Down in the Gutter: OOC - Dumpshock Forums

Down in the Gutter: OOC, The Nuts and Bolts of Staying Alive

Abbandon View Member Profile	Sep 23 2007, 10:34 PM Post #551
Shooting Target Group: Members Posts: 1,711 Joined: 15-June 06 Member No.: 8,716	Fool and Child are not looking for transportation we are off looking for a building to use for a chop shop and aquire the tools in order to run it. I didnt like Legion splitting everyone back up again after we just got together on the night where all our gangs were trashed. Wouldnt it be easier to evict people or even look for a new base if we were all together?? That telling everybody to go do whatever it is they do thing was just like on TV when some noob gets appointed as a leader and doesnt know what to do so he just tells all his underlings to make the decisions lol. I'm also desperately trying to distance myself from Lindt(no offense lindt), he doesnt seem as active as me and it really sucks being off alone while there are like 4-5 guys all hanging out and advancing. But whatever. I've got my smiley face on and will continue to help Child set up shop. Just wait until the first gang party!! Child will never see Fool again except after images of him slipping around a corner or ducking back out a door lol.

WinterRat1 View Member Profile	Sep 24 2007, 02:52 AM Post #552
Dragon Group: Members Posts: 4,289 Joined: 20-April 04 Member No.: 6,260	Sorry all, I just got married (as in, yesterday) and am about to sneak off on the honeymoon for a week. Upon my return catching up on DSF stuff will happen ASAP. My apologies again for the delay this month (that getting married thing sure takes a lot of time!) and thanks to everyone for your patience!

Meriss View Member Profile	Sep 24 2007, 04:02 AM Post #553
Shooting Target Group: Members Posts: 1,696 Joined: 17-February 07 From: Middle Sized City, Ontario, Canada Member No.: 11,025	Yay Winter got married! Take that geek streotype. @Winter: Boo yah! Congrats man. @Grendel: Umm hello? You around boss man? @Abbandon: My bad. Newscasters get it wrong sometimes. :D @Vegas: Good to have you back. Shall I resume sending NPCs?

adamu View Member Profile	Sep 24 2007, 04:54 AM Post #554
Snakehandler Group: Dumpshocked Posts: 7,454 Joined: 28-April 06 From: London, England Member No.: 8,508	@Winter Hearty congratulations!

Abbandon View Member Profile	Sep 24 2007, 08:32 AM Post #555
Shooting Target Group: Members Posts: 1,711 Joined: 15-June 06 Member No.: 8,716	@winter come back tired!!

Lindt View Member Profile	Sep 24 2007, 08:45 AM Post #556
Man In The Machine Group: Dumpshocked Posts: 2,264 Joined: 26-February 02 From: I-495 S Member No.: 1,105	's all good Addandon. My school has decided that I dont need to have time to sleep, or have a life what so ever. Add to that the never ending search for a job that will pay me the 7 years experience I'm worth... Ill try and get something up, but Im kinda at a loss as of what exactly to do right now. Actually that would make a great post. WR, Congrats!!!

grendel View Member Profile	Sep 25 2007, 04:23 AM Post #557
Prime Runner Group: Members Posts: 3,763 Joined: 26-February 02 From: Special Hell Member No.: 284	I decided to split everyone up because I've found that play-by-post games move quicker when the action is dependent on fewer participants. By assigning separate tasks it lets people move at their own pace, or, at worse, be dependent on only one other individual. As for myself, I'm here and always ready to post.

Meriss View Member Profile	Sep 26 2007, 02:39 AM Post #558
Shooting Target Group: Members Posts: 1,696 Joined: 17-February 07 From: Middle Sized City, Ontario, Canada Member No.: 11,025	@Grendel: Rock! Alright you've got a choice of Latin music or Latin music. :D What? Don't look at me like that. Also I never got around to actually doing my demo book so any image you want is in there pretty much.

Vegas View Member Profile	Oct 9 2007, 09:39 PM Post #559
Runner Group: Dumpshocked Posts: 3,020 Joined: 11-March 02 From: The MSP 'Plex Member No.: 2,326	OK people... are we dead in the water...? Or does everything that's happening hinge on WR1's input?

Unarmed View Member Profile	Oct 9 2007, 09:40 PM Post #560
Moving Target Group: Members Posts: 500 Joined: 3-January 07 From: Calgary, Alberta Member No.: 10,517	Well, I was waiting for clarification from WR1 on my stuff, but things have really slowed down recently, =(.

Abbandon View Member Profile	Oct 9 2007, 10:08 PM Post #561
Shooting Target Group: Members Posts: 1,711 Joined: 15-June 06 Member No.: 8,716	-halo, aziz and crew all make full recoveries -Thumper,grack find safe house two feet from where we all split up -Fool , child find chop shop right next to the new safe house. -Doc gets his drugs -Badmarsh and nevada make a stealthy escape -etc, etc game on!!

Vegas View Member Profile	Oct 10 2007, 01:06 PM Post #562
Runner Group: Dumpshocked Posts: 3,020 Joined: 11-March 02 From: The MSP 'Plex Member No.: 2,326	Call me crazy Grendel, but I got the distinct impression that Badmarsh bit it and was down and out for the count and only Nevada and Bockscar were left ... besides some Raiders.

WinterRat1 View Member Profile	Oct 10 2007, 02:56 PM Post #563
Dragon Group: Members Posts: 4,289 Joined: 20-April 04 Member No.: 6,260	Quick Update: I swear I'm trying to catch up, but in addition to all the post wedding stuff (I had no idea getting married and moving in with someone else would be so freaking complicated and time consuming!) I also have the October 15th deadline for extended tax returns hanging over my head, so things have remained extremely hectic in all areas of RL. I'm glad people are progressing without me, and I'll do my best to have something up by the end of this weekend providing at least enough guidance for things to keep moving even without me being 100% back up to speed.

rob View Member Profile	Oct 11 2007, 10:39 AM Post #564
Moving Target Group: Members Posts: 826 Joined: 28-April 07 Member No.: 11,552	My internet access is terrible where I am currently located, and will probably continue to remain terrible for the next 2-3 weeks unless something changes or I learn how to work the system. Don't expect much on updates from me. Cheers: Rob

rob View Member Profile	Oct 11 2007, 10:39 AM Post #565
Moving Target Group: Members Posts: 826 Joined: 28-April 07 Member No.: 11,552	My internet access is terrible where I am currently located, and will probably continue to remain terrible for the next 2-3 weeks unless something changes or I learn how to work the system. Don't expect much on updates from me. Cheers: Rob

rob View Member Profile	Oct 11 2007, 10:40 AM Post #566
Moving Target Group: Members Posts: 826 Joined: 28-April 07 Member No.: 11,552	My internet access is terrible where I am currently located, and will probably continue to remain terrible for the next 2-3 weeks unless something changes or I learn how to work the system. Don't expect much on updates from me. Cheers: Rob

rob View Member Profile	Oct 11 2007, 10:40 AM Post #567
Moving Target Group: Members Posts: 826 Joined: 28-April 07 Member No.: 11,552	My internet access is terrible where I am currently located, and will probably continue to remain terrible for the next 2-3 weeks unless something changes or I learn how to work the system. Don't expect much on updates from me. Cheers: Rob

adamu View Member Profile	Oct 11 2007, 10:46 AM Post #568
Snakehandler Group: Dumpshocked Posts: 7,454 Joined: 28-April 06 From: London, England Member No.: 8,508	Wow - I've heard of double-posts, but gee whiz! Dude, hang in there. If you are anywhere like where I think you are, I am personally happy to wait for your posts.

rob View Member Profile	Oct 21 2007, 04:46 PM Post #569
Moving Target Group: Members Posts: 826 Joined: 28-April 07 Member No.: 11,552	We still trackin' on this stuff? I'm going to be off comms for a minute or so (note: understatement. Probably a bit more), as I'm relocating again. Cheers: Rob

WinterRat1

Oct 24 2007, 05:48 PM

Post #570

Dragon

Group: Members
Posts: 4,289
Joined: 20-April 04
Member No.: 6,260

All Right Everyone,

I’ll cut right to the point. After days of deliberating, the following message was what I was going to write:

QUOTE

Hey Everyone,

I apologize for the long delay in my return to DITG. As you all know, I’ve had a lot going on lately. In the time I’ve been away, I took the opportunity to reevaluate the status and direction of DITG.

Upon further reflection, I have come to the sad conclusion that for the time being, I will be shutting DITG down. While the tremendous foundation of the game gives us an excellent jumping off point if we ever wish to resume DITG in the future, for now I do not believe it is feasible to continue.

I believe you all have a right to know how I came to this conclusion. My reasoning is as follows:

1. From a personnel standpoint, DITG has drifted so far from its original requirements as to be unrecognizable, and more importantly, unsustainable. Specifically, I cannot GM this by myself (this was stated from the very beginning) and our player base is too small. To take some of you up on your generous offers to GM would dilute our PC-gang to the size of a large shadowrunning team, which would also be contrary to my original goal. Even if we get a few GMs from some unexpected sources, we only have about 8-10 currently active PCs, about half the size the game was originally planned for. In the end, a team of 2-4 dedicated GMs and about 15-20 PCs is not a realistic goal at this point in time.

2. DITG’s original purpose was a grand experiment designed to push to envelope of forum games; specifically with regards to a PC-dominated gang campaign. It was designed to answer the question ‘Is it possible to run a gang campaign on the forums in which the gang consists almost entirely of PCs?’ As in any experiment, there were successes and failures, but the question was answered, at least to my satisfaction.

3. DITG never really got off the ground as far as even beginning the ‘Organic Creation of PC Gang’ process, and it is unlikely to do so going forward. The fact that we couldn’t make it past the prologue without our entire GM staff and half our players dropping is not a good sign for making it past the beginning stages of the organic creation process.

4. I cannot dedicate precious free time to a game I feel is unsustainable, especially when my original purpose was already achieved, and the current circumstances make the game unlikely to become a going concern in the near future.

I want to thank all everyone for all their contributions to the game. None of this would have been possible without all of your hard work and sacrifice that enabled us to build what was perhaps the greatest foundation to an online gang campaign ever. It was an absolute pleasure working and playing with all of you. I’m extremely sad to have to let DITG go, but I believe sometimes it’s better for a game to end early with dignity rather than drag it down to a slow and painful death.

Perhaps in the future things will change, and it will possible to jump start DITG at some point down the road. Certainly if the opportunity ever arises we already have the foundation in place. It would just be a matter of throwing up an invite to all the old players, running a brief recruitment drive for new ones and off we go.

Until that time, thanks again to everyone for playing and contributing. I had a blast putting this together and giving it a whirl. Every time I visit the wiki and see what we created, I am in awe of how real the world of DITG seems to me. It never would have happened without everyone who was a part of this project, and I hope to play with you all again sometime, either in DITG or elsewhere.

All the best,
WinterRat1

P.S. Since we may one day reopen DITG, I request that for now, all updates to the wiki cease. This way if we ever decide to pick it back up again, it’ll be there waiting for us in its original form. Thanks!

However, I went back and looked at the wiki and reread Shade’s Journal, and I was simply awestruck by how much work we all put into this game. And I absolutely loved all the characters we developed (PC and NPC alike), and how real they seemed to me. To simply shut the game down became the mental equivalent of callously killing a whole world of people I knew and loved (even if the people in question were a motley crew of killers, thieves, addicts, psychos, and whores).

In the final accounting of things, I didn’t want that to happen. Not without giving this one last shot to make it work. In the end, I guess I just felt DITG still had the potential to be too damn good of a game to let it die without a fight. Maybe I’m crazy, or maybe it’s the GM in me that refuses to let a game fold until I’m 100% convinced that’s the way it has to be. I was almost there with DITG, but not quite.

So here’s what’s up. By my count, these are the people I still consider active in the game:

Grendel – Legion
Adamu – Grack
Pragma – Thumper
Unarmed – Doc
Meriss – Ink
Lindt – Child
Abbandon – Fool
Rob – Bockscar
Vegas – Nevada
Voorhees – Aziz

That’s it. So I’ve got 10. Of you 10, I want to know who’s still interested in trying to push forward with this. If we have a near overwhelming majority, that is, 7 or 8 who want to continue and will actively keep pushing things forward, then we’ll try to persevere.

I will warn everyone up front, we’re on life support. Eventually I need at least 1 other person to GM with me, and I would like to get us back up to about 15-20 PCs. If after a ‘probationary period’ it seems we’re still a viable game, we’ll toss up another Recruitment Thread to try and fill some GM spots and additional PCs.

To me, life support means even if people want to continue, the game has to demonstrate it’s plausible to continue. We have numerous resources, tools, and procedures in place for the players to keep the game moving without the GM having to drag it along. If people choose not to take advantage of that and the game repeatedly stalls, to the point where it’s becoming a drag on all of us instead of something fun we actively continue to move forward, I will pull the plug. In essence, I’ll let the game speak for itself. If it refuses to die I won’t deliberately kill it, but if it needs a mercy killing I won’t hesitate to put it out of its misery.

In keeping with the spirit of DITG, I’ll give everyone until October 31 to reply (with the exception of Rob and Grendel, since I know their communications are bad now). If we don’t get enough people interested in continuing, I’ll close it down for good. I guess there’s a certain appropriate symbolism if DITG shut down on All Hallows Armageddon.

If we get enough yes votes, on November 2nd I’ll write a giant post to wrap up whatever your characters are up to at the moment and pull all of you together, thus ending the prologue section. If it seems like the game is progressing at a pace and manner that seems sustainable, I’ll toss up a Recruitment Thread shortly after and try to get everything back on track at full tilt.

Although the idea of trying to run DITG alone seems extremely daunting given everything else going on in my life right now, I came to the conclusion that even though DITG may be a significant drain on my time, I do want this game to work. Despite my misgivings stated in my originally planned post above, I wanted to give the gang one last shot to survive.

So speak up with your vote and .02 :nuyen:, and we’ll see what fate awaits DITG.

WinterRat1

rob View Member Profile	Oct 24 2007, 06:08 PM Post #571
Moving Target Group: Members Posts: 826 Joined: 28-April 07 Member No.: 11,552	Still playing. Intermittent communications, but I'm more or less near the place that I'll be working out of for a while, so should be able to keep in touch.

Vegas View Member Profile	Oct 24 2007, 07:43 PM Post #572
Runner Group: Dumpshocked Posts: 3,020 Joined: 11-March 02 From: The MSP 'Plex Member No.: 2,326	Heh and the one we assume won't be able to post/read in the immediate future is the one who posts first. Yay irony! (ps. Hi Rob!) Oh yeah, I'm still in and up for the game.

Fresno Bob View Member Profile	Oct 24 2007, 08:22 PM Post #573
Neophyte Runner Group: Members Posts: 2,156 Joined: 15-March 03 From: Fresno, CalFree Member No.: 4,252	I'm still down.

Meriss View Member Profile	Oct 24 2007, 08:27 PM Post #574
Shooting Target Group: Members Posts: 1,696 Joined: 17-February 07 From: Middle Sized City, Ontario, Canada Member No.: 11,025	I've been onboard since we started this motley crew. I'm still plugging away at wiki NPCs. Welcome home Winter :)

Abbandon View Member Profile	Oct 24 2007, 09:47 PM Post #575
Shooting Target Group: Members Posts: 1,711 Joined: 15-June 06 Member No.: 8,716	Im here. I totally disgaree that a game can progress without a very active GM though.

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