The Longevity of a Roleplay

[Effervescent]

There are so many roleplays on this site, and a lot of them look pretty promising! There's excitement with both the players and the creators from the initial interest check right to the character creation and approval. Some of these roleplays actually get to the first post, and maybe even further, but I have noticed there is a very common occurrence.


Roleplays die easily here. People come up with amazing ideas and plots, put in a certain amount of effort along with interested parties, and then suddenly nothing comes of it. As a player, I kind of expect the roleplays I sign up for to just peter out and never happen. As a creator I totally see how real life can make hosting and planning and maintaining a roleplay very difficult.


I have mixed feelings in the matter. I believe real life should always come first, so I also feel like anyone with a predicted possible busy or currently busy life should refrain from hosting a roleplay, or perhaps collaborate. As someone with a semi-busy real life, I was a little hesitant in hosting a roleplay. But before I even created my interest check here I went through my work schedule and considered the other aspects of my real life. I then determined a rough real life timeline for how long the roleplay would take based on the plot points I wanted to do.


Basically, I planned ahead because I wanted to take on a certain level of responsibility and insure the players got something "promised" to them. I say "promised" because I feel that when we as creators make a roleplay and allow sign ups, we sort of promise these players a plot to some degree. I knew personally that I would feel really bad asking these people to take time and creativity into creating a unique character they'll enjoy roleplaying in this universe I provided and then have to bail out because real life got crazy.


Of course, taking out random crap hitting the fan suddenly, what are your opinions on the matter? How do you feel about the success or lack there of in the roleplays around here? Do you feel like people should plan ahead, or that doing so is a little too much to ask a creator? Do you feel that the success is not just on the creator, but the players as well?


Please keep the discussion nice. No name calling or malice.

 

[White Masquerade]

I see what you mean. There's no changing life. You have to flow around it like a river around a rock. A lot don't make it cause' of loss of interest or something with planning. I'm a fan of 2-day role-plays cause it avoids all that. Set up a short plot with a kick-ass set-up, and one or two good twists.


Call it part 1. Whenever you're free again, do the same thing and call it part 2. :5/5:

 

[welian]

@White Masquerade


... Tell me more about these.... two-day roleplays.


@Effervescent


I personally, have only ever seen two roleplays "finish" and come to a reasonable story ending. One was a D&D campaign (which, I think they have a higher proportion of "campaigns that actually finish"), and the other was a long-running roleplay that the creator finally shoehorned an ending to when people started dropping like flies and she wanted to do a sequel/reboot. Outside of those, most of the roleplays I've been part of last between only a month to just under a year.

 

[White Masquerade]

@White Masquerade
... Tell me more about these.... two-day roleplays.


@Effervescent


I personally, have only ever seen two roleplays "finish" and come to a reasonable story ending. One was a D&D campaign (which, I think they have a higher proportion of "campaigns that actually finish"), and the other was a long-running roleplay that the creator finally shoehorned an ending to when people started dropping like flies and she wanted to do a sequel/reboot. Outside of those, most of the roleplays I've been part of last between only a month to just under a year.

=P.


RP: Monster Hunters Part 1 (Group of hunters scour the world hunting legendary monsters for fortune and fame.)


Twist 1: As role-play begins, plop players right into battle with a monster. They better be prepared to write. No silly introductions here!


Twist 2: As the monster is killed, players find out that was just the baby. Here comes the mama.


End: Congratulate everybody and tell them it's over. If they want a part two, tell them when you're free again.


It keeps the story moving, players engaged, and creates anticipation for the next one if it was a good experience. The GM is able to get some sleep =)


Depending on schedules, it should take less than a week to finish at minimum. 2 weeks at most. 2 weeks is kinda stretching it though O.o

 

[Grey]

Personally I feel like it's a matter of luck.


I put a lot of work into all of my games, and some of them have lasted as long as two years (I think at least one is pushing three years now).


I've taken to just being selective in who accept to play.


I have contingencies to turn users I have no prior contact with into plot points/victims of graphic violence to demonstrate an antagonist to the other players when they inevitably drop.

 

[Law]

There's no real way to mitigate this aside from being more cautious in who you choose to write with, but I do understand your pain. I am guilty of dishing and being on the receiving end of the longevity issue and it's usually a result of my interest dwindling for one reason or another that usually has to do with the progression of the roleplay.

 

[Shura]

There are many different thing that factory into longevity and a lot of it is luck but a lot of it is also communication and involvement. I've made dozens of Rp's on this sight and joined many many more. However only a hand full have lived a few months but I have on RP that has lasted since November. Surviving through the holidays, midterms weeks and Finals weeks. Its honestly a miracle I didn't think would happen. I have to say a lot of that is due to the players who joined. Real life is always important but a reminder once a month for people to post doesn't hurt either.


I've also found that getting the players invested in the world makes it harder for people to loose interest. I opened up the RP for people to create shops, apartments, monsters to fight and even entire cities! Getting players involved in where they are playing keeps them interested. I also have to attribute a lot of the success to Teamspeak. It has made communicating, planning and asking questions so much easier. I've also gotten most of my players to join from just talking about it there. If not there then the OOC is usually busy with jokes and what not. I've also had the fortune of being able to take a break from the RP cause I'm just out of ideas and it still continue because someone else takes the spotlight if only for a few pages.

 

[Miz]

Like other's say, Longevity in roleplays is up to a variety of factors. Within this thread, you are basically going to get several different medical examiners to look at a roleplay after it died and give you a bunch of different answers for what might have happened. That's because roleplays are collaborative projects and each collaborative project is their own beasts each and every time. That's because people themselves are unique and individual and putting them in a group (not to mention online), is probably hard for anyone to predict the results?


My advice is of course to pick your players selectively and possibly even get players you are frequently in contact with so that you can talk about the game with one another and build it up more (not to mention maybe becoming friends, as roleplaying with friends is always fun).


That being said, I will always stand by my advice: that users who post more often, usually maintain their interest in a game.


Its true for anything really, the longer you are away from a project - the harder it is to get back to working on it. People sometimes think that they can be away from their character for weeks, sometimes months, at a time and think that they, as writers, will still have a connection to that character in exact same way as before.


Its hard to get back into writing a character when you take breaks and sometimes the most fun comes from actively using that character, where you are constantly thinking about it.


So I would say when picking players, people often times judge too much by how long the character sheet is or by how long the person posts. I still remain adamant that its important to look at how often they post as players. Preferably you want someone who will post on their own accord and will do so regularly a few times a week (if possible and depending on the size of the game).


At the end of the day though, its possible for even those games to fail. I just have noticed in my experience that roleplay that require people to post more often usually have better results. Too much posting can lead to burnout, I admit, but posting often is just another skill to gain as a roleplayer.


Ultimately it probably comes down to what roleplayer you are, what roleplayer your group of players are, and what you find fun about roleplaying... All of which are subjective. For me, its about consistently being able to play during the week and being able to think about my character in my off-time pretty regularly. For you? Who knows except yourself. I think being honest in that might be the biggest help when making a game.


Overall - Being in a dedicated group of people you are in contact with, that all like to roleplay regularly, would be my advice. However, who knows, when my game dies I am sure that a bunch of roleplay coroners could come to me and say all my advice led to its demise. (>_>)