Experiences Do All Roleplays die eventually or . . .

[N-On-E-Mus]

This is a question I've had on my mind for sometime. Almost every roleplay I join dies out eventually, so is it possible a roleplay doesn't die? if so, what happens when you complete the main point of the roleplay? If a roleplay doesn't die out, does it ever end? While I'm at it, whats the longest roleplay you've been in?

 

[Villain Shoto Todoroki]

It depends on how active the group is.......E-On

And what once was Brazil.exe on here

 

[Idea]

Not every roleplay dies before it ends, but the vast vast vast majority do. If you want to defend a castle you need to succeed every time, but if you want to conquer it you only have to succeed once. Likewise for roleplays you have to manage to either bypass or overcome an enormous number of potential issues, only compounding over time. Issues like any of the countless possibilities for real life problems, or issues of motivation, which to my awareness are the most are the most common causes of death for a lot of RPs (though secondary causes feed into those) are incredibly difficult to avoid, and over time borderline impossible.

I’ve been in one roleplay that lasted long enough to end, though it ended in an unexpected away, with one of the characters accidentally causing the other to end their own life. So the roleplay pretty much couldn’t go on that way... But that wasn’t by far my longest lasting roleplay, which died out after a few years due to a real life matter.

Ultimately, my advice is always the same: Rather than focusing on nearly impossible task of avoiding the death of RPs (which you should still try, just not put all your hopes on it) , it’s better to find a way that works for you personally to cope with the fact most RPs will die. For me that way consists of pouring my all into the characters, posts, plots and so on I make, so I can feel they have value on their own and I can look proudly on them, never feeling like I was just wasting my time.

 

[Nihilum]

It's better for an RP to fade out at its due time, than to allow it to go for far too long and tarnish the memories with a mundane experience. If it's meant to go on for years, then it'll do that naturally; try not to think about it as 'dying'. You can still have fun and look back fondly on it even if it only lasted a few weeks. An ice cream cone only stays around for a couple minutes, but it's still great anyways.

Edit: The longest I've managed to keep one running without stagnation was around three years. It never did reach its conclusion, however.

 

[AnnJam]

I've completed about 5 roleplays in my time. We would get to the end of the arc and one of two things would happen. 1) We end it and start a new RP. 2) We end that arc and start a new arc or 2.5) Write an AU with the same character.

My BSV RP (most recently completed) we finished a arc after 3 years of RPing and we started a new arc set about 10 years later (after a 4 year break). We also started an AU RP for BSV we called BSV Empire where we aged down the characters by about 15 years, revived dead characters from the canon, and everyone was royalty and we did a sort of coup arc. This was after the first arc, before the second and before our break.

In my old roleplays from 15 years ago we finished 4 roleplays. We did three arcs for one roleplay before we ended it completely and started our fourth RP with a entirely new cast of characters and story. In the one RP it started as a slice of life magic mansion with teenage characters trapped in a separate dimension from their family. The teens eventually got out defeated out big bad to do it, then we started arc 2 they were aged up and moved to a island. This is where they encountered two pirate ships that captured one of them and the others chased. They ended up on a whole new continent and joined various armies to defeat this sorceress lady trying to take over everything. We had a huge dead arc loads of characters died some DED DED and a few went to our purgatory realm before being brought back for our third arc where we stabilized the kingdoms and gave some a happy ending.

Our fouth RP was about this huge world featuring 5 different story arcs at the same time, some overlapped others were independent, spanning 4 continents and a magic fey realm. Won't say much else its a complicated mess and you don't need the details. Eventually we did get to a 1st arc end but never did continue it (partner and I broke up).

 

[Crayons]

Some people like hard and fast endings for roleplays. I like ones where you do one storyline, then another, then another and it doesn't really ever end until people get bored or it comes to a natural stopping point. So in that sense, they all die. But it's really the journey that counts.

The longest roleplay I've been in was 8 years for 1x1 and three years (maybe a bit longer) for a group.

That's pretty rare though and I've only had one other 1x1 and one other group that came near to those in length.

 

[nerdy tangents]

I think it depends on the story your telling. In my experience most roleplay are continuous stories with no clear end (they just kind of stop when people stop replying).

So no I don’t think of a single roleplay that had an ending, I can think of a few that lasted a long time but mostly because they were in settings that could continue on indefinitely with new players and characters.

 

[GojiBean]

There's any number of factors at play for why role-plays die, so there's really no best answer to the question.

However, there are three primary factors I've seen at play more than any others:

1) Life happens
2) Short role-player attention span
3) The GM ghosts

These, in my personal experience, are the most common reasons RP's die.

Whether these are actually the most common factors is something I don't think we'll ever know for certain. But as one who's had at least two RP's see themselves to a successful conclusion (out of the dozens upon dozens I've started across various sites), I know that it can be done.

Cheers!

 

[The Dreamer of the Lore]

While every RP will eventually die, be it for any of myriad of reasons, you can always remember them fondly for the good moments when you did your best in them. I have finished one RP and thought it had been a miracle that it lasted for two years. It was saddening in itself, but I can look fondly at it with a smile and think, so what if the RP ends or dies? In the end the fun was on it happening in the first place you know?

 

[Jannah]

Almost all RP's die eventually, especially ones that don't have any clear end goal or plot. It's honestly very rare for RP's to end where and when they're supposed to. Very few of mine do with the most common reasons being real life obligations or lack of motivation.

My longest lasting RP? Well, I have a series of Hunger Games RP's I've been working through with the same partner since 2013/2014. They're very slow moving since we're both tied to other obligations now, but they are still very much alive.

 

[AnimeGenork]

As far as my experience goes, all the RPs I've been in have died at some point. While some of these are more upsetting than others, there are those that... how should I say it... never really died for me?

For example, perhaps my favorite RP I've ever been a part of included the reincarnations of the Greek gods (and Titans and heroes). While it's definitely dead and buried with no chance of revival (or at least a very slim one), it's never quite ended for me. That's mostly because I'm still developing the characters even after all this time. One of them has even become my favorite OC of all time. So, in some ways, I'm keeping that RP alive by keeping the characters around.

Of course, I've had long lasting RPs as well. A small group of mine celebrated the 1-year anniversary of our story a couple months ago. We were pretty psyched. I have a couple 1x1s that have apparently been going on since 2017--I don't even remember what I was doing back in 2017! But of course, we're not all that lucky.

I've never been lucky enough to finish the main point of a story on this site. But I have done a longstanding 1x1 where we simply came up with new arcs as we went and did timeskips and all that. It kinda depends, as others before me in this thread have stated.

At the end of the day, it's down to every individual person. Some move on, some reboot the dead plot anew, some probably forget they ever did it. Then there are those that last, or those, like me, who make it last by keeping the memory alive somehow. You just gotta find a way to to handle it that works for you, much like everybody finds a way to roleplay that works for them.

I probably had something more philosophical to say, but I lost it somewhere in the interim of my rambling. Sorry about that.

 

[Peryton]

Yes. That's the short answer.

The harder answer is that role plays are complicated because they're sort of like this living thing, and they continue to change the longer you write. No matter how good your writing is, however, you will always have people who no longer find what you do interesting. They either latch on to some new obsession or they just outgrow what you're doing, and it's okay. Sometimes you can "salvage" what you've done by turning it into an AU, or transplanting beloved characters into other settings. Other times, you have to just know when to understand that it's been a good run, but the run's over.

And the most important thing to keep in mind is that, if you are indeed kind, appropriate, respectful, and doing your best, it's almost never about you.

 

[Crow]

To put simply, nothing lasts forever. So yes, all roleplays either die eventually and all exceptions actually come to an end.

 

[Syntra]

When you cover the main point of the roleplay, it either a) dies a more dignified death, ie. you get to write the word 'fin', b) dies in an exponentially uglier way when you try to keep it alive and run out of steam. Nothing lasts forever. Stories have a point, and when all the conflicts are resolved, they should have the decency to end. I'm actually very close to finishing one of my roleplays atm, and the cure to the sadness that springs from having to say goodbye to a story is to start a new one with the partner It's better than souring the old one via keeping it on life support.

 

[Emeraude]

I've had some go on for years (3+), while others ended in months. I think it depends on your level of interest, as well as your partner's.

 

[Clintob]

As it was stated earlier, main enemy of every rp is motivation that may die out with time. Its somehow important to learn how to mantain this motivation as you rp.

Most of rps I was in died, but there was one rp that was close to its death a few times, but managed to end it and it even got a sort of second season.

 

[Peachipopp]

I do my best to plot out the storyline, and try not to keep it going too long. It's nice to end the story, and then start a new one! I have kept quite a few long term RP partners over the past few years by doing this. It's good to keep communicating with your RP partner to see where they would like to go. This has helpe dme keep from losing rp partners or having an RP die out.

 

[Riwa Firestone of Saba]

It depends on.

If you are lucky and find a group of people who choose to stay loyal to a plot then it goes long. I would say it depends on who takes parts in a Rp.

 

[Gowi]

While I'm at it, whats the longest roleplay you've been in?

I guess the one I've had an on-and-off sequence of things for the last sixteen or so years.