When looking for a forum RPG, is the host important for your choice?

As a player, I would say I don't care, but I do notice I find myself using proboards more often than other places? This might be more of a coincidence though since it's not the only site I use! I have used jcink once. While seeing self-hosted sites shows some dedication, I am pretty understanding that not everyone can code or have the resources, even if they have the drive to invest. As long as that is apparent, it doesn't matter much.

As an admin, I am more familiar with proboards, but I am also not so experienced on that point to say one way or another.

Overall, if the site is easy to read and navigate, then as long as the community and setting vibe with me, I am pretty willing to invest anywhere.

 

As an admin, myBB is always my go-to because it allows me the ability to to pretty much anything I want (my current site is heavily customized with features specifically coded to support RP).

As a player, I find self-hosted sites with custom URLs reassuring, as they suggest some investment on the part of the admins. Feature-wise, self-hosted options will always provide significantly more potential for customization, but when it comes to basic features, I find most platforms 'the same but different'.

 

For me, as a user, def not a big deal as long as the site is active, doesn't crash constantly, etc. It also needs to be user friendly.

 

As an admin, it pretty much has to be MyBB. I used to always run sites on Proboards but once I finally made the leap over to self-hosted (looong time ago) I never looked back. I like the customization that MyBB offers and I'm just so used to the admin CP now. The one downside I suppose is how long it takes to get a skin fully completed.

As a member, I'm not as picky as long as the skin is nice and it's easy to navigate. I do tend to stick with MyBB or Jcink though; never wandered back over to Proboards.

 

I mean, yes, to a point. I'm just not going to join most sites that don't allow for dark themes (and by that I mean subjects) so that automatically means no Proboards or free Jcink...

 

I initially started on more private forum boards, but eventually found a site that kinda sorta perfectly suited my needs with very responsive staff. I like the customization options too.

 

While I'm not particular on the software/hosting system for the games, I've found myself using JCINK the most recently since there is just an overwhelming quantity of boards hosted there (they literally take minutes to set up and have a huge diverse appeal).

That being said, my number one go-to and deciding factor on a site is and always has been the community. I can remember joining a forum and the associated chat, only to have no one actually say anything to me for two days. I interpreted that as it being either closed-off and resistant to outsiders, or uninterested in the value of players - so I left. Justification, since the community shut down like 10 days later.

On the opposite side, if players are super welcoming and eager and excited, but there doesn't seem to be a way to integrate your brain babies into the story or site or other characters for you to play with, that can be just as disheartening.

I don't mind learning or using new or different forms of software or formatting or anything else - a good roleplaying site will have the community and the software to make everything fun and easy and welcoming, and that is the most important part to me.

 

I never had a preference as a player and in fact had been sort of out of the loop for so long that I hadn't even heard of JCINK until looking at what to do for the site I'm now admin on. We went with self-hosting, ultimately, but I was super surprised to find so many people have such a strong preference for JCINK! Like, a "JCINK or it isn't RP" level of preference. Maybe I'm just an elder statesman here or something, but it's a bit odd to me. I've never cared, as long as the forum setup doesn't get in the way of my being able to use it. (Which, let's be real... A LOT of JCINK skins absolutely do.)

 

Not really, other things are more important to me.

 

I think as a RPer, I'm not picky beyond the skin being readable and the navigation being easy and intuitive to pick up. I don't need bells and whistles, but if it looks nice and I can navigate it, I won't complain.

I used to run boards on ProBoards, InvisionFree, and Jcink, and at the time they all suited my needs until I needed something else and switched. I've been working with myBB the last few months and I definitely think I'll stick to that or other self-hosted options for any future forums I make.

 

Honestly, yeah. I started on proboards and eventually made the switch to mybb and I could never switch to anything else, both as an admin and member. Mybb just offers all the customization I want in a site. As annoying as it can be at times for coding or troubleshooting lol, it's worth it in the end.

 

Hosts are important to me. I usually prefer Jcink to Proboards.

 

I will personally only join JCINK sites. I used to do proboards back in my early RP days, but not anymore.

 

Well, given that without a reliable host a community would not exist (or eventually cease to exist), I think hosting is of fundamental importance. Personally, I prefer self-hosted communities such as XenForo or IPS for all the reasons that Star Amy has already stated, above.

 

As a player, I don't have a preference. I'm quick to adjust to change, so if it's a forum software I'm unfamiliar with I know it'll take a little getting used to. As an admin, I'm comfortable with Jcink, MyBB, IPB, and SMF, but overall prefer SMF.

 

Don't really care, though I used to solely do Proboards because I didn't know other hosts existed ^^U as long as I can post and have a good time, I don't really mind the host... unless the system is confusing.

 

I totally agree, other than Jcink sites. For some reason unknown to me, the creators of those RPGs tend to make them so complicated. I have walked away from several of them because of that. If someone invites me to a new site, if its Jcink, I won't join.

Having a good time is all that counts I think

 

The world matters most. But original worlds, let alone ones crafted with care, are in short supply these days. (Anecdotal.)

 

While I lean hard on Jcink for anything I host, if the world and setting is right, and the people are great, I can very easily overlook choice of forum host and adjust if I feel like it's really going to be a great place to write.

 

Jcink has definitely risen to hit pretty much all other competition out of the ballpark by this point. BUT, with that said, a forum host isn't a make or break deal for me. I've even found myself joining roleplay sites that are forumotion (the super underdog!) when coming across an interesting premise.

Admittedly, I am totally biased against Discord roleplays and have not broken the ice into joining one. I just think it's a generational thing, though. It's vastly different from forum roleplays and I'm old, so jumping into this foreign, alternative platform isn't exactly something I'm too keen on.