Please forgive the long winded title but I wasn’t sure how else to describe this. Irenic is now approaching three months old and we’re doing very well. The core members that we have are all incredibly welcoming, post regularly and are throwing up new plots all the time. I recently went on an advertising spree to try to draw in some new blood because although I love everyone we have in the game it would be nice to have just a couple more to keep things progressing. The difficulty I’m having is getting the prospective new members that show up to actually join in the game. We’ve had a couple of people go so far as create characters but then the stall for one reason or another. Others have signed up to the site but haven’t gone so far as actually joining. Now, we don’t have any minimum posting requirements so I’m happy for people to take as long as they like before they jump in at the deep end. I’ve tried sending encouraging PMs to the new characters suggesting plot ideas and that they throw up a plotter themselves (I know the other members would be more than happy to leap on it). I’m contemplating PMing the signed up members and asking if there’s anything I can do to help ease them in. Perhaps suggesting they put up a WIP application in the process. This is really just a general plea for further ideas as to how to help them. And how to get more people active in the game. Have any of you experienced this before? How did you deal with it? At what point did you start to lose heart?
I find that it is complicated to get players to maintain themselves in a group - especially without any restraints. I once had a group with no posting requirements but without the incentive to post they forgot for weeks on end. Worse? My hard working players were left sitting there twiddeling their thumbs when they wanted to RP. So I think the question I'm posing is: Are you after quantity or quality?
To be honest, right now I crave some sign of life from the ones that come in full of ideas and then fade away. Some form of communication. I have no problem with someone taking a coupleof weeks to post. I suppose I'd just like to know their intentions. And discover if there is something I could do differently to encourage future members.
I know that feeling. I had a couple of prospectives that sounded like they would have been great additions to my crew, then just crickets without warning.
I honestly couldn’t say what's more frustrating as an admin. Having no one swing by to join. Or having people come up with fantastic characters, enough so that you start planning on how to integrate them, then vanish on you. We'll be fine without. But it would have been nice to see their character arcs grow and intermingle with the others.
I think getting people in on an OOC level is just as important as getting them in IC. Have them try to meet other members, not just the person who invited them to the site. Make them feel welcome and special, give them the confidence to get over that bump that comes with being the new member. It's natural for roleplayers to be shy and to run away rather than stick around, so helping those fears with sincerity and enthusiasm from multiple people can be key.
In general that's just how the trickle from guest to core member works. But since it seems like a big issue I took a look. The only thing I can really say is that you have a welcome PM you are sending to accepted applications. In that PM, make sure it has some steps on how to get involved, like links to the plotting section and open threads list.
Some people are just never going to get there, for one reason or another. I don't think any game's ever going to get all of their potential new players who poke around and ask questions to join. You mentioned that some people have made characters and then stalled--do you know the reasons? I'd focus on that, first. Make sure there isn't some hangup to getting started that you haven't noticed. It's really easy to not notice a problem, or get used to working around a problem, like stepping carefully to avoid a creaky stair. This can get to the point where you forget the stair is creaky until someone else points it out again.
Thank you for your suggestion That's pretty much the sole purpose of the welcoming PM really. It points people at the open threads and plotters. For each new character I also add a few personal suggestions as to where they might like to start. Other characters that would likely know them etc.
While reviewing a new character, I like to discuss what plans they have, and even ask if they have ideas for new plots to implement on the board. It's not mandatory, you might just come and try to talk to people, but if you tell me what kind of scenes you're looking for I can help you making them real.
One thing that I would ask is, what is your turn around time for accepting character applications? I know that I personally can get frustrated if I feel like the admins aren't getting to my application in a timely manner--it gives me the impression that either they don't care enough about me as a member to look at it, or that I "missed the mark" somehow with the application and they haven't figured out how to tell me
Yeah, 1-2 days is reasonable unless your prospective members are really impatient. I was reading a thread about pet peeves the other day on a different site, and I guess the only other thing that I saw coming up again and again is that on some sites, after a guest says hi in the CBOX, people will continue their conversation around the guest instead of making an effort to ensure that the guest really feels included in the conversation and has a chance to contribute, and that can be really alienating. That's the only other tip I have though. Sometimes it just doesn't feel right. :/
i'm no expert but it seems to me what a new person really wants is a person to reach out to them and be keen to play with them. Pointing at open threads and such is one thing, but some folks are intimidated by them. Maybe have some sort of rotation for your core members offering each newbie a thread personally... assuming you have enough core members to do such and you are tight enough with them so that they won't get too disheartened by the inevitable number of fly-by-nights
