Apotheosis and Completion

Off-Topic (Thronepass)
#1

0a5add89aed6169deff7e1904ea35523

UPRIGHT: Completion, integration, accomplishment, travel

REVERSED: Seeking personal closure, short-cuts, delays

Given everything that has happened to lead up to this point, I’d enjoy considering what we have done over the course of our times here on the forums, whether that be on the forums themselves or in our personal lives.
Much has changed in my own life to the point where I cannot see myself as the kid I was a few years ago. I have new interests and a new perspective on life. I’ve seen the rise, then fall, then rise of my brother as he struggles to fully understand his goals.

Looking out, there’s a world beyond my understanding.
So many people have left here, either by issues, a feeling of necessity, or their own understanding that their journey ends here

And I wondered

When will I move on from the forums?
Have I reached apotheosis in regards to my involvement in this community?
What about the greater FM community?

I invite anyone reading this to say what they believe regarding their situation with these forums, or to talk about their experiences that happened over the course of their time on this forum.

~ Geyde

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#2

I’m speaking about this in response to recent events on the forums, namely Alice leaving and Orange moving on from playing games.
I’m rambling.

#3

I mean

Trying to sum up three years’ worth of experiences into any sort of post is impossible

#4

Forums teached me a lot, about social deduction, communication, but also about manipulation and abusing emotions. It wasn’t just wasted time.

How did this forum start? Was it just a bunch of people who loved tol? And who are we now?

#5

So, the devs were the ones who started it in the technical sense

As for the community, it was basically Jammy/Jazz who brought everyone together and started up FoL, and then eventually we branched out into SFoLs and then general FM games

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#6

Alfa and Fade, as other moderators, joined the team early on, and from there we just kept growing for a few years

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#7

In fact I think this year is the first we’ve visibly shrunk

#8

Only 3 mods at the moment right

#9

Not even just leadership

Playerbase

Engagement

In every metric we’ve been dealt a blow and I’m not seeing recovery

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#10

I’m sure things will turn around eventually

But in the meantime all I’ve been seeing is a slow death

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#11

After these people gone, what’s the common ground this community can base on and grow? What are we?
If it’s just the love to social deduction, that’s not enough to keep people. Cause you can get social deduction on many sites.
Why are we special? What are our strengths we can build on?
Or were these mods the only special thing we had, and there’s no reason to stay here, except for nostalgy, and cause a few people we liked are still here?

#12

At this point?

Habit.

I’m still in contact with most people elsewhere.

There’s not a lot of point for me to continue keeping this up, and it’s clear a lot of others feel the same.

You yourself even left not to long ago, unless I missed some comeback somewhere.

Honestly, it’s probably just a matter of time anyways. FoL was fun, but I think my willingness to play ToL took a hit it may not recover from given my extremely limited time for games and such. Not sure any of us older than a year would be able to answer this question in good faith.

#13

No, I’m not back. I’m just a tol player, and I’ll stay one, and I’ll definitely play tol until the end of its time.
This is just the forum of my favorite game, so I’m asking myself what will happen with it.

#14

That’s a question I think neither of us know nor control the answer to.

Hell, probably nobody does.

We’ll just have to see.

imo high server costs with no income and dwindling involvement is not a good recipie for longevity tho

#15

I don’t think this is true.
I think we have a lot of control.
We decide what we are. And only we.
If we are just a community based on a few players, of which most left already a year ago, then yes, then we should give up. Then we should have given up a long time ago.
But if we are more than that… if we have a deeper common ground… then there’s something worth to fight for.
I’m not sure which one is the case. But I’m sure that we can decide on our own, what we are and what we want to be.

#16

So… do we look backwards and mourn about what we were, or do we decide that we are a community which is worth something, even without a few special people.

#17

Ever since Red February near the beginning of 2019

it has been basically a slow death here.

Plus, people have real life to focus on, like uni/college and work.

Its just harder to invest time in forum games in general due to the nature of its time length (Week- 2 Weeks usually), While maintainable, if the FM or FoL occurs during midterms or finals, people cant dedicate time.

Its basically just what life is.

#18

…I just noticed this thread exists and suddenly a conversation I had earlier makes ten times more sense

#19

I don’t think this community has to die

I know this is probably something I’d understand better if I’d been around in February, I know that I wasn’t the one who lost friends to that particular schism, but just because we’ve lost people doesn’t mean it needs to stay that way

All communities lose members. It doesn’t have to mean the community dies; having people leave and people join is a natural part of the cycle of communities. Obviously none of those of us who’ve joined are going to replace the ones who left, that’s not how people being unique individuals with distinct personalities works, but that doesn’t mean that the community has to die just because some of the regular players are different. Marshal joined last summer and is a valuable member of this community. Tele joined last summer and is a valuable member of the community even if she’s taking a break now. Pilica’s played two games with us so far and she’s already making her mark on the community. I’m not going to list out every other new player we’ve had – and we’ve had enough that that wouldn’t be viable anyways.

The community is only going to die if we let it, and we don’t have to let it. Obviously if you’re not enjoying participating, then you should make the choice that’s right for you, but we have a thriving body of players, we have people signing up for games, we have all the structures we need to support a community.

…But if we declare that the community is dead, then we’ve kind of only left ourselves one path.

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#20

Yeah but I liked Marl