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Activity vs Community


Nerissa
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What matters more to you? The activity of the site, their atmosphere and community, or is it both? I have found that we have completely revamped, and we still struggle to get people to join in. Given, yes, it's multi-genre and that's a bit harder, but we also narrowed it down and changed our rules and followed a bunch of advice from you awesome people here! The issue is, people wanna join a huge site with activity, but sites can't get that activity if people don't join. Our current staff and members can only do so much but they all have lives too. So, I guess my question is: Why do people say they like joining smaller sites, to help grow with them as a community, but no one ever takes the plunge to register? Or, those who only join big active sites, how do you expect those sites to gain that activity if no one bothers joining? 

 

What else can we do to attract people? We hold events and contests monthly, but as stated before we only have a few members who can/will be able to participate. We have a ton of threads open, 1x1 and groups, and those are coming along as well. I bought a custom skin and background art to make it look way more crisp, but we only get guests. 

 

Any advice and insight would be appreciated. Thank you all for your continued support and awesomeness. ❤️

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absolutely community first. I need to see some activity, maybe having posts within the last week, and maybe a presence in the chat or discord letting me know that the site isn't dead, but if I can tell that I won't be able to mesh with a site's community, I won't give it a chance whether it's active or not.

 

Usually what attracts me to a site first is the premise then the rules. If I like the premise, I'll click on the link, while the rules give me a sense of what sort of rp and community the admins are aiming to craft. If I like the rules then I'll look at whats going on with the rest of the site to see if its something I really want to join. Events and all are fine for retaining-encouraging members and activity, but I'm looking for a long term draw.

 

Multi-genre is a bit of a danger for me as a prospective member, because these and panfandoms often lack a unified world or sitewide plot to give them continuity. I don't know about your particular rp, but I know I'm looking for long-term multi-thread plots, so I'd need to see that sort of thing going on on a site like that to consider it a place I might be able to stay.

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What is important, the answer lays in the question. What do you value as something important? The common mistake that is made in the RPG community is to compare one and another and try to duplicate its success. Only to find out later they failed and not know why they did not succeed in the first place. Every community has its own formula and that can be more activity promotion with events, actions, games or active storytelling that is bound to rules. But there are also those that get stuck on community feelings and the bound created by members and value their content more than usual. 

I have seen groups get born, flourish and burn down. It is not easy to find the right formula that works for your community. But what I can advice is to stay balance between the two. Even I, after more than 15 years of writing, still learn from my mistakes and adapt upon it. Try an experiment on what would benefit and what works for your group. I personally think that involving your members in the changes is even more important then you making the step for them. Involve them and you get a better step towards success. 

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Keeper RaWolfe

Owner of the Exonia Realm

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7 hours ago, Kazetatsu said:

Events and all are fine for retaining-encouraging members and activity, but I'm looking for a long term draw.

 

So much this. Events and actual activity definitely keep me engaged with the story, but it's really the community that keeps me from ditching a site. From my point of view, events are temporary - they're there to keep you involved in something for a short amount of time, but they end. They may be followed by other things, but they aren't meant to last forever. But the community is always there. It may change over time, but it's not going anywhere (or shouldn't, rather). When the event ends, the community is still going to be there to influence the future of the site. Even if posts on the site and overall activity take a little hiatus, if the community is there then things are alive and well. The nature of a rp of any size will change over time - at one point it may be huge and extremely active and at another it may dwindle a little bit. But as long as the community is strong, it can support that ebb and flow. 

 

To get that community in the first place though can be tough. But you just have to do your best. Market your ass off. Do that and you'll attract somebody. Do it enough and you might attract the right somebodies. But don't let it discourage you. Listen to the members you do have and cater to them (within reason). Nothing looks better to prospective members than giving your players what they want. 

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a dark, urban fantasy;

inspired by sailor moon

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Activity is always second to the people for me. Having loads of members is great but I find the more you have, the more likely they are to sit and hold a place on the site without actually participating. I have always said that I would rather have a few, really close and involved members than 100s who only only RP with their friends and ignore everyone else. My advice for building the community is just to start it, you are a member of your RP first and admin second, you and your admins having a blast RPing will make people want to join in and even if they don't if you're enjoying yourself then who cares right?

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The activity and premise are what get me to join, but there is no chance of me sticking around more than a month or two if I don't feel like a part of a wider community. I'm in it for the social aspect, not just the writing aspect -- I have made some stellar friends through RP, and plan to continue doing so 🙂

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This! OMG This! I have talked (typed) myself to near death about this topic! While activity is nice and it does show that plots are moving along and that there is activity on a forum, you still have to have that sense of community.

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Find me at:

Sunrises and Sunsets - Never-Ending Stories

 

 

 

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I look at site first: Story, rules, setting, creep on some threads to get a sense of writing style: Then I look at the community. They tend to come about a.... 60/40 split for me. 

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Community all the way.  I would rather be on a slow board with people I mesh well with over a very busy board that just doesn't have people I want to talk to in a cbox or discord.

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The activity and premise/plot are what initially draw me towards a site, but my next move generally is to hop into the cbox or discord and get a feel for the community. If the members continue to chat without really welcoming me or acknowledging me (after me saying hello!) then I'm out straight away & not looking back. There's nothing more annoying than a community that doesn't really speak to new members and I don't understand it???

 

But by the sounds of it you're on the right track - keep on plotting and writing with the members you do already have and trust me, more will filter in as time goes on. Sometimes sites stagnate and you won't have anyone new for weeks and then boom, a handful of new peeps arrive. Try putting a link to your site in your signature here! That way if you post here regularly, people might get curious and check your forum out.

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  • 5 months later...

Community is far more important than activity in my eyes, and measuring activity is kind of subjective anyway, I find.  A pet hate I have is when leaders in an RP (admins/mods/whatever) say their site isn't active enough so there's 'no point' in doing an event or a plot or whatever, because to me that becomes more about trying to get some kind of kudos or recognition for running it than it is about actually facilitating something or having fun. People stick around if they have the time to, when a site welcomes them and makes them feel valued and involved and like they have a part to play, and if the community is there and allows some kind of ebb and flow in regard to personal activity, then the community is likely to last longer (years even) rather than fizzle out too.

 

In my opinion, activity is still activity if its just you and one or two other people posting against each other consistently and enjoying your story. Activity is still activity if your RP world is evolving and changing and growing, even if its slowly.  

 

The HP site I basically live on has had a significant downturn in membership in the past several years (for perspective, circa pottermore launching, we had about 1000 new registrations/new sorted members that month, with about 250 joining the RPG ((though not all of them stayed obviously)) while this most recent sorting it was perhaps 25, and only around 4 have stuck around for the RPG that I have seen). Given the scale, I'm aware that my experience there is vastly different to the majority of the sites people come from here, but I mention it because in my opinion even if there is ONE person, active and excited and eager, then I for sure am going to do my best to facilitate something fun for that ONE person. Its not about the size of the site, or the amount of the activity in question, its about scaling the plot or event to suit who is willing to be invested and involved, even if its just one single person.


Our community is kind of unique in that we have a number of members that still are part of the community and keep in touch and chat and enjoy the fandom with us even if their lives don't currently allow them the time to devote to the RP and fully participate. We don't delete accounts or retire members ever.  Once you're part of us, you stay part of us, and even if you're gone for several years you can pop back in as you please (and people DO! its wonderful!)  and if it was just about activity, then that wouldn't happen. The community would fade if we got rid of inactive accounts. And even a site as big as ours, there are events and plots where only one or two people might get involved, but that's OKAY, its no reason to give up or not do them at all.  I think its important to ask yourself, do you NEED more members? Sure, they might be nice, but can you run your site, and enjoy your story, and enjoy bonding within your  (more intimate) community even if you don't get brand new blood all the time? Sometimes I feel like there's too much focus in internet RP circles on advertising (and 'activity') and getting new members, over making the best of what you currently have. 

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really depends but i do enjoy these close knit communities where everyone knows each other. 

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I'm a big fan of that community feeling. Activity is good an all, but it just feels better when you know you are part of a welcoming and friendly community. So, yeah...community. Always.

Find me at:

Sunrises and Sunsets - Never-Ending Stories

 

 

 

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Community first. A site can be active 24/7 but not feel like 'home' to me if everyone is standoffish, rude, or just plain shy with one another. I appreciate the feeling of roleplaying with friends over anything else. I don't like feeling like I'm roleplaying for business. It's supposed to be fun.

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