When do you consider an RPG to be "Dead"?

[Psyga315]

Not all RPGs will have their conclusion. In fact, not a lot of RPGs ever see their first IC post. Mainly because of the label of it being "dead".

However, the thing is, when is it considered "dead"? Some people say that after a week of inactivity, it's safe to say that it's "dead", but that can be averted if someone posts a week after. A month, at least for me, would be enough to say "yeah, it's dead, Jim".

I guess it can be officially dead if the GM says it is, but what happens if one of the players decides that it's "dead", either through the inactivity or something else? Does one person's thoughts confirm that it's dead? I want to ask this because I have various people using various rules of thumbs. So much in fact, that I can't even use a simple poll machine to judge the appropriate answer. I wanna hear from you:

When do you consider an RPG to be "Dead"?

For me, it has to be a month of inactivity from both IC and OOC before I can consider it dead, and even then I'll try to revive it after a week to see if it's truly dead.

[Rilla]

Brovo is going to come in here and tell you "When you give up on it" , DON'T WORRY, B. I GOT YOU COVERED.

---

Personally, for me, if only one or two people out of say 5-6+ are posting, then I think it's dead. Since I have a week long posting time, I give it a couple weeks before I'm like, 'iight, this shit dead, you people have disappointed Papa Rilla"

[Brovo]

Rilla said
Brovo is going to come in here and tell you "When you give up on it" , DON'T WORRY, B. I GOT YOU COVERED.

<3

[Ruby]

When I stop having fun with it.

[Gwazi Magnum]

Basically what Brovo... said?

It really varies RP to RP, and even say most people (GM including) drop out, it can still go on if those remaining keep it moving.
For one fun example, very first RP I joined on the Guild me and two others essentially went post crazy. Covering about 10 to 20 pages a day, this caused the majority of players go "I can't keep up with this" and quit, which by some people's definitions (X people leave the RP) would cause it to be 'dead', but in truth it was the exact opposite, it was so full of life that some people just couldn't handle it.

In terms of the other commonly foreseen death of an RP: "X amount of time with a post" I'm having trouble thinking of a specific forum example atm oddly enough. :/ However this one is easily countered regardless, people have lives/other plans. Something might of happened that caused the RP is take a break because maybe they just moved, a relative died, they just had a kid/got custody of their kid etc. Stuff that would take them a few months to focus on and adapt to before they could RP again, and assuming the players are still in touch they can easily just start it from where they left off.

[Brovo]

Magic Magnum said Basically what Brovo... said?

It's just something I say to every single person who is concerned with RP death or asks about when an RP is dead and so on. It's a commonly reoccurring question so my #1 piece of advice is it isn't dead unless you give up on it. After all, it's an idea, and ideas are bulletproof. If in the extremely unlikely event you are literally the only person who wants to keep it going, you simply remake it and try again. If nobody wants to join it, ask for help in figuring out its flaws or what might be confusing people or so on, and play smarter. If your RP isn't getting out, use better marketing. If it confuses people, find ways to simplify it. If it's niche, search out those who enjoy that niche and reel them in with the prospect of something they likely don't get to enjoy often.

Don't. Ever. Quit. The moment you quit is the moment it dies. You can take a break once in a while, you can take a breather, stop to examine its flaws and ponder what you can do better, but the only time an RP dies is when you give up on it. Like every other idea that's ever existed.

It's just that I've made this call to arms speech about a hundred times so Rilla was kind enough to shorten it for me into one line. Because that's Rilla for you: A gentleman.

[Gwazi Magnum]

I wasn't doubting you originally said that. :P
I said it like that just to poke fun at that in this case it was technically Rilla and you just approved.

But yea I do agree, an RP isn't truly dead until every last roleplayer in it gives up on it.

[HollywoodMole]

When the GM gives up.

[Kidd]

HollywoodMole said
When the GM gives up.

No way, screw that. A role play is a group effort. Letting it die because of one person is stupid, no matter who that one person is. It's a lot harder without the GM, I'll admit, but it's still doable, and it'll get easier with time.

[Gwazi Magnum]

A lot of RP's don't even have a GM. It's just a group of people making a plot go forward together.

[Gat]

HollywoodMole said
When the GM gives up.

An rp me and a few others are in when 6 months without a post partially because christmas hit and end of year school stuff etc. Basically we all got busy. Come febuary (last year) ourr gm had effectively given up and all but declared it dead. 2 or 3 months later the rest of us banded together to jumpstart the rp and within 2 weeks we had the gm back on board. That rp survived guildfall and is still going today.

So yea only when everyone gives up does an rp truely die.

[Gwazi Magnum]

That 1st RP I played in on the Guild example I gave earlier, one of the players that dropped out on account of it being too active was the GM.

[Damon]

Kidd said
No way, screw that. A role play is a group effort. Letting it die because of one person is stupid, no matter who that one person is. It's a lot harder without the GM, I'll admit, but it's still doable, and it'll get easier with time.

^this

As a GM of like a handful of dead RPs, I don't believe it is just one person's fault, even if you do have a GM you can't go on unless the group makes an effort to at least try to move it along with you. If they don't it's rather seems like you're just writing a story all alone. I wish people understood that, I start RPs because I want to bounce off ideas from other people, not just write alone.

My RPs are lonely and I'm sad. /rant/

But I do agree on the part where you all have been talking about when the GM gives up that a RP can be considered dead. I hate the feeling of giving up on my RPs, especially when you put so much into them, but people give you false hope. I understand everyone is busy, but giving out a false sense of hope on the notion that you will join and keep a story alive but don't. It hurts.

[Gwazi Magnum]

This applies to all kinds of RP's in general honestly, forum or no.

In D&D I had a DM who to put it most accurately let's power, control and authority get in his head. Using his power to simply make encounters unfairly tedious for players, railroad them into things, or even punish creative thinking at times because it could otherwise give the players an edge. Basically campaigns he did weren't lasting long and dying out because he taking the concept of "Players should listen to and be grateful to their DM" too far, forgetting that a DM is nothing with their players. If the players become disengaged, and they choose not to play it doesn't matter how much dominance or authority the DM tries to express, he's still just someone sitting there with a campaign, but without anyone to share it with.

[Cath]

Depends on the people you roleplay with. I have the honour of calling some people friends on this forum, and one of the requisites is being a 'Roleplay Brick'. Someone who will never give up on a RP entirely, no matter how long and drawn out it gets. I believe it's the GM's decision as to when it is finally laid to rest or whether it's on a break or what. My advice to anyone wanting to build a long lasting roleplay is to build long lasting relationships with people who like the same things as you. A science fiction roleplay of mine has been going for just under three years, through three iterations and Guildfall, because of rock solid support from some wonderful people.

[Gwazi Magnum]

What if the GM gives up in the RP though and the other players are still working on keeping it alive? Would that RP still be considered dead?

[Ellri]

We had an rp like that on the old guild. The players liked it and enjoyed it, but the GM's decided to end it, getting the topic locked overnight. The players chosen remake a similar rp immediately. The ex-GM's got angry and tried to get it locked as well. It did not work out. That rp was not dead.

Hardest bit in such a case is getting a new GM.

[Rilla]

Magic Magnum said
What if the GM gives up in the RP though and the other players are still working on keeping it alive? Would that RP still be considered dead?

Not at all. If it can still keep going, then it's not dead. It's dead when no one is posting in the OOC, the IC, no one is talking about it, and it gets pushed further and further down.

[Gwazi Magnum]

Just so you two are aware I was mainly asking that to get that specific person to think about it. I had already agreed above that the RP isn't dead until everyone gives up on it. But rather than simply give a mini-rant/lecture on why Cath's "Dead when the GM leaves" analogy was wrong I asked a question to get her thinking on a situation where that analogy wouldn't hold up.

[Cath]

Magic Magnum said
What if the GM gives up in the RP though and the other players are still working on keeping it alive? Would that RP still be considered dead?

No I wouldn't say that. Merely... paralyzed from the waist down.
Also I sidn't say that its 'dead' when the GM decides to leave; only that it's their decision, as the primary contributor.