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Have you ever tried 'static' threads?


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Most RPs that I've come across the style of doing things is for the site to provide forums set in different places, and the members create their own threads for their own specific scenes. The RP background I came from, all the threads are pre-made and you RP in those threads and move your character in and out of those threads as you would them passing through one room and into another.  So if the setting was say... a McDonalds, it would look something like this:

 

> = forum

- = thread

 

> McDonalds

- The front counter

- The break room

- The play area

- The dining area

-  Behind the counter

- the carpark

-the bathrooms

 

etc etc whatever other areas might theoretically be played in.  The pros to this are that anyone can interact with anyone, so basically all RPs are 'open' to a degree (and if something happens publicly then public reactions can happen) , everyone has the same understanding of what a particular area looks like (edits can be made to the first post of a thread if more gets established, e.g. graffiti gets put in the bathroom or something), there's always a place to RP even if its just a few quick posts before you move your charrie on (sometimes this is a huge benefit to getting into your character and getting inspired for something more juicy), and it really makes your RP world feel more full and alive.

 

I've RPd on another site where I brought the static concept with me, and every forum had at least one static thread permanently there (we'd redo it if it reached say 1000 posts), but members were also encouraged to create their own personal threads as usual too. It worked out really well having a kind of hybrid approach. 

 

While I can't see the RP community making a full shift to the static approach, I do think that a hybrid approach could really benefit a lot of sites in regard to activity, in regard to making it easier for newbies to join in, and in regard to making it easy for people to participate in some way even when they don't have a huge amount of time. So what I'm wondering about is would any of you be willing to try this (and maybe report back!)? Why or why not?  Have you come across it before? What can you see as the potential pros and cons of having all static threads (with a forum perhaps to do some one on one private stuff), or having a hybrid approach with some statics provided?

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I think a couple of static threads in popular places (tavern, market) might be useful, with all the other threads dated and following the main story.

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I've been on a forum that was a mix of static threads and forums, this was an age ago on a Harry Potter forum. You'd have the forum for the Great Hall and inside of it would be a thread per table. One for the staff, one for Gryffindor and so on. The problem with that was that it could be so long between posts, that it was kind of awkward. Because, if that person is still active, are they still hoping for a reply? Can I move the time forward to breakfast as opposed to dinner?

 

Mind you, I'm not opposed to them. I guess it's just a community standard to set so that people know what the etiquette is. Because that etiquette wasn't obvious, the Great Hall House tables often languished.

 

I appreciate the thought behind this though. Encouraging characters to interact more organically than is typical within the forum community at the moment. (Where we tend to solely say: what if this happened to our characters? And that what if is the basis for the thread. Which isn't a bad thing, but also, being a bit diverse in how we approach character interactions isn't a bad thing either.)

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I've seen them here and there in my various rp ventures, and though I don't mind a hub thread of sorts where folks flow in and out easily for casual interactions.  It seems like it might break the continuity of a plot that runs across multiple locations. I would also be the sort of newbie to be intimidated by a large active static thread, as I'd either see characters interacting, and not spot an opening to add my posts, or I'd actually jump in and end up overlooked because of how much was going on. I like the idea more in rp-based discord channels or for a small faction that exists within a larger world and can better organize their plots in one thread instead of many.

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I would worry about the continuity of the threads and them making sense for the rest of the board, but I suppose they might work if you wanted to have a board where people could just have a bunch of short, not heavy content rps where people could mingle, espeaically for things like parties, social gatherings and such, but they would have to be reset often so that the old stuff is cleared away and have it start afresh. (I think I'd have to see it work on a forum to implement on a board which I ran myself.) On twitter we sometimes have lighthearted, non serious stuff where people posted on the timeline so people could chatter together and for more descriptive/serious stuff if you didn't want people interrupting you would directly mention them. I don't think you'd be able to have serious, in-depth rp using a static system though because of continuity problems, people being unsure if they can post, people butting in, etc. You'd have to make sure that people knew how to use it and also ensure that people weren't using it as an excuse to post short, insensitive messages that could lead to fighting and such.

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I had a site way back when where all the rp happened within a castle, we had rooms that were static and everyone could enter any thread at any time. There were areas restricted by social rank, but otherwise it was a free for all. SOOOO much fun, but it was a very small playerbase and so it worked well.

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The past is a place of reference, not residence.

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