A Question

OK I have a question that I would like folks to think about and answer honestly.

How do you feel about the PATD?

It has been ages since I have really played in the PATD. Why? Because it has become so repetitive. I get the feeling that we are in a rut.

Someone does something, someone else automaticly fixes it with a spell. If it is Merle the spell goes wrong and Nommy uses the Key of Light to fix it. (yawn)

Something is missing and I don't know what it is. But I do know that if the spanking chair gets brought out one more time I am going to flip.

Its just not fun to play in there. Is it because people have gotten bored with the environment? People are feeling scattered? Whats happen to us?

We used to be fun. We used to write bizare storylines that lead to even more weird fixes that made all of us laugh.

Am I the only feeling this way? If so I'll shut up and just post in the B5 topics. If not, I would like to figure oiut what is happening so that posting with everyone can be fun again. Not that discussing B5 isn't fun but even I don't think that is all that we should be doing.

I don't post there much at all anymore. With posting so sporadic, it's hard to really get things going. There's no harm in leaving it there, and when there's something you feel like participating in, go for it. I haven't posted in this PATD for a couple months, I'd bet, without looking.

And personally I thought it was pretty damned funny when Valen turned Crash into a nymph, but she, as is her right, objected to that, so the story went nowhere. Seems no one likes being turned into something anymore, and won't play along, or just doesn't want to explore possibilities of things going haywire.

And, pardon me for saying it, but so many folks who really made the PATD fun are not around or playing, even though we may be glad of that. But I'm thinking Q and Boikat for two. AsIs doesn't post, and she was so much of it in the past. Piscea, CosmicThing, tandara, Valen hardly ever, ditto Ran, Nommy and myself rarely anymore. Maybe we've all drifted away, or maybe really have played out the bar scene. If we all recall, PATD was pretty stagnant at SFS. The last storyline going on there was actually the bears' vacation. The fugitive story of Ran and Valen petered out.

I never could get into it. Most likely cause is I came into the fold so late. Then again, I've never been one for RPG, and PATD sure seemed to be one, abeit one with few or no rules. Maybe it's run it's course. Or, everyone has changed directions a little, and it's no longer in focus. Kind of like posting on CZ, I suppose. Or, even here.

The other possiblity is that everyone is waiting for something to happen, and then react to it. If you don't just do something to stir things up, pretty soon everyone is standing on the side, waiting for someone (who never shows up) to do something.

Just my $.02 worth

Yep, I'd agree with Wizz on the last point, as well.

Merle, I agree with you it has become stale. I guess my question is how do we get people back posting again.

I would love to be more active but I am not going to go for becoming a skimply clad wood nymph no matter how amusing other people find it. Anyone who has goofed off with me over the years knows I don't go for that so why it was tried I don't know.

That is not to say that there aren't other things that we can do. Or that there shouldn't be other things that we can do.

Would starting a new topic, not the PATD, help? After all, the PATD has been around for 7 years there is only so much that you can do with one idea or one topic.

Or are people just burnt out of all of this altogther? If the later then I can stop worrying about it and just post B5. I do miss the goofing off and would prefer to find a way to get that going again then abandon it as a whole.

I have never participated in that game so probably should hold my thoughts. However, as Wizz said, there is a general slackening at all of the sites. Perhaps after 7 years we've all grown too old to have fun. I certainly hope that's not the case. CZ is practically moribund and the only activity here is on the B5 topics. Maybe when the new Babylon thread picks up, we will be rejuvenated.

The issues as I see them.

1. We are too spread out. I log into too many sites, find so little posting at all of them that I get depressed or lethargic and don't end up posting much at any. We don't need to be at *one* board, but we are dividing the same things among too many right now. Which was why I brought up the idea of closing this board awhile back. I don't care where we are, I just want us to have fun as a group again. Maybe dividing content among two or three boards would work. I'm open to ideas.

2. Old topics while they carry memories, also carry baggage for me. I have fond memories of the PATD and while I would like to post and have fun, I seem to stall at PATD. You are/were right Merle, part of PATD for me will always be Q, Meribor, Jane, Moyra, Boikat, Starbright, etc. What's the saying, "You can never go home again..." I'd be up for trying a new tradition if others what to.

3. Change is hard. I think a majority of people are lurking right now, trying to figure out what is going on. Lurking is fine and I don't want to discourage it and I am not saying it is bad. But we may all end up lurking to the demise of our group. And that would be a shame. We are not the same group we were at Pathfinder and we never will be. We are not the same group we were at SciFiSites and we never will be. We are not the same group we were at SciFiVine and we never will be. But we can regroup, add new people and become something just as good, just different if we can decide where.

My three cents I guess.

I'd like to maintain some prescence here for one, no two reasons. One because it is a open board and we can make new friends. And two many have said they have something of a attachment to it at this point and I think that is important. But it is up the group en mass what we do. I'm am open to discussion.

Prof asked how do we get people to post again. Answer is: we post. Don't wait for the other people to, just do it. There's no doubt here that we're ever short of replies and further discussion. What we've been lacking is the initial "start". Even starting with a question of what to do with PATD or as Asis indicated, this board, has generated a number of posts, causing this to become a busy place again (which, everyone might agree, is a good thing and what we were hoping for).

I believe what happens here and other posting places is that we all participate until we run out of "replies". If there are other locations to check out, and we pursue them looking for places to contribute to. Lurking probably slows the place down, too.</p>

I like having one place to go to, and despite the lack of a few items, this place seems good for me. Next step is settling in with the group here, or "regroup" as Asis put it. And, maybe you guys have the PATD figured out...the cohesion for that has diminished so much that the ones left just can't keep it together anymore. Like Londo would say "Back in the old days...!" Starting something new is an interesting challenge, but not beyond the abilities of this group. Also, maybe PATD and the traveling Bears are like books. There's a lot of pages, but eventually, you reach the end. Time to start a new one. When the time is right, and everyone is ready. In the meantime, if you see a topic that's begging for renewal, put a post in it. The way this group is, there'll usually be a response.

Wizz agreed.

I was talking with Azziz last night and I had this very warped and twisted idea of an online survivor for all those itnerested. Something a bit different but it could be fun.

(shrugs)

Personally, I have few problems with just talking B5. I love B5 and can talk aboiut it until I am blue in the face. I do like the social side and miss goofing off with my friends.

Merle,

I personally never had a problem with anyone turning me into anything.

Echoing everyone's sentiment about being spread out and none of the boards is all that active. CZ Zocalo has only about 2 posts since yesterday morning, Spec. Vision has 1, and Beyond the Rim (that's where all the old PATDersmentioned earlier went to) also has only a few (And their PATD isn't active either) So of all the boards I look at or post on, Hostboard Zocolo is jumping, comparitively speaking. It also is kind of a hassle to post the same thing at 2 or 3 different sites in order to be sure that evveryone you care about sees it. Is CZ Zocalo gonna close when CT resigns as founder on June 1?

Maybe the answer is as AsIs mentioned (I think this is what she meant), is to use each site for specific topics (IE: One PATD, here or there doesn't matter, but only 1)

Would it be a problem to put a link to the sister sites at the top of the page along with the other links.

OK, that's gotta be at least 2 cents worth

My turn....My turn!

I agree...it has gotten a little stale when it comes to hanging out in the PATD. I loved when things went haywire there and we had a week or 2 long storyline to play with. Have we run out of wacky things to do? NAh! We are imaginative at the least. Thats what I always loved about you guys. Mind you, yes, we dont have the gang we used to, but we do have new blood and with new blood comes new wackiness. Just let the nebies know that almost anything gos.

PErsonally,l I have not had as much time as I would like to when it comes to posting. Birthdays come with an automatic FMD dance for the ladies. That will always remain. (Does the spanking chair need revisions?) Do we need a quest to go back to SFS to find the ...er....something that was taken from us? Perhaps the Staff of Valen? http://www.hostboard.com/ubb/confused.gif

I am game for just about anything.

Nommy, I love the idea of a quest back to SFV, might be therapudic.

And even tho it was late at night I still like the idea of a Survivor topic LOL

Well at least we got a discussion going on this subject. Maybe we just need a bone to gnaw on once on a while.

A quest sounds cool to me. Maybe we could hold it int eh PATD and then, when we return, start a new play topic. Perhaps if we move out from something that we have used for so long into a new environment, we can get things kicking again.

Absom, I despise just letting things stagnat. I prefer discussion to work things out or find out what is happening to stagnation any day. But that is me

I'm all for it, although don't know how much I'll be able to participate for the next month until I'm settled and moved into the new house

I'd like to do it to say goodbye to the vines. Sort of walking thru various ghost topics, homesites, group boards etc...

I like the idea of looking for the Staff of Valen or something like that. But as a sort of spooky ghosttown type thing. How does that sound to the rest of you?

Sounds like a plan to me