Staffing What's up with your roleplay? How are things, what are you dealing with?

[Josie 198]

My personal one x one RPs have slowed waaaaaaaaaay down (on both ends) because of Mass Effect: Andromeda. I miss writing! But also, killing aliens is fun.

[Uaithne 543]

I'm trying to figure out how to make my game more appealing and get new people involved.  We have several members and I'm not worried about activity at the moment - I just want fresh blood for new ideas, new people to RP with, and new opportunities.

 

Great thread idea, by the way.

[Sage 289]

My game is going great! Our first event is running a little longer than expected, and we're trying to hurry those threads along because they all need a conclusion before the site plot can move on, but other than that we're great! We've got new posts every day, new members have been trickling in and plotting up a storm, and we're just overall having a lot of fun together :3

 

Our staff team is also in a heavy debate over canons and which roles to assign to which characters, and who to award them to in our next event. We have too many threads to keep up with (in reading, not replying) so we're always busy. This is the first game I've been involved with in a long while that's so successful!!

[Lawman 88]

An old friend of mine whom I hadn't seen in ages has returned to my board, and I'm so happy. ^^

[Bishop 172]

Well we are gearing close to 6k in posts, had two new players join in these last few days and are gearing up for what may be a damn bloody spring (in the fun way!).

 

Overall things are still going great!

[Eva 0]

We're trying to get more people in and making new characters so it doesn't turn in to the same four people making all of them, but something doesn't seem to be clicking. I'm in charge of advertising and I've posted our ad pretty much everywhere I can, so now it's just a matter of waiting. It's frustrating though. We have a great little group, but some more would be nice.

[xexes 108]

@Eva Try to keep your cbox a little more active, so that at least the last 6 replies are from the same day. In addition, try to cleverly shuffle and condense the forums that you display on your index page so that the newest post on as many as possible is from this month; that is, try to find a way to quietly shuffle all of the recent-post March and Never to where they aren't on the front page. A lot of people balk at this because it isn't as organized and sometimes isn't common-sensical, but getting members is very hard and this is easily worth it.

 

Edit: Basically, most people think of their forum index page as locations and while that makes sense for the people playing there, for all the guests, the index page is just what activity that you feature. So you can think of the index page as a vying ground for which you have more of : established members or guests who haven't joined yet. This makes perfect sense for roleplays with very many members who have just So Many forums on their index page and why they can get away with it.

Edited April 17, 2017 by xexes

[xexes 108]

There is a particular person who I have been working with, and they are  responsive to emails, but never actually take any action. There's always some reason they can't whatever. They have been taking up inordinate amount of my resources and being in this inactive state for years, today, I kicked them off.

 

I should probably feel relieved, but I don't. I feel a little sad that after all this time their life hasn't gotten better - no idea if their excuses are real or not but they do sound bad. 

 

I feel bad because after these years of being completely inactive, they still can't admit to themselves that they are ready to let it go.

[Lawman 88]

Been getting a tide of new members - both old friends returning, as well as new ones. Good to see the site so alive, even if I have my hands full reviewing profiles. 

[flawnt 0]

Agree with lawman above - must be that time of year when people are itching to try new sites. New interested members are wonderful.

It just sort of corresponds with the end of school for me so I'm swamped in real life and trying to tackle being a good admin, too.

 

I'm always facing the constant frustration that if I, as the main admin, have a busy day where I can't get things done.... the other admins always take note and are critical. I don't do the same to them. A little space would be appreciated. :\

[George Cromartie 1]

Due to drama with our origins (we've transitioned away from the site we started on due to its toxicity and some people don't like that) our long time founder and leader has stepped away and now we're trying to grow without recruiting from the old site for the first time. Its an interesting challenge tinged with some sadness over the pettiness of people from the former site.

[Zahhy 130]

I'm dealing with being a new Admin on a site that had many major players leave. Our site has lost many long-time members, and many active players that had their fingers in ongoing major plotlines.

 

Our founder and original Admin is often MIA and I've been really nervous they will pull the plug. I absolutely love our site and it's the ONLY one I've found where I fit (trust me, I've looked, I'm super picky about canon and this is the only one where I feel comfortable playing).

 

Overall things are going really well. I feel accomplished and happy and like I'm making a difference. I'm just nervous about getting new members (wow is it hard) and I'm also nervous about possibly stepping on the toes of the people that started this wonderful site. I want to make sure to do them and their creation justice, while also making the changes that need to be made to keep us alive, exciting and new.

 

I'm also trying to tote the dangerous line of player and admin. I thought it would be easy to play and super fun, but I find myself being really nervous about coming across as too involved. Do any of you have admin that are hyper active? Even before I asked to take the reigns I was one of the most frequent players, and I've actually seen an increase in my posting due to admin responsibilities. Should I be worried that people will get sick of seeing me and all of my characters everywhere?

 

I've asked current players, and nobody else is interested in stepping up yet and helping run events. Do I keep using Open NPCs or do I commit seriously and create PCs that fit into the world that I know I will fall in love with, that can take up the mantles? I've never been an admin before, so I don't know what is best here.

[Zahhy 130]

@Lady Isadorabelle - I know exactly how you feel! So many of my remaining members are inactive on the rp boards, but very active in our chats. I know life can really take you for a loop, I've missed play for a few weeks before too. It can be so hard being patient and hoping for the weirdness of slow posting to move past.

 

@Bamf - I am in the same boat! new admin here too! Been playing for a while though and would love to give you some critiques (and also love the returned favor if available!) 

 

@Eva - Same here! I've posted in so many places, and the competition out there is strong. We have only 4 active members, and what I would consider 4 Inactive but still around members with a few pop-ins every now and again. Mostly though we've lost all of our players. We went from posting 7-10 different threads per night to 1-2. Good luck and if you get any ideas, pass em this way!

 

@flawnt - I find that it's a bit odd that everyone is so critical of you! I hope they can ease up and give you the support and encouragement you need. I'm the only active admin on our site and I struggle to keep up and my to-do list gets longer faster than I can scratch things off. I would probably blow up if anyone was critical of me on a super busy day! Fingers crossed for you.

 

@George Cromartie - That all sounds like a really long and tough journey you've had to make! Good luck on your new site, and hang in there. Staying away from toxicity is important!

[Tired Old Soldiers 10]

I just shut my site down. It was older, from mid 2014. It was for the best - things had gone beyond the point of being salvageable due to some nasty RL circumstances and due to some recent events with people I thought I could trust so I felt the best option was to close the doors.

 

It's not all bad though. I have a great group of friends who've been super supportive and we're in the process of opening a new place that will be much better than the last. =)

[Elena 546]

@Zahhy, an active and involved administrator means enthusiasm and dedication. It means the site won't be closed on a whim, it means ideas and inspiration for going on and a model for the other members.