What Makes You Stick with a Site?

[Tris 8]

Not in any particular order...

 

1) The site community, and if the staff feel like they're part of the community rather than above it.

2) The story, if it's engaging and players can contribute to the plot! 

3) The visuals, though that's less about whether it's pretty and more if its going to give me eye strain or a migraine. Writing is tough if you can't look at the site without pain.

4) If I feel safe and comfortable speaking up, whether its regarding ideas for a plot, or concerns re: a player or staff issues.

[Eleutherian 17]

1.  People willing to bring new people into their plots

2.  People actively taking want ads

3.  People plotting openly and in DMs

4. Site skin - I'm a huge aesthetic person.  

5.  The community and their engagement.  

 

[sightedwolf 10]

Compatibility.

 

• Site aesthetics play a part in this - I can't tell you how many times I have pulled up a site and gone 'ugh no thank you' and immediately closed it without poking around. I know this is subjective, and everyone's opinions are different, but it makes a great deal of difference to me.
• The community - It's just so much more enjoyable to write on a site where you feel not only welcome, but wanted, and where the members make an active effort to communicate. Plots and things fall in this category too. It's harder to want to put any time or effort into a site if the members are disinterested in your ideas and character progressions. 
• Friendly, or at least approachable, staff - I am not a teenager anymore. I have a job, a significant other, a family, etc. and it's so important to have staff who understand that roleplaying is a hobby; that everyone has their own lives and things might come up to delay posts or chatting or whatever. 
• An engaging plot that moves at a realistic pace - I've been on sites in the past that moved much too fast for everyone to keep up, and if things move too slow, then people are going to leave. There needs to be a balance. 
• The writing styles of the current members and staff - I have definitely 'noped' out of a site before if I saw too much flowery prose, or too many spelling errors. I want to write with people of comparable skill, and while I can forgive the occasional typo... I shouldn't have to try to slog through 500+ words of garbled nonsense. 

[Atypicalzero 12]

The first site I was with to the end was wholly the setup and the people. I made so many friends and learned so much from being there. Even when vibes were low and I thought of leaving, I always bounced back. I just couldn't turn away from it. It was my home online for years and I miss it dearly.

[MegHanSolo 13]

On 7/25/2020 at 4:26 PM, Tris said:

Not in any particular order...

 

1) The site community, and if the staff feel like they're part of the community rather than above it.

2) The story, if it's engaging and players can contribute to the plot! 

3) The visuals, though that's less about whether it's pretty and more if its going to give me eye strain or a migraine. Writing is tough if you can't look at the site without pain.

4) If I feel safe and comfortable speaking up, whether its regarding ideas for a plot, or concerns re: a player or staff issues.

Community engagement and comfort (with both members and staff), site functionality and developed lore that lends itself well to easy storytelling are absolutely my major pluses. Although the above really hits the nail on the head for what I want as a member and also what I want to accomplish as a site runner. About to frame this up and put it in my hypothetical site staff lounge! 

[TheOasisXYZ 5]

Inviting community, helpful staff, and non-cliques. The last major community I was a part of before I eventually went off and made my own was super toxic and exclusive. If you weren't part of the 'in-crowd', you were 100% on the outs. I dig places that let people be themselves, not ones that force people to feel like they have to behave a certain way to be liked.

[Pam 0]

Number one for me hands down is the community. I wouldn't be roleplaying if it wasn't for the people I did it with. The community makes or breaks the site for me. I would roleplay on pen and paper mailing it across seas if it meant doing it with people I adore. 

 

But community aside, I'm pretty flexible when it comes to genre. But I don't like over complicated systems. Keep the mechanics simple, I don't need flashy rules that are meant to make things more immersive or exciting- all I need is good story lines (bonus if the stories come with really hot faceclaims) and I'm good to go. 

[Alea 6]

Just like everyone else has mentioned, community is a huge part of it. I want to play in a place where I feel like I'm able to engage with the people and the plots. If I'm not able to interact with half the board because they only want to play with each other, that's a bad look, both as an existing and incoming member. I want to feel included, just as I want to make new people feel included when they join. I like when a community does things outside of the board - like game night or voice chats - but I don't want that to become a priority over what actually brought us together. For that specific reason, too, I usually find it easier to find a home at smaller, newer boards than something big and well established. 

 

Ease of navigation is another big thing. If I'm constantly fumbling around trying to find what I'm looking for, that's going to get old really fast and I'm not going to stick around. 

[Faie 5]

For me, it's the staff. If the staff clearly love the site and are non-problematic, then I know the site will be a long lived one. Members might cycle through, but the site will carryon because of the staff. Meaning it can be a good long-term home for me.

[Indie 0]

I will stay with a site if I feel like I have been adopted into their community. Like most people say.

It's no fun to keep trying to get involved, just to be shut out. 

[Audrina 1]

Definitely the story, and great writers, if I can find and engage with them! The staff can have an impact, but it's a little less important. Staff who are powertripping and assholish will turn me away fairly quickly though.

[FoolishMortal 1]

General respect. Not feeling as though the admins/mods are micromanaging every aspect of RP and lore. The more creative freedom, the better. Also, sites that have good boundaries and handle tough members/situations with assertiveness. Not allowing for toxic members to have time to cloud the community and being protective of the writing environment that they have created for us.

[britata 6]

Mostly the other players. If I can't get along with them as people, it doesn't matter how active or interesting they are, I will just get bored and leave. I need to be able to write with friends or at least with people open to the idea of building friendships. There's a level of trust that needs to happen in order for me to really connect with people and write with them.

[Kat713 6]

Easy answer. Its a mix of the people and the content but honestly, its mostly the people and admins that can do it. I've been on such an incredible site, with great plots and people but the admins sunk it for me with how they treated people not in 'their' clique. Admins who are just genuinely kind and willing to talk with everyone and hear them and not shut them out for different ideas, that makes a site for me. 

[jess 2]

For me it's all about the community first. If it's a good group of people, I can usually find the fun in any sort of genre/world, even if it takes a bit of time to learn the rules and the lore.