Improving the Community

[Patcharoo]

I've been on this website for two and a half years, and I like it.

So without further stalling, we, the community, are looking to improve the community in some fashion.

The general suggestion is the simple following;
Users of higher quality need to stop building up groups and niches, and share their skills by roleplaying with lesser users. This is why the mentors initially existed, as far as I can tell, for the exact purpose of uniting the better roleplayers with those in need of improvement.

No, I'm not saying the mentors should do it, the mentors have moved on to a different role of supporting the community and acting as a strong back bone of knowledge and help.
It's up to the actual members of the community to step outside of their comfort zone, to stop roleplaying with the same 1-5 people and actually get into a roleplay with someone you haven't ever roleplayed with before. Tell that user you will approve their character if they make an effort to keep up to the quality of posts in the roleplay. Join a roleplay you normally wouldn't and try to help improve their skills.

No this doesn't mean posting three paragraphs a post in a roleplay full of one liners. You have to meet their level of roleplaying and go one step above it.

So what do you think community?

What are you going to do to try to help?

[Gasmask]

I dig it. I remember how shitty it was being a newbie and everyone great was well... they were off doing awesome things and it kind of felt like you were under-appreciated, and under the blues of the internet. Shit sucks man.

So yeah, I'll be going out of my way as my friendo' Patch said to roleplay, I mean it IS up to us isn't it?

[Awinita]

That it is; I too will help with this, I've seen several new roleplayers in the MV that have a need to Rp with others and build up their skills to a better level of writing from what I have seen. I offered ot help several, but none have ever taken me up on it.... yet. What Patchie says is true, we all have our own little groups, and none of us even bother to pull in newcomers to get them into the spirit of roleplaying with everyone.

Why is it that everyone tries ot avoid the new comers to a RP {like the Multiverse for example}

The answer is very simple; they just don't like the quality of the writing of the new roleplayers, either it lacks proper tense, or puctuation, or something. People just try to avoid those roleplayers because of their writing quality, even though those new roleplayers want to join in the fun, I think Patch is right, we has a group need to help the new comers whereas the Mentors are looked to for advice and other help.

[AzricanRepublic]

Users of higher quality need to stop building up groups and niches, and share their skills by roleplaying with lesser users. This is why the mentors initially existed, as far as I can tell, for the exact purpose of uniting the better roleplayers with those in need of improvement.

Just as a clarification, instead of specifically indicating only the users of 'higher' skill, perhaps the situation shouldn't be about what specific group has to do what, but what all users can do. It's not the sole fault of these "good RPers" that the site has stagnated; there will have to be cooperation from both sides of the fence, just like there is reasons that both sides of the fence have contributed to the problem. I think there shouldn't be any more of this finger pointing, but a simpler "everyone" that must help to improve the community. Shrugging it off onto one group of RPers is just going to further disenfranchise people who, in all honesty, really aren't obligated to exclusively sell themselves to help people that view them as the problem.

[DemiKara]

This is clearly a touchy subject, but I think all users should help out on it. It's fairly simple solution wise at least. RP with someone you don't normally RP with. Here's the thing though, it can't just be the 'high quality' players who do it. I have been ruminating on this a few hours, to be honest, and what we need is a solution, not talk of a solution. So I propose this.

Once a week, go find someone you've never played with, and RP with them. While I'm fairly certain this would work for chat play I'm not certain it would work for forums or tabs. So just a suggestion there, join a role play you wouldn't necessarily have joined otherwise. Something that you don't like. Try it out, especially if you just don't like it on principal and have never done it before.

One catch: No one you usually RP with can be in it. Don't get scared of it floundering or falling apart. Think of it like a game of tag. Once you get enough people, you're set for recess, but getting it started it the hardest part. Invite new users in chat to try it out, tell them you'll be there.

Invite new people in the welcome forum to one you're in as well. We all started out sucky.

Let me make that perfectly clear.

At One Point In Time, You Sucked.

So it's not like you've never done it before. Try revisiting it, and consider how much you've improved. And if you're worried about a game full of horrible, terrible, no good one liners consider this how much this story tells you.

For Sale: Baby shoes, Never worn.

Six words, and yet that's a hell of a meaningful post, don't you think? Try that. Rather than complaining, try and pack meaning into the one liners you post, and maybe post a few words more than them, and watch their posting climb.

[dealing with it]

It's not the sole fault of these "good RPers" that the site has stagnated; there will have to be cooperation from both sides of the fence, just like there is reasons that both sides of the fence have contributed to the problem.

I can't join anyone's fanfic because I am not, and never will be, a fan. I can't even play ironically, because chances are I've never heard of it. If you make a fanfic, you have created a barrier that will stop dead many people who would otherwise happily play with you.

[Patcharoo]

Naturally, recently I've felt the issue is people don't want to RP with people they don't trust the skill of. What they don't get on the flip side is they will latch onto the first friend they make. If that first friend (assuming they keep roleplaying) is active and encourages them to do better, they will likely move up to join that persons skill level, or move down if its the other way.

What I'm basically saying is, roleplay with new users. With a little bit of effort you can get them to a decent skill level and post length.