Nation-RP subgrouping has given me an idea...

[MyCatGinger]

I really don't know whether I should keep making new threads or just add things to the sticky one. (Congratulations on getting to it, Mahz!)

But I was wondering, if you had a Nation RP (I like the idea.) subgroup, maybe...and I know this is going to be a hell of a lot of trouble, can there be like a subgroup within the casual, advanced, free, tabletop, 1v1 RPs that says "Spin-Offs"?
Or just one subgroup all in itself, really.
I don't remember where, but I did come across someone saying that it was difficult to find RPs in a particular section that weren't based on the characters of some movie or some game, that it wasn't their interest in RPs like that.
I think I had the same problem, especially looking in the Advanced section (shame on me if there's stuff I've overlooked since the last time, ahaha.)
And I did read the sticky post again. And I didn't find anything like this there, maybe because it's such an integrated part of RPGuild...but I wouldn't know. I haven't been here since Oldguild and all.
Anyway. I actually think I'd really appreciate the spin-off tab to just be there for RPs that take place in an already existing world, or are uncanon in a canon setting (EG, something from Game of Thrones where you might have to sign up to play Canon characters but takes a completely different storyline, or where Canon charas are played by the GM and you make extra ones.)
Am I making sense? I hope so. Give it a look when you have time please!

[Jorick]

The term I've seen used most commonly for those kinds of RPs is 'fandom,' though they are spin-offs of a sort so that makes sense.

The issue I see with making some kind of special section for these fandom RPs is how they're essentially the same thing as any other group RP taking place in the Free, Casual, and Advanced sections, just with a differing premise than an original sci-fi adventure or whatever. You see special sections for things like 1x1, Arena, Tabletop, and now Nation RP because they're entirely separate game types that don't really fit in with the normal group thing. The fact that you can describe fandom things as "it's a group RP set in X world with Y goal" and have it understood in the same way as you can say "it's a group RP set in my original fantasy world with the goal of saving the kingdom" shows how similar they are at a basic structural level. For all those roleplay types that have their own section, you can't explain their structure simply as "it's a group RP" or you're missing vital information about the core of how the game works.

As for adding an extra fandom sub-forum tied to each level of group RP, that would just add clutter and confusion. There's also a bit of a slippery slope argument to be made: where do you stop with adding new sorting sub-forums? If fandom gets one, why not high school RPs? Why not have genre areas too? That's obviously solved by Mahz saying "nope, no more sub-forums," but there would still be a lot of demand for each subset of group RPs to get their own special little area if you do it for one of them.

The best solution to the issue of people being unable to find what they want amongst the dross is one that Mahz was already planning on implementing: a tag system with a search function that will allow you to sort by tags. This ought to allow people to tag their Naruto RP as something like "fandom, ninjas, action," then if someone is looking for some sweet ninja action but isn't into the fandom stuff they should be able to search for all RPs tagged 'ninja' and also omit all that are tagged 'fandom.' Given that this sort of system is already planned, I think the whole idea of adding alternate sections to act as sorting aids is something of a band-aid on a broken arm, just awkward and not worth the effort.

[Commander]

Pretty much what Jorick said. When a search feature is implemented, the hope is you'd be able to narrow down exactly what you want and filter out the rest, and be done with it. The more sub-forums you have on the main page, the worse, if you ask me. The Nation RP one alone gave our resident trolls aneurysms, I'd just hate to see them all completely die out because it was overloaded.

[MyCatGinger]

I thought it would definitely be an issue of how many subdivisions and whatnot, is why I was a little sceptical about posting this. But hey, I'm glad the team could do something to clear my doubts on it. So the subdivisions are all based on like, a certain way to explain what goes on there? Like, you said for nation RP, it's a bit of a generalisation to say that it involves nations and political conflicts dealt with in a manner, etc.
And you really couldn't generalise a fandom because there are so many any they're all unique and you'd have to make separate ones for each and then overflowing and ew ew ew.
But... Ah! I completely forgot there was such a thing as a search and tab system being implemented. I'm ever so sorry, but I do appreciate the clarification. Very much so.
Thank you for taking time out of your schedules to attend to my questions and suggestions. <3 Do hope I wasn't too much of a bother, ehehe.

[Shienvien]

To be honest, I would have *strongly* preferred, if "NRP" (and perhaps arena and tabletop-based RPs, too) were to be made another option in the upcoming tagging system rather than receiving a separate subforum. It is not optimal to manually look through each and every NRP just to see on which level of writing those actually are, especially when the OP has neglected to make any specifications.

[Code Guru]

A suggestion that the Tags are pre-genned or there is someone just in charge of adding tags.

I hate searching for a thing but someone's fat finger turned Ninja into Ninaj, so I miss the RP I'm looking for.

[MyCatGinger]

I thought it would have been a good idea to assign someone as a right-hand to keep track of tags. But then...wouldn't they have to read every RP and then tag accordingly? That would be such a pain!

As for assigning them as pre-genned like...you know on YouTube when it gives you suggestions in buttons when tagging a video you upload? Like, just under the "enter your tags here" bar, there are like little suggestions according to the title of the video (in this case, title of RP). So if my RP was called "Fall of the Ninja Empire" (Using your example, @Code Guru!) then the generated tags would be "fall", "empire", "ninja" and then words that might relate.
Does this even make sense to anyone? Someone needs to upload a video and come and confirm if we can even do something like that.
And I'm really looking forward to this whole tag system.
And I think "casual", "free" and "advanced" should be tags too. Depends, if you're planning to run the search on every thread on the forum ever, or just within particular sections. The former would be better as then you could filter out the kind of RP in NRP, Tabletop and 1x1 that you were fit to play in, as ShienVien stated.