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Watching your site choke itself?


Guest Anonymous
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Guest Anonymous

I've both seen it happen, am watching it happen and have had it happen to my own sites.

 

You have these great people that you enjoy RPing with but the admin has real life problems or stresses which makes getting online difficult. It doesn't take their passion out of the site but they are slower to get around to some actions and sometimes they are on for only limited amounts of time.

 

But despite all the good RPers and the people that are roleplaying they see this lack of admin attention and the site just dissipates and evaporates. Probably a time when they need their community to be the strongest they become the weakest and they abandon the site. Why does this happen?

 

I've seen it happen on sites that are 10 strong or 100 strong. I've even seen it sorta happening here which makes me sad because I love this community.

 

I thought we were supposed to be a community that supported each other. I know that's why I'm here. That's why I build my sites. But I feel like we have little foundation for support which makes things just fall apart.

 

Any insight?

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As an admin that is going through some tough real life bumps, I do my best to maintain the site. Though sometimes it's harder than it looks. That's where a good staff comes into play. Though some places I have seen respond to what is going on with their staff even when nothing is said. Through the years I've seen quite a bit of people that come in and want to write/rp with only the admins/staff/DM's/ST's and no one else. So if the (we'll use Admin for ease) Admin isn't as involved people seem to think they've honestly lost interest. Sometimes others forget that the Admins have lives as well (see: so many posts about admins losing interest). I've been blessed with great staff and members that remind me to take my time. We're relaxed and that does allow me for some more leeway. It's especially easy to lose heart when the only person a member is writing with is the Admin.

 

We sometimes forget that admins are people too. That when an admin goes from being around all the time to limited time that the site is going "to die". If there's other staff and other members and they are active it's likely the site isn't going to just up and die. The ones that leave first in these situations are usually the ones that were there for the admin only. Or perhaps promised something by an Admin that got overwhelmed (Admin burnout is real.) and took on too much. It really comes down to the other staff and members to weather the storm. In a perfect world what you described wouldn't happen, but the RPC isn't a perfect world. People will vote with their feet (especially if something isn't living up to their vision or expectations). I've seen sites end up that and way only to bounce back after a time. We, as an RPC, should come together and speak more about this but sadly the conversations usually end up bereft or dead themselves. One person can make a change. It will always be in the hands of the person to make the call about what's right for themselves. 

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  • 3 weeks later...

I'm not sure why this happens, but it's definitely true that it does and probably almost every single time. If I were to introspect on the reasons why I would do this if I were on someone else's site, it might also mirror other members concerns and shed some light on some of the reasons why it happens. Of course, I'm certain there are a lot of other reasons that go beyond my own.

 

But, I know that as a forum roleplayer I've seen what happens to a site when the staff start to fall off and it creates a preconceived notion of what is going to come. For me, my general experience with staff struggling to keep up with the demands of their site is the eventual closure and shut down of it. In various ways ranging from the staff themselves taking the board offline to other cases where the members will quickly dwindle off (perhaps, in part, to the fear of the closure itself).

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Sadly this is my experience this time around. Previously when running my roleplay site, it has always thrived and gone from strength to strength over time. However having re-opened a year ago (partly due to people wanting connections during a time of COVID) we went from thriving to dying in the space of around 12 months. With only 8 members remaining I feel like I'm holding my breath for when the next might go.

Bel

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I'll be honest! I'm going through this now and, like Prophetess said, it's a lot harder than it looks. When life comes first, other priorities have to temporarily pushed aside. Especially, like me currently, when you're the only staff available, there isn't anyone else to help in daily duties. It's not that admins like me have lost interest or passion, but it's genuinely because some people do not have the time to commit. With college, the pandemic, work, and more in mind, personal lives can interfere in more than one way. People forget... admins are people. They have lives outside roleplay. Sometimes, sadly, that includes prioritizing other things within those lives.  Burnout, too, is very real. Maybe sometimes it's best to take that break and rejuvenate too. 

 

Maybe you should talk to this admin. Maybe something happened and they can indulge on WHY their activity has decreased. Now I don't mean going into to their DMs and hollering 'HEY, WHY ARE YOU INACTIVE!??!'. Instead I recommend asking if they're okay, checking up on how they're doing, and assist on helping them if you're truly passionate. That would mean the world to anyone. 

 

It's also important to remember that an admin is NOT the site. An admin may run the show and call some of the shots, but they are not the heart and soul of it. The community is. They are what bring activity and a sense of support/welcoming to any roleplay website. It's important to keep that community thriving, admin or not. Without the people... well.. it's almost nothing. Keep that in mind too. I'd rally up the troops to keep things going if I were you. Maybe it'll inspire the admin too, especially if they're suffering from burnout.

 

Edited by Orion
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It takes a really dedicated person to successfully take over a site from another admin. It takes a lot of work to run a site, especially a large site, that most people don't see on the surface. You have to really love the community to take things over if the Admin are no longer able to. Sometimes, that type of person just isn't there. 

 

Real life always comes first and that goes for admin too. Try to be as supportive as you can in whatever role you're in. If the admin are able to come back to their full abilities, they will greatly appreciate it. If not, the people who love the site will. If there is a strong community, you can continue on if someone takes the lead. 

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  • 6 months later...

Things come and go and life happens, admins are people too. I'm trying to start my own site atm but the universe just feels like it's in a collective slump.

 

Keep at it! I know as an admin myself, putting any amount of money into up-keeping my site I'd be mad at myself for ditching it.

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  • 2 months later...

I think this is just the nature of online RP's.... in the past, I've taken over dying RP's and managed to make them last a few more years, and other times I've offered and been denied so the site just completely goes away. Can't speak for all Admins, but I've had some really terrible real-life events force me away from RP'ing, and subsequently lost some games and fellow players I adored as a result. It wasn't because I wanted to, or didn't care, it's because I had to, and if someone had stepped forward to take over my sites I'm honestly not sure what choice I would have made because they become your baby. This might be a strong argument for "promoting" very active players who have a desire to be involved, into moderators perhaps, as if you have that strong admin/mod team already established your game has a better chance of withstanding an admin hiatus.

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