Discussion Poll: Roleplay Forum Categories

Which forum structure looks like the best organization for you?


  • Total voters
    11
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Diana

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A LOT of people have brought up suggestions about separating the One[x]One rps from the other sections, separating D&D rps, Jumps, etc. So I thought a discussion thread so everyone can give their opinions, thoughts, pros and cons about it here.

We do NOT intend to change the forum categories any time soon, but do like to hear Feedback from the members, and hear new ideas and suggestions. :D

I'm going to give a few examples of both popular and unconventional rp forum category structures, and we'd like everyone to give their thoughts on each!

PLAYING STYLE STRUCTURE
This has been a recent idea, to organize the IC threads by their style of play. So it's easier to find jump ins, groups, etc.

- Jump Ins
- Group RPs
- One on One RPs
- Mature RPs


TRADITIONAL GENRE STRUCTURE
Traditional, easy, everyone knows how it works and every one does it.

- Modern
- Fantasy
- SciFi
- Misc
- Mature


TIME PERIOD STRUCTURE
Based on the simple premise determined on what time period the roleplay feels like.

- Past
- Present
- Future


SKILL STRUCTURE
Roleplays organized short posts vs novelesque posts.

- Newbie
- Intermediate
- Advanced
 
I will say I do not like the skill structure format. I think if you say advanced you will be intimidating shy, yet good writer/players. Any of the other systems I think people will easily adapt to.
 
I voted for the Traditional structure. It's probably the easiest to use and seems like it would be the most newb-friendly of the options, although the Playing Style structure has merit as well. Perhaps a combination of the two would work best? Like have it divided by playing style, and then by the genre? For example you would go to a Jump In RP forum, then there it would be divided further in to genres so you could pick the specific genre of Jump In RP that you want.
 
I'm gonna stick with the tried and tested method, I think. Playing Style structure is basically incorporated into the Traditonal style anyway; it has no need to be it's own style. Time Period structure is... basically what we have in place already, just with different names that are more excluding towards the weirder, more unusual games, and so I feel is not the best idea. And Skill Structure would, I fear, cause some sort of divide between different styles of roleplaying. "Oh your way of RPing isn't GOOD for this category; go back to the other one". It would lead to elitism and a feeling of inferiority in those using the seemingly 'lesser' categories.

Nope, I like it just the way it is. No need to fix what ain't broke.
 
I agree 100% with Grumpy. There's nothing really wrong with the way we do things so we might as well stick with what we have. If we change things around it would get rather confusing I think, especially if we ended up having to put more sub-forums into our main ones. I think the prefixes we use are more than capable with directing people what RPs are what.

I also have to agree with going against the skill level set up, it would be easy enough for that to start up more than a few elitist campaigns so IF we were to change anything that would be the absolute last thing I would want to see (even though I can see how it's intentions are good)
 
Skill-based divisions were attempted in the distant past, despite similar concerns as stated up-thread.

In that instance, even those who thought themselves among the highly-skilled were slow to post in the designated section. It fast became a graveyard of still-born interesting game concepts. Ironically, while we'd feared elitism, it seemed to have the opposite effect without anyone actually doing anything.

I don't know what would happen now, but I'd say we're okay without it.


Plus fostering length=skill in newbs doesn't need any help. :(

Time period doesn't seem important enough to warrant emphasis at the moment, to say nothing of RPs that take place in no clearly defined or analogous period of human history.

I don't really have much to say against playing style classifications other than that reorganizing games based solely on that is probably less convenient than genre-focus. Genres are probably still the most important possible method of classification here. Until members' focus shifts, I feel, things are nice enough as they are.
 
Does anyone even make Mature RPs? And what's the point of separating them from Group RPs? We have no one to offend but morons who can't read, and on a roleplaying site it should be our explicit agenda to offend such people. If you really need a place to shove the sex fiends then put them in Miscellaneous, cos I'm sure most of their erotic fantasies could be classed as "mixed-genre, unique or bizarre". Plus it would pad out the Misc section a bit.

I agree that one-on-ones should be separated for the sake of declutterisation.

I also think having a separate section for Jump Ins could be nice, as it allows you to go to a single place to look for quick games. You could make a rule that the first post of a Jump In MUST have a plot summary, so that players know where to go to get a quick briefing.

And D&D roleplays are still no way near successful enough to get any kind of privilege, since most of them die before the first encounter and are just a pointless exercise in character sheet construction.


So that would be:

- Fantasy
- Sci-Fi
- Modern
- Miscellaneous (inc Mature)
- Jump Ins
- One-on-Ones
 
Technically, Mature RPs are allowed across the entire forum. But we have the "private" area for the people that don't want to play that sort of thing out in public. D:
 
Well they need to man the fuck up and be proud of their perversions.
 



SKILL STRUCTURE
Roleplays organized short posts vs novelesque posts.

- Newbie
- Intermediate
- Advanced

Why not just make these into prefixes? If we're concerned with 'player level,' anyway.

I also second taking out the Mature section and just leave it up to the discretion GMs and players to decide the level of censorship/restrictions (or lack thereof) that should go into each roleplay. It's the internet, so we don't have to adults about it, but we can be strategically negligent. (Like all of history's greatest minds and harried mothers.)

 
Bumping, cause more than 12 people should vote. :D




As for me... I favor both the Traditional Genre and the Playing Style idea.

I like the traditional way, cause it's so much easier to find the genre of roleplay you want to participate in. It's a classic, people know what to expect and it looks pretty. And when you consider it in the same light as the 'Timeline' style, it's still a top notch way to organize IC threads. I have multi playing styles, so it's usually genre I think of first when searching for rps. I make good use of thread subscriptions, so I'm not personally bothered by lots of rp threads. I get to them directly from my UserCp.

But I am also really digging the Playing Style setup, because it seems many players are very specific on whether or not they want to play in a group, alone, or bypass bios. D: It's been hard trying to help these players find roleplays when our forum structure is mostly designed for group playing. I'm running out of clever and -organized- ways to make this easier. And since we already have prefixes for the genre in OOCs, it seems like organizing the IC threads by playing style might be a useful way to directly send people to the kind of RP they want AND not have to sift through the rps they -don't- want or can't ever join...

And I HATE HATE HATE skill level organization. >< Never liked it, never will. All it does is foster self esteem complexes, rather than helping people improve or find good partners. Game masters can always state their requirements in the OOCs.
 
Why not just sub-categorize One on Ones and Jump Ins within their respective genre categories?

Ex.

>Genre (main Forum)
_//Jump In (Sub-Forum)
_//One on One (Sub-Forum)

-Each Genre category would have two sub-categories for genre-relevant One on Ones and Jump Ins.
 
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