The End...?

I'm going to tell you a story of a community that for to long has been plagued by simple, fixable, issues. But it's not really a story about just the community, no story is truly that small, no this story branches out. It's not a fun story either. It's neither a story I want to tell, nor a story you want to hear...

The story starts simply enough when at some point during this game's existence the mighty game dev, Alex, decided to add a fun little tab, somewhat hidden albeit, underneath two incredibly important features. World News would be this tabs name and its purpose would be simple: Help Nations and Alliances provide fun little updates to announce cool little things happening here and there. Oh, and as somewhat of an afterthought it was somewhat meant for people making stories, like this one. 

Time decided to move on a bit and as it did a small community began to develop. People who we now know as "giants" of the industry came here to flourish and express themselves. What time moved away from was the more concrete purpose of providing "updates". Why time moved towards stories and away from alliance updates and the like is one of lucks great mysteries. Although personally I think it has to do more with design flaw and error on the part of the developers (Hint: this is going to be a recurring theme). So, despite the design flaws or maybe just pure chance this small community developed and began creating, eventually earning that small tab they called their home a reputation. What reputation you may ask? One for stories, dreaming, politics, and maybe a reputation for completing this game in a way that a raid war on a hopeless C5 inactive couldn't. This era in which this new "World News" or "Bulletin", as they started calling themselves, community thrived and created is commonly cited as a golden age.

Human Nature is just that, natural, and unavoidable. Obviously, there are certain things in this life that quantify as "Bad Human Nature" and "Good Human Nature". As so many Golden Ages do, this one ended with "Bad Human Nature" usurping the throne. Even for Pericles and Athens the Plague wasn't necessarily the death toll but rather just another ring added to a long symphony of bells. I won't dive into the why's and the how's just know that this period of degeneracy and failure never ended. 

If you'll come away with anything, even something as simplified as this, I want it to be this next sentence:

 "The 'Bad' won..."

This isn't baseless pessimism as long-time followers of this place will understand. This is just a summary. This shall be the Epitaph of the World News Community. 

So, we've come to the part in this Grand old story in which I get to the present, the climax or descension depending on your point of view. The current narrative which we find ourselves in is one of uncertainty and most importantly an ineptitude that surpasses (or I guess de-passes?) even the lowest of my math scores. I don't say that to be mean, though I wouldn't be mad if that's what it comes off as, but rather I say it out of bare honesty. I know I just said the epitaph would look something like "The 'Bad' won..." but maybe that epitaph has evolved a bit in my mind's eye. 

"The Bad won...

The Good Failed..."

That extra line might seem repetitive and redundant, but I think it's necessary to reinforce the fact that due to the incompetence (myself included) of this community any potentially good aspect of things has joined Satan, or in my case Discords ever-growing list of unused servers. Any time the idea of reform or change was entertained it was shot down. So many Bison used to roam the prairie but were killed for sport. I think our ideas are a bit like that inadequate metaphor. Just like the bison though I think it isn't out of the question for the "Good" to come back. We have to nurture our ideas a little and let them grow. Instead, we have decided to enter a dark age in which we join our primitive ancestors in all but name. I think that's comparable, don't you? 

Now for that time in the story where I write about the grand hope that will seize us in the coming future. The Messianic prophesy in which things end on top of Olympus. Maybe you, like me, are waiting for the Deus Ex Machina. I don't want to burst your bubble but like I said this isn't a happy story so I think I will anyway. Just from what I've seen this isn't going to happen. From what I've seen our grand gods on high won't step down here to fix the apparent mess of things they may or may not have caused. Sure, maybe you think that after adding the revolutionary new features of... TEXT COLORING and FUN FONTS (all 9 of 'em) they'll start dedicating time to this small little portion of our community. Doubt it. Maybe you think that they'll start increasing their moderation presence. In your dreams bud. Maybe you even believe they'll start actually making this thing somewhat useful to the game at large. Stop thinking. Look in essence there is potential legitimately bubbling out of the ears of bulletins. It's like if America decided all of the sudden to stop caring if an oil field suddenly popped up. I mean there is just untapped awesomeness here. I see it everyday. I definitely saw it when I was making my OOWs. That sorta thing hit me in the face every day. But for one reason or another... no never mind for exactly two reasons nothing ever came of fruition here (Reason 1 is obvious development failures and lack of attention and 2 is just miserable community failure). 

Alright well I'm tired (wrote this thing within the span of 20-25 minutes maybe more) and I'm just gonna wrap things up as I planned. For now it seems like the best course of action for the Glorius, High, and Holy Kingdom of Vulcanities to exit stage right (or left) and leave the RP scene for good. This obviously doesn't mean I'm leaving the game, I'm not, as I'll continue to serve my alliance(s) in game. This also doesn't mean it's a permanent leave, it's not, I plan on coming back as soon as I'm free of work and this community gets a new look. 

RIP Bulletin Rp, RIP World News, RIP The Holy Kingdom of Vulcanities, RIP Luna, RIP The Mediterranean Confederation, RIP Communist Britain, RIP New Ozlystn, and RIP the countless others before and after. Oh and before I forget RIP UNO, OUN, and PnW Roleplay. And just for fun RIP this likely inconsequential bulletin because we all know what's happening after this is published... dead silence.

Final Message: Look Alex and everyone else who has tried to do anything here I understand that this isn't the easiest thing to do but as my final word as a member of this community I ask for you to kill World News or quit (for everyone who isn't Alex). Come back later when you guys feel like trying. I love everything else about this game except for World News and after over a year playing this game this is the one area of the game that honestly lacks any sort of attention. Even Baseball gets more looks. Take World News down and push it back out when you feel confident that you're able to manage the balance of formal and unformal, community and outcasts, correctly. 

On the off chance anyone's reading this, I'd like to say that Alex should find a way to gain a monetary benefit (maybe have AAs pay credits to broadcasts bulletins higher or something I dunno) from bulletins. I mean not at the cost of the community, but this will definitely show you A. how many people would be willing to improve this part of the game and B. that this is something worth expanding. Just a thought though I dunno at this point I've gotten used to just recklessly throwing random thoughts out there. 

Hope to write you all again soon!