I'm sorry to say this...

[Panther385]

But Blackstar has killed the Gameware forums.

It used to be a bustling place with many members posting topics everyday- I used to wonder how I'd read them all. Now... Now I wonder why everything is boring and droll. Have we all forgotten where we came from?! Remember the Forum Wars? The EC vs GW thread? They were some of the greatest roleplays ever concieved! And now there is nothing! The only thing worth reading there is the Evil Game, and most of the time, not even that! WHAT DO YOU HAVE TO SAY FOR YOURSELVES?! How can you forget the Skull Shaped baskets, the conversation, the INSANITY?! I remember alot of people (including myself) used to be addicted to that place. We used to boast that you could never leave, no matter how hard you try. Well, it isn't hard when there is practically NO ONE THERE. Quo Vadis, Creatures Community?!

[3kul]

Farbeit that we've forgotten where we've come from, I'd be more ashamed to say that I originated from Gameware now. True, I enjoyed some fantastic RPs there at one time, but now? Spam as far as the eye can see. I haven't even heard of a decent RP sprouting up over there since Blackstar's appearance, let alone anything worth shedding too many tears over.

Even Gameware themselves seem to have abandoned the place, their last entry in the studio diary is a placeholder from December 2005 (the one before that is from E3 '05), and the 'latest' press release is even older than that. Even the Creatures fans must be sick of the place, there's many better organized Creatures forums for them to peruse if they wish to do so.

It once was a nice place to be, but now it is not.

[Somefreakoverthere]

I've noticed this too, slightly. At Albia2000 the RPG section isn't being posted in as much as it used to be. The fact our webmaster has sort off disapered hasn't really helped either.

The sad thing is that people are leaving without making a big fuss. Speeder has gone, Bonnieshee has gone a bit paranoide and has gone super strict, trot's going about making immortal characters who are super powerful and stuff, several others are making posts I simply can't read and I'm here and not there.

Anybody got any ideas how we can solve this problem? Because I'm not planning on hanging around waiting for somebody to do something!

[Panther385]

The reason there haven't been any good rps there recently is because there isn't anyone to make them. The only people who hang around there are Reesane, Rin, and that emo-kid Killer Cute. Man, she really gets on my nerves sometimes... *sighs*

Just ignore them. Get a few friends, make a rp, when the idiots join in, ignore them. I neer knew that A2K was ending up the same way... Then again, that's probably because I don't go there anymore. :P

[addman]

Panther your points are indeed valid. I have been rather lax in visiting Gameware lately, although I've been and posted a few times this last week as I've had the time and a bit of a nostalgic thing going on lately. 3kul couldn't be more correct, with the likes of LeanneWoods (and her alter account Orca) clocking up nearly 11-12000 posts, it's just annoying more than anything.

Besides, who says this is a bad thing? As far as I am concerned, I would much rather post on here than Gameware any day of the week, and that's because this place has so much to offer, even if you don't feel like RPing at that moment in time. DP, Embri, Al and co. do a lot to make this a fun place to post. I think the majority of EC members post here now rather than Gameware, it's become our main stomping ground, and that's because overall it's a great community.

At the end of the day, you have to remember that Gameware is a forum for Creatures, and other Gameware products. It doesn't specialise in catering to it's fanbase in terms of entertainment, in fact, I'm surprised that a company would even offer a RPG section to begin with. I see Gameware as a place where people can post relating to the game, or ask about problems with Creatures and so forth, not a place for RPs.

[Netdroid9]

Gameware is by far one of, if not THE, best forums there is.

Until Leanne single-handedly killed it. Seriously, we could put up with people like Du Toit, but when she came she spammed everything. She's the internet equivalent of an A-bomb. You can blame whatever you like, but fact is, the reason I left Gameware and came to Blackstar is because I couldn't bare to RP there any more. I have nothing against Leanne as such, but I just can't RP with someone who won't shut up about throwing 'Egz' at people and help me shoot that giant evil-looking dragon.

There have been other spammers, but she was pretty much the first, and she'll probably be the last. I'll come out when nuclear winter is over.

[Fort]

I go there based on how "fun" I find it.
At the moment, it ain't fun at all, so I don't go, until (as Net put it), the Nuclear Winter is over.

[LordPsycho]

I don't go to Gameware for the same reason I don't go to the EC forums anymore: Running Blackstar is a full time job.

[Kat_05]

Honestly, I was never really a gameware member. Call me nostalgic and ancient, but it just wasn't the same as the CreaturesLabs forums...

[Embri]

A bleary eyed unisus looks up from her mountains of PM's and half finished sprites.

"What? There are other forums? Psshhffft.. You're pulling my leg..." Embri sinks back down into a semi-aware state, humming tunelessly.

Okay, all joking aside, I agree with all the reasons posted above. Leanne is a pain sometimes, the forums are spammy central, Blackstar is way more interesting, I'm up to my horn in work (though I'm not complaining) and this one probably only applies to me, but after the incident with Quirt33, I NEVER want to see the Gameware forums much again....

*washes foul taste out of mouth*

[HisLordship]

I feel that the community has evolved beyond the scope of the games. The Creatures series dwindled out after Creature Labs went bankrupt, and it existed in limbo for some time. Then, with the arrival of Gameware, a new crowd moved in: the generation of BBC kids who played bamzooki, a TV show whose main program employed the same principles as Creatures. This new generation was not what we would expect it to be, and differed greatly in terms of reasonability, agreeableness, and self-restraint from the target audience of the original Creatures Series games.

The Grove, the Evil Council, and now Blackstar are only the next extension of the Creatures Community history: a forum which cultivates a certain type of thinker and rewards the actions of said thinker. Blackstar is the next evolutionary step: a stronghold of mature discussion in a world teeming with inane and mindless babble. What will become of us after this? I cannot say, my ability to see the future is fleeting at best. Yet we still have this place and others to hold out against the tide of mediocrity. We were and are the first players of Creatures, are we not? We area special type that can endure all things, and I feel that –like the genetically emulating programs we have played with – we shall adapt to all changing environments.

[drlupinmario]

I am an old nag. Thus, I will nag.

You see, One thing I dont like on this fourm apparently is the whole strictness. Banks? Stock exchange? LOTTERY? God, Kill me now. No, I am not saying that I want any of them taken away, You actualyl get kinda used to them after a wile... But it is Superfrusterating to new members. And now with the whole belt thing... Im going to puke.....

...Erm, A2k. Yes, A2k. The birthplace of the greatest rp in existance. No unknown powerplayers who may mess up the rp, None of that Crap. Nope, Just me, Swix, Nornish (Somefreakoverthere), Alakin... And a barrel of immagination.... Oh yeah....

[Somefreakoverthere]

Um, me and Nish are two diffrent people... I was "Norns_rock" at A2K. And you forgot Veil, Bonnieshee, Thingy, Ecciwhatsit (Shine) , and some other people who's names I can't remember.

*Sigh*

The thing is,if you try and make a RPG there and try and keep all the power-players out then it's like you standing on the roof of the car your cutting the roof off and expecting not to fall. It's imposible to do, and if you introduced something like the belt system there then all anybody would do is complain all the time.

Hell, one of my RPGs there got locked because somebody kept re-entering their character profile and adding stuff i didn't really like. I NEVER got over that.

[LordPsycho]

Oook.

You do realize that puking thing is insulting to alot of people who spent a VERY long time and alot of hard work creating this system.

Funny thing is, your one of the one's it was designed to try to help.

Now it's not perfect, by we've done everything we can to simplify it. And whats more, you actually feel like you accomplish something when you go up a rank.

[Embri]

*sticks a bucket over Drlupinmario's head so he won't dirty up the nice, new forums*

If you hate it so much here, leave.

*Embri sighs*

Seriously, there's nothing forcing you to use any part of Blackstar. Don't like the lottery? Ignore it. Don't want to use the bank? Don't. Can't be bothered to look at stocks? Leave em' alone.

Blackstar wasn't designed to be easy. It's PSYCHOTOPIA. Everything and everyone here is insane, to one degree or another. And that's just the way we like it.

Unknown powerplayers giving you headaches? Well well... that sounds a lot like a certain RP I know of....

If A2k was that great, why not go back? *blinks* I've never been myself, but if you prefer that board, by all means RP there, if it suits you better.