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Shipper Apps


CovertSphinx
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Asking for a friend....... I need to consult the pool of RPers who know things that I don't: you guys. What exactly IS a "Shipper App"? And what is its purpose/function?

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It's a shipper and am app combined. A shipper being a plotter. Where other people come to suggest plots with your character.

 

Supposedly it's so you only have to do one thing. I think they are messy but that's me.

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Well, I would imagine that boards that stress "shipping" rather than allowing characters to develop relationships through RP or to have the members plot privately are more likely to be focused on romance than sites that are not shipping-heavy.  But not always.

 

The last time this conversation came up, one of the concerns with shipper apps was that some members may have their shipper app ignored and pushed to the bottom of the stack by more popular apps.  Kind of creates a divide between popular and unpopular.  Since I have no experience with these sorts of apps, I can neither confirm nor deny this.

 

Personally, they don't appeal to me because more often than not they look too cluttered, but I can definitely see the appeal in them.  Having one place to "do it all" is really neat.

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I've never been a big fan of Plotters, Shippers, etc. Most of the time they have heavy coding for them and I'm not exactly code savvy. Aka dreaded templates. 

 

I've always thought of 'shippers' as like was said before, partner shopping. Be it romantic, familial, etc. Though honestly I just don't really do them myself. Just one more thing to make people do is how I see it. I leave it voluntary for plotters on my forum. I've honestly seen them get out of hand where the only focus is building them and coding them to be pretty. Less anything else getting done. Just my opinion though. To each their own.

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I like them for the handy list/summary of characters. But any more plotter and shipper are interchangeable. After all, there are more than just romantic relationships! 

 

Most of us on CW seem to just scream at shippers then actually plot over on or discord once we've narrowed the choices down. XD 

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I don't do shipper application. I have a classical bio, and optional a plotter in a designed subforum. The plotter is for all kind of plots, for those who aren't comfortable PM-ing a not so known person. There I write both what connections my character already has, and what he/ she is looking for, both as plots and compatible characters, for family, friends, lovers, crewmates/ business partners, enemies, all kind of other plots. So anyone can brainstorm a plot for their characters with mine based on that information. 

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I'd like to try a "plotter app" - same structure, but focus on developing all sorts of plots, not focusing just on "ships".

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  • 2 weeks later...

I like shipper apps because they're usually fairly simple, and I can easily see who all I've plotted with so far! It helps me to keep from forgetting plots and stuff and how characters are connected or not. 

 

But they can definitely be for more than romance. They usually have sections for like friends, enemies, and romance. You post a little snippet about how your character interacts with these subsets of people so that others can determine how their characters might interact with yours! Like an "at a glance" section on the types of relationships your character has with others, be they platonic, familial, romantic, etc. Sometimes, this is combined with bullets about your character's history/personality. Other times, there's another section for those things. 

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I'm doing a shipper application for the first time, solely for the streamlined ease of it.

 

It also almost encourages immediate networking with characters and keeps a character's history/information available directly with the plot/ship points of interest. It's not solely for romantic-based plots, but all sorts of plots, and I still heavily encourage natural interaction and relationships via threads because that's how I was 'raised' to roleplay myself lol. But I know tons of people who like to plot/ship with them, as well, so they're there for that peace of mind, too.

 

 

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Out of further curiosity (I never did one in all my years of RPing), How does the shipper part of the app work? You just fill in a general, "Looking for: ___"? and then members reply on the profile thread?

 

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If you want to fill it out that way, you can, that's absolutely a valid way of doing it, and then yeah, others just post responses with ideas they have for potential plotty goodness.

 

Most people will, under the section header, fill in like how they interact with people who fall in that category, so for instance what kind of friend they are, and then suggest easy ways of becoming a friend with their character. I.E. where they hang out at, what other friends they have, any IC groups, factions, or clubs they're in. So for, say, a RL university RP, someone may fill it out like "Jane is a great friend to have and really receptive to listening to her friends, sometimes treats them to Starbucks just because. She hangs out at the library in her free time and is on the debate team! Jim's her best friend, so if you know him, you probably will meet Jane eventually." It's really up to each individual person what they think is necessary to know, or what could act as an easy means of starting a plot-line between the character the shipper's for and other characters.

 

Basically they are just short summaries of avenues others can take to plot with this character in a given category. Whatever might be important to know if one was interested in being this character's friend/enemy/lover/whatever goes in there. If there is something specific they're after, they'd mention that too for sure. Hope that makes sense!

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I will admit shipper apps have won me over. I found having individual shipper-apps helps streamline the amount of boards you need. If you want to thread with a character, reply to their app! Easy. Doing both separately requires a bit of work.

 

I find most of my plotting is done on Discord these days anyway, and shipper/apps help as a quick Interest Check. And if you've already plotted on Discord, it's a good way to summarise what's been said.

 

I do think the word 'shipper' is a bit misleading. The way I've seen them used is usually just as a plot-brainstorming point for two characters, regardless of whether they're just coworkers,  hated enemies, etc.

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Personally, I think that when done right, shipper apps provide a perfect balance between separate application formats and shippers by themselves. In my case, I'm talking about shipper apps that are a combination of an application and a plot page, rather than shipper apps where the plot page is the application.

 

Ideally, with shipper apps, you have longer form information available about the character in the application section, while also allowing for a shorthand guide to the character and potential plotting relationships in the shipper section. That way, a player only has to look in one place, and if they're unclear about anything related to the character while plotting, the application is right there. 

 

Some of whether or not it looks cluttered, is more irritating than helpful, etc. comes down to the code/format being used. I like them a lot now, though it took time for me to be won over.

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I like the little at a glance list of how other characters might interact with each specific character. I call it plotter area because it's not all about romance of course, there are so many interactions... people can glance through without reading whole apps. Saves a little time. Oftentimes we just plot over the discord but I think it's nice for newer members who have no clue about the characters to have that little section there without getting info overloaded... don't require it but a lot of people use it. 

 

I don't use coding... just a list really of how this person might interact with friends/family/enemies, and sort of list what locations and timelines that character can feasibly be used in.

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