Stitia - Chapter Two: Eternal Night (Now Closed For New Characters Except to Returning Players)

Tommia

~ Stitia in Retrospect

Hello there, everyone. You're probably not expecting me to give an update on this Saga, but here it is 

Stitia was a dream come true when it first came out. Active participation meant that the world kept moving, and me basically dedicating my 9-5 shift of nothing but sitting around to Chapter 1 meant that players were able to contribute when it was most convenient for them and always get a response. However, the system was flawed; it assumed at least one or two major contributors to the overarching plot were able to contribute, with storylines not just heavily featuring them, but heavily reliant on player agency. Unlike many Sagas, where the Saga host would frequently take full control of Player Characters for significant periods of time, Stitia was different. Players could have rich interactions with the world. The world was a living thing, and players had such great freedom that one could only desire from a D&D world. But like a D&D world, the moment too many people stopped making major contributions, or if the world had to stop moving, things were put on a standstill and it suddenly became much harder to enjoy the Saga.

Let's face it, life happens. I had less freedom as life took over and my parents started being stricter about things. Lots of players were going through life changes as well. People moved from the site for differing reasons, some temporarily, some more permanently, and soon, Stitia was at a standstill. Just as Stitia had the upsides of a D&D world it also came with the same downsides; we were eventually stuck with a different group of characters than we started with, and therefore, many of the major side-plots were left dead in the water as a result. Even worse, that meant I basically had to railroad players into the story, which defeated the whole point of the Saga. Players suddenly lacked a decent amount of the freedom they had before as tensions escalated on the plane and beyond, which took a lot of the inspiration away.

While this had put a damper on the Saga, I do want to revive Stita at some point. With that in mind, it's good to recognize what needs to change.

• I spread myself too thin. With everyone doing their own thing and contributing to different parts of the world and different stories, it was like I was running several mini-Sagas at once.
• With how participation worked there was severe inconsistency. Players who were able to participate more got more rewards, while players who couldn't contribute regularly felt like they weren't making an impact.
• Without fixed deadlines, there was a major push to post whenever one can. People felt like the Saga was eating up their time, or even their lives, and that included myself. Deadlines help set expectations for participation, and I feel this is the biggest thing that destroyed the Saga.

With this in mind, I'll probably see about rebooting the Saga sometime within the next couple months, but some major overhauls will need to be made. More unification, and possibly narrowing the story down will likely need to be done. Colonizers and Tournament of Champions, for example, manage to have narrow end goals yet have had major success because players get to develop their characters/factions without having to worry too much about the overarching story getting in the way. It isn't so much of an obligation because the Saga isn't always moving, and people who have the time can interact with each other and grow their characters or factions at will.

Tommia

https://forums.mtgcardsmith.com/discussion/5940/the-future-of-the-stitia-saga/p1?new=1