Okay. I think the idea is to build a Role Play section. Then have all the individual games inside that. What do you want to call this one? We can have It began in a Tavern as the placeholder. Let me know if you want a different title. Then you can click on that and it will lead to the official thread, character sheets, discussion... whatever.
Like this: Click on that and you'll get the official thread and all the discussion ones. You can create you own threads for all of that @Gravy, but let me know if you need me to add anything.
This looks great. My only concern is that since I want more people to make roleplays, I can’t make a need board section just for them. Because I don’t want to clog up the section. But this works for the tavern rp as it is very established.
I'll just add a section called "role play discussion?" Ideas inquiries can be discussed there. Then when greenlit, we can create an official section for it with all the necessary, game specific threads. How's that?
That works. I think maybe having a section for RP Lore, OOC thread and official threads would be helpful. Let me diagram it for you.
Yeah, let me know what you're thinking. There are some structural constraints in the way Categories, Nodes, and Threads need to be ordered. But we have plenty of options. I'll wait for your diagram to explain more.
Like this: Thanks. I made one and the picture was too large. So, let me just write it out: The Roleplay Forum Sub-forums: Official Roleplay - Where players post to the official threads of their stories. Roleplay Discussion Threads - Where each game has their OOC/character/lore discussion thread to discuss the roleplay and plot. Roleplay Encyclopedias - Where each Roleplay has their lore/character index that is maintained by the GM. This is so all the lore and stuff is placed in an easy to re-read format for all the players. And I don't know where Roleplay Interest threads would go, but I figure they will end up with the Roleplay discussion area. I want to make sure that I have enough organization, but not so much everyone is confused. So, Roleplay interest may just be a thread in the main Roleplay segment or in the Discussion Thread. Does this make sense?
Yep. Makes sense. In the Xenforo construction language, the nomenclature breaks down like this. The "Role Play" as listed in the screenshot, which we would commonly call a Forum, is known as a Category. It' just a title that does nothing until you attach a Node, what we would call a sub-forum. In this case, the first node is "It Began in a Tavern." If you were to click on node/sub-forum, you would then see a list of Threads. Official, Discussion, Characters, Encyclopedia... however you want to set it up. I think the big question would be whether you want to organize things by their Games or by their categories. Say there were three official games. Option one is for the front page to have them listed by their titles, like it is now. It Began in a Tavern Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs Lesbian Vampires from Mars You get the idea. You click on each and that takes you to the Official, Discussion, Character, et al thread. Each organized by game. Second option is what you had laid out (I think) with the categories ruling over the Games. Official Roleplay Roleplay Discussion Threads Roleplay Encyclopedias Then you'd click on those and have to search through all the discussions and all encyclopedias for the particular Game in question. Either is fine and doable. The category with the nodes/sub-forums, either option one or option two, is the guest-facing area that new players will encounter first. I'm not sure what the best option is. Probably Game over Category for the active players and familiar veterans; Category over Game for newer players. I don't have a strong opinion either way. It doesn't need to be over-engineered or built tomorrow.
I think organizing by category is best, because some games get abandoned or end and could just sit there. So, going by category is best, because a little searching is better than having dead forum segments. Like you, I don't want to over-engeineer this. Because I have a habit of doing that. My goal with this is making it easy for people to set up new games and start playing. So, category organization I feel works best for this, because a full mod like you won't have to create new forum nodes for 'Teletubbies Western AU/Slice of Life RP'. (I would personally veto this one.) I also wanted to ask if my powers as mini-mod will let me make/re-organize the nodes and also what I will be able to do. If there was a major problem, I would get the full mods, but moving posts/locking threads is something I do. Please let me know.
Only admin can make or reorganise nodes or forums as a sub section mod you will be able move , open, close and delete threads but not forums
Homers nomenclature description is a little off by the way Top line is category … like on this board community or welcome next down from that is forum and then sub forum then thread ( all the top three are technically nodes but you don’t need to worry about that) so you can either have 1) a category for role play and a forum per game 2) a forum for role play and a sub forum per game 3) or as you have now a forum for role play and several threads per game As set up on the new site it’s currently 1) which is no problem but does mean you need admin to create the forum when you want a new game personally my preference would be (2) as sites with fewer categories tend to do better in seo but it’s not that big a deal also note that forums and sub forums can’t be archived but can be hidden end of the day it’s very easy to alter so I would worrry too much until we get you over there
Also a word of caution we don’t want people to set up games and start playing without prior approval as in the past that has led to some very sketchy behaviour
It seems the way it is being set up is that only @Gravy can start and organize a roleplay. What if another member wants to begin a totally new roleplay?
Gravy is the section mod - so if another member wants to start a totally new role play they ask her and she says yes or no... after that if she gives it the okay they can either start a thread, or if its a forum based system ask admin for a forum for it I can't stress highly enough that we don't want a free for all... its been like that before and in very short order it devolves into people having sexual fantasy role play, or other such skeavy things... which is not only not a good look for the site but also lethal to search engine rating
Whatever is clever works for me. Stickied threads can serve the same purpose at title headers, too. Official games and their related sections at the top, all the general stuff stacked at the bottom. With proper vetting, organization, approval and a reasonable chance for success, sure. But not willy-nilly. We dont want a bunch of garbage that doesnt go anywhere, like we've had in the past. You're going to get a lot of people who show interest, say they'll commit, and then disappear.
I understand. I will make sure all games are approved by me first as the rules here will be the same over there. I will make sure to end/report sketchy behavior.
a cautionary tale of honey hatter and jake the snake... hey lets have a bdsm based sexual vampire role play, (admittedly by private message) and pressure naive young girls to take part in it... even better lets try and arrange for them to meet us at a low rent motel and do it for real. or you know lets not...said naive young girl went to Trish, who came to me, and thence to Wreybies, and Honey and Jake received a ban hammer in the teeth at mach 10 we do have to remember that the internet is a little like the wild west - just because we are sane sensible citizens doesn't mean everyone is
Okay, so I missed a lot of posts and was writing on my phone. Now, on the computer, let me add my thoughts. That works for me. As long as I open/move/close, etc. Thank you for trusting me with these powers. I shall use them responsibly. What I am thinking is organizing it like this one with rules stickied at the top, then the current games are listed below. OOC threads are in a separate area along with the Lore/Worldbuilding. This way, approved players can easily make threads for their games. (I need to figure out a max number- Tavern will be grandfathered into this.) I don't want the place flooded, either. Okay, I won't worry too much about the exact details as there might be a better system down the road depending on player needs. Agreed. I plan on making approval needed for roleplays and if it gets sketchy, I'm shutting it down. I will also report it to full mods to deal with any huge issues. I think stating it's a PG-13 RP space helps a bit. Because then, I can @Homer Potvin: Point at the sign! Yes, I would be the one to approve or disapprove of a game. These proposals would need to be semi-detailed and defined. Because just having a 'we'll see where this goes' could lead anywhere- which isn't good. I understand. RP forum segments can get out of hand and I will be sure to keep an eye on as many games as possible. I have run into a hell of a lot of shit in my day. Hopefully, the rules here that will also be the same, will cut down on any creepy RP stuff. Again, PG-13, people! Kiss all you want, but no R-rated weird stuff, please. This is exactly what I was thinking of doing. I promise there will be very little garbage. That's why I also placed a minimum 3 players rule, because it forces people to actually make a game. Not just 2 people over in their little corner acting weird. I don't like 1 on 1 roleplay games. I also want to modify the current rules to something more able to avoid spam/weird stuff/etc. Maybe even having a RP life rule where RPs that have not been touched in 90 are automatically closed and deleted. 90 days feels fair. I also want to add more requirements for RP creation, such as requiring GMs to present the overarching story, lore, characters, etc. So we don't end up with a bunch of murder hobos or sex maniacs doing what they want. I want more than anything for the RP section to be a place of fun, casual writing where one can maybe improve their writing skills through use.
Sounds like we're on the same page... Its an unfortunate fact that role play is one of those phrases that skeavy people search for... we've had the same issue with 'fantasy' in the past... i'll be like dude there's kids about y'all and he's too all up in the describing the odd things he likes to do with a bottle brush and a tub of custard to listen, in ref of the role play rules - it's your ship to run within reason, so long as they stay inside the main forum rules (which are a lot shorter in the new place)
Yep. I am aware of shit happening like this. I am not sure HOW to keep people from going to the PMs. It's been a problem for ages with any forum with a PM system. I agree the internet is a dangerous wild west and yeah, not every RP player is going to be a good person. That's why I wrote the rules as I did, to at least cut down on players trying to take over a plot/bullying/etc. But I agree. There is HUGE concern about what you said above regarding Jake and crew. If you have ANY idea how to keep idiots from going to the PMs, let me know. I also am not sure HOW I want to do approvals, because I can see where having them in the open is good. But also, don't want Johnny getting others interested in crap game idea, then all of them going to the PMs, because I turned down the idea. However, that's just a day in the life of a Mod, isn't it?
It's the stuff of nightmares. Didn't NaNoWriMo also have some wild stuff going on in the forums? Yeah, let's leave zero opportunity for stuff like that. It's a very good for a trusted member to look after the roleplay forum. I think the current arrangement is good enough and feasible. I don't think that there will be a hundred new roleplays within the first six months of the forum's life. If it really does get popular, better arrangements can be made down the line.
Thank goodness. I am glad to know we are. And yeah, there is a huge issue with that kind of stuff. Honestly, this is the first time I've been asked to mod in any forum. So, I am open to advice and guidance as I wish to learn the art. Fantasy is one of those weird genres? Because it can mean 10-year-olds going on an adventure with Dragons, or it can be Game of Thrones. Like, there isn't an age-cut off. Romance has that, because there is Erotica. So, maybe (not saying custard dude was okay) there should be a +18 section for fantasy with rules similar to the Erotica forum?
nano had wild shit happening with a moderator if i recall correctly...this is the internet unfortunately, you guys see very little of it here, because the staff are on it like a bonnet i remember one guy who made a complaint about me to daniel (back when i was a normal mod) because i wouldn't let him start a thread on the best way to torture women (i'm talking really graphic horrifying shit)... its for my story dude, yeah, no
