[Discussion] The Section Thread

[BANZAI!!!!]

Kinda like the Section Chat I've been running, only slower and on YCM! (And on-topic, hehe)

 

So, what is this thread you might be asking? Basically, this thread will be used for discussion about the RP section itself, as opposed to specific roleplays. It will be a place for new people to introduce themselves and ask for help, a place to talk about improvements to the RP section, and a place to talk about RPing in general.

 

Kind of vague and nebulous, I know, but the powers that be have informed me that it's a good idea, and I always agree with the voices in my head the messages on my skype. So here we are.

 

I think a good way to start off would be for everyone who's currently active in RP to formally (re)introduce themselves, so that everyone knows everyone and we can try and build a more cohesive RP community since, believe it or not, we've been growing slowly for the past year or so. I'm thinking of keeping a nice, easily readable list of every active user in this post, as well. With like, blurbs and jokes and sheet.

 

If anyone has ideas or suggestions for how to improve this thread (or the section) post 'em below.

 

[spoiler=The Active RPers & a little bit about them]Empty as funk. qq

 

[Chaotic Angel]

For those who don't know me, I'm Chaotic Angel. I've joined YCM since 2008 and have been RPing on/off since 2009, so I know quite a lot.

 

As the section is quiet, I've been doing jobs on my side to try and lure people in, but other than that, I'm also here to learn about each and every one of you.

 

My forte as you will have noticed are Original RPs, I make more effort doing them than titles that already exist, even I struggle to explain why...

 

I'll think of some more suggestions on how to improve this section, as well so bear with me.

[LordCowCowCowCowCowCowCowCow]

Hi I am Cow and I'm an alchoho-wait wrong introduction.

 

Anyway I am known at this point for being psuedo-host for basically everything I'm in because I can't help but try and make things work better. >.>

Currently have three RPs I'm hosting and it's going well. I might have a hosting addiction at this point.

I'd like to think my forte is character creation and fight scenes.

 

I enjoy how much more active the section has been than it used to (in my time; don't know much about the Dark Ages of no Advanced Clause)

 

From what I've heard one thing some people are worried about is if we come off as too closed off to newer people. Hence one reason for this very thread now that I think about it.

[Chaotic Angel]

Exactly the reason why I came to this thread too. Not only to learn all the complexities of RPing but also to find others ways of improving this section as a whole.

 

I also have a weird habit of developing very hard fight scenes or some sheet. Dunno why.

[Yui]

 

Hi I'm Yui, the dude that's in way too damn many RPs and refuses to quit any of them because I'm just that stubborn about not giving up on things because I'm a terrible host and like to make up for it with commitment to the RPs other people make. Also the resident yuri god.

 

Pretty sure the thing people know me best for round these parts is if there's an RP and I join it, there will be cute girls, and I will find ways to ship the cute girls with other girls. My strong suit is absolutely character creation and digging up images; I run the section's public RP image gallery for a reason. And of course, since I only ever RP cute girls 99.9% of the time, there's a huge bias on my imgur account for them ^_^;

 

The stuff I'm not so good at is all the stuff a host needs to do that non-host RPers don't have to worry about. Like coming up with the plot, balancing fights, etc. I have really good ideas though, so it's a problem. It makes me a pretty good cohost though :D

[xlArisenRoselx]

I'm extremely new to this whole thing. In fact, Chaotic Angel is teaching me everything I know now about this forum anyway. I have joined a few, and would hopefully like to host a few. If I had to say what my forte is, it would probably be writing. I write novels in my free time, so it kinda comes naturally. I've been told I'm exceptionally well with scenery and dialogue. I've said my two bits, so I guess I'll hand the mike over to the next person.

[Sethera]

I am Sethera. I have no intentions of telling you my likes and dislikes. As for my dream... I have few hobbies.

 

Realtalk, I am not good at talking to people I don't know, so this is my attempt.

 

I joined this site back in 2014, so I'm not really a veteran and not really new anymore either. However, I joined specifically because of this section, and I haven't particularly regretted it. I've met some cool people and did some cool things, so yeah, good times.

 

I am known for not only being a perfectionist, but also preferring to experiment when I role play, whether that's through mixed media, new methods, or the fact that every character I've ever made usually falls under a different trope. I am also highly indecisive, and use coin flips or dice rolls as deciding factors in any decisions I make.

 

In terms of role play activity, "Make new friends, but keep the old. One is silver and the other gold" applies to me. I'm not going to show interest in the latest shiny thing on the block, mainly because of time constraints, but I'm also what you'd consider a reliable role player. Currently, I host one roleplay, cohost another, and am a regular player in two others.

[👀 REP 👀]

Hello, I am rep. Ignore the fact that I joined in 2012 - I might as well of joined last year-ish since that's about when I came back here. That's also when I started RPing on this site. I'd like to think I'm at least decent at it. I've joined a good number of RPs, but haven't hosted anything yet

 

I'm also bad at introductions and I write this at like 11:30 PM so yeah, that's it. :^)

[Maeriberii Haan]

hiya all, I'm Nai and I'm that guy that always yell for posts in any RP I'm in although I've been slacking on that lately.

 

I joined RP on late 2013, and somehow became the RP mod roughly one year later. Not that I ended up doing anything significant anyway.

 

I'm pretty bad at thinking but I think I'm good at questioning things but that isn't exactly a special trait to have. I think I'm in too many roleplays now with...8 RP and soon to be 9 once I finished the app for that.

 

We definitely need to keep the gap between new people and the old people more, although perhaps this would be more easily done via other methods rather than getting the old people to join new people's RPs.

[Dad]

I'm an old man who's been RPing with YCM (with distinct and noticeable improvement) since 2009.  

 

What am I good at?  IMO, my biggest rping strength is on-the-spot creativity.  I'll be honest, outside of my own personal fan-fiction, I don't plan a thing.  Don't join my rps thinking everything you're presented was planned months in advanced.  Somethings are planned by me, but most of the time, I think of what I want as it happens.  I realize that's a convoluted way of thinking and its dangerous for rps I host and that I'm in.  However, its just sort of how my creative process works.

 

What do I suck at?  Everything else.

 

Hi, I'm Dad.

[Super Chaos Sonic]

-BGM-

 

 

Rejoice! For your Typecast Shonen Protagonist has arrived!!

 

All seriousness, I'm Chaos Sonic, a member since November 13th 2008 so I'm quite the veteran here (even though I'm not too well known outside of the RP section). Also please do note, that the title "YCM's Typecast Shonen Protagonist" is not a self given title, but rather one given to me by Giga. This will be understood later with my sort of...weaknesses XD

 

Positives! I can be quite the creative individual when it comes to RPs. One of my achievements of creativity being an original type of RP known by the name of "Grimm Nights" (which a reboot is planned). Although most of my RPs I've done have a inspirations and or are taken from various anime, I do my best to try to put my own twist on things via story elements, plot, and even styles of characters that would be needed in said RP environments. Aside from the creativity, I am consistent in my RP posting, usually being the first one to post in some occasions, keeping up with my namesake...and being Sonic Fast. At the same time, I am also one who seems to have been the first one (please don't quote me on this) to first utilize the idea of using plenty of OSTs and BGMs in my posts, this of course heralded my nickname from an old YCMember by the name of "Kyng" as "Mr. Music". For some reason, I always find the right type of music to fit any given post's feel and with them in tow...it always increases my imagining process of what my characters would end up doing in these situations. It helps me envision them! I'm also good with planning with hosts/co-hosts for the futures in any RPs that I happen to work with (battles, future arcs, character developments, etc.).

 

Nooooooow let's get to the negatives. One of the notable ones being my character creation...notably all of them being of the shonen trope. Now mind you, when I make my characters, I don't tend for them to end up shonen, but I have a habit of integrating some bit of myself in each character and somehow the way I write them out to be...ends up being shonen. Now while this is somewhat of a negative, I've been told by quite a few people that I play the shonen quite well...which prompted my little title. Another negative being...I tend to only make male characters. For no other reason than I usually envision myself as my characters, I've never made a female character in any RP and was committed to playing them. However, I have been making strides to overcome these two small obstacles (at least the making of the female character...the shonen part maaaaaay take a while). Something else would be that I am in the habit to join multiple RPs at a time and it can definitely get straining, especially when I think I've posted in all the RPs I've joined and find out that I really didn't.

 

But either way, I believe that this section has had me grow from how I was back in 2008 to present... My writing styles have become a lot different than the past me, my character creation/development has become increasingly better, and even now, I've made more friends in the RP section than I did back then.

[(GigaDrillBreaker)]

I'm parenthesis, though a lot of people who have been around a while (as well as people who pretend to have been around a while) still refer to me as Giga, and old alias of mine.

I started RPing here... Some time around 2012 I believe. My memories of those are vague, but it's nothing worth bragging about. I properly got into it in 2014, participating in some of the more iconic RPs, such as Clockwork Souls, Blueblood, and the first incarnation of Demon Blood. Mind you, all three of those died fairly early on, but back then it wasn't my fault. Blueblood was the first RP here to have a dedicated Skype chat (to my knowledge) and that set a precedent for future ventures, and as the RP section formed its own community, I was in the mix with the crowd, and made tons of friends there. I'm not in the chat anymore, but my reasons for leaving it are completely irrelevant at this point.

I'm literally the worst host. If I host anything, don't join. It won't work out.

As for my strengths, I think my strongest is in character creation. It is difficult to judge myself objectively, especially on something as subjective as this, but I'd say I'm pretty happy with the vast majority of characters I have created. I love to come up with powers and abilities for characters, which translates well into RP. This isn't to say I neglect personality of course, as some of the characters I'm most proud of are so appealing to me because of their nature, rather than capability. Yui has said a few times that I am one of the best character creators on the site, which honestly I think to be a huge exaggeration (this place actually has some quite talented writers) but it's still a compliment I accept graciously.

I'd like to think my writing is pretty decent as well. I try to adopt different methods of storytelling while writing for different characters, so as to help convey a mood to the post. Now that I'm typing that out, it doesn't make much sense, but basically I focus on tone.

My biggest weakness is most of my activity on YCM is on my phone while doing other stuff. This means that I can't devote too much time solely to YCM stuff, so I can't put in the work needed to properly host an RP, despite having plenty of ideas for them. That said, I'm definitely able to keep up as long as I'm not trying to handle the course of the plot and make exposition posts. My track record with RPs is sketchy at best, but now that I'm actually thinking about it, almost all of them were things I was hosting myself, and buckled due to host pressure.

So yeah, as long as you don't let me host anything and keep me in one thing at a time, I should do just fine.

Also, I'm the one who dragged Cowcow into YCM's RP scene, so I kinda created a monster there.

[KatnissGod]

I'm KuriGod. I'm technically only here when I find a good RP that's not Yugioh and still haven't been accepted to a single RP to date, due to scrapping every, single, damn app I've made. 

 

Strengths: Dunno yet.

 

Weaknesses: As previously mentioned, I tend to scrap apps

[Chaotic Angel]

I should probably post my strengths and weaknesses too.

 

Strengths: I am very RP literate if I put my effort into it, good with Original RPs, good with character creation and more of a host than a joiner.

 

Weaknesses: Likes to avoid titles that already exist unless it's kind of a last resort thing and doesn't seem to keep RPs for awfully long. That stops here.

[mitchermitcher]

so you know, section issues, how to get new people to join, how to get RPs to actually conclude, etc etc. can someone discuss those

[Chaotic Angel]

Don't think everyone's finished with their introductions, but we'll make a start on that anyway...

 

Let's see first what you think we should do to lure new people in to the RP section? Knowing me, in the MyBB3 era we did well, more so than now (Mind you, we're doing good now still) and RPs managed to conclude one way or another.

 

Let's see your opinion.

[(GigaDrillBreaker)]

Honestly, RP is doing pretty damn well right now, all considering. There are several RPs that get posts every few days, and a few more that only have activity occasionally, but have been around for years. Look just a few posts up and you will see that the section is attracting a pretty good amount of attention from new members (Yui and Chaotic Angel inviting users to join the section in the introduction subforum no doubt is to thank for this). Hell, integration with the community is even pulling veterans who haven't RPd in ages back to the section, such as Black in Skaia's fire emblem RP.

 

This next bit is obviously subjective, but I'd say the quality of these RPs is improving as well. I've read through a lot of old RP threads, and even some of the best don't have the quality of writing that shows up nearly every day in the section now.

 

I feel the section could use more cohesion, and I believe that this uptick in activity and quality I speak of should lead us to do more cooperative efforts as a section (this thread being a great example of such). I'm never one to say "don't fix what isn't broken" but RP as a section honestly seems to be on the path toward overall improvement. The best thing to do is to build off of these progresses, welcoming more people into the fold. I've heard from several members that RP seems to be off in their own world. Now, if all you want to do here is RP, that's totally okay, but these illusions of elitism and exclusivity are what holds the section back now.

[Chaotic Angel]

You can thank me later.

 

I agree with you in the sense the section as a whole is improving. I found out the minute I came back but it's all just RPs that has been here for YEARS and new ones going to sheet half the time...

 

So I had to do something. It may well be the same as what Yui is doing, garnering attention in the Introduction section and inviting new members here, but that was all.

 

I knew I needed to up my game as well, and my RPs are generally proof that I need to show my skill. Looking back to when I first started until now... Holy sheet. It first came out a Script Format, then it was outlawed and we started becoming more literal in our writing. App skeletons also evolved. Ever looked back at that too?

[BANZAI!!!!]

I'll be updating the OP when I'm home from work, though I'm pretty certain there are some who haven't introduced themselves.

 

A reminder that this thread is for open discussion pertaining to the section. Keeping it active and welcoming is a good idea. I'm gonna be brainstorming conversation starters for us in my spare time.

[Dad]

I'm happy to talk about concluding RPs.  It's something that does concern me, and I'm both apart of it and a cause of it.

 

What I typically find when it comes to RPs falling short are two main causes:

 

• Lack of host acitivty

OR

• Lack of player activity

 

At any given time, there can be a number of reasons for activity to decline.  First and foremost, as hosts and players, we must realize that we all have lives and responsibilities.  Most of YCM's hosts and players are at least 17 - 25 years of age.  This means that they are likely employed part-time or full time, are in some form of schooling, or have an active social life.  All this means is that we need to be actively communicating with each other on what's going on in our lives (barring anything super personal).  While this isn't the greatest cause of lack of RP activity, it is one of them.

 

Someone may be moving for college, and will be away for an extended period of time before they are able to log on again.  Some may be working double shifts at their place of employment, and won't be active for a few days.  Some may be out on drunken explorations (i.e. me) and be too intoxicated to partake in posting.  But all of this comes down to communication.  Players and hosts must be able to talk with one another outside of the RP.  Most hosts will form some kind of Skype group chat to get all players in one location.  More often than not, if a player has something come up, they'll be able to leave a message in a group chat or a private chat for the host to let the host know that they (the player) will be away for x amount of time.

 

Looking deeper into communication regarding activity, not everyone has or uses Skype.  Some aren't comfortable with it, or may just generally dislike the program.  That's totally fine.  All that means is that if a player is going to be away for an extended amount of time, they need to leave a Private Message with the host in some form or another.  Or if they aren't sure they can reach the host, they should reach out to other players in the same rp they are playing in.  In addition--and I am also guilty of not doing this--hosts should regard communication in their opening posts of their Out of Character threads.  Make an emphasis on communication.  Tell your players ahead of time how to contact you in the event of an unavoidable activity decline.

 

For example:

 

[OP]

 

"Players, please feel free to PM me via the YCM messaging system if you have a problem regarding your schedule for posting activity.  I can also be reached via Skype or [email protected].  In the event that I am inactive, I will make a statement in the Out of Character thread.  You may of course do so as well."

 

Something to that effect.  Better informing our players of what to do in a situation that they cannot avoid should lead to more productivity while in IC threads.

 

---

 

Generally Speaking

 

Planning is another issue in an of itself.  Some hosts work better planning their entire rp out.  Some work better on the spot.  Whatever the case may be--again, I'm guilty of this--you cannot leave your players in a position where they are unable to do anything without waiting for you.

 

This is sometimes unavoidable.  Most RPs will involve a Non-Playable Boss Character that needs to be defeated in order to progress.  However, the host may not respond to individual player posts one at a time.  It would be hectic.  From what I've seen, most hosts will respond to player posts all at once.  This allows each player to reply to the NPC Boss, and act out their characters moves.  However, this also puts players in what I will call a "waiting bubble".

 

Once players have responded to the NPC Boss by a host, players must then wait until their host can put the NPC Boss back into play with a reply.  This is a "bubble" which traps players in a loop of zero activity, as they wait for the host of the RP to respond.  YCM doesn't seem to have that problem too much, but it does happen.

 

I'll touch up a bit more later.  Gonna take a break.

[Chaotic Angel]

Okay, I thought of something to follow up from Dad's post above. It may not be much, but here goes.

 

I agree to his statement, but sadly not many people seem to abide by it. This should be a rule, Zai. I hope you're reading this too. Communication should be crystal clear and players should be telling the RP host of any inactivities ahead of time. In an event that even this is unavoidable and the player suddenly becomes inactive, they should PM the host of such inactivity via Forum Messenger or Skype as soon as they are back.

 

I mean, this is one way of keeping the RP section a nice and happy place. It's also down to the host's dedication to the section as well. Knowing me, I've been around for years on and off. Even when I am absent, I am still scheming ideas for new RPs. This is how dedicated I am, but that might be besides the point.

 

If anyone else has anything to follow up on this, feel free.

[mitchermitcher]

While I agree that informing hosts of potential absences should be common etiquette, it shouldn't be a rule. What are you going to do, punish a player with warning points for not dropping a notice about their lack of participation in what is essentially just a private affair? It's not something the forum should take responsibility for. It should be entirely up to the host to dismiss problematic players themselves. You can emphasize the act as good manners everyone should be following all you want, but not as an actual rule.

[Chaotic Angel]

Okay, I suppose that proves a point as well. In any case, communication should be key if an RP is going to be running smoothly. Instead, this should act as a reminder to all prospective players. Well, I'm strict about communication now as well because I want mine to run as smoothly as possible. I'm sure many of you would want the same for your RPs, no?

 

I'll have to come back later for more. I couldn't think of anything else yet.

[Dad]

Bumping because of the importance of this thread to the health of this section.  Let's keep the discussion going and generate more activity.