Current status of ALFA, statistics and the plan forward

[zicada]

Hey guys!

Posting in OT as this might turn OT rather quickly.

Been years and years, glad to see i still have an account!

I (and others i talk to,- formerly in ALFA) are curious what the current status is. We have noticed a marked decline on the irc channel, and figure maybe you moved or quit using IRC ? Given the forums there's a lot more activity than I thought.

How are things currently ? How many players and servers do you guys have now ? I can haz stats plz ?

It's nothing short of remarkable that the place is still alive in my opinion, it shows there was always a core of people who work pretty hard to keep things going.

Figured I'd drop by and say hi! Some of us have even contemplated playing in the wee hours of the morning while reminiscing about the ALFA of yesteryear.

What's the plan going forward ?

Congratulations on another democratic election America, I bet you'll get through this too, you survived Bush (barely).

Also, if anyone remembers or can find the infamous "drag and drop programming is x years away" quote that would be amazing.

I am Thomas Wirum Larsen on facebook, please friend request, I'd like to keep knowing more of you than I currently do on there.

TA TA!!

[shad0wfax]

ALFA population is low. IRC population is also low. We have Baldur's Gate, The Silver Marches, The Moonshaes, and The Western Heartlands currently online. BG, TSM, and MS still have players and WHL remains empty.

The core group of folks supporting infrastructure, server hosting, DMing are still around; some are more obviously active than others and some are silent server hosts, mostly inactive, but still greatly appreciated nonetheless.

I'm silent on politics here, and recommend that if we want to have a discussion about ALFA, that we remain silent on politics and place that in a different thread.

[gribo]

Drag and drop programming is already here. http://www.ni.com/labview/

[Arianna]

Moonshae has alot of new content and areas added in the last couple of years
I DM there on Friday nights PST usually

[Galadorn]

Hi Zicada.
I gave it up (again) a month ago. Other threads i've posted many updates/begging/asking/hoping more would play, but it's just dead - really dead. I got so tired of repeating myself trying to get people to play, I just stopped and solo'd.
At the end of a month ago and 2-3-4-5-6(?) months previous to the 'end', i was playing everyday. April-May-June there was action. MANY DMs appeared with massive delusions of grandeur and promises of untold gaming, riches and adventuar, but alas, so many variables/events/deaths/etc/among-changed minds, and abruptly just vanished again. The 2-3 previous months to quitting (June-July-August-September?) I literally played solo, for the whole time, everyday. My level 4 PC is unfathomably rich and well equipped for...nothing. But he's almost level 5 (extraordinary PC race as well!), so "someday" i'll be back of course, i'm one of the few who actually admit that ALFA will always be there for me and that i'll "be back", so looking forward to that eventually. Bu is still lurking as well, i'd never retire him just to piss off all those who hated him mostly but also because he's jsut SUPAR AWESOME YO.

Arriana has been a stellar rock of consistency in the face of the fleeting and wishy washiness of a slew of players including myself, and she still holds on...

When you say "You and others" who "might" play in the "wee hours" -- who else are you talking about?

[Swift]

Also, if anyone remembers or can find the infamous "drag and drop programming is x years away" quote that would be amazing.

I got your back, fam (sort of)

I suspect the quote was originally written on a previous incarnation of the forums as he only has 37 posts that have survived the various upgrades/migrations.

[Zelknolf]

The primary product I work on in my professional life is totally drag and drop programming (but of course that doesn't mean that real developers aren't valuable; somebody [in this case, that somebody is me] has to make the thing that allows the dragging and dropping).

For actual numbers in ALFA, we've had a sudden uptick in the last month or so, but "sudden uptick" is "12 players -> 20 players" -- whereas it was closer to 100 when all three servers felt alive. I don't fault Galadorn's description of the place as "dead;" very small numbers mean it's hard to find groups and hard to get non-solo play in, especially if you want that non-solo play at arbitrary persistent-world-ish times.

Nobody has produced a viable alternate game to NWN/ NWN2; there was a lot of promise with Shards Online, but Citadel demonstrated that they were a bunch of newbies with a sudden glut of kickstarter money, missed all of their milestones, and fell far short of their initial promises (all of that fancy customization we were promised amounted to them throwing the Unity toolset at us). And the community hasn't had much buyin to making an alternative or to accepting a lesser medium for our RP. Not that I'm saying that member berries are the death blow to the place, but member twenty servers? Yeah, I member.

[maxcell]

Still here. Still kicking. trying to get some motivation to play. To me no place will match this one, just seems the industry has decided to leave players like us behind as far as new games. To me the old software has never mattered. The RP does, because table top didn't have software just imagination. That doesn't go away.

I'll friend request you zic. You're nutty. I like that.

[Hialmar]

If Zic posts. I need to post as well

Glad to see the light is still on in this land far away.

I just restored the "Who's Who" list on the Facebook page. It was in the Facebook group which is unused IIRC.

I'm Patrice Torguet on Facebook. You can add me as well if you didn't already.

Cya mates !

Now where is Alara/Veilan ?

[Galadorn]

Veilan is always around too. He'll pipe in soon, you'll see! YOU'LL SEE!!

[dergon darkhelm]

Well, I'm in game right now on TSM .... anyone is welcome to join me

[HEEGZ]

I'm still around, and log in at least once a month. I've started over at a new career location, so I've been pretty busy. Life is good, and I'm mostly gaming D&D tabletop now. Lots to tell there, but maybe in another thread.

I'm not sure what the future holds in ALFA, but we currently lack the active member base to fill and support existing administrative roles. We could do something where we have the DMA/HDM combine functions or something. Could also allow play where you DM, and on and on.

I'd like to see a twilight version of what we offer. Put the current structure on ice, pending renewed interest, and implement a temporary offering in the event that 2017 is the last year we have servers to game within. Dunno, lots of ways to go. Seems like we should be doing everything possible to remove barriers to play for anyone left that wants to play here.

Failing that, it is still entirely possible to game within the status quo. Just hard with so few people to play with.

[Swift]

Could also allow play where you DM

Whoa whoa whoa, lets slow this ship down. 20 people is a lot of people to have to trust!

I would probably log on more than once in a blue moon to assist with something on TSM if I could also play there.

[Veilan]

Veilan is always around too. He'll pipe in soon, you'll see! YOU'LL SEE!!

Lies and slander!

Also: Hi Zic! Sup?

[Hyme]

It's nice to see people still playing. I was going to hope in and play one time, but I no longer remember my password and username.