Roleplayer Guild - Roleplay Forum

I've noticed that a lot of good threads that people have created (with seemingly good story lines) have gone dead after the first post (usually the intro post). I was just curious as to why only a few good threads in the Advanced Section (i.e. Against All Odds, Royal Assassins..., Tribulation *cough...mine*, Hostile, and Dragon Riders) have managed to stay alive and go far, but others have not?

I'm posting this so others can give me some feedback and post what types of threads or genres they're interested in. I'm trying to plan out a roleplay that just more than two-three people will participate and be active in so I can try to lighten things up on the forum. It seems odd to only have a few good threads on a board that wants to be known for its members roleplaying skills. I've started a thread called Gibralter, but I could only get enlightened to join up, and he doesn't post much. My other one, Metroid Prime: Son of the Aran, went dead after a few posts and I didn't think there was anything wrong with it (either that or I'm just ignorant and blind). The problem I'm trying to address here is this: people drop out of threads that they no longer take interest in and leave the thread starter behind to figure out what went wrong. If we could just show some honesty and good criticism every once and a while, then maybe we can all participate in great threads that go on for 100s of posts. I don't mean to sound like I'm nagging or complaining (although I wish I could sometimes to wake people up...jk!), but this desperately needs to be addressed. It seems like the trend here is that once a person starts up a good thread, they can't create another one. I mean seriously, how many people on here have actually started up a good thread and then moved on to make one that is just as successful as there last one? Really think about that question before answering.

So, here's what I'm looking for in response to this:

1. Please give me your opinion on why there are only a few Advanced threads that seem to be doing good.

2. Explain why you think this and why you think that people are dropping out of threads without leaving a response.

3. Finally, BE HONEST! Use this thread to give critiques on Advanced roleplays that you're in, have been in, observing, or have observed. This way, we can all see what exactly is going on that we thread starters are doing wrong or can improve on.

Don't be afraid to post or even hear a critique. Critiques are used to help someone improve, NOT BASH THEM LEFT AND RIGHT!

Alright, well I think the role plays just have to strike people's fancy. They just aren't interested in the role plays that people are posting - not to say that they are all not, not good ideas, because I've read some of them and they are, but they just aren't into that kind of thing.

Some people don't want to be involved with more than one or a couple role plays at a time because they don't want to fall behind in some of them. They don't want to get their characters mixed up or forget something that happened, or mix up the entire role play all together. I know once or twice I've gotten a little mixed up in my characters names [mostly because I was stupid and somehow managed to name nearly every one of my characters with an A something.]

People drop out because the role plays get boring, or other people stop posting. Some people get busy in real life and cannot come back onto RPGuild as much as they had been before.

Personally, I'm in "Royalty, Assassins, and Mystal Creatures" with Unorthodox, and I think it's easier to do a one-on-one role play because you don't have to worry about other people getting bored and can focus on one person. But then again, group role plays like "Against All Odds" are also good because you are not one who has to post all the time. Garet practically had that whole role play planned out, characters that people got to choose and such because it is for his book. That role play was, and still is fun. He always had ideas for the role play to go so none of us got lost and such.

I guess, the more in depth role plays go farther. If you can keep coming up with ideas for the role play to continue on, then there really shouldn't be TOO much of a problem besides loss of players due to busy lives off the computer.

But, that's just my opinion and such.

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All that I'm after is a life full of laughter.

I believe there are a few main factors that cause roleplays to die.

The first one is that the roleplay has no direction, even a "nonlinear" roleplay with so set story needs to have some kind of direction being set by the players for the players. Lack of direction often causes people to lose interest, and they simply stop posting. If the roleplay hits a dead end point, then it will come to a grinding halt whether it is supposed to or not.

The second one is the roleplay is started before enough people join. Most people won't join a thread after it is started, and so what you start with is usually what you get. If you start it before enough people join, then there could possibly not be enough players to keep the roleplay going and so it dies.

The third one is if nobody joins period due to not being interested in the roleplay itself. Roleplays have to be interesting to survive.

The fourth one is if people simply do not have time to roleplay in all of the ones they have joined, and so they drop all the extra ones and stick to the ones they enjoy the most.



There are probably other reasons, but these are just the four main ones that I have noticed in the past. You're right, too many good roleplays do die..but the fact that some stick around proves that it is possible to keep one alive if you just work hard at it.

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I disagree with a couple points already mentioned, but first I'll say why I think the threads die then go onto what I disagree with.

The first reason is one of the above few mentioned I whole heartedly agreed with. Direction. Atleast half of the players on this site don't put in the planning to have an absolutely nonlinear roleplay work. Alot of characters are made because they are cool but only have a vague idea of what their goals are. Because of this you must make sure that you can pull other people into the story line. If its "non linear" then you just need to be constantly readjusting your plan.

The next reason is misunderstandings. These happen in every roleplay and can potentially kill any role play. You would think that these things would'nt appear in advanced roleplay but they do. To make something that is specific enough to stop confusion would be ridiculously long, and thus no one would wanna read it. So you have to go inbetween. Also make sure to plan out what to do when a confusion occurs.

There is always one thing out of our control-luck. People always have ups and downs. The best way is to make an rp thats more flexible with posting speed. It seems that if every one in the rp are going the same speed then even a slight decline in some ones posting speed can kill it or bring it near death. Its better to have people of many speeds so that people are used to the difference in speeds.

This next reason is some thing I've done a few times before learning that it was hurtful to rps. Speaking in ways that sound cool but don't put a point across. It is usually fixed with whispers but it can hurt an rp.

The things I disagree with now.

I think that as long as you start with one or two people you will be fine. I began diplomacy with three people including myself and now I have six. It seems to a ratio of interest/ease of start. I think that an rp starts to become intimidating when there is atleast three full pages. So their is a brief period of time that they will continue joining. A way to increase the period of time theirs two things you can do. Mention directly in the rules that they can request a brief go over of whats happened so far. Then you could brake the rp into chapters. A new chapter is more appealing even to those already in the rp. Every one likes the new rp smell.

As for lack of interest plenty of the rps that don't get off are interesting. While at the same time we have dozens of what I call "clone rps" that should have become boring long ago. People tend to decide whether to read an entire intro thread or not based on the first few sentances. Its because most intros have no hook that makes people wanna read more. So they just pass on by. Missing plenty of interesting things.

But overall this is definately not every thing. If we could find some one who has studied and knows human bahavior patterns and the such we could make a good list of how to make a good rp.

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Anathema!

One thing I've noticed not only in the Advanced section, but in all of them is that some leave threads because the players often ignore other's posts, and post something that contridicts others because they might have skimmed through it. Because of this, some things that a player wants to do like subtle hints towards something big go totally unnoticed. Some players seem to get ignored totally, unless they interact directly with another player, and they have no choice but to respond.

Players need to be dynamic and react to other people's posts. Some are so set in their own plans for their character, they ignore others when they write a twist that could mess up you own plan. Sometimes it's such a major upset to the player that they were ignored that they leave for another thread that will listen to them.

Everyone should be welcome to post what they want and feel like a contributer to the thread. Everyone should read each post carefully and not skim through just to get the gist of what happened. People write what they want to say carefully, it all deserves to be read the same way.

I'm not saying everyone does this, nor am I pointing fingers. Just my honest opinion.

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In all honesty, Donta, I have done things like that before (the skimming part) because I'm short on time or don't feel like reading an extremely long post. But I've worked on that habit and have adjusted myself as a good reader to listen to the words carefully. I've noticed that once I started doing that, I've seen the potential that many of RPGuild's roleplayers have. Everyone on this board (that's active as far as I can say) has a great imagination that really be the fuel for roleplays. But, Shelteredidenty is right, people get caught up in the real life and tend to get sidetracked from the roleplaying life. This absolutely okay. I've run into these situations before and just have to plan for the next time I can come back online to make a post.

I've listened to all of the agreements and disagreements so far and I'm very pleased to hear others' opinions on this matter. But one of the questions still remains: Why do we not explain to others the reason for dropping out? That's something that would be looked down upon in the real world. For instance; if you're extremely bored with a conversation, do you: a) get up and walk out the door without saying a word, or b) explain aloud that the conversation no longer interests you and say why it doesn't, say goodbye, and then leave? Obviously, most people would choose b because it shows common courtesy and respect. We tend to get away with choice a over the internet because no one can see us leaving, we just seem to vanish after a few days of no response. But this is still disrespectfull and wrong.

I realize that things like the above can't be completely solved, but I also realize that the situation can be made aware of.

Here's what I have to say about the roleplays I've dropped out of:

Magic Acadamy: I came in a little late, but not too long after a few others joined. I made a few posts that showed interaction in one of the big battles, but I couldn't keep up with the post rate (it would get like 15 posts an hour or something!) and still no one would respond to what I posted. This situation is like what Donta was talking about, ignoring.

A Loveless Life: This rp just wasn't my style. I like real-time roleplays, but the High School genre was just not my taste. I thought I'd be able to adjust, but it was like reading John Connolly...I had to practically force myself to read it!

New World Order: My most sincere apologies to epherhilda for not showing up lately, but I got a little sidetracked with keeping up the Tribulation storyline that I could no longer focus on your roleplay. I'm deeply sorry about this and am very grateful for your continuance in my roleplay, even though I've stopped roleplaying in yours.

I can't remember what others I've been in at the moment, but those three are just mere example of what we can do to inform the threadstarters about why people have dropped out. It took me about 10 seconds for each of those explanations. That approxiamatly 30 seconds of my life to explain (in the most sincere manner possible) why I wasn't able to continue my roleplaying in those threads.

I think people leave roleplays without explaining is simply because, yes, it's not real life. In real life you'd have to explain, on here you don't have to, although it is very thoughtful and highly recommended.

And not for this to sound rude in anyway, but some people just don't want to hurt other's feelings. "This role play is boring and does not interest me anymore." Some people are as blunt as that, some are not.

But why, exactly, do people drop out of role plays, not explain why, and why does any role play just die out?

It is an unsolved mystery and cannot be explained. No one will be able to come up with one reason for why all role plays die. It just doesn't work like that. It's like a book. One person could pick up a book and finish it and love it a lot, while a different person could pick up the book, struggle because they are not interested, and inevitably stick it back on the shelf.

Just another view.

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All that I'm after is a life full of laughter.

I have several experiments in Beginner's thread with different roleplay styles. If I may give you the information on some of my findings, I might help people make threads that work.

Standing a Chance: My first thread in Roleplay Guild. It was as non-linear as they come, with absolutely no back story whatsoever. In fact the intro post I made consisted of my character in a random pub, and all the characters would gravitate towards this location to interact with my character. There were six people roleplaying alongside me, with two plots going concurently. Only two of those people stayed to the end. It was mildly successful, with 271 posts when it died.

Twisted Realms: This one was dealing with 'character recycling', where you nabed a character you made in a previous roleplay that died and put them here. It was a mess, only one person joined and it failed to make it past the first page. I guess I wasn't serious about it anyways: it started with a joke aimed at Donta and Manda Panda.

The Fight: This one was like Standing a Chance, but with one requirement: that you upload a picture of your character made in Hero Machine. Some people quit because they couldn't figure out how to do that. Five people offically joined, with only one of them actively posting, and one person deleting their post. It had 64 posts.

Miko's Tournament: A weird one where its a DM moded fight between two players, each given stats points and stats to assign them to. During the fight I roll dice to see if the attack connects or not, as well as other things that occur in the fight. Its still going, and I had a remarkable nine people join, which the tournament offically starting!

The Sacrifice: In this one I played the role of a kidnaped person, and everyone else played as either the villian or the hero, or someone that was, well, there. Only three people joined: a hero, a villian, and a person that was there. It introduced me to a rather complecated villian and a hero that powerplayed (dam newbs). I had my character get hurt to extend the life of the roleplay, though I am convinced that the villian quit. Its not offical, but unless the villian posts again the thread will die at 72 posts.

The Tales of Spartans and Hunters: As the name implies, its a Haloid themed roleplay where people were either a Halo Spartan or Metroid 'hunters' (basically human Chozo warriors). Only four people joined, one of them actually posting more than a chracter profile. Its offically ongoing, but I have no hopes for it. Rouge47, I could explain why Metroid Prime: Son of Aran failed: themed roleplays typically fail. They are too focused to grab anyone and become a diluted mess trying to keep the plot sane and modded to a predefined world.

Istorncane: I have high hopes for this one: it takes place in a mental hospital that deals with people whom are suicidal and sado-masicistic, as well as people with anti-social quarks that interfer with their overall quaility of life. Players are given a room assignment and are paired up with another player. Currently at 63 posts, this one focuses on character development and relationship building with the other players.

Now, what have I learned from these experiments:

• Any roleplay will fall apart if people adruptly quit.
• Non-linear roleplays are harder to do, but the end result is worth it.
• Character interaction is important, so make sure scenarios circle around others.
• Modding isn't a bad thing.
• People that godmod or powerplay do ruin a roleplay.
• The more people the merrier.
• Subplots are not evil.
• People walk away from roleplays that get random fast.
• Themed RPs suck (especailly if there are no Metroid fans, right Rouge47?)

Here, my theories as to why there are no good roleplays in Advanced:

• It is very strict, and people think twice about posting.
• People here have to post at least three paragraphs, so some of them go overboard and post walls of needless text.
• Snobs. There are people in these threads that are real roleplaying snobs that get mad at people that rock the boat. I noticed that many of the threads are these lame D'n'D roleplays with too much background for anyone to care (Course, than agian, I prefer non-linear roleplays)
• Not many people view them. Everyone is in either Casual or Beginner, likely because they either don't have the time to post walls of text to appease the mods, or they avoid the snobs.
• Speaking of mods, who mods this? I know no one is perfect, but how many people in advance don't know how to post the walls of text that is required of them? I remember finding a two player rp where the two were only posting a paragraph at a time. Casual matarial at best.

There. Flame me if you will, but this is how I feel, and what I find.

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Silivalne Cromine Ichacon

Mana-Mechs Why join one thread when you can join an entire universe?

http://roleplayerguild.com/f8/colony...averine-27480/ Get stuck in space!

hahahahahahaha!!!!!!! That made me laugh!

Anyway, I see your point. However, I don't think that the Advanced roleplayers are all "snobs" as you so wonderfully put it. We can be quite relaxed. I don't know about the others, but when I make those "walls" of words in my posts, I do it because I have a lot on my mind. I'm a natural writer and wish to major in English. I'm currently writing a book about junival law that is about 60,000 words long (2x the average size of a novel), so making posts like that is no prob for someone like me. But thanks for your input, you do bring up some valid points.

As for Shelteredidentity: relax a little. I'm not saying that there is a true answer for everything, it's just that I'm trying to figure out some plausable means (plural) for why there are a lot of dead threads. The main idea here is to not solve the world's problems, but to better understand them.

Three paragraphs isn't much. That's a mere nine sentences. Some people do go overboard, though... there's no denying that. Your second point goes along with the first. Your fourth point can also be answered by the nine sentence rule. How long does it take to write nine sentences?

I'm a mod here. Unfortunately, I only have time to get on for a half hour or so every other day. If I catch casual roleplay in the advanced section, I will move it, but I don't have the time to dig through every thread. What we really need is a robot that can spend hours on end sifting through every thread on the boards, moving, locking, and deleting as needed.

Honestly, I don't give a shit if you slack off on a couple of posts in an advanced RP. So long as the whole thread isn't comprised of such posts, and so long as you're not disrupting the flow of the thread, it doesn't matter.

Advanced roleplay is not as strictly moderated as people seem to think (I might suggest to Mahz a change in the board's description). I think that misconception also discourages people from posting there. 'Advanced' is an intimidating word. Hell, I've seen threads in beginner's that I would have put in advanced, though. People post in beginner's roleplay because they believe they are not skilled enough writers to post in advanced. The truth is just the opposite.

As a simplified guideline, casual is for people who want to post one or two-liners and want immediate gratification from the RP. Advanced is for people who want more substance and intricate character and plot development. That's not to say that the latter cannot happen in casual, though. Beginners is for everything else and in between.

I'd post more on the subject, but I've got to go to work. Hopefully, I cleared some of that up for you guys.

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One man's terrorist is another man's freedom fighter.