I'm not sure what to do about this. I must admit, this is what happens in every group RP I've ever been involved in. Enthusiasm and posting rates start off high but diminish over time and then the RP dies. I'm not innocent of course- my own interest in this has admittedly waned as well. Not sure if ot was the 2 weeks of too much work or if it would have happened eventually anyway... or more likely if the two week hiatus just accelerated and exacerbated the problem.
I have 1 on 1 RPs that are going great but maybe that's just the nature of non-real-time roleplaying. It's certainly the reason I posted that expectation of at least one post a day- beyond just keeping the game moving, it maintains people's interests with a steady stream of rewarding stimulation through constant notifications and fun posts to read and opportunities to creatively express oneself. The more time in between posts, the less sway the roleplay has over one's thoughts, commanding a smaller portion of the player's attention. I think that might be a self-reinforcing cycle that eventually leads to RP death as each player in turn gets less and less excited and thus delays their posts longer and longer, and puts less effort into them.
But I don't know what to do about it. I have to admit, I've never been much of a cheerleader. I'm definitely not perfect. I go through bouts of exhaustion or periods of depression and I don't feel like I have any right to be lecturing others to be posting more or be more active. I'm not good at community building... or even at establishing or maintaining friendships to be honest. It's probably not advisable for the one running a game to have an attitude of 'well if you don't want to play, don't' and yet that's how I've always felt. I wamted a group of committed roleplayers passionate about the hobby but then I myself am not perfect about that either, so I feel trapped by that... short-coming? hypocrisy? I dunno...
Maybe it's just a technical matter. Perhaps my storytelling technique was not conducive to proper emotional investment. Or maybe it's the mechanics- one game master controlling the setting while everyone else just played their character. Maybe that was too limiting. Or it could be the subject matter itself. I really don't know.
This is a bit of a stream of consciousness post typed on my phone from the gym in between exercises on leg day- my least favorite of the days, heh. If anyone has any thoughts or advice or critique or words of wisdom or... anything, please speak up. I'm feeling lost and unsure. I don't want to abandon this by any means, but I also don't feel like it's working. Like we're headed for RP death. So if we're going to try to avoid that, let's do it now, while things can still change, before it's too late and all we have left is lanenting.
Sorry if this sounds whiny or overly dramatic or anything. Like I said, stream of consciousness. These are just the thoughts I'm thinking. Perhaps I shouldn't be expressing them, but the maybe if I didn't, I'd find myself later regretting not doing so.
