Other No Dedication?

[Lappi]

It seems like a very small amount of people actually dedicate themselves to RP's they join or create. Any one have ideas why?
I personally think it has to do with the mostly short attentioned youth on this site but that's a opinion XD

 

[Disco]

Players drop for a number of reasons usually. I find most die right after character creation. Either they're busier than expected and can't commit, don't like how the RP is going, the RP lacks focus and organization, etc etc.

Sometimes RPs will last for ages. It all depends on the players. The best thing to do is just find people who are committed and friend them. That way you can make RPs with folk you know will stick around.

 

[thoughtless]

I truly think the main reason is that people don't understand how much work they need to put into actually committing to a story and building it up with multiple people, or they just really aren't willing to put in the work. There are times where the role play is going to slow down and it won't be as exciting as it was whenever you first started because the idea of the role play isn't new to you anymore. At that point you don't necessarily drop out (unless you're completely uninterested in continuing the story) you instead introduce new arcs, plots, ideas, and possibly even new characters that'll keep everything interesting.

Even if the role play is more casual and less detailed, there's still a lot of work that needs to be put into it and it really is a continuous effort to keep it going. You really just have to find people that are willing to put in that effort. The downside is that cliques form and it can be really had for newer role players to get into certain groups, though I don't think that is anyone's fault.

 

[Bacon is fluffy]

It seems like a very small amount of people actually dedicate themselves to RP's they join or create. Any one have ideas why?
I personally think it has to do with the mostly short attentioned youth on this site but that's a opinion XD

1. There's alternatives. A lot of alternatives, which means people aren't going to be heavily invested in one idea unless it dazzles them.

2. It's not their baby(rp). A friend once told me that other people are never going to love your baby(rp) as much as you.

3.GM's often act like bosses. A lot explicitly say they're the final arbiter. When you go in knowing your opinion doesn't matter in the slightest, that RP better be amazing. Generally they're not, which is why there's a lot of flakiness.

4. Past experience with flakiness. If you've experienced a lot of flakiness and there's a general site wide meme about people being flakes, then obviously a lot of people are not going to be posting in interest checks thinking any one rp is important. After all, they're all flakes right?

5. Lack of seriousness in general. People see this as a hobby,but a low tier hobby. Roleplaying in my experience, is nowhere near the level of MMO's or sports in general. Unlike an MMO or Sport, most people don't treat an rp like it should be something they work hard on, think a lot about, reflect on and research how to get better(AKA getting into the grind). No they see it more like an app that if it annoys them, then it should be deleted right away.

6. It's mentally exhausting. When you're a player, you're expected to write well and make things interesting. As a gm, you're like the owner of a house trying to make their party super fun for a bunch of fickle guests.

Last but not least, people are variable. There's going to be differing levels of experience, motivation, rp etiquette, temperment and reasons for rping in the first place. It's not only hard to find the right people. but also people who are willing to work with eachother when the going gets tough(boredom, disagreements, other shiny rp's).

 

[Tove]

I think some are only interested in the same kind of roleplay and playing the same type of character, they don't want to try anything different. I could be wrong though.

 

[rae2nerdy]

Well the short answer is that every person will quit a roleplay for a slightly different reason and without like asking people flat out individually we can only make educated guesses on the causes.

1. Time/Scheduling Conflicts. People are not all on the same time-zone much less the same time schedule on this site. There are people that are in high school and are starting that back up, there are people in college, people who work, people who are unemployed, etc. So just in general I think for groups especially it's finding a group of people on a reasonably similar time schedule at the same level of talent is a quest in and of itself ( 1x1s are slightly easier as you only need one other person instead of multiple other people )

2. Different Priorities. This site has a wide variety of ages on it from mid to early teens to late forties/early fifties. So people are just at different points in their life and that means they're going to have different priorities. Not just in the kind of roleplays they like but in how they see roleplaying in general. As Bacon mentioned not everyone is going to see the hobby of roleplaying as the same priority because people have a lot of other things going on in their life ( see scheduling above )