Activity Feedback Thread

[Dutch]

The 'Parody' board, and the practice duels boards are both OOC that people can post in. Duels is pretty obvious as to what goes on there, but anything goes in Parody.

There's also the RP Mentor section were people can cut their teeth. Can be used for honing skills, style, characters, etc etc.

And the main reason (besides real life butting in and interrupting reviews D<) the process takes a while is SWU has its own canon, and our job as staff is to make sure the character fits in well. In every single aspect. Non staff never tend to realize how long/ involved this process is.

Especially if it's obvious the person just farted their character up without reading into the site at all.

Finally, SWU stands as a high quality site. It's something we pride ourselves on. We're not just roleplayers, many of us are writers, and that's what we tend to focus on.

[Mara]

I have to say I agree with Apillis regarding the non-transparency of the site plot. While I can see the point of having some mystery, obviously, I think as a whole, we members deserve to be able to see behind the curtain, at least partially.

I've also been here almost five years (joined end of Nov. '08, despite what my profile says), and haven't really seen much progress either in that time. Even when I was a mod for three-plus years, I was still left in the dark.

I've seen more times than I'd like someone post an interesting plot idea in the requests area, only to be struck down by an admin saying it conflicts with some secret site plot that, like was mentioned, has apparently been decided somewhere but will take years to be implemented.
And even in the rare case when something is made public, it's almost always a staff member who leads the thread or creates the most important character involved. And the rest of us are just supporting characters, if we get involved.

I think it was Squee who mentioned that she wanted her characters to mean something, be involved in something important. I would also like it if I could get at least one of my characters involved in something game-changing. (In the one or two cases where I have been in a thread like that, it's either died off before finishing, or my character is left high and dry, and I'm RPing with myself, basically.) But it's hard to do that when everything's so hush-hush... or monopolized by the admin/staff.

I think involving the members in what's going on behind-the-scenes could help a lot in activity. Just let us peek behind the curtain. Don't have to show us everything, but a little leg would be nice.



Ideas to fix this?
Maybe more announcements. Or maybe more postings in the News board. Or involving some non-staff in the planning process. Just something so it's not like we're flying blind here most of the time.

---

Something that just came to me now...
I think the idea that we say we are a 'high-quality site' and yet say we allow roleplayers of every level and walk of life are at odds with each other.

We want to include everyone, from beginner to expert. But at the same time, it seems we expect expert level of our members in their applications and such.
Yes, I know we offer various helps, like the mentor board, and that can be helpful. But it shouldn't have to be mandatory for someone who may not be the greatest of writers or thinkers in order for them to get a character accepted. We should allow them to grow on their own.

Or maybe we should just advertise ourselves as an advanced RP site and not let beginners in here.

I think that might one of the many reasons why some of our new members leave. They come, expecting a relaxed, laid-back site to roleplay on, but then get stuck in the endless rules and regulations and expectations. (Not to say rules are bad, but I think we can get a little uptight at times.) They want fun but end up frustrated.

Is there a way for a compromise here between the community and environment we want to promote vs. the 'high-quality' we also want to promote?  I'm not sure.

[Vroxen]

Oh I had no idea. I just assumed it was funny stuff. Not being so comical I never took a look in there.

Well I have nothing then haha.

[Juzt]

Well I can only look at my own reasons for inactivity. I can't generally explain anyone else's. Beyond personal unavoidable stuff that has slowed me down in recent times there is a few things I can list.

1. Personally as Mara said there are groups and cliques on here. We post in little circles that sometimes overlap. My clique has gone for the most part. I pretty much post with Mara and Charlie. I don't have the confidence to branch out of that. I've kept myself to myself, and never been involved in one of the big site plots, and i have been here a couple of years now. I don't really read other people's threads, I don't post in votes and I only noticed this one because I got a message about it. I am not sure why I am like this, maybe its a confidence thing.

2. I can count on one hand the number of threads that have been finished on here that I was in. On two occasions it was my fault, I did not feel confident in myself or the characters and I gave up. If a thread grinds to a halt for a long time, I sit there an think "I am bored of this thread I should go do something else." It also requires a great deal of thought going into, an explanation of why an objective that was perhaps important to you're character was not achieved. It makes me feel as if my Characters are insignificant unimportant and not really contributing to the richness of RP on the site. For Example Simo my Rodian merc who spent his time getting kicked around and making enemies in Spearpoint with the intention that he and the other characters would soften to each other. Spearpoint ended and it left me feeling negatively towards my own creation as it felt unfulfilled.

3. As for the shoutbox well that links back to point 1. I turn up it is either empty or is filled with people I don't know. With roleplay requests and so on, I don't get replies unless it is people who already know me. One one occasion a stranger signed up but that was it. Every other time I used the service only friends my 'clique' if you like bothered to reply.


I guess really to some up, my problems don't really stem from any particular fault of the mechanisms of the site. They come from my lack of confidence in myself my writings. My Comfortableness with posting with people I don't know to well, and I guess the reverse of that the difficulty in breaking through to some people's inner circle of favoured writing partner's. I think in essence my time here is winding down. I am in one or two threads that will probably be seeing me out, I have lost my love for my characters and my faith in my own ability.

I am not sure if any of this helps or reveals anything relevant, probably not. However, if it is of use to you I am glad to have helped.

[Faeruy]

I got swamped with work, and lacked the energy to post. That's been my reason for inactivity. Haven't quite gotten the muse back up again, but I'm working on it. I intend to try anyway. Love you all.

[Vroxen]

Nov 12, 2013 13:15:54 GMT -5 Mara said:

Something that just came to me now...
I think the idea that we say we are a 'high-quality site' and yet say we allow roleplayers of every level and walk of life are at odds with each other.

We want to include everyone, from beginner to expert. But at the same time, it seems we expect expert level of our members in their applications and such.
Yes, I know we offer various helps, like the mentor board, and that can be helpful. But it shouldn't have to be mandatory for someone who may not be the greatest of writers or thinkers in order for them to get a character accepted. We should allow them to grow on their own.

Or maybe we should just advertise ourselves as an advanced RP site and not let beginners in here.

I think that might one of the many reasons why some of our new members leave. They come, expecting a relaxed, laid-back site to roleplay on, but then get stuck in the endless rules and regulations and expectations. (Not to say rules are bad, but I think we can get a little uptight at times.) They want fun but end up frustrated.

Is there a way for a compromise here between the community and environment we want to promote vs. the 'high-quality' we also want to promote?  I'm not sure.

I personally feel that this is slightly correct. I don't feel like its always easy to write stuff here, it takes me long enough to write something anyway, let alone to the standard that the people on this forum do. I'm quite self critical so when I look at my work and some of the work of others. It can get dis-heartening.

[Jenno]

When it comes to individual posts in the RP board, I think that's more down to personal pressure people put on themselves, which a lot of people do, I used to do this a lot, not so much anymore.

For the bios, sometimes this can be the case, but that's mostly when you find people who don't take the time to look over the plot or read the section notes want to make a powerful Sith Lord. I think a range does exist here, and that range also scales with the strength of the characters people want to make, someone we might consider a 'beginner' could get a youngling or padawan approved, that's how I started on SWU. And starting in that position as a beginner level writer was the most beneficial for me because then I had to get a master for my character, and they didn't just help my character grow and develop, they helped my writing do the same.

Sometimes I do think things can be a bit tricky, sometimes in the past mods have been a bit stricter in certain areas. But I think the thing that needs to be kept in mind is that the vast majority of the time, within reason, the reviews shouldn't be about having an amazing app, it should just be about pushing the writer to try and improve their own work a little bit each time. That makes it easier to deal with the apps on a case by case basis. I think that's maybe an aspect that could maybe be a bit more prominent.

[Weicho IV]

Nov 10, 2013 0:52:26 GMT -5 Deceit *Drinker of Jawa-Juice* said:

I think there's one thing the missions are missing;

the possibility of failure. It is a mission, but it feels without risk. We sign up for it knowing that we'll write a bunch of cool stuff and then eventually yay, we do what we need to do, and if we choose so we make the mission a success. I think that participated missions should be scored in some way, or need some kind of "DM" who guides the mission and develops it as we go, creating challenges and deciding some of the effects of what our characters try to do.

ON TOP of that, after a mission is complete, there should be a summary written by a staff member on what the consequences of that mission are.

ON TOP OF THAT, I think that missions that nobody signs up for, after a certain period of time, should show up as "FAILED" missions, and a negative consequence should occur, with a negative summary on how it impacts the galaxy.

These are all just ideas. ;p

I know I'm not one to say much seeing as I have been gone for a very long time! But this is a solid statement, I've read a lot here and I've never really seen the idea of "What if a mission fails?" I was also curious...and if this is a thing then I apologize, but is it possible to start a mission that's main goal is to sabotage an already ongoing mission? And if so can that not be sort of like forcing quick actions and forcing a player to really be alert....and possibly add a bonus to a completed mission? The idea that not only did you complete this mission, but you also defeated another party in the process should yield a higher reward/ bonus would add that much more to a characters story and keep an rp interesting. Knowing that anytime you start a mission, you could be intercepted by another group can add a more realistic edge and makes it that much more exciting! Anyways I'm done here, just ideas from a newbie xD