What do you look for in a forum RPG?

I'm just starting out and I am trying to attract new members. My site is an original world and storyline so I don't have a fandom to appeal to. I was wondering what makes you join a site in the first place? What are the key things that you look for?

Thank you xx

 

A friendly community. Simple as that. If I feel like I'm going to be left out in the cold and nobody is going to post with me, I won't even consider joining.

 

I second the friendly community. I also really like good clean boards. Nothing too fancy with complex coding. I like things to look like they have some sort of order to them, and frankly simple rules. We're here to play games not follow directions.

 

First of all, I need the story to inspire me to further it. If it doesn't, I can't join. There are several sites I love, which stories I am reading from time to time. The administrators are my friends in most cases, I discuss with them their story, but they know I won't join their site... just because it doesn't inspire me to further the story myself.

The second is a welcoming community, and the activity level. If it is too slow, with no quicker people at all, or with high turnover, I might not be able to write a coherent story and my interest is fading then.

 

My forum isn't necessarily following any fandom, but there is a board for fandom RPs. There also isn't any story arc (as of yet) as I allow different genres. But, when I join an RP in any forum I look for story line and writing skill. I'm pretty picky on whom I RP with, and it's happened before where people have tried to RP with me, but their form was terrible. They shortened their words, didn't use proper grammar nor punctuation, and they didn't wrap quotes around their speech. Typos are going to happen, that's unavoidable. It's the noobish behaviour that's a major turn off for me. I'm not likely to join an RP thread/forum if I see too much of it.

 

+ No word count
+ Small, simple profile
+ Community of like-minded people

 

Really depends on what niche of rp you're doing. I know that it's harder to attract rpers willing to create more complex, in-depth characters or who are willing to write medium-long posts. If you want one-liners and short posts, go with simpler rules and no word-counts, but don't expect people to be committed long term or to writing long amounts in their posts. Just go with what you like and like-minded people will join. :)

The community is the biggest part. If people don't talk to newcomers in the cbox/chat/pm and immediately involve them in plots or discussions, they will typically leave. The second would be a good story-arc. It's okay to have a backdrop plot, but might also consider creating some mini-plots to give people some ideas for storylines/conflicts to get started in. If the overall plot is too loose, people will get board. The most important thing is to be really original (if not following a fandom).

I myself dislike multi-genre rps just because I feel like it's stretching too thin and never fully commits to being good at any one thing. But it would really depend on how it was set up or how the story worked those different genres together cohesively.

 

I'd have to agree with all of the above.

If I were to add anything, I would have to say a varied amount of size, both new role players and veterans alike. That way anyone could join. I guess that my description is mainly "high turnover"

 

- no word count
- 18 and over ages
- a site i can navigate without squinting
- friendly people.

And yet sometimes I'm flaky and even that doesn't hold my attention... I can't even tell you WHY. Sometimes things just don't quite click I guess?

 

all of the above for me. a friendly community, easy to navigate boards, originality, activity, etc.

 

Kindness, as everyone else has said. However, it is also very important to me that a site is easy to read and navigate. If your font is super tiny or it's really difficult to figure out where anything is, then I'm not really going to bother with you. Sorry. D;

 

^ Like almost everyone's said, I need something
- clean and easy to navigate
- large enough font to read (like 12px) and not in all caps
- not so much content it makes my head spin
- also, something hard to find now-a-days, I don't like the "you can't kill a character without permission" rule. I play violent characters sometimes and that is extremely limiting (granted, I play mostly animal sites.)

 

I personally look for a good layout, so that it catches my attention. Good staff is always a plus as well along with making the site easy to navigate and not overly crowded to where it's hard to read and understand. Another thing I personally like is free reign over creating side plots along with the main site wide plot, and not being expected to go hugely in depth about my characters or expecting to make outrageously large post's where you have to meet a certain word limits.

 

Community, politeness, and above all: a willingness to help out of character. Newbies should be nurtured...not put down. We were all beginning once upon a time - pass it on brah.

 

I agree with what most people are saying but the things I look for are just a varied amount of characters that you can have and also a friendly community

 

I agree with what most people are saying but the things I look for are just a varied amount of characters that you can have and also a friendly community

 

If existing members are excited to meet new people and discuss characters and plots before they're even accepted, then I can't think of a better sign. A close second to that is writing quality. Call me a snob, but I think effortful writing is an indication of enthusiasm, and it usually means I will enjoy playing with them more. That's not to say I like word counts, of course. I actually dislike them. The other major draw for me is a detailed world to play around in. I like lots of lore.

Things that will drive me away? My biggest pet peeve is those unnecessary extra html/graphics padding things that people use in their posts. If they're rampant, I take that as a good sign to stay away. I don't usually like real life face claims, either, because I don't care to play around in a world full of absurdly pretty people, but that's not a dealbreaker. I can't stand any hint of drama or cliquishness, though. That IS a dealbreaker, more than anything else.

 

I guess it would really depend on the story-line and original world. I tend to be picky. However, if the forum is clean, organized, friendly, and doesn't have a million restrictions... I am game. One thing I can't stand is restrictions on characters, words, and level of experience. I have 20+ characters and I don't always want to use just 5 or just 7. I might want to use all 20+. Same with word count. I don't really "novel" write as they say, so telling a member they must have a min of 50,000 words to post is extreme. I am really turned off by it. I do para and avoid one liners. Same with "experience". Like I said, I am picky. XD

I also don't like heavy graphic posts. Specially with "flashy" or "glittery" kind of graphics. o...o I am scared to touch them...

 

It depends on what kind of rp I'm looking for. Humans and humanoid characters? Bring on the 18+ and the friendly community.

Animal roleplays? Pg-13 is just fine with me. But again, a friendly community that is relaxed and doesn't have people constantly going behind everyone's back saying horrible things. But it still happens... whether or not people find out about it is a different matter altogether. Seems eventually they all form their cliques whether evident on site or not. I wish it wouldn't happen and thus I suppose the smaller the community the better in that aspect? But large communities can be fun but the more people the more pockets of cliques =/. Hopefully they're all friendly towards everyone else though and not bad mouthing each other. Communication is key... it goes both ways.

And although I don't mind a board that has the default skin, I need to be able to read. Hot pink back grounds, no thank you? Lime green just as bad. Don't burn my eyeballs with crazy colors or give me headaches with lots of animated gifs. Static images please and if anything but a default skin, make sure its readable and doesn't hurt peoples eyes.

 

Im very picky. I need system and rules and stuff but it needs to be simple as well and I like it to be shocking and fight worthy. My Environment can be nice and I proffer it that way or a system that is so glitched to hell I can brake it slowly and surly. Which if I am on a site to long I shall find the wholes and brake them open.

Again I am a nice guy though. Usually I warn admins and stuff if I see a whole or an opening for someone like me.