Finding RPs

[Kesteven]

I don't know about other people, but I always have trouble finding RPs I like. The only option most forums seem to have is to browse the OOC and Interest Check boards, but with those I usually have to just go by the name and it's often not clear if they're accepting players until you've checked around the thread to see what state the RP's currently at.

What I think would be really useful is some kind of updated list of all RPs that are accepting new players, along with a quick blurb describing each, and maybe some keywords or categories to filter by. Basically an at-a-glance directory. My own forum's RP section is very small, so it's easy enough for me to maintain such a list as a single post, but obviously that wouldn't be feasible for larger ones.
This is the sort of thing that databases are perfect for and I guess the optimum solution would be a forum-integrated table which adds a new record automatically as part of the process of starting an RP thread, and gives GMs tools for modifying their RP, like opening and closing it and changing the description, but I'm sure there would be less tech-intensive implementations.

That's mostly besides the point though since I don't really expect anything like that to be implemented soon. What I'd like to know is, how do people here find RPs that appeal to them? Is there some kind of trick to it, or is it just luck and a lot of clicking?

[Fluff]

Firstly, I check the interest check sections in Advanced and Casual. I'll usually look at the top couple of threads, but the main thing I look at when choosing which threads to check out is the date of the last post. If no one has posted in it for a couple of days, it's probably dead--unless it's an interest check, in which case if it went on to be an OOC I'll probably see it anyways. After the IntChks, I look at the OOCs to see if there's anything that's just getting off the ground. Anything with more than one page is a risky bet, and more than two means it's almost definitely too late. Again, the date of the last post is a big thing, but with smaller threads it's also a good idea to note the date of the starting post. Thread necromancy doesn't work too well, I've discovered.

And yes, I do put a lot of stock in titles. Sci-fi titles usually sound rather film-noir-ish, or make some sort of mention of metal. Alternatively, there might be a year in the title, which gives it away right off the bat. Fantasy titles are usually extremely obvious at a glance. Romance RPs are usually only in the 1v1 section, and the title will sound like something out of Titanic. If the thread is based off of a game or anime series, the name of the series will almost always be in the title. I never even give those a second glance, to be honest. They have a tendency to be fanboy-ish and unimaginative, although given the overall quality of this site there could be exceptions. I wouldn't be surprised if Kathryn's Airbender thread was pretty damn good, for example, although it's still not my cup of tea.

Even given all that I've said above, I wouldn't mind some easier way to find RPs. Ask Tony/onenitedrive. He can probably pull up a holographic display for you or something.

[Loki]

This topic seems familiar...

A lot of that is covered in that thread, but it pretty much ended in the understanding that it would be a lot of unnecessary work. If you are curious about if an RP is still open, it couldn't hurt to PM the RP starter or even post in the OOC asking such.

[Kathryn Lacey]

So... Fluffy-kins totally does the exact same thing I do, but I do poke at a couple of fandoms if they're good. I agree with Fluffy that I usually ignore fandoms for the same reason, but I have had a good Avatar: The Last Airbender fandom experience with Misery before this, so it seemed only natural after many people on the board began obsessing over Avatar ((Muahahah! I have created monsters of them!)) that a role play be made.

But yeah... I usually completely overlook OoC threads if they're over two pages because they usually are full. PMing the moderators of the games is a good way to ask. If I'm really fascinated with a role play, I read through the entire OoC. Usually there'll be a post stating that it's full somewhere if it is.

[Dio the Awesome]

I can agree with Kesteven's thoughts though. What I do for myself is bookmark every active RP I'm in, just to keep track of what I'm doing, let alone try to keep track of things I may be interested in.

Though I'm not sure if there would be an easy way to have a list of active RP's, but it would be nice for there to be some sort of message on The Interest and OOC threads that say Accepting, full, or closed.

[Fate Flyer]

It would be amazing if we could have a feature like that, Kesteven, where it was all automated and could update itself. Neither onenitedrive or myself have seen or are familiar with anything like that though, and because we do not have access to the message board's overall coding, we wouldn't be able to edit it in ourselves anyway.

I think the main thing you can do to find role-plays is simply to look for ones that interests you. As basic as it is, this is always the way that I've ever seen it done. Or, if you're rather, instead of looking around for one, why don't you just create your own if you have specific tastes or want to do something more specific? That's really all I've done, myself.

[Kesteven]

Well, I do like making RPs, but it's usually getting other people interested in them that's the problem. That, and finding time to run them, although that's currently not too much of a problem, courtesy of the economic downturn.

Integrating a directory with the forum might not be too hard once you had the system figured out and some root access, but it would still be hours of work from someone who knew what they were doing and it would probably still introduce a security risk, too much work to be justified really. Sigh. I guess the old fashioned way's not so bad.
Still, it helps me out no end when people put a bit of extra info in their OOC threads, like a 3-word description and whether or not they're accepting new players. That at least is totally worth doing.

[Guest]

I don't need such a list; even when an RP is running, I accept new players. Of course, I don't do 'group seeks adventure' type RP's too terribly well, or at least I build in mechanisms that make sure I can bring in new players. After all, forum RP's seem to have a high degree of turnover.

[Kesteven]

Yeah, I can see why you might want to limit players in a DM situation, since you're having to regulate everything, but if everyone takes a share then there's no problem. Just break it up into a couple of threads if things get confusing.

[Kathryn Lacey]

Yeah. I had to limit my role play with Misery to six people. The more people involved in a role play, the more likely it is to die.

However, there's going to be system in mine. If people don't post for excessive amounts of time ((and by excessive, I don't mean three days, that's not excessive)), I reserve the right to kick them out of the role play and to replace them with someone else. I don't mind having smaller role plays. I do mind being a part of massive ones. It's just... too much with which to cope if role plays are too big. Forum role plays don't handle that so well. Journal role plays are a completely different story.

[Dio the Awesome]

Journal role plays are a completely different story.

I see what you did there.


I agree with Kesteven, so from this day forth, I'll try to have a status in the title of my RP's like, accepting, or full or something.

[Guest]

Yeah. I had to limit my role play with Misery to six people. The more people involved in a role play, the more likely it is to die.

However, there's going to be system in mine. If people don't post for excessive amounts of time ((and by excessive, I don't mean three days, that's not excessive)), I reserve the right to kick them out of the role play and to replace them with someone else. I don't mind having smaller role plays. I do mind being a part of massive ones. It's just... too much with which to cope if role plays are too big. Forum role plays don't handle that so well. Journal role plays are a completely different story.

I don't think Journal roleplays are a completely different story, honestly. In my experience with journal rps, there is usually a handful of well thought out characters and plot lines and the rest are just chuff thrown together. If memory serves, Kathryn, we BOTH where in a journal rp where there were specific people that no one wanted to post with.

I'd agree that Journal RPs are a better medium for it, but I'm still of the opinion of being choosy about who you let into your rp.

[Kathryn Lacey]

Yes. I know. That's true. There weren't writing requirements in that role play, though, and they pretty much let anyone into the game who was willing. It was a bit different in the next one. There were more decent role players and fewer who were made of fail. I still had to leave that one.

Journal role plays are a better medium for large groups, but I really prefer the closeness of forum style role plays where you react from everything someone says. There's also less one has to read if the role play is a small group. There are also fewer threads of which to keep track.

[Guest]

Oh, you can't blame that on the writing requirements. There were just as many dull, boring, worthless threads in the next rp too. The fact that you were friends with the moderator keeps you from being objective about it.

As for keeping track of all of the threads, that's just your OCD-ness honey. You don't actually need to keep track of all of the threads even in one of those journal rps. God knows I never did. If I wanted to sift through drivel I'd become a low paid editor *LOL*

[Kathryn Lacey]

:: hugs :: Even though you're opinionated and mean, I still love you.

I actually never read any threads in the journal role plays unless I was in them or unless I was going to be in them later... I couldn't be bothered, but I know a lot of stuff apparently happened in other threads that would have been beneficial for me to know for my own characters. At least in forum role plays, it's all in one, little thread, so I can totally keep track of it a lot easier.

[vitamin_kitten]

I agree with Kesteven, so from this day forth, I'll try to have a status in the title of my RP's like, accepting, or full or something.

Yeah, I've always found it helpful to include some sort of tag in the thread title to the extent of advertising whether the RP was Open and Accepting, or Open and No Longer Accepting, or Under Construction, or something to that effect. Basically, on a personal level, I make it as enticing and easy as possible for someone to join an RP I make. -nodnod-

One day, someone will invent a super-easy way of searching for RPs to join.

[Guest]

I only run one RP here, and I put the status in the title before I actually browsed this topic. But I seem to be the minority.

[Bird of Hermes]

One day, someone will invent a super-easy way of searching for RPs to join.

So, I was thinking that, if people really want it, I could make a list of all the current role-plays and try and update it so the role-play forums would be a little less daunting.

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