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Help Do I HAVE to know BBCode in order to get people to notice my RP, or even show interest?

Justin93Daniels

Justin93Daniels

Half-Human, Half-Monster, Full-Swordsman.
I've noticed that several fancy-looking Threads seem to get people that show interest on day 1, and yet about one or two weeks later, I've only had 1 or 2 that said they were interested, but ended up "Going Silent" immediately afterwards!

So as the title says, do I have to study the freakin' BBCode thing to make my threads look more fancy to spark people's interests? Because I can do Tabs, and a few basic things to make a Thread look decent, without going overboard on Codes, but studying 500 lines of code for a single message just kinda feels like "Overkill"... and for a guy with a job (soon to be 2 jobs), I just won't have the time to study that much, the time to write that much for a single post, nor the willpower to accept other peoples' pre-written codes!
(I'm not a mooch, and don't plan on becoming one! I don't accept Charity, because it would only make me feel like I Owe someone... even if you say/offer it, I won't accept... don't take it personal, it's just the way I was raised.) :-_-lines:
 
haha, no. as slick and fancy as bbcode is, you theoretically don't need any knowledge of it to spark interest in your roleplay.

good writing inspires a good amount of interest.

bbcode is pretty good for formatting and whatnot, though, so i recommend that you at least try to learn a little. pretty formatting... also inspires a good amount of interest. despite its name, it isn't a programming language, meaning that there are no "billion lines of code" that you have to learn.

if you want, i could probs give you a crash course.
 
The trick is to code one thing and use it continuously for your in-character posts. Copy + Paste = your best friend.
 
The last thing you ever want to hear in your experience here is someone saying they didn't want to join your roleplay because "there wasn't enough fancy code." It probably almost never happens, though, so I believe code will be the least of your worries. There are plenty of roleplayers on this site who don't ever touch the BBCode for anything at all, because the writing is supposed to be the main part of the experience.

If you ever feel like you want to use some code, though, no real learning is required. All you need is the basics, and for the purpose of function and formatting - making a post look cleaner and more accessible, but without any of the fancy details. You'll hardly need anything more than the basic text editor and like two or three of those basic codes at any one time, unless you want to go all out.
 
Code is- and always has been- personal preference and by no means necessary. I add it to most of my threads because I find it fun to make, but that one difference shouldn’t turn people away.
 
I personally find bbcoces distracting, and my interest immediately gets lost if an interest check has too many codes. Fancy codes? Cool, no one cares. What matters is the decent plot and such, not the appearance.
 
I've joined plenty of rps with minimal bbcode (if any at all) that still garnered plenty of interest and then lavishly decorated ones that only brought in a small group of players. All you really need is a good grasp of what keeps people interested. Considering that it's an interest check, you don't have to regurgitate the full extent of the info there, just a summary with interesting ideas and enough detail to hook people in without boring them with a 1k+ word wall of text just for preliminary info (unless you feel that that amount is justified ofc).
 
Not necessarily.

A fragment from Sappho sums this up: "a beautiful man is nice to look at. A good man takes on beauty."

BBCode is more aesthetic, and there are numerous factors in play. The composition of the post can be more decisive, as well as the tendencies of the community as a whole.
 
I've gotten plenty of partners with no coding ever. I don't personally think codes give it more attention. I always gravitate towards ones that are simple and easy to read.
 
Well designed doesn't necessarily mean it has fancy bbcode. It can be something as simple as enlarging/bolding the headers of each section so that it's better organized. Presenting the hierarchy of information goes a long way for people to understand what you've provided.

Basic bbcode to divide information in an organized manner is all you really need. At the end of the day, whatever makes you happy will win out.
 
Aight, thanks for the info, folks! ^_^

Now then, purely for example, does THIS PAGE look like it would attract attention, or should I edit it some more? And if I have to edit it, how should I go about editing it to make it look more presentable? ^_^'
 
Justin93Daniels said:
Aight, thanks for the info, folks! ^_^

Now then, purely for example, does THIS PAGE look like it would attract attention, or should I edit it some more? And if I have to edit it, how should I go about editing it to make it look more presentable? ^_^'
Click to expand...

It doesn't seem too bad to me; the bulk of the coding seems to be with a number of tabs. It looks like they're for various characters but still, it might be too many tabs, also considering how there are a few in the opening scene as well. Maybe it's one thing to have numerous tabs in the set-up but in an actual post, I don't know. Altogether maybe it's a bit long. I'm no expert so I don't want to pass too much judgment, but that's what I see. Hope this helps, cheers :)
 
Yeah... not gonna lie, I pictured the Tabs as "Scene Changes"... but getting a better look at it, it does kinda seem like Overkill, huh? xD
 
i'm considering using minimal amount of bbcode when it comes to coding in general as it's not just easier, but nicer on the eyes.
 
I think bb coding over rated. With nearly half the time the coding not working on mobile i prefer to do without it
 
I'm a 13-year-old homeschoolers with no friends, an overactive imagination, a dad who's a professional programmer, and way too much time to waste. BBCode was made for me but most people aren't me. Most people have jobs or friends or lives and that's ok. Writing well is all people REALLY care about.
 
BB code is nice, but personally, I'd like to see a good plot, clean and complete info for the rp, and an rp leader who knows what he wants
That's what catches my eye.
I don't want to join an RP that doesn't bother to make a thread for ooc, characters, and info
 
Honestly, for me personally, it's a double-edged sword. While the extra effort to get that POP! effect can gather more attention, it can easily turn people off. I think it can get too complicated pretty damn fast. It ends up feeling cluttered or not matching the vibe/tone you would like to present because you are, for the most part, putting yourself in this box due to the design. Hard to get behind a serious moment in an RP when you design is all cutesy.
That's my personal preference, so I tend to avoid BBCode for the most part. Sure, it can come in handy at certain points, but it can also become more trouble than it's worth. As long as the post is to the point, while still looking organized, it should attract enough attention. So, let your writing do most of the talking, but you can add a bit of BBCode without going overboard. That should be enough to keep people's attention long enough to get through your thread posts.
 
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