Advice/Help What gives you role play true incentive to stay

[KAOS]

I firmly believe that the key to making someone stay in a roleplay is having the right incentive. What incentives could encourage people to stay and or keep role-play creators motivated? As a creator, finding a sustaining incentive for a roleplay can be quite challenging. Have you ever experienced roleplay collaborators providing incentives such as a movie night with the group, a badge for reaching milestones, or a personally drawn piece of art? What motivates you to stay socially engaged? In my opinion, the lack of incentives both ways (from player to moderator) significantly contributes to why people quickly abandon or ghost.

So, help me find a solution!

What has given you concrete incentive to play. ( similar to why you stay at a job) Please, I'd love more in depth advice other than simply listening to your players and being fair. Those are very important for incentive but I'm looking for things I can do for my roleplay groups which start in October.

Thank you so much

Have a great day everyone

Cheers

 

[nerdy tangents]

I like hanging out with the people and I have free time.

But then I am among the oldest demographic on this site (late 30s) so I got a full time job and not as much energy as I did in my 20s.

So for me it’s not really anything someone does so much as just having the necessary free time (cuz adulting is hard and life likes to throw you curveballs) and really vibing with my partners.

It helps if they’re patient or just in general really busy people too. So I don’t feel like they’re sitting at the computer waiting on replies.

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Not sure how you would implement this as a GM in a group. It’s more an organic thing that happens or it doesn’t.

I think back when I did groups in my early twenties again vibes were key. It wasn’t anything the GM did I just found people I liked to hang out with and that gave me incentive to stick with the RP.

So just keep an eye on the OoC to make sure everyone is vibing. See if there is anyone getting left out of conversations or causing tension.

 

[KAOS]

I like hanging out with the people and I have free time.

But then I am among the oldest demographic on this site (late 30s) so I got a full time job and not as much energy as I did in my 20s.

So for me it’s not really anything someone does so much as just having the necessary free time (cuz adulting is hard and life likes to throw you curveballs) and really vibing with my partners.

It helps if they’re patient or just in general really busy people too. So I don’t feel like they’re sitting at the computer waiting on replies.

Well I would think the bare minimum is to be a patient. It would be rude otherwise.

Although, I will just insert a tiny opinion here about adulting. There have been times I've literally worked three jobs and some with twelve hour shifts ( really really hard on the bones job too) and I still managed to find the time to invest in a role play with a significant amount of players ; and a discord.

I think some people have a hard time but others sometimes thrive when they are the most busy. I'm one of those odd balls.

 

[nerdy tangents]

Well I would think the bare minimum is to be a patient. It would be rude otherwise.

Although, I will just insert a tiny opinion here about adulting. There have been times I've literally worked three jobs and some with twelve hour shifts ( really really hard on the bones job too) and I still managed to find the time to invest in a role play with a significant amount of players ; and a discord.

I think some people have a hard time but others sometimes thrive when they are the most busy. I'm one of those odd balls.

To be clear I wasn't saying you couldn't invest. I was saying there are physically only so many hours in a day. So unless your able to exist on no sleep or food you will only have a certain amount of free time to be able to interact with a roleplay.

As such it becomes vitally important that you vibe with the people in said roleplay.

 

[nerdy tangents]

Something I saw once that really stuck with me is there is a difference between being online and available.

So many people assume because you are physically online (either in Discord, RPN, whatever) that you must therefore be available to roleplay.

It’s the same thing with free time. Just because I am not busy with IRL 24/7 doesn’t mean Im going to devote every minute of the time I have to a roleplay.

I might want to watch TV, read a book, play a video game, whatever.

As such in order for a roleplay to make it into the priorities of things I am willing to spend my limited free time it has to be something more than just a story.

I have to actually like the people involved and want to hang out with them.

Which again is a difficult thing to cultivate for a group because you don’t control how people get along.

The best you can do is encourage people to talk to one another in the OOC and monitor for any negative behavior

 

[strawberryspiral]

I firmly believe that the key to making someone stay in a roleplay is having the right incentive. What incentives could encourage people to stay and or keep role-play creators motivated? As a creator, finding a sustaining incentive for a roleplay can be quite challenging. Have you ever experienced roleplay collaborators providing incentives such as a movie night with the group, a badge for reaching milestones, or a personally drawn piece of art? What motivates you to stay socially engaged? In my opinion, the lack of incentives both ways (from player to moderator) significantly contributes to why people quickly abandon or ghost.

So, help me find a solution!

What has given you concrete incentive to play. ( similar to why you stay at a job) Please, I'd love more in depth advice other than simply listening to your players and being fair. Those are very important for incentive but I'm looking for things I can do for my roleplay groups which start in October.

Thank you so much

Have a great day everyone

Cheers

I love hanging out and love foreshadowing too.

 

[Daisie]

Something I saw once that really stuck with me is there is a difference between being online and available.

So many people assume because you are physically online (either in Discord, RPN, whatever) that you must therefore be available to roleplay.

It’s the same thing with free time. Just because I am not busy with IRL 24/7 doesn’t mean Im going to devote every minute of the time I have to a roleplay.

I might want to watch TV, read a book, play a video game, whatever.

As such in order for a roleplay to make it into the priorities of things I am willing to spend my limited free time it has to be something more than just a story.

I have to actually like the people involved and want to hang out with them.

Which again is a difficult thing to cultivate for a group because you don’t control how people get along.

The best you can do is encourage people to talk to one another in the OOC and monitor for any negative behavior

Just to add onto this...
I know for a fact that a non-zero amount of folks definitely disagree with this, lolol
But just like there's a difference between being online and being available, there's a difference between responding to a roleplay and responding to YOUR roleplay.
Yeah, if someone hasn't responded to your RP in a few weeks and they're clearly posting elsewhere every single day, you've probably been ghosted.
But man, sometimes one RP is just hitting better than the others. Sometimes it's tons easier to reply to.
I genuinely don't think it's a roleplay sin to prioritize a particular RP over the rest for the short term. If you are way more into something else, then that frankly isn't my business lol. So long as you're not actively avoiding me or something.

 

[RedArmyShogun]

I've been doing this for a looooong time, and there really aren't any incentives you can offer asides from keeping the RP good and hoping they want to post. At the end of the day there really isn't anything you can offer them that's transactional. And people in general have different wants. Different personalities to. If you try and make something for everyone, you'll end up making something for no one.

Just trust in your GM talents and making a world they want to be in, or collabing with other GM's for a more stable work. People are here for those adventures and way too many people are very fickle or continuously join rp's, post twice and go away without a word. All I have for an incentive, is if the story or setting are those, I give a piss at doing, or with people I can tolerate. If the GM isn't good at the job, well, you aren't getting me to stay unless one of my friends here do want to stay and I don't want to screw them over.

 

[KAOS]

I love hanging out and love foreshadowing too.

ME TOOOO All about the foreshadowing
(asyouknow )

 

[KAOS]

Thanks for the input everyone. I still welcome more.
Back in the day it was totally normalized and actually in regular DND group roleplay it's like an expected thing so I'm just so incredibly shocked people on here don't do it? Though, it's been a very long time since I had a project.

Hey, and absolutely no shade to anyone who does not have the time/energy to invest into it in such a way. I really truly mean no disrespect. I'm just someone who thrives when I'm busy. I don't know how I do it. I have too much time on my hands I'll sit on my hands and do nothing. Give me a crunch period and I'll have like fifty pages written. WOAH maybe its the hyperactive tendencies I have.

Though, to continue on. Like, if the incentive is just to be interactive? I can see why discord out of character chats are so popular. They must give moderators a lot of incentive to keep going .

 

[KAOS]

Just to add onto this...
I know for a fact that a non-zero amount of folks definitely disagree with this, lolol
But just like there's a difference between being online and being available, there's a difference between responding to a roleplay and responding to YOUR roleplay.
Yeah, if someone hasn't responded to your RP in a few weeks and they're clearly posting elsewhere every single day, you've probably been ghosted.
But man, sometimes one RP is just hitting better than the others. Sometimes it's tons easier to reply to.
I genuinely don't think it's a roleplay sin to prioritize a particular RP over the rest for the short term. If you are way more into something else, then that frankly isn't my business lol. So long as you're not actively avoiding me or something.

I feel fairly similar. It's too like exhausting to be second guessing anything and really someone probably just forgot to log out. Like I do constantly. So we appear online at all times lol when in fact we're out and about. I don't really use my cell for the internet or RPN. So, it's all just my large old honking computer that's on. It's been that way in discord chats at time too. People will ping me like I'm watching what their saying but I'm really out of the house going grocery shopping

Oh and to add. Like, I just accept ghosting happens and if that does happen with me it's incentive to kick me in the but and improve something about my roleplay. Like you said sometimes other roleplays are just easier to respond to. I don't fault people on their distractions or disinterest. Like I said I'd get really exhausted quick.