RPG

@Lady_Liberty: I was reading the Vine Hall of Fame nominations, and I wasnt surprised to find Impero (Vice's Newdeath) there. I'm going to predict something, you may like him now, but at least for me, the more I played with him the more I realize he plays RPG only to always win, or to be fair never lose, and sooner or later you're really going to hate his guts, trust me. I loved his writing when I started, but after 2 years of always being defeated no matter what I tried, or what anybody tried, we only "won" if he let us. He cannot play with a character that isnt OP in some sort of way.

Check his Bio in the Vice and you'll get it the idea, Raseri, Newdeath or Creer. The others he used them two seconds before dropping them, all of them low-level or street-level

@Lady_Liberty:

This will be a pretty long response..I apologize in advance if I bore anyone :D Don't feel forced to read if you don't want to lol I'm just getting this outta my system XD

Personally, I think there are three main drivers that will ultimately govern RPG activity here on the Vice: 1) User Activity and Drive, 2) Teams, and 3) Real Life

1) User Activity and Drive

To put it quite simply, when there are more active and enthusiastic RPG users, the RPG forum flourishes...and vice versa. Not only that, but with more users, there are a lot more ideas and RPG genres that are put on the table, thus incorporating users with various tastes and such. I guess when a lot of our RPG regulars stopped coming on the site, or just stopped RPing; a domino effect took place which brought it to the current state. But I haven't fully lost hope though, seeing that there are great efforts that was done and still is being done to revive the RPGs site.

2) Teams

I know we cant really have teams when we dont have many users..but I personally believe that teams can draw users into the RPG forums and also build up enthusiasm and drive. I noticed with teams suddenly losing activity, users also began to not-be-so-active. Not sure if I ever shared this with anyone, but what drew me into the RPG forums was the team "Teku". I used to creep the forum posts and really wanted to experience the whole "team" thing. So I believe the existence of teams is a biggie.

3) Real Life

Ultimately, we are all influenced by our real lives. We've all got certain priorities that come before RPing; like family, social life, friends, school, jobs, etc. That boils down to one big question...how committed are you to RP? As you guys noticed, I'm not a very active RP user as I used to be, and I do have commitment issues when it comes to finishing what I started (which I apologize for)...mainly because I'd get too caught up with life; especially school.

Solutions....?

I haven't thoroughly thought of solutions to this problem; but one thing that I can suggest is to bump some of the open threads like Jewel's Sake Bar and Grill, the Park, etc; and posts dont need to be super lengthy (personally, lengthy posts intimidate me unless I am really absorbed into the story). I find that lengthy posts are more demanding in both time and effort which for a user that's trying to RP for fun might not enjoy and might even end up avoiding. I'm not saying write crappily (if that's even a word XD), I'm saying keep the posts short and sweet like a paragraph or two. These threads can also attract other potential RPGers that may be creeping the threads (like in my case XD).

Another suggestion that I have is to start small. What I mean is, don't suddenly create a big RPG that is very important in the Vice-verse plot-line with activity being low to start with...that's because the success of that RP would be very low. What I suggest is start small RPG stories here and there, just to boost up the users' drives, and when you feel that there are enough users that are truly committed to participate in a major RPG, then it should be created.

Will I (UsachanMaN) RP again?

I'm still unsure about RPing again because of my bad habit of just suddenly stopping XD I still don't know how my next semester will be in terms of work-load and such. But if I do start RPing, I'll probably contribute by bumping the open threads like the park and such. Hopefully if teams are created or revived, I'd probably join one (maybe even create one if I'm ambitious) do a lot of RPing there :D (maybe even bring back my hidden alts ;P) We'll have to wait and see :)

Lol if you made it this far, then I thank you for taking the time to read this post XD

@UsachanMaN: I read every bit of it, and thank you for taking the time to think out and write such a detailed post! Very helpful, and I agree with you on the vast majority of points.

@Lady_Liberty: Thank you for taking the time to read my post!! :D I really appreciate it XD

The lack of time. Things were different when I was a high schooler. Back then, I'd be on the CV RPG section the whole day.

You know what, I have to agree with Miss Usachan on the length issue. As of lately, I've found writing essay-long posts to be quite a chore for me to undertake; especially with my current real-life schedule. These lengthy posts are better fit for Fan-Fics, in my opinion. When I first started Rping, it was at the Marvel Boards and the majority of the posts were a sentence or a paragraph long. I then joined Comic Vine, where you were "encouraged" to follow the program. So, I quickly adapted to the standards of the Vine and all its complexity. It was very different for me, at first, because I was so used to posting one-liners. I struggled to make my mark on the forum when I first got started there.

Now, when the Vice first opened, the majority of the Rp users were Viners that came from Comic Vine. In a way, those standards-- like the suggested length for posts-- have become a part of our Rping community. Why is this relevant? I believe the Vice Rping standards should be modified and be made our own, because something is off here. Whatever it is, it's sorta killed my drive to roleplay and a lot of other people. I'd say: it's time to reinvent the system. Let's be a little more original, and start following our own template.

@SamJaz: No prob! :D Just wanted to share my thoughts and experience :)

@Guyver: That's exactly what I meant..well said! :D

@Guyver: One of the things we've encouraged in the CVnU is a new style of RPG. Basically the first post sets the scene. It is usually fairly long because it contains a lot of information. The posts after that are usually 'interaction style' posts, like you would find in a location thread. Much shorter, much quicker.

Its worked pretty well so far, and people seem to enjoy it a lot more.

@Lady_Liberty:

That's how I start off with the majority of my posts. I'm a sucker for poetic settings.

@Sonata:

The RPG rules need a bit of an update. It's a copy and paste version of the CV's rules lol. Also, I think we could do good with Non-Canon Rpgs. We don't see a lot of those often. Change it up a bit.

@UsachanMaN: About the lenght of the post you're totally right, I took the example of other players and some of my post are really really long, now I'm going to a shorter aproach like I did in Samjaz vs Gen or in Taylor, rather than the bulk of text I used to write like in Blade & Bullets (God did I wrote a lot there or what, to my defense Lobos is usally longer)

@Kuma_From_Argentina: Yea I know what you mean, I feel that when you see that everybody is writing long posts, you feel obliged to write a long one as well... and they can be a hassle to write especially when you've got other things to focus on. As suggested by Lady Liberty, I think the initial post would understandably be long, but following posts should be at a reasonable length :)

@kashif1: Yea I agree with your point. I think having big rps with such low activity wont be as successful. I think what we need now is an interesting, yet not-so-big and demanding RPG just so we can get the ball rolling again.

@SamJaz: That's a good suggestion! :D But I think if each one of us started one might be a bit too overwhelming. Perhaps we can start off with one RP where all the current and willing active users participate in. I think with that initial RP, our characters will get to interact and stuff, and that may stem new RP ideas and such :) What do you guys think?

@SamJaz: Lool that does sound kinda funny in a whacky way XD It could work though with a well-thought plot line and enough interested users! :D I'd suggest you post your ideas on the RPG Ideas Thread :D If you get users interested in your idea(s) you can collaborate and then start up an OOC :D