the canon already existing on the present site.

In short, I vote for option 3.

I have much more to say on the matter, and many ideas for the future of the site, which I will share later.

So what's happening in regards to this now that Energy is gone? I just figured I'd ask since nothing's been happening for over a week now.

Nothing is happening I guess, as the one pushing the reform is gone and given the general response nothing is really changeing.

Yo. Who's in charge around here now? An announcement should probably be made.