Advice/Help How do you not get discouraged when interest checks are ignored?

[cuzn]

I've been on this site for just over four years now, and whenever I try posting an interest check (no matter what the topic is or how hard I work on it, it could be coded or lazily put-together or anything in-between) it goes completely ignored. Meanwhile, I see almost every other interest check post get tons of viewers at a time, and even when I stylize mine and work extremely hard on my plots, pairings, etc. I've never gotten any messages. The only way I've ever been able to start an RP on here was to respond to other people's interest checks. Is this a common occurrence? Is anyone else going through this? I hate to admit it, but I'm starting to doubt that I have any really interesting ideas at all, at least enough for anyone to respond - how do you keep from getting discouraged by this?

 

[nerdy tangents]

First it’s always a bad idea to compare yourself to others. Whether we are talking roleplaying or real life.

Because other people are not somehow magically better than you or have some mystical power to get the things you want.

For the most part they are suffering the exact same way you are just in ways you can’t see because your not in their mind living their life.

For roleplay specifically having someone post on your interest check means less than nothing.

1. The vast majority of people don’t actually want you to post on their thread. It clutters the thread and (at least in my case) there is a 50/50 percent chance you won’t see the post. They want you to send a PM. Now groups are probably a little different but that brings me to point 2.

2. Just because someone posts in an interest check doesn’t mean they are going to actually join a roleplay. I think I have had three roleplays in the past year last longer than a single post. The vast majority don’t even get to the post portion of the writing process. The other person leaves either due to incompatibility or they just vanish.

3. Your best bet in finding a partner is to actually do exactly what your doing. The two long term partners I found (I mean I ended up writing with them for months at a time) were precisely because I reached out to someone on their own interest check. Now I’m not writing with either one now but that’s cuz I had to take a mini hiatus for IRL stuff. But both have said that whenever I get back into roleplaying they would be happy to write with me again. Because we got along really well and wrote a good story together.

So it is possible to find someone you just have to be patient. Also I have found the key isn’t so much having an interesting story as just making friends with your partner.

 

[BuggaBoo]

Is this a common occurrence? Is anyone else going through this? I hate to admit it, but I'm starting to doubt that I have any really interesting ideas at all, at least enough for anyone to respond - how do you keep from getting discouraged by this?

Hi!

Yes this is a common occurrence and not just on this site so don't worry it's not just RPN.

It's not always your ideas but how you present them and how imited the niche or wide the acceptance is really. Like fandoms for instance can fall prey to this. If it's popular undoubtedly you get bites. Now as for Original settings the sell is harder unless rpers can vibe with the presmise, genre, setting and charrie concept acceptance .

--> can you provide a LINK to your current int CHK so we can give feedback pls?

Cuz like listen I have an RP on here for like 2 yrs now and It is super niche. More of a writing exercise less a RP. It's not popular at all and yet I bump it every so often. The thing it has going for it is that it is ALWAYS open and basically you can post for any OC . The major thing it has against it is that there is no plot nor interaction. So like yeah hard sell and rarely do I get a bite if ever. Bruh in fact the int CHK is just a blurb with a link to OOC.

Why do I do it like this? Cuz the only writers I get actually go to the OOC and say HI!! to me. And all that posted have been amaaaaaaaaazing and sweet, creative people! Like only 5 diff writers and like 20 posts total from them but happy they wrote with me nonetheless. Drop in drop out it's baked in and all goods!

Basically what I'm saying is: keep up, keep tweaking, don't ghost, be engaging and stick to your vision cuz then at least you get a product you happy with.

But like if you want to just run anything that will hit, figure out what's popular and like craft it like a net to capture a wide audience. You may sacrifice what you really wanna run but like you might be able to live with the results and be content cuz like you at least like running a full RP.

Hope this helps but provide a LINK to current int CHK will prolly help even more.

Oh! And I m coming from a group Int CHK perspective k?

 

[Chiester]

If you are really REALLY brave, ask someone to review your interest checks.

 

[Bacon is fluffy]

Making the interest check is as much of a skill as running the rp. You gotta take into account not only what you want, but what others may want. And provide enough details and context to show that you have a solid idea and are actively going to lead this endeavor.

I always ask myself:

Is the pitch something people want? (Sadly no one ever wants to do creepypasta rps)
Did you make it clear what you want from your potential fellow roleplayers?
Are you actively working on your hook? You can be running a magic high-school rp and it be the most requested type of rp, but it doesn't matter if you don't have a hook that catches their imagination.

You are creating something from nothing. So take care in how you pitch it to others.

 

[Idea]

This is not a great answer but honestly I just have other stuff I also do. I get into a lot of things and even if I don't have a roleplay I can just go read, watch or play something or work on a million other projects I've got in the back-burner.

At the same time I do have RPs I joined if something really really interests me.

On top of all this I really commit to any RP I've decided to take a part of. So in the end of the day when I do make my 1x1 search threads I don't quite make them with the expectations of many bites especially not very soon, in fact while I go wide with contents I'm not too concerned with a cluttered presentation or demanding requirements because I'm trying to find RPers who are really a great match for me, even if few and far between.

In short I'm not disappointed because I don't usually expect my interest checks to generate much of any interest, at least not in the 1x1 department, and it's not a big loss even if they do not.

 

[Sir Les Paul]

I pretty much strictly only do Group games. It'd take an act of God to get me into a 1x1. The input I have comes pretty much from that lens.

In Groups, I feel as if you generally have to sell your idea. An interest check is a pitch. For all intents and purposes, it is an advertisement. Of course, this is a little different given I'm advertising for games, not my personal involvement (as a 1x1 would be), but this is the mentality I have going into making an interest check.

With that said, if an interest check is comparable to an advertisement, what can we draw from that knowledge?

Advertisements by nature cast a large net and have a huge failure rate.

That's it. That's the whole explanation, nutshell included.

Realistically, though, you can consider what most players are going to do following an interest check.

They might see your interest check in the recruitment forums, but can they see your account? Do they have anything to review? The answer is no: it's limited to who can view it. If someone was trying to do a little research which is a totally reasonable thing before committing to a potentially long term game, they can't. Now this is totally your right and I encourage anyone who feels safer by limiting who can view their account to do so. However, there is a cost to this. That cost is that it will, in fact, be off-putting to some people. I know a good majority of people check out potential partners or players in a group long before they show interest.

Consider that for me to find your interest check to give any direct advice, I would have to either search you by name or dig through the 1x1 interest checks. My normal method is to click on an account and look through recent posts. This creates extra work for me, and if I had to do on mobile (which I hate), I'd probably just move on at that point.

This is all ties into my ultimate answer. The way I avoid getting down about interest checks not getting activity is remember that I am in a sea of thousands of other players all screaming out in a chorus wanting to find someone to write with. Now, I normally pitch whole Group Games, but I have to remember that my games are designed to cater to a specific type of player. I cannot compare myself to others directly or put myself into some broad "category" of fantasy. My games are their own things, as are most others, and again, we're in a sea of people searching for the exact hook they want. Other players are spoiled for choice and sometimes we won't be that choice for the most petty, pedantic thing out there. There are plenty of things you can do to try and increase your odds, but there are even more variables outside of your control.

I don't have any advice on how to make 1x1 interest checks work better because I don't use them, but if you ever feel discouraged about an interest check: remember success is minority outcome and you can still have a fun, fulfilling roleplay by answering someone else. You may even make their day by showing interest after a dry spell.