Experiences RP Things you miss that the community no longer does!

[lostwanderer]

I miss 'group forums', where if you want to join a group roleplay, there was an actual group that came with separate threads per general location.

Say for example, if the story takes place in a city, there's a separate thread for the marketplace, the park, the mall. You get the gist.

If you wanted to bring your character someplace else, it was tagged at the end of your reply.

Spoiler: like so

Her parents were at it again in the kitchen, fighting about the simplest things, her mother running her mouth about how her father never seemed to make time for them anymore to which he rebutted that what he was doing was all for them. Not wanting to be caught between their crap, she ducked her head and quietly made her way out the door. She figured a little retail therapy could ease away her incoming headache.
[ >> marketplace ]

It was the norm for where I first roleplayed so it took some getting-used-to when I had to jump ships where the roleplay is bound to a single thread.

 

[rae2nerdy]

lostwanderer that sounds like hosted projects. it’s the general idea of those roleplays as I understand it

 

[Onmyoji]

I remember doing something like that when I was running a forum with roleplay section.
But yeah, I think Hosted projects do that too.

 

[ChoShadow]

Something that I miss which used to be on this site for everyone was what the staff here call "Hosted Projects" where you could create an RP main page which had tabs/direct links to the forums which were in use for a given RP, and it was all self-contained and open to everyone to create at any time. It kept things organized, all in one place, and each page could be made private or locked so only those actually in the RP could post such as in the IC posting section. I can't tell you how irritating it is that people can post in the main IC Posting section because the either don't pay attention to links to the OOC Posting pages.

Sites like roleplaygateway.com use this self-contained setup for everyone. They have a primary page for the RP which then has tabs with threads for the Discussion, IC Posting, a chat room, and a feature or two which are relatively new to the site.

Here, you have to create separate thread pages in each "appropriate forum" which are not self-contained. They're all pages just floating about the site instead of in an isolated spot within the RP itself like on roleplaygateway. Anyone can access any page at any time by sifting through the parent forum which is NOT what it should be. At least not in my opinion.

To me, this concept of "all pages in their respective forums" is lazy and ill-conceived. As someone who values a self-contained space to work on my role-playing and alongside my fellow role-players who are participating in my RP's, the openness of this site's pages and the lackluster "organization" of providing a single link at the top of the page doesn't do it for me. I prefer a space that's all my own where myself and the other role-players can go where everything is right there at their fingertips and contained and private. It feels better, safer, more organized, and more personal.

But now only certain users can do Hosted Projects, and only if it's approved of by the staff as an idea that's "big enough" or "good enough" to be worth approval.

This is elitism, my friends. Pure and simple.

Regardless of the scale of a role-play, every role-player deserves the opportunity to create a self-contained RP experience for themselves and others. Everyone deserves to be able to make their threads locked or accessible only to members of their role-play. And everyone deserves the chance to truly act and feel like a GM who has the control and authority to maintain the RP in accordance with their vision of it. And, personally, I believe this site and its community were better off when this was the norm instead of this new "only approved RP ideas which are big enough to warrant it will be approved" BS.

Now that Hosted Projects, the proper way to role-play, are elitist and open only to those with "big ideas worth the time," this site has lost a lot of its luster and clout among role-playing websites. So much so that this website is now only a secondary for me. An alternate option because other sites, such as roleplaygateway, do it much better.

So that's what I miss. This site used to be for the community as a whole. Now they're more in favor of the "biggest thinkers" or "most experienced creators" who can make a role-play that's large enough to warrant a Hosted Project, which is a very negative shift in attitude to me.

Thanks for listening to me rant!

~ ChoShadow

 

[lostwanderer]

lostwanderer that sounds like hosted projects. it’s the general idea of those roleplays as I understand it

I remember doing something like that when I was running a forum with roleplay section.
But yeah, I think Hosted projects do that too.

Oh, I didn't know that was how hosted projects worked, I'm sorry.

I only had been in one of those here before back in 2016 and even then, it just had the single general IC thread. Also, when I checked into the more recent ones, those were divided into chapters so I thought people didn't do that here. :<

 

[rae2nerdy]

Oh, I didn't know that was how hosted projects worked, I'm sorry.

I only had been in one of those here before back in 2016 and even then, it just had the single general IC thread. Also, when I checked into the more recent ones, those were divided into chapters so I thought people didn't do that here. :<

They aren't especially popular but the way they're set up they are supposed to work similarly to how you described them. As the idea is they are their own little mini roleplay forums within the larger roleplay community.

 

[Tyriant]

I was never personally able to get into rp groups, but DEAR LORD I MISS CHARACTER BLOGS. Like, when I was first getting into rping allll of my characters had character blogs, or in-character diary entries.

Also quizilla. That was such a site. Buggy and everything, but oh boy was it nostalgic for me. I got my start there before moving on to bigger and better things, but I always kept my account active until it closed down.

 

[PhoenixMire]

on god? chatzy. dont @ me but it was a super easy way to do in-character rps/script roleplays and i have some nice memories of it outside of the vast majority of weird chatzy pages. i remember making my own for my friends and i to rp occasionally. i also joined one as a joke (it was some big ironic one) in 2016 with my bf and it was super fun, i really miss that sort of thing where there were lots of quick, dynamic, and easy to find rps, now it feels like half the battle is getting into one at all and its more energy consuming than it used to be.

I didn't RP on Chatzy, but I agree that lately, most of the struggle is just finding an RP partner! It never used to be that way. It's exhausting and frustrating. Tbh, I've been trying to get back into RPing since I miss doing it, but it isn't the same anymore. Sure, we're all better writers now than we used to be as ignorant kids, but wasn't everything more fun as a child...? It was for me, anyway. It was so much easier to get into things and enjoy things. Now I feel like it's a battle just to find an RP partner and actually get to them to start the RP with you.
RPing doesn't have the same charm anymore. I'm... kinda beginning to question my will to do it.

 

[rae2nerdy]

I didn't RP on Chatzy, but I agree that lately, most of the struggle is just finding an RP partner! It never used to be that way. It's exhausting and frustrating. Tbh, I've been trying to get back into RPing since I miss doing it, but it isn't the same anymore. Sure, we're all better writers now than we used to be as ignorant kids, but wasn't everything more fun as a child...? It was for me, anyway. It was so much easier to get into things and enjoy things. Now I feel like it's a battle just to find an RP partner and actually get to them to start the RP with you.
RPing doesn't have the same charm anymore. I'm... kinda beginning to question my will to do it.

I don't think it was more fun so much as we were less picky. I think younger roleplayers are more willing to leap out of their comfort zone and try new things than older roleplayers. As you get older you get a clear idea of what you like and what you don't like. So you're a little more willing to wait around for a good partner rather than say yes to the first person you see.

Plus in general as an adult I"m just plain more busy. I don't have as much free time to post back to back or keep up with faster moving roleplays.

That said as I was always kind of more interested in platonic roleplays than romantic ones I have ironically not seen that much difference in partners as I've aged. Apparently focus on romance is the one thing that remains eternal in roleplaying

 

[PhoenixMire]

I don't think it was more fun so much as we were less picky. I think younger roleplayers are more willing to leap out of their comfort zone and try new things than older roleplayers. As you get older you get a clear idea of what you like and what you don't like. So you're a little more willing to wait around for a good partner rather than say yes to the first person you see.

Plus in general as an adult I"m just plain more busy. I don't have as much free time to post back to back or keep up with faster moving roleplays.

That said as I was always kind of more interested in platonic roleplays than romantic ones I have ironically not seen that much difference in partners as I've aged. Apparently focus on romance is the one thing that remains eternal in roleplaying

Yeah, everybody gets pickier and way busier. And for some reason, the older I get, the more I lose my motivation for... lots of things. So trying to find an RP partner who likes the same things I do and who will actually try to get the RP off the ground is difficult, plus the added struggle of my annoying motivation issues.
Being an adult sucks all around.

 

[Nue]

A forum I frequented when I was really young did this thing called 'charrie chats' (side note, did other places call OCs 'charries'? I never saw it elsewhere but) which were basically really relaxed, low-effort roleplays where you just drop your characters into a room and have them interact. No character sheets, no applications, hell half the time they didn't even define a setting, someone would just make a thread called 'charrie chat!' and you'd just come in with your ocs and chat. This worked well because a lot of people there had characters they'd re-use and come to be associated with, instead of creating new ones for each roleplay. Not sure if this was a common thing on other sites because I didn't actually visit many, but it's something I get nostalgic about even if I don't think I'd do it now.

 

[rae2nerdy]

side note, did other places call OCs 'charries'?

On chickensmoothie they did. I don't remember if I've heard the term anywhere else.

 

[Nue]

On chickensmoothie they did. I don't remember if I've heard the term anywhere else.

This was actually on the Moshi Monsters forums of all places, but a lot of users there also seemed to frequent chickensmoothie so that might explain where the overlap came from. I definitely hadn't heard it outside of that one place.

 

[MechanicalSnake]

Back in around 2007-2010 there were huge thematic fan forums that held games for a few dozen people. We had forums with locations, and these 20+ people all took part in a huge literature story narrated by admins and mods, moved through locations via ending posts with a link to said location, and had all sorts of weird encounters and generally had fun. I miss those things.

Yes!! This, thank you! I owned a couple of such forums for various book series. I miss it dearly, those forum based RPs were always so well written, with people commited to the metaplot, and often generated great friendships for me.
-drops a tear-
Everything now seems like a replacement really.

 

[apolla]

Something that I miss which used to be on this site for everyone was what the staff here call "Hosted Projects" where you could create an RP main page which had tabs/direct links to the forums which were in use for a given RP, and it was all self-contained and open to everyone to create at any time. It kept things organized, all in one place, and each page could be made private or locked so only those actually in the RP could post such as in the IC posting section. I can't tell you how irritating it is that people can post in the main IC Posting section because the either don't pay attention to links to the OOC Posting pages.

Sites like roleplaygateway.com use this self-contained setup for everyone. They have a primary page for the RP which then has tabs with threads for the Discussion, IC Posting, a chat room, and a feature or two which are relatively new to the site.

Here, you have to create separate thread pages in each "appropriate forum" which are not self-contained. They're all pages just floating about the site instead of in an isolated spot within the RP itself like on roleplaygateway. Anyone can access any page at any time by sifting through the parent forum which is NOT what it should be. At least not in my opinion.

To me, this concept of "all pages in their respective forums" is lazy and ill-conceived. As someone who values a self-contained space to work on my role-playing and alongside my fellow role-players who are participating in my RP's, the openness of this site's pages and the lackluster "organization" of providing a single link at the top of the page doesn't do it for me. I prefer a space that's all my own where myself and the other role-players can go where everything is right there at their fingertips and contained and private. It feels better, safer, more organized, and more personal.

But now only certain users can do Hosted Projects, and only if it's approved of by the staff as an idea that's "big enough" or "good enough" to be worth approval.

This is elitism, my friends. Pure and simple.

Regardless of the scale of a role-play, every role-player deserves the opportunity to create a self-contained RP experience for themselves and others. Everyone deserves to be able to make their threads locked or accessible only to members of their role-play. And everyone deserves the chance to truly act and feel like a GM who has the control and authority to maintain the RP in accordance with their vision of it. And, personally, I believe this site and its community were better off when this was the norm instead of this new "only approved RP ideas which are big enough to warrant it will be approved" BS.

Now that Hosted Projects, the proper way to role-play, are elitist and open only to those with "big ideas worth the time," this site has lost a lot of its luster and clout among role-playing websites. So much so that this website is now only a secondary for me. An alternate option because other sites, such as roleplaygateway, do it much better.

So that's what I miss. This site used to be for the community as a whole. Now they're more in favor of the "biggest thinkers" or "most experienced creators" who can make a role-play that's large enough to warrant a Hosted Project, which is a very negative shift in attitude to me.

Thanks for listening to me rant!

~ ChoShadow

THIS.

"This is elitism, my friends. Pure and simple."

So much this.

I didn't do group roleplays that much when hosted projects on RPN was popular, sadly. I got into groups and hosteds were still around, but they were already based on favorites. As someone who's been turned down and also as someone who's known people turned down, I still stand by my views (biased as they may be/some may think they are) that hosted projects were picked based on if the staff liked you or not. I had an idea that needed the space and extra threads a hosted project allows (this was before tabs were a thing) and I got denied. I had another idea that got turned down simply because it wasn't good enough, and I don't think that's fair considering the amount of dead hosted projects there were, and others with similar ideas who got hosteds like they were candy on halloween.

Now I stopped paying attention a few months ago so no, I'm not sure how they currently work. But I know on a different site, you're welcome to have your own "hosted project" space if you donate to the site. That's pretty cool.

 

[AzoicSiren]

Like AOL Rp rooms and groups that were for Members or even Freeform open play. I miss that. Discord is close and so is Riot but not much action on there

 

[Wandering Seraph]

I absolutely want to second group RPs being the norm. 1x1s are way less fun in my experience and I always end up getting bored with them pretty quickly. The fact that the RP community as a whole seems to be veering away from group RPs saddens me. They take more work and more upkeep and there can be drama, sure, but they're so much more fun and infinitely more satisfying to finish!

 

[Nue]

I absolutely want to second group RPs being the norm. 1x1s are way less fun in my experience and I always end up getting bored with them pretty quickly. The fact that the RP community as a whole seems to be veering away from group RPs saddens me. They take more work and more upkeep and there can be drama, sure, but they're so much more fun and infinitely more satisfying to finish!

Yeah, sadly I think a lot of people are less likely to do group ones now because the more people there is doing a roleplay, the more chance there is of timezone conflicts or people who need to progress the roleplay dropping off the face of the earth, and all that stuff. But past all that, I find group rps are just so much fun? Like I love reading people's cs and seeing what kind of characters there are going to be, I love seeing the dynamics that develop between all of them, and I think overall you can just have more fun with it?

 

[rae2nerdy]

I only do 1x1 roleplays and in my experience the reason that people transition can be boiled down to two things.

1. Availability - it's very hard to get a group of people on the same time schedule. People feel like they're left behind or that they have to wait around forever for people to post. It's easier when it's two people to find a posting schedule that suits you both.

2. Personality Conflicts - A lot of people on this site either have trouble socializing or don't have time for drama. Both demographics tend to avoid groups because of personality conflicts. Again it's a lot easier to find like-minded personalities when your dealing with people 1x1 than roll the dice that the group you are in is going to have people you can get along with.


Something that we did used to do for groups that I do kinda miss is use "Titanpad" or similar sites. It is kinda like Disocord only there would be a chat and then a blank notepad like section. You could add in information, even color code it.

It was a great way to get everyone in the roleplay editing information. They could add their characters, character arcs they wanted, sign up for like team assignments, etc. I miss the ability to world build together in real time.

 

[NoviceOfRoleplay]

I miss RPNation when they had their Simple, Medium, and Detailed tags. I think it helped promote different types of roleplays and show people there were other groups that would like a specific style.

Now I think, at least in my running around in Fandom section, everything averages out to Medium. My theory says it is because everyone had to average out their Simple and Detailed urges in an overwhelming Medium section.