So.

[personaldemon]

Hey guys. We were due for an SOTT at the start of this month, but..... I guess the question is, is there a point?

I don't think it's any surprise to anyone that things have slowed to a near-total halt. Threads are basically on life support at this point, or they've gone entirely unanswered (Keri, honey, I'm so sorry, I JUST NOW saw your posts from Glitch and Emma, and the fact that I haven't even checked the main comm in this long is pretty telling in and of itself). We're down to... five players? (Sof, Keri, Jess, Kat, and myself.)

Obviously there are things we need: more investment from your mods, more tags from us all, and above all new players. But we've tried to get those happening for, if we're honest, about a year now. It seems like every time we get up the juice for a fresh start, we end up sputtering to a halt a month or so later.

This holiday season has been extra-stressy for me, which has contributed to my personal fail here, but that's not an excuse, because I really can't promise I'll be any more committed or engaged in the new year, given my track record so far.

If someone has a compelling reason we should try and keep Taxon's lights on, please make the case. I love what this game has been in the past, I love so MUCH of the play I've had here over the years, but at this point I have to admit I'm pretty burned out and I know Sofie is too.

I don't want to write Taxon off, but my enthusiasm is at an all-time low and I don't think I'm alone in that.

Talk at me, folks.

Comments

[personaldemon]

I don't know, guys, level with me: is it burned out on running shit and the pressure of trying to make it work, or are you over it the entire concept/characters/story, or is doing weird things to fake people just not fun/anything like a priority anymore, or a combination?

I can't speak for Sofie, obviously... for myself I'd say it's about 80% the former, and then muddy 'kinda' for the rest. Like, I love my characters, and I love the other characters in Taxon too, but (and this part is thoroughly my own damn fault for taking on four characters) I don't feel I have the energy to play them all as they should be played.

Like, Paul's a good example-- ICly he is a proactive, leadery sort who I therefore need to post doing leadery, organization things.... but god do I find that exhausting, and not particularly fun. Or: Mayland. In order to move along a lot of the plot stuff that I myself WANT and have proposed, I need to have him making posts that disseminate research or other information, and it's just.... that's not RP, that's an obligation. *faceplant*

And the idea of going ahead and just museboxing it would take away those problems, but the other half of the big problem I have and have always had with Taxon, even back when I was still fairly new, was that it all feels repetitious and just doing the same things over and over, ultimately. So it's like I personally am in a Catch-22: I want plot, I crave it, I crave something big my characters can sink their teeth and actions into rather than just Life in Taxon Day #3,906, but at the same time I've found myself constitutionally incapable of keeping up on my own obligations as player and moderator to make the posts I need to make in order for that plot to happen.



TL;DR - mostly the former

[untoldtale]

I was, actually, going to suggest (back when they posted in fact) that we hiatus until Gabe and Relia come back since they seemed to be picking up some of the plot-carrying weight. That's no solution either for any number of reasons but it was another notion I sort of had.

Aaaand springboarding in a slightly different direction: lately we've been trying to get away from Life In Taxon Day #3,906, we had the whole Big Damn plot post, bits of it kept getting implemented, and then very few people acted on it. I know how frustrating and disheartening that is, and how it becomes a self-perpetuating loop of non-participation. Even though I KNOW better, when I see tags not getting answered or posts getting ignored I slide into a "why bother?" mentality and any sense of urgency or desire to write dries up. Like I said on AIM the other night I never, ever expect tags anymore and I'm pretty sure no one ever expects tags from me either.

Ultimately it's up to you guys. We can hiatus and then maybe do a plot reboot to give the Real Boy thing an honest chance, we can pick another direction, I don't know. If you need someone else to step up and do plot carrying I could do some NPCing or something.

Or we can call it a good run and stop dragging this festering corpse around.