Why was my RP a failure?

[SachiGrl]

The Story

Nature has grown tired of seeing neglected, unhappy children. It was only a matter of time that the worlds of fantasy and reality come together for the sake of children's happiness.

Fairies from all over the world were trained, so that they can recover the happiness, the childhood every child is entitled to have. One by one, each fairy is assigned to a child. They must grant every wish the child asks until the child feels they are permanently happy or that they no longer believe in fairies. Each fairy hopes, dreams to achieve their goal to making their child happy to the point that they are no longer needed.

Without rules, the world could be in utter chaos.


These rules were created for the safety of the children, fairies, and the world itself.


1. When a child reveals the existence of their fairies, all witnesses and the child have their memories wiped.


2. You can’t wish to win a competition.


3. You can’t wish to interfere with or create true love.


4. Fairies can't directly kill, maim, or injure living beings.


5. No godchild can wish for his or her fairy to have a baby.


6. A child's fairy cannot tell them what other kids have fairies--the child has to find out on their own. Although the child can wish to know if a certain person, have fairies


7. A child cannot wish to take away the fairies of another child. They have to be wished away by the same child.


8. Fairies only grant wishes to miserable children of the dominant species of Earth.


9. If your life is perfect enough or you say "I'm happy and don't need my fairy/fairies anymore," they must leave the child and be assigned to a miserable one.


10. Wishes can only be granted by the child, unless the child wishes for his fairies to grant someone else's wishes.


11. All vocal wishes shall only be made in the voice of the godchild only.


12. You can’t wish dead people back to life.


13. You can’t wish for money


14. When a child has reached at age 17 (or 18 ) and does not believe in fairies anymore, the fairy/fairies must leave to a miserable child.


15. You can’t wish yourself to be a fairy.


16. Cloning wishes can only be canceled when all the clones are in the same room and at the same time.


17. Whomever has a wand has complete control over it, meaning you can't wish it back, and whomever has the wand has the power to grant their own wishes and the wishes of others, meaning you'll have to get it back the old fashioned way.


18. You can't wish away the rules or wish away any specific rule.


19. If a kid can't be trusted to keep their fairies a secret, then they can't have their own fairies, no matter how miserable they are.


20. If a fairy godparent quits, the position must be filled by an other fairy.


21. You can't wish for someone else to become non-existent.


22. If a fairy neglects the rules after three warnings, they will be sent back to school for 5 years (equivalent to 5 days of posting). The child will have a replacement fairy.


22. The maker of the rules shall notify all fairies when a new rule has been created. The fairy can't post until he/she has acknowledged the new rule

These are the rule enforcers. In the case that a rule is broken, these warrior fairies do what is necessary to enforce the rules and keep the world balanced. This usually includes, but not limited to: wiping of memories, undoing wishes, sending a fairy to Fairy Academy, permanently confiscating a fairy from a child, ect.
​

 

[Ignitedstar]

I don't know if it's a "failure" per say, but I do have several things to say. Please note that I'm looking at this like it's an advertisement. That is basically what you're doing, after all.


1) The color is fine (I like that it's thematic), but the font is mildly difficult to read. One should be able to read it instantly and seamlessly, but when I look at this font, I have to do a little concentrating to read it. To some people, this is an automatic turn off, sometimes without even realizing it.


2) After reading the synopsis multiple times, I honestly can't figure out if there's a plot. Is there a story to tell? Seems like it. Is there a plot? Doesn't look like it. It seems like you worked pretty hard on this, so I'm sure you have a plot in mind. So where is it?


3) How long did you wait for people to sign up? Did you do an interest check?

 

[SachiGrl]

I don't know if it's a "failure" per say, but I do have several things to say. Please note that I'm looking at this like it's an advertisement. That is basically what you're doing, after all.
1) The color is fine (I like that it's thematic), but the font is mildly difficult to read. One should be able to read it instantly and seamlessly, but when I look at this font, I have to do a little concentrating to read it. To some people, this is an automatic turn off, sometimes without even realizing it.


2) After reading the synopsis multiple times, I honestly can't figure out if there's a plot. Is there a story to tell? Seems like it. Is there a plot? Doesn't look like it. It seems like you worked pretty hard on this, so I'm sure you have a plot in mind. So where is it?


3) How long did you wait for people to sign up? Did you do an interest check?

Well, I posted this a year ago, so I had a regular font then. I just changed the font now because I wanted to make it look even prettier, but I do agree with you... I'll change the font now for future readers who will critique my RP...


One moment..


 
Actually, this RP isn't supposed to have an ending. I was planning to make daily or weekly problems and the children with fairies would seek out to resolve them. For example, a five year old girl wished the world was blue. All the characters have to go along with the five year old's wish, but eventually someone will get fed up and try to resolve the problem. This is just an example, but could actually happen. That's why I created this RP! I thought it would be spontaneous and fun!

 

[Ignitedstar]

I can you tell INSTANTLY, that what you just did by changing the font makes it significantly easier to read.


Ah, so it's episodic. Hmm... I'm not really sure how people will receive that in a text-based setting.

 

[SachiGrl]

Oh, and I waited weeks for people to sign up. I even created the RP on other RP websites in hopes to play out this story. No one... I mean no one joined. It was truly sad for me. I was certain it would have been fun.


 
Hold on one sec, don't judge this part yet...


Evansville, Indiana, 47714

West of Applesauce Avenue is Evansville's Education Center K-12.


South of Blueberry Boulevard is the grocery store, Publix.


South of Lollipop Lane is Evan's Mall. It contains a movie theater, clothing stores, and a GameStop.


Examples of how to write your address:


1001 Blueberry Boulevard, Evansville, Indiana 47714


1115 Applesauce Ave, Evansville, IN 47714


1222 Lollipop Lane, Evansville, IN 47714


 
This was the CS for the Miserable Children:


Name:


Age: (5-17)


Grade: (make sure you don't put an 17 year old in a 2nd grade class)


Address:


Picture: (not too obnoxiously big. edit in photobucket or something)


Name of Fairy: (Make sure you read the fairy rules)


Picture of Fairy:


Personality: (Optional)


History: (Make sure the history implies what causes the child's misery (divorced parents, busy parents, abused, ect.))

 

[Ignitedstar]

I'm into some pretty obscure stuff and I can tell you that I'm... not quite sure what to think of this idea. Roleplaying as a child with a fairy companion could fit any number of things. It's possible that people feel that the roleplay is a bit... aimless, for lack of a better word. I'm not sure *why* I'd want to participate.


In your poll, you wrote that it was something related to Fairly Odd Parents, but this doesn't seem to be based off of that. So how does this fit into Fandoms? I'm not quite understanding what your reasoning was there.

 

[SachiGrl]

I'm into some pretty obscure stuff and I can tell you that I'm... not quite sure what to think of this idea. Roleplaying as a child with a fairy companion could fit any number of things. It's possible that people feel that the roleplay is a bit... aimless, for lack of a better word. I'm not sure *why* I'd want to participate.
In your poll, you wrote that it was something related to Fairly Odd Parents, but this doesn't seem to be based off of that. So how does this fit into Fandoms? I'm not quite understanding what your reasoning was there.

Actually, the story is exactly like fairly odd parents. I just put my own little twist to it. I borrowed some of their rules too.


I don't know. I'm not even sure why no one joined... it could be because no one saw a plot..

 

[Ignitedstar]

There's potential in advertising it as a Fairly Odd Parents fan roleplay. Did you try that?

 

[SachiGrl]

There's potential in advertising it as a Fairly Odd Parents fan roleplay. Did you try that?

To be honest, I don't really remember if I tried that. I'm pretty sure back then they allowed you to write a title of the RP and a description. I believe I placed it in the description.

 

[DescriptedEnd]

Alright, I'm inexperienced (to a point) and such like that, but I'm going to go ahead and put my two cents in.


When I looked at this idea, there was definitely one thing I noticed. You (and Ignited), both called this 'episode based' - that in itself can be hard to sell, as there's really no rewards or an end game. It's kind of just a spew of random events that have no relevance to any background story. In that kind of sense, there's really no point to really doing the story. I'm not sure if this is true for all people who play around on the forums, but I like to have something I can work towards rather than just prancing around a field of spontaneous timelines.


Additionally, I can definitely see how this is closely related to Fairly Odd Parents. That, while not a problem in itself, can cause issues. Fairly Odd Parents is a show directed towards children that are generally younger than can legally participate on the site. This makes it hard to market it to older members that may not see the 'whimsy' in an idea such as this, especially when they're looking for more advanced plotlines with more meaning.


What I would suggest is maybe adding more meat to it. I don't see actually marketing it as a "Fairly Odd Parents" roleplay under the fandom tag really increasing any sort of participation. What this play is missing is a hook, something to real them and catch their interest. And even then, sometimes, people just aren't interested - when that happens, it's best to just start anew and try something else.

 

[Circus]

Personally, I'm not into playing a child character so my interest is fairly low from the start. Others could be the same.


Plot is another element I look for when I join an RP. Without guidance it gets boring quickly.


I would get rid of the rules up-front as it can appear very limiting to people. The point is to allow creative freedom. If you, as the GM, do not want to allow certain things, let the character know IN-GAME. Giving people a list of things they cannot do right off the bat will scare anyone off.

 

[Honey Bee]

I don't agree that the list of rules is a bad thing. I do agree with the others that said that there isn't exactly an end goal or plot going on.


Some suggestions that come to mind are perhaps setting the story somewhere where these kids are more inclined to interact. Maybe a neighborhood would be too large but a boarding school would be better? Maybe set up events like the kids are going on a field trip? Going camping?


Also, perhaps it would be better if the players could choose to be a fairy or kid instead of the players being both (unless I am misunderstanding something).

 

[SachiGrl]

[QUOTE="Honey Bee]I don't agree that the list of rules is a bad thing. I do agree with the others that said that there isn't exactly an end goal or plot going on.
Some suggestions that come to mind are perhaps setting the story somewhere where these kids are more inclined to interact. Maybe a neighborhood would be too large but a boarding school would be better? Maybe set up events like the kids are going on a field trip? Going camping?


Also, perhaps it would be better if the players could choose to be a fairy or kid instead of the players being both (unless I am misunderstanding something).

[/QUOTE]
To be honest, I was afraid to have separate CS for a fairy and child. The child needs his or her fairy at all times, so I thought it would more convenient to have one person control them both, so there is no delay. I also did not want the the RPers to be stuck RPing with their fairy and not interact with the other children.


Was that a bad idea?


 

Personally, I'm not into playing a child character so my interest is fairly low from the start. Others could be the same.
Plot is another element I look for when I join an RP. Without guidance it gets boring quickly.


I would get rid of the rules up-front as it can appear very limiting to people. The point is to allow creative freedom. If you, as the GM, do not want to allow certain things, let the character know IN-GAME. Giving people a list of things they cannot do right off the bat will scare anyone off.

I had a funny feeling the rules might have scared the RPers away...

 

[DescriptedEnd]

To be honest, I was afraid to have separate CS for a fairy and child. The child needs his or her fairy at all times, so I thought it would more convenient to have one person control them both, so there is no delay. I also did not want the the RPers to be stuck RPing with their fairy and not interact with the other children.
Was that a bad idea?


 



I had a funny feeling the rules might have scared the RPers away...

I feel as if having seperate CS's for the fairy and the children might have actually allowed for more player interaction - otherwise, a lot of people would just wander off by themselves and do their own thing, by default causing boredom and, in worse case scenario, causing the roleplay to never actually get anywhere and die off without much progress being made.


As for the whole 'rules' thing, I really think that, while they shouldn't be displayed in the over view, they need to be somewhere so that the player does have reference as to what they can and cannot do. I like to use a lot of common sense when I write things, and, I feel like when the child first got their fairy, they would have been already told these rules and probably knew them at least a little bit - the players themselves don't know these rules, but since they're playing either a child or a fairy (or both!), they really need to know these rules so they can play their characters more in-depth and more realistically. Sure, there are going to be some characters that don't really care to remember them, or just really want to break them, but its a resource that needs to be available to the players.


And that is another point, @Circus. A lot of people don't want to play child characters - they prefer teens or adults. Perhaps you could add a bit of an interesting twist by allowing adult characters as well, so the children have to make a point to hide their 'fairies' and their secrets. It would allow plot options, and a little bit of variety as to what the players can, and have, to do.

 

[Lil Shirou]

To me it the lack a ending and episodic way of this would drive me nuts. I like a beginning and end to each day but with freedom that I end it anyway I like. Also to me your idea doesn't have a need for the characters to be brought together. I see alot of soloing involve