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Old 02-05-2011, 04:50 PM   #106
Durelin
Estelo dagnir, Melo ring
 
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Join Date: Oct 2002
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Durelin is battling Black Riders on Weathertop.Durelin is battling Black Riders on Weathertop.
I doubt this is going to fit with the Downs overall style...but here goes...

I guess I'll just toss out possibilities. But basically what I think is necessary is a more open field. Certainly you have rules. Certainly you guide people to RPing canonically (which includes not messing around with canons, which I have been guilty of myself in the past :x). But...the style of, here is a game project. Someone has to run it. You have your plot set out, perhaps even in great detail. You need a certain number of players. Those players create characters that specifically fit in your plot and will play out your plot. They may or may not affect the plot at all. It puts a lot on the person running the game, and it takes a lot away from the players. When a game owner disappears for a time, the players are lost. When you lose a player or two, the game can be derailed if they played important characters.

I understand (though I did not witness) the change from an open RPing forum to a very firmly structured system. If you want to encourage a certain 'level' of RPing, you have to have certain rules. But I think it went too far. I think that it went too far into the realm of elitism. (A natural result of having different 'tiers' of RPing, for one thing.) And it's just clunky.

So, ideas I'll just toss out there. I'm trying to fit what I've seen work for RPing into the setting of the Downs discussion forum.

Return to one open RP forum. Maybe keep an inn, maybe not. Keep the same basic rules/expectations of what a 'post' is. Make it clear that no one is to RP any canon characters or involve them (except perhaps a passing mention or something) in their RPs. (This rule will help keep players from starting plots that turn into crazy fan-fic.)

Then let anyone start an RP -- let that be a RP with a plot, or an open-ended RP. Maybe have a separate 'RP Discussion' forum in which people can use to plot RPs or look for other RPers. Maybe someone doesn't want to run a specific storyline, but is interested in collaborating with just one, maybe two other people on some RPing and see where it goes. (They choose a setting, figure out how the characters meet up, and then they're off to doing things.)

Those who are looking for a specific 'level' of RP can pick and choose who they RP with, as they wish. Those who aren't looking to dedicate themselves to someone's plot can do something of a smaller scale.

And what about RPs 'ending' or not? Well, that's up to the players. If they don't ever reach an end, they don't reach an end. Periodically remove threads that have not been posted on in however long, and leave it at that. If the players want to return to a thread that has been removed, it's up to them to restart it.

And then there's the question of character bios... You can continue with the current method and have people post character bios to the discussion threads in which they plot their RPs. If you keep an inn (or multiple inns, if desired, to have inns in various areas of ME), you can continue a list of characters there. Players can choose whether they want to use a character just for a specific plot, or if they want to play a character throughout different plots. They can either re-post their bios for whatever they're involved in, or they can refer people to the bio posted elsewhere (and whoever's running the plot can ask them to re-post their bio, or can ask them to make a new character).

A lot of RPs have an 'application process' you do in order to play. That only works in a certain type of RP. Here you could continue to use the idea that players have to post in the inn first, if you wanted some kind of application process. They'd have to create a character that would be accepted to the inn thread, and that would be their 'test.' But that's a lot of work for whoever is moderating/running the inn thread.

Basically...loosen things up a bit. Allow for more spontaneity, which is not inherently bad. Reduce the amount of paperwork, the procedures. Let players feel less like they're being graded. Yes, this will take moderating, but not as much on the back end. It will be about stepping in when necessary rather than having to handle everything from the start.

And once you have a RPing section established, it becomes clear what kind of RPing takes place there. So, if you have an established group of players in your RP section, everyone who joins is going to see how they RP, what the protocols are, etc., and they are going to realize that they have to follow those protocols if they are to 'fit in.' So if you're afraid of a bonanza of warrior-princesses and vampires and werewolves (Sauron's buds, ya know)...that's not going to take root if you have RPs going on that are more 'realistic' to the setting/canon and RPers who aren't at all interested in those things. It's very hard to establish that from the get-go, but since the RP sections were established and reestablished years ago...hopefully a lot of that will carry over?

Does having a certain 'level' of RPing make things more fun? Yes, but how do you determine that 'level' from the get-go? Encourage good writing, 'realistic' RPs, and leave it at that. There's a trend in the forum RP world that is to call yourself an 'advanced,' 'intermediate,' or 'beginner' RPer. As soon as you put labels on it, or structure your RP around supposed 'levels,' it just stops being welcoming. It takes away from the fun. It's daunting to new players, and keeps current players edgy, wondering if their posts are going to live up to the standards 'advanced' RPers. Etc.

So...that's why I think it's better to just allow a level and style of RPing to develop based on what the moderator(s) and existing players are doing.

As Mithadan pointed out...the movie-craze is long over. Those who are spending time on the interwebs talking about or RPing Middle-earth are a different breed. The dynamic has changed...I think it's safer now to open things up.

It's always a challenge to make a RP section work...and if the feeling is that an open RP section dirties the reputation of the forum, then of course there shouldn't be one. But...this is all just for fun, isn't it?

And you're probably reading this (especially as a mod or admin) thinking...you expect someone to keep up with all this? I know it seems like a lot of work. I don't know how much it will be. It all depends on the kind of players and number of players you end up with at any given time. It also depends on how tight of a rein you feel you need to have on everything. How pristine you want every thread to look. How well you feel everyone must write. How much you want to moderate 'chattiness.' So...yea, it's a lot easier to just leave things as they are, especially since there's barely any activity so not much to keep up with. And so asking the admins and mods to make changes is asking them to do work. So I understand completely if it's just not worth the time to make any changes, regardless of who suggests them.

Re Fea's suggestions: RP ending dates used to be much more strictly enforced, but I don't think that encouraged people to keep up with them. It becomes less about writing/playing the game and more about just *finishing it* somehow. Just working through the steps of the plot as quickly as you could (which often meant the game owner just pushing things ahead periodically until the set 'end' was reached). That's not fun to me, but that's just me. Anyway, having a timeline and end dates and the like just makes it feel more like work to me.

I guess one of the big underlying problems is getting new players and keeping them. I'm not sure how to do that. You can make the RP forums more welcoming, have more open opportunities for RP, but at the same time...they have to get here somehow. And a lot of people are looking for forums dedicated entirely to RP, when they're looking to RP. The age of the RP section in a discussion forum seems to be long past, as RPs now more commonly take up entire forums. So this discussion may be kind of pointless. (Random note, if you search 'middle earth forum roleplaying' on Google, BD shows up on page 3)

(I hope this is coherent. I'm battling a cold so I'm a little empty-headed.)

Thanks for reading (especially since it's ridiculously long). I am surprised to find any responses and I really appreciate your response and openness, Mithadan.


Edit: Crossed with Mnemo.

Last edited by Durelin; 02-05-2011 at 04:53 PM.
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