Posted by Kim on November 17, 2014, 2:16pm
Finally, after almost four years, groups leave the alpha stage! This is a monumentally exciting achievement. For a complete list of what changed in this morning's update, see the patch notes.To celebrate, we're holding two contests, where you can win fabulous prizes.
But first, take a look back with me at how long and hard this journey has been.
The long journey to groups
January 25th 2011: Groups are first released in alpha. They are so rickety and incomplete that there isn't really an official news post about it, just some messages on Facebook and Twitter.
August 15th 2011: Top Secret Groups are introduced, allowing groups to wrap themselves with a cloak of invisibility for perfect stealth mode.
October 17th 2011: This is the day the entire site got a facelift. After this patch, group notifications are for the first labeled with which group the activity occurred in, and notifications can be filtered by certain groups.
October 31st 2011: The Great Bug Bounty Hunt fixed multiple group related bugs: invitations to groups were relocated, group widgets could be saved again, group forums could be deleted again, fixed an error with group applications and the generation of a notification for applying.February 29th 2012: I naively believe that I'm going to be able to move groups out of alpha shortly, as I merrily make a number of behind the scenes upgrades. Oh, how young and foolish I was! Huge amounts of writing, planning and work is going on at this point.
January 2nd 2013: Eager to finally, finally, finally launch groups, I announce the "Year of the Group" - an effort to bring groups out of alpha, and a pledge that I won't work on much else until groups are officially launched.January 12th 2013: The year of the group starts strong, with Group Event calendars added just two weeks in.
April 19th 2013: Groups were added to the RP Finder with new Publicity settings.
October 6th 2013: All the group setting administrative screens are completely reorganized. Almost nothing is where it used to be. For the first time, it's possible to create custom group applications, using any number of short answer questions, long answer questions, checkboxes and plain old instructions. New membership criteria settings are launched.
December 15th 2013: A huge patch adds changes for group moderators, founders and a couple of other features. This is the advent of the group moderator log, and a lot of other community management tools. Darth_Angelus releases the second of his RPR group fan films, about resolving conflicts within a group...
Unfortunately, this was the end of the "Year of the Group," and didn't see the launch of groups. 2013 was a brutal year of illness for me, and production schedules just kept slipping and slipping...
May 23rd 2014: Widgets are the center of attention in this new group patch. Sidebars get moved to their own section of the administrative interface, the "universal" sidebar is added for the first time, and better support for adding widgets via touchscreens.
July 11th 2014: The recruitment widget, the launch chat widget, the search widget and the gallery widgets are added to groups! Plus, better image handling and a variety of bug fixes.
July 28th 2014: The groups main page has received a full overhaul, making it easier and more organized than ever! Keywords are added to groups, and groups can be searched for in a whole lot of new ways.
October 14th 2014: Groups resize to work on mobile and tablet devices, group members can be ordered alphabetically or by role, and group notifications are improved.
November 17th 2014: Groups are officially launched! Group treasures, role-restricted pages and forums, group epicness, extra group pages, oodles of new customization options and more are added.Contests!
I think all of that is worth celebrating, don't you? We're kicking off the festivities with two contests. Win yourself some fabulous prizes!
The Dice Roll Tombola is the simplest game in the world: Just roll a hundred sided die, and you could win!
Want more of a challenge? Looking to stretch your creative muscles? Try out the haiku contest instead. All you have to do is compose a roleplay or RPR group themed haiku.You've got ten days to enter both, so hop to it!
And what's this?...
New accolades in the form of glowing, fiery feathers have been spotted hither and thither across the site. Will you be one of the lucky few to snag one of these beauties?... More details on that tomorrow!
Comments
Yeeeeeaaaaasss!!!! MOAR AWESOME THINGS!
*wiggles*
*wiggles*
Phoenix feathers! Oooh.... I want one.... they look o warm and soft and... eternal life-y... ooooh....
Maybe I can revive one of my downed party members :p
But this is seriously cool, can't wait to see how these new features will affect the Roleplay Kingdoms, it'l e a blast I'm sure!
Maybe I can revive one of my downed party members :p
But this is seriously cool, can't wait to see how these new features will affect the Roleplay Kingdoms, it'l e a blast I'm sure!
I want a pretty feather 
*grabby hands*
*grabby hands*
I'm sooooo pumped for this update. I already activated group Epicness for New Versailles.
It's on.
It's on.
don't have* I'm sorry, my phone's browser's keyboard really sucks.
*tucks her new accolades into her trophy case and gives them a little polish*
I can't even begin to describe how happy this update makes me!! Although I have o big group of my own, other than my knitting group, I've been having a blast exploring all the features!!
I'm diving into custom CSS soon. *dances*
I can't even begin to describe how happy this update makes me!! Although I have o big group of my own, other than my knitting group, I've been having a blast exploring all the features!!
I'm diving into custom CSS soon. *dances*
Vali99
November 18, 2014
8:42am