Suggestion More Clear RP Categories?

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I find that the current set of categories are... weird. Futuristic, Fantasy, Realistic/Modern, Fandom, Dice, Questing, Nationbuilding, 1X1, and the Colosseum. Now, these are pretty weird ways to separate a game. I think the best way for me to describe my problems with the categories will be to go through them one by one and talking about every individual problem. That way, the ideas can be easily responded to one by one.

Firstly, The Colosseum. This is probably my biggest questionable area for the site. It is for RP's that specify on combat. I think this has quite a few negative implications for how RP's should be made. It basically makes the assertion that story cannot be advanced through combat as well as through dialogue, which is kinda goofy. It also, in my opinion, devalues combat-heavy RP's, which are games. Is Fallout any less able to tell a story than a Telltale game because it uses combat to tell that story?

Next is the Quest Log. It's by far the least used category I've seen. I love the quest system, but I don't see how using the quest system differentiates it from other games by much. I touch on this idea better in the 1X1 section just below.

1X1 is an interesting creature from my perspective. I feel like it could have a wonderful merger with the Quest Log in the form of an "interactive story" category. This would have people be presented with both individual and shared RP's, and I think would also give the Quest RP's a little more attention from many people. I also think this is a category where an RP in it honestly belongs with its genre.

Nationbuilding I feel is an okay category. If a person is interested in nationbuilding, it's likely they'll be interested in RPs that focus on that mechanic. However, I think it might be reasonable to put a Nationbuilding RP in with its respective genre. That way you can have people who are directly interested in the genre and flavor of that RP.

Realistic/Modern is probably my least favorite category. For example, if I wanted to make a Superhero RP it would go there. If I wanted to make a historical RP, it would go there? If I wanted to make any RP that took place in the modern day, it would go there. That's very strange to me. If something isn't Fantasy, based on a fandom, or takes place in the future, it goes here. It's mind-boggling to me that this is the case.

Dice is on the fence with me. On one hand, I think that yes, people who are interested in dice systems will likely enjoy RP's in those systems. However, I think this cuts off any people who aren't looking to play Pathfinder or GURPS or D&D from finding some great stories because the core mechanic is the use of dice. If someone were to hypothetically make, say, a Marvel-based RP that uses dice, by all rights it belongs in the Dice category, when realistically it would get the most attention from being in the Fandom category.

Futuristic, I think, is poorly named and defined. I feel like this was meant to be Sci-fi, but it basically exclusively takes focus on future sci-fi. If there's a modern sci-fi, it goes in Modern/Realistic, which is goofy. A historical sci-fi goes in the same place, even though it is neither modern nor realistic. If the name were changed to Sci-fi, it could theoretically give a home to all these edge cases. Some people really love Cyberpunk.

Lastly, I think an Other Category is definitely in order. Some people just make really weird RPs that can't really be sorted by genre and/or shouldn't be sorted by mechanics. For example, say I wanted a Superhero RP that takes place in the fifties. It's not Modern, nor Realistic. It's not Fantasy in the way that it's defined here. It's definitely not Futuristic, it doesn't use dice, and it's for multiple players. It would also provide an outlet for those looking for more weird and abnormal RP's that don't fit into the other categories.

I know that these are opinions, that they may be flawed, or that they may not fit into the vision of the creators of the site. However, I feel like the current system is very flawed as well. I'm not proposing site overhaul, I'm thinking something more along the lines of minor tweaks in names or descriptions, that will make the site more friendly to RP's that don't fit within these lines.

 

[Silanon]

No matter how exactly you'll name the categories, it will always be flawed - this is just due to the high number of different rps; no matter how you name your categories, there will always be that one fringe case that isn't covered by anything. Just a few points:

Colosseum: This area is meant for rps that mostly/ solely focus on combat - that does by no means imply that other rps can't include combat. For example, the Pathfinder game I'm running myself includes a hell ton of combats, and yet isn't in that area. Even if it wouldn't use dice, it'd be fantasy, not part of the Colosseum, simply because it does not focus on combat - combat is simply a part of the overall storyline. The area hasn't always been there, but included quite a few rps that would have had a hard time fitting in any other category when I saw it the last time (blocked it lately since those aren't my cup of tea). Don't really see the implication you deduce, would be great if you could elaborate further.

Quest: One person writes the story, multiple others make choices to move it forward - that's distinctly different from any other rp, where all the participants write the story together (basically). In a 1x1, you'll usually have two people write the story together - of course, there might be distinctions, but 1x1 is its own category because it is meant to be separated from group rps. If you want to write a story with a single other person, then you go there - you really don't want to have all those rps in-between them where dozens of people vote on how things should progress further.

Nation building rps are an entire own category because they play out drastically different from any other rp - with their focus on leading an entire nation (or something equivalent), they are decisively different. Of course, you could add them to the other categories - but given their specific nature, they might get lost in the ton of other rps. That'd be sad for all those who enjoy these kind of rps - especially since there weren't too many of them last time I checked.

Realistic/Modern is indeed a damn vague category - from my experience, it covers many of the "other" cases you'd want to add in addition. Again, this is simply due to the nature of rps - you'd have to add three dozen categories to make things more precise (add superhero rp as a category, for example) - however, this makes it even more likely that an rp lands in multiple categories, and thus someone only keeping an eye on one category might miss out on an rp he'd be interested in. This is probably my most important point: You can make the categories more detailed if you like to cover every single option, but then you'd always have trouble sorting rps in suitable categories (see all the threads on "is this futuristic or fantasy?" posted during the last couple of years). And in the end, having less categories makes it more likely that someone will miss an rp by accident, especially now where we can ignore some subforums we're usually not interested in.

Dice are different, and scary. There are a ton of mechanics in the background (usually), and they work differently from many other rps in that results are usually up to chance in one way or another. I'm basically at home in this category, and there are a ton of reasons why it should be separate. For example: You can play Pathfinder in a ton of different settings, there are even futuristic ways to play it. I'd be interested in all of them because it'd be Pathfinder - I don't want to search through a dozen categories out there just because one out of 500 rps might use Pathfinder rules (don't know any numbers - almost certainly, it's way less than that).

Futuristic is sometimes quite close to the Realistic/Modern rps - but I think however you'd name it, you'll have the same problem. If you call it sci-fi, where does that start? If I add a bit of almost-obtainable futuristic technology, is it already sci-fi, or still modern? It's hard to draw a line, and you'll always have an rp that could land in either category.

"Other": This is a bad idea in my opinion. The categories we have here are a guideline - if you start an rp, you think about what should be the main core of the rp, and that's what you choose as the category. Elves and dwarves? Fantasy. Pathfinder? Dice. Etc. If you search for an rp, you think about what kind of rp you want to join. Interested in playing a sci-fi human? Look into futuristic rps. Wanna play an elf? Fantasy. Want to describe a masterful duel in all of its detailed glory? Probably Colosseum. What would you expect if you search the "other" category? You wouldn't have a clue, since there can be anything in it. It'd be basically like having the option to throw out a random rp for you to look at, only that it's one that isn't easily categorizable. It'd be a mess of different ideas, all of them totally unrelated. That's not the point of categories - they're meant to let you know: If you enter this subforum, you'll get rps that look more or less like this, be it their mechanical style (dice, nation, quest) or their setting. Also note that in case of the mechanical style, their name alone usually specifies the category they'd be in if the gm is clever enough to choose it properly.

 

[Kaerri]

Silanon made some excellent points and explained things pretty well, so I'll just add a few things from the "official" perspective:

Most of the sections aren't intended as genres so much as settings and types. That's why superheroes and steampunk can both fit into Realistic/Modern - they're both set in our existing world, just with some plot- or character-level changes.

Settings:
Fandom -- if it's based on something published, be it book, movie, TV show, video game, or other media, it goes here.
Fantasy -- If it's based in a fantasy-type setting, with magic and such being an established and integral part of the world, it goes here.
Realistic or Modern -- Yes, this is kind of a catch-all, but then there are by far more RPs in this kind of setting than in the others anyway. Basically, if it's in our world, with few setting changes, it goes here (even if it has some elements of another category).
Futuristic -- More or less sci-fi, yes, but the intent is for a future-based setting. Post-apocalyptic, space, super-high-tech, if it uses futuristic elements as an integral part of the world, it goes here.

Types:
1x1 -- This is for RPs that have only 2-3 players involved, regardless of setting. To help locate the sort you're looking for, this section has prefixes for all of the settings. You can click on a particular prefix and it will show you only those RPs that use that prefix.
Colosseum -- This is for RPs that are only or primarily combat. Think Mortal Kombat, not Fallout.
Quest Log -- Silanon did a good job of explaining these. If you've ever read a Choose-Your-Own-Adventure book, it works like that, but with voting by anyone who's reading the RP instead "Turn to page x."
Nation Building -- This is for large-scale RPs, not the usual character-based ones.
Dice -- What Silanon said. I don't know of anything I'd add to her explanation unless you have more questions.

I don't see us adding an "Other" simply because every RP I've seen will fit into one (or more) of the above categories. Besides, it's actually the least descriptive word, when you think about it, and would probably lead to even more confusion.