Warrior Cats: The Four Clans

Ebonycloud · WindClan Deputy

RE: The Official Suggestions Thread

Goldheart · ThunderClan Warrior

He turned and looked at her, "What's wrong with it?" He was mad she didn't like his shirt.

I just have to say : Best. Line. EVER.

xD Made me giggle.

Wyvernclaw · WindClan Warrior

Ebonycloud wrote:
I agree with you on keeping the RPs open longer. Seeing as this site is less active than it used to be.

The only thing that I get a little fuzzy on is the three line posts and the week of the users being inactive. This only from my experience with certain RPs. When an RP is really going and you've got a few people, if not most of them really enjoying the RP and posting a whole lot, if someone's absent for a week they get lost and its hard to keep them included.

As for the three lines, it can seem a little harsh but that's just cause I love long posts personally. I understand where you're coming from though. Might be better to lax the rule on this, but then we get post like:

He turned and looked at her, "What's wrong with it?" He was ad she didn't like his shirt.

Just gotta be careful with the lines rule ^^" Whatever's best for everyone though! Good suggestion!

Mmm not quite. Really, the "lost after a week" thing isn't as big of a deal as people make it out to be -- and, frankly, it all depends on just how the RPG plays out. In an RPG like my Pokmon one, for example, where there are a bunch of different groups of people doing a bunch of different things, the onl;y thing you really need to keep track of is your group's activities and the main plot -- unless overlapping occurs with other groups, in which case there are some more posts that you need to keep track of. But really, and I can speak from experience, it's not that hard to do.

In other RPGs, where there is one set plotline that everyone has to follow... Well, yeah, you have a bit of a point there -- to an extent. However, a failure to stay updated on the story is going to reflect on the other, active players just as much as it is on the inactive one. As players in a cooperative game -- and especially as the person who runs the RPG -- it's part of your job to fill in others if they ask for a recap, and usually once that's done -- assuming it's done well -- people can jump back in with virtually no trouble. =)

EDIT: Here's the other thing. If it gets to a point where people are starting to disappear and the RPG drops for a while, then there are no new posts in the RPG, correct? With no activity in the thread, the people who have been inactive longer can read what they missed and then begin posting again -- which could, at that point, help to get the RPG moving again. This could repeat multiple times until the RPG finally and officially dies.

In essence, again, the need for people to constantly be posting right now is part of what keeps people from being able to catch up. Because people have to psot so often, there is absolutely no time for a break to occur in which people who have fallen behind can just sit back and read what they've missed without their pile of work constantly being added onto. And factoring in the time that they might need to process everything and come up with a fitting post -- again, one week, and even two weeks, simply is not enough time for people to get an RPG moving again.

As for the three lines -- I can understand that; frankly, I tend to avoid writing short posts whenever I can. However, there are occasions -- more frequent than people think, and I believe that this very thing has contributed to a number of RPGs being closed early -- where someone asks your character a simple question, and the answer is not something that you would ever need three lines to write out. What happens, in that case, when all you need is write is, "Yes," but because of the three lines rule, you can't do that? You have to start describing scenary or your character's thoughts or whatever else comes to mind -- which, a lot of the times, seems extremely random and acts as nothing more than fluff that doesn't need to be there.

Basically, there are cases where the rule is forcing people to write way more than they actually need to write. It's the same thing as forcing creativity -- you can't make yourself write a story or a book, or draw something; it's something that has to come naturally to you. If you're being forced to do it, then the finished product is going to be not as good as it have been otherwise.

For a more specific wording -- more is not always better. =)

Which reminds me of yet another issue that I've brought up before: Player limits. While I can understand that some people can only handle so many players at once, I find it odd -- as I always have -- that a player limit is actually required. On top of my (ridiculously big at this point XP) list of suggestions, I think that the player limits need to be made optional, for the creator of the RPG to determine for themself. I, for one, can and commonly do handle over 20 people at once, in multiple RPGs; less than that and the RPG might as well be dead, especially in a fairly inactive forum like this one.

Not to come off as a pain or anything with all of these suggestions, but admittedly it's something I've been thinking about for a while. TBH, I think the RPG forum rules in general simply need to be rewritten and updated; at the moment they're based off of assumptions that were made when we were giving the forum a test run, and a lot of those, by now, are simply wrong.

-- Edited by Wyvernclaw on Friday 30th of December 2011 11:51:54 PM

-- Edited by Wyvernclaw on Friday 30th of December 2011 11:52:49 PM

Woodfall · ThunderClan Warrior

You know I kind of think that when we might take a vote for it. To tell you the truth I haven't been here in a time when there were votes that were basicly not decided yet and I kind of want to. It might be fun if we take a vote such as "We can have less then three lines a post" VS "NO! We must have three lines!" or the other topic: "We should be allowed to have the rp go on forever until its done." VS "We should go on the way we are. Ten days of inactivitiy your out." Something like that.

Wyvernclaw · WindClan Warrior

That might work. The only problem with polls is that, with a finite amount of options, you can't make a lot of compromises on things.

I do think that the members' opinions should be taken into account, though, especially if the RPG forums rules get a total rewrite. Heck, I'd be more than willing to set up a thread asking for opinions on certain things and rewriting the rules myself if the mods don't want to. =)

Ebonycloud · WindClan Deputy

The sucky thing about the mods is that there are hardly enough of us around to pass the buck off on to another XD So if you really want to set that up Wyvernclaw, I don't see why not. Pretty much just me and Resta these days. Plus you were a mod long before us and I wouldn't mind at all if you did that :D

Florestadream · RiverClan Warrior

I completely agree with you, Wyvern, however there should be an end to roleplays if there isn't a post for a month - nothing is getting done and something has happened to cause a loss of interest or the need to close it. I agree with you on kicking people out, as well, however, not much will be done if someone disappears for a while then suddenly comes back and there's no possible way to slip them back in. As for keeping people updated, I believe that is up to the Roleplayer if it is only 1-3 pages. Anymore and the person who runs the roleplay should help.

As for the three-lines rule... Heh, well I honestly don't mind them, though I agree completely about there being certain cases where you can't post three lines. I think going back to two lines is a safer bet - but allowing any less could be a little hazardous in my opinion. Don't get me wrong, I get moments where I agree with this and wish there wasn't a three line rule. However, I stand by my point that there should be a minimum of two instead of three. Two isn't that hard to accomplish and I feel that three is stretching it a little bit. If I remember correctly the minimum was formerly two but moved to three.

And yes. Please help us. ;A;

-- Edited by Florestadream on Sunday 1st of January 2012 08:59:47 PM

Wyvernclaw · WindClan Warrior

XP Alrighty; I'll send a PM to Moonstar really quick and see if she minds at all. After that I have some stuff to get done before I can actually jump on this, but I should have a topic up soon. ^_^

To reply to your paragraphs, Floresta, just for necessity's sake:
1. Oh, I know; a month without posts is as clear as you can get that an RPG isn't going to go anywhere anymore without going to ridiculous dates. My point is just that a week or even 11 days isn't enough time for an RPG to become active again; the best frame of time would be two four weeks before closing it, in my opinion.

On not being able to bring some people back in: There's a note that people have brought up that -- not to be mean -- I don't agree with at all. You can always bring a person up to speed enough for them to jump back in; the trick is to give them only the most important information from what has happened since they disappeared instead of telling them absolutely everything. Knowing what has happened in every single post isn't a necessity. Again, it all depends on how much they missed and how willing people are to help keep them up to date.

I do agree, though, that it varies depending on how many pages they've actually missed or how long they've been gone. I tend to only give really detailed recaps if the person in question has missed around ten or so pages; any less than that and they can catch up by themselves. :P

2. The way I see it, the three-lines rule is extremely dependent on the content of the post itself. If the post contributes to the story and is not simply spam, then it should be fine, regardless of whether or not it's three or two lines long; once again, there are a number of instances where you simply don't need that long of a post. If the post is, spam, though, and especially if it's short spam that absolutely doesn't contribute anything, then yeah, go ahead and delete it.

However, requiring a certain number of lines doesn't really do anything to stop people from spamming, and frankly, in the last few RPGs that I've been in on here, requiring so much description has actually made the RPG even more cluttered and awkward than it needed to be -- and in some cases encouraged spam, because people were forced to add some really unneeded stuff just to meet the criteria of the forum.

So, eh. I don't know. Again, I think this is one of those things that really just comes down to the Game Master of the RPG. As the GM you have full authority over the story and the game; if someone keeps on posting without contributing anything, then you have every right to remove them from the game or to tell them to knock it off. Besides, if someone is spamming, it's not like they're following the rules in any case -- all the required # of lines rule does is make extra work for the people who do want to follow the rules. ;3

Florestadream · RiverClan Warrior

I suppose the users not catching up is a topic that has different opinions. On one hand I do agree that people can be updated. However, there comes a point where you have to kick them out. I'm not saying that to start a debate. I'm also not stating what that point it. I completely agree with you on that, but I think that's up to the person running the roleplay to keep in touch and update the person and such.

As for how long it should take for a roleplay to be closed, I'd say it's between two or three weeks that you should be able to close a roleplay unless the creator asks for it to be closed. I feel that a fourth week is a bit too much.

I absolutely agree with your points on three lines. Requiring an amount of lines, however, does stop the posts that say:

"Yes," she said, "and what about you?"

Like you mentioned. ^^'

I hope my reply didn't both you. C: I just felt that I didn't clarify some of my points (and many of them still aren't clarified but I've never been the best at saying or explaining things clearly).

Dragonstar · ShadowClan Leader

One of the many reasons I love this site: the fact that we can hold polite "semi-debate" topic like this and not have it explode and ruin the fun atmosphere we have. +D

As for what is being proposed, I agree with Resta that a month does seem a bit long. I am leaning towards the limit being 3 weeks. Though we could have this rule be dependent on how many RPs are running at once. Currently we only have three RPs. There have been times, way long ago, when we had roughly 7 RPs up at once. Maybe if we cut the closing deadline down to 3 weeks if we had that many and keep it at 4 weeks if there's, lets say, 4 RPs. I'm not sure if we actually have a maximum number of RPs that can be running at the same time, but in the past, when I was creating my own RPs, I have waited to release them if there are more than 5 RPs. I felt having too many RPs would kill the ones that have been rolling for awhile or not allow the newer RPs to get any traffic.
I have to be honest here and say I'm not too keen on my own suggestion. XD But I figured I should throw it out there in case you guys did like it.

As for people needing catch up, I don't think we've ever had an RP that has a plot just as strict as Lost. And by strict I mean, you miss a single post and you've just lost the entire plot. For most television shows, it is safe for a person to miss one or two episodes, catch the recap or get one from a friend, and continue watching the show with no problems. We can't forget that most shows are available online or ondemand, or that you could record them. RPs are similar. Now you can't record an RP, but you can go back and reread past posts. I do this all the time when writing my own posts. Now this may be a pain, but unless you somehow missed 6+ pages, it shouldn't take you more than 10-15 minutes to find and read those posts. If you really don't feel like reading them, the other members can easily give the important details. I personally like reading the posts myself, but that's just me.