Post by Darko on Apr 22, 2014 13:31:43 GMT
This discussion originally started in a different thread but it warrants its own thread I believe.
The posts which kicked this discussion off again:
We need to increase the amount of people here and we also need to make sure that they continue to come to this site for games. I know I'm working on a game right now and I expect to release it around summer when schools get out and people have more free time. We always see a boost in performance during long holidays so I can expect it to at least get 5 or so pages.
In the mean time we should focus on garnering a larger player base and to do so I think we should start games outside of the forum and go back to where we all met in the first place, Dakkadakka. It's less freedom for our writing as we have to make sure it stays pg13, but it gives us a chance to start RPs in a wider pool of users. DakkaDakka hasn't seen a really good RP since Blood Moon and Darko's Russian Invasion/ Zombie RP so it could potentially do a service to both DakkaDakka and this forum.
I suggest that we all go to Dakka and start a game, let's plan it all together to make sure it's something we would all enjoy at least a little bit and then post it on Dakka. The decided GM will lead the game and then we wait for people to say "hey that looks neat" and let them join in. If we like them and they like it then we point them in the direction of this forum saying "Hey we have a dedicated RP forum that we're working on and would like you to check it out.".
Benefits:
1) We get a good RP in.
2) Increased reputation of Darkstorm Roleplaying.
3) Potential increase in player base.
4) Camaraderie building for current Darkstorm Players.
Negatives:
1) Won't be on Darkstorm Roleplaying
2) Restriction in topics and writing styles.
3) Could attract pick up and leave players who only act as a temporary booster.
I am still alive, I saw this post and I agree with Halo a 99%. As one part I would disagree, for some odd reason during a break we had such as winter break or during the new year, we barely had any activity compared to a few days before that, though that may be because everyone has a life but me.
But anyway, yes we need to work on something to garner more peeps. I talked to one of the lurkers of this forum, and she said she just likes reading our RPs and stories that we write. But that is the extent of who joins our little website. I mean there are other websites such as Hiveworkshop, Diplominunion, Extra Credits (great forum lots of respectful people who work in the gaming industry), but the only place I say we avoid avidly if we want more people are places like Bolter and Chainsword, who are quite a rude crowd. (From my experience, they called my lore half assed, and didn't offer any criticism, even when i prodded with an exacting knife.)
But yeah, I could try and get a friend to join, but I don't know how she feels rping on the internet.
For now I would suggest Dakka only because it's the one site I believe most of us are already used to. We know how the mods work and how the population can be. I think Dogma still rules on the Off Topic Forum as the resident "Knows everything about nothing because I'm a spoiled rich kid who was afforded everything" a.k.a "Punk Theorist".
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This is what I did a fair few times in the past and it worked out quite well, a good portion of our userbase (5-10 or maybe more) came from me going over and joining games that were running there.
I kept checking back since that endeavour but to be quite honest, the talent pool dried up so to speak. I haven't checked for some time now, granted, but last time I did there didn't really appear to be any dedicated roleplays with writers on it who really seemed to get into it. But it is worth a try, I'm sure. There'll need to be a bit of talent scouting so to speak. Also, we can't all do a game over there as the game would end up too big.
Generally one or two people getting involved in games or starting one together, ensuring it's fun and finding out who'd fit in well here (ie we don't particularly want troublemakers and the like) and figuring out who enjoys writing the most (as that is more important than flat out quality of writing from the get-go, this site has many users who could barely write a few paragraphs at a time when they first started here).
Back to the general lack of activity, it boils down to two things.
Firstly, real life of course. Many people have simply reached a point in their lives (for most, 16-25 years of age doing higher education or trying to hold down a stable job etc) which is of course a very difficult time. Plus the aforementioned exam period.
The other thing is something most people here are aware of - the skype group. Many of us talk every day there and it has been for the last year or more, undoubtedly the biggest drain on site activity. We'd have dozens, if not hundreds of threads more if we discussed even half the things on here that we do in the group. Of course, we've tried getting rid of it before or simply restricting our use of it to non-RP topics but somehow it never quite works as it's just too convenient unfortunately.
It has let many of us get to know each other better and in some cases become good friends which is fantastic, but it doesn't help the site.
There is of course the fact that many regulars (including myself) who, despite prior commitments, I do know have the time to post on here more. The problem is a lack of motivation or interest in what's going on, even with games that have been run. In fact we've yet to finish a game on Darkstorm 2.0 which is quite an issue in and of itself.
So, while we are thinking about introducing new people to the community, we also need to look around us and start bringing a bit of life back to it ourselves. After all, most of the 'regulars' have been here for at least one or two years, some since the very first few days of the site.
Recapturing that excitement - that feeling many of us got on the old site - where logging on and looking at all the new posts or games and just interacting with each other was something that many of us could actually look forward to at the end of the day. Maybe I'm a bit biased, but there really was something special about the old site.
Now, regardless of set backs and lulls of activity I have always and continue to truly believe this site will regain its former glory, so to speak. What we've created together is too important and too great to be irrevocably destroyed even by losing the old site.
Come summer proper in a month or three we will undoubtedly see much more activity, in fact I really do intend to sort out the houses by that point seeing as it is the shiny new gimmick designed to keep everyone interested and busy as well as be an excellent way for new users to get involved and not feel alienated by our relatively tight-knit group.
To the main point of course - the best thing each and every one of us who logs on regularly is to simply join a game and ensure we post in it. Indeed a variety of games is needed as I feel the fact that we've mostly had sci fi games on offer so far on 2.0 has probably turned everyone off it a bit simply due to that lack of variety.
On a slightly different note I'm tempted to actually bring the roleplay sub-boards onto the front page. No, it's not very neat (and boy am I fond of it being neat) but having everything hidden away actually makes people less likely to look at these boards, I think. I may be wrong and I certainly look at them with no trouble but that is of course to be expected from an admin.
In any case I've rambled on here for quite awhile, so I'll bring this post to a stop and let others get involved in this discussion and respond.
The posts which kicked this discussion off again:
Speaking of involvement, Ashie posted in his leaving thread that there was a distinct lack of activity on this forum and overall it does seem mostly dead with more active participants leaving or games starting and then never continuing due to life itself. Truth be told we need more people, we don't need to just get lurkers involved but we need to increase the amount of traffic to this site.
We need to increase the amount of people here and we also need to make sure that they continue to come to this site for games. I know I'm working on a game right now and I expect to release it around summer when schools get out and people have more free time. We always see a boost in performance during long holidays so I can expect it to at least get 5 or so pages.
In the mean time we should focus on garnering a larger player base and to do so I think we should start games outside of the forum and go back to where we all met in the first place, Dakkadakka. It's less freedom for our writing as we have to make sure it stays pg13, but it gives us a chance to start RPs in a wider pool of users. DakkaDakka hasn't seen a really good RP since Blood Moon and Darko's Russian Invasion/ Zombie RP so it could potentially do a service to both DakkaDakka and this forum.
I suggest that we all go to Dakka and start a game, let's plan it all together to make sure it's something we would all enjoy at least a little bit and then post it on Dakka. The decided GM will lead the game and then we wait for people to say "hey that looks neat" and let them join in. If we like them and they like it then we point them in the direction of this forum saying "Hey we have a dedicated RP forum that we're working on and would like you to check it out.".
Benefits:
1) We get a good RP in.
2) Increased reputation of Darkstorm Roleplaying.
3) Potential increase in player base.
4) Camaraderie building for current Darkstorm Players.
Negatives:
1) Won't be on Darkstorm Roleplaying
2) Restriction in topics and writing styles.
3) Could attract pick up and leave players who only act as a temporary booster.
It needs to be a simple RP not something extremely complicated like we are used too. So bare basics RP.
I am still alive, I saw this post and I agree with Halo a 99%. As one part I would disagree, for some odd reason during a break we had such as winter break or during the new year, we barely had any activity compared to a few days before that, though that may be because everyone has a life but me.
But anyway, yes we need to work on something to garner more peeps. I talked to one of the lurkers of this forum, and she said she just likes reading our RPs and stories that we write. But that is the extent of who joins our little website. I mean there are other websites such as Hiveworkshop, Diplominunion, Extra Credits (great forum lots of respectful people who work in the gaming industry), but the only place I say we avoid avidly if we want more people are places like Bolter and Chainsword, who are quite a rude crowd. (From my experience, they called my lore half assed, and didn't offer any criticism, even when i prodded with an exacting knife.)
But yeah, I could try and get a friend to join, but I don't know how she feels rping on the internet.
I feel that, I have a few friends who downright are against RPing on the internet and prefer the actual tabletop stuff. Understandable because it's a bunch of random people with no faces and sitting behind keyboards. Sure people do that when they play online but the difference is that you're not trying to act out some sort of major scene while playing Battlefield or World of Warcraft. Most good RPers put a bit of their own personality into their characters and it's scary to send that out for the anonymous world to see.
For now I would suggest Dakka only because it's the one site I believe most of us are already used to. We know how the mods work and how the population can be. I think Dogma still rules on the Off Topic Forum as the resident "Knows everything about nothing because I'm a spoiled rich kid who was afforded everything" a.k.a "Punk Theorist".
-----
I suggest that we all go to Dakka and start a game, let's plan it all together to make sure it's something we would all enjoy at least a little bit and then post it on Dakka. The decided GM will lead the game and then we wait for people to say "hey that looks neat" and let them join in. If we like them and they like it then we point them in the direction of this forum saying "Hey we have a dedicated RP forum that we're working on and would like you to check it out.".
Benefits:
1) We get a good RP in.
2) Increased reputation of Darkstorm Roleplaying.
3) Potential increase in player base.
4) Camaraderie building for current Darkstorm Players.
Negatives:
1) Won't be on Darkstorm Roleplaying
2) Restriction in topics and writing styles.
3) Could attract pick up and leave players who only act as a temporary booster.
Benefits:
1) We get a good RP in.
2) Increased reputation of Darkstorm Roleplaying.
3) Potential increase in player base.
4) Camaraderie building for current Darkstorm Players.
Negatives:
1) Won't be on Darkstorm Roleplaying
2) Restriction in topics and writing styles.
3) Could attract pick up and leave players who only act as a temporary booster.
This is what I did a fair few times in the past and it worked out quite well, a good portion of our userbase (5-10 or maybe more) came from me going over and joining games that were running there.
I kept checking back since that endeavour but to be quite honest, the talent pool dried up so to speak. I haven't checked for some time now, granted, but last time I did there didn't really appear to be any dedicated roleplays with writers on it who really seemed to get into it. But it is worth a try, I'm sure. There'll need to be a bit of talent scouting so to speak. Also, we can't all do a game over there as the game would end up too big.
Generally one or two people getting involved in games or starting one together, ensuring it's fun and finding out who'd fit in well here (ie we don't particularly want troublemakers and the like) and figuring out who enjoys writing the most (as that is more important than flat out quality of writing from the get-go, this site has many users who could barely write a few paragraphs at a time when they first started here).
Back to the general lack of activity, it boils down to two things.
Firstly, real life of course. Many people have simply reached a point in their lives (for most, 16-25 years of age doing higher education or trying to hold down a stable job etc) which is of course a very difficult time. Plus the aforementioned exam period.
The other thing is something most people here are aware of - the skype group. Many of us talk every day there and it has been for the last year or more, undoubtedly the biggest drain on site activity. We'd have dozens, if not hundreds of threads more if we discussed even half the things on here that we do in the group. Of course, we've tried getting rid of it before or simply restricting our use of it to non-RP topics but somehow it never quite works as it's just too convenient unfortunately.
It has let many of us get to know each other better and in some cases become good friends which is fantastic, but it doesn't help the site.
There is of course the fact that many regulars (including myself) who, despite prior commitments, I do know have the time to post on here more. The problem is a lack of motivation or interest in what's going on, even with games that have been run. In fact we've yet to finish a game on Darkstorm 2.0 which is quite an issue in and of itself.
So, while we are thinking about introducing new people to the community, we also need to look around us and start bringing a bit of life back to it ourselves. After all, most of the 'regulars' have been here for at least one or two years, some since the very first few days of the site.
Recapturing that excitement - that feeling many of us got on the old site - where logging on and looking at all the new posts or games and just interacting with each other was something that many of us could actually look forward to at the end of the day. Maybe I'm a bit biased, but there really was something special about the old site.
Now, regardless of set backs and lulls of activity I have always and continue to truly believe this site will regain its former glory, so to speak. What we've created together is too important and too great to be irrevocably destroyed even by losing the old site.
Come summer proper in a month or three we will undoubtedly see much more activity, in fact I really do intend to sort out the houses by that point seeing as it is the shiny new gimmick designed to keep everyone interested and busy as well as be an excellent way for new users to get involved and not feel alienated by our relatively tight-knit group.
To the main point of course - the best thing each and every one of us who logs on regularly is to simply join a game and ensure we post in it. Indeed a variety of games is needed as I feel the fact that we've mostly had sci fi games on offer so far on 2.0 has probably turned everyone off it a bit simply due to that lack of variety.
On a slightly different note I'm tempted to actually bring the roleplay sub-boards onto the front page. No, it's not very neat (and boy am I fond of it being neat) but having everything hidden away actually makes people less likely to look at these boards, I think. I may be wrong and I certainly look at them with no trouble but that is of course to be expected from an admin.
In any case I've rambled on here for quite awhile, so I'll bring this post to a stop and let others get involved in this discussion and respond.