I am the owner of SWRP: Chaos, ask me anything.

[Tefka]

I'm Matt IRL, Tefka on this forum. I've been running SWRP since late 2012, back when we initially started on vBulletin software. We didn't have a Factory, we didn't have a Codex. We didn't have any people, really. It was just me and five other characters also played by me, all talking to ourselves. I never imagined we'd top a million posts as a Star Wars RP forum, and I'd never imagined we'd still be running. I never thought I'd know so much about running a website. But, well, here we are.

Wanna reflect on the past, bring up old questions you never got an answer to, or are you curious about how many miles I've ran this week or contracts I've handed out - lay it all on the line. Any question goes.

 

[Haytham Kaze]

What did you want to be when you grew up boss-man?

[member="Tefka"]

 

[Garza]

You should RP more often. I would like to see you in the forums with other people. Just public threads where you hop around here and there or what not.

 

[Sanya Val Lerium]

[member="Tefka"] what inspired you to create chaos?

 

[Jamie Pyne]

[member="Tefka"]

Have you ever considered shutting down the website out of frustration with something? Be it technical or personal?

 

[Break]

How does it feel to know that your idea makes so many people happy now? [thanks Tef, this site is awesome man keep up the good work!]
[member="Tefka"]

 

[Vazela]

[member="Tefka"] When will the next staff ran story line be revealed?

 

[Julius Sedaire]

[member="Tefka"] - Do you have a giant wooden staff you plan on murdering us all with via blows to the head?

 

[Lord Ajihad]

[member="Tefka"]

Yesss, please RP more often.

And yeah, are we having new galactic event any time soon? Or at least an idea thread?

 

[Ashin Varanin]

[member="Tefka"] - I've seen a few versions of the fantasy board you've been building, and I've liked what I've seen. Any updates on that front?

 

[Tefka]

What did you want to be when you grew up boss-man?

[member="Tefka"]

Archaeologist when I was kid. Effin' loved dinos.

You should RP more often. I would like to see you in the forums with other people. Just public threads where you hop around here and there or what not.

Who says I don't have a secret account?

[member="Tefka"] what inspired you to create chaos?

I was a member of a Star Wars fan role-play forum. It was great, the community was great, for the most part. Obviously you had people you didn't like, you did like, etc. You had many of the same 'problems' Chaos has today.

Most of us veterans had an inkling that some prominent members of Staff were corrupt as ****, though. When I was made Moderator of the main site, I figured I'd do my diligence to help dissuade that - until I figured out the conspiracy theorists were right, and some of the Staff members were corrupt as ****. The memory that stands out to me the most was the Admin who had two hidden alts that she used to report the same guy in an attempt to get him banned - and used those separate reports when discussing them with Staff, like we had no inkling they were all the same person (the mods didn't - eventually, when pressed, certain non-corrupt Admins did). When I confirmed this and confronted the whole team, the owner of that forum stood by his Admin and said "Well, the guy's a douche, we'll ban him." The non-corrupt Admins, fearing their positions could be in jeopardy if they stood up to the Owner, said little to nothing.

I'm all for the guy being a douche and getting kicked, and I agreed on some level - but this poor sap had no idea the level of BS he was up against. It wasn't fair to the little guy, the member, all because this one Admin didn't like him. Don't play some underhanded game, you're only encouraging those who look up to you to do the same. These were my thoughts, they were not well received, so I left Staff and the forum and came here to start building what you see today.

A lot of the rules in place today are because of my experiences in this previous community, to prevent that level of corruption. Many of the more veteran Staff members know the reason I can be so difficult at times is because of these experiences, because some of them were around for it. We joke about #TyrannyReigns, but really, that's exactly what it was at this previous community - and there was no humor to be had about it.

Dominions were something I proposed at this previous community, but were shot down, so its fun to see them flourish here.

 

[Tefka]

[member="Tefka"]

Have you ever considered shutting down the website out of frustration with something? Be it technical or personal?

I have never considered shutting down SWRP. I have considered both leaving and more heavily, I have considered selling SWRP.

Never out of frustration with my responsibilities here, but only because I wish to take on other role-play projects. I love role-play, I feel it is a necessary outlet for some people like us, and I want to take what few talents I've developed here and use them to help ensure people continue to have a reputable place to go on the interwebs. With all of this talk about "forums are dying" on the internet and this medium of entertainment being replaced by the insurmountable nemesis that is vidya games, I want to help ensure that people like me - when I was a kid, enjoying RP - have an outlet to enjoy.

 

[Tefka]

How does it feel to know that your idea makes so many people happy now? [thanks Tef, this site is awesome man keep up the good work!]
[member="Tefka"]

Well, its Star Wars, so I can't take full credit. But I do enjoy that a lot of people can come here, grab a cup of coffee, and just escape into a story for a little while.

Even more than that, I'm happy I've never had to compromise what this community's intended purpose was. The rules change, the factions change, the people change, but the magic stays the same.

 

[Tefka]

[member="Tefka"] When will the next staff ran story line be revealed?

We have something planned, but its on the backburner because I'm taking on another project. Currently, the Rebellion ruleset is deemed to be our "filler" for now.

[member="Tefka"] - I've seen a few versions of the fantasy board you've been building, and I've liked what I've seen. Any updates on that front?

I'm taking a break from working on it right now! I have a team put together that's working on it and I plan to make an announcement here on SWRP concerning it hopefully within the next month or two.

 

[Nyx]

[member="Tefka"]
When do you think the board had it's golden age; or are we in it, or has it yet to come?

 

[Tefka]

[member="Tefka"] - Do you have a giant wooden staff you plan on murdering us all with via blows to the head?

Yes. I call her Lucille.

And yeah, are we having new galactic event any time soon? Or at least an idea thread?

We have an event story, we just don't know when we're going to drop it because of my schedule right now. Usually the scheduling with events is two a year. Staff would plan one and I'd plan the other. Staff really wanted Akala to come back, so technically that was their's. The next one is mine, which is unlike anything we've done before. The story is in place, I just don't know when we'll be able to do it.

[member="Tefka"]
When do you think the board had it's golden age; or are we in it, or has it yet to come?

We're definitely in it. Lots of people like to look back on the forum's early days and think that was the Golden Age, but really - there just wasn't many people here. We had the Sith Empire, the Republic, and the Mandalorians. Wow, such originality. There were a few original ideas here and there, but with the forum's population at it's peak now, we're seeing much more creative thought than we ever saw in Chaos's early days.

Yeah, I think we're in it. Plus we'll get a Silver Age after that, in which I'm assuming Valiens, maybe Thurion, maybe Spenser will replace me and rush us all to a new age of glory with new energy. And then we'll get a Bronze Age, where Alric takes over the reigns and steers us back towards an exogorth-ridden Valen event.

 

[Nyx]

[member="Tefka"]
Another one for ya.
What's your favorite type of character to write?

 

[Zef Halo]

Is Teferi Efreet ever coming back? #MakeYodaSpeciesGreatAgain
[member="Tefka"]

 

[Nikolas Faselli]

[member="Tefka"]

What is your biggest regret in the history of Chaos? And what do you consider as your most successful action/event/project in the forum?

 

[Tefka]

[member="Tefka"]
Another one for ya.
What's your favorite type of character to write?

Yuuzhan Vong. Mandalorian. Imperial Moff. Gen'Dai. Monstrous characters, really. I was discussing this with Alric not too long ago, but I think my favorite type of character to write is a monster who you can find a little humanity in. Monsters are the creations of our imagination, so they're man-made, for the most part. Taking one and exploring the humanity is what I find to be the funnest part of writing a character. For example, Tsavong to most was a Dread Lord who dropped on Alderaan and started wrecking face and just appeared absolutely primal and monstrous - but in another thread, he's exploring his lineage and finding out more about his ancestors. His people.

Longing for your people, for that deep connection with those who passed down to you what made you who you are... that's not monstrous. That's humanity. Tsavong Kraal, Artemis Obauldi ... both were alien, strange, and monstrous creatures. But to them, for them, they only wanted what we all want. A future for their children, a better world for their people, and an understanding of why they're where they are.

Is Teferi Efreet ever coming back? #MakeYodaSpeciesGreatAgain

I really liked donning the Yoda avatar, but no, he's not coming back. He's our lightning rod, our narrator, for the event stories - so be on the look out for me to sneak him in future events somehow.