Sunset and sunrise, the cycle continues

[supernal 22146]

Most of what I'm going to say is what I sent to members of staff a little while ago. The sentiments I expressed were genuine so I see no reason why not to share them again as the backbone of my message to everyone else.

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My colleagues / friends / friendly strangers with whom I share a hobby with / etc,

For a little while now I’ve been thinking about the best way to serve up the site long term, which is really saying something in light of Valucre's longevity. Along with various other people (desolate has been there just about every step of the way; the people who have worked on this with me for long, early hours I can count on one hand) I’ve managed this project for something like or over 15 years. If I don't want Valucre to be one of those sites which eventually stumbles its way towards a handy abyss then I have to think about what it looks like to keep it going against the natural forces of entropy which conspire against us all.

One thing I know for certain is that my personal commitment, which I recognize as being a considerable component in Valucre's success, can't be the same. It's not simply a matter of keeping the lights on or growing but of staying engaged and innovating while decoupling dependencies. To quote Edwin Catmull, it isn't that I feel Valucre has "arrived or that my work was done . . . I'd spent two decades building a train and laying its track. Now the thought of merely driving it struck me as a far less interesting task."

Improvement doesn't always mean doing and having more, or getting and being bigger. So to that end:

# Sunset and Sunrise

1) Valucre will become a read-only archive.
2) My attention and that of some staff will turn towards a successor project, which has already been created and beta tested. With this announcement it’s reached public access.

I plan to allow the next month or so to serve as a transition period during which we'll work to explain and fine-tune the new platform and systems, after which registrations and posting on Valucre will be locked. Valucre will continue to serve its content, meaning stuff isn't disappearing and bookmarks keep functioning and all that, and members are encouraged to save off content they consider valuable, as has always been the case.

When Valucre is read-only and the dust has settled on the new project, I plan to move the archive to a new host (the same place the new project lives). The cost savings in doing this and in managing the infrastructure myself (we’re lucky staff has the skills to do what we’ve done; without which we’d be having a different conversation) instead of through the provider translates into longer runtime for both the archive and the new project. The fact that any still interested members would be on the new project (or not! I know not everyone will agree, as not everyone has in the past with my decisions and this is a big one) will take a lot of stress off my shoulders if I run into any hiccups swinging Val over.

There are a lot of reasons driving this and I’ll probably rant about them all over time but I think the most immediate concern to players are covered in the migration guide we've put together. One major thing I hope comes across in the experience is that, while still being fundamentally the same thing, still being a roleplay website and one with hopefully plenty of familiar faces, the new project is a new project. Is a departure in terms of both process and platform that trying to turn one thing into the other would have been a long and trying disaster.

Anyway that's what we've done and we hope you enjoy the salty sweat and tangy frustration that went into this. I hope you'll come along for the ride but realize many of us are dealing with many things - pandemic, recession, juggling different high priority responsibilities like work and school and family and personal health, all of the usual things that see people pulled away for years at a time before doing a pulse check to find that yes, we're still here.

See you on the other side!: https://prettygoodrpg.com/

https://prettygoodrpg.com/mediawiki/index.php/Guides:The_Valucre_Migrant_Guide_to_PGRP

Please read the guide in its entirety! Click on the links, read the material. Compared to just recalling information I know this is a nontrivial effort but (one more time now!) it’s a new project with new (even if comfortable) structure and information. It’s not just a continuation of what came before.

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Discussion thread:

 

Edited March 5, 2021 by supernal

[Csl 5748]

I’ve been on this site for around 5 years - some users have been here for more, and others less. But to quote the migrant guide (which I wrote most of): “... ultimately, all things come to an end. Valucre's end is less it dying, and more of all the great ideas behind it being reborn into something better and brighter.”

I’ve seen two extremes for large-scale RP site setup. They’re either very open and freeform, which breeds amateur godmodding murderhobos, or they’re too structured, with too many barriers to entry, and at worst become an elitist circlejerk of veterans. Valucre is in many ways a successful attempt to find the middle ground between the two - it avoids super high barriers without sacrificing quality engagement, and over the years many users have built wonderful things and played amazing storylines on here.

But Pretty Good Roleplay takes all this to the next level, far exceeds what Valucre had, and strikes the golden balance.

Whereas I've seen roleplay on Valucre focused on the world and things you can do in the world, or things you can gain or take away from the world, PGRP takes a step back to frame things in the bigger picture - how should a game world be built? How can you build a game world that is both fun to manage and fun to play in, one that supports fulfilling long-term storylines but doesn't lead to burnout?

Instead of the bureaucracy that often plagued the board leader system, game managers on PGRP have full liberty over settings they create. Instead of viewing settings as merely places characters can travel to and do whatever they please in, PGRP frames them as games where the game manager has full control in defining what kind of storylines they support, what kind of approaches they encourage (whether it's combat, socializing, or others), their canonization process, and other useful criteria.

In the end, play-by-post roleplay is a game. Different players want to play different kinds of games, and different game managers want to run different types of games.

What PGRP did is built a freeform system that supports game managers who want to run the games they want to, while making it easier for players to find games that they want to join. At the same time, that system rewards sustainable, dynamic game management and encourages sustainable roleplay. ✨

The migrant guide goes into these things in more detail but it's all pretty amazing and I'm excited to see what stuff you guys create on there. I’ll see you on the other side :)))