The "Legacy" of the North

[machmoth]

Hello, denizens of the North.  Thank you to those of you who have kept things chugging in my periodic absences.  Of the many, many things I neglect in my life, you are possibly my favorite.  Er, um, not "favorite to neglect".  That came out wrong... You know what I mean.  As I was saying...

With the loss of the GameSpy service, I've finally begun feeling Neverwinter Night's breath of mortality.  I wouldn't be so excitable as to call it the end of days, but it definitely caught my attention and got me thinking.  It won't last forever. 

These days, most here split their gaming time.  NWN has long since ceased being the end-all-be-all of our gaming day, I'd imagine.  But, many of us have forged life-long friendships (or more, in a few cases) through our little world, and still play with those people on a  regular basis.  Some come to share their gaming accomplishments or new discoveries.  This is still a place of friends, however little or much NWN manages to be a part of that.

And so I was thinking, maybe that can continue in a more official capacity.  Perhaps lotn.info could evolve into something of a "cross-game guild" community.  A site dedicated to LotN on NWN, for as long as that may last, and everything else we play.  Organize online tabletop games, form MMO RP guilds, find a mate for a quick deathmatch, or just the usual GD nonsense.

The whole thing is still at the "half-baked scheme" stage.  How to go about such a project is still anyone's guess.  Broader forum organization?  Better scheduling tools (something we've always wanted)?  I'm still just brainstorming. 

The few I've rambled at one-on-one seemed generally positive on the idea.  It's my web space, but it's your community, so I'm really more interested in your thoughts.  I'm not going to shove something down everyone's throats that they don't want.  (I've already been forced to do that too often through mandatory forum updates/replacements.)  If you do like it, ideas are welcome.

[Tails1879_]

While I'm not against this idea, I'm a little iffy about calling ourselves a 'guild' or anything real official like that. This is mostly from bad personal experience with an old clan/community of mine, to be honest, but that also involved a lot of immaturity. Considering many of us have matured over the years, it has a chance of working out and my cautiousness ends up being unfounded. I don't really see it growing very much, but that depends on where this goes in the end.

It's true that many of us have pretty much moved on from NWN. The game has been out for over 10 years, now, and isn't showing any growth. Heck, I've finally stopped camp-sitting after all this time and got lost in other games like Guild Wars 2 and Hitman. I still talk to a few people from the server, and we had played said other games as friends. I wouldn't mind networking a bit more with other LotNers and getting to play other games.

I'd also be happy to simply drop in my Steam/Skype profile for those that would like it. I'm available whenever I'm not in class/on campus.

As for any suggestions, if this is to be done, we should probably do a bit of forum re-organization. For instance, LotN's boards (Under 'Game Related') could be filed as some sort of subcategory under "LotN boards", and set more broad ones like "General Discussion" to be on top. Several more could be created, like a general screenshot/media board for those that want to share such. I'd also love to keep the dark theme if possible, since it's easier on the eyes.

Also... why do we still have the NWN2 Buzz board?

[Neutral_Zone]

This sounds like a great idea, though I do think of LotN more of a community hub rather than an actual guild. Indeed, that is really what a guild is supposed to be, but often it degrades into something worse. Still it would be nice if we all had a place to come and chat. Maybe our community could still grow. Who knows?
While the wiki won't exactly match up anymore, we could still use it to keep what is essentially a database on our characters, or something. I dunno. But there's potential here!
I too, would like to see some refurbishment of the boards. There's a few things here and there that could be changed for the better.

[Sakes]

I've been giving the same ideas a lot of thought, and this is something I'd support, although I don't know how much common interest we all have in any upcoming game.  We'd need a game we are all willing to play, and then of course is the sticky questions of organization, leadership, and recruiting. 

Another idea I had for more NWN focus was to arrange times for everyone to log in and play, not necessarily even events.  I know a lot of us check the server, see it's empty, then go do something else.  If we have 3 or 4 people doing that we could all play if we communicated but no one wants to hang around a dead server.   If we could say something like "Friday night 8 to 10 EST on this day, then Saturday afternoon another day, etc..." as the "log on time" we might see some more action.

[Torin]

Long time no see, Moffy. Hope you've been well. Nice words and a fine idea. For those whose interests have dwindled on NWN it would certainly give more reason to post on the forum. I remember you saying LOTN showed quite high or near the top on google searches when looking for DnD related stuff. Not quite sure what it was or if it still applies all these years later, but it would definitely give people who stumble on the site more reason to lurk around and bulk up the numbers some when the community isn't solely focused on NWN. It might even make people consider installing the game after getting to know more people around here..

I actually got to thinking about LOTN recently after awhile of playing Heroes of Newerth & Dota 2. Fun games, but after awhile it got me thinking the kind of damage 'quick-fix' games like these can be to games like NWN which require long-term commitment due to the nature of the game and the communities which spring from it. I don't doubt everyone has alot of love for this place, but to keep it fresh and rolling i'd say it needs more of burning passion.

I don't care much for MMOs anymore but i've seen the change in them over the years also. Not much real community guilds anymore when they basically come down to number crunches and group-finding tools. I don't have enough experience with them but it's something i've felt for a good few years and a trend i noticed across several different games where community/guilds seemed to be lacking, at least at heart.

As for games i play, i stopped playing HoN & Dota 2 a few months back as i started to see them as quick fix games. I guess the only game i really play these days would be Dark Souls on PS3, which i would be more than happy to play if anyone has, but its co-op isn't much like other games so i don't know if it can be considered. No harm in making duplicate of LOTN characters on Dark Souls and taking the experience of from one to the other, just a little imagination to fill the gap.

I guess all it would really require is to lose a few needless forum sections and tidy the place up a little, then see what games are popular with the people still around to see if they warrant their own section. The last post in the NWN2 forum section is from 6 years ago afterall.

Anyway, nice to see some old faces, hope everyone is well.

[machmoth]

Good thoughts, all.  Love the feedback (and that we dug up a wild Irish in the process!  Hi there!).

I'm not yet worrying my head with fine-grained details just yet, so this is good.  I wanted to plant the seed in people's brains and see what grew.

When Guild Wars 2 came out, a group here started a guild.  From what I gathered, it wasn't anything serious.  Just friends hanging out.  It kind of became the unofficial LotN guild in a way, I guess.  I found out about it after the fact, after I'd already picked a different server and started my own thing (alongside yet another LotN old-timer, oddly enough).  It felt like a missed opportunity, which sort of spurred this line of thinking.

I use the word "guild" very loosely, and you're free to recast it as you see fit.  I picked up the term "cross-game guild" from another group I observed (while on MMO safari).  They were an RP guild on a MMO that got shut down.  There was indecision on their new game of choice, and so they just decided "all of them!"  The situation was applicable enough that I robbed them of the phrase.  A case of lingual larceny, if you will.

I see that Kattze (never one to sit on her hands) has already taken the first steps.  Please enjoy our complementary new Social Networking board!

And the NWN2 Buzz board is very important!  We're still waiting for the game to impress us.  >.>;

[Rhydin]

Bloody Irish! Moth you up North still?

[machmoth]

Yo!  For better or worse, yup.  Wyn and I were just talking about you the other day, wondering what'd come of you.

[theMannequin]

For the life of me I was trying to remember your character's name, Rhy (which, of course I know now... but that doesn't help) so Shani could use it in her song on the weekend.

[Rhydin]

Lol nice to be remembered. Well, i am trying to finish my degree still.. A six year relationship with a CE ogre took a toll. Spent a year at U. of Liecester, now living in the desert again. Trying to get a teaching credential as well. Have an interesting project im working on that i actually wanted to talk to some of my old LotN buddies about.. but this isn't the place for it.

[NWoutcast]

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