Other How can we fix roleplay commitment issues

[Truthblade]

There were dozens of times I was In an rp I was really looking forward to playing out, but for soon, everyone suddenly does not feel like posting anymore (and that includes myself as well, I'm not going to pretend I'm perfect or anything). I am really unsure how to fix this problem, because I am now pretty much unwilling to join any rps knowing that they are going to inevitably die on me.

 

[Chocolatemilkshake]

I feel the same. It's kinda discouraging.

 

[Sludge]

Play with the people you know or continuously get new people to join until a few settle down.

Most roleplayers think they want to roleplay longterm, but actually they don't. For a lot of people after the hype of a new idea cools down, it becomes something they need to put effort in, and well... that does not fit the definition of playing. It is not a bad thing, no.

It is just that long term roleplaying (espacially in detailed form) is not a recreational activity but more like... dunno. More like writing a book. It really damn hard to keep going.

 

[Whisker]

Play with the people you know or continuously get new people to join until a few settle down.

Most roleplayers think they want to roleplay longterm, but actually they don't. For a lot of people after the hype of a new idea cools down, it becomes something they need to put effort in, and well... that does not fit the definition of playing. It is not a bad thing, no.

It is just that long term roleplaying (espacially in detailed form) is not a recreational activity but more like... dunno. More like writing a book. It really damn hard to keep going.

I would agree with you except for the fact that 90 percent of roleplays don't even make it in far enough for that to be an issue. Even with a committed GM who constantly drives things along, most people will clock out somewhere before the 4-5th page is down and characters are even established.

EDIT: As for fixing it, I find some of the group roleplays do better with smaller groups of people (3-5) with the additional encouragement to OOC as much as they IC.

OOC is a great health indicator of your RP.

Additionally, I find people get hung up waiting for others to post until it just dies. I like RPs where they have posting rules set in stone.

For example: You have till this date to post or we're moving on with or without you. If it takes longer than such and such time without word, your character is dead.

Too many roleplays have been killed because Janice, Billy, and Bob have had to wait on Timmy who had no intention of posting in the first place.

 

[Sludge]

Whisker

The thing is that there is no way to get "Timmy" to post. Every rule is pointless without a penalty and you cannot come to Timmy's house at night and force him to post.

 

[Whisker]

Whisker

The thing is that there is no way to get "Timmy" to post. Every rule is pointless without a penalty and you cannot come to Timmy's house at night and force him to post.

That's why I said in there if Timmy doesn't post, kill his Character after the deadline and move on.

 

[Fletchawk]

That's why I said in there if Timmy doesn't post, kill his Character after the deadline and move on.

I'd go a step further. Erase them. Just continue on like they never existed. With the exception of plot vital characters of course. Those you can just drag them around until the character is no longer necessary, the person comes back, or you find another roleplayer to replace the character.

 

[Truthblade]

I'd go a step further. Erase them. Just continue on like they never existed. With the exception of plot vital characters of course. Those you can just drag them around until the character is no longer necessary, the person comes back, or you find another roleplayer to replace the character.

I had actually considered doing this several times.

 

[Fletchawk]

I had actually considered doing this several times.

It's an easy answer to OCs that aren't vital to the plot. It's kinda disappointing to have to continue on, especially if the character was really involved, but the show must go on! If you can't get rid of them for whatever reason, you got a free complex NPC.

 

[Whisker]

I'd go a step further. Erase them. Just continue on like they never existed. With the exception of plot vital characters of course. Those you can just drag them around until the character is no longer necessary, the person comes back, or you find another roleplayer to replace the character.

Yeah. I'm just tired of RPs always catering to people who aren't posting in them versus people willing to post. As long as SOMEONE is responding to you in the deadline and contributing OOC, they're clearly interested in continuing and the RP isn't truly DOA. Most of the time though people are like O NOEZ, TIMMY AND JOHN ARENT POSTING! BETTER WAIT TO INFINITY ON THEM OR SHUT THE WHOLE THING DOWN BECAUSE WE'RE IN GRIDLOCK UNLESS THEY POST!

It's so backwards I can't wrap my head around it sometimes.

 

[Beckoncall]

I find if you make getting into the RP an investment in creativity and/or time, the ones that "make the cut" will be far better for maintaining a healthy RP.

You will always have people who are just passing through -- have a mechanic in your game to deal with drop outs and it will be much more resistant to such complications... because it's less likely to "gridlock" the game if there is already a factor in the background that eases the idea of characters coming in and going out.

 

[Sludge]

Beckoncall

Good idea. I guess its like adding things that will scare away people who are not ready for long-term. How do we do that?

Something that may work is to start an interest check with a lot of exposition. Not a big fan of that... but hey, it could do the job if you do it well. As long as you add in a hook and make sure people are motivated to get through that wall of text.

Spoiler

In case anyone is planning to do that, please don't start with "Long ago, the gods created...", it is more interesting to read about the present of your world. What's interesting is the food they eat, religion, lifestyle, currency. Don't just list and name stuff, think about how to make it weird. Why should we care about a city named "Ghsdhkfveder" if there is nothing happening in it?

Rule of thumb: If you are adding things only for the sake of having a detailed world, it's probably boring.

Any other ideas?

 

[Misty Gray]

It's also discouraging for players when a promising RP doesn't go beyond all of the characters being submitted. I don't really know many members to judge who is a reliable GM.

 

[salvia palth]

Simple: don't get into/make roleplays you won't be committed to.
Either that or accept the fact that everything is temporary, including feelings for a roleplay.

 

[Idea]

I would argue a bit of what Sludge said. In my view and from my experience, the biggest issue is that there is the assumption that roleplaying isn´t supposed to take effort, and that everything should have the immediate pay off, like watching a movie or show. The idea of roleplaying as just a hobby is overplayed and people assume that if something is just boring them, it´s time to quit. However , this way of thinking and antagonic to how writing is in reality, something that takes an effort that pays off only when reading it, and only if what is being read is in any form of skilled writing or writing that has personal meaning to oneself. The point is, writing takes effort and THEN feels good, it´s not suppose to feel good WHILE wriitng it, not necessarily. Forgetting this basic fact leads to the aforementioned effect.

 

[Whisker]

I find if you make getting into the RP an investment in creativity and/or time, the ones that "make the cut" will be far better for maintaining a healthy RP.

You will always have people who are just passing through -- have a mechanic in your game to deal with drop outs and it will be much more resistant to such complications... because it's less likely to "gridlock" the game if there is already a factor in the background that eases the idea of characters coming in and going out.

I can't agree with this enough. Very few roleplays on here have rules or any kind of mechanic on here to deal with dropping players besides the GM being like 'PLZ DON'T DROP PLZ KTHX?'

To that extent, I am not a fan of the laissez-faire write at your own pace roleplays. I think it contributes to players overbooking themselves and neglecting some of their roleplays because they don't know what they're waiting on, if they should write, if the roleplay is dead or alive ect. I still heavily promote/appreciate roleplays with GMs that are good about being consistent in their management of this.

 

[Beckoncall]

My RP is a fantasy nation builder. Despite a thorough application and onramp, we still get people who drop, and if they become inactive their factions become part of a central labor pool or are absorbed into existing factions. That way loss of players can actually be additive to the game!

 

[Lorsh]

I used to do a lot of roleplays where characters started off in separate areas, and some time would always pass before anybody ran into each other. It wasn't DnD or anything dice-based, but for all intents and purposes, I interacted with them in a DM-like fashion, describing their environment and providing NPCs for them to interact with. Since the characters started off in their own little sections, if a player dropped, they were effectively erased from existence without stalling or affecting anybody else. Then, after awhile, players could eventually start running into each other. At that point, most of the uncommitted players already harmlessly dropped.

More recently, I tried to do "squad"-based roleplays, where players started off in the same area, (usually) started off knowing each other, and each had individually important roles. It wasn't a good idea at all. Those roleplays always failed, because somebody important would drop and screw up the whole thing. So I'm probably just going to go back to my previous way of doing stuff.

 

[The Regal Rper]

I gotta say I've found a lot of what's been said pretty interesting here. In fact I'll lay out a problem I've actual faced in rps I've been in. An RP I am playing as active GM over, has lost like one person either due to life or something else. And as Lorsh said in his example, the introduction of some characters started out as squad based deal, so you can more or less see my problem. So instead of wasting time and waiting forever, I and my co-gms decided to begin using puppetry for characters that are no longer active in IC and writing them off either permanently or in case a user comes back -which I doubt- they can just pick up that character later and I can figure a way to integrate them back in. Although generally speaking this is kinda time consuming unless that character hasn't played much of an important role at all in plot elements I suppose erasing them would be a second option.

 

[LifeLight]

As someone who runs their own group rp, innovation is a constant thing that helps in keeping people invested, new people to replace the ones that have left, and same concept in terms of plotlines, always keep things spiced up and fresh, discuss plotlines with friends.

 

[Sunstone]

With roleplay defibrillators.

 

[Le Marquis de RP]

One way I combat it is demand a certain level of excellence and detail in their submitted character profile. If they work to make the character awesome, if you can see the love on the page, you can be at least a little more assured that they will want to stick around. If the person gives you a profile that's only a couple paragraphs long, then they probably won't want to put in the effort to stick around.


This is of course not always fool proof. Ive had RPs die because posters with positively amazing character sheets just never post. It's unfortunate. But at the very least its a little less likely to die if you know the person is putting effort into it.

 

[Devious Dilbert]

After reading all of the comments here, I'm quoting the ones that stand out to me and giving my share on them.

Most roleplayers think they want to roleplay longterm, but actually they don't. For a lot of people after the hype of a new idea cools down, it becomes something they need to put effort in, and well... that does not fit the definition of playing.

This is honestly the number one reason why most people quit roleplays in my opinion, the hype that fizzles out.

But this could go the other way around. It's terribly easy to hype people up for something that just doesn't deliver. Take a look at all of the video games that don't live up to their hype and then crash and burn. There is a lot. I'm not gonna lie, I've dropped roleplays before solely because they ended up disappointing me due to bad gm-ing, very poor execution, terrible pacing, or whatever else.

OOC is a great health indicator of your RP.

Additionally, I find people get hung up waiting for others to post until it just dies.

The OOC is a fantastic way to engage players. In my own personal experience, it's the OOC that has made me stick around for rps that I would have been destined to drop. This only works with smaller groups though, I feel like. And it really depends on the people. But it's common sense honestly. Find a cool group of talkative players and you'll be so much more inclined to stay and rp with them even if the rp goes dull.

have a mechanic in your game to deal with drop outs and it will be much more resistant to such complications... because it's less likely to "gridlock" the game

You and I have actually talked about this. I don't know if you remember though. I think this is a wonderful idea honestly.
It kind of gives people the idea that you're laid-back about deserters since they know that if they dropped out, it wouldn't really matter all that much since they could be easily replaced, but I guess a player that is no longer interested in the rp at all wouldn't care anyway and would drop-out either way. Finding a mechanic to swap players in and out is a fluid way to keep your rp going though.

I would argue a bit of what Sludge said. In my view and from my experience, the biggest issue is that there is the assumption that roleplaying isn´t supposed to take effort, and that everything should have the immediate pay off, like watching a movie or show. The idea of roleplaying as just a hobby is overplayed and people assume that if something is just boring them, it´s time to quit. However , this way of thinking and antagonic to how writing is in reality, something that takes an effort that pays off only when reading it, and only if what is being read is in any form of skilled writing or writing that has personal meaning to oneself. The point is, writing takes effort and THEN feels good, it´s not suppose to feel good WHILE wriitng it, not necessarily. Forgetting this basic fact leads to the aforementioned effect.

I'd actually argue with this, honestly. In my opinion, rp'ing is more like a video game than it is to writing a novel (which is what I think you're comparing it to), hence my example of games that don't live up to their hype. And playing games is a hobby. While there are elements of literature present in roleplaying, and you literally are writing when you are typing up a reply, I see rp'ing being more akin to a game since you are playing a character, seeing what you can accomplish as said character, and how you can contribute to and shape the gameworld/plot as said character much like how you'd play an rpg.

"...people assume that if something is just boring them, it´s time to quit." Well that's just the thing. Since I see rps as games, I find this to be perfectly normal to think. Why put any more time into a game that is just plain boring you? And in my opinion, if you're bored of whatever it is that you're doing, you should stop and come back later when you are feeling more passionate. Especially of an rp. That way you aren't half-assing your replies that effect everyone else.




Now, how can we fix commitment issues?
If your rp was interesting, people would stay. Or, if your rp was fun, more people would play. It is honestly that simple in my eyes.
In my own experience, most rp's fizzle out and die when players have nothing to do and get bored. This is either because of poor gm'ing or dm'ing/leading or because the rp lacked a solid plot/objective to drive them forward in the first place.
In your rp, your game, it is your job to amuse your players. Your rp will not live for long if it's carried by players having conversations with each other. Things, events, etc. have to always be happening in your rp in order to keep people's attention. And as a gm/dm, you need to be able to pick up on early signs of people losing interest or getting bored and then work on catching that player's attention again in your next post.
I honestly think it is more of the gm's/dm's fault when players drop out due to being bored. If your players are bored, make things happen. A steady momentum is the key to keeping your rp alive.

 

[Simon_Hawk]

Fixing RP commitment issues is as simple as issuing the players collars that explode if they do not meet their posting deadlines. You get 3 chances and then *BOOM* no more noggin. I think devices such as this would really benefit the community.

 

[Sludge]

This.

While there are elements of literature present in roleplaying, and you literally are writing when you are typing up a reply, I see rp'ing being more akin to a game since you are playing a character,

Yes. This is a hobby and no one is getting payed for it. Some people are more serious about the writing aspect of it, but that's all there is to it. If somebody drops your rp, think about how to improve rather than condemn people who don't have the time for it.

Don't get me wrong. Sometimes, the rp is okay and the blame is indeed on the players. That means that you weren't playing with the right people from the beginning. They weren't bad people. It only means that they were not as passionate about this hobby as you were. If you want to do things your way, find the people who are just as into it as you are.

There is no need to bully others for having different values, it gives the community a toxic flavor.