Question What new feature do you want at Chaos this year?

[Mercy]

• Some sort of way to get Codex and Factory stuff to be more represented for sure. I enjoy the freedom Chaos has when it comes to just doing your own thing and ignoring stuff you don't care about, I don't want to lose that. But I think an easier way to actually access the work the community has been doing for years would be great.

Chronicles has that auto link feature, but I don't know if that is the best solution however since it can get really silly at times and the volume of submissions here is much larger.​

• Randomized events happening regularly. Staff dropping an open thread weekly/monthly whatnot with something happening on planet X and letting people go to town on it as a location thread. Doesn't need any DMing either, just drop the thread and let people do whatever. Maybe with a small reward at the end? Unsure, just riffing.

• Add features to the Galactic Map. Anomalies, randomized effects. So for instance, people who want to dominion planet X, need to contend with a solar storm in the system. I don't know, something to spice up invasions, dominions without it only being writer-input. Sometimes it can be nice to have some things defined for you from above and you have to contend with that, I think.

• More maps. Company, minor faction, extra-galactic, criminal underworld. Just more stuff for people to spread their influence to.

 

[Tefka]

More maps. Company, minor faction, extra-galactic, criminal underworld. Just more stuff for people to spread their influence to.

Seems neat on paper but we don't have the population to support. Oblivion map was up for a year and nobody did nothing with it.

Add features to the Galactic Map. Anomalies, randomized effects.

Worth looking into, as this was a planned feature for #newmap that got scrapped. Randomized probably not so much, it would be planned, we're not a video game. Besides, as much as I love RDM and generated content to make the world feel more chaotic, in our format it doesn't work, and in reality it often feels poorly planned and disparaged of creativity. Random generation only benefits games like Minecraft that have feature overload and large populations.

Some sort of way to get Codex and Factory stuff to be more represented for sure.

So, we have the tag system, and the tag wikis, which is probably the single most underutilized feature of this community. Speaking of random generation, I have the website auto-generating tags for your submissions because people write full feature length subs and don't tag them. Tags have editable entries, you and others can post links into.

Obviously the next step, imo, would be a full feature length wiki. Chronicles, as you mention, baked this into their core but they also knew the limitations of it. We're set up more the old style because, well, we've been doing it longer than when mechanics like wikis were available as easily as today, and because our ingest is a lot higher.

Unfortunately, I have had experience with wikis, and it has never crossed my threshold of "worth it". Not enough volunteers and interested people to help run it. Not enough benefit to beat the current method, ie "we like looking through factory items etc." Sure, but you don't use it enough in RP to justify my entire existence Atlas-carrying a wiki on my back. It would just be a nice thing to have.

I may change my mind about the wiki, yet again, but we've tried it like 3 times in the past. It's a thing that once it arrives, and the community sees how much work is necessary, it becomes a "well, someone should do all of that, and it ain't gonna be me" to literally everyone until I'm sitting staring at an empty wiki for months wondering who to yell at to get it going (myself, the answer is myself.)

 

[Tefka]

I mean we've had what, like, probably 4-5 Factory Admins and 3-4 Codex Admins and not once has anyone stipulated tagging. It's always "balance this, balance that" like a video game, not "how can we organize things better."

This community has a video game mindset.

Not a wiki mindset.

 

[Sinestra]

Something I forgot:

Is there any available QoL functionality that could somehow save custom hex codes that are not part of the default ones in the post interface:

 

[DeadpoolMLP]

Hear me out: If someone bothers to submit a canon planet to the codex, we should incorporate it into the map alongside the Wookieepedia link that's already there.

Seconding this. Seeing people's work on canon planets and the history of planets on chaos is a huge draw for me on the site, and I would love to see this rewarded for people who put in all that effort.

 

[DeadpoolMLP]

I mean we've had what, like, probably 4-5 Factory Admins and 3-4 Codex Admins and not once has anyone stipulated tagging. It's always "balance this, balance that" like a video game, not "how can we organize things better."

This community has a video game mindset.

Not a wiki mindset.

Gonna be honest, I completely forgot the tag system exists.

 

[Tefka]

Gonna be honest, I completely forgot the tag system exists

Not because you’re lazy or out of touch, but people just haven’t seen good innovative ways its been used so the culture ain’t grabbed it.

It’s not as in your face as the map, factions, divs, flair.

We’re just the cool kid of RP forums. We care about the jazzy stuff, the light shows. The stuff that takes work, like an actual historical documentary of every time Tython got absolutely rolled, thats nerd shit and takes work.

I mean, wikipedia has paid authors. Celebrities have paid PR. Even FANDOM has paid authors.

I aint payin nothin, its all volunteer.

 

[Tefka]

Also, reminder that there was a time when I offered to pull the FJs and CJs approvals away and let the Factory/Codex go wild.

There was an immediate backlash of “we like approvals, we like validation, we like input”. It was pretty unanimous.

A wiki would go the exact same route, I would have a moderation team in place but their job wouldn’t be to input or judge, it would be to moderate.

The wiki would be crowd sourced, because thats the only way to ingest that much data. If you want Tython recorded, YOU have to record it.

People just too busy rping to do that.

 

[Zaiya Ceti]

Making a project of coming up with specific tags to use on codex and then enforcing them would be a good way to index them:

Ie

Have a main index that has the different types of tags for people to easily click for:

1) Playable species
2) creatures
3) flora
4) planets
5) etc.


It doesn’t have to be super specific, just enough to allow a faster method of narrowing down the results of what’s in the codex or factory

 

[Makai Dashiell]

Not because you’re lazy or out of touch, but people just haven’t seen good innovative ways its been used so the culture ain’t grabbed it.

I personally love the tag system and use it for every thread I start,so thank you for having it. A lifesaver when I can just click on that tag and not dig and search for what I need.


I think a few more Codex/Factory contests could be something I would like to see. With the renewed focus on Invasions, maybe some contests tied around that to drive other interests and lore building. However, this would require some effort and coordination from MF to help assist with ideas, possibly help judge,etc . I really like what Valery Noble has done with her GA 'contracts'/ 'contests' , also the old contests centering around events I feel were also fun to work with.

 

[Braze]

#afffdc
#ddafff
#ff00cd
#ffcf7a
#ff0000
Pls

 

[Valery Noble]

I will do more contests too. Bit more Codex focus than factory.

 

[Lady Falentra]

I volunteer to help maintain a wiki ~

 

[Zaiya Ceti]

Also, I am unsure how long the length of time the draft will save a draft of a post on the forum before it is deleted, but could it be possible to extend the timeframe? I often start a post and then get back to it the next day, only for it to be gone, and I lose it.

 

[Tefka]

#afffdc
#ddafff
#ff00cd
#ffcf7a
#ff0000
Pls

I’m guessing you’re seeing what I’m doing. Relax homie, I plan on adding custom hex colors you can add via user preferences that will pop up so you can have whatever you want, easily.

I’m less listening to the year 5 requests for a wiki (seriously you can edit tags), more looking to make 2024 a QOL improvement year. Ya’ll gonna get some cool gadgets just keep requestin.

 

[Tefka]

Also, I am unsure how long the length of time the draft will save a draft of a post on the forum before it is deleted, but could it be possible to extend the timeframe? I often start a post and then get back to it the next day, only for it to be gone, and I lose it.

This is up for action.

 

[Darth Empyrean]

As far as wikis, couldn't we just put the emphasis on crowd sourcing and community moderation like most wikis? Chaos has a history of giving more freedom, and you've talked plenty about removing the factory and codex, so why not just make judges help settle discussion disputes and let the community have a greater hand in doing our lore.

We have been doing that, when possible. Mandalore is a great example of community led lore for a planet, but it'd be nice to have that galaxy wide.

 

[Tefka]

As far as wikis, couldn't we just put the emphasis on crowd sourcing and community moderation like most wikis? Chaos has a history of giving more freedom, and you've talked plenty about removing the factory and codex, so why not just make judges help settle discussion disputes and let the community have a greater hand in doing our lore.

We have been doing that, when possible. Mandalore is a great example of community led lore for a planet, but it'd be nice to have that galaxy wide.

Yeah man its so easy

People have energy for rp and asking for things. Wikis are something 90% of us want done for us, not by us.

 

[Darth Prazutis]

I wouldn't say a Factory & Codex Wiki would ever be necessary.

I recall years ago Codex Staff started a page to catalogue the various species on Chaos so you can check them out. It'd be cool if there was something like that to sort through and see all the unique species for people to utilize. I think putting the onus on Staff for the entire thing would be a bit much, maybe a barebones thread like we have to request map updates, but for the codex and factory sections and a template for people to add interesting species and stuff so the community can contribute if they want, to helping sort the endless pages. And that way all a staff member has to do is just paste it in like they do map updates?

Everyone gotta work if they want something like this done, its unreasonable to expect staff to do everything for you.

 

[Rakom]

Updated Indexes of existing Codex materials - Ships, vehicles, tech - perhaps sorted by category.
Purging of deprecated Codex materials - Ships, vehicles, tech built on an outdated system or specific and exclusive to characters no longer extant.