Now why am I entitled to tell you how to make a RP? Because I wrote the document, and made the thread. I'm not going to link you “HI I MAKE RPS THEY LIVE YOURS DIE I YELL IN FACE HOW U BE ME NOW.” Because that won't help, I'm going to talk about what I've seen making threads, and what turns me off.
I'm starting with the basics, that ARE NOT layout, because chances are layout isn't your MAIN problem here, but I will get to layout.
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Basic things
DON'T POST THREADS AT 3AM IN THE MORNING NO ONE IS ONLINE. I'm one to talk about this, I do it a lot. x.x Like right now. You may get one member, but the thread will work better if you post it at like 4pm and you rp at 4pm. Not 'ok well I need to go to sleep now, i'll join now, but its 3am in the morning. Be back tomorrow.' No that doesn't work because by the time they come back tomorrow you might not even be on. Post it around 4pm and even if you get 3 pages, they'll be back the next day around the same time. I'm talking forum time too. If you live in England..... try to post it around forum time still. Like it's 4am fourm time at the moment and there's 86 people online. No bodies gonna join your rp. Holidays are different because more people are on, but it depends. Normally check the number of people online before posting.
I find a good number of people to post at is 300ish because by 700 you're bumping every thirty-minute, at 300 you can bump every minute, and be okay.
It's also against the rules to bump more then once a day, but no one follows it, so just if you are bumping for three pages straight when there's 86 people online delete the posts
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Making a RP with friends, or by yourself
With friends
There are many arguments on how to keep an RP up. One of the best is make one with friends. Now hold up. There is a right way to do this, and there is a wrong way to do this. There is nothing wrong with having your friends join, that’s why their friends. There's nothing wrong with making the RP with friends either. There is a problem though with treating your friends like friends, and treating the strangers like strangers.
Wait I'm confused, but that’s what they are?
Right, but if you go off, and start laughing about tacos to some friend that joined, and having some awkward conversation with the random stranger that just joined. That stranger aint gonna come back gurl. Now not everyone is a social butterfly, but if you're making a RP you should really try to be. If you aren't you need to find that one social butterfly. That social butterfly who can make conversation with everyone, and treat everyone like a friend. This is necessary because no one should feel like the strange wallflower that shouldn't be there. You probably aren't even trying to do this, but it does happen. It's understandable you know your friend better then someone you just met. The ability to start a conversation up over anything is fairly difficult, so if you're not that person find one. It's people like that who have rps that actually stay up.
What does how I act have to do with keeping the RP up?
What people don't seem to understand is no one likes feeling like the odd one out in a group. If you go somewhere where no one will talk to you ooc, or the rp is boring compared to you and your friend who have the entire plot. That person is going to leave, and that rp is going to die. This doesn't seem to bother a lot of people, and they just let that person leave and then go off with their friend. But karma comes around when that rp is well into its pages, and its dying because lack of members, and you can't get people to join it.
Pages are intimidating, and play a part in why no one will join, but I don't think its the pages that scare people off. I think its the fact that people, know that by that late in the rp. You have a clique, you do not want anyone else in the rp. And won't let them into the plot. With me the page number is never why I don't join. I justify it as page number, but really its the fact that well into those pages, you don't want people there, because you have your little clique and you're fine with that.
Putting on your page 'WE DON'T INGORE PEOPLE' doesn't really help either, and makes me more self conscious tbh. Because by then its obvious to me you probably do.. or did and that's why people left. If you didn't there's another reason for that, and I'll talk about that in a second.
By yourself
If you make it by yourself, you can be in a lot harder of a spot with thread responsibilities though. If you're not good with running things, like making the plot, making it interesting, adding drama, sub plots, keeping up the front page, making characters so no one is left out. You shouldn't be making it. And before someone goes off, and tells me that’s not your responsibility you're wrong. I'll get into that in the next section.
By yourself, is still a lot harder though. Not because there's more on you, but because its harder to make people join. You may have to bump ten, eleven times, and don't even get me started on fanclans NO BODY wants to join those omg. There are so many, and not enough people who are looking to join one. In either section. It takes a lot of luck for people to see it, and it also takes a good idea.
Also when you're basing things off popular ideas, you'll have a lot more luck rounding people in. I'm talking about basing it off book series, and things like that. But this is not 'I TOOK THIS IDEA FROM A BOOK SERIES NO ONES EVER HEARD OF' [Literally don't do that, because no one will join if they haven't heard of it. If you're going to base it off something like that DON'T SAY SO. ] I'm talking things like homestuck that a lot of people have heard of. [If you haven't thats alright don't turn this into talking about that just a lot of people know what it is.]
Also if people can actually navigate your page. Now I'm a banner person I like banners BUT NO YOUR RULES LIST DOES NOT NEED A GIANT BANNER LISTED
'RULES' WITH A
' ----------' UNDERNEATH IT AND THEN YOUR RULES, THAT IS REALLY HARD AND COMPLICATED TO GET THROUGH. But this is literally an entire section so I'm not allowed to rant about that here.
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THREAD OWNER RESPONSIBLITIES
Another reason why the RP fails is because you aren't doing your job. If being the thread owner isn't time consuming, and doesn't require work, you're doing it wrong. You really need to be doing a lot of things YOU NEED TO BE LIKE A DICTATOR OK, YOU CANNOT LEAVE THE RP TO BE BORING OR PEOPLE WON'T COME BACK THAT IS LITERALLY YOUR JOB IT IS WHAT YOU ARE SUPPOSED TO BE DOING.
Making sure there's a plot: If the RP hits a bump you need to be the one figuring out how to fix it. It's alright not to know once and a while, but the members of the rp shouldn't be doing it for you most of the time. I personally never get involved members who give off plots like their water. I'm pretty sure most people don't do that. Thats where I actually have to do things with the rp. Now I'm actually a fairly harsh person with anything relating to order so its easy for me. But there are really laid back people who are just like 'I can't think XD” ….... Those are the people whose rps will fail, unless they get really lucky and get really involved members.
Managing the page: Keep it updated like adding people, adding everything that needs to be done. Don't leave it until the cows come home. If you're always on phone, ipad, or anything like that, it can become a problem. You need to find someone else to do everything for you. But if you seriously do that. You need to be handing over 90% of the power to that person along with the page. Even if it was your idea. I've ran quite a few rps uh story time.
This was in 2011 I don't even know this person anymore actually. The original person running the thread got banned, came back, remade the thread, got banned again, and came back a third time, and said 'ok i'm not posting it'. Why? Because they'd get banned again obviously. I co-owned the thread anyway, and she was always on phone, and couldn't add people [ANOTHER HUGE PROBLEM, this rp was huge by the way well over 6000 pages], so I didn't mind posting it. Here's where the stupid part comes in. She still had more power then me thread wise....... If you seriously do this rp wise, the person doing the most work, or who did the most work needs the most power. Why? Because its the right thing to do, and they shouldn't be asking you if they can do something decision wise when you're sitting on a lawn chair eating nachos. And you need to make that bluntly obvious with them.
People, and Characters: You generally need to make more characters if someone feels left out. If you don't they will leave. Its not unheard of what so ever for me to balance four, five rp characters at once because four, five different people are rping with me. If you can't rp four five people at once, somehow drag them into a rp, or take person five, and somehow get the person rping with person five over to rping with person four, and that character as well. You may have to force people to interact with each other, but it works out generally. [Like literally not asking WHO HAS AN OPEN CHARACTER FOR THEM, just somehow force them together. ]
Fights: You literally cannot hang around to the sides if these happen. You can't let people walk all over you either, you need to kick those people out or solve it yourself. Doesn't matter if it's their business, and they don't want you in it it's also your thread. This is hard for non aggressive people I get it, but you really need to be doing this. You need to stop fights, and know when to start them. If someone is godmodding, and powerplaying, or they have something that looks like a sue you need to have the guts to say so. You may possibly lose a member over it, but you saved a few more. Don't go in aggressive, but you need to be prepared to get aggressive. Basically just having guts to start them, and end them.
Note though being really rule oriented, and strict out of character when you're not dealing with the thread plots, and things like that does not go well with people. You need a balance between strict with the thread, and kind in person. Which helps in groups if you can't be everything.
In groups
If you're doing it with people it generally takes the load of you. The thing with group rps though is I seem to find one person does 90% of the work, and other people do nothing. If you did make the rp in groups, and this is happening that person should ideally have more power thread wise than you. Sometimes things are even balanced, but this is actually fairly rare from what I've noticed. It's worse with 'help me make a rp' threads, than doing it with friends. With the friends you have a better control on who does what, but you again run the risk of your friends, or you ignoring joiners for each other.
Fanclans: You should be okay because you can keep it bumped, and people will join because you and your friends rping is doing it well. But you deal with every clan is like the other, and the part of keeping people there, or not because you can't think of things plot wise. Also the fact of the friends ignoring new people.
Rps: Again with the keeping it bumped, you're alright. If you've got a plot with these, and somehow make it bluntly obvious you have a plot people will come. Friends may still ignore new people. If they are passive aggressive push tjem into letting people if you need the members.
Alone
The amount of things on you is generally a huge load. If you're not a disciplined person it can be potentially very difficult to manage it all. You seriously need to be doing everything I listed above. It doesn't matter if you're one person. With doing it alone, it can be manage all this. You have a lot more control on what you can do though, instead of listening to other peoples opinions.
Fanclans: Fanclans are the hardest thing actually because every single one is like the other. I've bumped for three pages straight before, and said forget it because no one joined. They're also the hardest to do anything remotely interesting in. You also don't have the people to keep it bumped for you. It's really hard actually. I'm not to sure how to go about this except luck, a weird idea, and bumping.
Off Topic Roleplay: If you have an idea people cling to it is a lot easier to get people to run for you. You may still have to bump six times, but I find it easier. Now if you have this really complicated idea, that is hard to explain, and is way different it will take you just as long as fanclans.
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Layouts
I'm not one of those people who is like IF I DON'T HAVE BLACK SUBTEXT AND 3000 BANNERS NO ONE WILL JOIN. I do like black subtext, and pink sparkle obnoxious banners. But only when it keeps it organized. You need to draw the line between 'oh do I look like I worked super hard on this, and am super literate', and 'it looks clean and people can see where they're going.” I hate scrolling through most pages with banners. I get why they do it, but it's super hard to navigate through. Do you see how this is laid out? I'm obviously keen on this stuff for organization purposes. If it's organized.
Banners, subtext, and color keep things clean. They're really nice ways of organization. That's what they should be used for. IF IT LOOKS ORGANIZED. Consider what of your page people are actually going to read as well.
Like I'm not going to read that list of herbs, battlemoves, cat gestures, how your leader lost her nine lives, I probably won't read the intro maybe skim through it but you kinda need an intro, the ceremonies like I know those take awhile to write but seriously google it when you need it >C, etc.
Things you should have: Plot, Intro, Members list, Rules, Maybe a description of places give or take because I normally don't read these either it should be maybe a few sentences, anything else that is necessary for the rp you're making.
Just don't add to much stuff you don't need, and no one is going to use.
SIDE RANT:
Don't make the joining form long, because one you have to add that, yet still keep the page organized, and people need to fill that out. Do something that works for you, and isn't to hard to fill out. CODE HERE YELLOW HERE, RED HERE, BLACK HERE BLUE HERE, can really be complicated sometimes. I know people want rpers who know what their doing, but it scares people off. If it inconveniences you, but makes it better for everyone else its working.
ANOTHER SIDE RANT:
Code words are also potentially useless, because I'm either going to skim the rules to find it, or copy it from some chick who already joined. And for the ones who hide letter, or say to delete the code-word from your post for example. 'No spamming [first word is a]' I've literally said the first word is A, but I'm not going on an Easter egg hunt to find the others. As for the second one there is always some person who doesn't erase it.
Also what I'm talking about with the banners:
quote:
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NOT SO LOVLEY RULE LIST HERE.
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A lot of you do this so this is potentially offensive, but no an entire four posts of that is really hard to get through. I know it makes it look like you put thought into it, but I have got to read that. And it isn't going to make me read more its going to make me rage quit, and throw a baby.
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Luck
This section is self explanatory actually... If you're idea catches on like glue, you're lucky. So if you yell about “I DID ALL THIS” you're missing this section really. You do need to be lucky sometimes. But rps aren't all about luck. The first two sections are really main rp things. You need to be doing those, which you may be lacking in I don't know I don't rp with you.
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