Original post: http://chronet.com/threads/chronets-two-year-anniversary.4484/

Today, 24 October 2014, marks the 2nd anniversary of Chronet.

2 years ago today some of us were anxiously waiting for the 24th October 2012 to arrive, waiting for the coming soon countdown timer to reach 0. Now, 730 days later, here we are.

Last year (for our 1 year anniversary) I wrote a lengthy post, which involved thanking all the people that helped Chronet getting it where it is today. If you wern't around back then, or missed it, be sure to check it out here: http://chronet.com/threads/chronets-one-year-anniversary.2406/

This year I'm going to keep things a bit more casual, and probably shorter. But let's see how it goes.

It really is crazy to think it's been over 5 years, all the way back in 2009, since I (and some of you) started being involved in this community. I really do think it's quite an achievement for us to still be here today, I would never have thought back then that buying Garry's Mod would have changed my life so dramatically.
Although I made (and for some reason published) my first website when I was 12, True-RP was the first project I was involved in that actually meant anything to people outside my real life friend group and family. I started meeting people from around the world and it was the first time I started coding things that I was excited about and which influenced other people (I had coded lots of stuff before - HTML, Python, VB, etc; but True-RP was the first time that I coded something and people actually gave me feedback - a huge motivator). Fast forward to April the next year (April 2010), Core Strike Network was born.
It's weird to think that you've changed another persons life over the internet. People occasionally get in contact with me and tell me how Chronet (or predecessors) has changed their life or how x and y has happened because of the community. Just thinking of a small example, if I were to release a RP update the night before a persons test, and they ended up playing all night on the server and failed their test the next day, that persons day - or maybe even week - would have been changed. I know this is a bad example, but I couldn't think of anything better on the spot. Anyway, the point is, I'm sure that True-RP, CSN, or Chronet have in some way (even if small) changed peoples lives. Meeting a friend through the community is probably something that has happened to most of you. It's always great to hear about situations like that too.

I've tried to keep the word 'I' out of the above as much as possible, because it's not just me doing all these things. It's everyone in this community we call Chronet. We are a community, and a community is full of people who share a common interest. In our case, gaming and most likely Garry's Mod. These last couple of paragraphs have turned more into a blog post than a anniversary post, but the TL;DR of all this was that one should always keep in mind that for every friend of your on Steam, or member browsing or posting on the forums, or for every player you meet in game - there is a real life person sitting behind a computer somewhere in the world.

So to all of those real life people out there who have contributed to this community in some way - by playing on our servers, posting/rating on our forums, etc, and especially to administrators - a huge thank you! I know I've said it before, but without you, Chronet wouldn't exist.

As for updates and celebrations, please bare with me while everything falls into place. Standalone gamemode, hats, halloween update, competitions, website upgrade, hats - a lot of things are in the works. First priority is the standalone (non-DarkRP) gamemode, and I hope to get a dev/test server up this weekend.

And now to hint at the future, 2015 should be the most exciting year yet, and I'm extremely excited for what the future holds. But more on that next year!

For now, thanks again to all of you, and keep being awesome!

Until next time,
Simple

PS. As of tomorrow, Chronet will be longest running community of all 3. True-RP lasted around 6 months, CSN for 2 years, and as of tomorrow, Chronet with 2 years and 1 day :)

http://chronet.com/threads/chronet-roleplay-goodbye-darkrp.4386/

Edit: Just to clarify (since some people seem to be confused), the server isn't being removed or anything. There are just going to be some major code changes, which in essence is DarkRP being removed.

It's been a long time coming, but Chronet Roleplay will soon be DarkRP-less. This means that the DarkRP gamemode that Chronet is built upon, is going to be completely removed, and replaced with a custom gamemode base.

Before I continue, just a little tribute to DarkRP.
DarkRP has without a doubt shaped the way the Garry's Mod Roleplay scene is today. Since True-RP in 2009, DarkRP has always been a fundamental part of our roleplay gamemode. It's hard to say, but without DarkRP, there is a chance that Chronet wouldn't be here today. Modifying DarkRP is why I started coding Lua originally back in late 2008 (back when "Custom" in the server title actually meant the server was custom). Before True-RP even started, I first worked on a DarkRP server where I added jobs and shipments. Back then, adding just these 2 things made your server a top competitor for the best RP server out there. DarkRP provided, and still provides, a good platform for beginners and skilled coders a like to build upon. To finish off this little DarkRP tribute, just a thanks to FPtjie (The current DarkRP developer) and the past developers on their work.

The time has now come though to say goodbye to DarkRP. At the current stage, our RP gamemode only utilizes DarkRP for a limited amount of functions (Eg. Networking, jobs, money, chat, and a few other things. And then FAdmin for admin things, and FPP for prop protection). All in all, I would say around 15% of DarkRP is used on the server. A lot of the remaining 85% is disabled modules, but a big chunk of that is also huge overhead on the server with lots and lots of unused and unnecessary code. Removing this will hugely increase server performance and also create a far easier platform to build upon. It's with this mind that I've decided to venture out of the dark and remove DarkRP. It all honestly, it should have been done a long time ago.

To further add to this change, a few other core gamemode systems are going to be fundamentally changed (mainly the structure of the database). This means that when this update is released, the wipe will happen. The jobs system will also be changing with this update, but more on that later.

As for when this update is going to be released...soon. You've probably noticed the server hasn't received an update the past 2 weeks. As you can guess, this is because I've been working on the above. I'm going to use the classic "when it's done" for the timeframe of release, since I'm not sure how long it's going to take. But expect a few weeks minimum.

- Simple

PS. One month to go till our 2 year anniversary!

I'm happy to announce that Semi-Serious is now live!

As discussed before, we are now on the On Launch stage (see this thread[chronet.com])
The following has now happened:

- A variety of changes and updates I've been working on over the last month or so.
- Server will be officially renamed to Semi-Serious.
- Gamemode name will stay the same.
- Map will stay the same.
- No inventory/money wipe will occur on launch. We need to make sure everything is ready before this (Ie. Our goals are achieved if regards to the economy. Eg. Guns are more rare. No point wiping everything and then finding out that guns are still too easy to get)

In a few weeks (or months), we'll move onto the next stage, Short Term.
This is when a server wipe will occur. For more details see this thread.
More information about the wipe will be available as time goes by.

As mentioned before, things are not balanced. Things are probably going to be under or over priced. Some food items might not give you enough hunger, etc, etc. Please give feedback on things you don't think are balanced.

The massive changelog can be found here[chronet.com]:
http://chronet.com/threads/update-100-semi-serious.4213/

Other things, such as rule updates, etc will change soon.

Hopefully the update was worth the wait!
Please remember to give feedback where necessary.

Thanks for all the support :)

- Simple

Full thread: http://chronet.com/threads/incoming-semi-serious-roleplay-update.4186/

The Semi-Serious roleplay update is on track to be released this weekend. Depending on how this week goes the update will probably be released on Sunday afternoon (24 August 2014 - GMT time).

As stated in this thread [chronet.com], the following will happen On Launch:

- A variety of changes and updates will make their way onto the server.

• Most of the updates are new systems that have been put in places to encourage more RP (amongst other things of course)
  
• Things will not be balanced. Balancing will happen over time and things will change constantly as we prepare the server to be fully released (See Short Term on this thread [chronet.com]). This is when the server will be wiped.
  
• There will be bugs. Think of the server going back into beta for a few weeks.​

- Server will be officially renamed to Semi-Serious.
- Gamemode name will stay the same.
- Map will stay the same.
- No inventory/money wipe will occur on launch. We need to make sure everything is ready before this (Ie. Our goals are achieved if regards to the economy. Eg. Guns are more rare. No point wiping everything and then finding out that guns are still too easy to get).

I must remind you that you shouldn't expect the entire server 'seriousness' to change overnight. The change from Lite RP to Semi-Serious (and all that comes with it) is a process that will take months to achieve. However as of day 1 of launch, we will start being more strict and enforce Semi-Serious rules and roleplay - adapt or die (or banned instead of die in this case).

I'm sure everyone is very excited about the new update (I know that the staff and I am), we're almost there.

See you on launch day,
Simple

See original announcement here:
http://chronet.com/threads/the-future-of-chronet-roleplay.3758/

The future of Chronet GMod Roleplay is coming. I'm happy to announce that we’re taking our Lite Roleplay server to the next level. And we’re going to do this together, with you.

Chronet wouldn’t be here today if it weren't for our GMod Roleplay server(s). Since our humble beginnings in 2009 with TrueRP, we’ve had a GMod roleplay server that surpassed all others in our field, constantly evolving to stay relevant. We were one of the first servers to have saving vehicles on the Evocity map in 2009, just as today we’re one of the only DarkRP servers to have such a massive amount of custom features completely unique to our server. We innovate and update the server regularly with new features; big or small, they’re what sets us a part from the 1000s of other generic ‘raid n print’ DarkRP servers out there.

Besides the actual gamemode, our success also lies in our staff and player base. Contrary to popular belief, our player base is rather decent. Especially considering the server is ‘Lite Roleplay’ and most players coming onto the server are there to kill each other and print money. Getting some actual roleplaying done is quite an accomplishment for a Lite RP DarkRP server. So thanks to everyone for doing their part.

Now comes the point of this announcement:

It’s time to go to the next level with our roleplay server, it’s time to get a bit more serious. Semi-Serious.

If you didn’t quite catch that, I’ll make it more clear. Lite Roleplay will soon be a Semi-Serious Roleplay server. What this means is entirely partially (because the ‘customer/player’ doesn’t always know what they want) up to you.

Let’s face it, we’re far more than a ‘Lite Roleplay’ server and calling our server that doesn’t do us justice. In lots of ways, we treat the server like a serious roleplay server, or at least serious for DarkRP. So why not call the server Serious RP? Well, Serious RP is often associated with HL2RP, /me, passive RP, character progression/development and generally very strict rules on what you can and cannot do when it comes to playing on the server. Semi-Serious is mix of both worlds, and I think it’s perfect for what we have on our GMod roleplay server.
We’re often held back on introducing new features, rules, and gameplay changes on the server because “it’s too serious for Lite RP”. By changing the server to Semi-Serious we can remove some of the limitations and focus on some true RP.

This isn’t simply just a title change though. The entire server ethos, goals, vision and gamemode will transform.

Thus brings me onto another topic, gamemode content and scripts.

A variety of things will change over time to incorporate our new Semi-Serious standard. Things like enforced RP names, titles, more player driven economy, hunger system, etc will make their way on to the server.

Where I need you though (the people who are responsible for the longevity of the server & community) is just how far we should go in the transformation.
For example, it is now 100% possible to change the map over to Evocity (or similar) and introduce a proper vehicles system (saving them, Government vehicles, etc). We can introduce crafting on a much larger scale. Skills (maybe even skill trees) can be added. Anything that was not possible in the past due to “it’s too serious for Lite RP” is now a possibility. And the sky is the limit. You, alongside with management and staff, are responsible for deciding whether the above examples should be implemented or not. We’re not a AAA game studio or a stingy community, so trial and error (Ie. Failing and succeeding) is an option. So let’s do something radical and make the Semi-Serious server together, for all of us.

As for the server name, we’ll discuss what we’re going to call it. It could simply be “Semi-Serious Roleplay” or we can come up with something else.

The change from Lite Roleplay to Semi-Serious Roleplay is expected to happens over the next month or so. There will be a lack of server updates between now and then; as I’m preparing the gamemode for the switch. But there has now never been a better time to suggest those ideas you’ve always wanted but held back by the server seriousness!

Over the next few weeks I’ll create a few threads to discuss certain aspects of the change to Semi-Serious, your input and feedback will be imperative.

I hope everyone else is excited as I am about this big change.

Feel free to message me on any concerns, questions, or comments you may have. Or better yet, make a thread about it.

Until next time,
Simple