Experiences Group Roleplays

[_Exodus_]

How often do group roleplays work out? In my personal experience, I haven’t had very many roleplay groups that last longer than a week.

 

[Draegan]

It depends on the size and dedication of members, I'd say.

I had one go for almost a year and a half. While others don't even last a day. It helps if there's a group that bonds immediately and starts the roleplay, leading by example. Others can jump in- long as that group opens their arms.

 

[MrNarrator]

In my very, very limited experience I've only had one forum based group RP ever work out for a long period of time. That was on the forums of this in development transformers game. The roleplay lasted until the project was scrapped and the forum/website was shut down.

 

[Crayons]

How often do group roleplays work out? In my personal experience, I haven’t had very many roleplay groups that last longer than a week.

I'd say maybe one in twenty lasts. Possibly less, even. But when you do get one that lasts it is well worth waiting for. Patience and persistence is really key. I think three years ish is the longest I've had a group rp last, and that's twice in all the time I've been RPing.

 

[Idea]

In regards to my own roleplays, I've had a few semi-successful ones, many that flopped early, and none that ever finished. A lot of factors need to sustain themselves for a long time to make an RP viable until the end, and most aren't even in your control.

Now, speaking outside of the realm of roleplays I've personally been in, I do find simple-style roleplays tend to have a lot more sustainability. These RPs, however, usually can do so because they can replace players at the drop of a hat, since they lack an actual narrative or setting that would be disturbed by the switch.

 

[Tulik]

The problem with groups is that you need everyone on the same page. It can be hard to get everyone moving in the right direction, at least in my experience that’s the case.

I’ve been in many roleplays that devolved into chat rooms because people just lose interest but like the people in the group.

 

[Franklin]

It becomes an art form. Really I would say two in ten probably make a long term role play.

 

[Wind]

Cant really say as ive only just joined 1 and am active in 1 at the moment.
I would definitely say it would be up to those who are in it. Chemistry is a definite must as the story would be woven by every single person in the group.
Even without outright telling of your characters and story they should have a feel from how you roleplay on how your character would act in certian situation if need arises for them to move or have your character say something.
The scenario/story has to be set in stone.
If it says its a medival rp and someone goes out and brings a future gun wellllllll.....thatll definitely kill the rp.
I dunno if that helps but cheers mate.
[On mobile]

 

[Grey]

I would say out of the hundred or so I've actually gotten started, one of them was successful and ran two years.

 

[ashwynne]

A group roleplay that lasts is incredibly rare and hard to come by. Dedication, systems in place to foster longevity (usually coming down to GM or admin experience), and discernment when it comes to player recruitment are the things I’ve noted leading to success.

In the twelve or so years I’ve roleplayed there have been only two that lasted. The first was waaaaaay back and I believe lasted for a year or two? We were all in constant communication, very attached to both the plot and characters, and only ended up falling apart after we chose to migrate to a different website and (simultaneously) had one of our members pass away. Throw in additional personal teen angst and that was that.

Since then, I had chosen to abstain from group roleplays entirely as the frustration of them falling apart constantly was too much for me. At least until I ended up stumbling on Britannica Lost here on RPN, and the rest is history. It’s been running since December now, but was previously hosted on Gaia (under the name Pax Britannica) where it ran for ten years.

Speaking specifically of BL.... we have a very active discord, admin regularly hosts scheduled chat nights so everyone can be on the same page for upcoming plot points (in addition to compiling notes on whatever was discussed for anyone who missed out or needs a refresher), have a clear vision of where the plot is going, make it a collaborative effort, AND (arguably most importantly) are very selective about membership. That way we have a dedicated player base who are all equally passionate about the group and committed to the story. It’s the only roleplay I’ve ever been in where I can legitimately say that I adore every single character. Super talented, incredibly well organized, and efficiently managed.

Granted! im speaking from the perspective of a long-form roleplay. I imagine chat style/one-liners or other faster paced ones might benefit from alternate styles of moderating and structuring, but BL is by far the most solid RP I’ve been in (1x1 or otherwise) in a long-form style.

 

[Onmyoji]

I had a few group rp that lasted for over a year but all of those were with people who already knew each other before the rp started. Also, they were well ogranized.
There was only one lasting rp with random people that I remember. It was fandom rp and everyone was very passionate about the fandom at that moment. Organization wasn't too bad either in the beginning but then started to slack off. The downfall of it was that most people sort of started playing within small groups of 2-3 people ignoring the main plot.

I think lasting group rp are harder to come by than 1x1.

 

[Beckoncall]

I've had group RPs last YEARS... like Nation Building - "Lost Continent: Flight From Muurdaan" (BeckonCall's FNB!)
That monster was 45 pages just for the IC stuff, nevermind miles of OOC talk and story planning.

I've had a god-game going on discord with elements on RPN going for a few months now.

I've had a dawn of man RP go for several months before burning out...

I had a Atlantis RP that lasted a couple of months before dying.

I had a couple of 5e D&D games go many months before petering out.

It all depends on the quality of the people you have in the group. I have a reputation among a small niche of the "nation builder" community for running successful group roleplays, so therefore I usually get my pick of the best/most devoted people, and my RPs tend to succeed.

I still have group RPs that fall on their face though -- like Futuristic - Wormhole: Into The Beyond - OOC & Information
Despite being awesome and having fresh BBCode and all kinds of interesting players... sometimes concepts still fail.

You just keep trying... and if your concepts are good and your participants are quality, the game keeps itself alive.
In my god game these days I invest a lot of time in it, but even when I don't the players interact IC or keep talking OOC and keep it going.

Good luck and never get discouraged!

 

[_Exodus_]

Thank you for that, but I posted this forever ago.

 

[Beckoncall]

Still valid.

 

[Kieran Renard]

I have had limited experience in group roleplays but the few that I did join didn't last longer than a week because of the disorganization of the group. There was this one time in particular when I joined an open group thread everything worked out fine for a couple of hours until I had to leave to do homework or something. When I came back the post count went from 25 to 150 in an hour and my character had either been ignored or erased from existence in my absence. Since that time though I have been apart of groups no larger than 3 people and it usually went better than the previous one I mentioned but at the most, it still lasted a week.