Suggestion Should we remove the Major Faction system entirely?

[Valery Noble]

Granted I can only speak for me, but I burned out due to non RP personal issues, but I remember my time in major factions as at best a 'meh' experience. Never felt like anything I did really added anything to the faction or influenced the direction in any meaningful way. So yea nuke something that has no real use, burn it all and leave those who can't let go to cry over the field of ashes.

So because your time in Majors way back in the day wasn't fun for you, Majors should be wiped now? I feel like if you want to actually consider this suggestion seriously, you should look at more recent history with the factions. My personal experience has been vastly different from what you describe.

On the topic of drama, even Tefka said himself that things have been way more chill for a while, so I don't really see that as an argument either. A lot of people currently facilitate the majority of their RP through Majors without any problems, so I see no reason to kill it.

 

[Tefka]

I’m personally a huge fan of watching the MFOs scramble when they get called out so let’s light this candle, baby

 

[Josh Dragovalor]

I’ve been involved with majors since the site’s earliest days. Been in every role you can be in.

I say…

Dewit.

Stories on the forefront instead of reliance on the map. An end to a lot of unnecessary drama. Ability to write on well known planets without having to keep track of what major’s invaded and won it this week and what that entails. And ending feeling like you have to be part of a major to do much.

A focus on an overall site story penned by staff and influenced by participants instead of majors doing everything for the site’s overall momentum could be a fun change of pace.

 

[Hailyn]

I don't care either way. I'm sure the majority of people writing on the forum won't be impacted by more than a momentary confusion, either.

 

[Tefka]

I’ve been involved with majors since the site’s earliest days. Been in every role you can be in.

Most Sith writers are cringe but they do happen to be right about people like you. Last post was September. Clicking on your profile’s latest activity literally only shows this thread.

You’re washed and your thoughts don’t count.

 

[Kurayami Bloodborn]

So because your time in Majors way back in the day wasn't fun for you, Majors should be wiped now? I feel like if you want to actually consider this suggestion seriously, you should look at more recent history with the factions. My personal experience has been vastly different from what you describe.

On the topic of drama, even Tefka said himself that things have been way more chill for a while, so I don't really see that as an argument either. A lot of people currently facilitate the majority of their RP through Majors without any problems, so I see no reason to kill it.

If by not fun for me, you mean that it hurt me to watch people actually break real life friendships, and more, over a fucking fictional faction because drama got so bad, then yes. That was not fun for me. I was in multiple factions, both major and minor in 5 years on the site and even when speaking directly to a MFO with ideas as to a dominion setup or social thread, the best I normally got was that they would think on it. Only to never hear anything else even when they were directly asked. Only time it was different is when I was part of the creative team for the First Order for a short stint.

Plenty of people manage RP through other means as well and majors are really extraneous to the telling of a story. You want a group of like minded peole, just get a minor faction together. Only difference is a color on a map. Wow what a prize.

 

[Mnoi Akûti]

If by not fun for me, you mean that it hurt me to watch people actually break real life friendships, and more, over a fucking fictional faction because drama got so bad, then yes. That was not fun for me. I was in multiple factions, both major and minor in 5 years on the site and even when speaking directly to a MFO with ideas as to a dominion setup or social thread, the best I normally got was that they would think on it. Only to never hear anything else even when they were directly asked. Only time it was different is when I was part of the creative team for the First Order for a short stint.

Plenty of people manage RP through other means as well and majors are really extraneous to the telling of a story. You want a group of like minded peole, just get a minor faction together. Only difference is a color on a map. Wow what a prize.

That's rough, but it sounds like a "that was then, this is now" thing. Everyone is saying Major Factions are a lot more chill now. And I personally find the one's I've interacted with are very welcoming. RTL, for example, is always willing to hear thoughts and ideas on what things we can do, from regular Faction threads to Dominions.

 

[Tefka]

Imagine Star Wars fanfiction ruining “real life friendships”.

Touch some grass, if you see their face once a year at most they ain’t your friend. Toxicity stems from you people being unable to define what is real and what isn’t.

 

[Starlin Rand]

Putting aside the discussions about drama and the value of the map game, if this suggestion is to just get rid of the major/minor faction disparity and start calling them all just factions, yeah, I don't have a problem with it. The question is, do all the factions then gain equal powers to claim territory, invade planets, wage war, etc?

 

[Listib Hibin]

To be honest, I am conflicted with the idea of removing or not removing.

On one hand if removal, it would honestly give a reason to fear the unknown if it lead to everyone being involved with the Map game. It would be incredibly interesting and perhaps a way to introduce factions not generally seeing the light of day. Permanent hexes that more or less start to fall apart when the other faction starts going inactive or just stops caring, making it an interesting piranha effect.

On the other hand, it would remove something rather unique for the website. Some love the build up and use it for major story telling...Brotherhood of the Maw and Galactic Alliance is a good one to point at in recent times. Some Major Factions exist primarily to tell their story...how often can you say anyone sees the blob of the Bryn'adul or the Empire ramming through areas at top speed, it just not happen often and the visual of it is striking.

Personally though...I hate Major Factions.​

As one used to say, the tired trope of the same people popping up and doing Sith Order 2: Electric Boogaloo is...well tiring. One can only do so many reruns till finally people just steer away or just do not wish to interact with the other. Other times the Major Faction in question has progressed so much, it is difficult to write with others without getting talked down on or being ignored when asking questions, even as simple as "I wish to do X in the thread, can we work it or should I not?" then after doing it while waiting a day, get bashed for it. Did I also mention the social groups that some form, some that is just difficult to even talk to them if not with "The Klick". (Those who got the reference, I love you)

More likely though, I am grumpy man who just does not want to deal with the bull*@&# anymore. If you're a Major Faction, I am sorry but the chances are I hate how it is, the people in it or how it runs. I will pop into a random dominion from time to time when a moment strikes me early on or I can see a bit of unique fun to add into a story. Otherwise though, I steer clear of things like the plague...

Also anyone who has had friendships get ruined through roleplay, I would not have called them a friend in the first place and just move on with your life. People are assholes and sometimes it takes a while to find the worst of them.

If the blue man himself, if he removes it today, I don't think I will shed a tear...but I know a lot of others would.

Now excuse me as I run from the angry mob I most likely made.

 

[Cyran Vaas]

I do like the idea of giving Minors more attention, however, an abolition of major factions I don't think is the best way of going about it. (Then again I'm not site staff and don't do a lot of map game stuff anyways take what I say with a grain of salt) Something I always kinda thought would be a neat addition to the site would be planetary scale factions. One that maybe could exist on the map as a single autonomous hex. Maybe their given special privileges like not needing to dom or be as active to stay on the map.

Groups like Darkwire come to mind on Denon and even House Lo on their custom planet Khemost. I've even considered with a few others similar "city state" like factions before that might be less popular than factions like the Empire, Republic and so on, but are also lore friendly. Factions like the CSA or Xim the Despot are what come to mind for me or perhaps a droid faction on a world like Mechis III.

Then a again I could see some opportunity to misuse such a faction. Where you have a bunch of pocket sized factions on the map creating border gore and if it's low maintenance to keep on the map it's hard to get rid of them too. After all this just a suggestion I'm sharing in a suggestion thread. Which what I've shared here doesn't sound too dissimilar to what Starlin Rand just posted. Maybe just blur the lines some between Major and Minor factions, maybe by adding new categories/classifications of factions?

 

[Gir Quee]

The board's overall activity has been slowing for a while now. While it's true that there are a number of exceptional writers and major factions that have kept up the activity more common in the past, that doesn't seem to be true for the board overall right now.

I would guess (and this is a guess), that if we are holding up major factions to the activity levels that we expected in the past, that we'd have maybe 3-4 major factions.

I think that our active writerbase is at the point where we can't really expect to theoretically see more than 5 major factions at the old levels of activity. I don't think we'll actually get there realistically though because of a divergence of what people of interest in want to write (Sith lord versus Gungan subsistence farmer, etc).

I don't think that penalizing what major factions do exist is going to increase writing activity, but at the same time, I think that a monopoly of holding planets (and the assets that go with them) down to a handful of major factions is going to increase board activity among writers/characters who don't really fit with the small number of realistically active major factions.

Part of me thinks that maybe the difference between major and minor factions should just be abolished overall. Instead of counting number of active writers, maybe a different metric of active posts instead, with a lower threshold of posts being used to determine a faction's activity check.

In my mind, this wouldn't penalize existing active factions from what they're already doing (especially if it's working for them), but it might allow small but dedicated people or groups to slowly build up their own little areas on the map.

But I haven't given this a lot of thought, and there might be some things I'm overlooking here.

 

[Tefka]

The board's overall activity has been slowing for a while now. While it's true that there are a number of exceptional writers and major factions that have kept up the activity more common in the past, that doesn't seem to be true for the board overall right now.

If only we could trap everyone here and stop banning people or fracturing into silly fantasy forums.

 

[Starlin Rand]

Screw Chaos, I'm moving to Chronicles!

Or... whatever other fantasy site you were talking about!

 

[Tefka]

There’s literally been multiple “Game of Thrones” forums spawned out of here. Old Chaosleria’s Doom is predicted by the arrival of a final Avatar forum.

 

[Marissa Shoda]

Putting aside the discussions about drama and the value of the map game, if this suggestion is to just get rid of the major/minor faction disparity and start calling them all just factions, yeah, I don't have a problem with it. The question is, do all the factions then gain equal powers to claim territory, invade planets, wage war, etc?

Yeah the problem with that is one half of the board enjoys war stuff while the other half enjoys sitting in a corner as a minor faction. That alone will cause issues XD

Board works cuz it works. I just wanna see what people will do in the event of a major faction wipe...

For real, I'm curious about the fireworks

 

[Jai'galaar Gred]

I honestly wouldn’t mind seeing major factions go. Most of them haven’t been that fun for me in a long time while minors have, and I still get the chance to fight stuff and do story without worrying much who’s planet I’m on, or if the planet tied to my character story is controlled by x or y now. Heck, fleeting’s been hard to come by even in the major factions (for me at least) for a while now too.

(Meant to post this with Mig Gred but still works.)

 

[Brandyn Sal-Soren]

What is...Major...Factions?

 

[Tyluko-Kai Kaimana]

I am only recently getting back into RP but I remember when I first joined back in 2016 and had my character be apart of the Silver Jedi. The Silver Jedi and Sith Order had a skirmish on Midvinter and to this day it is easily one of my most cherished RP experinces. Keep Major Factions is what I say. But, I do also recognize how difficult it can be to keep track of what each faction has done to each planet. Keeping track of Mon Cala after the sith supposedly posioned it has been VERY hard to do. I just don't know what the site would be like without them. I leave this to the powers that be, maybe we get rid of them and everything will be fine or everything will become... CHAOS hehe

 

[Omon Kaa / Darth Diem]

Imagine Star Wars fanfiction ruining “real life friendships”.

Touch some grass, if you see their face once a year at most they ain’t your friend. Toxicity stems from you people being unable to define what is real and what isn’t.

I saw, people calling Sith "toxic".. I don't know them long, don;t know anyone here long. But people there, are so far away from toxic, that if anyone see THEM as such.. I truly cannot imagine what will real world do to you.

They are most calmly, accommodating, even insanely worried about peoples feelings(jn my opinion).. Yet you call them Toxic, cus one RP bs occurred. And some post rp talk happened.

I have no idea who u are, u'r probably very powerful here.. on this lil thing.. but as an admin, you should be ashamed of yourself. Either you have NO IDEA WHAT TOXICITY IS, or you are completely bias toward Sith role players. For w/e tf reason.