CSA Discussion: Major or Minor Faction?

[WolfMortum]

[member="Lady Kay"] and I have been talking recently about the new standards, restrictions and expectations that Site Staff are putting down on all Major Factions these days (Monthly thread and activity checks), as well as the status of the Commenor Systems Alliance's Member-Base.

Unfortunately there's no real easy or right way to bring up a discussion such as this, after starting out as a single minor faction planet for seven months before even considering hitting the map-game as a Major Faction, but the reality we're facing today is that we're struggling to keep this Factions head above water.

Most of our active members appear to be participating or focused entirely in other Faction's. We're of the belief and understanding that non-violent or non-warring factions are difficult to maintain. People want action and they want controversy, Player vs Player threads and the drama that follows both In-Character and Out-Of-Character seems to gain the most attention compared to what we've been seeing lately. I can't personally speak for Kay or the other Administrators but I believe this has been the CSA's biggest element that sets it apart from other factions, yet also hindered us in the way of keeping consistent activity going.

Those of us who are putting in the effort are feeling strained under the pressure. I personally have had a lot going on in the OOC regard as do many of our Faction Staff and too, many of you. Thus while we're undergoing an activity check from the Site Staff presently, we've also decided to put this up for a discussion and vote:

• Do we stay Major or does the Commenor Systems Alliance go Minor and go back to being simply "Commenor".

Please let us know your opinions on this. We value but also need your guys honest thoughts as to what you believe would be best for the Faction and what might either help you guys want to remain active and consistent or otherwise alleviate some of the stress and struggle.

Either way, we work on our terms and Kay and I are proud of how far we've come and the commitment and contributions you guys have all given to the CSA. We couldn't have come this far without you all and we won't be able to get any further without that same love you've given us.

 

[Eddak Manod]

No Vote​

Reasons to Stay Major

I think we should stay Major, because after a long while I've finally become part of the CSA that I wanted to, or mostly. CSA offers an opportunity to everyone in the galaxy. Unfortunately, there isn't a lot offered in the way in the Faction Game. For companies, it offers people a neutral place to create contracts and a way to tier up their companies as per their requirements. It is also a place that would readily accept the use of outside assets instead of only using assets created by the faction, giving companies a big purpose and allowing solo manufacturers/mechanics the ability to support in a variety of ways.

As a faction CSA also offers more vast roleplay opportunities aside from just company work, but people could roleplay freighter work, diplomatic advisors, discover diplomacy and politics, CSA is a very big asset in the community, and I would hate to see it go Minor.

Unfortunately, my best recommendation, is go for a Justice War against TSE. If it's going to go down/die, at least let it go down with a fight and show people a Neutral faction isn't Weak. But that's if it goes down, I'm rooting for it to win the war and create peace.




Reasons to Go Minor

Well, if you go minor, Kuat Drive Yards no longer has protection, we lose our big manufacturing contract and all the money pouring in from Commenor. I think.... I would feel I would have lost a great background partner. By background, I mean things that don't have much to do with roleplaying; Contracts, Companies, defense support, constructing things, the drama of the faction and such. But there are reasons to go Minor.

Currently as it stands, it seems faction business OOC weighs heavily on a single person, you Veiere. And Lady Kay is trying to juggle Roleplay, Roleplay Decisions, Roleplay Decisions that Affect the Major Faction Game, relations with other Factions, and still trying to do what you do, while she has interviews, work, recording sessions, kids, the whole lot. You absolutely, positively, rely on your faction base for activity, as you can only do so much. I believe the decision is entirely up to you. Even though I would vote against going minor, that means I'm requiring you to do work, work you may not even have time for, and it isn't my faction. As much as I wanted to be part of the government, work my way, and earn it, this faction is Lady Kays baby. I have no say in what you need to do or want to do.

 

[Amelia von Sorenn]

Personally I do not feel that I can fully give my vote to either remain major or return to a minor status - primarily due to the problems I caused back in March - and since then I've not had a lot of muse or desire to keep Amelia here going. Likewise, I've been looking at Chaos and finding it hard to even keep myself around or want to keep working on things.

For the moment I feel that it would be best for myself to put Amelia away and use her sparingly. While I would like to see the CSA remain major; I have the feeling that we're going to see a lot of major factions drop due to the new restrictions that staff are putting on them - likewise we'll probably end up with a rapid turn around in which we see factions go major for a month or two before going back to minor; rinse and repeat.

If the CSA does go Minor and it becomes Commenor once again - I may have to take a second look at Amelia and see if the more smaller minor faction focus will change my desire or reinvigorate my muse for the character.

For the moment I can only offer my best wishes for the faction and say that it might be good on the OOC side - primarily for yourself [member="Veiere Arenais"] and [member="Lady Kay"] - if the CSA went Minor and became Commenor again; as to take off the stress and lighten the load as it were from your shoulders.

 

[Rahn Haaku]

I'm relatively new to the site and writing with the CSA has been a thoroughly enjoyable experience. I chose the faction specifically because it was neutral galactic power. A lot of CSA's lore appealed to me and offered me the opportunity to create a sleezeball Neimoidian instead of jedi knight #183685.

As a new member I thought I had found a niche were I could post once or twice an evening or at very least several times a week and it wouldn't inconvenience anyone. I haven't really paid attention to the site rules beyond what it takes to RP. I'm surprised to hear about these restrictions and demands put on factions, their writers, and specifically their leaders. As a newbie who lacks the context for fully understanding their requirements (especially since it feels like major factions only last a year at most), I'm sort of bummed that we're being muscled out. Personally I don't see why we have to be dropped to a minor faction and lose the system alliance that you worked so hard to establish and its not like the galaxy is lacking real estate or locations to RP. The CSA should be a staple feature of the site and be a recognized as a region of neutrality and independence like the Corporate Sector Authority or the Hapes Consortium or Corellian Worlds in the Expanded Universe


I vote for dropping to a minor, give our glorious leadership a much needed break and keep the spirit of the CSA alive. I hate seeing people lose their muse and their desire/enjoyment to write. Its happened to me before and I'm happy that I found creativity again writing with you all and I will certainly continue to do so no matter what happens.

 

[Kay-Larr]

I'd say that we've all broken records on Chaos with being major for so long and not being invaded. But it has been a struggle for me to get our members to get more involved, and that goes against us remaining major.

So the thing is, that if board staff decide to put us under another recall notice (which seems very likely), are there enough of you guys willing to be active enough and post in order to change the minds of the board staff? Or would you rather keep your activity level to what it is now and have us go minor? Outside characters don't count as they have to be CSA characters, as we've seen in our Umbara dom attempt.

I've worked so hard to keep things going and to try to get more plots going for you guys. But they tend to fall through. It's a bad time of year, even for me personally (highlights though are my recent voiceover jobs of course!). Some are busy with graduation, school and vacations. Yet there's still plenty of activity elsewhere on the board, and I find myself getting outside members to jump into things like the board event and skirmishes than our own people, which is the opposite of what it should be.

I don't feel good with having to constantly nag. I just don't think that I'm a good person for doing it. Even though some don't mind it, I still feel bad all the same. This new monthly check on activity really stresses me, worries me and puts me in a bit of a depression when I see how little is there.

The point is, many people outside of our faction love us and want us to remain, but with our low activity these past few months, it feels as though our own members don't want the same thing.

So that's what this is about....to determine what you all want to do in regards to what level of faction we should be.

 

[Darben Skirae]

This faction was my first, and I got here before major. During that time as minor? I still loved it. And while I've seen so much while we've been major it has, not to be too bland, dulled down. I've been keeping my activity up best I can, outside forces have not helped. And no doubt the same for others, too. We've stuck around for a while though, and honestly I'm all for either decision.

This year has seen a lot of Majors come and go, and if we end up next it will be sad. But as long as it's Commenor, we'll have a Commen ground.

 

[Eddak Manod]

[member="Lady Kay"]

You always have me, Lady Kay. All that time ago, you poked Eddaks character sheet just to be curious. Nobody knew how much fun we'd have, no one knew the characters relationship would become what it is.

Minor

Major

Doesn't matter

I'm here

 

[Darlyn Excron]

I havent been doing much. To be honest my muse is all over the place.

Probably taken a few bullets from the new job and life in general.

But I can say this time around if we push for that sweet little major sustainability i will put more into it than the last time around. Probably should since im one of our admins anyway but eh, ya'll know how life goes.

 

[Kay-Larr]

Gonna keep this going so that others can express their thoughts, then make a decision tomorrow afternoon or evening.

Thank you for those that have commented thus far.

 

[WolfMortum]

Indeed, we may need to take into account the amount who choose not to post to this as a sign of complacency and are otherwise not fussed what happens. To those of you have have given your thoughts thus far, I can only repeat what [member="Lady Kay"] has said, in that we truly appreciate the feedback so far.

Thank you, everyone!

 

[Jairdain]

Ok I've been thinking about this all day (since it was posted in Discord). I'm not going anywhere. I met Kay and V before CSA went major and enjoyed just knowing them. Lurked around in Discord chat for MONTHS looking for the perfect "in" for a char and when it happened, it was perfect.

This is speaking as a writer, I find it difficult to be in a major faction and be happy. There have been a few exceptions to this and CSA is one of them. I think major or minor this faction is a great one and I feel at home. There has never been any pressure where I felt there was a NEED to stay on the map. Only the one time a few months ago when almost all the factions got that recall notice.

My vote is go minor and focus on stories, character development and just have chill writing. No requirement to post in a dominion and gobble up more locations or go to war.

No matter what the consensus is, I will remain an active member here.

 

[Arahael]

I will personally admit that I have let down the faction with my lack of activity, which is something I'm ashamed of. The people here have been the most friendly I have encountered on the site, which is something I'm grateful for.

After coming back in full swing recently, however, I'm fully committed to being active. Whether that be if we're major or minor, it doesn't matter too much to me. I think it's worth giving it a shot, though, to try to stay major.

 

[Kira]

[SIZE=9pt]I just had a chance this morning to actually take a good look at Chaos to see where I needed to post to or discus anything dealing with the factions I’m in. Kira is my first character that has joined up with CSA. She has just joined up and I’ve not joined a single faction thread just yet waiting for the right thread.[/SIZE]


[SIZE=9pt]Joining this faction had everything to do with the character and timing. I’ve just recently got back into writing again. Writing has been a struggle for me for a while. I’ve been starting to feel that passion I used to have. Regardless if CSA is major or minor, Kira will still be around traveling the galaxy healing who she can. You can count me in finding a CSA faction thread with Kira. It may not be every faction thread as it takes time to travel around the galaxy healing. <3 [/SIZE]

 

[Kay-Larr]

I am so thankful to be hidden away in a room by myself right now as I write this. Just trying to get the words out is so difficult and I'm in tears, which is just...so stupid and weak and a horrible way to be. It's like I'm killing something or removing a limb and I have to remind myself that it's just a game. I'm being stupid and taking it all too seriously. Probably far too seriously than I should. But I just can't help but feel as though I let everyone down, that I finally failed in the way that everyone said I would. I couldn't make this work. Veiere and I couldn't make this work.

With that in mind and with the input of a fraction of our members, it's time for us to step back and bow out of the Major Faction circle. How long that would be for? I dunno. That would depend on activity of our members as it always does.

The neutral sanctuary that we had, and for the length of time that we had it was something to be proud of. We are still a safe place with no salt or drama that plagues other groups. It's just that we're a lot smaller. I won't blame anyone for leaving, dropping their characters and putting more effort into their other characters. I'll still be here...I may be a bit quieter for a time, but I'll still be here.

Commenor survives. And so will I.

Thanks for the fun ride.... <3

 

[Karacan Rigten]

[member="Lady Kay"]

This is saddening.

 

[WolfMortum]

[member="Lady Kay"]

I'm on my phone so this will be brief but as I've said before, you've done nothing but succeed where you feel you have failed. You and i started Commenor off never even thinking we'd grow so big as to hit the map game but we've succeeded where so many people told us we'd fail. You have a lot to be proud of and our members have nothing but kind words for you.

You have carried the CSA with the help of a few and it's something worth admiring. This faction wouldn't be what it is today without you.

 

[Kira]

[member="Lady Kay"] just because CSA is going to go minor this will not get you out of the meeting [member="Rahn Haaku"] is trying to set up with Ta’a Chume Allana Djo.

 

[Kay-Larr]

Haha, well this wasn't done in an effort to avoid that [member="Kira"] Threads will continue, stories will continue. I just won't be in any spotlight so much or nagging people to post anymore.

 

[Jairdain]

[member="Lady Kay"]

I come to you saying this with the full knowledge of what I say it true. CSA is not, never has been or ever will be a failure. YOU did fail in any manner at all. I'm going to keep saying that for as long as it's needed to get through to you.

Something I have noticed. Major Factions have a life and CSA has thrived. It's time to go back to minor and that's fine. You are and will remain the number one here.

In joining what V is saying (and this goes to him too), you both made this faction what it is. Something to be proud of.

 

[WolfMortum]

[member="Jairdain"]

I'm in full agreement with you on that one!

We grew into something far larger than we expected we would, and not until we decided to hold this vote, did we ever engage in warfare with others. We did extremely well to remain peaceful and not be invaded (Nor invade others) once !

The Commenor Systems Alliance will always be a point of pride in my time spent on Chaos and I daresay I'll not help to bring something into being quite as successfully as we did the CSA.

Thank you, Jair