Discuss RPG members...and their issues

[Gelgoog Pilot]

Ok So my question or rather topic of discussion is the members you recruit into your RPG.

One of the reasons I had both quit posting in the RPG arena AND stopped making RPG's of my own were the member who didn't get involved. I can understand that you may lose a few do to lack of interest. My question lays with those that do not even post or don't give the RPG enough time to develope before they quit posting.

Is there a good way to tell if the member will be an active poster? I know that you should read sign ups carefully but often that may not help. They can be a good writer yet not post or not bean active poster.

[James]

[color=#707875]I don't think there is really any solid, concrete way to tell. It's different for everyone.

Sometimes very traditionally active members will quit an RPG or become bored of it. And sometimes people who generally aren't very active in RPGs will follow something through until the very end.

I mean, when I look at Maverick Hunters: Personification, which is an RPG that primarily involved Flash, Warlock and myself, we all posted pretty regularly up until "the end".

Of course, the story is only halfway through. But now, Flash and Warlock don't post anymore. I'm kinda the only one who has the desire to continue. lol

This is despite the fact that both Flash and Warlock were really passionate about it at the beginning.

So, I don't mean to actually criticise them or anything, I just mean to say that for whatever reason, their interest has declined, whereas mine hasn't. But sometimes, on other occasions, my interest declines. Case in point; Project Gamer. That RPG really started to become unfocused and spammy toward the end, which drove a few people out of it.

And that's a shame, because it was a truly awesome RPG with huge potential. So really, it's very hard to predict these things.[/color]

[Ezekiel]

[COLOR=SlateGray]Well, like James said, there is no real way of telling, unless you find out every RPG that they have been in and see how they participated.

When I start an RPG I ask for dedicated people, but people sign up anyways and there isn?t much you can do once the RPG has started.

For example, I started an RP called Animus, I though it was a good idea and so did a couple of others but some people that signed up didn't even post their introductory post and dropped out straight away, it really annoys me when people do that but, like I said, there's no way of telling before hand.

Another thing is, people seem to loose interest if the story goes too quickly. In one of my RPs we had nearly finished were literally about 10 posts away from the end, and that's with about 7 characters. I said that I wanted to finish it but no one could be bothered and it never finished :( sad stuff.

I think, if you seriously want people to be dedicated, then ask them for a link to a previous RPG in their sign up, that way you can check how much they posted. *shrugs* but that could be taking it a bit too far.[/COLOR]

[Solo Tremaine]

[COLOR=#503F86]Ah, the bain of my RPGs ^_^;

I'm actually very particular about who I take into my RPGs, since I want to be able to finish at least one of them. Some people I know from experience to not be very good with their reliability, others I'll go out of my way to see what they've been like in other adventures- if they posted until the most recent page or not.

I don't try to be discriminatory- some of the people who don't post have great writing skill and fantastic imagination, but just lose interest or forget part way through. It disappoints me because I want these stories to develop with that character as part of it, but if they can't continue then there really isn't much I can do and the story suffers. And if people have already started forming ideas about their own character in relation to the other, then they lose out as a result too. Hence, more people tend to drop out and the story suffers further.

But having said that, when an RPG is down to about four people it can be a lot more interesting- you have fewer people to worry about and an carry on at a much more leisurely pace. When Humans Are The Enemy had four/five major players for quite some time and it still manages alright.

So there are two sides to that coin, I suppose. Just so long as someone integral to the plot/other characters drop out, then it probably doesn't matter too much. It just gets a bit disappointing if everyone forgets.[/COLOR]

[Arcadia]

[size=1]Outside factors play into it as well. Some times a member has no control over what happens to him in his personal life (for example, family issues, school or work related problems, or even a faulty computer) and it might cause him to take a break from the boards. He might still be interested in the RPG, but circumstances call for him to drop out. In the long run, he might even be doing the thread a favor because there's no waiting around for him to catch up or post, and the story can move forward.

Of course, as everyone else has pretty much said, some times you just get bored with it. An RPG may not turn out the way you want it to, and you may not feel like it's worth the effort to stick around. A member might feel that his character is being ignored and he'll leave because of that. Arguments between different players can definitely interrupt any story, no matter how awesome it might be. Also, a person's interest can wan if he or she is constantly nagged about posting. It's all right to give somebody a friendly reminder, but to PM them about it every day is something entirely different.

I don't think there's any real way to tell if a person is going to be committed or not. The best you can do is take a look at their history on the boards, in both the Arena and even in other forums. If they seem like they follow threads regularly and post on a constant basis, then you can probably count on them to continue with the story. That isn't always the case, though, and if worst comes to worst, you've simply got a non-playable character that you can either use to your advantage or kill off later. [/size]

[terra]

[quote name='Solo Tremaine][COLOR=#503F86']When Humans Are The Enemy had four/five major players for quite some time and it still manages alright.[/COLOR][/quote]
That reminds me I have been meaning to write a post for that for like ... ages. :D

Anyway, like the others have said, there's really no way to tell. Someone who's been super-active in plenty of RPGs before might sign up for yours and then it doesn't go the way s/he wanted, so s/he drops out. I'll take myself as an example ... I'm pretty dedicated to the Adventure Square in general most of the time, but I've definitely dropped out of RPGs before. Sometimes when people post at a different pace than I do (usually they're much faster) it's really hard to read what's going on and keep up, and sometimes people have different ideas of the level of detail to include than I, so I don't find the story as entertaining as I could. Things like that are really hard to predict for each individual person.

[quote name='Crucifix][color=gray']I think, if you seriously want people to be dedicated, then ask them for a link to a previous RPG in their sign up, that way you can check how much they posted. *shrugs* but that could be taking it a bit too far.[/color][/quote]
I don't think that looking at anybody's previous RPG experience is taking it too far like Crucifix said ... At one piont recruiters would even ask for a PM sample from people signing up to determine whether or not they get in. I know for myself I generally try to have a good idea of members' normal level of participation in the Square (though that might also be because usually I have to read most of the RPGs anyway). It's usually not the determining factor of whether they get into the RPG or not, but it lets me know a little more of what to expect.

[Gelgoog Pilot]

Thank you all...to speak truthfully I basically knew there was no way to tell if the person could be a reliable/active poster. I was wondering what others did to well prevent of cope with this.

I've been in quite a few RPG's that have...fallen short of their potential. Normally I know the creator and can communicate my feelings of the RPG, but there have been some where after a while I gave up trying to 'save' the thread.

I have infact refered to several past threads on a few occations when I was questioned about my past experience, its alittle dis-heartening, but I don't mind.

Well I think I will pay much closer attetion to sign-ups on my next RPG (its been a year since I made one).

Wish me luck!

[Balmon]

Backing up to what Arcadia said - I totally agree, if you're concerned about post-quality and member-involvement, review their history on OB. That's basically I did for the majority of you writers out there when I WAS running O Fortuna. Mind you, as you may have seen, O Fortuna was a qualified disaster.... but nonetheless, that was not a fault in my system of recruitment and verification, so much as my own idiocy as creator of the RPG.

Phil