Hi.
I have been putting this announcement off for a few days now, hoping it will somehow go away on its own, but that's not how it works. In my head, this was one of the last causes for this announcement to be made, and yet here we are today.
What?
Due to some unfortunate real-life circumstances, I will no longer be able to run Lancer in any meaningful capacity. The whole situation is a little complicated and I'm not perfectly comfortable sharing the specifics publicly in an announcement such as this one, but life is finally forcing me to focus on my family, myself, and my future, leaving little time for Lancer to the point where pretending anything meaningful would actually happen with it would be just that - pretending.
Now what?
The forums will be archived and closed somewhere around the end of the month, so will the server. The Steam Group will be archived. The discord will likely be transformed into a general community/hangout/gaming server, and the Half-Life 2 Roleplay-related channels will be archived. The Patreon will be closed, and supporters will receive a refund (upon request) for the months that the server was inactive.
What's next?
My very first roleplay server lasted a single day post-release. I had no idea what I was doing, and I fell flat on my face. My second server lasted around three months post-release. I had gained some experience from being a Staff Member on other servers and managed to do decently for a short while. My third server, Lancer, lasted a little over a year (12 months and 28 days) post-release. I had gained the experience that I needed from several sources in the past, including developing, managing a community, and more. Following this pattern, I think it is safe to say that, if and when there is a next time, we will do far better than we did this time around. I am unsure as to whether it will be Half-Life 2 Roleplay the next time around, given the state of the gamemode, but who knows what the future holds. Clearly, it holds the unexpected.
I'd like to say that I had an incredible time playing with all of you. Some outsiders may claim that the server and the community as a whole was a 'failure', and given the playercounts as of late, yes, you could claim that to be the case. But success to me is not about how many players are on - it is about having fun. Through this community, several people were brought together over something they love and established strong friendships that will last for years, one of those people being me. That, to me, is a big success, as far as I am concerned, and nobody can convince me otherwise.
I want to thank every single one of you for playing on the server and sticking with us for as long as you did, even through difficult times such as the one as of late; especially the entire Lancer Team - the Staff, the Event Team, the Faction Leaders, and everyone in-between. This was definitely an experience that I will look back to for several years in the future (hell, I'm already looking back to it, and I miss it), and I hope the same applies to you as well.
If you wish to continue following on the state of Half-Life 2 Roleplay and/or find another server to call home, check out the Half-Life 2 Roleplay Hub.
It has been a blast. Thank you.
