- Jun 18, 2015
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This is a big announcement, so please read it carefully. There's a lot, and I understand it's probably overwhelming, but it really is important.
SA is great. We love the community, we love the characters, we love the plots.
But SA is also, at this point, sixteen years old. We have made plenty of large changes since the site first was created, and it has evolved over time. However, some things have remained the same: the site is still extremely open ended, our setting (Manta Carlos Islands), our focus on roleplaying over combat, etc. Some of those things have been good. Others, less so.
I'm sure you've all experienced a situation on SA where you had a plot in mind—maybe your character was struggling with an ailment, or had a big problem—and the nature of Manta Carlos meant it was hard to pull off. How can you be poor on an island that provides everything? How can your character be ill if just going to the community center means you'll run into someone capable of healing them?
We've seen players get extremely creative to solve this issue, and ones like it, but it's also something reflected on the staff end. We've had an increasing reliance on VR events and other-dimension events, which come with their own rules. In many ways, it's become hard—or even impossible—to run events within the setting itself, because there is always a solution to any problem that would render them moot.
We want to change that.
But changing it requires making big, major changes to SA. We want to reinvigorate the site, putting new energy and life into the things you've come to know and love. A new setting, rather than just a remote magical island that may or may not be in a bubble. Updated (and in many cases clarified) rules. New event systems. An updated forum software, with more features and less quirks you have to get used to.
And perhaps most significantly, major changes to the way we handle powers, intended on bringing the overall 'power cap' down. Right now, SA more or less doesn't have a power cap at all; as long as your character doesn't have an 'I win' button, you're still allowed. We have characters on the site who can shatter planets, who know almost everything, who can travel the multiverse with minimal effort.
And those types of characters—ones at the extreme end of everything—have become a problem.
Our goal is that the vast majority of character types should still be fully playable on SA, just at a much reduced level. Rather than aliens being a mundane part of life, maybe they're unique, and once they arrive on Earth they have a hard time getting off. Gods exist, but their powers are waning, lacking any serious number of followers, rendering them little more than immortal humans. Exactly how the setting will handle things is something we're still exploring, but we hope to have more details soon.
But an important part of this is that we cannot grandfather characters in without breaking the new setting with the problems of the old. This means all characters will have to be treated as new characters. Players are able (and encouraged) to coordinate and establish pre-existing character relationships, rather than going completely from scratch, but characters won't be able to be ported 1:1 to the new systems.
We wanted to approach the site with this before it was ready for two primary reasons: First, we wanted to give you as much of a heads up as possible. We understand this is going to be a huge, serious change, and we didn't want to blindside anyone with it. Our hope is that SA will effectively be split in two, with New SA operating on a new domain/forum software, while the old SA stays as it is. For the first few months, you should be able to continue playing on SA classic, wrapping up existing plots. When SA Classic winds down, it'll become an archive, redirecting people to the new site.
The second reason we're bringing this up is because we want your input. This is a big change, and not one that just the staff should be involved in. We'll be launching a discord category for discussion, and letting people weigh in on new topics. If you're interested in helping to shape the new site, giving your input, and generally being involved, please let us know so we can get you into the category to discuss.
In the immediate future, we're also going to have a discussion channel (#SA-Revamp) for members to ask simple questions and discuss the revamp. I'll collect relevant questions, and include a FAQ in the second post if things come up enough. This isn't the place for extended discussion.
SA is great. We love the community, we love the characters, we love the plots.
But SA is also, at this point, sixteen years old. We have made plenty of large changes since the site first was created, and it has evolved over time. However, some things have remained the same: the site is still extremely open ended, our setting (Manta Carlos Islands), our focus on roleplaying over combat, etc. Some of those things have been good. Others, less so.
I'm sure you've all experienced a situation on SA where you had a plot in mind—maybe your character was struggling with an ailment, or had a big problem—and the nature of Manta Carlos meant it was hard to pull off. How can you be poor on an island that provides everything? How can your character be ill if just going to the community center means you'll run into someone capable of healing them?
We've seen players get extremely creative to solve this issue, and ones like it, but it's also something reflected on the staff end. We've had an increasing reliance on VR events and other-dimension events, which come with their own rules. In many ways, it's become hard—or even impossible—to run events within the setting itself, because there is always a solution to any problem that would render them moot.
We want to change that.
But changing it requires making big, major changes to SA. We want to reinvigorate the site, putting new energy and life into the things you've come to know and love. A new setting, rather than just a remote magical island that may or may not be in a bubble. Updated (and in many cases clarified) rules. New event systems. An updated forum software, with more features and less quirks you have to get used to.
And perhaps most significantly, major changes to the way we handle powers, intended on bringing the overall 'power cap' down. Right now, SA more or less doesn't have a power cap at all; as long as your character doesn't have an 'I win' button, you're still allowed. We have characters on the site who can shatter planets, who know almost everything, who can travel the multiverse with minimal effort.
And those types of characters—ones at the extreme end of everything—have become a problem.
Our goal is that the vast majority of character types should still be fully playable on SA, just at a much reduced level. Rather than aliens being a mundane part of life, maybe they're unique, and once they arrive on Earth they have a hard time getting off. Gods exist, but their powers are waning, lacking any serious number of followers, rendering them little more than immortal humans. Exactly how the setting will handle things is something we're still exploring, but we hope to have more details soon.
But an important part of this is that we cannot grandfather characters in without breaking the new setting with the problems of the old. This means all characters will have to be treated as new characters. Players are able (and encouraged) to coordinate and establish pre-existing character relationships, rather than going completely from scratch, but characters won't be able to be ported 1:1 to the new systems.
We wanted to approach the site with this before it was ready for two primary reasons: First, we wanted to give you as much of a heads up as possible. We understand this is going to be a huge, serious change, and we didn't want to blindside anyone with it. Our hope is that SA will effectively be split in two, with New SA operating on a new domain/forum software, while the old SA stays as it is. For the first few months, you should be able to continue playing on SA classic, wrapping up existing plots. When SA Classic winds down, it'll become an archive, redirecting people to the new site.
The second reason we're bringing this up is because we want your input. This is a big change, and not one that just the staff should be involved in. We'll be launching a discord category for discussion, and letting people weigh in on new topics. If you're interested in helping to shape the new site, giving your input, and generally being involved, please let us know so we can get you into the category to discuss.
In the immediate future, we're also going to have a discussion channel (#SA-Revamp) for members to ask simple questions and discuss the revamp. I'll collect relevant questions, and include a FAQ in the second post if things come up enough. This isn't the place for extended discussion.
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