Staffing Site Plot vs Sandbox

[nyx 164]

This is something that I've discussed with my co-admin a few times over years, site plots vs sandbox. Our last board we had a huge site plot going on and people seemed to really like it and it was a lot of fun threading out though I'll admit it was a bit stressful at times. This time though, on our second board, we've decided to try out being a sandbox with a very light plotline just so people understand our setting and it's been a success as well. I wonder...are you more likely to join a site with a big plot or sandbox? Which does your board have?

[Verridith 66]

My site has both! I love sitewide plots, but I also adore sandbox sites. So years ago (I think circa 2012 or 2013? maybe 2011 haha) we adopted a more organized forum layout and opened both a sitewide plot area (called Plot-Based), and a lore-focused sandbox (Lore-Based). It's worked out spectacularly, and I wouldn't change it for the world!

 

We also have an Unrelated section, where we've had an assortment of genres before - everything from Warrior Cats to post apoc, modern fantasy, and many more! <3

[Kit the Human 759]

As a member, I don't have a preference! Though I expect that an admin of a super plot based site should also really enjoy GMing.

 

Now, I don't mind GMing, but it's not my passion. So all of my sites will be sand box with a light over arching plot just to give people something to bounce off of. That light over arching plot will react to what players are up to, just so that it stays relevant to what people are actually enjoying writing about.

[Bezyle 31]

So my site is indeed a sandbox, with several small plots that may or may not mix and entangle with one another. I think its a reasonably intricate design where it is a sandbox where you can accidentally do things that affect the entire world. For example, we had two characters partake in a raid on a village. That village is the leading supplier of food for two other towns and a city... so when this village went down... it sparked an event that we called Famine's Lament which left the entire world in a struggle for food until we could build our resources back up. Little side stories like that in a sandbox setting having effects on everyone else's characters where they have the option to partake in this worldwide event is always a cool thing. 

[CovertSphinx 710]

I run for a middle ground as well. There's plot crumbs littered about for people to take if they so chose, and I'm really really REALLY awesome at "Covert GMing" (Named after my tag ironically enough, because I would ICly nudge people in certain directions without them even realizing it until well after the fact), but the board is set up where the players can run around the scenery and interact with the lore as sandboxy as they please. 

 

I guess you could say we're fashioned more like an MMO (albeit, one where the "sidequests" have a more effect on the world even if the players didn't always intend to).

Edited December 29, 2017 by CovertSphinx

[Raven 18]

TNI has site plot, but i'm one of the admins who isn't really involved in it at all tbh. I really struggle with coming up with new ideas for site plot and I prefer a sandbox kind of thing, with occasional events. I think that unless you plan on REALLY pushing the site plot forward, it's going to stagnate and become irrelevant.

[Elena 546]

I join only if the plot inspires me to further it. So yes, I am the one for site plots all the way. They give direction, they help the characters get involved, they stimulate creativity.

 

But yes, not all the characters can be involved in the main plot. Individual side plots always exist.

Edited December 29, 2017 by Elena

[Sadrienne 242]

I like both. I like the freedom to not be involved in the plot (which I've had to do on occasion, due to time constraints in other forms of RP), but still have my character's world affected by what's going on in the plot. 

 

I think I do a kind of cross between sandbox and plot? In that, I will have a plot happening. There will be things that characters can do to advance it---but at the same time, the plot has a ripple effect that will impact characters that aren't necessarily directly involved. What level characters get involved is entirely up to their players, and given the broad nature of the plots I do---there's always room to put more wheels in motion.

 

As a GM, my favourite thing is when a player says "So, I was thinking my character might do this?" -- and throw me something I DID NOT THINK OF OR PLAN FOR, and then suddenly I have a heap more consequences to think about, and usually it ends up being a fantastic addition to the plot that I would never have come up with on my own. 

 

That joy is one of the reasons I don't lock my plots down, or script anything too much. I love that randomness.

[Death Kitten 200]

I think it really depends on the setting as to which I would prefer on a site. Like, I mostly play Trek, and since a lot of those are set on starfleet ships, it's hard not to do it site-wide plot. Likewise other games I've joined have included ones set in the Firefly 'verse (centered on a ship, so site plot), a Stargate game (sadly semi-dead, but we had teams that went through the game, so semi-site plot), and I attempted to start a Steampunk airship game (also site plot). I do like the idea of a sandbox site, I just haven't found one I wanted to join because I tend to play on Nova based RP, and the sandboxy sites tend to be run more on forums... though that's not to say that you can't have a sandbox site on a Nova. I'm certain a trek game set on a starbase could work out pretty sandboxy, and I did try to run one for a while, but I couldn't figure out effective recruiting back then.

 

My trek game I run, we're a small ship so def a site-wide plot... but we try to allow out players to push outward into subplots, and we've had a little chatter about doing things outside of the ship, so we're kinda expanding into sandboxy a little bit? Certainly not gonna be fully sandbox, as the focus of the game is intended to be the ship, but we're trying to split the difference if we can.

[StormWolfe 557]

Two of my RPGs are team based so they are definitely oriented around site-based plots. Characters not involved in the team story can do their own sub-plots concurrently. With the way Nova works, we all get the full story intermingled with one another and makes for great reading!

 

My third game is one that has both an ongoing backstory in each episode that all characters can get tangled up in or just be brushed by it while they got through their own smaller plots. The site-wide backstory is intended to be a way for characters to encounter one another and form bonds or hostilities. Our next one has a marauding bear terrorizing the region. Players have already put forward ideas of how their characters might be affected. While others will simply know the bear is harassing outlying areas.

 

It's fun to have both. None of our sites mandate participation in specific plots. We try to make it known which events all characters would likely learn about. 

 

So, depending on the genre, the premise, and the setting - both styles of storytelling get my vote!

[Icewolf 258]

I prefer a sandbox approach, both as a member and as an admin. There are stories I want to tell, but I'm not sure if other people would be always interested in taking part in them, and given the number of OCs I have and their backgrounds, if it was a site wide plot I'd worry if my characters were too centric to it. I'd like the board to be a place where members feel that they can write what they want. I also don't know if I would take to being a reliable GM, because I'm not always well enough or not distracted enough to keep up with things and wouldn't want to let people down if it's not updated as they'd like to. A sandbox approach, at least allows people to write at their own pace. The stories I want to do will not always include certain characters easily and a site plot approach would leave them out (a lot of it is very dwarf centric, so where would those who write elves, hobbits and men go, if they can't be in that?) I wanted to create a place where I could write without having to worry about trouble makers and where others felt that they could write. (I also sometimes get ideas for things that happened to the characters in the past, and that wouldn't be an easy thing to do if the site operated on a site wide plot basis.)

[Vellamo 74]

I'm not sure what the difference is, I think it's a mixture??

 

My sites tend to have an overarching plot that gives the setting, premise, what's going on, like the rolling text at the start of a Star Wars film but after that, anything within those confines is possible. IC is full of millions of different storylines, where some character actions (intentionally or not) progress/push the overarching plot further. 

 

I'm lazy, I don't Dungeon Master. I leave the plot development to what's been done by characters and respond accordingly, if at all. The most I might do is make sure everything is still relevant and maybe throw up an event that responds to what's been going on after collaborating on it with members. 

 

As a member, I don't have any preferences. But I probably wouldn't join a site where I feel like I am a passive participant. I like to be able to contribute and help out if the staff are okay with it (don't want to be stepping on staff's toes). 

[Achera 22]

I have mixed feelings about this so excuse the ramble that is about to happen.

 

My site has both a site wide plot and a sandbox so members can do whichever they want because not everyone likes both. If you want to participate in one over the other, awesome! 

 

Now here's where I get a bit more mixed about it. I find that sites that have a site-wide plot tend to have the threads move very slowly, especially when more people get involved. There's a lot of waiting on people to get their replies in, sometimes weeks, and having to check to make sure that person is still around. People have a life outside of roleplay, so I HATE when I'm on a site and they pester me to reply every few days because I simply can't. My life just doesn't let me get on 24/7 or when I get home, I simply have no muse. With a site-wide plot, if you participate, stuff like that comes up. It can cause tension if life gets in the way, which I have seen happen and cause drama because people were impatient and didn't care that RL took priority. 

 

With sandboxes, it's a lot more freeform. People go at their own pace and they can create their own plot, so they're not relying on others. The downside to this is people like to get more involved and have other things that they don't always have control over. The benefit to a site-wide plot is that there's some mystery and fun that you can't always get with sandboxes. Whoever is leading it, creates a story that makes people get involved. 

 

For me, I guess I don't have a preference and I'd join either if I liked the overall idea to the site. I may have a preference to sandbox just cause I don't always like other people controlling what I do and again, my life doesn't allow for me to be able to keep up with a plot that requires 2+ people. I feel bad when people have to wait on me, so I tell me partners ahead of time that I can't reply all the time. Sometimes I can do right away, other times maybe a month or two at a time. 

 

Not sure if this helped at all lol. Baseline: If the site has a great theme, community, and overall premise I'll join; regardless of sandbox vs site-plot.

 

[SoulsRPG 15]

I much prefer sandbox sites - if my understand that a 'sandbox' site is a site that's primarily character-drive with no larger, over-arching plot on the entire forum, correct?

 

I like developing characters at my own pace and not having to worry about enormous events impacting them, or having to participate in plot threads that I might not be interested in.  This might have something to do with the fact that I enjoy characters over story (although they're both important!) and love to focus on character interactions, development, and inner turmoil.  I like having the freedom to put my characters in interesting positions and create my own plots with other players.

 

Another aspect of plot-based sites is that they have an expiration date.  The 'plot' will end at some point, and the site will end as well; I like to know that whatever site I'm on is going to last for a while and let me play with my characters.  That's a part of why I like 'Souls so much. 

[Jax 12]

As a GM, I love offering both to my players. An open world means that people can go out and develop their own ideas and relationships. However, a strong plot based board also offers a bit of structure for a narrative, and a common goal that can offer a connection between characters that might be harder to develop otherwise. Giving both options means that people can craft their RP experience.