Hello!

I'm considering founding a persistent world forum with its own dedicated lore. However, having been around on several of these types of forums, I've seen a whole slew of difficulties and challenges (as well as having participated in some amazing stories and met wonderful people). So I'd like to both hear about the experiences others have had (you don't need to name names or drop sites, just speak generally). Additionally, I have some questions/hypotheticals I'd like to throw out and see if I can just do things a bit differently from the beginning.

1. How do you feel about transparency between staff and players? Do you think things such as development projects/updates/reworks should be completely open and transparent? Do you think disciplinary actions should be conducted openly or privately?

2. How do you feel about structured systems? There's systems that reward skill points based on word or post count, some that grant those things in a more arbitrary way as determined by the reviewer/mod. Do you prefer more complex systems like that or ways to keep things more simplified?

3. Do you think lore needs to be completely established before it is used in a story? Or would say, if Bob wished to write about the Toadicorn monster, something that has never existed before, should he be able to do so, so long as it makes some sense? Should Bob be obligated to write it up and submit for development before/after the use?

4. Do you prefer places that have huge, wide sprawling nations, spread out from one another? This has often led to both more variety in unique locales to RP within, but simultaneously creates large ebbs and flows based on what mod might be overseeing it (and their activity levels), as well as increasing flow to more developed/established areas. Or might you prefer one really well fleshed out, but massive in depth location, so people's characters are all in somewhat close proximity?

5. What is a favorite feature you've experienced on a persistent world forum?

6. What is a least favorite feature you've experienced?

Any and all feedback is most welcome, and I hope to discuss this more with any of you who participate in this.

Thanks so much!

I think the lack of response here is a clue. Perhaps you've already considered it dead and moved on, but I guess here's one for the search results.

In general I've gotten very pessimistic. Commitment is the key problem and it's in sparser supply than ever. It's just hard to get people to care, and then to care long enough, and then to humor the advanced logistics that are going to hurt interest further if any of it is on the frontend, except bottling it up on the backend is a key cause of burnout. I think one literally can't 'just make' a persistent world no matter how much effort they put into the setup. It needs to be great circumstances with momentum. I'd be interested in trying one out, but I think the most likely issue above is going to hit no matter how much feedback you get, how much interest is expressed, etc. But I'll throw thoughts at some of the hypotheticals.

1. Staff are there to do things cleanly. Be efficient, but be accountable. I think there should be a divide between what people are pinged for and stuff that is available if people are interested. Keep anything serious exposed, but don't air the laundry - especially as far as discipline, which should be handled efficiently as well. Personally I have the 'draw the line, give a chance' approach in most things. Tell them something is up, tell them what it is, be open to clarification and keep it between you without making it a parade. If you must, act. Be open about why but don't let it linger. My take anyway.

2. Simple to get into, complex in detail. Don't make people read a million threads to start, but perhaps lure in their interest and then allow them to dig into things and get that 'oh that's cool I didn't even realize' rush once in a while.

3. Curate it. Have a center vision, allow expansion and approve propositions for - but be mindful of its impact on the setting and don't let people add willy-nilly.

4. Personally, no. I don't think there's much chance for something huge to work unless you kinda defeat the point and limit people to sections at a time in their own bubble-areas. This site's ill fated PW is a pretty good example. Better off smaller locations with more chance to overlap. As much as flexibility is great I've come to think that if there's a chance, it'll be from focused GMs standing their ground and not letting things spread too far. Build the core, don't just have a roleplay site with a vaguely connected idea of lore.

5. Haven't been on many dedicated ones, but I like decking out profiles for characters.

6. Bureaucracy in general. The backend should be pretty streamlined. You could blend roleplay into administrative things, but be prepared for that to cause issues. It can cause the right intrigue too, but be careful.