Membership Event Timing

[Sage 289]

This is an ongoing debate among the staff of the site that I'm on, and I thought it would be wise to pose it here: in an rp, how long should a site-wide event last?

 

While I'm of the mind that an event should last as long as it needs to, there's also the question of how long is too long before members lose interest? If you participate in an event, how long do you expect it to go on for? And if you're on a site that revolves around site-wide plot development to move along the story, do you get frustrated if a single event is going on for several months?

 

My staff and I are finally wrapping up an event that has lasted roughly 3 months, and I've personally been feeling some frustration with how long it's been going (which is not a secret, I've been equally excited and complaining about the event the whole time). It couldn't be helped, due to the current system we have in place and real life obligations, but it leads me to wonder what others have experienced in plot-heavy games. While we're currently brainstorming ways to move things along faster, I'm interested to know what it's like in other games. Our game in particular relies on these events to reveal certain story elements (i.e. magic, hierarchy, reincarnations, evil, etc.), so there's currently little to do in plot development outside events, relying instead on non-event threads for character development. While I realize that, in itself, presents some problems, it's not something that will last forever. Once we get through this event and get the ball rolling, things will begin to snowball and everyone will be able to build on what's revealed. But getting to that point is proving difficult and time consuming.

 

Maybe it's just that I'm being impatient? It might be that I want to jump into the meat of it without building up the proper suspense. So, maybe if you're not involved with a plot-heavy site, how do you deal with that as a storyteller? Do you want to jump right into the action in a roleplay? Or is building up that necessary background with your fellow writers frustrating for you, too? Would you rather be a part of that initial story building suspense yourself or have that as part of the site premise and jump into the action immediately?

[CovertSphinx 710]

If its a matter of waiting for "posting turns", what I normally do with my Events is to give 1 week for a post before the other threadmates are allowed to skip your turn. If the person who's turn it is knows that they probably won't get to it, they are more than welcome to post a notation telling everyone to skip them - and the skipped person is allowed to interrupt the turnorder at any point to post. If you're skipped 3 times, you're automatically written out.

 

I also try to spread Events over multiple threads when possible to decrease the wait time for other posters.

[Elena 546]

I am of the princilple "as long as it needs to get the story written." And yes, I want the whole story...

 

I have an event which is lasting... for one year. We are slow, but there are also several threads, the event lasting in 2 subsequent days and the night between them. Most threads are over already, but there are a few still ongoing, as they started later, as branches/ subsequent to the others.

 

I get frustrated that the people are slow, not that an event lasts for several months (there are other threads outside the event too), Maybe I am not as impatient?

[xexes 108]

An event is: something special that bolsters activity and interest.

 

If it's not any of those things - if it's not special, if it's not active, if it's not holding interest - then it's not doing its job and has turned into a normal, day-to-day thing. What you do with it from there is completely up to you.

[Nox 3]

Some storylines are more of a - slow burn - building up to the climax event. When you're planning these, you need to run essentially two plots : the overt one that keeps people engaged and interested, and subtle one that builds the foundation for the big event down the road. You also need to keep sprinkling clues and hints to keep the long-term endpoint fresh in people's minds while you're making your way to it.

 

Most of all, with plotting, you need to have some built-in flexibility in your plots. If some sections turn out to be a bore - shorten them. If others seem to be really popular, extend them. 

 

Plots are organic and need to be able to change and adapt, depending on what the players do.