Membership The bouncing of ideas - A BeaconRock update/Discussion

[anthrxmilkshake 86]

Hey guys!

Some of you may notice that I have been recently working on a site. BEaconRock has been officially in my back burner for...probably a month now, and is slowly being built by myself (with a bit of help from a friend here and there). I recently came to the conclusion of a few things I'd like to feature for the site, and I'd love advice, and to bounce ideas, off of fellow RPers, and forum owners. Here are a few of the things going on that I'd love to hear from you about:

 

001. I've decided that I'd like to add the ability to decide between forum RP and chat based roleplay. For this reason I've created TWO discord servers for BeaconRock. One is just for OOC/non-canon interaction. The other is the literal IC ChatRP option. This being said, I know that I will want to have the option to buy powers, upgrades, maybe additional character slots, utilizing the points for the website. My question is: How do I translate this to the Discord ChatRP. I'd hate for some people to prefer chat based roleplay in general, only to be left out of all of the point advantages of writing on the site. That being said all events and contests and such would still happen on site. So it's not as if there WONT be opportunities for them to gather points there. I'd still require all characters to follow site rules, be applied for on the forum, and approved by staff, in order to be played even in the chat. On my Discord RP server I have included a channel that will only be for a list of rules, and useful links, like an invite code to the regular chat server, and site things. Any advice here?

 

002. I'm in search of bots! BUT I don't want some weird fancy bot with tons of weird options like "meme" and "money" and all that. Basically I am looking for one I can program to announce when a "thread" has been posted in certain forums on the site, right into Discord. I know it's possible because I've seen it done, but I'm so new to this I don't even know where to begin. I'd like one I can program to "say" something ever two hours or so, like announcing 'vote' links, or reminding about 'contests', basically whatever I program it to say. It'd be ideal I wouldn't have to trigger the announcement, I'd like for it to automatically post 'new threads' in all RP forums into a specific channel, or maybe 'new character threads' into the staff channel. As well as pulling 'new threads' when posted in an announcement forum so that I don't have to manually post it everywhere.  So, what are some of your favorite bots? Why is this? Do you have a suggestion for ones I could use for this? Do you have suggestions you think I could use and haven't considered?

 

003. I want to implement a store! What kind of things do you think are practical for an RP store to have? My site will have three species. Wolves, witches, humans. As well as being a modern-day-character-driven plot line. What sort of things to you like having the option to buy? Do you prefer to earn new character slots through posting, or points? Do you believe characters should be up-gradable in powers? How so? Should they buy items, or is this over kill and hard to keep up with? I don't know how much I like the idea of buying items...it seems a bit much. What about buying plots, or staff written goodies, or the ability to hold your own site events? Anything you would suggest store wise?

 

004. Stepping into owning a forum by myself is daunting. I've tried staff searches, and while there seemed to be hype and interest in the concept, there just weren't any bites in actual helping me out. That being said, I was considering a soft opening relatively soon-ish, once I figure out how to utilize the chat-RP correctly, and probably once I have a store in place for the point system. Anyone have any pointers for me? I'm dedicated to the idea of this forum. I've put time and effort into writing these things, and I'm determined to open. My dedication isn't in question...just staring ahead knowing I'll be on my own is a bit....you know XD

[Kittenmitten 40]

001. Okay I'm actually REALLY not at all a fan of basically splitting up the site like that. That being said, I did see a site who did points per word rather than per post, so that people who post fast but short posts make relatively about the same amount of points as those who post slower, longer posts. Maybe find a bot that can count words per post on discord? idk if bots can do that, I don't actually know anything about discord <_< I can barely use it.

 

002. See the end of 1. I am discord-illiterate.

 

003. Stores are fun! But seriously character slots through purchase? Frown x1000000000. I tend to be a character whore and that would be a HUGE turnoff for me. CW is also modern supernatural, and a lot of the things in our shop are, like, character options (female werewolves are rare in our setting, so those can be purchased, wizards, druids, characters older than our limits, those that are special in some fashion). We also have forum options, like the ability to pin your shipper or want ad. I THOUGHT we had the option to buy a forum for a business, but that may have been discussed and not implemented yet. But being witch-focused, some powers could need to be purchased, really exotic ones like necromancy or some such thing? Personally I don't think a shop should be NECESSARY to RP. Buying plots is just a wut from me. But I think a shop should be a down-the-road sort of thing. When we opened ours, it was actually a couple years after the site opened. I think Rune had set it to give a point per post? She handled that, I just reaped the benefits <_<

 

004. I would totally offer to help if I weren't already staff;; I don't have a lot to say here, I was a latecomer to staff on CW. All the work was already done XD But I believe in you! I've been low-key stalking this idea and have every intention of joining once it becomes a reality <3 Good luck!

[VirusZero 176]

1- Forum and Discord

I don't recommend splitting your site up into forum and discord. It'd be way too difficult to actually do. You think it's hard getting members for one? Imagine trying 2 when your activity is split across both.

 

Plus, in my experience, any time you have an IC chat system it will inevitably take over as people will want the quicker replies and instant gratification. People who are on forums will often feel left out. That'll cause them to either migrate towards the chat also or drift off (moreso if they can't be online as much). I mean imagine being on the forum only to learn that all these other things are happening on chat and you have no idea half of what happened because you weren't there. You might get a few details here and there but that's it. You'd get kinda frustrated fast.

 

So I'd suggest keeping all the roleplay to either the forum or discord, but not both.

 

2 - Discord Bots

If you were looking for Bots for Discord, check out Ayana that bot has a lot of features. Sure it has some of the crazy things like =sad or whatever to post a gif of that type. But it has other cool features. (Playing music through youtube, =sayd to make the bot say things without your message showing up, reminders, etc...)

 

3- Staff searches

As far as staff searches go... They almost never work. They work in maybe .0002% of cases but the odds are so low that you're almost better off not trying. Most people aren't committed, they like the idea of being staff but they're often more focused on just having the title with extra privileges rather than having to actually do any work. (I've seen that a lot.) And so they're prone to just abandoning you. That is provided you even get someone to respond, they join your site and become staff to begin with. (People may express interest but that might be the extent of it. )

 

Let me go a step further and say outright that getting staff is incredibly difficult at the best of times. Hiring from within your community is generally the best idea since they're already committed. But that still doesn't guarantee that they'll be a good fit (sometimes a good member makes terrible staff) or that it'll work out. 

 

In truth it's probably better to just go with the idea that you'll be running this yourself for a while. I've talked a bit here about some ways to run a site by yourself without getting too burned out. But don't expect miracles or anything like that. This is something I've said before on other places and I'll say it here now too... keep your expectations realistic. 

[anthrxmilkshake 86]

Alright.

I'm getting more and more trepeditious about adding the chatRP option to my site. Worrying me it might be taking on to much. Especially after considering what @VirusZero had to say on it.

 

 

Thanks for the advice guys 

[Uaithne 543]

Hey, @anthrxmilkshake, I have a suggestion.

 

Back in the day when I ran my high school site, we had an "IC chat" forum. It was meant intentionally for short posts, had no posting order, and wasn't stressful at all. Although it was just started for fun, I found that I could really connect my characters to other characters better because it was so casual and I didn't have to commit to a thread with just one other character.

 

There was usually one main thread that took place in a common area that was easily accessed and characters had plenty of ic reasons to be there. In addition, members could make their own private threads. We even had a section where new characters could "introduce" themselves, and thus new members got to meet the established members easily.

 

Post count was off, but it was still all considered ic and affected characters' plots. Unfortunately having no post count would make it harder for you to measure participation, but there are ways around it. You can give people points for participating in group chats or for joining one with a character they haven't played with yet, or for having a long-lasting private chat thread.

[Sage 289]

001. Going off of what @Uaithne said for housing an onsite "IC Chat" type function, you could easily design a forum-specific skin that mimics more of a chat layout. That would take some web design work though, so if you're not able to get into that it would probably be a lot of work for you. Alternatively, you could use Jcink's (I believe you're using Jcink for Beacon Rock right??) in house Shoutbox. That way everything is on the forum, there's a record of all the chats so people can easily catch up, all the chats are tied to character accounts, I believe it keeps track of how many shouts you post, and you don't have to worry about policing two discord servers. There are downsides to this - like you can't have private ICC channels (or multiple ICC channels at all), special discord features are a no go, and it's all just kinda lumped into one chat no matter what. But it's an option I've seen used well in the past if you know what you're doing.

Personally, I'd find having a whole other discord server just for ICC chat daunting. If you're really set on it though, I would suggest getting a feel from the actual member base! Wait until you've got some loyal writers around and propose the idea. If they're on board and real into it then go ahead with it! But don't overload yourself too fast with too many features right out of the gate. It's ok to ease yourself into it!

 

003. I love stores - as long as they serve a purpose. I wouldn't suggest putting character slots in there unless your game actually needs some sort of cap to balance out the system. For instance, my game works more like a tabletop rpg, and it's a heavy burden on our staff if there are too many characters per player. So we put in the ability to buy more character slots to sort of hinder the creation of extraneous characters. That way, it's easier on everyone and we're not struggling to support our large member base. To account for this, we do have NPCs available for play as an alternative. I would not suggest the same model for anyone not dealing in an intense system like ours though - it's largely a turn off for a lot of people.

 

Other items you can offer for purchase though are rare species or "special abilities" in a species, pinning a shipper/wanted ad for x days/weeks, featuring a character on your board index, special items (like something plot-centered or cursed or otherwise unobtainable), group leader slots (like pack alpha, witch coven leader, etc.), power upgrades (like how long an ability/spell/etc. can last, how many people it can affect, the amount of damage it can do, etc.), adding a special icon/color/whatever to your username, ummm...if I think of anything more I'll let you know. But those would be some basic ideas. 

 

004. Staff searches can be hit or miss. I'd honestly love to help you out with Beacon Rock - I'm definitely interested in joining still! - but sadly I just don't have time for another commitment like that. I would suggest going through with it on your own and putting up a sort of staff wanted notice on the site. That way, you're pulling from your member base. A soft opening would be a perfect time for this, too. 

[anthrxmilkshake 86]

Great ideas and advice! I am still slowly building the site. Just taking my time right now and making sure it is set up the way I like before I do a soft opening. It's coming, though! almost there!