How hard is it for you to find Active Roleplayers?

Chulance · **Tips:** 0.00 INK by **Chulance** on Sun May 24, 2009 4:58 am

Well I've made this topic because a lot of topics I've been in and some I've started seem to die because people don't want to be active and just ignore the thread. I encoutner this more than I do Godmodding or power playing. Who else has a problem getting active roleplayers? Talk about your experiences with non-active roleplayers or the times you've met active roleplayers.

Cloud_Homewood · **Tips:** 0.00 INK by **Cloud_Homewood** on Sun May 24, 2009 5:11 am

well i havnt had a problem with it in this forum, but i have encountered. but what i run into more times than not is people ignoring my posts.

jakelovesyuna · **Tips:** 0.00 INK by **jakelovesyuna** on Sun May 24, 2009 5:14 am

God..i make loads of RPs becuase i know at least 75% of them die..i came up with great ideas,but my topics rarely make it to the recent posts bar so i dont get the adverts..but i will admit...it is a pain,espcially if you have joined a roleplay and the host never comes back.But i am on here everyday-without fail,for at least 7 hours a day.

Chulance · **Tips:** 0.00 INK by **Chulance** on Sun May 24, 2009 5:58 am

Ignoring posts? I've had that problem in some threads that move way to fast. Me too I'm really bored I do nothing but post a few times a day because pepole are one doing other roleplys. I have to pm people a few times before they post. If I never pmed anybody all my threads would be on the second page. That was my mistake with my X men rp.

My Dragonball Z rp is alive but the roleplayer who controls the saga has a super busy life and it takes a lot to get him to post

Cambons · **Tips:** 0.00 INK by **Cambons** on Sun May 24, 2009 6:33 am

out of the 1300 registered members see like maybe 20-30 active on here. Ive got a couple that im trying to make live.

River-Koi · **Tips:** 0.00 INK by **River-Koi** on Sun May 24, 2009 7:25 am

VERY VERY VERY, EXTREMELY hard. I don't know if it's just that this is a one time thing for them, and they just pop onto the website to check it out and later forget all about it, but almost-- no, EVERY single last one of my threads die. People post that they're interested, and their characters and such, but when I finally post the IC thread everyone has forgotten all about me.

So now I just play other people's ideas, but I have to sort through all of the superpower high-school anime thingies because they're just not my thing.

Chulance · **Tips:** 0.00 INK by **Chulance** on Sun May 24, 2009 7:36 am

That's why I hate interest checks the real rpers come in the OOC topic. I got a popular interest check and 2 reply's on the ooc! I wish people here were more active and would not join threads if they have full time jobs or stuff that would drastically slow down any rp's.

CriminalMinds · **Tips:** 0.00 INK by **CriminalMinds** on Sun May 24, 2009 7:40 am

Personally, for me, I find plenty of active roleplayers on the site. What I find difficult is getting my ideas to attract a wide range of people. Many of my roleplay ideas have died either due to lack of interest or half way through because it's gone off track or players have lost the interest.

So far, the only roleplay of mine not to have gone this way is my ADV trilogy roleplay. I started that up as an interest check and ended up with 17 players interested. They all joined and I immediately thought it would die due to the chaos and the amount of players involved. I'd already set it up once as well, in which it died miserably. This time though I planned it well.

So far, it has risked dying a couple of times due to players leaving and the posts per day have slowed down. But I make sure in the OOC that people know what's going on, where I want the plot to head and everything. So far, I haven't had to PM anyone, but 5 people have dropped out so far and so I've had to kill them off.

Now, with 12 players left its a post every other day, but the speed is nice and the post quality is in the paragraphs, not a couple of lines. It's slow, yes, but I'd rather it be slow and decent then fast paced and going off track and away from the plot. I've even found a way to keep the players interested - They won't know the ending until the last instalment.

I've been in a lot of roleplays and I find that if it doesn't keep my interest, my posts start to lack and then I eventually drop out, so for me, I need the interest to be kept and I think that's one of the problems players drop out. Also, it's the time of year when people are busy in real life as for a lot of people, it's finals and so they're off concentrating on those, instead of roleplaying, which is understandable.

So, to sum it up, I think there are a lot of active roleplayers, it's just a case of attracting their interest to your roleplay idea, and keeping it. =D

Vexar · **Tips:** 0.00 INK by **Vexar** on Sun May 24, 2009 8:27 am

My biggest problem is my own lack of activity, not my players. Normally, if I have a role play it's everyone makes one post per day. The biggest issue is me being able to keep up time for it. Right now I started an interest check for The Brigade: Dawn. A dragon war type role play that is to be a trilogy. I only started it because I know I'll have free time to post as I'm coming into a new job over the next few weeks that will have me around computers all day lol.

Kesteven · **Tips:** 0.00 INK by **Kesteven** on Sun May 24, 2009 5:50 pm

So far I've joined one RP that about 7 people signed up for, about 4 posted, and now it's dead, and I started my own but it's severely ailing. I was hoping it was just because I joined this forum just before exam time, but this thread isn't hugely encouraging.

It's ridiculous really because on my last forum we had about 6 active members total, and I was the only one with a serious interest in RP, and yet we usually had about 3 RPs moving slowly but steadily along at any one time just from people casually posting in their lunchbreak or whatever. And yet here, where there should be plenty of committed players and hardcore RP nerds... it's practically a graveyard. I guess it's an issue of supply and demand? With so many RPs here people are going to get distracted. The vagrant scum that they are.

Oh well, hopefully things will pick up a little in the summer when people have nothing better to do.

Imehal · **Tips:** 0.00 INK by **Imehal** on Mon May 25, 2009 7:36 pm

I usually find it quite difficult to find active roleplayers, particularly when a roleplay has more than four players because then it becomes more difficult to make sure people are posting. Currently, two of the roleplays I am in are on permanent hiatus due to life being incredibly sucky for the GM of one thread and my one-on-one partner in the other. Other than those, I'm in two roleplays with a friend, and another with a new and very busy (RL and Forum) moderator.

I've had two roleplays so far die from lack of effort to post from the other members. The problem is, what do you do about it? These people are possibly on another continent so how can you possibly find a way to keep them motivated unless there's a good story, like Crim's ADV, which is a fantastic idea.

It also doesn't help that there are so many roleplays to sort through to find your own and even if there is a 'check your posts' function, some people don't know about it or prefer to just check the first page of the category.

So yeah, it's bloody hard to find active roleplayers on this site, but when you have them, damn you have them!

Safisan · **Tips:** 0.00 INK by **Safisan** on Mon May 25, 2009 8:10 pm

Very, very hard. Most of the games I'm in, I make. Maybe I'm a faulty GM, but for starters, I make sure there is interest in the game. Make an interest check with the plot (no rules, character skeleton or added info as of then), if it works, make an OOC with what was left out. Then... Watch the IC die a few days later, at best.

Most of the people I play with start out active, then likely lose interest in the game and leave; or as has been said, don't have a way of tracking them down (use the bookmarks, people!) If it's not that, then it's relying on one specific poster, which sadly, doesn't come. Rarely do I need to abandon an RP due to my schedule, and because I dislike doing so, I tend to keep at a single game during exam periods. While PMs can work wonders for those that care, there are others who won't come on to read 'em.

I'd personally love the thought of finding an incestuous group, in the sense that I'd just play with them. As limiting as it may be to my growth as a role-player and GM, it'd guarantee me activity and seeing an end to the story.

Then the other person that may be to blame... The GM: am I posting too little? Too much? Am I not giving them enough information to keep up the plot? Will I need another npc there? You need to ensure there's activity from everyone, both those with busy and slow schedules alike. Next, time zones: if you're far from me, it ends out as a pretty nice deal if we're both active. You post, then go to sleep, wake up to find a post, as would I. One could also argue it's forum role-playing and not chat, where you're encouraged to take your time-- but exactly how much time can you take off a game without losing interest and starting to fail to get in character?

I find this community has active members, but they're either in games I wouldn't go for (and quick-moving ones at that) or in the chat/battle arena where I don't frequent as much. I recall Brovo suggesting a 'black list' to keep track of people who dump role-plays (it's a bit more elaborate) and not allowing them access to games. It seems like a nice idea given a little tweaking.

CriminalMinds · **Tips:** 0.00 INK by **CriminalMinds** on Mon May 25, 2009 10:09 pm

Safisan definitely brought up some good points there. I'll use ADV is an example been as I think it is definitely a good one when looking at keeping roleplays going. I don't just say that because it's my idea. Recently, I've had 5 players drop out. The roleplay is a trilogy and involves 4 gangs that until recently consisted of 17 players all together.

I tried it once before under a different title and it died epically. I was never going to redo the idea really until one night when I was talking about it to someone who had been in the original, that wanted it redone and other people gained interest.

So I started with an interest check. One thing I made sure though was, that my roleplay had a clear beginning and a clear ending to work towards, as well as points to get to in the story. I also needed enough players. I originally when for 4 in each gang and then rogues, then it turned out 3-4 people.

The first thing I came across really was the South gang's lack of posts and where they were heading. In the end, players dropped out and so I've now had to work the South Gang's death and demise into the roleplay, which has worked fine. Then, I've had to deal with another character been killed off as well as a character leaving RPG, an important one which I've managed to find another user interested in playing.

My next challenge was how to get around 17 users posting. My first thought was post order, but then I thought, that users would then be waiting 17 turns to post, and that could be a while, with time zones, especially as everyone in the thread are world wide. So, the way I got around this was 2-3 posts per day.

My hardest task yet is keeping players entertained, especially as they watch others die and drop out. Luckily, the nature of the idea means that players can afford to die and be part of the story if they wish to drop out. I've made sure to emphasise that the players use the OOC and each talk to their group and form smaller inside plots to work towards.

North gang also came to a stop for over a week, which I thought would completely die, but again its taken off. I think the only reason all this has happened though is because I've managed to collect a group of dedicated roleplayers, which I know is rare. I've created a lot of roleplays and so far this is the only surviving one in terms of groups.

Personally, I think the black book idea is a little wrong. Just imagine if you were on it and no one would accept you into their roleplay, because of it and the reasons you had dropped out, were valid. Instead, maybe it's worth looking at users histories with posts before accepting them.

Now, that's just my two cents on the whole thing, and an example from one of my roleplays going in an attempt to help people on certain aspects if they find the roleplay deteriorating. Another thing to do, is in a roleplay you'd joined, constantly add to the plot line with new and exciting ideas to try and help the plot along. I always encourage this from my players ^__^.

Thekherham · **Tips:** 0.00 INK by **Thekherham** on Mon May 25, 2009 10:52 pm

I'm still fairly new here, so I'm still learning. I've had one fairly successful roleplay (Space Station Orion), but since I have left the station, I've been unsuccessful in finding anything that would suit me. I'm looking for futuristic, science fiction-type roleplay. Sure, I've been in one that just died in the middle of the story, and another one that was started recently seems to have faded away (although I hope the original poster returns soon.)

When ever I start something I seem to get as far as the opening post, and then it dies. I don't know , but maybe I should switch to another category, like fantasy, which doesn't really suit me considering my character (alien). I know I can't be the only one interested in the science fiction/other worlds/aliens category. I've got a whole 'solar' system out there; all I need is characters to live there.

Kesteven · **Tips:** 0.00 INK by **Kesteven** on Tue May 26, 2009 10:00 am

Well, it couldn't hurt you to expand a little, I admit scifi is cool but other genres can be just as exciting if they're done well, and they use a lot of the same hooks and conventions, just in a different way. Relying on one character or genre can limit you, and you become incapable of thinking outside it.

About active players, though, how about this: Everyone who thinks they're hardcore enough to hold themselves to a schedule of at least a post every couple days for an extended period, post saying so. That way we can compile an impromptu 'white list' with a view to creating an incestuous coven that can give games a reliable core membership.

Actually, if anyone else is up for it and if such a thing doesn't already exist, we could try and put together some kind of forum organization for this with a determinate membership and a code of honour. I'd put forward something like the following as a basis:

1. While active in a game, participants must post regularly.
2. Once accepted into a game, participants must declare leaves of absence in advance and not just bail out.
3. All members must provide contact details and respond promptly if they are called upon to post.

Once we had a few members we could get a game or two going and think up a system to make members accountable to these rules, like an application process involving evidence of participating in a long-running RP, and kicking people out if they consistently fail in their duties. It's an idea, anyhow.

Skallagrim · **Tips:** 0.00 INK by **Skallagrim** on Tue May 26, 2009 11:42 am

It is tough to find good people who are dedicated to participating, which is why I tend to RP with the same few people; Jade, Rosy, Iris Wolf, Tigerz-peace and Drako11, Aslin and a few others. I know they have dedication and bring dynamic and interesting characters and ideas to the role-plays. They all have a vested interest in creating dynamic worlds and stories which is what I look for.

Cloud_Homewood · **Tips:** 0.00 INK by **Cloud_Homewood** on Tue May 26, 2009 1:00 pm

i like your idea kesteven.

Thekherham · **Tips:** 0.00 INK by **Thekherham** on Tue May 26, 2009 7:08 pm

Kesteven, right now I'm sticking with one character, because that is the one I know best. I've written stories and novels about this character and the worlds he lives in, so I figured I'll use that one. I'm open to using him in a different settings... I mean, he doesn't have to be on an alien planet, or in some far future. He can interact with humans, or fantasy characters. As for creating other characters, I still call myself fairly new in roleplaying, and I don't know if I can handle other characters, no matter what they are or what genre they are in. I do have one other character, but I don't know if I can use him because I don't think he would be appropriate for this site.

One thing I'm also apprehensive about is jumping into a thread that has already been started. Somehow, I feel like I'm intruding, especially when my character doesn't fit into the situation. I usually join by invitation, or I'll start a thread of my own.

Catacomb · **Tips:** 0.00 INK by **Catacomb** on Tue May 26, 2009 9:44 pm

Is there any way around the double post limitation? I can do a whole thread on my own, but noticed you can't post after one of your own posts. It makes you wait for another post from someone else first. For me, this feels limiting for the Storyteller. Or is there something that I'm missing here? I've only recently joined this month so I do not know all the ins and outs of this particular forum, but wouldn't mind any tips and tricks for that. I'd love to be able to do one post for one character response, and another for like a narrative while keeping the length of it not 'novel sized' which would happen by combining them into one big post.

Safisan · **Tips:** 0.00 INK by **Safisan** on Tue May 26, 2009 10:36 pm

Only staff members are allowed to do that, I think. Maybe you could edit out the first post and put an OOC comment about it?

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