RolePlayGateway: WeBlog!

Did you know that we have a feature that lets you share any topic with any of your friends?

We all know how addictive RPGateway is. Don’t be alone in your addiction - there is strength in numbers! Share things with your friends and get them addicted, too.

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I’ve always loved Eve Online. It’s a space MMO, with ridiculous levels of immersion. They tout that it’s the world’s largest game universe, and let me tell you - it’s absolutely huge.

One of our new members has posted her intentions to work on an Eve Online Roleplaying Journal. I think this is an incredibly awesome idea. It’s not new, I’ve seen character journals before, but it just seems to fit in with Eve’s extensive world and role playing experience.

Character journaling is a great way to extend the world of a game and add more depth to both the character and the plot. Be careful that you don’t fall victim to the inactivity that often plagues real journaling! Stick to it, and you’ll reap the benefits of fleshing out your character and having a solid history of the thought processes involved.

Be sure to check out Emywn’s Journal from Eve Online Roleplaying. It looks like it’s going to be something I’m going to have to follow using my trusty Google RSS Reader. Good luck, Kethro - and thanks for the idea!

P.S.: Google Reader is an amazing tool that lets you follow your favorite sites and their content without ever checking the page. You can check out my shared items list to see what sort of things I follow, but check out the official Google Reader page for more information.

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In many online communities, like our beloved role playing forum, member activity often slows to a drip, and can risk being shut altogether. There are tons of methods of addressing this, but we’re going to address one particular facet.

Make A Commitment.

Get your members to commit to something simple and attainable. In our case, I’d like to make the challenge to all of our members to commit to dedicate one hour per day to the forum.

Encourage your members to set their own goals, too - but be sure to give them solid standards and pushes for the direction you want them to go. Your goal is to drum up activity, so push them in that direction using a guideline, or a pilot commitment.

So what can you do in one hour?

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RolePlayGateway is a great place to roleplay, talk about roleplay, and simply hang out with other roleplayers. Of course, it’s not all roleplay all the time, but it sure is a lot of fun, whether you roleplay or not. However, not all is perfect — people still turn away from the community in favor of other ventures.

Why is this? Sometimes the claim is that the community is too new to roleplaying to be worth someone’s time. Other times, the claim is that the community is too advanced for new players to jump in and play. These are diametrically opposed views, so which is accurate about RolePlayGateway and the roleplaying community?

Both.

Wait, what? Yes, that’s right, the roleplaying atmosphere of RolePlayGateway is both too advanced and too close to a beginner’s level for many people. This is one of the problems that plagues us right now, and there are a few solutions.

It is imperative that first and foremost we focus on the community and the user experience. We need to be sure that everyone enjoys themselves and the activities they participate in while on RPGateway. The RolePlay Gateway Staff play a very important role in this, but perhaps the most crucial role is player by the average members of RPGateway. These members, collectively, are what define the community and ultimately, what make the experience a memorable one.

At RolePlay Gateway’s Welcome Desk, new members get the chance to introduce themselves and to be welcomed by existing members of the community. The members do an amazing job at welcoming these users, and while they could do a better job at capturing the interest and captivating them in discussion, we do tend to get an excellent turnover rate for people who post these welcome threads.

There’s always the ongoing issue of bad apples and trolls who seem to be dedicated to turning the community into a flame war, and some of our new features should help members report these items to moderators more quickly. For the most part, our moderators are dedicated and passionate about their task, so again, the members have the most power here, in reporting offensive posts and potential powderkegs to the moderators using the functionality provided. Knowledge is power, and if you inform the staff of problems, I promise, we’ll fix it.

Moderators additionally have the task of making things happen, such as organizing events that keep the whole community involved - such as the infamous word games (and other random non-roleplay fun) and more on-topic helpful threads that help people get involved in games. We’d love to see more of this, indeed. But we’d be happiest to see all members giving their most to the community.

The bottom line is that every member plays an integral role in the great machine. If you complain about something yet aren’t willing to help work toward a solution, you don’t belong here. Be passionate about what you do, and the entire roleplaying community will benefit.

This applies not only to our online community, but to all things that you do. Take it to heart, and you’ll be a better person.

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