Hello, members of SA! We've got a biiiiig update for you, so please bear with me. There's a lot in this update, and I'm going to do my best to break it up for easy reading.
This update is planned to go live on the 1st of next month. It is not currently live. Several pages are being updated to match the new rules, but the new system is not yet live.
Without further ado...
We're no longer going to be using using CBOX for the ICC
This probably comes as a surprise for a lot of people, since cbox has been a part of the site for ages, but the cbox has a lot of major limitations that people run into. Beyond the cost (which is significant), cboxes aren't built into the site at all, and require us to effectively maintain two environments. I'm sure many people noticed that there was a difference between the smilies in the cbox and the smilies on the site, and that's because we had to manually enter each and every one. There's also just a lot of things that we simply can't do with the ICC (or at least can't do without significant cost). Things like having an event ICC while also maintaining the normal ICC.
So we're moving to a new system. This system - which is just called a chat - is built into Xenforo, our forum hosting software. So you won't be loading up a separate site to use it, but instead just be navigating to a page inside of Xenforo. This should prevent issues like 'the site is up but the icc is down' entirely.
So we're going to be swapping over to this new system, and it's got a ton of neat features to go with it. One of those is...
The ICC will have multiple rooms
This is something we had before with the cbox system, but which was far too costly to be maintained. The cost to have a cbox with multiple channels was almost a hundred dollars a year, so we pared back and now maintain only the community center. When we have an event, that takes the place of the community center, locking out anyone not involved with the event. With this change, we'll be able to have multiple rooms, including a designated room for the community center, and then a designated room for whatever event happens to be happening.
But we're also going to be adding a completely new type of room...
The ICC will have private rooms
Sometimes you're roleplaying along, and then a circumstance arises where two characters go upstairs to have a private chat. Currently, you have to offscreen it. Under the new system, you'll instead be able to move to a private room. These rooms will be treated similarly to private threads, and will operate on a first come, first serve basis. They aren't only there for splitting off from a public ICC either - you'll be able to use them for whatever you need (Within reason). Two characters need to talk, but don't want to do a full thread for what should be a short conversation? You can knock it out in a private room.
We anticipate there will be a fair amount of demand for these rooms to start, and we'll adjust the number of rooms available as needed.
That said, all these changes do come with one other significant change...
Your characters will now need chat accounts to ICC
Previously, you had to register a cbox account for each character you wanted to ICC with. Now, you handle that through the site, by creating a sub account for the character. Sub-accounts should not be used for posting at all, and will be used strictly for the chat. You do not need to make an account if you do not plan to ICC with the character.
We've set up a detailed guide for the ICC, all its features, and all its rooms
You can find the whole thing here. You can also find the new ICC rules here. We encourage people to read over these changes now, before the change goes live at the end of the month.
—-
If you have any questions, please don't hesitate to ask. We're launching this a week ahead of time to make sure we can hammer out any issues ahead of launch. We have a new channel in the discord, #new-system-discussion, where you can ask questions and generally discuss the idea.
This update is planned to go live on the 1st of next month. It is not currently live. Several pages are being updated to match the new rules, but the new system is not yet live.
Without further ado...
We're no longer going to be using using CBOX for the ICC
This probably comes as a surprise for a lot of people, since cbox has been a part of the site for ages, but the cbox has a lot of major limitations that people run into. Beyond the cost (which is significant), cboxes aren't built into the site at all, and require us to effectively maintain two environments. I'm sure many people noticed that there was a difference between the smilies in the cbox and the smilies on the site, and that's because we had to manually enter each and every one. There's also just a lot of things that we simply can't do with the ICC (or at least can't do without significant cost). Things like having an event ICC while also maintaining the normal ICC.
So we're moving to a new system. This system - which is just called a chat - is built into Xenforo, our forum hosting software. So you won't be loading up a separate site to use it, but instead just be navigating to a page inside of Xenforo. This should prevent issues like 'the site is up but the icc is down' entirely.
So we're going to be swapping over to this new system, and it's got a ton of neat features to go with it. One of those is...
The ICC will have multiple rooms
This is something we had before with the cbox system, but which was far too costly to be maintained. The cost to have a cbox with multiple channels was almost a hundred dollars a year, so we pared back and now maintain only the community center. When we have an event, that takes the place of the community center, locking out anyone not involved with the event. With this change, we'll be able to have multiple rooms, including a designated room for the community center, and then a designated room for whatever event happens to be happening.
But we're also going to be adding a completely new type of room...
The ICC will have private rooms
Sometimes you're roleplaying along, and then a circumstance arises where two characters go upstairs to have a private chat. Currently, you have to offscreen it. Under the new system, you'll instead be able to move to a private room. These rooms will be treated similarly to private threads, and will operate on a first come, first serve basis. They aren't only there for splitting off from a public ICC either - you'll be able to use them for whatever you need (Within reason). Two characters need to talk, but don't want to do a full thread for what should be a short conversation? You can knock it out in a private room.
We anticipate there will be a fair amount of demand for these rooms to start, and we'll adjust the number of rooms available as needed.
That said, all these changes do come with one other significant change...
Your characters will now need chat accounts to ICC
Previously, you had to register a cbox account for each character you wanted to ICC with. Now, you handle that through the site, by creating a sub account for the character. Sub-accounts should not be used for posting at all, and will be used strictly for the chat. You do not need to make an account if you do not plan to ICC with the character.
We've set up a detailed guide for the ICC, all its features, and all its rooms
You can find the whole thing here. You can also find the new ICC rules here. We encourage people to read over these changes now, before the change goes live at the end of the month.
—-
If you have any questions, please don't hesitate to ask. We're launching this a week ahead of time to make sure we can hammer out any issues ahead of launch. We have a new channel in the discord, #new-system-discussion, where you can ask questions and generally discuss the idea.
Last edited by a moderator: