Accepted Roleplaying subsection.

Roleplaying Subsection? Y/N


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Fiestaguy

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Originally a PM sent to the headadmins before the overhaul. Info might be outdated/needing to be updated.
I posted it here to allow for discussion of this idea.

Please try not to rip off each others' heads. Thank you.

_____________________________________________________________________________
Okay, two (Now only ONE) disclaimers before I start:
1.) I already feel kind of shit for loading this PM onto you guys while you have probably more important overhaul stuff to do, and under no circumstances do I want to feel like I'm giving a vibe of 'I want this right naow!!!!' So, please, only look into this if you have time left, or need additional ideas very badly. Please, if you have other things to work on, leave this aside for the sake of the overhaul.

2.) This is a plan for the future. At this point in time there is no need for this yet, but with the ideas lingering in the back, it might be a nice idea to look into (Refer to point 1 again: if you have time!) if roleplaying becomes a bigger thing.

Yes, you heard me right, roleplaying. So let's start.

I believe a handful of you have already seen the thread: Guardians of the Elements. The current ongoing roleplay with over 3,6K messages. Currently, it's just a single thread. But it is an unorganised mess that we have little control over. First; look at the thread. No, don't read all 148 pages, just look at the thread with a quick glance. Take the 3,6K messages, and subtract roughly 1,1K that is actual content. What we are left with here, is 2,5K messages that are but OOC banter (Out Of Characters, anything in double-parentheses ((Like this))!), one-liners and quite a fair deal of arguments that are... pointless at best.

So why would this be an incentive for a subforum? Well, currently. Everything we do is limited: We can't moderate/delete posts or merge groups of one-liners into a single post. We can't delete the useless arguments that stock up the thread full of useless OOC, the poll is done wrongly and is unfixable. A bunch of stuff that can improve the quality of it all.

Now first things first: You've seen me drop the word 'Moderation'
I'd like to note that I used the term loosely there. I realise administrative forum staff can edit posts, which would not be a good thing to let a user do. considering it can lead to the user editing posts to spread ill-will to others. With 'Moderation' in this context I mean:
Editing thread titles, deleting posts, move threads, lock them/unlock them if something happens. So here's my first question of the day: Is it possible to change the order posts are displayed in? This would be useful for someone to merge one-liners into one big post and put that post in a chronologically accurate position if other posts have already been made after it. But, I'm getting ahead of myself, as the next point will be a better solution!

Currently, to prevent one-liners, we use IRC to roleplay. Problem? Sometimes rounding up 8 people from America to Australia at the same time, long enough (Averagely 0,5-2 hours) to roleplay something. It's imp- It's nearly impossible. 'Why not use PM's?' Well, you see. PM's have a 6-member limit (Including author) and are a hell to format properly for a multitude of reasons. With a subforum, we have a palce to start a thread, post one-liners there, afterwards, lock the thread, archive it and post the collection of those one-liners into the main thread so it stays clean. This would be easier to organise, cleaner, and if somehow harassment occurs, staff can easily look at it, instead of calling them to IRC/Inviting one of them to the PM if there is space.

Second point: Utility posts. Currently we have one of them, with one additional in the making.
These would be Trap's roleplaying tips thread, the GCN Thermos Text Formatter documentation/download (Which is a tool developed by me to format roleplaying logs into readable formats and give them nice colours.) and in case of this subforum becoming a thing, an information post!

'But Fiesta, we have one highly succesfull, with a nearly 4K postcount roleplay going on. What point would there be in creating a subforum for it?' Here comes the point of 'Not at this point in time.' Currently, this RP is all we have, however. Users CaffeinatedKitty, Faliara and Trap_Wolf all have another roleplay in thought. So after GotE concludes/dies down, we can archive it and start a new one, all in the same subforum.

Now, I believe that is all I have. If this idea for a subforum would be considered, and even implemented. I would be more than happy to moderate it. But, I'm (again) getting ahead of myself by a long shot.

If you have forum resources left after the overhaul, and roleplaying becomes a thing in this community, it might be a nice thing to consider adding. But hey, again: No need for this 'rite naow!!' I just thought of putting this suggestion on the table for you to look at if you have time.

Lastly, I managed to cram all administrators/ASSHATS into this PM, but I enabled the 'Allow others to invite' if you feel the need another person is required in here, since I cannot add more than five.

Thank you for taking your time to read through all this, cheers! o/

~~~~Fiestaguy
 

Hunter

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  • if you're going to have a subforum, why wait for one to die off before starting another?
  • the PM limit can be worked around through the inclusion of HC+ ranks in the conversation
it's a nice idea and would encourage people and all that stuff but where would it go?
forum games? creative corner?
some other place if the forums are reorganized
 

Fiestaguy

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  • if you're going to have a subforum, why wait for one to die off before starting another?
  • the PM limit can be worked around through the inclusion of HC+ ranks in the conversation
it's a nice idea and would encourage people and all that stuff but where would it go?
forum games? creative corner?
some other place if the forums are reorganized
In-order:
Because just like Mafia people don't want to play in 5 games at a time.

But would we really want to invite a HC+ to every bloody PM for every single RP?

Off-topic, just like the original GotE RP?
 

Fiestaguy

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I plan for this to be a subforum, I'd just like to define the difference between a forum game and a roleplaying game.
A forum Game would be something along the lines of "Post a word which starts with the last word's last letter!" or something.

A Roleplay is more like a Collaborative Fiction Project: A ton of people pick a character and write down stuff from that characters' point of view, thus making a giant story together.
 
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Enderfive

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Because just like Mafia people don't want to play in 5 games at a time.
Speak for yourself. I'd welcome the chance gladly, and even though playing in 5 Mafia games at once can become a bit problematic due to everything mixing up due to all Mafia games being similar enough, I'm not entirely sure if that is a problem we'd have with roleplays.

Plus, not everyone would want to join in one roleplay and then they'd have to wait until it finishes (if it ever will) to start a new one.


Anyhow, I feel like if there were more (and different kinds of) roleplays going on or if there were more people doing it (or both), I feel like this would be a wonderful addition. Not only would it allow to moderate roleplays more efficiently, but it would probably make it more organized, more simple to find and probably attract some more people as well (which I, as a roleplayer, would love to happen). As for why wait until there were more roleplays (or at least plans for more roleplays), I don't see why they'd make a separate subforum for just one roleplay, however massive it is.

((Can anyone count the number of times I said "roleplay"?))
 

Timdood3

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Speak for yourself. I'd welcome the chance gladly, and even though playing in 5 Mafia games at once can become a bit problematic due to everything mixing up due to all Mafia games being similar enough, I'm not entirely sure if that is a problem we'd have with roleplays.

Plus, not everyone would want to join in one roleplay and then they'd have to wait until it finishes (if it ever will) to start a new one.


Anyhow, I feel like if there were more (and different kinds of) roleplays going on or if there were more people doing it (or both), I feel like this would be a wonderful addition. Not only would it allow to moderate roleplays more efficiently, but it would probably make it more organized, more simple to find and probably attract some more people as well (which I, as a roleplayer, would love to happen). As for why wait until there were more roleplays (or at least plans for more roleplays), I don't see why they'd make a separate subforum for just one roleplay, however massive it is.

((Can anyone count the number of times I said "roleplay"?))
Nine.
 

Alisha

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I plan for this to be a subforum, I'd just like to define the difference between a forum game and a roleplaying game.
A forum game has a clear goal and/or objective which is defined in the idea for the game. (Count to 100 before a Director+ posts, Mafia, Survivor)

A roleplaying game let's the player become somebody else, and to create a world that can be shared with others. There may be a set goal or a story at first, but the nature of roleplaying allows for more a wider scope. Roleplaying goes beyond concrete goals, allowing for endless possibilities and enjoyment of the created world.

The gray area for the definition comes when the two types of games crossover, most notably with Mafia and Survivor. Those two games generally allow for roleplaying within them to create flavor and to provide an accent to the story setup, but in the end the roleplaying does not overtake the goal of the game.
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Fiestaguy brought up a good point that too many roleplaying games at once may spread everyone thin, so limitations may be useful depending on the playerbase and the desire for different settings. (Ex. submissions for a roleplay, making sure it's well thought out, etc)If there are no limitations, it is much more likely for a roleplay to die off as more options become available.
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Considering the popularity of the roleplaying so far, an admin-run roleplay could be the solution to the PM limits. The admin in charge of it wouldn't even need to play, just adjust PMs as necessary. They could just be a hands-off host.
 

Hunter

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Fiestaguy brought up a good point that too many roleplaying games at once may spread everyone thin, so limitations may be useful depending on the playerbase and the desire for different settings. (Ex. submissions for a roleplay, making sure it's well thought out, etc)If there are no limitations, it is much more likely for a roleplay to die off as more options become available.
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Considering the popularity of the roleplaying so far, an admin-run roleplay could be the solution to the PM limits. The admin in charge of it wouldn't even need to play, just adjust PMs as necessary. They could just be a hands-off host.
>implying one dying off is a bad thing
>implying more options are bad
seriously no, no, no. if a roleplay is shit then either people won't join or it'll go to shit. these things resolve themselves.
unlike mafia, you do not need to worry about "gameplay" being balanced based on the setup.
Well, you kinda do, but it's measured differently.
And it's a bit offensive of you to suggest having admins work as hosts while a good portion of the roleplayers are mafia hosts.
Mafia hosts who don't have the perms you have been granted- specifically, the lack of PM invite limitations.
 

Timdood3

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>implying one dying off is a bad thing
>implying more options are bad
seriously no, no, no. if a roleplay is shit then either people won't join or it'll go to shit. these things resolve themselves.
unlike mafia, you do not need to worry about "gameplay" being balanced based on the setup.
Well, you kinda do, but it's measured differently.
And it's a bit offensive of you to suggest having admins work as hosts while a good portion of the roleplayers are mafia hosts.
Mafia hosts who don't have the perms you have been granted- specifically, the lack of PM invite limitations.
Oh give it a rest.
Sure, we'd all love to see us get those perms, but going around whining about it won't help. If you're this adamant, take it up with GmK in a pm.

/end off topic rant
 
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Alisha

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Not this behavior again.

The only person implying more options are bad is you, Hunter. I'm thinking of situations and I know it's not my place to 'decide' what is going on. Assuming the worst of my actions is downright rude and needlessly aggressive. And I don't care for your accusations about the Mafia Host PM permissions either.

I specifically sought out the wording Admin for that, because I do not want to get involved in roleplaying. I think roleplaying can be fun, but I'm content with dealing with Mafia-related things. The first post I make in quite awhile that is not mafia-related, you assume I have an agenda. I did not bring up any PM mechanics that I would have, you did.

This is a suggestion topic, so I thought it would be an appropiate place to give my thoughts on the roleplaying idea.

Seriously, stop assuming the worst in everyone. I do not want this to go any further. If it does, it is on you.
 

Hunter

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please apply that last sentence to yourself
apologies- haven't got much sleep and wordings aren't perfect
what i had meant to get across was that some people already needing the perms for hosting other things could sort out the pm stuffs
tbh for the thing i mentioned somewhere else about setting up an rp, one of the directors had to help out with that, but it's not optimal to rely on a certain staff member to be online to add people when they could be going about their duties

wasn't requesting you personally to help out- just some people such as tim, caff, jivvi, and myself are involved in both hosting and roleplaying, so if the mafia host perms were equalized it'd provide an indirect solution to that problem

as for the limited number of active roleplays, i don't think enforcing a limit would be a good idea.

sorry for the rudeness D:
 

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This place could indeed use some organisation system as it will make it more easy for Us to be around and actually post in the right places.:)

Therefore, the forum section with role plays should be like categorised such as :
1 role plays category : Ex - horror section, fantasy section, realistic section.
2 These categories to be with other sub forums like example : OOC AND IC threads separate.
It would make sense and keep things nice and tidy and clear. ^^

This is my personal opinion. <3
 

Fiestaguy

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This place could indeed use some organisation system as it will make it more easy for Us to be around and actually post in the right places.:)

Therefore, the forum section with role plays should be like categorised such as :
1 role plays category : Ex - horror section, fantasy section, realistic section.
2 These categories to be with other sub forums like example : OOC AND IC threads separate.
It would make sense and keep things nice and tidy and clear. ^^

This is my personal opinion. <3
I thought the structure to be like this:
Stickied threads:
"Welcome to the RP Forum!"
"Roleplaying tips 'n tricks"
"Thermos Text Formatter"

People can request to start/queue a roleplay by PMing the subforum staff about it. Any threads created without permission are removed.

Discussion threads are included labelled "Rpname [Discussion]". Mods can delete and archive discussions that take up too much space.

OOC Is allowed in RP threads, but not giant, long-winded walls of OOC.

The person who created the RP gets full copyright on the roleplay. This means people are not allowed to create spin-offs without the original game-master's permission. Any unauthorized spinoffs are smitten immediately.
 
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PureKor

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I thought the structure to be like this:
Stickied threads:
"Welcome to the RP Forum!"
"Roleplaying tips 'n tricks"
"Thermos Text Formatter"

People can request to start/queue a roleplay by PMing the subforum staff about it. Any threads created without permission are removed.

Discussion threads are included labelled "Rpname [Discussion]". Mods can delete and archive discussions that take up too much space.

OOC Is allowed in RP threads, but not giant, long-winded walls of OOC.

The person who created the RP gets full copyright on the roleplay. This means people are not allowed to create spin-offs without the original game-master's permission. Any unauthorized spinoffs are smitten immediately.
Hmm.. I still think my idea is much more simpler.
And for example on many forums which I've been part of, we don't mix OOC within the IC threads xD. lol

But hey I am not a Mod or Admin, simply I just say an suggestion for this to make this much better for us the role players.:3
 

Fiestaguy

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Hmm.. I still think my idea is much more simpler.
And for example on many forums which I've been part of, we don't mix OOC within the IC threads xD. lol

But hey I am not a Mod or Admin, simply I just say an suggestion for this to make this much better for us the role players.:3
My idea was basically yours but a bit more expanded.

As for OOC, I meant one or two lines per post wouldn't be too terrible.
 
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PureKor

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My idea was basically yours but a bit more expanded.

As for OOC, I meant one or two lines per post wouldn't be too terrible.
Yeah xD. My bad , I read your post quickly as I am working right now lol

Ah well it's still weird in that way.. But I suppose I got to compromise sometimes huh ?;))

I hope this sub forum sections will be available to us soon xD
 

Alisha

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Thank you, Hunter.

I would like to clarify one thing since after rereading it might be a little unclear:

What I meant by 'hands-off-host' was an attempt to explain how I imagined the idea would go: Anyone could start the thread, and ask an admin to watch it and fulfill PM requests. For example, any PMs created relating to a roleplay include the admin so the admin can add more people as needed. The admin doesn't have to be involved at all beyond that. That way, you've got only a single person and it minimizes confusion as much as possible. (If that's been already done, sorry, I don't read the roleplay thread)

Of course that opens up a debate about PM limitations, but that's something for another thread I imagine. I think I'll suggest that myself, actually.

The reason I came up with that idea, was I did essentially the same thing in early seasons of Mafia by asking a few buddies throughout the games with permissions to help out and fill in the gaps I was unable to do within the forum constraints. That's where the idea came from, based on my own experiences.

This is a suggestion subforum, so I figured I was allowed to offer suggestions. It might not be a good suggestion, but it's the thought that counts!
 
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