[BlackLynx3]

I have noticed this shift recently myself. Fern's concerns also resonate quite a bit with me, and while I'm terrible with articulation and almost never post here, I can at least give you guys a perspective from what I see, as a (new-ish) player that has thoroughly enjoyed SL2, even in present-day. I have been in the game for awhile myself, probably a couple years by now. I have met some fantastic people and still chat with them occasionally when I have the spare time, and the main focus of my playtime in SL2 has usually consisted of character development, and a balance of elements such as roleplay, combat, events, and developing other characters besides my own....the way Sigrogana feels like it should be, ever since my time and before it.

This may be a bit off-track, but the game feeling like it's falling seems to have a disturbing parallel with events going on outside of the game and my own personal goings-on. Referring to the latter, I have not been active as much lately as I am in the unfortunate rut of my family and I preparing to move to a new location entirely. The OOC Corner has been definitely a worry of mine for awhile and seems to sum up my anxiety that maybe the game is heading down a path where we see less and less people on. Heck, the reason I found SL2 in the first place was because I needed a change of environment from Space Station 13 for awhile, and just so happened to like the setting this one represents. I am legitimately worried I will reach the point where a need of scenery change from SL2 occurs and I would loathe for that to happen because I'm much more tied to this game, as it's still a large part of my stability and release from life's stress, even in these dire times we live in.

For awhile, the hub of activity has shifted as far as where the current 'hotspot' of public space is. When I started, it was clearly Cellsvich, and just as often, the Badlands Arena. More recently, the hotspot seems to have shifted to Dormheo, but even that's started to peter in and out depending largely on timezones, from my observation. Most of the usual areas seem to be dead most of the time, and it feels like either no-one's on, are wandering about elsewhere, or are in properties that I don't want to burst in for no IC reason. That last is a weird one, because it feels rude to burst into someone's house, you know what I'm saying?

I don't really have any answers to rectify any of the current state of things, but I do have some ideas that may be worth considering. I believe adding more to the map is a possible solution, aware I am as to how much work that is, and how Karaten's appeal fizzled out as soon as the novelty wore off. (Yes, I'm sure a lot of you noticed that too.) We could also try to really connect with new players, though with the consideration of the people behind those characters taken into account and all that entails. With groups, I have mixed feelings about. On one hand, they're great for driving stories and events, on the other, they can be daunting to organize and keep momentum going. Sometimes, they fall apart and new ones take their place. I don't think they have that much of an impact on open-space RP, but then again, I don't tend to think much about these things.

Regardless, there are things that do console me somewhat about the current state of things. First, I recently created a new character to spice things up a bit (I have a nasty habit of really sticking with my mains) and have noticed a lot of new players showing up. That is good, the trick is keeping them there and keeping the momentum of the game going. Events also have often been phenomenal and creative, Karidan in particular I think gets a shoutout given I have the most experience with his events, and the time, care and the way he sets up the narratives of the event is spot-on, even if the execution of them isn't for various (and understandable) reasons, such as time. When I have time off (Usually the evenings until we get out of this terrible city I live in), I often greet new players and try my best to keep the RP and adventure flowing, but it is marred somewhat by my current time constraint. Despite that, I keep a positive outlook. My afore-mentioned new character is lots of fun to play as, which says to me that the potential for development of our characters is still supported by the game and it's populace. I think we're just at the point where we need a push to take a good look at our game and see what we're not focusing on as much, put some attention and energy into those things, see what sticks and what does not.

I don't claim to know any answers, but I still have faith we can keep the game going. Events both public and private and the eventmins who run them are people I highly respect, and the community just as much. While this is possibly Captain Obvious, we're all human and I understand that we may have been struggling with things in and out of our control. This is normal.

Keep in mind, this could be much, much worse of a situation than we're in right now.