Should I give up on an RP idea if its interest check thread receives little to no replies?

[JohnSolaris]

Though I joined over a year ago, I've hardly been active at all, so I don't actually know much about how a lot of things are usually done here. But from my observations, it seems that not many people actually browse the interest check sections. So how reliable do you guys think an interest check thread is as an indicator of how likely the RP is likely to get off the ground? More specifically, as the title says, if an interest check thread receives little to no replies, does that mean there are actually very few people interested, or that it's only because not many people browse the interest check section in the first place? To those who have been more active here, I hope you can enlighten me on the subject.

[BrokenPromise]

As someone who doesn't RP on this site at all, I'm probably not the person to ask.

But I do see people respond favorable enough to interest checks if the idea is interesting. It's a good way to make sure you have enough people to start an RP anyway. Success is always going to be up to the people involved however.

I think an interest check is a good idea, but it's not a guarantee things will go smoothly. To avoid breaking any rules, I will not mention certain RPs that looked like they had a strong start, but faded due to OOC drama in the first few weeks of running.

[JohnSolaris]

I think an interest check is a good idea, but it's not a guarantee things will go smoothly.

@BrokenPromise

Thanks for the reply, but that's not exactly what I'm asking. I'm asking how likely an RP is to not go smoothly if the interest check doesn't receive many replies, as opposed to how likely it is to go smoothly if it does receive many replies. The game dying due to OOC drama is not going to be relevant if the game doesn't get off the ground in the first place.

[NuttsnBolts]

Interest check are just that, a check of interest. If you are finding that not many or no one has approached you about your roleplay then maybe you may need to look at a few reasons why.

For example:
- Publicity
- The Roleplay Structure
- The Roleplay Idea

Your publicity is going to vary depending on time of year, amount of active members, and amount of active roleplays. Even the choice of level can change that interest with people thinking it could be too advanced or too casual for their needs.

Your roleplay also needs a decent structure. A person that enters the thread should know within 30 seconds what the roleplay is about and the basic idea. So often I see walls of text that discuss so many different aspects but never fully grasp the concept of a quick summary. If you're not sure what I mean then go pick up a novel or DVD case and read the back blurb.

Adding to that, make sure you have things formatted well so that people can quickly find any detail. You, yourself, may know that the 5th paragraph down has that key piece of info, but if the average player can't remember it's location, then they'll forget it completely. Thus you have a problem of people forgetting parts of your roleplay and possibly not joining because of that reason.

Finally the idea. What is the idea you are conveying? Is it simple and easy to understand? Or is it complicated? Have you explained the details enough or are you letting players create their own designs? You need to get the concept and ideas out of your head and onto the page but not enough so it saturates everything.

Occasionally I will stumble across a title of a cool sounding roleplay, I will start reading, and then realise that the GM does not have a clear view on what they want. Every element needs to have a reason for it to exist. If you like Slice of Life and you also like unique, magical weapons, then you must realise that merging these two will create a special blend that may not follow down a path that you have planned... and your players will notice this.

Pretty much to sum it all up, if you have a roleplay that isn't working and gathering little to no attention... review it. If I can see a 1x1 roleplay where two people wanted to play as pot plants sitting next to each other on a table (yes... I have seen this before), then any sort of design concept will work so long as it is presented and followed through in the best of ways.

[JohnSolaris]

@NuttsnBolts: Thanks for the advice. I believe I've conveyed the basic idea of my RP clearly enough, and without being overly restrictive. But it might not have been formatted very well, so I've reformatted it.

Is there any sort of stigma against posting the same interest check thread in multiple interest check sections? I'm not quite sure if my RP is more suitable for casual or advanced, so I'm thinking of posting the interest check in both, but I'm not sure if that'd come across as desperately trying to get attention or something.

[BrokenPromise]

I'm going to assume by "get off the ground" you mean garner enough players where you feel confident you won't be the only one posting.

First, I think it's important we actually look at your interest thread instead of make judgements based on hearsay. So here are some things I notice at a glance.

#1) The tread title is too long in my opinion. A shorter title will almost always get more interest than a longer one. "Fate/Install" is fine. "Fate/Install (Fate/stay night RP, based on the mechanics of Fate/kaleid liner Prisma Illya)" is too long and might actually stop an interested party from checking it out. As a Fate/Stay night fan, I get it's a FSN RP without the explanation. The goal is to lure them into the interest check/OOC subtly, not advertise everything. If you let people get curious, they will look.

#2) The first paragraph is mostly about what you don't want in the RP. We're trying to lure, not push away. If you're worried saying "Fate/kaleid" is going to draw in a bunch of magical girl/loli fans, strike it from your description. Don't tell me what you hate, woo me with how awesome this RP is going to be, and all the cool things I WILL be able to do in it. That's what I want to see FIRST.

Having a lot of information for people who want to read it isn't a bad thing, but all the most important information should be right there. I think you struck a pretty good balance in this regard however. At least the post "NuttsnBolts" format looks that way.

I would also watch fate stay night or unlimited blade works. UBW is an easy recommend since it's on net flicks and has really good animation. I would have a hard time taking anyone seriously if they didn't experience the original work or one of it's more popular variants.

I do not think an interest check makes or breaks a role play, but I think it's a good idea. If your interest check isn't getting many responses, I'd consider looking at how your information is presented.

[JohnSolaris]

First, I think it's important we actually look at your interest thread instead of make judgements based on hearsay.

@BrokenPromise

Don't get me wrong, the advice is helpful, and I appreciate it. But the reason I didn't link the interest check here was because, as I said, I don't want to make it look like I'm so desperate for players that I'm using this thread as an excuse to advertise my RP. Hence why I only originally asked how many people actually look at the interest check sections and how reliable those actually are. If you're willing to help regardless, of course I'm going to accept it.

#1) The tread title is too long in my opinion. A shorter title will almost always get more interest than a longer one. "Fate/Install" is fine. "Fate/Install (Fate/stay night RP, based on the mechanics of Fate/kaleid liner Prisma Illya)" is too long and might actually stop an interested party from checking it out. As a Fate/Stay night fan, I get it's a FSN RP without the explanation. The goal is to lure them into the interest check/OOC subtly, not advertise everything. If you let people get curious, they will look.

@BrokenPromise

This is something I'm rather unsure about. I'm working under the assumption that most people don't bother to look at anything beyond the title, at least at a first glance, so I wanted the title to immediately and clearly convey a general idea of what the RP is going to be about. If it was just "Fate/Install", some people might be able to tell that it's a FSN RP, and even those might just write it off as just another FSN carbon copy that they'd seen a hundred times before and thus nothing particularly noteworthy; the majority of people might not glean anything from the title, and not spend the effort to actually open the thread and read it. Are you speaking from personal experience that a longer and more detailed title is more likely to turn people off than a shorter and more concise one? Without some more concrete evidence, I'm hesitant to believe that the majority of people do anything more than "judging the book by the cover", as they say.

#2) The first paragraph is mostly about what you don't want in the RP. We're trying to lure, not push away. If you're worried saying "Fate/kaleid" is going to draw in a bunch of magical girl/loli fans, strike it from your description. Don't tell me what you hate, woo me with how awesome this RP is going to be, and all the cool things I WILL be able to do in it. That's what I want to see FIRST.

@BrokenPromise

This is worth some consideration. However, to expand on what I mentioned in the previous paragraph, I didn't want people to think that this is just going to be another cookie-cutter FSN clone that they'd seen many times before. I personally have nothing against simply copying the premise of FSN canon, but I wasn't willing to take the chance with other people when trying to attract their attention. Additionally, one of the main points of my RP is that its main mechanics are different from the main FSN, so I wasn't sure how I could convey that without saying something like "based on the mechanics of Prisma Illya". I didn't want to say something like "Fate/stay night with a twist", since that 1) actually tells people nothing about what the twist is, and 2) would probably just end up looking tryhard and/or desperate anyways. So I do think Prisma Illya still needs to be mentioned somewhere.

You do make a good point on starting with telling about what the RP will be, instead of what it won't be, however. For now I could rearrange the paragraphs and edit them a bit, so that readers are immediately exposed to the basic summary first, instead for the fact that it won't contain loli magical girls. If you have any other suggestions, though, please tell me.

I would also watch fate stay night or unlimited blade works. UBW is an easy recommend since it's on net flicks and has really good animation. I would have a hard time taking anyone seriously if they didn't experience the original work or one of it's more popular variants.

@BrokenPromise

In the disclaimer at the end I did say I watched UBW, and did some fairly extensive research on the wiki. Do you think I should make that part more obvious or something? I didn't think it was as important, compared to actually grabbing the reader's attention and telling him what the RP will be about.

[BrokenPromise]

You're allowed to disagree. you can take or leave my nit-picks. I didn't think your interest check was that bad, just discussing the topic in detail. I've hosted role plays on non-RP forums and I can always start the ball rolling in about a week with ten players. Maybe four or five stick around for the long haul, but you get the idea. It's not because I have particularly interesting ideas, it's just because I know how to name my threads and construct them. The people who want to just play can get started quickly, and the people who want to do the extra reading and fit just perfectly into the world have the option to do so.

At the end of the day, the interest check is a means to attract people to the RP, how it actually runs is all on you and your band of merry participants.

In regards to how much of the lore you've absorbed, I'm not sure it's even something I'd bring up. You're trying to show everyone this cool RP idea you have, people should know how serious you want to take this based on how you've constructed it. No point filling them with any doubts, you're either confident or you're not. Because you're leaving out all the main characters, it's not like there's a whole lot players have to be careful about.

[JohnSolaris]

While the actual game sections do seem to have concise thread titles that mostly just contain the games' names, the threads in the interest check sections all seem to be a bit more descriptive than that. I can't say for sure what those trends mean exactly, so someone more well-versed in this forum's culture would have to enlighten me on that.

I have my reasons for bringing up lore accuracy, but it ultimately comes down to a matter of personal preference anyways, so I don't think I need to press it further. Unless you really want to know, of course.

[A Man Is No One]

In the past before the what I think they have dubbed Guildfall, when I was more active all it meant when your interest check recieved little response was typically because the format was unappealing or the information presented was lacking. With that being said, tweak your interest check and little bit. More it to a different level of role play. Work on your presentation. I would say try it at least twice before deciding to move on to a different idea. It also helps you bump your stuff up on the list to make sure people are seeing it towards the top of the page. Sometimes people don't scroll down al that far.

[JohnSolaris]

It also helps you bump your stuff up on the list to make sure people are seeing it towards the top of the page. Sometimes people don't scroll down al that far.

@ELGainsborough

If I bumped the thread more than just a few times, it'd just make myself look desperate and other people annoyed; in some forums this might not be allowed either. So that's why I haven't done it. So are you saying bumping is acceptable here if I don't overdo it?

Since you said to try at least twice, I'll probably repost it in the advanced section too.

On the other hand, what about this "Guildfall"? Was it an all-around decrease in activity or whatever?

[Ellri]

@JohnSolaris the guildfall was an event a few years ago when the entire guild database got deleted. Mahz had to rebuild the site from scratch while the players used a quickly made temporary site on another host.

Thus, everything that is on the site now stems from 2014 or later, while guild history goes back to around 2007 or so. The guildfall resulted in roughly 9 million posts, 210,000 threads and 45000 user accounts being lost. A few pieces here and there were recovered due to users' backups, but this did not amount to more than a fraction of a percent we think.

[A Man Is No One]

@JohnSolaris

Aye... Guildfall resulted in the loss of some thirty or forty characters and hundreds of hours of work/enjoyment. But as far as I am aware, a few bumps every once in a while isn't going to break any rules. Furthermore, crossposting is always a good thing. Just make sure you alter your expectations for each section as well.