Emergency Discuss Poll: RP Forum Categories Part TWO

[Diana]

Iwaku is growing FAST. Much faster than I had anticipated, so I'm having to do MONTHS sooner than I originally planned. c___c

We are currently having an organization issue when it comes to the In Character forum threads. Our Signups forum is doing it's job, as it has a varied list of Genre Prefixes and Thread Icons to let people find what they're looking for based on GENRE and whether or not they are accepting characters. The only downside is that with these extra Genre Icons, people have been getting confused at which Genre forum their IC thread belongs in. (For example, labeling their RP as Horror with a Prefix, yet not knowing if their IC thread goes in Modern, Fantasy, Scifi, etc.)

Our In Character area is a mess. We're having a huge influx of Private RPs, which IS a great thing for player interactions, but flooding out the other roleplays. And members are heavily requesting more Jump In RPs, but it's very hard to find them, when many don't create an Out of Character thread in the Signups. (because they're jump ins, they're not supposed to need one!)

THINGS THAT MUST BE CONSIDERED

--> We do NOT want to make extra sub-forums in the categories. The more sub-forums we have, the more confusing it is. Not to mention the behind the scenes work that staffers have to go through in maintaining several extra forums. (It would double and triple the amount of forums Mods have to sift through.)

--> We also want to avoid segregating roleplay threads in to too many categories. We are growing fast, but we are still not a large enough community to warrant too many different categories. The less categories people have to browse through, the better.

--> We want to make it as easy as possible for all roleplayers to go DIRECTLY to the kind of roleplays they want to play.


In the previous poll, Traditional Genre reigned most popular because it was the most common, well known, and "easiest" simply because everyone recognizes it the most. And it IS the #1 best way to organize our roleplay threads.

Playing Styles was also a popular option because it solved our One on One and Jump In roleplay issue. As most players are very specific on whether or not they want to play in private, group, or no-bio roleplays.

THE PROPOSAL FOR THE -IN CHARACTER- RP THREADS:
Combine -BOTH- Traditional Genre and Playing Style in to a more organized system. By making the main forum structure done by playing style, but listing all IC threads by Genre inside the forums.

Main Forums:
- Signups & Player Requests (Closed Apps & Roleplay Talk as Subs)
- Jump Ins
- Group RPs
- One on Ones
- Mature

To explain in detail, it means:

SIGNUPS: Same as the current one. All OOC threads organized by Genres and thread icons.

JUMP INS: Would be all roleplays that do NOT have a signup thread or require bios. The first post in the thread would have a brief plot summary and any player could jump in without having to be approved first. We can give this forum the set of Genre Prefixes so potential players could choose their Jump In by genre.

GROUP RPs: These roleplays are the traditional multiple player roleplays. Their OOC threads would be in Signup like normal. Threads would be organized by the Genre Prefixes just like the Jump Ins. And have the Thread Icons to list whether or not they are seeking new characters or is a private rp.

ONE[X]ONES: All two player private roleplays. Will not require any prefixes.

MATURE: The private forum for all rp threads that players don't wait available to the public.


So the question is: Does this structure satisfy the public need for good Genre organization AND playing style/type organizing?

Answer fast. o___o We're getting more and more new members everyday and need to get our roleplay area squared off to accommodate! If this doesn't work for members, I must find us a new solution.

 

[Effort]

I've been okay with things, pretty much. Maybe mess with the search thing so people can type in different components of what kind of Rp they want?

 

[Roleplayluva]

How about a full 1 on 1 request thread. Everyone looking for a roleplay can post here but it's one on one. I have been on other forums before and this works wonders. We have similar ones here but not a full 1 on 1.

 

[Diana]

We actually have a prefix in the Signups area specially made for people that want to post threads for requesting One on Ones! but it's so new that no one has though to use it yet. XD Give it a try!

 

[Roleplayluva]

Can I have link please? Oh and maybe people will find it and use it if it's placed in the banner up at the top like the roleplayers resume and big momma

 

[Hades]

I agree with this new system
also:

don't wait available to

you mean "want"

I want to sugest the following, when the creator of an RP closes the Apps (if it's not a jump in) he/she should have tool system (like when you create a group you administer) that has a thing called create RP and it would start the RP thread, and the see OOC prefix would be clickable and link you to the OOC of that thread.
On the thread there would be also a tool box that would be called Accept chars and the creator would have there a list of members who posted on the OOC and he/she would have to select the ones that he/she accepts and only those would be able to post.

with that implemented - on our profiles there could a marker called RPs I'm in (like I did on my user notes so I won't lose track) and we could check that list if would tell us if there was any post since our last visit and who was the latest poster.

 

[Cotillion]

I agree with this new system
also:

you mean "want"

I want to sugest the following, when the creator of an RP closes the Apps (if it's not a jump in) he/she should have tool system (like when you create a group you administer) that has a thing called create RP and it would start the RP thread, and the see OOC prefix would be clickable and link you to the OOC of that thread.
On the thread there would be also a tool box that would be called Accept chars and the creator would have there a list of members who posted on the OOC and he/she would have to select the ones that he/she accepts and only those would be able to post.

with that implemented - on our profiles there could a marker called RPs I'm in (like I did on my user notes so I won't lose track) and we could check that list if would tell us if there was any post since our last visit and who was the latest poster.

In the thread tools, click on Subscribe to Thread for any roleplays that you're in. That way you can set it up so that it notifies you either via email, or through a notification on here that a thread you're subscribed to has a new post in it, and who the last poster is. That makes it really easy to track which threads you are roleplaying in, and instead of having to constantly check the thread, it'll notify you when a new post is there.


Also, if you're going to be criticizing someone for a spelling error, make sure your own post doesn't have spelling and grammatical errors.

 

[Hades]

I didn't mean to insult, I only said show she would notice and correct it, since I had to read the sentence 2 or 3 times till I realised it was mistake and thought that she might want to correct that before someone else does the same.
English is not my native language, so that's probably why I had a hard time to find it by context.

 

[Cotillion]

No worries then. That's understandable. I apologize if I came off as rude, it's just a pet peeve of mine that if someone fixes another person's spelling, that they shouldn't have made any mistakes themselves.

 

[Diana]

Coti is correct, the "Subscribe to Thread" does that exact thing for you in keeping track of your roleplays. :D You can change the way it notifies you also, so you can avoid getting emails about it, but still received the forum notifications about new replies.

I don't have a way to show via people's profiles what roleplays they've joined RPs at the moment. D: But I can add that to my "cool if I can find it" to-do list!

 

[Xindaris]

Hmm...

I really like being able to go to a subforum specifically for RPs of a specific genre, particularly because I find most of my inspiration in Fantasy. That hasn't changed, and because of that I would have a hard time liking the structure proposed.

I wonder if it would be a better idea to have in-character forums reserved for RPs that are still accepting members, and one or at most two forums for RPs that aren't accepting any new characters (one on one and closed to applications, possibly separated but not necessarily). The RPs not accepting new members would use prefixes of genre (Fantasy, Sci-fi, etc.) while the ones that are still accepting members would use the prefixes that In-character RPs use now. Of course this doesn't help identify jump-in RPs, but it would help the flood of RPs from getting too confusing for someone who wants to join something. Someone who wants to read an RP and not join it would be able to go through the closed RPs section and, if interested in reading a particular genre, see that.


For the problem of Jump Ins, I have to ask if it's possible to put a thread in two forums. It seems like it should be possible, not necessarily to store two copies in different places, but to have a "Jump ins" forum full of links to threads not unlike the redirection link that can be set up for a thread that's been moved from one forum to another. I'm sure nobody wants to be the person responsible for organizing that stuff manually, but I suspect it would be possible to automate the process of even labeling the links by genre based on which subforum they were posted in; you would need some kind of way to recognize the "jump in" prefix and then automatically do all of that.

Alternatively, I wouldn't object to a rule that jump ins must have a thread in the signups section, even if it's nothing but a locked thread with a link to the jump in it's made for. This way, the maker of the RP would be responsible for linking players who are looking specifically for jump ins, and the link threads could even go into a "Jump ins" forum as proposed above. Of course, a GM who wants an OOC discussion thread could also use their "link thread" for this purpose. It requires no automated process coding and no work from the moderators' side other than making sure people follow this simple rule.


(I didn't vote in the poll because this sums up my opinion better than any of the choices available)

 

[Tenebrae]

I think you all are on the right track here. I have noticed that when I first joined there were a lot of OOC's and not much Private One on One going on there. But then things just started to...multiply or something. I believe that there should be a specific thread for Jump Ins, OOCs, and Charas Wanted type thing while the Private thread has its own. It's hard to maneuver when you want to jump in if the thread is available ALL THE TIME. Closed Apps would also help the mess get tidied up. Problem is, when an App is closed, a new one is bound to open, which will eventually start making another app or Private Rp. That just makes things worse.

But on the brighter side, if you separate the threads to the assigned type (Jump In, Private, Mature) it'll be a lot easier to find what you're looking for instead of jumping into Fantasy and seeing a mass amount of clutter, then you'd never know what you're looking floor.

So we're on the right track here.

 

[Porg]

Seems a bit counter productive to remove the genre sub-forums.. but I dunno..

My immediate thought was that a one on one/private sub-forum would be a good idea...

I don't know if limiting Jump-ins to having no OOC (or at least encouraging them to) is a good idea, cos I know at least a couple of them have one..

The Mature section seemed a little redundant.. or is there demand for it?

I'm not sure of the solution, but thought I'd say this stuff, hope it helps?

 

[Aragon-Draco]

For my part, if there were super-genres like "Jump-in", or other types, then the sub-genres within those sections, I would be far more interested in RP.

 

[Diana]

Man, I have to use the quote buttons! o___o You say a lot of words, Xin...

I really like being able to go to a subforum specifically for RPs of a specific genre, particularly because I find most of my inspiration in Fantasy. That hasn't changed, and because of that I would have a hard time liking the structure proposed.

Threads will still be organized by Genre. Just like in the OOC area. So if you were looking for a Fantasy Jump In, you'd go to the Jump In forum, and look for roleplays listed as "Fantasy". If you want browse OOCs for Fantasy games, you'd look in the Signups forum the same way we are doing right now and browse for Fantasy games.

We KEEP the genre organizing, we just display it differently.

I wonder if it would be a better idea to have in-character forums reserved for RPs that are still accepting members, and one or at most two forums for RPs that aren't accepting any new characters (one on one and closed to applications, possibly separated but not necessarily). The RPs not accepting new members would use prefixes of genre (Fantasy, Sci-fi, etc.) while the ones that are still accepting members would use the prefixes that In-character RPs use now. Of course this doesn't help identify jump-in RPs, but it would help the flood of RPs from getting too confusing for someone who wants to join something. Someone who wants to read an RP and not join it would be able to go through the closed RPs section and, if interested in reading a particular genre, see that.

Our current OOC area is already doing this and working fine...? And we have the Thread Icons to display whether or not the IC threads are accepting apps or not? And like you said, organizing the IC threads this way does not solve our current issue with people finding specific KIND of roleplays like Jump In, Group, Etc. And that is an issue we NEED to solve right now.

For the problem of Jump Ins, I have to ask if it's possible to put a thread in two forums. It seems like it should be possible, not necessarily to store two copies in different places, but to have a "Jump ins" forum full of links to threads not unlike the redirection link that can be set up for a thread that's been moved from one forum to another. I'm sure nobody wants to be the person responsible for organizing that stuff manually, but I suspect it would be possible to automate the process of even labeling the links by genre based on which subforum they were posted in; you would need some kind of way to recognize the "jump in" prefix and then automatically do all of that.

Wouldn't putting duplicates threads in multiple forums just be more confusing? We want people to have to jump through different forums and threads LESS. There is also no automagic way we can list new and open app RPs that we aren't already doing with the OOC area. Having manually updated thread has never worked and is not a good option.

If we're already going to be listing roleplays by Type and the by Genre, this would be unnecessary. People can go directly to Type -> Genre. OR to Signups -> Genre.

Two clicks! Magic!

Alternatively, I wouldn't object to a rule that jump ins must have a thread in the signups section, even if it's nothing but a locked thread with a link to the jump in it's made for. This way, the maker of the RP would be responsible for linking players who are looking specifically for jump ins, and the link threads could even go into a "Jump ins" forum as proposed above. Of course, a GM who wants an OOC discussion thread could also use their "link thread" for this purpose. It requires no automated process coding and no work from the moderators' side other than making sure people follow this simple rule.

A lot of the reason why Jump Ins are popular are because they DON'T require an OOC. All plays have to do is view the thread and Jump In. And if we organized the forums better, we wouldn't need a special ad thread for Jump Ins, all jump in threads would be right there.

So again... the reason we propose the current structure is because it's only Two Clicks to get to the kind of RP you want. Compared to having to go through different kind of threads, four different forums, looking for threads marked as Jump In, sifting through a dozen One[x]Ones to find your Group Rp, etc. OOC area would not change at all. It currently works fabulous.

I don't know if limiting Jump-ins to having no OOC (or at least encouraging them to) is a good idea, cos I know at least a couple of them have one..

We wouldn't limit Jump Ins to not having an OOC. People can have an OOC for them if they want. :D It's just that most of them don't, and they end up going unnoticed because people don't know they're there and never find them. (And obviously, we don't want to FORCE them to HAVE an OOC, because that defeats the purpose of people being able to create them!)

JUST AS A REMINDER: WE'RE NEVER REMOVING THE GENRE ORGANIZING!
Just displaying it secondarily instead of the primary. Threads -themselves- would be marked with what Genre they are, just like in the OOCs. You would be able to easily scroll and see which threads are marked with the Genre you like, or even use the Thread Display to display ONLY the Genre you like. And since the OOCs would stay the same, the only thing that is really different, is being able to find IC threads easier. You know where to look.

People seem to think this means they can't browse the RP forums by Genre. We don't want to take away genre browsing cause that would be stupid. .__.

Browsing would be like:

-> I want to join a Modern Jump In -> Click Jump In Forum -> Browse threads marked as Modern. -> Start playing!

Or

-> I want to join a SciFi Group RP -> Click Signups Forum -> Browse Threads marked as SciFi -> Join Rp!

OR

-> I Just joined a Group Fantasy -> Where Is IC Thread? -> IC Thread is in Group RPs

 

[Roleplayluva]

Link to the one on one thread please and thanks

 

[Diana]

We don't have a single thread for the One on Ones, Angel! Members just start a new topic in the Signups, and use the "One[x]One Request" Prefix. (like you see people using "Fantasy or Horror" you can do a One[x]One Request one!

That way the topic started has a thread all to themselves for getting one or multiple partners!

 

[Roleplayluva]

Ok but where is the link for the signups? Can I have it please?

 

[Diana]

Right Here!

 

[Roleplayluva]

Sorry thank you