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The Expunging of Live Roleplaying: Skyrim and Live Roleplaying:

  • April 20, 2016

    My name is Christopher Perigoe. You’ve probably never heard of me before now. If you look me up, you’ll see I haven’t been active on the site in years. Today, I’d like to explain why that is.

    I used to be very active on this site. I was a Host even, for the two groups Live Roleplaying: Skyrim and Live Roleplaying: Fallout. You may never have heard of either of those groups either, because they don’t exist anymore. They were removed from the site less than a month ago, wiped clean without even a casual mention of the act.

    Live Roleplaying: Skyrim was a very small group where people got together and, using a live chat interface, role-played as characters in the fantastic world of Tamriel. There were daring quests, many factions, and interesting people and places to explore. At its peak, it had maybe 30 active members, if that. It never drew in the kind of traffic that Character Building does. It never had the insight that the Lore group does. It was small, with few members, but the members who participated loved it with a passion.

    Through the years I have been a stalwart friend of Todd Kern, previously known by the handle Emer Dareloth, now going as The Overseer. When I first found the site and got into Live Roleplaying, he was one of the first people I got to know. When he rose in power within the site hierarchy, he called on me (and a few others) to revamp Live Roleplaying. My job was to create the rules that the members of the group used as part of role-playing, such as resolving combat and handling equipment, and I made those rules, more than once. As time passed the Live Roleplaying group improved, adding “GMs” (pseudo-Hosts) that helped manage the persistent game world that we created. We even added a Fallout group, using wholly different rules that I also created, and while it was also a very small community it was also a huge collaborative effort involving many people, some still with us, some now gone from the site.

    This isn’t to say Live Roleplaying was without its struggles. There was drama, personal conflicts, in-fighting… sometimes it was very stressful. Sometimes I even wondered if it was all worth it. But, at the end of the day, it was Todd’s passion for the group, and the entertainment that our few members got from it, that made it all worth it. Knowing that people cared about what I had worked to achieve made the hundreds of hours of work worth it.

    Earlier this month, Todd (along with the other Admins) decided to remove both Live Roleplaying groups from the site. Soon after the act I spoke with Todd, advocating that he at least make a site announcement that they were removed. I also suggested that he post a link to a website made by Tae-Rai that serves as a spiritual successor to Live Roleplaying. Both of these suggestions were denied, and I was told, and I quote, “When looking back through the history of LRP we realized that the negatives that arose from the group far outweighed the positives.”

    When Todd Kern bought this site, he told me that Live Roleplaying was the reason why he did so, because he cared so much about it that he would pay money out of his own pocket just to keep it alive. When he said that, I believed him, whole-heartedly. Now, my faith in him has been broken.

    To erase these groups from the site, as if they had never existed in the first place, is an insult to all the effort placed into those groups by the members of this site. It sets a dangerous precedent, for all groups on this site, that no matter how much toil and love you pour into something, it can be wiped away in an instant without justification or announcement. It is a declaration that anything you love on this site can be taken from you, and that there is nothing you can do to stop it.

    My name is Christopher Perigoe, and I write this knowing that in all likelihood I will be banned from the site for doing so. I write this knowing that a friendship I have valued for three years will be tested, maybe even broken. I write this because you all deserve to know what happened, what was lost, and why.

    You can find the third edition of the Live Roleplaying: Skyrim rules here. I have also attached the third edition of the Live Roleplaying: Fallout rules to this discussion. These were designed exclusively by myself, and represent only a tiny fraction of the content that these groups once possessed. You all deserve access to this content, whether you care about being involved in it or not.

  • Member
    April 20, 2016
    You work hard, brother, and you came up with some seriously cool gaming systems we can all enjoy now. Me saying "thanks" may not mean much in the long run, but your work speaks for itself and we all thank you! This post is nothing but positive towards the recognition of work you made and work people put into the groups so no worries.
  • Member
    April 20, 2016

    I feel for you here, Chris. I was never into LRP, but I sure know that I would be extremely upset if any of my groups were removed without my input. I don't want to throw anyone under the bus here but I think the community deserved some say on this whole thing, and at the very least, deserved to know when the decision was made. I don't visit several other groups on the site either, but I'd be equally disappointed to wake up tomorrow and find that Fallout Lore or Wasteland Tales were being removed.

    After the drama we had last, year with several high profile bans, I thought the plan was to move into an era of transparency and community involvement in major site decisions. This definitely feels like a major step in the wrong direction.

    Whether or not LRP is brought back, I think some public communication from the admin team (and not just Emer, btw) is due. I also can't see the harm in letting the spinoff site try to recruit here as long as it's not invasive.

    Much respect for putting your heart on the line, Chris. I'm sorry this happened to you and the other LRP crew.

  • Member
    April 20, 2016
    Well, firstly, you aren't going to get banned for expressing an opinion. Not by me anyway.. I'm wondering what you are looking to achieve with this post? Is it get LRP back on the site? To turn people against the people who run the site? To get this off your chest? Genuinely, I'm not seeing what the endgame is here...
  • April 20, 2016
    I may never have been an active participant in live role playing, but as someone who has put countless hours into builds, I can appreciate the countless hours you have put into designing the LRP rule books. I do feel that whatever the admins think of LRP, the group deserves a better send off than erasing it and pretending it doesn't exist.
  • April 20, 2016
    I really don't think Chris is doing this for a malicious reason, Paul.
  • Member
    April 20, 2016

    I agree with Henson Chris, even if his avatar kind of creeps me out

  • Member
    April 20, 2016

    I think its option A, maybe, but mostly option C

  • Member
    April 20, 2016

    I think in Chris's own words, he wrote this "because you all deserve to know what happened, what was lost, and why". LRP community may not have been large, but it had deep roots here, and from what I've been able to gather, those roots were pulled up rather abruptly and not too delicately. And, unless I missed it, with little/no prior input from the community or hosts, and little/no subsequent explanation to the community or hosts. I appreciate Chris's writeup, as an observer with an active role here as a host and as a member of the community.

    I don't know all the details, but from what I do know, I think this is a dangerous precedent and it warrants some public followup -- why the decision was made to remove the group, why was community input never sought, why is the new off-site iteration being disallowed, etc. Are other groups on the chopping block too?

    I have no aspirations to stir the pot, and it doesn't sound like Chris does either, but I do think this was worth sharing, and I hope it generates some positive discussion.

  • Member
    April 20, 2016
    I think I'm right in saying it has been talked about in The Elder Council,but you're right in saying it hasn't been discussed publicly. But then neither were various other groups that have been removed over the years.

    It's fairly well known that I had zero involvement or interest in LRP so I don't have any personal axe to grind or views one way or the other about group.