Membership How do you develop your ideas?

[xexes 108]

I have been working on a roleplay concept that appears somewhat novel, but I feel utterly stuck with how to go about it. But I don't really want to talk about that. Instead, I want to talk about the concept of pushing your ideas out from little baby thoughts to full-grown things. Maybe it's a site concept, a site feature, a character, or a character plot.

 

What are some of the things that you do, or that you find helpful, in order to get that particular meal idea from ingredients, into the oven, and out as a new, fresh, entirely-baked idea, ready to eat?

[VirusZero 176]

For myself it usually starts with an internal debate with questions like:

- Do I want to do this?

- Do I think it's a good idea?

- How much work will it actually take?

- Can I accomplish this another, possibly simpler, way? 

- How do I think the community will react? 

- If they aren't going to like it then is it worth pursuing? (Sometimes it may not be liked but necessary. For example taking some downtime to handle DNS issues.)

 

At this point, if it's a more intensive feature, I'll take time to actually test out the install and use on either my localhost or test environment on server. For characters I may do a rough character bio and save it to a spot on my hard drive. 

 

If I think it's a worthwhile idea then I usually present it to the community to let them have a say. (Sometimes I don't if it's more of a backend thing like adding a new feature for me to use. Like I didn't bother to mention to anyone when I added the new plugin for authenticating users from the modcp. ) 

Though when I started thinking about whether to keep Chatango or replace it with Discord... That got mentioned to the community. 

 

For characters or concepts I may not present it but simply go ahead with it if I like the idea.

 

For features, after the community gets a say then it's time to go ahead and implement. Using the knowledge I gained from my test run on localhost/test server then I implement the feature. This way I have a good idea what to expect when I finalize the change.

 

 

[Morrigan 1,826]

When it comes to new ideas for sites I tend to make a skin. That is normally where my ideas end and I leave it at that. If it doesn't then I continue forward with starting to write lore and things around the site. I setup forums and whatnot.

 

Anytime I feel blocked or anything I either take a break, pound my head against the keyboard or use my friends and RP Partners as sounding boards.

 

Once it's all done I leave it for a bit and then open it after time if I still want it then I open it otherwise it's just gone to the wind.

 

I find it most helpful to listen to music while I focus on things and use my friends for ideas. Often just talking about my ideas with another humans person helps me figure things out.

[Kit the Human 758]

Scribble notes down and develop what the idea is until it's structured and clear in my brain. If it feels fuzzy, it's not ready to be let out into the world.

 

Also talking helps a lot I've found either by challenging the bad ideas or by getting enthusiastic and extending the idea! 

[Josie 198]

I wish I had a good answer!

 

Mostly, I take a shower, go on a walk, or cook (which is when I do all my best thinking), and talk to myself a whole bunch. Eventually, something clicks into place.

 

I also do very well when there's some sort of problem involved that I'm trying to solve. For example, how can I make it so that I don't have to update any claims or lists?

[Wolfdragon2004 0]

I make tons of notes, usually in a spiral notebook and on my phone. Then I put them all together and make a cohesive outline so I can see what steps need to be taken and what I know how to do (if it's something I haven't done before) and what I'll need to research or ask help with