Staffing Are there too many roleplays out there?

[jenneral_jennson 154]

And I'll say again. Why question them at all? Let them learn from their mistakes. Let them learn, by trial and error, that it's not all rainbows and unicorn snot. Who cares if they open and close their board in a week? They're learning what they did and what they should do in regards to opening and maintaining a board. Telling them or making them question their whys and what fors isn't going to do much. They'll make the board if they want to. 

 

Leave them be. Let them have their fun whether it's for a week, a month or 3 years. Because in the end, outside the whole join/flake thing (which happens literally everywhere and with every board), they aren't doing you any personal harm. So who cares what they do or don't do with their idea and board?

[Josie 198]

31 minutes ago, jenneral_jennson said:

And I'll say again. Why question them at all? Let them learn from their mistakes. Let them learn, by trial and error, that it's not all rainbows and unicorn snot. Who cares if they open and close their board in a week? They're learning what they did and what they should do in regards to opening and maintaining a board. Telling them or making them question their whys and what fors isn't going to do much. They'll make the board if they want to. 

 

Leave them be. Let them have their fun whether it's for a week, a month or 3 years. Because in the end, outside the whole join/flake thing (which happens literally everywhere and with every board), they aren't doing you any personal harm. So who cares what they do or don't do with their idea and board?

 

I agree, and I'm not saying that we or anyone on the "outside" should question a person's decisions or demand that they justify their reasons on making a forum! My point was that it is not harmful if a person stops to think twice before doing something (including opening a forum), an internal process. It is only beneficial to think things through before we do them, and take the time to see what our options are. Yet I am not claiming that everyone must do this, and I would never say that someone should be denied a learning experience simply because the thing they want to do already exists elsewhere.

 

Because I also think you should do what makes you happy. And if, in thinking twice (or not at all) about something, you decide it'd make you happy to start your own forum- then go for it!

 

As I don't believe there are too many forums out there, I don't think that thinking twice (or not thinking twice) will make a difference in the end. It's possible that the same exact number of forums will still be created and die at the same rate. It's possible that less forums will be created and still die at the same rate.

 

But this is getting close to being off topic. The degree to which someone "should" think things through before opening a forum, or if people should open forums if they're just going to die in two weeks, etc., would be an interesting discussion for another topic, though.

[jenneral_jennson 154]

At any rate. Whether people open boards willy nilly, there's not too many. There's always going to be some niche to fill that hasn't been filled yet or been filled well yet. People are going to rp whether we think there's to many or not. 

[kitwolf 0]

I don't think there can every be too many RPs in the world, honestly.  If there is someone willing to play a game or looking for a home, then there is a need. The problem is getting the right person and the right game in the right format all together at the same time.  

 

I think there is a lot of junk out there too, but that's my opinion based heavily on my personal preferences and thus, only worth the air that it took to speak it out loud, or in this case type it. 

 

I also think there is something to getting a game going, I have not figured out what it is yet since I have had more failures than successes. Pretty sure is magic or the alignment of the starts. 

[VirusZero 176]

Gotham's Reckoning mentions a good point that needs reiterating...

Our perceptions can be way off.

 

I've stated this before when it comes to people claiming forums are dying. But the same logic very much applies here too. The more we hear about an issue the bigger it may seem. And the more it skews perspectives.

For an example of what I mean... in the US in 2011 a survey was done asking people what percentage of the US was gay/lesbian. People, on average, replied that 24.6% of the US population was gay/lesbian. In truth? in 2014 the CDC released a report which stated less than 3.5% was gay/lesbian/bisexual. People had heard about the issues so many times they thought it affected significantly more people than it really did.

 

Applied to this situation certain genres may seem to be crowded/popular and influencing perception of roleplay as a whole. So it is something to be careful of.

 

I too would also like to have some actual numbers here to help sort things out properly. It'd be nice to have some kind of data on the community to see how things actually are.

 

[Guest Archaic Cyborg]

I think it only matters, for want of a better word, if the server has a very small and concentrated user-base. Like insanejournal. It is very easy for a single fandom or setting/premise to multiply just a few times and ultimately take over the server-- cue months where 'the only thing' that anyone can play is MCU, or Potter, or vampires. Thus, it's acceptable there to say that there's too many rps.

 

But across the rest of the internet, nah. There's countless players, communities, hosts, software.

[Icewolf 258]

On the one hand, I could say yes, there is, but on the other hand, no, if that makes sense. Yes, in that there are certain genres and fandoms where there seems to be a lot of forums (people have already mentioned Harry Potter, and I've found this to be replicated with DC and Marvel and there seems to be lots of urban fantasy/supernatural boards out there - but I'm not an expert on Marvel and DC, so what appears to me to be a lot of boards that are unnecessary, may not be to those who are more knowledgeable.) I can look at the various Star Wars boards and see a need for them, or why someone would want to make them. I'm not into the Disney canon or Knights of the Old Republic, but if I found a board that was focused on the situations that Mike Stackpole and Aaron Alston's X-Wing series created, then I'd be at home. I also understand the idea behind the various fan-created Star Trek rps where the vessel, crew etc are original.

 

In regards to sites being created because an rper couldn't play the character or do a ship they wanted on a board, then that could be solved by having a social media type site. I've found that multi-fandom sites don't work in this regard, but a specific fandom want might - if people are willing to give such a site a chance. You would have to find the right software and host, though. It would work in that you could have multiple versions of the same character on the site (tbh, I'd like that with my board, but can't figure out a way to do it without everyone using their account as a multi-character one.)

[Krank 0]

I think the best answer is yes! And also no. There are countless rps out there of so many genres I can't even count any more. But the fact of the matter is, certain people prefer certain things, and more often than not, they're going to join multiple sites of perhaps similar or different genres. So even if there are "too many chefs", some people are eating at multiple places. Of course, I do think that some genres are far over-saturated. And in those cases I feel Darwinism will eventually take over and only the best of those certain genres will live on. But I don't think there will ever be a shortage of rpers compared to available sites. It all just depends on the site itself and if it will get buried in other sites of a similar theme.