Is forum Roleplaying beginning to slow down?

[spicykvnt]

I don't really think so. My Google Drive would tell me a big fat no. The time I sink in would also say a big fat no.

What I know to be my experience is that the roleplays I participate in generally tend to have a Discord server, which is a really nice way to keep your OOC chatter off-site, and private between you and your players. I've built up a really great community through just having an RP server. We simply use the forum to host the text itself. All of our discussion/feedback/plotting on posts goes in discord. Super convenient.

[mickilennial]

Yeah, the site isn't really stagnating so anyone accusing it of that is off-base. As we've covered on the last two pages, though, the medium of message boards isn't as popular as what it used to be and that's just life. It's not too surprising. Bubble was going to burst eventually.

[Hank]

That said, there are still roleplaying forums that have more users and more activity than the Guild. The staff team and I have started looking into ways we can 'advertise' the site more and siphon some folks from the greater play-by-post roleplaying community.

Suggestions are also welcome, by the by.

[Jabberwocky]

It's also worth mentioning that larger multigenre forums like this one aren't that common any more. It seems there's been a larger shift in recent years towards smaller sites with a single dedicated plot. These are usually self-hosted or on Jcink, and honestly it's a whoooole different ball game.

[mickilennial]

That said, there are still roleplaying forums that have more users and more activity than the Guild. The staff team and I have started looking into ways we can 'advertise' the site more and siphon some folks from the greater play-by-post roleplaying community.

Suggestions are also welcome, by the by.

@Hank

I recommended using stuff like topsites but Mahz turned it down last time I mentioned it.

[AlteredTundra]

That said, there are still roleplaying forums that have more users and more activity than the Guild. The staff team and I have started looking into ways we can 'advertise' the site more and siphon some folks from the greater play-by-post roleplaying community.

Suggestions are also welcome, by the by.

@Hank

A lot of folks like bbcode options. I know it's not important to those who prefer writing over aesthetics (don't worry I'm not going to make it about that right now). Nevertheless, maybe having more options in addition to what @Inkarnate suggested might entice new members to join.

[mickilennial]

I actually like the options we have on RPG. I'm of the opinion that less is more, @metanoia because a lot of those xenforo sites have way too much coding for their own good. Quality of RP takes a nosedive when you focus on Quality of Formatting. That's another topic, though.

Outside of advertising on sites that *allow* advertising, topsites, and google algorithms the only real other options I can think of is getting the word around on RP circles via reddit, twitter, etc. but I'm not sure that would bear enough fruit to warrant giving it a try. Ultimately, as long as the pandemic is present we will have issues getting activity to stabilize and interested parties turned over because people are way too stressed to focus on leisure message boards. Those of us who can still focus on RP have a privilege there and we are a minority.

[LegendBegins]

@metanoia

More BBCode is coming after the QoL update (soon™). Tables are going to be viable in the upcoming update and additional options have been/are being coded. Suggestions always welcome.

[Carlyle]

<Snipped quote by Hank>
I recommended using stuff like topsites but Mahz turned it down last time I mentioned it.

@Inkarnate

Speaking of advertising, maybe RPG's twitter could be rebooted by the staff, too. It hasn't been touched in like a decade or something.

[Chuuya]

Speaking of advertising, maybe RPG's twitter could be rebooted by the staff, too. It hasn't been touched in like a decade or something.

@Kuro

I actually didn't know that we had a Twitter. Could be a good idea if the Staff was interested in advertising though. I think that I saw someone mention that they found the Guild through Reddit, so I imagine that could be a possible outlet too though.

[LegendBegins]

@Kuro@Hyde

Funny you mention Twitter. We just started logging back into the Guild's social media profiles this week and expect to begin expanding our online fingerprint.

[Chuuya]

@Kuro@Hyde

Funny you mention Twitter. We just started logging back into the Guild's social media profiles this week and expect to begin expanding our online fingerprint.

@LegendBegins

Interesting. I look forward to seeing if that brings any new traction to the site. Is there any chance that the Guild could become affiliated with other Roleplaying sites too (ie: Iwaku, RPNation, Black Dahlia, Inner Sanctum, etc)? I'm sure that there's plenty of crossover already and I'm not sure how exactly alive those alternatives are, but just food for thought.

[Carlyle]

<Snipped quote by Kuro>
I actually didn't know that we had a Twitter. Could be a good idea if the Staff was interested in advertising though. I think that I saw someone mention that they found the Guild through Reddit, so I imagine that could be a possible outlet too though.

@Hyde

If I remember correctly, it was made during an instance where the Guild was having issues and once that was figured out it was more or less abandoned until, well, now, I suppose.

[LegendBegins]

@Hyde

There isn't any plan to do crossover events with other sites at the moment. What did you have in mind?

[Chuuya]

@Hyde

There isn't any plan to do crossover events with other sites at the moment. What did you have in mind?

@LegendBegins

Oh, I didn't have anything specific in mind, I just figured it would be worth throwing it out there as a suggestion since it seems like you folks are looking for them. I'll admit that I'm pretty naïve when it comes to these things though and I have no idea how it would work, if it could work, at all. I'm not sure how to go about it either for that matter.

[The Harbinger of Ferocity]

Perhaps, I'm mistaken. But from the looks of it, neither of you actually disagree. The topic at hand was about forum roleplaying specifically. So when someone says "as a whole", they're more than likely describing 'the forum medium as a whole' versus one particular site. Otherwise, I don't know why "and the interest will expand/grow elsewhere" would be included. If it was meant to be a universal sentiment on the decline of roleplaying.

@SleepingSilence

This summary says really all I said aptly. Point being, that the method of forums are considerably at disadvantage compared to other opportunities, especially those more versatile. The expression of "People have become more flighty, less committed, less active, and that is not just here in the medium but as a whole." as a sentiment falls well into the category that communication as a medium has completely changed and there are more efficient methods to expand upon. Discord is just an easy target to note than say, Skype or Yahoo Messenger ever were. As acknowledged here in this very thread, the post I am referring to, Reddit, even Facebook offer the same technique and approach, yet one can switch from a primarily roleplaying focused post or even a few responses to instantaneously browsing another interest of the user. The level of distraction and activity is just easier to accommodate, a very real consequence in component of the "evolving nature of our communication medium, and the rapid expanse of the internet", @Ammokkx.

I have certainly seen people vanish even many years ago but none have I ever seen so many as forums with time. Again, other methods have appeared to be more reliable. I cannot speak for say, Reddit or Facebook, but I can certainly see first hand that Discord has proven more effective that way. I also base my response, still do at that, at the reality that people will chime in with a post more rapidly there then dally off elsewhere than visit a forum reliably. I am uncertain if I have sufficiently explained what I said the first time over but I do hope that it is more clear.

[Meleck]

This is just my thoughts from a grumpy old gamer. For some of use the “new, more reliable” discord gaming leaves a lot to be desired. The posts tend to be short, fast and without much to them. It is like the difference between having a real relationship and internet porn.

There are different struggles that I see.
First, people are becoming less literate. Facebook, tweets, texting, et al have created a culture where people are rewarded for short posts.
Second, blocking - people have a hard time writing themselves out of character blocks. So we wait and wait for someone else, then we loose interest because our partners are not reliable. So instead of talking to the S.T./G.M. and working through it, we walk away.
Third, Over controlled story arc and free for all, it is a hard balance between these too. An over controlling GM can kilL a story if they are out of sync with their player and player will go crazy if there is not a broad story arc going.
Finally, people are sensing stress with this Covid stuff. More than before and that slows down creativity.

The truth is we have a hard time communicating with each other, discord does help with that. But for some of use more verbose players that character limit stinks.

[Penny]

The middle class is always rising. RP guild is always dying :P

[mickilennial]

For some of use the “new, more reliable” discord gaming leaves a lot to be desired. The posts tend to be short, fast and without much to them.

@Meleck

Find better discord groups that write to your level and are compatible with what you are looking for, then.

First, people are becoming less literate. Facebook, tweets, texting, et al have created a culture where people are rewarded for short posts.

@Meleck

People were not all that literate when I started at the turn of the century. Most of us were either kids and high school students. Hobbyist writing didn't ask for "literacy" until years after the fact. We had blogs and guestbooks back then. We may not have had twitter or mobile phones that could text, but we were hardly en masse descriptive writers. Hobbyist writing, specifically RPing, has always appealed to this demographic.