Planet Thyferra – May the Force Not Shove You Off a Bridge!

by Meleth Oakleaf

I teleported into the sim and was greeted by the now familiar note card of information and vendor market. Though this time with two distinctions, I was standing in front of a shuttle and the note card included a quick overview of the overall thrust of the role-playing story on Planet Thyferra. In a nutshell, Bacta; Thyferra has it thus the Sith have claimed the planet as their own Bacta ranch. The information was concise and well organized enough to make me overlook the spelling errors that the writer in me normally cannot overcome.

I chose to start my exploration in Thyferra Valley, which lacked the beauty of glowing Pandora, but was refreshingly free of lag. In my wandering through the valley I found only one other person. I would have attempted to make conversation but this person was unconscious and had a menacing red bot standing over them. I also found a cute little android who shot at me. I'm sure it would have hurt if I wasn't just a visitor, but I couldn't help but be impressed and think the little guy was kinda cute. After a quick run around the mostly empty valley I wandered back to the ship to travel to a hopefully more populated area.

I then traveled to Xucphra City where I did see eight people lined up in uniform, but their lack of conversation and silence in my arrival gave me the impression that these characters were not currently being attended. I wandered forward toward an impressive doorway lined with red glowing light and was shot at. At first I found this as adorable as the the valley, but then a force weapon shoved me over the edge of the walkway into an unplanned skydive. After falling many feet downward and landing on the roof of an impenetrable structure, I decided to take a break and come back later when there might be more people and less inanimate objects pushing for my demise. 

When I returned recharged by several days of not being thrown off platforms, I decided to start my visit with the PDS temple. I straightened my shoulders and exited the transport shuttle, hoping to be treated with more dignity this visit. My majestic cloak billowed behind me as I stepped onto a Gothic bridge approaching a doorway lined with glowing red vertical stripes.

An uneasy sense of dread filled me as I neared the doorway, though a glance in either direction assured me I didn't have far to fall should the force be against me. As I entered the building safely and my radar was flooded by numerous avatars entering the sim, causing my hopes for the days visit to soar. The lava pit in the middle of the room combined with the red and black banners on the wall left me with no doubt that this temple was of Sith design. I explored every room of this empty temple, thoroughly fascinated by the fact that each teleport consumed my avatar in flame and smoke.  

I quickly teleported through several other options looking for the numerous other people on my radar

I found two caged prisoners, who again had no profiles and were not responsive to my presence. I returned to Xucphra City and carefully avoided the door of force-y death, instead opted to explore the less intimidating parts of the city. I found an empty restaurant and then a cargo bay door. I clicked on the cargo bay door and found myself stuck in a vast open white space unable to stand an unable to teleport to another location within the sim. I took a deep angry breath and teleported home. 

Undaunted I returned to Planet Thyferra and scowled angrily at the traps. I warily clicked on a door labeled “med” and found myself in a lovely but empty medical bay. At this point I raised my fist to the sky and screamed “Richards” I felt better and decided to go through the list of twenty six avatars in the sim, in search of someone to interview. I discovered the creator Silver Bonetto was online. He gracefully agreed to sate my curiosity and help me make sense of this richly detailed but curiously empty sim

Mel: What inspired you to build Planet Thyferra?
Silver : Planet Thyferra is the Bacta Producing Planet of  Starwars Galaxy.  We wanted to make it a Pawn for control of the Bacta in SWRP.

Mel: Who is this “we”?
Silver: We is a complicated answer, I own a Sith Clan named Obsidian Dominion which is about 2.5 years old but this group and myself are part of a grander scale RP based on an Empire RP which I play the part of DLOTS. Many other Sith clan groups, such as “COR” Cult of Ragnos, are allies with the Empire. The Empire obviously wants control of key elements of the galaxy.

Mel: Ah, so do you alone decide the iterations that the sim takes or are the decisions made by the empire?
Silver : What happens in Thyferra is under the control of Evalla Taurog and myself. What happens in the Empire is more democratic control. Well, an OOC democracy otherwise it's an oxymoron.

Mel: So Planet Thyferra is a part of a string of sims in SWRP?
Silver : Yes and no, unfortunately SWRP in SL isn't 100% unified, Its getting better thanks to people like Chrome Heron which have devised systems that all the planets share and are common interest to everyone. His System is called RPI. It allows you to mine for ore and build weapons and sabers from the ore you collect. Each planet has their specific ores.

Mel: Ah that's edifying! So how long has Planet Thyferra been in existence and who is the "we" you referenced?
Silver : The sim has been around for almost three years, always owned by me,  has gone through many names. Its current RP name  obviously is Planet Thyferra, and we are about to make its new grand opening.

Mel: What prompted you to select the FCRS combat system for this sim?
Silver : We have been long time supporters of FCRS and its a great Combat system but due to its creator having to be out of SL for extended amounts of time the system is starting to lack support. So as of yesterday we made the sim RCS default and FCRS backup.

Mel: What advice do you have for new people interested in role-playing on Planet Thyferra?
Silver : Depends what kind of new we are referring to,  If they are new to SL they should ask anyone in the sim for help. If they are seasoned role-players then they can come in and assume a relevant role to SWRP and enjoy the different things to do.

Mel: How would they go about establishing a relevant role to SWRP?
Silver : Well, if they are completely new, The first thing to do is align yourself with an order be it Sith, Jedi, Bounty Hunters, Mando etc.  The Order will help them get clothes correctly and teach them how to defend themselves. And RP etiquette.

Mel: I've wandered this vast sim and I noticed three things I wondered if I could get your comments on them
Silver: Sure.

Mel: Number the first - inanimate objects sometimes shoot me, one time off the edge of your bridge. Is there a way to ingrate myself to these wielders of lasers?
Silver : Yes and no, you must remember this place isn't 100% friendly like a Jedi sim. I do this because I want people to have fun most things that shoot at you can be shot back to and destroyed.  Also, if you are an Obsidian Dominion Clan Member then you are not shot.

Mel: Check. Number the second - I haven't actually come across anyone else in my wanderings. Where do people congregate or are there events where I could find more people?
Silver : Since the sim hasn't had its grand opening, its mostly OOC. Once it opens it will be strictly IC and you will see more people.  Plus since we are Sith we tend to just be in the Sith strong hold , you wouldn't catch a Sith picking flowers in the valley really. That being said, we have an event on the weekends called the "GST" Which is a 3 year running Tournament of Saber dueling which Evalla Taurog runs on Sundays at 1pm SLT. The event alternates between the FCRS and RCS systems and there is a 1000 Linden prize to the winner.

Mel: Nifty! When is the grand opening planned for?
Silver : Within the next few weeks, if nothing gets complicated.

Mel: This article will be published before then, is there anything my readers can look for to know that the grand opening has occurred if they chose to visit?
Silver : I will make a poster or banner for the sim entry

Mel:   Number the last - when I finally got frustrated looking for people in the sim, I ran a check of the profiles of every avatar in the sim looking for a human to speak with. I noticed that twenty one of the  twenty six people in the sim didn't have profiles at the time I read through them, are you using placeholders in the sim?
Silver : Yes, These accounts are part of a larger project which I have taken to a local college.  The college students are in and out of them but are left in the sim because of an interactive system that  Chrome Heron will be installing to make the avatars respond to a quest that the sim visitor can choose to play. So these accounts serve various roles.

Mel: Ah that makes a lot more sense. I was sitting here thinking "Is this guy playing in a sim of one?" How can my readers tell the difference between these quest NPCs and other role-players, other than the lack of profiles?
Silver : That's the magic of it, these avatars sometimes will be autonomous and other times be in other sims acting out their normal roles. So the actual idea is for not to be able to distinguish the difference.  It brings up the level of realism that you aren't just dealing with an NPC.

Mel: That sounds intriguing, when do you expect to see this process implemented?

Silver : Well, Chrome is extremely busy with the RPI system right now so it would be unfair of me to try and get this out of him right now. So I estimate within the next month or two.

After the interview Silver was kind enough to take me on a tour of the planet, including the area behind the doorway that had previously eluded me. He continued to answer questions and was a gracious host. Unfortunately, I'm afraid if this article grows any longer, Pixeleen will shake her editing fist at me.

Until next time, this is Mel signing out.

Comments

[Senban Babii]

Being a kitteh, I'm lazy. Is there any chance you can include SLurls to make it easier to visit? I always end up having to use search to visit the places you write about and usually end up napping with one paw on the keyboard 8P

As a Star Wars fan, I wouldn't mind visiting this place out of interest, just to see whether they've done a nice job of recreating the atmosphere. My only worry is that it will be yet another place where everyone is a Jedi/Sith or a Boba Fett/Mandalorian clone. There's far more to the Star Wars universe than these limited stereotypes. Can I be a Sith Ewok? Hehe j/k ;) Seriously though, they always seem to focus on quite limited stereotypes. I'd rather see a more characterful roleplay setting that didn't have every player as an uber-powerful character, that's just dull, right? Such characters should be rare. I'll definitely visit though as I say.

Hey, I actually have a gonk droid avatar that I can wear if I visit, just to stay in character 8D

I'm also curious, what time period is this set in?

[Jovian]

Seems a lot of RP sims are using bots to game the traffic these days. Its not just a thing of businesses anymore.

[MattyK Snowpaw]

Finally, an actual worthy RP Blog Post that isn't Rape-biased! Woo SWRP.
I just wish the Writer would visit LME, and not just look around, but underline the main fractures and splitting points in these sims and their owners.(Like LME, while it is a total Nub Hotspot full of roleplayers, but with a large Money-biased faction that gets the right to push everybody around just because they rent half the sim's buildings)

[Scylla Rhiadra]

Thanks, Meleth, for this richly detailed description of what will, I'm sure, become a popular sim.

[Bruce]

I have visited a few RP sims that had high traffic numbers,only to find a box of traffic bots high in the sky with a few non-responsive npc's on the ground level. LL should just do away with the traffic count period.

[Inniatzo]

i've never gone into a star wars sims, but this idea for NPCs sounds like a good idea. i saw something like this yesterday in new babbage, a steampunk fortune teller which was a real account with a real person but not actively monitored all the time. there are are a lot of roles in any rp sim which can be covered by something like this.

[Edna]

Nice write up Meatloaf. I notice that you never give a slurl to the places you review. This would be helpful for readers to find the sims you review.

Thanks,
Edna

[Mary Elizabeth]

Congratulations on reviewing a RP sim that doesn't seem to include slavery and naked women.

[rael]

The builds in that sim look terrific.

[Bebop]

A very impressive looking sim for decent people to roleplay in as compared to others filled with sexual deviants.
It is refreshing to see something good in the Alphaville for a change.

[Senban Babii]

I went along for a look and in all fairness, it's a nice place to roam around, they've done a good job, although most of the sim seemed to be closed off when I visited. I even bought the combat system thingy and a Darth Talon costume and wandered round taking some pictures (http://www.flickr.com/photos/whenitchanged/4413738341/sizes/l/). But the only person I came across was some guy who tried to get me to join a Power Rangers roleplaying sim and he shouted at me for riding round the spaceport on an R2 unit XD