April of this year marks the 20th anniversary of DSL.

My wife and I started this game back back in 1996 by trading ideas off of notebook paper while we answered phone calls in a call in center. (before we were even married) I got a job as a web developer for an ISP (back before it was cool) and talked my company into hosting the game for a part of my wages. We started with a handful of players and staff (such as Kyri) and we even had to lead many of the original clans ourselves. (trivia fact: I was the first leader of Knighthood) Since then, we have had over 10 coders, more than 50 immortals, and have seen thousands of players. We have added over 40 new classes (not including remorts), including 4 this year with a new one in very soon. (Hello Brewmaster) That's more than 2 a year! We have added so many new areas, content, code and new features that there is no way I would even want to try to list them here. After all, this is 2016 and this is my address to you for what we are doing NOW.

A lot has been born to life since 1996, including the first "DSL baby", our son Dustin. Dustin is now a senior in high school and is only a few months from graduating and will be attending college. I have a list somewhere around here of all "DSL couples" and "DSL babies", meaning children brought into this world from parents who met on DSL. (I try not to keep track of divorces)

I bring this up for one reason. Despite our differences, we are more than just a game. We ARE a community. Most of us ARE a family. I love that when my travels take me to other cities, I ALWAYS seem to know somewhere there to meet up with for dinner or a beer. That is how I see this game and that is how I see our community. We have something very special here and I vow to each of you that despite the down turn of text based games, we will continue to keep this game alive and continue to add content and features.

I know that my interest has not waned in the past 20 years and as long as there are people who still read books when there are movies out there, we have a future and a community.

Since I last addressed the playerbase (Con 2015) we have implemented 4 new reclasses, made countless changes and additions and an unreal amount of bug fixes. If you happen to be a game or a developer (or perhaps a game developer) then you know that 1 change can and will affect thousands of other things and so the bug fixing efforts have been a very large order. So this stuff is not easy and it takes a lot of work from more than just a few people to get it in and eventually try to get it right.

So here is what is on the agenda in 2016. No, this is not everything. As I say every year, I am ambitious and sometimes real life kicks us right in the nads. There are some stuff left out nd as I say every year, there will be some stuff added because I'm an ADHD kind of guy and I get impulsive when inspired.

Also, as I say every year, your attitudes about the game and with the staff DIRECTLY influence how much work we get done for you. It's human nature. When people act like entitled butt-holes, or demand constant attention, it's human nature for people to NOT to want to help them. So be nice, have a positive atitude and do not be afraid to say "THANK YOU" or to give an Imm a compliment now and then. It really does go a long way. We are going to work on this as a staff as well.

Anyway, the list:

-THE 2016 DSL CONVENTION

I'll make a separate post for this, but this years Convention will be back in Breckenridge Colorado on July 29 and 30th. I intend for DSL's 20th year Convention to be VERY special and so I chose what is my absolute favorite location for Con.

However, the cabin that we have used twice is not available on these dates and so we WILL find a new place to host it. When I can afford the down payment and have a place picked out, I will share the address so that other people can find lodging near by. I will be starting a new donation drive as we need help getting the funds for Con as well as the monthly expenses for hosting the game.

-BREWMASTER

The last of the Oriental classes will be playable this month. Following this class, a storyline will begin about WHY people are starting to learn all of these Shokono and Dojia secrets.

-KINGDOM WARS

This is my #1 priority now and this will open up THIS MONTH! (make a joke about this and I will seriously hate you behind your back)

If you are a kingdom leader, then you should have a login. I updated them all this week already. If you don't, write me an in-game OOCN. (and email me for good measure)

The new instructions on how to play will detail the new system but here are 10 things you need to know now.

1- This is a round based system that will be updated every single Wednesday barring any real life emergencies.
2- Anyone can own an army and try to take over the world.
3- There is no more risk of perma death unless you are a remort or a kingdom leader or own your own army. However, you CAN be taken prisoner of war and be unable to play your character for a 30 day period at a time.
4- Kingdoms will rise and Kingdoms will fall, but please do not expect to have us rewrite or delete entire cities everytime they are conquered. Cities have thousands of citizens and it is not always possible to raze it down. Requests within reason will be handled on a case by case basis.
5- There will be a live Map on the webpage that shows up to date territories and current battles.
6- It's a REALITY that kingdoms will fall. So make alliances.
7- It is NOT easy to invade and win. But it can and will be done.
8- Every war, every battle should drive a LOT of good Role-play. Be a good loser if you do not win something.
9- Battles aren't always over after 1 round. They can take time and allow for a change in strategy and allow for help to arrive.
10- New Kingdoms can be started. (not easily of course, but its possible)

-ACFL

The 6th season of the Algoron Capture the Flag League will begin on April 3rd. I will begin the owners meeting this week and we will be hosting makeshift ACFL matches until then.

We WILL have a new annual PRE-SEASON kickoff match between the current ACFL Champions and the Magma Cup Champions before the season begins. The Del'Nichis will match every egg bet on this game and pool the money into to next DSL lottery jackpot.

Rules changes are going to require a vote from owners with me having veto power. I expect that we may be auctioning off a team or two to new owners. Owners, start checking your note spools next week for instructions.

-STAT CHANGES

This has begin and it will intensify throughout the year. While we will not be pausing development on this, we will be introducing these changed very gradual so as to not shock everyone into rage.

-NEW SCRIPTING ENGINE

You may have noticed Bioteq or myself geek out over adding the Lua scripting language to DSL, but this is a big deal. This will allow us to design mobs, areas and even in game stories to interact with you in never before seen ways. It will also let us track your decisions and progress in dozens of automated quests throughout the world. This leads to epic class storylines and so many more things. It also allows us to design "intelligent" behaviour in mobs, objects and areas. The engine is in and once again functional so hopefully you will start seeing some new features shortly. I really can not ay enough aout how exciting this additional is.

-OLD CLASSES LOOK

Old classes will be updated with new toys and changes to better reflect the current environment. Some will improve, some may not.

-REMORT CHANGES

We are changing the way that dragons breath weapons work. They will be more powerful, more effective, but they will use a CHAMBER stat and not mana so they will be unable to be used as often.

We will see more Angels, Demons and Balanx and there will be some improvements to these characters.

-AGL

You are already seeing this pick back up and it will continue to run, even through ACFL, Clan Wars and the next World Games.

As I said earlier, there is more. But this is the focus and I wanted to share what's being looked at the most at the moment.

-Scorn