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Surviving quiet phases


Sadrienne
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Certain times of the year are quiet for roleplayers. If you've run a board for a full year, you learn to pick the times and don't panic as much as when you're new to it---but they can still be concerning when they happen.

 

You find yourself wondering if it's the board that's gone quiet, or if it's part of a wider trend affecting all boards. Is there something you could/should be doing to bring activity back, or is it just a matter of wait it out and welcome the crew back when they get here?

 

How do you survive the quiet phases of the year? How do you tell the difference between a trend just on your board, and a trend for the wider community? And what do you do to encourage and push activity during these times?

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My site tends to go quiet anytime I'm quiet and around the major holidays. I used to fret and push. Now, I focus on site updates, plot updates, and writing my own solo character story pieces. 

 

Terribly short response, but I just go with the flow. If the players do not have away notices up and the lack of communication continues, then we have absence rules that allows us to archive characters and posts and move on.

 

Bottom line for me - it's a game and a hobby. People come and go. Fretting and worrying with it impacts the fun factor.

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Someone somewhere went to sleep and dreamed us all alive.
Dreams get pushed around a lot, and I doubt if we'll survive.
We won't get to wake up, dreams were born to disappear.
And I'm pretty sure that none of us are here.
~ None of Us Here by Jim Stafford ~

 

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This is such a good question. I look forward to seeing how everyone else deals with this!

 

How I deal with quiet times:

- I don't worry. Quiet time happens. RL is a thing.

- I keep playing. I play with those that are around, or I write by myself.

- I spend more time on OOC boards and Advertising

- I spend more time planning things I want to play and things I know previous players have asked for

 

I never "incentivize" what I assume should be an activity which is posting (aside from passive marks that let them buy neat plot things). If you want to post, you will. Simple as that. People should be playing. If they are not, that's because the plot needs a little boost or they need inspiration. I don't feel personally obligated to provide inspiration to people. I'm just here to keep the playground welcoming, vibrant and safe.

 

I've run my game with literally only two players before. As long as you and whoever is around is having fun, I wouldn't worry about people taking breaks!

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I advertise more, I write more my own characters' stories, and I keep writing and musing for new plots.

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I usually run a loose no hassle event and advertise a bit more. In addition to posting and perhaps talking about some new plots and threads. Get them brain juices churning.

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Guest TheHales

I used to stress a lot about the quiet periods and worry it meant we were doing something wrong, though I feel like I've matured as an admin. When things get slow, I continue to play with whoever is around or advertise or come up with new subplots or build on plots to revitalize them. Stressing about it doesn't fix anything so why not just enjoy what you have while you got it? 

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I don't know how to tell the difference between doing something wrong and just that time of the year. I tend to turn to working out how I feel about my forum. Am I excited to work on it? To post? Am I attracting the kind of members who like to write about the same sort of things? I ignore numbers because they're fickle.

 

When things are quiet I take the chance to plot ideas, continue RPing with who is around, expand on what I've been meaning to expand on, focus on advertising, continue with the new theme. Busy work! Oh and self reflection and make changes based on that. What can I do better - particularly in terms of advertising? Should I think about community events? Etc.

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I tend to panic a little when activity decreases because, more often than not, it's not due to everyone having a "that time of year" moment and vanishing.  Normally there's something else going on - the plot is getting stale, people don't want to post, things aren't interesting, etc.  I'll try to do things on the admin side of things to clean up the board and make it more appealing, and I'll start to review some of the documentation and site plots to see what I can do to improve the board.

 

In my experience, whenever people go, "Help!  My board slowed down!" there's always ten people who start reassuring them that everyone is slowing down because of Christmas, school, vacations, tax season, solar eclipse, 50% discount at Walmart, etc.  It's very tiring to hear it because it doesn't matter what time of year it comes up, there is always an excuse as to why the RP community as a whole has gone quiet.  Sure, sometimes it's true.  Right around Christmas and at the end of the school year (finals time) I notice that things get slow, but most of the time there isn't a consistent correlation between general activity and community life events.  Thus, I don't really assume that a quiet time is due to a generalized wider community slow down.

 

When this comes up, in addition to cleaning up the site and reviewing what makes the board appealing, it's good to re-evaluate what you (general "you") need to do from a member perspective.  What sorts of plots were you thinking about pursuing with your characters?  How can you accomplish these things?  Are there new ideas you're interested in exploring?  Do you need a break?

 

I highly, highly, highly advise against "pushing" through the tough spot.  More than once I've decided that I'd "show that the board is active by being active" thing and then I ended up getting burned out because I was trying to take on the work of 10 members in addition to my regular admin work.  So yes, continue to post, but don't post blindly.  Don't post for the sake of posting and looking active.  Re-evaluate what your characters and plots need, and try to make things exciting not just to appeal to the members but also to appeal to yourself as the admin.

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  • 2 weeks later...

I don't worry too much - once you've built up a community you feel you can rely on, you stop worrying about the quiet times and, like everyone's already said, just keep posting with who's around. 

 

Aside from that, I can also agree with what @Uaithne said that there's probably something else going on! This is when I like to turn to my members and ask "what can we do to be more engaging?!" We'll send out an anonymous questionnaire just to check in, get a general feel about how everyone's doing, what they want to be doing, etc. That way, we can gauge everyone's interest level and take appropriate action. I find low activity times are good for low impact events or contests, like ad contests or a small, localized event with just some general parameters. That way, there's something to do, but the scope isn't big enough to need a lot of people involved, just the ones who are there. That will help keep activity up with who's around and attract new members. 

 

Personally, I'll also take this time to maybe design a new skin or some new site templates. That way, when people come back, they're like woah neat! And I find that can help renew their interest. Sometimes a simple change of aesthetic can really pump people up.

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  • 2 weeks later...

Post post post post. I make development posts, game posts, keep things alive on our discord chat, etc. I feel much better if my members are visiting in discord even if the site has gone quiet around the holidays / busy times of year! I've also set my community up to be super chill, with very lax activity requirements, with an understanding that we're all grown adults with responsibilities outside of the internet. 

 

What i have noticed kills sites faster than anything, is the main admin vanishing for awhile. Be this vacation, school, etc. Even though I've had other staff members before, if I go on a trip and don't check in on discord, everything falls to pieces. Now, even though it sort of sucks, I just make a point to check in and chat for awhile each day, especially when things are quiet. 

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There have been a LOT of those on my current board, mainly due to a few mental breakdowns (I've had a very bad 2018 so far) and I needed time to recover. But I'm starting to get the wheels moving again. In the meantime, I have some dedicated members that kept the site going even when I was unable to post. ❤️

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Having now ran two very large and very active boards I can say that the number one way to survive? Don't worry! My first go around as admin I got hit with so many stressors both IRL and online that when people got quiet I stressed! And now I'm like meh. Hell I've been talking today with a few people about what we want to do on the NEXT board because you know sometimes ya just gotta get out and about.

 

So don't stress. Keep advertising. And just be a constant driving force as admin. Be there. Don't just come in make a few demands and bounce out. Spend the night giggling about your power couples, take a walk, and then come back and do it again!

 

 

"Everyone has been doing so much soul searching during all of this,

and I'm just over here drawing pics of my character's dicks."

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I just make sure to keep posting and plotting as well as advertising to the best of my abilities (maybe even find new ways to advertise), because staff posting is paramount to encourage others to post. If staff don't post, how can they expect their members to? I usually find - so far - that my site is generally on the quiet side because it's a very specific niche. However, when other sites die, we tend to get more members. Some click, some don't. So far, I've found "word of mouth" from my  members (new or seasoned) to be the most effective form of advertising. The people they bring usually stick. When it goes quiet again, I just keep plugging along and try to do my best. I'll even be more selective about my affiliates in terms of their activity, et cetera. Be good to your members and your members will be good to you (at least most of the time) which helps with word-of-mouth advertising.

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