Are Consist Partners a Myth???

[CrashDash]

Lately, I have had a couple of ideas that I haven't really gotten to bring to fruition due to the fact that my partner vanishes before it takes off. It's driving me insane (or bananas, b-a-n-a-n-a-s). Anyone know ways to find more consistent partners? It's been quite some time since I have been able to find one. If you think you might be interested in a role play with me feel free to check out my previous interest check threads.

 

[Mordecai]

They are like unicorns, but they do exist! Honestly, it just takes a lot of trial and error. My closest partners I talk to on a regular basis-- sometimes about everyday stuff and sometimes about the roleplay. To keep them interested, I usually PM them once a week or so just to ask them how they're feeling about the roleplay or to ask if they have any ideas that might make for interesting plot points/twists in the near future. This way, they are allowed to become more invested in the story themselves and it makes them feel like it's truly a collaborative project. Sometimes, I'll just PM them to ask them about their day or what their interests are, just to encourage friendliness between us. I've found that the closer I am with my partners, the longer the roleplays will last.


By building friendships, you're making the person care not only about the roleplay, but you. They also will probably feel more comfortable approaching you with ideas, problems, concerns, or questions. I've also found that people who push me to post really turn me off from a roleplay. Someone who badgers me to post whenever I'm online makes me feel less inclined to post, so try not to badger. If my partners are away for more than... say... a week, then I'll give them a small poke or ask them if everything is OK, but not any more than that.


Be understanding when they have things that come up, or have issues with the rolepay.


Honestly though, it's just going to come down to mucking through the failures until you find those gems. They do exist, I promise, but you have to dig through a lot of dirt to get to them. Don't be discouraged and just try, try again because once you find those partners who you really click with, your entire roleplay experience will change dramatically for the better.

 

[Mr Djallal NAMRI]

Lately, I have had a couple of ideas that I haven't really gotten to bring to fruition due to the fact that my partner vanishes before it takes off. It's driving me insane (or bananas, b-a-n-a-n-a-s). Anyone know ways to find more consistent partners? It's been quite some time since I have been able to find one. If you think you might be interested in a role play with me feel free to check out my previous interest check threads.

link to your previous interest check threads ?

 

[ApfelSeine]

It's really unfortunate how frequently people drop out of things. Sometimes it's due to personal reasons. Other times they are simply the type to bail once they lose interest or forget about it. Keeping the lines of communication as @Mordecai said is crucial. Establish yourself as a friend by keeping OoC chat flowing as you play. At the very least you'll be more likely to be given a reason if people drop out, and you'll have a better chance of being able to spot problems where the other player doesn't respond because they can't think of anything. Sometimes people don't respond because they couldn't think of where to take the rp next. Knowing that can allow you to help them out by giving them suggestions or posting again to move the story along so that they don't have to decide (the former option is the one I prefer and it generally works out alright).


I'm surprised by how quickly some one on ones fizzle out despite it usually being the other person's idea. It can be hard to find players who stick around, and sometimes players who normally stick around have to bail because of stuff that comes up in real life. If that happens, invite them to rejoin when things clear up and wish them well. Other than that, just being persistent and making friends on the site can allow you to find players who are consistent. And you may be able to meet other consistent players from those consistent players


Also, remember that there is nothing wrong with messaging someone who hasn't responded for awhile to ask if everything is going alright with them. Even if you haven't been chatting OoC, people are generally friendly enough to explain what happened.

 

[call me rae]

Also I find a good way to gauge general interest and also when posting might happen is to kind of just bluntly ask.


Hey what time zone are you in? Do you like to talk out of character? About how often can you post?


And as @ApfelSeine mentioned stress the fact that you are open to suggestions for the plot as well as relaxed about taking a break.


I always go out of my way to tell people - look post when you can and as long as you give me a nudge or a quick pm to let me know you're alive i don't mind waiting months at a time.


And also as people say just understand that sometimes it's gonna take awhile to find those excellent roleplayers.


-----


Lastly keep in mind the time of year too. Summer is mega super busy for a lot of people. They're getting out of school, going on vacations, starting up summer jobs or semesters.


So that is also a factor. It's just the busy season in IRL so it could take a while to find someone with lots of free time to roleplay.

 

[Salsacookies]

I always thought Summer was the best RP Season, because many schools still use the traditional school model of time, and not the new, equal time version. When's the best time for RP?

 

[Mordecai]

I always thought Summer was the best RP Season, because many schools still use the traditional school model of time, and not the new, equal time version. When's the best time for RP?

I've found that the beginning/middle of the American school schedule is the best. Most people travel or are out busy during the summer, and towards the end of the school year are trying to scramble with finals.


EDIT: Obviously, this is just personal experience.

 

[Captifate]

So many people like to have a heads up when others drop, and yet I've seen plenty of people who don't care; I think part of it is that people may strike up a bunch of different roleplays and realize later down the road that the first RP they started can't quite capture their interest like the more recent stuff.


It's almost like dating, LOL. There's no real obligation to commit and there's like this trial run period between roleplayers.

 

[call me rae]

Well from personal experience I'd agree with @Mordecai on when roleplays seem to do best but the thing to remember is this is a pretty big site. And we have people from a wide array of age demographics, time zones, and countries. So it's always best to just ask the person specifically when they're free and when they're not rather than going on a generalization.


Another thing to keep in mind is investment and communication. The more you communicate and work with your partner the more likely they are to be invested in you and your roleplay.


For instance that old adage of : you catch more flies with honey than vinegar definately rings true. The nicer and more accommodating I am to people the longer my partnership with them lasts.


I have known one Skype friend through two roleplay sites and at least a year of conversations. We've done half a dozen roleplays between us none of which have really gotten off the ground yet I still talk to her at least once a week - but more often once a day.


So look at it as building friendships more than a specific roleplay. Because even with the best partners roleplays will fail. Either because the two of you are on different schedules, one of you gets bored, one of you doesn't like the direction the roleplay is going, etc.


That's why talking is so important. It lets you pick up issues early and hopefully redirect them.


One of my current partners we've been going back and forth for at least a month and we've gone through like five different roleplay ideas in that time. They kept failing because we weren't on the same page but we continued to work on it. And now we're on an idea we're both super excited about and looks to be making it for the long haul.

 

[CrashDash]

Fandom - Fire Emblem Fates


Fantasy - War of the Ages


for anyone who asked and may be interested

 

[CrashDash]

I'm so happy for everyone's input thus far for the record.

 

[HeyGayzelle]

Still fairly new to RP here, but I have a long history of creative collaboration in other mediums, and I feel like one of the most crucial elements to success just lies in being mentally prepared to get started and being both able and willing to strike while the iron of inspiration is still hot. Interest in any creative project inevitably wanes as time continues without the senseof payoff you get from being creatively engaged in it. I feel like the fact that most online RPs are "slow burns" is a significant hurdle that demands the sincere effort of everybody required to overcome.


Having a good OoC rapport with your RP partners certainly never hurts either. It isn't my place to pry into the personal lives of other players, but it can be very helpful to learn a bit about their interests, personality, and their general approach to the creative process in order to get a sense of which talents or other aspects they could have that might complement my own.


Also I feel like the trend of RPs burning out kind of reciprocally feeds itself. As in, players express interest in RPs under the assumption that most of them won't work out, which encourages the mindset that players ought to hedge their bets, as it's more individually advantageous to be in a position where you have a viable pool of RPs that you can freely select from to the exclusion of others as opposed to being very invested in one or two RPs where you're more likely to be left high and dry through waning player interest from the other players.


I feel like it can be kind of challenging because on one hand, everyone is here to have fun, but on the other, RPing can require a fairly large commitment of time and mental effort, so there's a certain level of sincerity and openness in communication that needs to be honored to play in good spirit. I don't think there's any foolproof methods to success other than keeping at it and holding onto the partners that you work well with.

 

[Strawberry Ink]

I'll try to give you some hope by saying that I had the same rp partner for over ten years now. We don't rp anymore but we've become really close pen pals.

 

[Flowiest]

When I have decent internet, oooh boy I'm consistent.