welian
#BlackLivesMatter
In my time roleplaying (by which I mean post-by-post forum roleplaying, not tabletop games), I’ve found it to be a general truth that the most successful roleplays are those with fairly active OOC threads. I would actually argue that the social part of roleplaying – talking to other players, communicating with the DM, free and easy discussion among the group – is more important than the organization of the story.
A roleplay demands a socially competent leader, in my opinion. Someone who is open, articulate, and who can basically herd cats. But, since obviously not everyone is blessed with an 18 in charisma, that means that somewhere along the line we had to learn how to manage people, as well as managing a story. We see that all the time, all sorts of guides for new RP leaders who might not know how to deal with hostility between players, people who are slow to post, godmodders and powerplayers, and so forth.
That being said, what are some good and bad things you’ve seen, related to the “people interacting” bit of roleplaying? Some personal practices you use when communicating in your roleplays? Things you learned the hard way about people? Absolutely horrid mistakes you’ve made? Mistakes you see others make and would like them to stop making?
Me, personally (to spark some conversation here), I have a few guidelines I try to follow when it comes to communication with players – one, I never split up the OOC. I might split up characters into smaller scenes, but I always try to keep the general chatter in one location. I… may have killed a few threads by diverting the bulk of conversation to Skype. Now I know better – either Skype is where ALL the OOC talk is, or it’s never brought up at all.
Two, when I ask someone if they’re leaving the roleplay, I try to be as non-confrontational as possible. Most of the people I’ve RPed with (including myself) have at some point just fallen out of posting and stopped caring about the story, and then drag their feet on posting because of the guilt and not wanting to out-and-out say that they don’t want to post anymore. So I’ve learned to generously pepper my messages with “it’s totally okay if” and “you don’t have to” and “I won’t ask any questions”. It’s very coddling, but I want someone to leave my thread thinking that they’d be okay with RPing with me again (dat personal branding), not that they’re an awful human being for not being totally punctual.
A roleplay demands a socially competent leader, in my opinion. Someone who is open, articulate, and who can basically herd cats. But, since obviously not everyone is blessed with an 18 in charisma, that means that somewhere along the line we had to learn how to manage people, as well as managing a story. We see that all the time, all sorts of guides for new RP leaders who might not know how to deal with hostility between players, people who are slow to post, godmodders and powerplayers, and so forth.
That being said, what are some good and bad things you’ve seen, related to the “people interacting” bit of roleplaying? Some personal practices you use when communicating in your roleplays? Things you learned the hard way about people? Absolutely horrid mistakes you’ve made? Mistakes you see others make and would like them to stop making?
Me, personally (to spark some conversation here), I have a few guidelines I try to follow when it comes to communication with players – one, I never split up the OOC. I might split up characters into smaller scenes, but I always try to keep the general chatter in one location. I… may have killed a few threads by diverting the bulk of conversation to Skype. Now I know better – either Skype is where ALL the OOC talk is, or it’s never brought up at all.
Two, when I ask someone if they’re leaving the roleplay, I try to be as non-confrontational as possible. Most of the people I’ve RPed with (including myself) have at some point just fallen out of posting and stopped caring about the story, and then drag their feet on posting because of the guilt and not wanting to out-and-out say that they don’t want to post anymore. So I’ve learned to generously pepper my messages with “it’s totally okay if” and “you don’t have to” and “I won’t ask any questions”. It’s very coddling, but I want someone to leave my thread thinking that they’d be okay with RPing with me again (dat personal branding), not that they’re an awful human being for not being totally punctual.