Idea Should there be a separate forum section for world-building?

[Jagdish]

I'm a refugee from the 1x1 interest checks portion of the forums and let me tell you: There are a lot more people interested in world-building than actually writing stories there.

They come. They talk characters. They join you in plotting out the challenges that our characters have to unite against and the circumstances that will bring them together. They reply quickly and with exclamatory expressions of enthusiasm! Then ... They don't post a single thing into the actual story, or if they do, you get up to three posts that are spread across weeks of delays. These world-builders might say otherwise, but their actions show the truth and I have read enough complaints here to know I am not alone.

It happens whether you have a pre-defined world with an intro right in the greeting or a single-sentence idea to flesh out. It doesn't seem to matter if you talk about posting frequency or long-term aspirations. If you are an idiot like me, you still get your hopes up every time because you love roleplaying with others. I save all these worlds and their characters in a document I call "the graveyard" because they are empty husks that never came to life and trying to pump life (i.e., actual story) into them feels like starting CPR on a body that's gone cold. I am so tired and I want so badly for one of them to live, yet the dead keep coming. My heart and mind ache from the toll and I try a new approach, but the dead are waiting there to.

So, what can we do? I say we give these people somewhere to go that meets their actual interest. I'm too hopeless to believe they won't still follow false aspirations into the search and story forums, but maybe it will filter some away. They like world-building and plotting and collecting their pinterest-style boards of character tidbits and scenes. Good for them -- just go do it somewhere else and let those of us who want to actually write in our worlds get to that goal without wading through a dozen dead worlds for every one that sees the breath of story.

 

[Idea]

I think you're jumping to a whole lot of conclusions on very flimsy grounds.

First of all, you seem to be basing this suggestion on the fact that people ghosted you after engaging in the planning/worldbuilding stages. Given the prevalence of the ghosting problem in general, the fact that in your case this happened to coincidence with a period of worldbuilding before seems more like happenstance - and if it's not happenstance then I would garner you yourself were actively trying to start with the worldbuilding/planning (and to be clear, I am not saying that you having such an approach caused this, what I am saying is that if you yourself tend to start with worldbuilding/planning then you're going to have more incidences of ghosting after those things than average by the simple logic that most people don't or do less of it), or otherwise joining RPs of people who do already have worlds they are focused on or who would push for more world-building early on... In short, it's likely either happenstance or a skewed sample, and you're not even cutting the petals of the problem, let alone the root, you're going for the dirt that happens to be adjacent.

Second from what from past experiences trying to set up worldbuilding groups, there's been very little success. People are usually just interested in doing their own thing, possibly sharing it once in a while, but interaction with that of others or cooperative development were exotic rarities at best. Perhaps things have changed since those attempts, but I highly suspect the population of such an attempted subsection would be much the same. I do think things are better when it comes to just discussing a world for a roleplay, but there's an issue of self-selection.

Now to be clear, I'm not saying it would be a bad idea to have a forum section dedicated to worldbuilding. There is a character showcase section after all, even if it's functionally storage space / a gallery with little feedback actually coming in. I just don't think the reasoning in your post holds water.

 

[Cresion Breezes]

This feels like a very roundabout way of complaining about ghosting.

 

[nerdy tangents]

Man we need to swap partners and stat. I can’t pay people to worldbuild in my roleplays. I always seem to get people that want to have a two minute discussion on characters and start the roleplay immediately.

I wish I got people who were excited to share headcanons and flesh out the world of the roleplay.

I also don’t think this necessarily prevents you from replying to roleplays. I fully have an entire private thread which is just be storing world building from old roleplays.

Most of whom do fizzle out within a post or two if they get to the writing stage at all. But I don’t think it’s world building that kills them.

It seems to be people getting busy IRL or having a hard time coming up with characters (at least in my case).

Now would I like a place where I could store all my world building and get feedback (like a Character Spotlight but for lore?) oh absolutely I can see that being very fun.

Also a good way to workshop ideas that you might not have fully fleshed out without having to wait to find a writing partner to do it.

But I don’t think that would stop people from still making interest checks or anything.

 

[GojiBean]

Hoyo!

Worldbuilding is typically the responsibility of the GM, as they're the one hosting the roleplay and therefore are firmly in the driver's seat of the experience. However, it's not uncommon for people to propose a roleplay concept and ask for help putting it together.

Even if there is that extra element, it's still a request for a roleplay. And it does belong in the RP partner search threads.

However, it doesn't really seem like this is the core of your complaint so much as the fact that you've been ghosted during the creative staging of your roleplays. While certainly unfortunately, it is, as Idea said, coincidental. These people aren't trying to do worldbuilding and then ditch because they're done once they gotten that far.

Ghosting is, unfortunately, a permanent staple of the online roleplaying world. It's not something anyone can control. And it's not something we can escape. However, just because people meet in the Interest Check threads and then go to DM's to help design characters and such and then ghost doesn't necessarily mean that was all they were interested in. They more than likely were genuinely excited to roleplay with the character and immerse themselves in the world. But, something happened along the way which led to them deciding against it.

People ghost for any number of reasons. The two most common in my own experience are life suddenly getting in the way, and the sudden onset of disinterest in the material once a certain threshold of creative energy has been reached.

People can only remain enthusiastic about a given subject for so long, and can only put so much mental energy into it at once before mental fatigue and a need for separation to let the mind reset comes into play. This is why I typically try to do all the worldbuilding myself when I'm the GM, and the only creative element I make everyone focus on is the creation of their characters. That way they have at least some creative energy left when the RP starts. And from there it's a balancing act with posting speed to help keep them in a comfortable position and keep them interested in moving forward.

My suggestion would be trying this same method yourself. Do the worldbuilding ahead of time and don't take any outside input. The world is the world exactly how you've designed it. If they don't like it, they can move on to another roleplay. This way the only thing they need to focus on is getting familiar with your material and then creating their character. This is a much less mentally taxing process than trying to be part of the worldbuilding.

So yeah! Give it a go, and see if anything changes.

Cheers!

 

[Lorsh]

Sounds fun.

 

[ManicMuse]

Man we need to swap partners and stat. I can’t pay people to worldbuild in my roleplays. I always seem to get people that want to have a two minute discussion on characters and start the roleplay immediately.

If you ever want to world-build, hit me up. I really enjoy world-building. It's hard to find people who do it too and find it fun. Normally, I only get hit up if a friend wants to start a group RP or something and needs help with a few things.

Jagdish,

Respectfully, after reviewing your account activity and interactions, it's challenging for me to find that you've encountered this issue with various individuals. I examined your posts, expecting to find substantial contributions, such as extensive world-building, followed by the 1x1 thread that fizzled out quickly.

While I acknowledge that the issue might be confined to private messages, I find it odd that you're facing a recurring problem with multiple people. Personally, I've encountered individuals attempting to deceive me through respectful on-site conversations, only to transition to inappropriate topics once off-site. However, I've never experienced someone abruptly disappearing after engaging in detailed world-building discussions.

My suggestion would be to persevere in your search and exploration.