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Opinion on invite-only roleplays?


Shades
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Hello, Initiative!

 

I come here again for your collective wisdom.

 

I was wondering what's your general opinion on invite-only roleplays? 

 

To add some context, I have opened a roleplay recently (and closed it recently) that in a practical way operated like that, but it didn't have limited openings or anything of the sort, so it was basically "hey, wanna play? Come on in!". For the next idea I'm working on, though, while we can in theory stretch to infinite numbers of characters, there would be a small group making up the center of the plot, and, realistically, even for meaningful secondary characters there would be a limited space (one person can only have as many siblings, for example).

 

So, it would probably be a mix of invite-only and a few wanted ads to fill the spots the people I plan on inviting can't/won't take, but for ease of argument I'm putting it down as invite-only.

 

What do you all - members and admins alike - think of those? Okay? Unfair? Okay with some challenges? I would love to hear anyone's opinion! Thank you in advance! (P.S.: Hope I have posted it in the right place and explained it decently enough, let me know if there's something I need to clarify)

Shady McShaderson

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I have mixed feelings on this. On the one hand, if you're running a game solo, it can be VERY helpful to be able to (a) limit the number of players and (b) ensure the players you do have are the right fit for what you have in mind and for each other. On the other hand, when your game is invite only, you run the risk of crashing and burning when everyone's real lives get busy, because you don't have an easy way to recruit new players. Also, you miss out on Random Internet Strangers who turn out be talented, lovely, and great additions to the game.

 

I'm running an open game right now, but plan to do something invite only in the future, so I'll definitely keep an eye on this thread for other peoples' thoughts.

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Yes, the problem with invite-only (as well as with niche, small sites which are open but nobody joins) is that when the few people are on get all busy at the same time, the site crashes. 

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34 minutes ago, thenoisyflower said:

Wise words

 

Yup, I'll definitely be running it solo, which's one of my concerns about something getting big. Plus, it's gonna be a 'plot arc' thing, with a beginning and ending in sight (though the end itself is not defined, it's more like 'yes, there will be one at some point') instead of an open world, which's another concern of mine re: keeping it open for everyone.

 

Thank you for replying! 🙂

Shady McShaderson

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Personally I see no issue with invite only games.

However it is important to recognise that they're a completely different entity. They really can't be advertised like a traditional game. Instead they rely much more heavily on curating the experience and handing out invites based on who would be a good fit. Though handing out invites can be a tricky thing. Not all places will let you PM invite people. Many people also don't overly like being PMed about invites. 

 

Like mentioned they do suffer from greater chance of collapse if people get busy (since it's a bit harder to replace roles and/or get new people in). However the general rate of failure of open roleplay sites is pretty high too so I don't think it's THAT much higher. Most traditional/open roleplay sites die within 3 months. (I don't have hard figures here, but based on what I've seen on various directories I'd estimate that 75% of sites die within 3 months. Furthermore 90-95% are dead within a year. Keep in mind though that because I don't have actual verifiable stats on this the numbers could be way off. Perception is a screwy thing at times...)

 

A curated experience can be a much tighter community because you don't have to worry as much about random users showing up and not fitting in. Which is usually a pretty good thing as it means that people are less likely to flake/abandon the site/plot.

It's also nice because, since there are no people constantly joining, you aren't spending as much time doing administrative stuff. You aren't taking much time to read over and approve new profiles (especially from people who then flake off). It's quite annoying to spend an hour reading over a profile, approve it and then have the person vanish right after. (It's like... why bother? Why, if I knew this was going to happen, would I spend the time approving you? It's not like there is a thousand other things I could be doing...)

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"There are three sides to every story... Your side, their side, and then somewhere in the middle is the truth."
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1 hour ago, Shades said:

 

Yup, I'll definitely be running it solo, which's one of my concerns about something getting big. Plus, it's gonna be a 'plot arc' thing, with a beginning and ending in sight (though the end itself is not defined, it's more like 'yes, there will be one at some point') instead of an open world, which's another concern of mine re: keeping it open for everyone.

 

Before the Mast had a beginning and an ending (and a sequel too 😉 ) still it was open to everybody till the last moments. This wouldn't be a reason for invite-only. As for the fear of getting big, this could be solved while keeping the site open for everybody, but using target advertising.

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11 minutes ago, Elena said:

 

Before the Mast had a beginning and an ending (and a sequel too 😉 ) still it was open to everybody till the last moments. This wouldn't be a reason for invite-only. As for the fear of getting big, this could be solved while keeping the site open for everybody, but using target advertising.

 

The core group will be like maybe 8 different characters (with room for others, but not that many), which's why I don't want to have it be an 'open for all'. Targeted advertising, or opening requests for specific characters, is definitely a part of the plan.

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Shady McShaderson

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There's no issue with it at all. Basically you're running it like the GM of a tapletop game (without the tabletop): There's a defined plot (perhaps open to twists, but defined nonetheless), with a set number of players (IE:, the Player Party), and meant to be temporary (An ending at some point, defined by whenever the story is finished). 

What you're planning to do is no different than an Invite-only subplot, thread, or event on an "Open" board. Except in your case, the "Private Thread" is the entire site. 

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Just wanna thank everyone for replying! ❤️

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Shady McShaderson

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On one hand, I don't have a problem with it. I hate having to turn away players I think won't write well with me because they are inexperienced or only want to do relationships. You can be sure that you're less likely to run into inexperienced writers who make a problem for themselves on a site because they aren't familiar with the rules, or how it works, and you're less likely to have trolls disrupting your role-play. It would be tempting, if I knew enough people to do a site like that myself. The problem is when there are good writers, or those who are new to rp and willing to learn that they can't join a site like that because they don't know anyone on it, or no one from the site sends them an invite to join. It can seem a bit pretentious or elitist to people who want to get into the site because they like the premise of it, but can't.

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12 hours ago, Icewolf said:

Words

 I'll start off by saying I don't believe many of the claims of elitism, but regardless. I think the best way to define what I really want to do is 'limited-spots-roleplay'. Basically because, well.. I actually have limited spots. Let's say for example that you (general) have a story with 5 people in a room. At some point, you'll have to say 'okay, no more characters'. I guess that's a better definition, because even if I want to, I won't be able to fill all the spots with people I know. So some would definitely be filled with people I don't know, via wanted ads. Basically the sabe thing (generally) that happens on a tabletop game.

 

Thank you for replying! 🙂

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Shady McShaderson

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I believe it's the job of the admin to maintain the quality and atmosphere of the community. In some cases, this might mean asking certain people to leave. Thinking along that line, I don't see an issue in only allowing certain people to join your forum by invitation. In theory, it might cut down on the people you have to boot out and you get just the sorts of people you want!

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It's not unlike running a tabletop campaign at home, except online. I don't see any issue here. I think sometimes we misunderstand "being welcoming is generally speaking a good thing" for "literally everyone must be welcomed in every single spot". It's okay to do something with just a smaller group.

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7 hours ago, featherstone said:

It's not unlike running a tabletop campaign at home, except online. I don't see any issue here. I think sometimes we misunderstand "being welcoming is generally speaking a good thing" for "literally everyone must be welcomed in every single spot". It's okay to do something with just a smaller group.

 

You have put in words what I have been wanting to express, but much better than I could do it, thank you. That's exactly it. Sometimes people (note: not anyone from here, I've never gotten this vibe either from this thread or my other interactions here on the site) mistake "being welcoming" for "never turning anyone away ever", which is just not reasonable in most cases, since no roleplay/site, no matter how welcoming it is, will ever be a fit for everyone (be it genre, some rule, activity expectations, word count or lack thereof, etc). Thanks again!

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Shady McShaderson

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I think people have already hit the main points, so I won't dwell on things too much.

 

The point where invite only becomes problematic is where the admin goes around telling people about this game and then being like "nope, invite only." The idea of limited spots is pretty clever, but what happens when someone you don't want takes a spot you don't want them to have?

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