with avatar coming onto netflix, i suddenly got reminded of one of my other "sites that could have been"

which was white lotus online - a vr-mmo site set in the avatar / korra universe. the original "plot" was meant to be that we were in kind of the "next avatar" in the cycle and the order of the white lotus had devised this new video game where you could emulate being a bender but it was secretly a way for them to try to locate the new avatar (because the avatar would be able to bend all four elements). but i also think, now that i'm reconsidering it, it might have also been really cool to do as kind of an au "aang died with the airbenders, the fire nation ended up winning the war, the avatar cycle ended when the avatar couldn't be reincarnated into the air nation (because they were all dead), people lost the ability to bend because the avatar was gone, this video game now exists in the modern day, bending is now a thing again in the real world wtf and oh spirits why is there more than one person that can bend multiple elements-" and just..... make it revolve around people rediscovering how to bend in the wake of the avatar cycle finding a new way to live.

i honestly don't have the time or desire to really delve back into it as a concept (i'm so burned out on staffing just as a concept), but i still think it would just be a really cool idea that would be a potentially interesting way to conceptualize a lot of the bending without making it too much of a pain to deal with for things like the bending tournaments or duels (or, alternatively, dealing with who's the avatar / what's going on with the avatar).

The only other site I had considered making, and still have the forum for but never got around to it, was a role play based on the anime Zombie Loan.

It was called Epitaph, and it was primarily a competition site where everyone would compete against one another for their loaning company by completing bounties and paying off their debt. Initially, I thought it was a great idea and still think about trying it out, but it was made many years ago and wasn't sure if it would take off.

I also made a generations site for one of my current role plays (everyone can make their character's children from the original site, thought it was adorable) but it wasn't something I would release to the public, haha.

DIGIMON MULTI-THEME SITE

opens up with a SUMMER WARS setting as a SoL site. nothing special but exploring human characters in a heavily digital setting where the world relies on the internet for everything.

first event is within a week of launch. this entire arc is mmorpg / pokemon themed.

DIGITAL MONSTERS

several users have found an ancient server called the DIGITAL WORLD. their avatar is replaced with a digital monsters they pick that have set attacks, abilities, and stats. they explore the game world and fight against a variety of staff generated NPCs. they can create their own adventures for basic thread rewards. their avatar reverts back to normal outside of the event.

rewards for staff generated encounters involve downloading the enemies data for EXP or turning that data into a BATTLECHIP. battlechips are consumable items that allow the user to copy a digimon's attack / ability. some chips with be a single attack; some will be abilities that last X amount of turns. they reflect the digimon they were collected from.

pvp is allowed and follows same rules. no one loses anything for dying. winners gets a reward based off ic scenarios. losers get higher thread rewards.

first staff boss fight introduces DIGIVOLUTION mechanic; digimon can spend EXP to evolve during a thread. they get new moves, abilities, and stats. after the boss fight is finished players can purchase this in an ooc shop. digivolving in a thread is cheap and scales with stage. permanent digivolutions are incredible expensive and balanced around active players hitting rookie. crazy active character might possibly have a champion.

arc concludes with meeting the DIGITAL WORLD'S administrator: alpha. they are a benevolent being that warns the players about the final boss: omega. omega has the ability to absorb and permanently use the powers of everyone it defeats. it's an uphill battle with players able to use digivolutions for free for hype / shounen moments. ends with a miserable defeat by end-game boss. however, this buys time for alpha to wipe out the server. 

characters that participated in the event are now canon characters called the DIGIDESTINED.

arc ends and DIGITAL WORLD boards are removed. all related threads are thrown into archives labeled for the arc. site goes back to being a SoL SUMMER WARS site for a week or two while staff tidy up and prepare for next arc.

next event is a transitional follow up. DIGIDESTINED wake up to find their digimon now replaces their avatar. these digimon now have their own personality. all members are scaled up to start from ROOKIE level. anyone who has acquired rookie is given either the EXP equivalent or a unique battlechip.

this arc is megaman.exe / our war game themed.

site will divide into factions and a new mode of pvp will open up based off cops and robbers. 

BATTLE NETWORK

digimon now appear all over the internet. some seek out human partners while others wreck havoc. digimon without human partners do not understand the harm they are doing. they devour data to satisfy their hunger / digivolve at the cost of many essential internet services. real world repercussions involve hospital networkS going offline, disruption of electrical service, decimating bank accounts. 

players can now app as human-less digimon. they start at the CHAMPION level. human-less digimon that start at the CHAMPION level permanently die when killed. those that die create a unique battlechip that are given to the player to distribute as they pleased. all other digimon respawn when killed. 

eventually digimon are classified into two generalizations: those that live in harmony with people and those that do not. those that do not are not necessarily evil. some humans are staring to use digimon for nefarious purposes. in response, humans enact a new global faction to stop digimon related crime: DIGIMON DATA SQUAD. this is just a canon good guy group to make plotting easier for some members. 

new pvp mode involves thread creator starting an objective and the other faction jumping in to stop it. you can only be in one of these threads at a time. you can only create one of these a week. this is subject to change based off activity but unless it was super active i didn't foresee it shortening.

thread creator will list a posting deadline in their opener. each round will happen in X amount of days. if you do not meet that round your post can be skipped and you take a non-lethal autohit. if you miss three rounds you are ejected from the thread. you cannot permanently die for being afk ejected. 

each thread has an overall prize pool. this scales up exponentially with the amount of participants.

the rewards are divided up based off:

• amount of people of each faction.
• if the faction is successful.
• amount of post by the participant.

the idea is that you can get jumped by a bunch of people and still come out with more money than any one of those individuals. same thing with people who join at the end to finish someone off. although someone coming in at the last moment may skewer which side wins, if there are enough people having someone else join in may prove more profitable based off how raw participation scaling.

if a pvp thread is created and no one picks it up within a 7 days, the creator will get a default reward. rewards for these type of threads is a new currency that is solely used for BATTLECHIPS.

lore events will focus on building up bad players to make them site villains. other events will allow players to interact with NPCs alpha and omega.

omega will reveal that he was programmed to keep the digimon from breaking out onto the net. DIGIDESTINED may realize that every death caused by digimon was due to their actions. omega will paint alpha as the secret villain. 

once a month an omega thread will pop up. players can challenge omega to a battle. if they lose omega will absorb their abilities and continue to become more powerful for future encounters. if they win they get a unique reward. 

alpha will reveal that they have evolved beyond data. they have emotions, thoughts, and arguably a soul. digimon are no different and they could not let them stay within the game world. this covers an iROBOT plot point. alpha demonstrates a deep desire to live like humans. 

staff will occasionally make an open alpha thread as they deem fit. mostly to rp as alpha and their character phase. those that befriend alpha may get a small reward or their backup in future events. 

although the cop and robbers pvp system is clear cut good vs bad i wanted to create less official faction based off ic philosophy. while none of this will be decided based off of member types i thought it would add a lot to plotting. 

arc will wrap up with a staff generated invasion. SCILABS, the world's most famous laboratory, is being invaded by either an evil organization (would be nice is player created group) or the world's strongest digimon. this digimon would have been used in other staff generated threads and escaped repeatedly upon losing. the lore behind it is that it kept eating data and evolving.

regardless of the outcome, alpha will invade the lab as well in order to access a secret project. they succeed regardless of player intervention and access a new technology that's introduced in the next arc.

all members are scaled up to start from CHAMPION level. anyone who has acquired champion is given either the EXP equivalent or a unique battlechip. human-less digimon can start at the ULTIMATE level.

this arc is kamen rider / super sentai themed. site enters end game and not much more will change systematically. anything else that happens is story based events + superficial features that focus on encouraging positive rp behaviors.

BEYOND THE LOOKING GLASS

SCILABS was creating technology that could materialize objects from the internet. alpha managed to infiltrate it and now exists in the human world. this is now a character and used for SoL threads. eventually the world discovers this it becomes an arms race to see who else can perfect it. this also opens up more character philosophy and what should we do versus what can we do.

three technologies are introduced that allow combat to take place in reality.

• digital fields: digimon can spawn in a wide area for X amount of time.
• dimensional chips: this allows humans to materialize aspects of their digimon as power suits
• digiroids: toddler sized silicon dolls that can have a digimon hooked up into them. they will temporarily become the digimon. this can be used anywhere. 

digital fields will initially be spawned by staff. eventually thread creators can use them but a mod will post how many post they last and how far their reach is.

dimensional chips will be unique to the DIGIMON DATA SQUAD at first. they become available after the first few introduction threads. users cannot digivolve but gain the benefit of a smaller size compared to most digimon. also i just think cross fusion is cool.

digiroids are the most universal and arguably the best however you have to buy them with exp / currency. they can also break and must be carried around outside of their usage timer.

naturally all this is a lot of work, devotion, and something i could not keep up with while making it what i considered 'successful'.

man if i wasn't so exhausted by the absolute thought of modding it........

a 'mon site (pokemon or digimon would work) with the idea of just....... the world all started to go into cyberspace but oh no there's a systems error and everyone gets trapped there a la your basic "trapped in a vrmmo site" with wiggle room to add in nongamers. civilians are trying to cope in their new cityscape digital world (and any dysphoria for if they hacked their avatar interface to change their avatar for inhuman appendages / different hair colors / general different appearances) and players are grouping up into guilds (that are 100% member driven) to go into the "deep dungeons" of cyberspace to explore for materials to evolve their 'mon + get data to expand the team beyond the starter partner. dungeons are randomly generated by members (to ease mod strain), scale upwards in difficulty based on party size + power levels, and are a mixture of "combat" encounters (aka fighting trash mobs) and "exploration" encounters (aka being presented with an obstacle you can hack your way around if you've purchased the right hacker skill, auto clear if you have a 'mon with a skill that would get around it, or roll to clear it the hard way). hackers and normal players balance out because hackers have an easier time with exploring (since imo the skills are easy clears) and normal players have an easier time with combat (since they have more resources to put into their 'mon) and you can play a bit of both sides pretty easily.

i honestly don't have the spoons to set it up and run it, which is tragic, but hey, it's free real estate if anyone wants it (all i ask is that you send me a link if you do it and just..... don't give it super grindy or super tedious mechanics and that you have a super easy freeform app and be on jcink but that's just my personal preference since hey i'd probs join it if it was done well).