Post by Nightbow on Dec 9, 2012 16:52:13 GMT -5
Nightbow, I see and hear your plight... A few suggestions to you.... narrow the boards down, too many boards are very confusing to new players.
I do see what you mean. To players unused to post-by-post RPG, it can be a little confusing. But I need say I joined a forum not too different from this in 2005, and I did okay. And it had even more boards than this one.
I am always here to point new members in the right direction, and there haven’t been any problems yet.
Secondly, place keywords on the board that you want search engines to index you under. This will make your board more search friendly and dear please submit your board to at least Google once a month for indexing.
I’m not up for cluttering the board with unnecessary text. And I am honestly not familiar with any keyword sections on the forum.
Also, I don’t know how to index a forum with Google. I guess it could be useful – but I do look for players in places where people might actually show interest in a MLP RPG.
As far as getting stuff going, please learn from other boards. First of all, be flexible to others in your story.
I’m starting to dislike the tone in your post from here on.
I have been involved in more RPG’s than I can count. So what exactly is it that I need to learn from other boards?
I do let other people in on the story and its direction. Why, it is the sole purpose of this thread. But the point is, there is a plot going already. It doesn’t mean that you can’t make your own sub-plots for your characters, but it means that those have to exist within the main plot.
Anything else would mean chaos.
The main plot exists to inspire. Sure, you can have a story of your own going at the same time, but I have seen RPG forums lacking of a main plot where certain players only stick to themselves, because they make up their own stories. This gets extremely boring and close-minded in the long run.
On Eventide, every character is affected by the conflict between the princesses and the returned queen. And this conflict weaves all character’s fates together.
Do not BASH, CREMATE, or in any way slander a character even if they are non-mlp( glares at Becka).
This is a My Little Pony RPG site. The rules clearly states what characters are allowed, and within reason.
I have no idea what you’re talking about here, seeing as I haven’t seen any character of yours.
But I can see there’s a problem in how you take the enforcing of the board rules.
If a creative mind comes in with ideas to liven the story let them trail run and introduce the element in. The moment rookie or veteran players see that you are running "Hilter" rules you'll find a sharp decline in creativity, posting, and you will end up with a ghost town.
Woah. Cool it.
I would not decline an interesting plot point if it was suggested to us, preferably in the Questions and suggestions board. At least not as long as it is compatible with the game realm and its characters.
I don’t see why you’d hint at an obvious resentment towards the staff’s attitude and decisions when I haven’t even heard of such a suggestion anywhere. ‘Cause I have never stated anything but the fact that you are always welcome to ask me anything.
That said, you can’t just jump onto an RPG forum and post a character that hardly corresponds with the site’s theme, and expect staff that don’t even know you to throw their hands down and apply your story, even if it doesn’t fit.
And it is not about being close minded. It is about maintaining a game that is enjoyable for previously joined players. It doesn’t feel right to change the rules to the game and the course of the main story just because someone new dropped in.
I’d suggest you start by reading the backstory of Eventide, and then try to find a way to implement your own character’s story within the Eventide, without disregarding the pointers that are laid out. And if there is a problem that you need help getting around, we can help you. But you still can’t expect us to throw everything aside for you sake.
And if you find that you can’t write a character that belongs in the RPG you are joining, why bother?
I mean there are a few guidelines when creating a character here, and I don’t think they should be hard to follow. You do have the freedom to make an interesting character that still fits with the theme.
Bottom line, there are rules, themes and guidelines to every RPG. And it is not to limit. It is to inspire.
Many role plays , the more successful ones are in a rate R catagory. Castle Beware being one of the most successful not only in role play but in cash in take is the finer rps. But that one also has pay for accounts for private room creation, custom text/fonts, etc... You would need a programmer for that or you learning to build and stand up a web forum as such. These boards are usurally slow moving and as inherited issue the latency bores the playship. Maybe getting into a habit of having times for folks to be on and a chat room might spice it up. Green Dragon's Inn the last time I saw had many in their room settings, IRC chats are still popular.
This is post-by-post RPG. If I wanted to roleplay by chat, I would probably have stuck to the feral dreams of Furcadia.
I’m not sure what you are getting at here. I have opened a post-by-post RPG because it is the RPG medium of my choice, seeing as I live in GMT +1 and have problems roleplaying in real-time.
I’m not set out to make Eventide anything but a post-by-post.
I’m not even set out to make Eventide popular. I just want to gather a gang of people who love to write, have fun with it, and maybe make some new friends.
Allowing everyone to be involved in the story plot and to have say in what is going to be in the flow of the story will promote the longevity of this game. In my experiences, those who have control freak dominion are unlikely to be around for long.
I think you are being very unfair, for no “dominion” is going on here.
I had the idea for a plot worked out before I set up this board, and when I discovered that Becka missed roleplaying as much as I did, we went for it and set the thing up together.
The story is not thoroughly thought out, so there are many plot points and adventures yet to be discussed, written, and experienced together.
Still, I’d like to point out, an RP board without a plot to drive it seldom live long.
I have been in a game that planned too far ahead, too. The most popular players made up schemes all the time, not giving the new and lesser experienced members any chance to join in on the interesting happenings in the game.
In the end nobody won. The “lesser” members got tired of trying to get in-game attention, and the popular players grew weary of having everything set out for them, rushing from one plot point to the other, always killing of new characters in order to try and find interesting twists. It grew old very fast, there was much repetition, and the game lacked the element of surprise. And a game master to steer it (steer it, mind you, just enough to maintain a good game for everyone. Not having “control freak dominion”).
In my opinion a RP game needs a devoted and open game master, as well as invested and intuitive players. Then there is the element of surprise and freshness.
An RPG can’t work properly if one of these three elements are missing.
Examples of what I mean:
Your idea is fairly decent but I'll point out another potential issue, Becka is by far one of the most closed minded (if you aren't a multi-colored pony you weren't welcome though the Ponyland realm had many other races and ways of thing in the original), most hateful (had issues with every aspect of my character), and is by far one of the worst RP Admins on the web in the past. Controlling, dominating, and right out stiff as a bar of steel people should NOT be in role play leadership roles.
Your idea is fairly decent but I'll point out another potential issue, Becka is by far one of the most closed minded (if you aren't a multi-colored pony you weren't welcome though the Ponyland realm had many other races and ways of thing in the original), most hateful (had issues with every aspect of my character), and is by far one of the worst RP Admins on the web in the past. Controlling, dominating, and right out stiff as a bar of steel people should NOT be in role play leadership roles.
I’ve had a fairly rough time recently. Both trying to get this game started, and dealing with real-life issues I don’t feel like bringing up here, but I mention them so that you may understand that I came on here today feeling happy, and looking forward to reading RP posts and managing the board, for everyone’s amusement. Not having to deal with unnecessary drama.
You see, thus far into your post I haven’t had any issues with Eventide, or with you. But I can’t have some random person (dude, I never spoke to you before. Way to introduce yourself.) coming on here and throwing crap at Becka.
I have full confidence in Becka doing a good job. She was the administrator of the first RP board I ever joined, fair and polite. She is my co-administrator and her words are neither below nor above mine on this board. So if you have an issue with Becka, don’t bitch to me about it.
As far as I have gathered, you wrote this thread because you posted a character in the joining board, and Becka did not like it. Thus, without trying to sound mean, I am fairly certain that I wouldn’t have liked it either.
I’m also positive Becka did what she could to point out why your character couldn’t be approved. And enforcing rules and pointing out problems does not make you hateful.
Stormrunner was a better admin when I use to post on her stuff. Life got busy on me and had to give it up though my characters were heard, allowed to exist, gave my element to the story. Had fun when I could get into the realm. That is the key, having fun.
Nobody is set out to be a stick in the mud here. But in order for everyone to have fun, basic rules must be applied. Because that is why we’re all here – to “get into the realm”.
So I would consider a more active and open minded person to admin with.
That is not for you to decide.
Now if you wish to know a little about how I role play:
I usually play "planewalkers"/dimenional travelers so they existed outside of the realm yet they came into the world and may just be passing through or just seeking what is unknown, that way my rp isn't neck deep in shit (having to follow so deeply in lore and can learn at my pace) nor am I getting beaten to near death with as powerless character (earth pony equal that for me, I am more a mind mage style role player not physical beat down). I can basicly walk the streets and get involved as little and as much as needed yet not having to have a complete knowledge of the lore in the beginning.
Shit my character may just let your bleed to death and not even bother to spit on the corpse or maybe save yours just off a whim. That the thing, my character is my own element interacting with the rest of the elements.
I usually play "planewalkers"/dimenional travelers so they existed outside of the realm yet they came into the world and may just be passing through or just seeking what is unknown, that way my rp isn't neck deep in shit (having to follow so deeply in lore and can learn at my pace) nor am I getting beaten to near death with as powerless character (earth pony equal that for me, I am more a mind mage style role player not physical beat down). I can basicly walk the streets and get involved as little and as much as needed yet not having to have a complete knowledge of the lore in the beginning.
Shit my character may just let your bleed to death and not even bother to spit on the corpse or maybe save yours just off a whim. That the thing, my character is my own element interacting with the rest of the elements.
That made little sense to me.
To be perfectly blunt, it sounds like you are too lazy to get into the story and background of the realm, so you basically made a character that fits into any of them. A self-insert that you can throw onto any chatboard, ready to go.
I’m sorry but that is not how I, or any of my fellow players, have ever confronted an RPG. And that is not how we play on Eventide.
You actually have to get invested. You have to have a solid character (depending on skill level, for I am certainly not unreasonable here) and you have to know at least a little about the world. For even if you Out Of Character are unfamiliar with the world, your character shouldn’t be. Your character belongs to the world in one way or another, and if you don’t even bother getting into the backstory of the world, why bother playing as someone who inhabits it?
It makes no sense for a character to randomly pop into another world without an explanation. Even on Eventide we have character pop in (those that came from the Rift), but they still belong to that universe. They are canon, functioning characters.
What if everyone used “I’m a planewalker” as an excuse to put their character into any RPG? Even if questions such as “which realm is your home realm?” goes unanswered IC, you do have to know the answer OOC. An author doesn’t make up a character on the spot as he goes along; he has a base to stem his story form. For whom your character is depends on where he comes from, and is crucial every time a choice is made. Every time you interact. Every time you perform an action. Every time you react to something.
That is what role play is about, and having fun while in it. Not forcing one into a 'cookie cutter' role. I do not do well with forced roles because it is not my character unless I play it my way, same goes for everyone else in my honest opinion. Do not except everyone to play like everyone else. The best role players are those who can create the centergy of all the elements, even randomly introduced elements, even new unknown characters.
Not every character goes into every story.
So here is our problem.
You march onto our board trying to tell us how to run the game, because you don’t agree with our standards on characters.
I get irked with you, since you seemed to have failed to grasp what genre of RPG we are playing. And in case you missed it (since it is posted all over), here it is again:
Eventide is a post-by-post RPG. It is set in the canon My Little Pony realm of Equestria, and its backstory is loosely based on the previous My Little Pony shows.
The admins are life-long MLP fans who value believable character as well as the wishes of our players.
I have personally let in characters that at first walked a fine line between what was allowed on the site and not. When I ask people what they where thinking when they decided on the character’s characteristics, abilities and back stories I did not necessarily mean that they were unwelcome, but showing that I has willing to meet half-way. And I personally think it has worked out.
The idea of Eventide is to make a story. Together. To build a character. There is a loose plan, and there are directions for how the characters should work in the world. Your character may have a backstory, and you may have ideas of where you eventually want him/her to end up, but the charm is in the journey to get there.
I’ve seen how ridiculous any fandom can become and believe me – no RPG would let in character that doesn’t fit in their world. How are other players even going to be able to co-exist with them?
For me (or Becka) to let you play a “planewalker” on Eventide would make about as much sense as turning Eventide into a crossover-game with characters from Disney’s The Lion King.
If you played D&D, as a game master, would you allow characters from Warhammer in?
If you have issues with what Eventide stands for, and you are certain they can’t be worked out to both parties’ satisfaction, I think you need to re-think joining.
Heck, there already are Rift ponies, and the game crossovers with four different generations of My Little Pony. I’d say there’s plenty of room to get creative in making a character.
I think goals and rewards are a plus but your admin must be able to "Dungeon Master" the game. If you do not have the basic concepts of Dungeon and Dragons DM'ing in your resume then you might want to look into a book called "Dungeon and Dragons for dummies" , it got a chapter or two that gives great information in this subject. Playing NPC plus, but admins playing PC (playable chatacters) is a real hassle to the non-admins unless the admin shows a major understanding of keeping the game alive and not being unreasonable. I would suggest a mandatory understanding of dungeon master rules of some sort of the admins.
We are not playing Dungeons and Dragons here. It is not a tabletop RPG. It is not a chatroom RPG. It is not a computer game.
I am very open minded, but I have been a member of three big post-by-post RPG sites, all of which have lived for several years with invested and friendly players. There have never been any concerns with the way we played.
There is structure. There is understanding. There is working together and playing together.
I hope this post gives you a bit more help on this story.
Frankly I don’t see how anything you wrote would contribute to the story. You have not, in a single word, discussed the story. I don’t even think you know the story of Eventide, for there is plenty of setup information to form an image of it.
You’re acting all professional and nice so that I will feel bad if I snap at you. But I have a feeling that Becka and I have post-by-posted long before you and even so, we don’t patronize you.
I understand you want to disguise this post as a helpful and friendly series of suggestion, but in reality all I hear is whining. To me it feels like you didn’t get it your way, so you wrote this lengthy complaint to me. I don’t know what you want to accomplish since you don’t seem interested in playing with us.
There are not a single constructive criticism in your entire post – that is, after your suggestion to index the board on Google. After that it’s all “like my character for what it is”, “you guys run this game like Nazis”, and “I don’t like Becka”.
All I have to say is really: I won’t, I don’t, and though luck.
This is a small community of people just getting to know each other and setting up a game together. And if the theme, layout, and staff don’t float your boat, then with all due respect there are plenty of games out there for you to engage in.
I honestly have no interest in fighting you. I can do without fights.
As I see it, you’re welcome on board to play a character that corresponds with our Eventide canon world. Else; thanks, but no thanks. We don’t need correspondence from a person who is not going to play the game, let alone read the friggn’ ‘Mane board’ threads.
Tl;dr - I’m not looking to pick a fight. I would lie if I said that you haven’t aggravated me.
I trust in Becka’s judgement, and I don’t tolerate your behaviour around the boards.
The atmosphere around here has been nice enough, until you started to throw accusations.
Every character does not fit into every RPG, simple as that.
You are welcome to apply with a character that belongs in our canon.
If you have a problem with that you do not need to feel obliged to stick around.