Downstairs guy came home early. My internet is back up.

[quote=@Lugubrious]
I have conferred with a couple of the other players (namely Kafka and Propro) and we've all reached a conclusion as to why we've lost interest in this RP. The chief reason is that you've been very disengaged from the managing process.  We've been given places to be in, sure, but not much stuff to work with, and you haven't been motivating us to post. The choices our characters make and the things we do have felt like they don't matter; we get more the impression that we're an audience for a spectacle you're putting on and we're just along to react to it, rather than essential elements of an interactive story. I can't speak as much for the Hyrule group, but for the Gourd Lake crew, I'm definitely inclined to think this way. The most interesting thing that happened was a clash of personalities when several characters met. As for the introduction of the Big Sisters, it was more of a spectacle than something to engage in, given that there was never any actual fight--all attacks were either flawlessly dodged (Kaiser) or canceled out (Henry), and individual powers were effortlessly seen through (The Spy).
[/quote]

That was exactly the point. From the introduction of the Big Sisters to their departure was the equivalent of the scripted intro at the beginning of a video game. It was the fight with Bowser at the beginning of Paper Mario where you technically have control but the only outcome possible is that you loose horrifically and have to be saved by the Star Spirits. The actual interactive part would have come with the arrival of Elinor Lamb, a sixth Big Sister who's not evil, would present some information for everyone to work with then leave the course of the quest up to those involved. I was waiting for a reaction post from everyone to the Big Sister's departure and the earthshaking before I had her surface in Gourd Lake. In contrast I will admit the Hyrule crew did have quite a bit more freedom which perhaps was an oversight on my part (that you guys didn't have that freedom, not that they did) but essentially the same thing would have happened when they arrived at the Temple of Time and met with Navi and Kaepora Gaebora, been apprised of the situation and then decided on a course of action.

[quote=@Lugubrious]
In addition, on a few occasions we've attempted to spur you into action to fix the situation, and nothing has come of it. I believe ProPro has stated problems and suggested changes only to be ignored, and I have purposefully withheld from writing an uninteresting reaction post for Henry to see if you would check in with me as to why I'm not posting, or if you would just move on after a while, but that hasn't been the case.
[/quote]

I believe [@ProPro]'s criticisms were mainly about some less then realistic expectations I had regarding adapting video game characters to the current setting. I took what he said and more or less backed off my harshness on CS submissions, instead of trying to rationalize characters I just made sure the CSes weren't overpowered and were written well enough for everyone to understand. If there was something else he said I guess I just missed it. That's a bad mistake on my part but I wasn't ignoring him purposefully.

If I'm being honest when two thirds of the RP routinely disappears for several days at a time one member refusing to post in order to get the attention of the GM doesn't really register cause they blend in with the five other people who are just not posting and I'd already tried to GM my way past the block as best I could with the departure of the Big Sisters. There wasn't anything that could be done with the narrative without some input from the characters. I'll admit that leading up to that I could have done more to keep the RP running and make it more fun for everyone but at that point the only option I really had was to see if you guys would show you were still interested by posting in the IC or just decide to let it die cause it wasn't fun anymore. You chose the latter.

[quote=@Lugubrious]
To summarize, we are feeling as if the mostly hands-off strategy you've taken to managing is not blending well with the limited creative freedom you've given us in the meantime. This was the case with the Demons RP you tried a while ago as well, I believe. I am sorry that things turned out this way, and I hope this criticism does not tarnish our friendship, but I must formally withdraw.
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The Demons RP died for more or less the opposite reason. The players were given infinite creative freedom and a mostly defined world to work with but little direction. In consequence everyone clung onto my character cause they didn't know what I was expecting of them and didn't want to risk putting their own ideas into less defined areas of the world in case it clashed with my vision when in reality that is exactly what I wanted. It was basically my fault but not for the same reasons that this failed.

@Everyone, with the loss of [@Lugubrious], [@ProPro], [@Scarifar] and the tentative participation of [@Kafka Komedy] we've lost seven characters spanning both locations which is too much for the story to conceivable continue. It was a pleasure working with you all and I hope do to it again at some point in the future. I'm sorry to our new recruits, especially [@Multi_Media_Man] (who hasn't really gotten to do anything) that they won't be able to move forward in the story and I'm sorry to the original cast if my GMing got us to this point. Good luck everyone with your future RPs.

[h2]--Thread Closed--[/h2]