Role Play General Chat

They both sound interesting. And surely making the existing RPGs more active would be better than starting more?

 

Mr Mr makes a good point, I believe the slump is largely due to people transitioning between school and summer break (in the northern hemisphere at least). Hopefully it will correct itself. In the meantime a new game may attract new members to the community so I'm all for it. I've given up trying to predict which and when games will succeed, I've never been correct.

Any ideas and thoughts on how to keep games active and thriving?

 

If it's possible to pull off, then re-activating existing RPGs would be great. Also, the superhero RPG seems to be running perfectly fine.

So maybe I shouldn't start a new one?

 

By all means start one. I just meant that starting more everytime the old ones start slowing just creates a cycle.

 

Well I've only been around long enough to witness 'one generation' of RPGs, but from what I've seen so far, people seem very reluctant to join existing RPGs that have been running for a long time, most likely because they don't know much of the events that have already happened, and don't feel like reading through everything.

One solution to this (I've only seen one example, so don't take my word for it), is a reboot of the RPG. For example, I saw Eximius Coventry undergo a (forced) reboot, and it really soared the first few weeks. A reboot seems to work much better than chapter-based RPGs like Orb of Pyritus/Heart of Star, as a reboot doesn't have to deal with the messy transition between chapters.

Of course, the big problem being that rebooting an RPG would mean starting the story over, which isn't as preferable to the GM and old players.

I think I disagree with this, and I think that RPG slumps happen largely due to people losing interest in the situation. Whenever new, sturdy RPGs start, they take off, no matter the time or transition which may be happening. For example, Eximius Coventry seems to have slowed down, but The Atlantians has an impressive post count, even when many of the players take part in both games (naturemage, Mr Mr, LtW, JessWrite, etc.). Eximius is slower because the players have lost interest in it.

 

I agree with both of you. The holidays definately have an effect on postings. But Eximus hasn't slowed because of interest, its slowed because the GM is away and we have no one to push us forward. The GM did state the game would be on a sort of hold until he returned at which point it would be restarted.

An in-active GM seems to be the downfall of a lot of the RPGs.

 

Yeah, it's too bad when RPGs start hitting that speed bump.

I've not lost interest in Eximius at all, I love my dear Avery. It's just sometimes I feel like I post way too much before giving others a chance to. We've also not known where to go next, besides have in-game bickerings. (Which I enjoy. ) I think once Earphone returns for good, it will get back on track, and more posts will come.

New RPGs probably will go off just like Atlantis did, because of the Summer months. It's seems like we all have been on more often than usual too.

 

I'm just wondering what's going on with the RPGs in general. It seems like everything is slowing down. Do we need new players to get the interest back up? Some of the players in the RPGs seem to be on, but I suppose they are affected by those who are MIA.

 

Well i'm waiting for the story line to be pushed forward in Eximus and my character, Taliza, can't really do anything at the moment in Orb of Pyritus.

 

Same with me, I've been watching for Eximius. I could write a response for Avery, but I'm afraid it may drag.

I was doing Asili but no ones been on that one in a while.

I'm really loving playing Atlantis though, its always so much fun to log in and read stuff I missed. An active game with lots of posts a day is awesome.

I wonder if everything is slowing down because of Summer (at least in the US). People are out and about enjoying gorgeous summer days and vacations. In the winter people flock to the computer because there's nothing to do outdoors and are typically more lazy in the winter. I don't know, but that could be a possibility.

 

Some people are lame and get bored of writing. How dare they!

 

Anyone else guna join the Last Free Frontier?

 

Eh, I don't know. I like the sound of it, but Atlantians has kept me busy, and I've actually been working on my current project, not to mention still trying to clean up my house (that I moved into 3 months ago....)

 

Lol standard i would join the others but etermus and orb are too far ahead for me.

 

I've sent a template for last frontier but no response yet. We appear to be the only group still active in the RPG section

 

yh regulars in Atlantis seem the most active.

 

I too sent a template for Last frontier.

 

shes usualy online around this time :S il send her a pm and we can pull it back to the first couple of posts

 

No worries all, sometimes the whole of WF goes into a slump, but it always comes back.

For those of you who love your games, I have a few suggestions on what players can do to keep them going. 1) Aways interact with other characters and be sure to draw in less active and new players. 2) Cliff hangers are always good, 3) help the GM out by progressing the story and encouraging other characters in the direction the GM is going.

Any other thoughts on how to keep a game active?

 

4) post regularly

 

Still active here! Just... no games to apply that to, unfortunately.

@losthawken: Honestly, I'm not 100% sure why this happens. It doesn't matter what kind of game it is, it doesn't matter how free the game is, it doesn't matter which people play in said game; every game seems to die out after a while, without any exceptions.

That said, I still think the main cause of RPG death is eventual disinterest, although summer transitions and such have played a role as well. Having played a wide variety of RPGs, I think I have a theory as to why the games on this forum tend to die quicker than games in other places (like Dungeons and Dragons, or virtual RPGs).

Now, this is just a guess, so don't try to take this too seriously: Games on this forum lack a good sense of constant achievement. Like any RPG, you get to create your character, and run your character through the story that a GM creates, but that's it. Your character stays relatively the same, and the story also tends to stay the same. A game like Orb of Pyritus was about the closest to break this cycle (with the Orb-award, and world changing after each chapter), but it still isn't enough. Once you get the Orb, you can't really get better, and it's inevitable that you'd lose it. If you don't get it, you have to go through an entire chapter to have another chance at getting it.

It's the same in other games, in fact some games lack any sort of award system whatsoever.

Why do I think awards and achievements drive RPGs? Because RPGs that I've witnessed running for months or sometimes years are games like D&D or some of those billions of random MMORPGs one might find online. The biggest differences between those kinds of games, and the Writing Forum games, are of course, levels and loot. Leveling up allows you to look forward to becoming more powerful, and gaining additional abilities, while loot will make you better equipped and richer. It's a constant award system, which pushes players to continue playing, and prevents them from getting bored as easily.

Unfortunately, this isn't easily fixable. We can't just add levels to our RPGs, it would be tedious and hard to manage (not to mention this is a Writing Forum, not an RPGs Forum). But maybe if there was a better award system; something players can strive for while playing, and something that wasn't just a one-time thing, maybe it'd work a little better.

Sorry for the long post; just my thoughts.

Cheers.

 

I think you raise some good points cheddar. What I've seen is that the biggest die off in player activity comes immediately after they've introduced and developed their character. I think that this speaks to your point about 'achievement', its an achievement to introduce and develop your character through the first battle, but after that most players aren't sure what's left to achieve and so interest dies off.

I think that the key to avoiding this particular kind of apathy lies with each individual player. I've been in a couple games that have made it, or nearly made it to the finish. One of the biggest things that I think kept me interested in my characters was that I made them to evolve with the story. In a sense I was re-developing my character all the time, while trying to maintain realism and continuity. It was a real achievement for me progress my character through stages.

I also think that this is an important aspect to general writing that is difficult for many people. Its easy to generate a static character, but the most interesting ones are the ones that evolve and go through emotional stages and processes (just like we do).

Kind of a ramble/rant here, but I think that the take home I'm trying to make is to avoid keeping your character static. Evolve them, use the game and the environment to sway them to despair, or darkness, then bring them back. You will get more out of it both in terms of that sense of achievement that we mentioned and in improving your writing.

 

I see Cheddar's point, and it ties in with the fact that these RPGs are a story as well: there is no character development. I think this ties into your point losthawken, that we must continue to introduce new players, because with them, there are new interactions that can take place. Look at Orb right now. There are a lot of new players which have found the old players. Interactions can now resume, and new challenges are presented.

On that same tangent, where is GaleSkies!

 

I agree with what you all have said. The Atlantis RPG presents a great way to test out this "reward system" idea. The more one plays and develops their character the better the chance they have of getting into the superhero league and developing new aspects of their abilities. I'm already trying to think of something more I can discover about my character, Alica's abilities which she will have no chance of getting till she get some one on one time with Monsoon.

Anyway, thats my 2 cents.

 

Developing characters is vital for a good RPG like Losthawken says. If characters become static and dont grow it wont be just the writer of that character that gets bored, but also other people in the game. Characters need to be exciting and unpredictable, so its fun to read and also fun for other characters to interact with them.

Also I agree with Cheddar about awards and achievements, but only to an extent. Obviously characters that are rewarded grow and develop with new items and abilities, which can completely change their persona - so thats good. But these rewards can only be given if something is completed, an objective for the character. Personally this is vitally important, having an objective to do, an obstacle to get passed. I think that is why the Orb of Pyritus works so well, because there is one main objective for each character, driving them on to get it by any means necessary (whether that be teaming up, or backstabbing - it adds another dimension to your character's personality). Then obviously, the reward is given to the person who gets the Orb and the achievement redefines them.

Having said that, there also needs to be mini-objectives. I think that is why Eximius is on the back burner currently, because while there is this main objective to beat the Grey Suit organisation, there is no smaller objectives currently in place, and all characters find themselves confined to a room doing nothing. Small objectives dont have to be massively action packed either, it could just be a conversation to what the group should do next etc.

My last suggestion is that there needs to be tension between characters. Sometimes writers in RPGs can be too friendly towards complete strangers and then they go on to have a nice relationship and its all so... boring. In fairness that is my own opinion, others my love that side of it. But personally I love reading the tension between characters, like building up to a tipping point where characters personalities clash or someone tries to manipulate someone else, etc. Drama and climax make for entertaining reading.

Sorry for the long post, and apologises if I have upset anyone by what I have said, these are just my views and opinions.

Fox