Marik

(TL;DR Rant) Standard based Roleplay sections and why I don’t like them.

Frizan said
Every damn time. I only recently signed up for a roleplay here on NewGuild, because I looked at each one that looked even sort of interesting(although even THAT was tough, as I had to sift through the legions of Naruto fanplays and "Highschool/Academy" roleplays)and immediately thought "will creating a detailed CS even be worth the time? What if this thing never gets off the ground?"It's awful, seriously. I wish I didn't have this thought lurk into my mind every time I looked at a roleplay.

Yeah, this is mostly why I haven’t RP’d at all in NuGuild. I just signed up for a RP that’s had an interest check planned out for weeks, but most of the people from the IC haven’t shown up to the OOC, and that makes me really fucking nervous. It’s just started and already there are a few people who made characters and haven’t shown up... Sigh.

Drakel said
Or maybe Mahz could add a "Mixed" Forum section so where we have Casual, advanced and Free sections we can also have a place for those more grey areas like High Casual, Low Advanced, Low Casual, High Free and that such.

I’d like that. It’d give people a chance to Roleplay with individuals they wouldn’t have normally encountered in their own sections. My only issue is that it could turn into another free.

Elendra said
Actually, something I've felt with NuGuild's RPs (at least the ones I've been in) is that if they get rolling, they seem to have a longer life. I've been in a couple that are months old and still going. I never had that on old Guild. RP Death has seemed to decrease from my personal experience. I think it's less 'problems with standards' and more 'problems with players', because I've gotten in good with some good RPers, and games with them just stick around :D

Unfortunately, I’m extremely biased to my experiences on the Saints Row forums, only because I finished an RP there, but never here. :/

But I can agree that a major reason why that RP succeeded was because we had a good GM that planned the story out, and that we were a small, well knit group that liked writing with each other.

BrobyDDark said
Free is for people who don't have time to do something fun (and also where the huge Animu nerds hang out to Sue-fight.)
Casual is where originality is sacrificed for the sake of a story people have experience writing about.
Advanced is what happens when you clone Jorick and then tell all of them to collaborate in story-telling.
I stopped role-playing because it stopped being fun. All of the roleplays on this site are recycled and tired out ideas that have nothing new to add to the genre they represent. Actually, that's a lie. There are, like, two or three roleplays at the same time that does something worthwhile, besides the people who are done with all the used ideas.

Well, you’ll always see RP’s around Naruto and the like because people really dig those settings, and want to live out a shonen power fantasy. I’ve got a guilty pleasure with Dragonball Z and One Piece for example. Although, you can do things to spice up these settings, but like you said, we don’t see enough RP’s doing so, because everybody wants to be the Super Saiyan, King of Pirates, Hokage.

Doivid said
No. The constraints can be unhelpful, but I never saw it separated until rpg and the rates of completion were no different than now. If anything, it brings much needed structure that probably encourages activity.Conpletion depends entirely on the interest, will, and motivation of the individuals involved. There's no catch-all solution, except if people were offered an incentive. Like a contest for best written rp thats completed or w.e

Meh, it was always in my thinking that while constraints provide structure, they limit creativity, but I see where you’re coming from and your opinion is as valid as mine, if not moreso.

Kaga said
This wouldn't be a problem if people don't look down on Free roleplay so often. For example, I used to be part of a Free RP on oldGuild that lasted for across a couple installments. Being in Free, you could post one-liners if you felt that's all that was needed. But you wanna post paragraphs? Nothing's stopping you. The GM ran the RP under the idea that "Free means post whatever length you want; there are no guidelines or restrictions", which is an idea I've carried with me since whenever I around Free RP's. There was great variation in post length and it seemed to result in everyone being as comfortable as possible. Even I remember posting occasional one-liners followed up with three-paragraph posts, depending on what each situation called for. Theoretically, there is no max post length for Free, so really any Free roleplay could turn out like this one.That said, I kind of have to disagree with the notion that this is what RP deaths. As someone who's been GMing for years and working out countless kinks in activity flow, I'd have to say that most holdups come from dropouts, confusion regarding who-should-post-when, not knowing where to take the plot after a certain point and, well, a number of things really - but hardly has it seemed like post length was responsible for any of it. Free RP's die too, you know. Even TJA, the Free RP I was talking about before, had its slow moments. Remember how I said it spanned "multiple installments"? Yeah, it died a few times, too, despite the staggered post lengths. Really the only thing that kept it going was the determination from the remaining members of the group each time to pick up the pieces, fix the damage, and keep going. And really, I think that's all that any RP needs. Almost every sudden RP death I see is caused by a minor problem causing a temporary holdup that no GM or anyone else in the group attempts to work around. A lot of RP holdups are easier to fix than many people seem to think.

The sections almost have a lower, middle, and upper class thing going on.

And yes, so many of the RP’s I’ve been in died because people stopped posting, or someone waited too long for someone else to post.

(TL;DR Rant) Standard based Roleplay sections and why I don’t like them.

As most of you know, (Mostly because you’ve RP’d here, otherwise why the fuck are you on an RP site?) it’s rare for a Roleplay on this site to live to completion, most of them sputtering out within the first month of conception. I have little knowledge on whether or not this is the same across the whole practice, as I’ve only RP’d on one other site, but it’s rather discouraging to Roleplay if the looming thought that you’d be wasting your time down the road sits in the back of your mind. I feel that dividing Roleplayers based on writing standards contributes to this.

Now, I’m going to take you back to three years ago when I RP’d on the Saints Row forums, where I had my first RP, which was also my first finished one. It being a website not based around Roleplaying, there was very little constraint in what you could do or how you could write. The base rules were there, but I think the most important thing was that Roleplay was treated as a game rather than some novel that we were writing. People put out one-liners when the situation called for it, and then wrote paragraphs upon paragraphs to make something epic. With the way things go here, it almost feels like a chore to squeeze out the minimum requirement for a post, and when this feels more like work rather than a pastime, that’s when people lose interest.

You may be asking, “Oh, well why don’t you just go to free then?” Well, there’s a problem with that. It seems to me that free is treated like babby’s first Roleplay. Some people consider themselves too good to go there, and it feels like everyone there only writes one liners. I feel like if we had Roleplays separated by genre rather than standards, we’d see more finished. Or maybe it’d be better for GM’s to be more lax on the rules?

Or maybe I’m just spewing shit out of my ass and free’s a great place to Roleplay. But what about you guys and your experience with Roleplay? Do you agree? Do you disagree?

If I ever happen to be involved in a murder mystery, and I wasn't the muderer.

It’s good to see that Spam’s turning into the sterling example of class that is Members Lounge.

Coming Out 3: Origins

Shit, I’m so sorry El. My grandfather treated my dad bad too, and my dad yells a lot, and it’s a bunch of shit that people who got treated bad don’t have enough sense to not do the same to their kids. I only wish I could do more to help. Just stay strong, okay?

XCOM Enemy Unknown Season 1: The Coming Storm

At the sight of the well awaited decent, it was only natural for Dean to become both excited and nervous. While optimistic at the events that would unfold, the young man was clueless on what his duty would be on base, as little to no briefing was given before the long flight across golden sands. He had assumed that the personnel would be lax and carefree, much like the pilot had been. After stepping off the helicopter with sword at waist and belongings in tow, suspicions were confirmed at the guard’s airy greetings. Although he was friendly, Dean’s experience with cops hasn’t been a very pleasant one. He’d make sure to keep an eye on the Los Angeles policeman, but it was rather unlikely for relations to go sour like they had back in Summerlin. Interested in seeing the base and what exactly would go on within it, Dean followed the group, making sure to stay near the rear out of personal preference.

Natsume’s adventures across the internet

And inevitably in my nightmares.



What is this, the second time you've been in Retsupurae?

XCOM Enemy Unknown Season 1: The Coming Storm

Glad to see the hate is mutual.

XCOM Enemy Unknown Season 1: The Coming Storm

Damn, how much longer was this flight supposed to be? At this point, Dean was getting antsy, eyes shifting around to the other passengers, but never lingering long enough for them to take notice. He inevitably found himself in the middle of the chopper, a fate which could have been remedied if only he had arrived earlier. Instead of a cushy corner position, Dean had people on both sides; people he didn’t know, and individuals that he held no care to speak to at the moment. Luckily, every other loner on the ride seemed to want to keep to themselves, a sentiment the Japanese native was happy to hold.

Instead, his fingers fiddled upon the hilt of a blade that had seen action for around ten years. Yes, this sword had been there for Dean when he needed it most, and he relied on it like an old man would rely on a cane. Unfortunately, this was now happening in a literal sense, as the boy found himself undermining the importance of the weapon by leaning on it like some two-bit stick. A rather unprofessional move considering the company he was in. Although in the end, it’d be hard getting some of these people to hate you more than they despised the Americans, a hatred that was mutual considering all the shit that went down in Michigan. Dean could still feel the cold lifeless air of Summerlin, and it only served to send chills down his spine.

It was still hard to believe that various representatives from around the world would be able to put aside their differences to work on UFO watching of all things. The idea was laughable at best and was sure to end in disaster, but the Sci-Fi nerd in him wanted to believe that there was a possibility for extraterrestrial contact, especially with the increased UFO sightings the world over. It didn’t help that Captain Hitam had urged Dean to take the position; otherwise he might be relaxing in a hotel somewhere while the unit waited for another job. An increase in pay won the day though, and now Dean found himself in the middle of a helicopter, surrounded by strangers.

Stray dogs? Stray dogs…

Alright, so we called animal control and the sheriff just picked him up. Hopefully, he does have an owner that they can get him back too.

Stray dogs? Stray dogs…

natsumehack said
Feast upon it's flesh.

That's the worst thing I've heard all day.