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[Noel]

Hey there! I've changed my username!
Old username: Riliane & Allen
Member Number: 236
New Username: Kiro & Hikari

[my Lalia]

Anyone want to join the new rp I just made?? Stop the Hate it's just been opened and I would love for some people to join :)

[Noel]

One role-play idea today, leave me alone you annoying RP ideas! I quite like it though. >_>

Idea One:
Never normal, you are intelligent beyond your years. You walked and talked earlier, you picked up on other languages quickly, your interests were strange. And as you grew older, you realized something; you had memories that weren't yours.
You are a reborn person, a leader. Perhaps Caesar of Rome, Montezuma of the Aztecs, or maybe Gilgamesh. You don't know this, naturally. But your urge to lead has not left you in this new life. You realize that you hate some of the others without explanation, and draw to some without a reason why. Allies or enemies in your past life.
But you can't go leading conquests are your age, not even eighteen yet. But you are at a far-off camp for troubled children, where loyalties are strong and rivalry is constant. An army of troubled children and teens is your force, and your goal is the conquest of this miles long camp. How hard can it be? Weapons might be sticks, primitive slingshots, and glue, resources might be food and games, but it's your calling.

[scolipede.]

Oooh! I love that idea :3
I'd love to reserve a male spot if you make it! >.> It sounds really really awesome!

[Ourpawprints]

One role-play idea today, leave me along you annoying RP ideas! I quite like it though. >_>

Idea One:
Never normal, you are intelligent beyond your years. You walked and talked earlier, you picked up on other languages quickly, your interests were strange. And as you grew older, you realized something; you had memories that weren't yours.
You are a reborn person, a leader. Perhaps Caesar of Rome, Montezuma of the Aztecs, or maybe Gilgamesh. You don't know this, naturally. But your urge to lead has not left you in this new life. You realize that you hate some of the others without explanation, and draw to some without a reason why. Allies or enemies in your past life.
But you can't go leading conquests are your age, not even eighteen yet. But you are at a far-off camp for troubled children, were loyalties are strong and rivalry is constant. An army of troubled children and teens is your force, and your goal is the conquest of this miles long camp. How hard can it be? Weapons might be sticks, primitive slingshots, and glue, resources might be food and games, but it's your calling.

That sounds like a really great idea. I'd join but I'm already in far too many rps.

[burnham]

One role-play idea today, leave me along you annoying RP ideas! I quite like it though. >_>

Idea One:
Never normal, you are intelligent beyond your years. You walked and talked earlier, you picked up on other languages quickly, your interests were strange. And as you grew older, you realized something; you had memories that weren't yours.
You are a reborn person, a leader. Perhaps Caesar of Rome, Montezuma of the Aztecs, or maybe Gilgamesh. You don't know this, naturally. But your urge to lead has not left you in this new life. You realize that you hate some of the others without explanation, and draw to some without a reason why. Allies or enemies in your past life.
But you can't go leading conquests are your age, not even eighteen yet. But you are at a far-off camp for troubled children, were loyalties are strong and rivalry is constant. An army of troubled children and teens is your force, and your goal is the conquest of this miles long camp. How hard can it be? Weapons might be sticks, primitive slingshots, and glue, resources might be food and games, but it's your calling.

I would totally join! Could we be any leader from history? If you decide to make it, could you reserve me a female?

[Touko]

One role-play idea today, leave me alone you annoying RP ideas! I quite like it though. >_>

Idea One:
Never normal, you are intelligent beyond your years. You walked and talked earlier, you picked up on other languages quickly, your interests were strange. And as you grew older, you realized something; you had memories that weren't yours.
You are a reborn person, a leader. Perhaps Caesar of Rome, Montezuma of the Aztecs, or maybe Gilgamesh. You don't know this, naturally. But your urge to lead has not left you in this new life. You realize that you hate some of the others without explanation, and draw to some without a reason why. Allies or enemies in your past life.
But you can't go leading conquests are your age, not even eighteen yet. But you are at a far-off camp for troubled children, where loyalties are strong and rivalry is constant. An army of troubled children and teens is your force, and your goal is the conquest of this miles long camp. How hard can it be? Weapons might be sticks, primitive slingshots, and glue, resources might be food and games, but it's your calling.

Reserve me a female if you do? :3

Though I have a feeling many many people don't know Jin's 'Kagerou Project, I have a plot bunny for the songs but I'm debating against it since so far, my new vocaloid roleplay doesn't seem to attract many people.
I was thinking of another roleplay based on the 'Evillious Chronicles' Which is just..mind blowing! Vocaloid based of course and the guide that Kiro and Hikari posted up a while back provides a lot of things!
I'm just not sure...I don't want another dead thread...

Guide I posted? I have no remembrance of this. xD
And I would join both of those roleplays. Immediately. Make them. 8D

As would I Both of them sound pretty interesting~

You don't remember? That thing in the vocaloid club...er..wiki!
You guys want to join? but which one?
I might actually plan making one of them then!

[Noel]

-RP idea here-

I would totally join! Could we be any leader from history? If you decide to make it, could you reserve me a female?

Anyone but people who targeted specific ethnic groups that are still around, so, like, no Hitler.
So much support! I'll surely make the RP!

And Nami: I told you, I'd join both of them! (:

[katyd]

I have to thank you for asking this, since I have indeed wondered why so many roleplays (particularly mine) fail. I think it's probably got a lot to do with word/line limits and effort levels, but also the point that some plots are more popluar than others (which is probably why mine fail). I have noticed that roleplays with a lower line/word limit tend to last longer, probably since people don't think it's an effort to keep going, that way when they think they need to lower the effort they are putting into roleplays, the ones with lower line limits stay. But having ones that are too fast moving is another difficulty, since people will get lost, and ask for recaps. (Which I could understand if the roleplay had gone more than five or six pages from when they were last on, but not just a couple posts. Thing like vacations do happen to get in the way of roleplaying sometimes, so you do have to be understanding and give recaps when they are really needed. Otherwise they will just not come back if they have to leave for a while.) So really it is a fine balance of the number of people (I find this to often be a problem, since too many means too many people being left in the dust but too few leaves people all alone with nobody to talk to.), the amount required in each post, and how dedicated people are. Not to even get started on finding the right themes and plots.

Anyways, that's just what I've gathered, if you could find a way to make a 'perfect' (Perfect meaning not one that dies or flops)roleplay where people actually come and stay, do tell me the secret to your success. I'm interested to see what others think as well.

Hi Zippy Zoo77, 

Thanks for offering some really good insights.  I totally agree with most of your points, and I think the effort put out by the writers is a large part of the success or failure of an RP.  

So why are there different levels of effort shown by writers?  

These are some possibilities I could think of, and things to do that might help with them: 

--time constraints 
(By ensuring, ahead of time, that all your members are willing to post at the same interval (once a day, once every other day, etc.) you may be able to keep this from becoming too much of a problem.)

--interest level in the particular genre 
(One would assume a writer joins your RP because they were madly interested in it. But don't ask your friends to join if you know it isn't one of their favorite genres, I've seen feelings get hurt over that.)

--interest level in the level of writing ability they want to achieve and maintain 
(If you require writing samples and check on the previous posts of potential members, and make sure your writers all have similar writing abilities and desires, this should not be a problem.)

--interest level in working toward any story plots or goals 
(Did the potential new writer ask you about the plot or any story goals?  If not, they may not care, and may not be interested in actually working toward achieving a story goal.  So if you are going to have them, be sure you state that at the beginning.)

Anybody else have any other ideas about what can affect (and maybe be done to improve) the amount of effort a writer puts out?

*******************

On the subject of recaps, it seems to me that all writers, no matter how long they have been gone, should and can read back in the posts to find out what they have missed.

Very few RPs move so fast that a week's worth of posts (say 5-15 pages) would take any member more than 5 to 15 minutes to read.  C'mon.  If they aren't willing to put in that small amount of effort, to read what their co-writers have been working on all week, while they were away, then perhaps they should reconsider how dedicated they are to the RP, it's writers, and writing in general.  If this requirement (to be responsible for doing your own reading and to never ask for recaps) is stated in the rules, at the beginning, there should not be an issue with it. 

In my opinion, all writers in an RP should show their co-writers the common courtesy of reading what they took the time and effort to write.  Reading back also serves to keep the absent writer informed of details which may be important, may improve their understanding of the other characters, and might be important when they write with and about those other characters.

If recaps are allowed, then there should be guidelines for them (like only after 2 pages have passed or two days, etc., in order to keep anyone from requesting them constantly, which I have seen some people do), and possibly certain people who are posting frequently should be assigned to provide them (as I have seen arguments over recap requests getting ignored and over who is responsible for answering them, etc).

********************

It's funny, what you mentioned, ZippyZoo77, about lower word/line limits, it's kind of like a double-edged sword, because like you, I think the RPs with lower limits are more popular because they are easier for everyone to keep up with, but at the same time, in my experience, they don't seem to actually ever get a story told.  The lower line limit RPs seem to attract writers who are satisfied with going from day to day exchanging small amounts of emotion and information, through dialogue mostly, but not really accomplishing anything in particular, not really ever telling a whole story.  And they often have no goal in mind for their own characters to fulfill.

And speaking of goals... goals are very important when writing fiction stories.  The RP story has to have somewhere to go and something to achieve or it isn't a story, it's a recording of time passing.  What if Harry Potter just went to class, cast a few spells, and chatted with his friends, and that's all he ever did? What if he had no goals to achieve... no girl to win the heart of, no enemy to defeat, no friends to win or lose, no lessons to learn? What kind of boring story would that be? Those goals that Harry Potter struggled with and accomplished made the story worth reading (and writing, I'm sure). We wanted him to achieve those goals, we rooted for him, we waited with bated breath to see if he would win or lose at each of his efforts to reach those goals. That's what an RP story needs, goals for its characters to accomplish, stories for them to tell, beginnings, middles, and endings. And if an RP owner doesn't provide any goals for your character to accomplish, then you should provide them yourself.

If a GM required each member to state a personal goal they wanted their character to try and achieve during the story, it might give writers more ideas of what to write about.  It would be something they had to accomplish along with accomplishing the story's main goal.  It could be something as simple as "repairing a damaged relationship" or "learning a sport or craft" or "stopping smoking" or "getting rid of your crush's current boyfriend," whatever, there are a million things to choose from, but choose something important to each particular character.

********************

I feel like most RPs fail because they start out with some lack of (or a total lack of) setting, plotting, direction, goals, guidelines, rules, and requirements.  And they have GMs who are unwilling to step up and provide those things when and if they become necessary.  Most people think that doing so will make them unpopular.  I think, that if these things are stated at the beginning, and not sprung on writers after they have already joined the RP, that no one will (or has the right to) take issue with you over them.  After all, it is YOUR RP and you are the final judge of what goes on there and how it goes on.

All my talk about rules makes me sound like someone you would NOT want as your GM, but on the contrary, when everyone knows exactly what to expect before they join an RP, they won't be unpleasantly surprised or disappointed. And that should make for a happy, contented set of writers, which is a good way to start out an RP, with all the questions and concerns already answered.

Any more thoughts on these thoughts? Anyone?

[katyd]

"Kiro & Hikari wrote:
One role-play idea today, leave me alone you annoying RP ideas! I quite like it though. >_>

Idea One:
Never normal, you are intelligent beyond your years. You walked and talked earlier, you picked up on other languages quickly, your interests were strange. And as you grew older, you realized something; you had memories that weren't yours.
You are a reborn person, a leader. Perhaps Caesar of Rome, Montezuma of the Aztecs, or maybe Gilgamesh. You don't know this, naturally. But your urge to lead has not left you in this new life. You realize that you hate some of the others without explanation, and draw to some without a reason why. Allies or enemies in your past life.
But you can't go leading conquests are your age, not even eighteen yet. But you are at a far-off camp for troubled children, where loyalties are strong and rivalry is constant. An army of troubled children and teens is your force, and your goal is the conquest of this miles long camp. How hard can it be? Weapons might be sticks, primitive slingshots, and glue, resources might be food and games, but it's your calling."

This is an awesome idea! Don't remember ever seeing one like it. Can't wait to see it come alive!