Why Do Our RPs Lack Staying Power? (Let's Solve This)

[Master Mew]

Titular.

Here in our RP forums we throw around a lot of good ideas, consistently generate strong interest, and nothing sticks. Precious few plots are ever played out to completion, to the point where many GMs seem to no longer consider completion a viable goal.

Is this a problem that needs to be addressed, or just the nature of the beast (forum roleplaying)? What do YOU think is the recipe for permanence in a play-by-post RP?

Let's solve this.

 

[Agent Gryphon]

That's a good point. I think it is a goal, and I like to achieve it with all my RPs, but it seems to never end well (Except 3 of my RPs that have actually finished, despite there was less players in the end). I think it's also because the players can stop RPing as well, so they lose interest and the RP dies, the GM gives up on it (And don't get me started on the SU's), sometimes the GM is at fault as well, I am not sure of I have any ideas for it though, but there are some like Trebloome, Ravenclaw and Nebula Academies that have lasted a long time, especially the former.

 

[Italy-kun]

I've been in a grand total of one RP that wasn't here, so I dunno if more are completed elsewhere. I'd say it's a problem that can be solved, though.

 

[Naoto]

An RPG is like an organism, Even if the GM gives, if the other players like that RP enough. The Other people can continue and take control. A CO-GM could help as well just in case one falls, there's a back up not to mention that the two of them can discuss plots making the RPG plot more intresting and complex. Some people get bored because the RPG starts out fun but it gets stale because the plot doesn't have enough twists and turns or characters don't make enough development. (Which is often the death of most Journey RP's tragically.) As long as the plot is well thought and the RPG is active. I think it can thrive.

 

[Heroic Sociopath]

It's a group effort. Academy RPs last a long time because they don't really need much plot. I think the issue is lots of GMs expect their RPs to last 500 pages without people getting bored. I've had great success with some shorter RPs I've made.

 

[Midorikawa]

I think one matter is how active one is, especially the GM. If the GM leaves the plot on one point in the story for too long, then it can be annoying. Having and interesting but not confusing plot is another, also having enough active posters. If no one is active then it won't move along.

 

[Master Mew]

I think one matter is how active one is, especially the GM. If the GM leaves the plot on one point in the story for too long, then it can be annoying. Having and interesting but not confusing plot is another, also having enough active posters. If no one is active then it won't move along.

How does one foster activity? After all, BMGf has plenty of active posters, including a plethora of active RPers, yet getting any of those RPers to actually commit to a particular RP long-term seems always out of reach.

Have you ever dropped out of an active RP prematurely? If so, why? What would have made you stay?

 

[Midorikawa]

I think one matter is how active one is, especially the GM. If the GM leaves the plot on one point in the story for too long, then it can be annoying. Having and interesting but not confusing plot is another, also having enough active posters. If no one is active then it won't move along.

How does one foster activity? After all, BMGf has plenty of active posters, including a plethora of active RPers, yet getting any of those RPers to actually commit to a particular RP long-term seems always out of reach.

Have you ever dropped out of an active RP prematurely? If so, why? What would have made you stay?

Not yet, but some I have just started, I'm having difficult time keeping interest as the GM seems to pop on for one quick post, and then pops off before there is much chance to interact, I'm also confused about things that haven't been properly answered since the GM isn't on often enough.

 

[Abstractwatercolor]

Well, @jasonwolf; and I both had minor characters in a Percy Jackson RPG, but as others started dropping-out, our two became more and more developed, and finally, the GM (Who wasn't a very good GM, as he kept trying to godmod us) gave-up, and we took-over. That RP was completed, and we now have a successful seires, the Legends Of Demigods games, the fourth installment of which is coming-out this summer.

(Shameless sluf-plug!)

 

[Plumbum]

Well, I've done a lot of RPing around TV Tropes, although I've only just started here, got one signup going and in one RP, but I can say completion was definitely a problem there too. Almost all RPs died out halfway through, and I can count exactly two that haven't yey (and they haven't finished, but they've been running so long they might as well have. Except even one of those is very clearly on its last legs. So I'd put at least some of it down to the nature of the beast.

 

[Naoto]

I'm not proud of it but sometimes i drop out RP's because the plot doesn't have a lot twists and turns which then becomes boring. The often death of Journey and Academy RPG's because they lack plot twists and just become endless posting of chat between characters.

 

[Heroic Sociopath]

How does one foster activity? After all, BMGf has plenty of active posters, including a plethora of active RPers, yet getting any of those RPers to actually commit to a particular RP long-term seems always out of reach.

Have you ever dropped out of an active RP prematurely? If so, why? What would have made you stay?

By making the RP fun. If you like a video game, you're gonna play it a lot. If you don't like it, you'll leave it alone.

 

[jasonwolf]

Well, @jasonwolf; and I both had minor characters in a Percy Jackson RPG, but as others started dropping-out, our two became more and more developed, and finally, the GM (Who wasn't a very good GM, as he kept trying to godmod us) gave-up, and we took-over. That RP was completed, and we now have a successful seires, the Legends Of Demigods games, the fourth installment of which is coming-out this summer.

(Shameless sluf-plug!)

yeah, but in that series its very often carried by those two characters. I contorl the villains, the gods, the anithero and more. Besides that all my other RPs often lack members before they lack staying power. I spend hours writing up these RPs and come up with all sorts of stuff, but no one bothers to even say anything. I've had three in a row without any replies. Personally I think people need to stop doing the standerd RPs and try somethign new. I mean how many times do people just do Pokemon kanto hereos! or Pokemon Johto adventures! or Unova legends! sure they are great for the first five seconds but nothign holds them together to make a real RP.

I've gone a head and written an Rp with enough plot possibilities to last indefinantly, but what happens? no one signs up. when they do they drop out. if they don't drop out they go on to do the RP, but never do the PLOT! they just goof off training their pokemon instead of the actual RP, and I see that all the time in other RPs.

I've got seven fixes:

1. cut the crap. we don't need any more unoriginal pokeventures. try and actually make something different.

2. bother to be involved. Forget not being active even if your RP is if the GM doesnt bother to actually give a plot to the story then they aren't doing jack. The GMs job is to guide the plot not enforce it but guide it witha firm hand.

3. stop training your pokemon. instead of making pokemon level up from battles or things like that make then get progressively stronger as the RP goes the further you get in the RP the better your pokemon. along with that cut down the number of battles. I get pokemon are about battling, but if thats all you do you dont bother to do any RPing. No battling does not count since one consistant battle would not move along the plot. Also note how in the games you do two three hits and the foe is knocked out, so you can just move on after that. In the show its generally one battle per episode. Don't aim for the anime length or else you'll waste too much time.

4. Give some reason. half the time in an Rp there feels like you are doing it all for no reason. Often in sandbox games this happens alot, so you gotta find a real reason to RP. don't just want to be the best trainer bother to be a human being and do something else in your life.

5. diversify. I started out doing purely pokemon Rps here, but now I do almost anything I can find. this may be a pokemon forum, but it doesnt mean all we do is pokemon.

6. write. you heard me. if you are gonna RP bother to actually RP. I mean come on people. sure one and two lines are fine for really quick conversations, but RPing is like writing a book you cant just do one or two lines.

7. SOLO and DUO. no one gets it but you can RP alone. if everyone else starts to disappear jsut keep going. Me and Elphie kept LoD alive by Rping together. You also need to RP away from people. don't get absorbed into a group the entire RP or you'll be stuck waiting forever people.

 

[Abstractwatercolor]

Yeah. The last hald of LOD was Our two characters going back and forth, which is why they're so much more developed than any of the others in the games. And we're both writers, so we get into shit. J, am I right?

 

[Sushi-X]

By making the RP fun. If you like a video game, you're gonna play it a lot. If you don't like it, you'll leave it alone.

This is the best advice I've seen in this entire thread.

You got to keep the RP fun, fresh, and original.

Also, I don't mean to sound like a prick but when everybody talks liek dis, it can be annoying.

 

[Plumbum]

Anither point I'd like to add is player freedom. I for one certainly wouldn't keep with an RP where I feel like I'm being railroaded into doing what the plot says. I prefer to move the tracks of the plot over to the players rather than try and force the players to the tracks.

 

[Italy-kun]

I like to flesh out a world and then allow players to play, thus essentially creating their own plot. Is this a good idea?

 

[Renewal]

@Summer Camp: At least from a theoretical standpoint, very definitely yes. Speaking from experience, railroading the plot of an RP is a terrible, terrible idea, because players get frustrated that their choices don't mean anything. Moreover, if the players have little say in the plot (and therefore little say in the overall direction of the RP), the RP becomes ever more dependent on the GM. And that makes it very uninteresting.

I'd reckon that the best method for RP guidance and GMing in general is the 'unspoken threat and speculation' method: give a very general plot in a detailed world, let the players come to their own conclusions, and shape the plot in a logical fashion from what you like about that speculation. It's subtle and understated, but combines the best of a player-driven and a GM-driven RP. Players (or rather player characters) have a tangible say in what happens, while the GM prevents the RP from collapsing into pointless, meandering fluff and anarchy.

Of course, the above applies to story- and plot-driven RPs, which have some sort of quantifiable conclusion planned. If you're aiming for a more slice-of-life, interaction-focused RP like most academy RPs, then GM involvement is wholly unnecessary.

 

[Heroic Sociopath]

I like to flesh out a world and then allow players to play, thus essentially creating their own plot. Is this a good idea?

From my experience, it's usually not a good idea. Players can make a plot, and often do. But it's the GMs job to have events that characters react to. It's good to have a plot. I would suggest deviating from it if it would make sense. Like, if you planned to have a town destroyed, but the players figured out a good way to defend it, then I would suggest keeping the town alive. But you should have some idea of what's going to go down, and begin with a kind of end in mind.

 

[Master Mew]

As Renewal and Pi have said, sandbox RPs are notoriously challenging to execute effectively and almost always require far more GM guidance than is immediately apparent.