How to get people intersted?

[Assassiinx]

I posted some starters, got a couple votes for the rp I want to do but no one has gone past voting for the idea. Is there a magic trick I dont know? O...O

 

[Nav]

Getting people interested in a roleplay is a tricky business; ask anyone who has tried to GM a roleplay. Oftentimes, have a 'good idea' is not enough to hook people into joining a roleplay. So, in that sense: yes, there are some tricks to getting people to join.

First off, you need to present the roleplay information in an appealing way. For example, if you just have a long block of text without any breaks, people are usually turned off. Breaking down information about your roleplay, and editing how much information you present at one time, can be your friend and can allow people to digest your content in more informational bites. On the inverse, if you have too little information, people may be confused or may believe the roleplay has lacked foresight and planning. So, how much is just enough? It's hard to say and varies roleplay to roleplay and style to style. You should definitely pick out what detail level of you want your players to have. A roleplay looking for roleplayers with 4 paragraphs of content per post vs. a roleplay looking for roleplayers with 1-2 sentences of content per post often look very different.

Advertising is also another large key to initial roleplay success people fail to notice. Do you have an advert in the proper forum? Do you have a banner (you can get one by going up to the header and selecting 'advertising')? If not, I suggest you do. People may have voted without any intention of joining another roleplay just to help you out. Widen your cast a little and try and entice new people in. If you can't create your own banners, don't worry. There are lots of users willing to do it for free in Media Shops & Requests. For more on advertising, here is a great guide: LESSON - Advertising Roleplays

I could go on and on, but nothing I could say would be much different than what you can find in this guide: LESSON - GreenSea's GM 101 for beginners

c: Best of luck!

 

[Kagayours]

It sounds to me like you've attracted a few players, but you can't seem to get them to actually comment on the thread or to do anything else other than actually vote in the poll. Is that correct?

If so, then what I would emphasize is simply encouraging people to comment. I always post up my interest checks before the RP is fully developed, so that there are still a few holes in the lore, plot, or setup that I can then use as discussion-starters. Posing a question, and asking potentially-interested players how they feel about a certain idea, is a good way to help players feel more engaged and invested in the thread. And getting an actual discussion going is great for helping players feel more invested.

In fact, now that I think about it, part of the problem might be that you chose to do a poll, rather than having people verbally answer in the thread itself. A poll is far less involved -- and, consequently, less engaging -- than a verbal response. It's easy for anyone who visits your thread to simply choose whatever answer best fits their vague feelings on the subject, without needing to think any further on it.

If your RP is already fully-developed and you don't have any good talking points, then, I would at least put a line in the interest check that says something like "And don't hesitate to speak up if you have any questions or concerns!" Generally, it's good to emphasize that you want players to ask questions and all that. Questions are good! They help players get more invested in the idea, thus making them less likely to only glance at the thread, say that they might join, and then not think about the RP again after that. And they help you flesh out your RP's lore, on top of that!