Re: Promoting FoG

[Gadreille]

+5 Charisma for awesome idea
-7 Charisma for egotistical story plug in

[Tartra]

I'm reading it now, but before I lose the idea, I'm gonna write it out.

Keep that - everything you have near the end, where the whispers come in - and, if you have the time, and if you still don't mind me sticking you with more work, try to rework it as this community RP's opening post. It's such a clear atmosphere we could work with. It just needs to be... maybe a third of the length of what you have now. But that's the sort of introduction that'd absolutely set the pace for everything else.

Edit: Oh yeah, but if you were up for it, the ending would have to be reworked to something that allowed for the next person. 'Little Rock vanished/made it through to the other side, but she was not the only soul to brave the forest's voices'. That'd be the most helpful.



And Gadreille - sorry, I skipped over what you wrote by mistake - of course we have to make our own! I wouldn't say completely new (we don't need OOC hellos for ourselves), because we have the advantage of role plays presently established. It'd be an introduction, but we could use characters we already have. I'd vote for using our favourite/flagship character or just whoever you feel the most comfortable writing to serve as your headliner, but if you want to make a new one (possibly as a plug for a future RP you'd like to have), this would be a wonderful chance for that as well.

Learning from the contests we have going on, I'd say as far as word limits go, stick with the minimums FoG's set out but give everyone a full post to play with. That's a 10,000 word maximum for one intro scene. And I know that post limit very well. Ten and I have tripped over it dozens of times.




Double Edit: One other thing I should mention right now: this is going to be a big merging of writing styles. I know the forum goes up to an R rating, and I, for one, run that as far as it'll let me (and as a result, I'd like to keep it at R so I can continue to run with it), but whether it'd be better to cap the language ( ) or leave it as is ( ), it'd have to be very clearly displayed on the intro post and in the thread description. That's the tiny, administrative detail I think would cause a lot of problems if it isn't acknowledged out of the gate.

[Guest]

I think I can do that... I'll give it a try tomorrow, my eyes are getting a bit heavy. I should be able to shape it into something useful

[Tartra]

It's in your hands, then!

Edit: I've been looking around at the information and rules. A lot of it seems out of date. The staff need to be updated, member ranks as well... Maybe we could add some 'general role-playing etiquette' to the Forum Etiquette section, too? I don't know. It just seems like it needs a little sprucing up.

[Guest]

I think there are a lot of areas that need sprucing up. And who knows... change might help bring in, and maybe keep, new members.

I'm going to work on that story right now; should have it up in an hour or so.

[Gadreille]

Those are things to take to the administrators, maybe global mods. Neither Ysopet or I have access to that, but I agree 100 percent that it should be touched up.

[Guest]

So... a couple of questions...

Are newcomers going to post their intro in the same way, telling their story through the ghosts? Or after mine, are they free to deviate in whatever way they want?

If it is supposed to stick with what is established in my intro post, should I change what Little Rock sees? Because it focuses on the ghastly things that people do to each other, and I don't want the new members to think that they have to tell the same kinds of stories. Perhaps they see whatever the ghosts think they need to see, but I would need to find a way to communicate that.

But, if they are free to change it, and my post is just to set a mood, then it shouldn't be a problem, I think.

Edit: Also, I know its really long as it is, but I'm finding it hard to cut any of it out without reworking the whole thing... I suppose I can do that, but it will take me longer to finish it. And, if you want the upper word-limit to be 10,000 words, the full post limit, why cut it down anyway? Having the longer intro might encourage others to try and surpass it... ?

[Tartra]

That's true about the word limit. It doesn't make sense to stick one on yours, especially when it's going to be setting the stage. Scratch that stuffy, cut-it-down business.

I'd imagine they'd deviate very strongly, but that there'd be certain elements everyone follows suit in. I think with the way you centered the mood around the whispers, a lot of people would take it as official plot points to hit. So it's a bit of both: your post would be focused on atmosphere, but it'd be so neatly defined in how you have Little Rock responding to what she hears and later figures out about what it means that it might be natural for us to do it, too. But that second part could fade as the number of posts grows, so the big idea is to focus on the mood - and in that case, I don't think you need to change what she sees. Maybe what everyone takes away from it is that their character is supposed to fall into her role, and it'd be about showing how they would react.

[Guest]

I think others will need to post after me, at least Christoph, so that the new members can see what will be expected of them. And also have a guideline posted somewhere about what this intro RP is about. I can just see myself, as a new member, reading just that one post and not really having any clue what to do with it...

[Gadreille]

I think the guidelines could be posted at the very beginning, and the actual story be the second post.

[Tartra]

If you did want to use that idea you just had, the explanation of what to do with this thread would be a good spot to have it. In the same way the front page's paragraph is like an open invitation to join the forum, that mini-introduction could be an invite saying a person is brought into a forest where the whispers show what need to be shown.

[Guest]

Yeah, that is probably a good idea.

So, what else do we need? We have the idea, the first intro post...

[Tartra]

Other than active members lined up to join, maybe a front and centre message to either refer to the posting rules (they might not see them or check them before then) so everyone knows the language, length and other requirements or a listing of them right there (but condensed).

[Gadreille]

I would also love to hear the thoughts of others (hello, rest of the staff? Where are you?) before we do anything.

[Guest]

I am excited about this - although as far as details on rules set-up and how it'll look, I think I'm still a step behind everyone else. But there's nothing here that I disagree with.

[Kalon Ordona II]

After mostly-reading most of this topic, here's my input. =)

1. Central Tree.
2. We tread in the footsteps of illustrious writers and authors of old, seeking what our predecessors attained.

IC Intro subforum in the Intruductions area, with link in the guidelines.
Permanent announcement in the IC Intro giving the opening setting. Max 30 sentences and 4 paragraphs.
Post requirements equivalent to Casual.

* Every character is looking for something.
* They are directed into the FOG to follow the Footsteps of Ghosts
* They find the central tree of insert epic qualifiers here.
* Tree presents them a challenge, like Luke vs Vader-self in Star Wars
* Persevering to the end earns them an epiphany on where to go next.

Second permanent announcement with Staff responses.
First post, Admins
Second post, Globals
Third post, IC's
Fourth post, OOC's

Staff must not exceed 50 sentences, so as not to overwhelm. Newbies have no upper limit.

Use username as character. Posts are editable. If we change usernames or want to update our little post, we can do so at any time.

Each newbie creates a topic of their own. Welcomers respond in character or not at all, as allowed or disallowed by the newbie.

Sticky thread with ongoing RP
Setting: the foggy forest of a more epic name (or, better yet, no name at all)
Our ongoing adventures: wandering the woods, making discoveries, meeting with each other, fighting ghosts or phantasms, or what-so-very-ever.

First post containing brief synopses of each page, synopses maintained by staff.
New page, time for a new synopsis, so newbies don't have to read everything.
Synopses listed in reverse date order, newest first.

This would definitely be something I can imagine myself wanting to dive into if I were a joining member. Something to get one's feet wet and show off imagination. (and keep usernames awesome)

[Tartra]

I don't know if the character-username would stick, but I do like the idea of it. That's why I miss statuses now. They were fun tidbits of info, and we could've worked that idea in as having Your Character Name as it for a while. It could have been a nice highlight of the character gallery a lot of people have.

[Kalon Ordona II]

Everything can be improved upon, of course. Just a starting point or a brainstorm or an offering of ideas. Whatever works. ^^
I, too, miss the statuses.

One cool thing about adventures in the fog is, if we want, we can have it mirror our real life, or our activities on the forum, or just make up stuff. And it's painless for anyone to meet anyone, since there's no telling where one thing is in relation to another within the fog. The possibilities are myriad and virtually limitless, the only restriction being the foggy forest setting. And really, that's not so much of a restriction anyway, given caves, clearings, hollow trees, or even structures within the mists. Awesomeness abounds.

[Tartra]

I think the direction that was being leaned towards was a one post per person format following the themes (mostly setting-wise, but hopefully plot-wise, too) Ysopet's post will lay out, which he's offered to base on his entry for the old Halloween contest. The other greetings and such would be going into the newbies' OOC introduction threads. It's sort of a common link between everyone rather than a constant rush of welcoming new people, so it doesn't get bogged down or taken over by the same posters. So it's like an equalizer, too.

As for what's posted, anything goes. If someone posts with a medieval twist, it could be immediately followed by something sci-fi. The similarity is in the setting and the purpose of it, that way no one's writing style is clamped down on.

[Kalon Ordona II]

Well, I do feel to emphasize a focus on something uniquely and intrinsically FOG-ish. An unavoidably subjective criterion, to be sure, but nevertheless, however we do it, whatever we come up with should have that core. If Ysopet's ends up satisfying that, then I'm good with it. ^_^


Edit: Wait, do you mean the IC foggy-ness responses would go in the associated users' OOC intro threads?

[Tartra]

Oh yes, he linked his story at the end of page one of this. Because it was for the Halloween contest, it's got a chill of horror to it, and that's perfect in this context because it really forces the reader to understand the environment he's building and what they'll be following suit in. Given the blurb on the front page, it fits with FoG (the environment, not the horror).

I wouldn't think there'd be any direct IC responses, just to be clear on the way I see it. In the OOC thread, absolutely, having a follow-up greeting while in character would be a fun continuation that might even start its own plot, but by keeping it in the associated OOC thread, we leave the focus on the writing. I'm hoping for it to be a showcase of the newbies - ideally, it'd be a showcase of everyone who joins - and that means quality posts to the best each person can manage. It's not something to take too seriously, but by having too many fast replies just to say what could be equally or better said OOC could water things down by leaving that first person with less and less things to say beyond, 'Hello to you, too.' So yes to IC foggy-ness responses, but no to having them in the stickied thread itself.

[Sunwolf007]

There were some valid points brought up about this idea that I feel must be addressed.
1. If this is to serve as an introduction RP how do us old members go about introducing ourselves after multiple new posts from new members? Can we be in 2,3,4, etc. places at once in one post?
2. You make this sound as if everyone will want to do this intro RP. A lot of new members have a hard time with just writing a paragraph about themselves and some skip that all together. Is this RP intro thread going to be a required post?
3. Earlier it was brought up that it was difficult to promote FoG because of a lack of identity/no highlight of what makes us special. Isn’t promoting the site what this topic is supposed to be about?

An intro RP is a good idea and I am really liking the work done on it so far but that alone isn’t going to fix our problem with promoting the site. It does go a step on the right direction. We do need a central identity that makes our board name easy to ‘sell’ to potential new members. In order to survive as a RP forum we must get new members here and have them stick around.

I was called in to give some time on my idea for the RP that I am leading the creation team on. When it comes to which type of promotion I was thinking about for the RP it was mostly external but I knew the side effects would be internal. By asking FoG to create something that somehow defines us we set about uniting a bit internally. Internal promotion is fine but I feel as if we need more external publicity to make those possible new members check us out and actually become new members. As for how this RP of mine is going to do that I am not certain yet but it is already doing what I hoped. It is making us look at a central identity and come together to fix a problem I saw a few months ago. When finished this RP will be awesome and can be a tool to show new members and explain what our site is all about but until that happens we do need to work on this intro RP idea.

[Tartra]

I'll just itemize this too so it looks more organized:

1. The idea would be to have the thread as a collection of writing showcases following the same, general theme as opposed to another thread where everyone says hello to each other. There are already a lot of threads where we directly learn about each other and chat, so it isn't as though restricting everyone to only one post will cut off communication. This could spark conversation on its own - and like I said, might spark its own plot - and shooing that conversation out of the collection ensures everyone tries their hardest; they know it's a showcase that no one person takes over, even if it's only to greet any new faces they come across. If we leave everything else in an OOC greeting thread (and in there, we could certainly respond while IC), we get the best of both worlds.

2. I'd love if everyone joined in, but as for 'required': absolutely not. This is a for fun thing everyone can get to in their own time. If they never do, it'd be disappointing, but our goal would be to strongly encourage their participation while avoiding any sense of it being mandatory. I'd actually hope people would take their time writing a post so it shows the best side of their talent, and that's something else we should encourage if FoG is dedicated to being an advanced and expert RP forum.

3. Yes, it is. This idea of having a thread where everyone posts is a step to have people be involved when they arrive. It's in the internal promotion category. I mentioned your idea a lot because, when it's finished, it'd be fantastic to link as external promotion. There're two sides being developed in here.

I'm really looking forward to seeing how your RP turns out, Sunwolf. And you're right, more steps to externally promote ourselves are needed. My thoughts on that for now are simply getting our names on directories and refreshing mentions of us that were already made, but it'd be considerably easier to describe ourselves if we have an idea of what'll be here for newcomers when they arrive. This is one of those things that can be: a thread specifically tuned towards writing. It seems like a very solid sign of our commitment to it.



Edit: Here's a list of what's been suggested so far.

External Promotion Ideas
- FoG RP to be linked to others
- Post Your Favourite Lines thread
- 'FoG at a Glance'
- Refining FoG's identity
- FoG banner

Internal Promotion Ideas
- Stickied IC introduction role play
- Stickied OOC RP preferences thread (potentially based on/modelled after this thread)
- Using the Chatbox more often
- Role play ettiquette guidelines
- Information / Rules updates (just housecleaning)

[Tartra]

Does FoG have an official banner?

[Kalon Ordona II]

One could be made.

[Tartra]

Good sir, I think those are magic words.

Having one - or several - would go a long way towards putting a face on the forum, and we have a lot of artists on FoG. Is anyone interested?

[Kalon Ordona II]

Yes?

[Tartra]

Alright, Kalon! Show us what you've got!

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