Group thread posting order, how do you handle it?

[Morrigan 1,826]

 

So standard posting order of most threads is me, you, me, you, me, you, and that works for one on one. It normally works for up to 3 characters, depending on the situation but when you get beyond that it starts to get a little willy nilly because me, you, other person 3, other person 4, other person 5 is honestly unruly and especially unnatural. It honestly feels like Star Ocean with a turn order of fighting that just doesn't quite feel right. you could be talking to other person 5 but  they have two people to wait through possibly interrupting the natural flow of conversation to get to them to respond to you etc.

 

So my question is, how do you like this dealt with? How do you like to see group threads run? Group Events? What would make these easier to participate in for you while keeping flow and trying to not have an event that runs forever?

[Somniac 207]

How we handle group threads splintering into subsections generally depends on the size of the thread.

 

Is it an event thread, or have a significant amount of characters interacting in it? Splinter it off into its own thread, link to it in the intro and in the branched off thread, and reintegrate where necessary.

 

Is it groups having short conversations that are bound to end within a page or so? Generally finished within the thread with the understanding that it’s wrapping up soon.

 

Whatever works best for the participants has been a satisfying approach for us.

[StormWolfe 557]

We allow joint posting in group threads because my peeps totally ignore directed tags. So if Char B and C are speaking directly to one another, we JP it into one post so the other characters can go on with their interactions. If I need people to slow down or wait for X to happen, I post a notice in our Discord that no one should reply until that event occurs and then we go on.

 

It really works out well. However, it requires trusting your player base because everyone has to be able to edit all posts in the IC forums.

[River 57]

There are two kinds of group threads, the personal and the event. Personal would be a thread where 3+ characters happen to interact and shoot the shit. Those go by posting order. Event threads are usually rapid-fire, which means I post once every 72 or 96 hours, and everyone else posts in whatever order they feel like in the gaps between my (or the other admin/thread-runner's) post. That way plot-relevant things don't get bogged down in posting orders.

[Rugs 63]

Back in the old days, for event threads, we'd just let everyone pile into a bigass thread and let 'er rip. It was exciting in the beginning because hell yea, giant thread and the gang's all here but they'd inevitably turn into messes or slow down/fail when people dropped out.

 

These days we split events into multiple threads, usually for up to four people each, that tackle different aspects of whateve's going on. For those, we assign one staffer to push them once a week (we keep a pretty relaxed pace) and the non-pushing members in the thread can post in whatever order they choose in between those push posts. If everyone gets a post in before the week is up, things can roll along to the next round. If not, once the week is up, it gets pushed ahead to the next round regardless.

 

We've had much more success using this method for events. We might do a bit of refining before we move on to the next main plot event, but we're pretty pleased overall with that method. It also helps keep the threads focused so, say if a major battle is going on, you don't have Character A's post at the spaceport immediately followed by Character D's post off underground in a mostly unrelated theater. 

 

For non-event threads, I mostly stick to the usual post in order method that you'd expect - though I also generally try to keep threads to four people and under. But it can vary based on what's going on. I think we've been pretty good about people acknowledging when they can be skipped or want to step back to let a scene play out that might not necessarily involve their input. We'll also do co-written posts, when needed, if it makes sense to get an interaction out in one go instead of dragging it out over a few rounds while other people twiddle their thumbs.

[Kazetatsu 263]

I’m in the no posting order but wait for everyone camp. If I notice a thread or rp has gone on for a few rounds (everyone posts once) and someone hasn’t replied, I’ll call attention to it and ask the rp to wait. Communication is usually enough to ensure that everyone gets a say. 

 

In especially large plots I charge members with keeping track of who they are interacting with and pinging each other as necessary so replies don’t get lost. It’s chaotic but it works. Since my rp is on discord, members naturally split up into subgroups if the characters move locations so it all works out. 

[Birdest 6]

for closed group rp, i always default to alphabetical by character name.
for open group rp like events i tend to, when in a staff position, either use 'first come, first serve' for post order OR i use a generator to make the list and add names in in order that characters come in after that.

[Elena 546]

On 10/10/2019 at 12:46 PM, Somniac said:

How we handle group threads splintering into subsections generally depends on the size of the thread.

 

Is it an event thread, or have a significant amount of characters interacting in it? Splinter it off into its own thread, link to it in the intro and in the branched off thread, and reintegrate where necessary.

 

Is it groups having short conversations that are bound to end within a page or so? Generally finished within the thread with the understanding that it’s wrapping up soon.

 

Whatever works best for the participants has been a satisfying approach for us.

 

On 10/11/2019 at 5:19 AM, Kazetatsu said:

I’m in the no posting order but wait for everyone camp. If I notice a thread or rp has gone on for a few rounds (everyone posts once) and someone hasn’t replied, I’ll call attention to it and ask the rp to wait. Communication is usually enough to ensure that everyone gets a say. 

 

In especially large plots I charge members with keeping track of who they are interacting with and pinging each other as necessary so replies don’t get lost. It’s chaotic but it works. Since my rp is on discord, members naturally split up into subgroups if the characters move locations so it all works out. 

 

This is how i am doing too. Some fragments are split from a master thread. In the master thread, posting is free, as long as you don't post before the others you have addressed to. Other parallel conversations can go on, but you can't post back until everyone in the conversation your character is holding has replied. It works well for very big threads, with 20+ characters and NPCs, and action packed threads like battles. Also, if someone answers late, he can be skipped, but when replying he'll catch up with all the 2-3 rounds he had stayed out.

[Honorem 219]

I usually have people stick to post order, even in a group thread. If the members are all responsible, they won't power through a dramatic scene without first giving everyone a chance to contribute. However, if people want to post out of order that's generally fine as well. Same rules apply, as long as people don't steamroll too far ahead I don't have many issues.

[Huskerdust 625]

I tend to hate group threads because of this. Somebody always ends up slowing the pace to a crawl. So we just have whichever character makes sense go next. And we’ll say it. Like “skip Tim’s turn” so they know it’s okay and keep it going. 

[Flick 10]

On 10/25/2019 at 5:23 AM, Zozma said:

I tend to hate group threads because of this. Somebody always ends up slowing the pace to a crawl. So we just have whichever character makes sense go next. And we’ll say it. Like “skip Tim’s turn” so they know it’s okay and keep it going. 

 

We do the same. Normally there's a set time we'll wait before we 'skip' a person, all depending on the group RPing. In some event threads or missions I've had we've stuck a 24 hours limit on it purely because of the amount of us, but if it's less important I'm usually happy to leave it for 2-3 days, particularly if the absent player keeps in touch.

Edited November 3, 2019 by Flick