Looking to improve the Roleplay Section...

[Koby]

Okay thanks to Paddy I pretty much have an idea as to what new boards we need for the roleplay section to help improve it and keep the actual roleplays on topic.

But I still need help with the rest of getting it better. We need someone who can help write some roleplay rules like no godmodding, no controlling other peoples characters, etc.. I can probably find our old roleplay rules somewhere on my PC that you can base the new rules off of if you want to help write the new ones.

I also need like 3 to 4 Roleplay Staff, who will be willing to moderate the roleplay section, keep everything running smoothly, PM members who are doing something wrong and help them understand how to do better, and lastly keep the roleplay section fresh with new roleplays, etc..

I also feel we should not base every roleplay on fighting, as some (EO) would like to roleplay about other things to... And by doing this it could give way to bring in roleplayers with different tastes, etc.. We could bring back the old Highschool RPG, and make new roleplays kind of like that for example.

I also feel we need a roleplay graveyard where we can move dead roleplays to, but then people can request them to be brought back, etc.. and its like an archive for it.

Paddy requested a signup/profile board, an ooc board, roleplay manual (tutorials etc..), and I think those would be good..

But like I said we need YOUR help to make the Roleplay section better! =O

[† cloud1414]

Hey if you need help Koby, Ill be happy to help when ever i can. I can help out with the Roleplay section

[Exodus]

I could help write the rules, but I don't really RP. If I see one that looks interesting, I might get in, but chances are I won't. But yeah, rules I could easily do, as they're, for the most part, common sense anyway.

Paddy requested a signup/profile board, an ooc board, roleplay manual (tutorials etc..), and I think those would be good..

Those are good ideas. Basically here's my idea, which most are same as those anyway:

Signup: Obvious, where you post signup threads, sign up to rps

Bio/Profile: Also obvious, where you post your character's bio. I also suggest that we have an RP mod approve and disapprove characters posted to prevent people posting characters that are basically god modded.

Battle Grounds: Where you can face off with another member in an RP battle.

OOC: For those out of character conversations, obviously.

Roleplay help section/manuals.

Possibly an area for RP tournaments, but that could also go in battle grounds

And of course the area where actual Roleplays take place

That's just my two cents worth.

[† Emotional Outlet]

Fo' sheezy.

(I think non-battle RPs are best for beginners and the casual [lazy] RPer, such as myself. That's just me; I'm lazy. Battles are annoying. I like reading them though--I like to pretend I'll gain knowledge from it and will one day bother with battling. [but clearly I'm delusional. Such a thing will never happen.])

I don't RP enough to write any substantial rules on them, since I don't know all the minute things/things I don't really care about (like all the rules for battling), but I can always proofread them once there's a set available.

I would like to suggest a five-sentence paragraph minimum for RPing. I hate seeing one-liners. In elementary school, I remember being taught that a paragraph always had seven sentences (a topic sentence, a conclusion/transition, and five body sentences)--I don't think five is all that much, and obviously the conventions for style and grammar would be a little more relaxed than in a classroom setting.

Tournaments can always be pinned within the Battlegrounds. I have nothing else to say about that. =P

An OOC subforum could be useful, since you wouldn't have to wade through the OOC comments and questions in the actual RP, and would only be presented with actual RPing (especially nice if you aren't interested in the little side conversations and just want to read a good RP). Shouldn't be treated like the Balamb Cafe/just a place to chat, though--all the threads in there should be tied to an RP (or at least about RPing in general). The section should keep the RPs themselves more focussed and a little less cluttered--on another forum I visit, one of the RPs they have running is so riddled with their OOC banter that people are posting paragraphs of OOC junk but only offering two lines of mediocre RP, if that.

Also agree'd on having a mod look over character profiles--obviously approving/disapproving would entail some constructive criticism and explanation why a character was refused, and a chance to resubmit the character once changes are made should be presented.

As for the Biography section, I usually see it done where people have a single thread for all of their characters (or ones they actually care about, anyway)--kept strictly informational, so no one other than the OP should have any reason to be posting in it. (If people want to talk about characters, I imagine that's what PM and the OOC section would be for.) If a character was approved prior to posting it in the Biography section (like a mod approved it on a sign-up thread), then they can just state that it was already approved. If it wasn't approved prior (id est, they haven't signed up on any RPs with it, but intend to use it later), a mod would see it--if they don't think it up to par/acceptable, they'll label it as rejected with a little reason why, and then shoot the creator a PM explicating their reasons. This should also be an opportunity for the creator to discuss the character should they disagree or are seeking more help/elaboration.

If the creator stated they'll rework it to fit standards (putting the mod's suggestions to use when they do it, of course) the post should stay up but with a note that it's currently being reworked, and then they can shoot the mod a PM to re-evaluate the character when they finish. Once approved, then the label goes from "Being redone" to "Approved" (obviously)--I don't think there's any reason for it to be not approved unless the creator didn't try at all to redo it/didn't take any of the suggestions from the mod to heart.

I dunno if it would be easier to restrict the Biography section to approved characters only. Some people might want to create a character but hold onto it until an appropriate RP shows up or they get inspired to make their own, and they just want it up for display once they think of it and get it approved prior to any RP usage so they don't have to bother later.

Thaaat's just me. I dunno if I'm being convoluted or anything about it. I'm kind of tired. Lulz.

[Exodus]

I would like to suggest a five-sentence paragraph minimum for RPing. I hate seeing one-liners. In elementary school, I remember being taught that a paragraph always had seven sentences (a topic sentence, a conclusion/transition, and five body sentences)--I don't think five is all that much, and obviously the conventions for style and grammar would be a little more relaxed than in a classroom setting.

Good point on that. One liners are annoying.

And to suggest some rules, as Koby said, no god modding, which should obviously be explained in the rules. No controlling other's characters, including NPC's.

Keeping a calm attitude even when things don't go your way (I've seen plenty of people go off because their attack was blocked or the other role player didn't do what that person wanted, etc.).

Actually taking time to read other people's posts is a good idea. If you don't, chances are you won't have any idea what's going on.

No killing off characters, which could also be considered god modding in some cases.

Most importantly, Good Grammar. How many people want to read a post dat iz typd lyk dis? When a large amount of words are misspelt, the paragraph has no structure, and there is little to no punctuation, it makes it hard to read and understand the post, And that will render the post, and rp itself for that matter, useless/pointless.

There's probably more but I'm to tired to thank of any more at the moment.

[Koby]

For the profile board, I was thinking more of the original roleplay creator makes a topic for signups in it and people post their profile for that roleplay into it. Instead of people having threads for their character only, etc.. because really 1 character probably wont fit in each roleplay right so making a new profile for each would be better wouldn't it? Such as in the roleplays that the creator has a set characters which you can choose to be or w/e.

[Exodus]

That could work, but we still need some kind of staff for roleplay section to approve/disapprove characters. We don't need these people submitting these few sentence profiles with their characters either god-like, or close to it. Characters need to have weaknesses as much as strength, and their abilities and powers have to be somewhat reasonable.

[† Emotional Outlet]

On other fora with RPing, people tend to have multiple characters, and they tend to reuse them, of course, depending on the RPs. Giving the creators a thread in which to display/store character data would save some scrolling on sign-up threads, and cut the creators some slack in terms of having to copypaste things over, instead allowing them to say, "I'm going to use So-and-so; you can check So-and-so's biography in my thread over here." That would be assuming, of course, that the creator read the OP's post and if there are any criteria to fit, the character does meet them.

Most sign-ups don't really require a lot of detail either--giving the creator a thread would let them indulge in some storytelling that may not be relevant anywhere else.

[Luneth]

I have an Idea, if this forum in the future,ever becomes dead, i'll make a Back-up forum for it just in case it does!

[Lightning]

Cool ideas for improving rp section you could try doing the old multiplayer fighting fantasy book Riddling Reaver!

Luneth you idiot if you wanna say that don't say it in the "Looking to improve the Roleplay Section" thread make a new one and say!

[Luneth]

I know don't be stuppppppppppppppppppppppppppppppppppppppppid!!!!!!