What do you look for in a forum RPG?

I'm on the same boat as you so I would also like to know the secrets to success. What I usually look for in a site is similar tot he above stated by other people. I want friendly staff and members, a cool story line and not anything too overwhelming in lore. I see a lot of people get hung up on font sizes and color schemes and all sorts of random things that really don't matter. The thing is when people are looking for somewhere to be comfortable they usually scrutinize every little thing till they find something perfect. I know that is the way I am at least.

 

If the skin isn't readable, I'm not going to stick around. I know I can make the fonts bigger but for the most parts that ruins the skin and makes it worse. If it works and still looks good, sure, I'll ignore tiny unreadable fonts. If the aesthetics are absolutely horrific then I won't be too keen on joining.

Also community. I can't state this enough. I lurk new boards that seem interesting for a while to get a feel for their community. If it's a board full of people I know, consider me sold.

But the thing that I pay most attention to? Is it a setting I like and wants to play.

 

Personally I just look for somewhere I can feel inspired and at home. If I'm not comfortable on a board I won't stick it out to see if that changes. Though if I'm totally honest I've been on my own game for the last 5 years and I don't see that changing any time soon. XD I guess I also like being in charge...?

 

Reading through the comments there was naturally some contrast as there should be. I've been around for some time now, seen things evolve and all the varying writing styles and preferences definitely influence this question. There are so many out there that you can basically pick and choose, so if you can't find the right fit chances are the problem may be with you, if you're having troubles finding a site where you can fit in. That said, 'Politeness' seems to be the overall denominator and it's what I've always looked for in a site. I always have to consider my style, writing level and maturity. Obviously I'm not going to get along with a site that is populated by writers with a mean age of 14, being an 'educator' I'd definitely ruin the party. 'Good Administration' Well that's kind of a no brainer, but I personally find that a good 'site metaphor' goes a lot further. When the developers of a site have taken the time to properly explain and direct members accordingly and maintained that theme throughout the site it governs itself. I don't like to have to constantly ask questions and bother Admin's for what I consider to be trivial questions. If it happens too often on a site, it's a major turn off. It's probably because I used to develop and design commercial websites that I need uniformity, clean organization and intuitive layout.

 

I typically approach with "is the community nice. Is there a place I can write. Do I like the plot/story?"

If any of those is nope? I'll not even think about joining. But I'm relatively easy to please I think, I don't need a fancy skin if the story pulls me in and the community is nice. I'm also not fussed about where its hosted etc.

 

First and personally in a RP, I love information and detail of the world I'm going to get immersed to. I do not mind navigating through the forums, so long as the information is in a suitable spot where I don't have to build and stack questions. This varies of course if I am doing a fandom and it is less of an issue if I decide to do a "Reality" RP.

Next, will vary on the dedication of the users and the administration, especially on fresh and new role-plays. It is pretty much the observation phase of my opinion. I usually look at the activity if the RP has been around for sometime. If there were members on that site before and it shows that they haven't posted a single thing for a 2 weeks to a month I consider it dead. Granted I do give a lot of time for fresh sites and will watch the activity of the Admin and If the board has a chat, have a conversation if he/she is on.

Another thing I look at if a RP is active is the word per post and the detail of the users in the board. I can't reply to post that consist of only 100-200 words. If the post is limited, without detail, I usually become bored, uninterested and frustrated mainly because I love to give detail, emotion and actually know what is going on around my character so I can give broadened detail in return. If someone gives barely any detail, how am I going to feel immersed?

Other then that, like a lot of users claimed here, its pretty much the community that drives it.

 

When it comes to forum RPGs I look for the following:

• A unique world that isn't on offer elsewhere (the more unique, the better)
• Active members to roleplay with (doesn't matter if it's 2 or 20, as long as I can roleplay).
• Unique species that aren't just carbon copies of others.
• Clear and concise rules that aren't ridiculous (especially when it comes to activity)
• A nice looking forum that doesn't hurt to look at when I login.
• People who post around the same amount as I do.
• Interesting characters who I can reasonably see myself plotting with.
• Good Grammar and Spelling; oh how this peeves me if it is non existent.

 

In general:
Friendly, active community
Friendly, active staff
Fair rules. Nothing over-the-top. There was once a Star Wars site that I remember seeing (that didn't last long) where...it had some stupid rule saying that you couldn't have characters get pregnant or something? I wish I could remember the exact rule, because it was really weird.
NO STATS. I don't want to have to worry about how many items my character has and how many points it has or whatever the heck else you do with stats. I just want to be able to post and develop my characters.
No cliques. I remember trying to join a few Star Wars sites that I just couldn't get into due to the cliques they had. Like, they were welcoming, but it was hard to try and get involved because there were so many members and I was just kind of like o____o about it.

Specifically with Star Wars sites:
An era that I enjoy.
No canon (as in, official canon like Luke Skywalker) characters.
No Yuuzhan Vong.
No AU sites- i.e. Darth Vader survived in Return of the Jedi, or Luke Skywalker doesn't exist and it's some other Joe Schmo who saved the rebels from the Death Star.

There's probably more but I can't think of anything else at the moment.

 

I think the first thing I look for when trying to find a good RPG is activity. I don't need a c-box to be madly scrolling into oblivion and don't need posts every few minutes, but having people around semi-regularly throughout the day is usually a good sign to me that I'm going to get posts in a timely fashion. Which is the next thing I look for - do the members have 15+ characters each? Nothing against those people who can play that many, but I find they don't reply promptly. Just my experience.

Originality comes next. I like creative storylines, well made characters, and site canon that is both cohesive and hasn't been done to death.

I like a friendly community. I don't need coddled, but people who are at least polite go a long way with me.

I avoid petty drama like a plague. I don't care for cheating or b-romance storyilnes or anything like that. Don't get me wrong, romance is nice, but that shouldn't be the point of a site or character to me.

I like character progress. Being able to advance a character in some way is big to me.


Decent grammar, condensed and simple rules, and a forum that isn't ass ugly.

 

Legible text. Easy-to-find information (guidebook, rules, character creation, etc). Friendly staff. Viewable IC forums. I've actually found that having a guest-friendly chat really makes it easy to pop in and gauge whether or not I'd be interested, too!

 

Not-tiny text. An active chat box. A few boards that have been active either today or yesterday. Viewable apps and IC boards.

Talkative, warm staff. I can't stress this enough. I've left sites before because the staff had their cliques and wouldn't branch out. I'm not saying it's bad to have friends, but you need to be just as friendly with newcomers, too.

 

Friendly staff , NOT strict on grammar , accepts all levels of writers. low words counts. Active. Flexible with face claims, :)

 

A pretty, yet simple, skin. I can't stand ones that have a thousand different cursive fonts and become very hard to navigate.

Sites that accept all real life faceclaims. Why can't I use a Youtube personality as a faceclaim? If you're going to have rules like that, at least give an explanation!

One of the most important factors is whether the site is friendly. If I get bad, cliquey vibes from a place, I won't join.

I think those are maybe my top three things.

 

Use of proper English, a decent word count but not overboard, LGBTect Friendly, active staff, complex characters, interesting plot...

 

I am looking for a place that values high quality writing, offers many opportunities for character development and growth and isn't overly stat obsessed. I am also interested in a place that has a strong and vibrant sense of community and a strong emphasis on collaborative writing.

 

It needs three things. A friendly community, a driven plot, and allows me to create a character I'm going to actually play XD.

 

I look for player advocacy. I.e "What impact can the players have on the world".
More specifically I look for short-term player advocacy. Like how much does my individual thread impact the world?

I also look for activity. I hate waiting more than a few hours for a response. I basically will leave a site if I have to regularly wait more than 8 hours for a post XD

 

All of those things are also good criteria, Scoglads. I concur *nods*

 

I mean there are so many sites that you need to play for YEARS to kinda sorta have something happen. Like a paradigm shift almost never occurs unless you are either friends with the site owner or... well the site owner. A new guy can't just come in and shake things up. It just doesn't happen. I mean, that's a good thing on one level but it shouldn't be something players are BANNED from doing. In my opinion- it should be a regular thing to keep things fresh!

 

Oh I think that's very true! That's why I hope to get some new blood to the forum that I'm part of now. We're doing well but new ideas always help to keep things moving forward.