What makes a good RP sim become GREAT?

Hey everyone,

I want to know from the RP players here what makes an RP community a great RP community. What do you look for in a new RP that you are considering joining? What turns you off? What is over done? What do you wish someone would offer at a new RP community? I don't mean themes so much, but what kinds of features make for a great RP community in SL?

Thanks so much!

It's simple. Storyline has to make sense.... and the people have to be engaging and ejoy roleplaying.

Now, if that were the case I could open up a 512 plot of land and as long as my story was a good one, and my friends and I enjoyed standing around in a blank space playing pretend, we would have a GREAT rp community.

I guess what I mean is, what first impressions with a new RP community make you want to stick around and call it home, and what makes you turn tail and never come back?

well if i tp into your blank 512 and encountered you and your friends having a great time standing around playing pretend.. and you welcomed me and it was fun to join in ..
i would stick around and probably come back

its not all about the bells and whistles.. and not all about the storyline
its the ppl
how involved are they
how welcoming are they

you can have a great RP place that just sucks for newcomers..

you find the magic formula .. and then thank whatever gods you worship ^^

What a great question!!!

I work in an office for a small tabletop role-playing game company and I've been toying with the idea of trying to do something on Second Life with our world.

Now, remember, I'm an uber geek and I come for a table-top and LARP background, so feel free to take my comments in stride:

1. The Sim should be pretty and/or look like where I'm suppose to be.
After all, this is Second Life. We can, in theory, make anything we want. The environment helps me 'get into character', and the better the environment, the easier for me to stay in-play.

2. Ego Check.
The point of running an RP Sim is to entertain the people that come, not for you to be the super coolest person that’s there. I hate RP where I'm involved in storyline thats all about the Sim owner and how awesome he is.

3. Plot, plot, plot.
Make sure they are good, in-depth, challenging, and fun. But most of all, be consistent!!! Don't change stuff on me!

4. Keep the rules simple.
I don't mind reading a note card when I first come with rules, but it shouldn't be its own novel. K.I.S.S.

5. Be original.
If you're making an RP off of anything that someone else has made or off of any movie that has come out in the last 5 years, just stop right there. Be creative! come up with your own world! Let me, as a player, explore it!

6. Reward good players (not just your friends).
This keeps them around, and elevates the type of RPers you have that come. Smart friendly people are the best (obviously), and they make new comers feel welcome.

7. Stuff to do when you're away.
Your plot team can't always be around, so have something set up. For example, Availion has a little quest that you can do all by yourself that introduces you to the different parts of the sim while collecting trinkets along the way.

Hope that helps!

Uuumm...the 512 plot is a good idea...in my experience most RP places Do Not utilize a whole sim anyway and is rather a waste when not utilized.

If you do not welcome when I come...include me...make me feel a valuable part of the story...then I won't stay nor will anyone else.

If you don't have a good storyline...make me a part of it...keep me engaged so my character develops...I won't stay.

If you have too many ppl arguing over the rules and/or no helping those of us that don't know the rules...I won't stay. If you have a lot of OOC drama...I won't stay.

You got a lot of snobbish clicks...or people that act like they know it all...or have the balance of power is tilted to one faction or another....I won't stay.

If you have to many complicated rules like NWOD, some of the GURPS, or relay on combat meters as RP engagement....I won't stay.

Look at the issues of what keeps an RP from being a good RP and you will have a good RP.

Thank you for a well thought out answer. Very helpful!

From my observations in SL concerning RP..it is more about the small intimate stories that happen between a group of players inside a larger story, then it is about the huge sweeping epic stories that try to involve the whole community.

I am creating an RP community right now actually...and these answers are all very helpful to me.

I agree with this is so many ways. People being there in character makes me want to be there and contribute. I have been to the pretty sims where they had everything... but the storyline was not so good. It was basically left to us to make our own story. For some this is good... for me, I like having a story... something to bring me deeper into character.

To help with this concept, have a scheduled RP'ing time where you or someone who helps you run will be at the sim to move the story along. The sim can be open always and people can come and go... but have a dedicated time to be there to advance the story.

Let me know when you are done or have an concept. I would love to come check it out. I also come from a long history of table top/LARP and I am looking for something new in SL.

lol.

Ok. So I will go open up my 512 blank plot and have a greeter that gives out my rules, character sheet, and back story and if you all fail to join and be my new RP community..you are all liars.

But seriously.

Thanks for the responses.

That is very true. Its more personal. I'd lvoe to see it when you get something going. I'm with Konu. I'm looking for something to brighten up my SL day.

Konu, you LARP too? I knew there was more than just me on SL.

Oh great guys..the more the merrier.

The sim is pretty much complete. It has been for a very long time. It's Devils Moon. Abramelin Wolfe has invited me to set up an rp community there, and I have been getting the story, character types, and game mechanics all worked out. The whole thing should be ready for a grand opening within a few weeks max.

Bunni summed it up nicely, as did the others who mentioned inclusion. I went to a bunch of RP sims a while back and they were not very inviting to new folks. I think to a certain extent that is inevitable as existing groups "gel". This is an interesting post as I too have been thinking about ways to have an enjoyable RP experience without falling into the grindiness of MMOS like WoW or the brinkmanship and conflict of "freeform" RP.

1) A backstory I can hook into quickly without having to read pages and pages of information. All that extra detail is fine, but if I can't get an idea of the setting quickly I'll find it tricky to engage.

2) A reason to go there and things to do. A lot of RP settings are fantastic, but fall down because there's very little to do. They become like little closed worlds, where the rules are so tightly written there's no space for participation.

3) Minimal emphasis on combat. If I turn up at a location in SL and see masses of floating text above players heads, I rarely stay long enough for the place to rez.

4) Low cost to entry. I don't want to have to spend L$ on a combat system, or even if it's free, time learning one. The same goes for clothing and props.

5) Cool people. Naturally. By far the biggest ask, because mostly it's out of the designer's control. There's a good reason most of the RP I enjoy is in small groups with people I already know and trust.

And way down the list, but still *on* the list...
6) A nice location. It doesn't have to be huge, but there has to be a sense of the world where the RP is set. I'll admit that it's entirely possible to have great RP within IM alone, but I suspect that's not what you want to provide. Still, the popularity of IRC shows what you can do with zero set-dressing. The important thing about the location is that it doesn't detract (or distract) from the action. If it's too complicated, ugly, badly built or difficult to navigate the players will end up struggling against it, rather than the plot.


Hurray, more Live Role-players!

First you get a Bloodlines HUD...

In all large rp sims there is a hierarchy, there is the owner and then there a group of GMs (of which the owner may possibly a part of too).
One really, really important thing to have is checks and balances to make sure that your GMs are not abusing their power. The lure to abuse GM power is very powerful and I have seen very few places where the GMs don't end up abusing it.
Personal vendettas, grudges, favouritism, unfairness and outright cheating are all examples of GM abuse of power.

The role of GM attracts those who have no real interest in rp but want power, these people must be filtered out as early as possible or they will make the whole place sicken very quickly.

As sim owner and possibly head GM you have to be able to trust these people, they may even be very close friends. No matter how close these people are to you and how much you trust them you should never, ever automatically take their side in a dispute.
Hear all the evidence and try to keep neutral until you have heard all sides and/or reach a position where it is impossible to make a decision. In the latter case it is better to drop the whole issue than to side with a GM. If the accused is trouble then they will be back before you again soon enough with another dispute.

Try to remember that proof is a very difficult thing to obtain when it is one against another, even if your GMs stick together and all say the same thing, it does not necessarily make them right. I have seen cases where GMs will automatically stick together even if they are wrong. There is no easy way to deal with this problem but trying to keep in mind that GMs are as likely to lie and misrepresent their cases as much as the ordinary roleplayers will serve to balance your judgement a lot. We never like to think that our closest friends would lie to us and yet history has shown they are often the ones who lie to us the most about somethings.
Keep an eye on whether your GMs always seen to stick together or whether sometimes there is a difference of opinion.

It might even be a good idea to have a tribunal that is made up of GMs and players to try settle disputes - though this can get long winded.

One thing that should never be done is to swing the banhammer without very clear unambiguous evidence that the ordinary roleplayer was in the wrong. Always personally review the evidence and speak to both sides in such cases unless it is a clear case of them threatening the stability of the sim, gameplay etc.
Even your review end up being backlogged and you have to deal with a person's potential ban a little while after they have been accused of something, letting them continue to play will serve 2 purposes:

1) If they get in trouble again before they are dealt with for the first offence then it adds weight to the reasoning behind the ban.
2) If they are not guilty then there are less bad feelings for being falsely accused.

Keep good private notes for both GMs and ordinary roleplayers, things like:

*) who has been in trouble before and details of what they did and whether they received a warning, a temp ban, etc.
*) who you gave the benefit of the doubt to
*) who in your GMs have been accused of unfairness and how often

Never get too busy to deal with the justice side of the roleplay, you will regret it if you do when people lose faith that they will be treated fairly and leave. It only takes one rotten GM to start an exodus.

Make sure the dominating clique does not chase off people, especially new people.

It might be an even better idea if the sim were not hidebound by rules. The potential of so many excellent RP sims is ruined by this nonsense. As far as I'm concerned, if the folk playing with me aren't into my 'method' then it just isn't my scene: it takes at least two to tango, right? Anyone who doesn't pick up on that simple message, deserves to be banned from a sim if they insist on imposing their ideas on others. Period.

The only serious rule I would advocate for RP is that IM should be reserved for extra-curricular communications. Far too many RP sims run like an outtake from George A Romero with a load of avs hanging around, like so many zombies, ostensibly saying and doing nothing for reasons best known to themselves. Everyone should communicate in open chat in order to keep the sim alive.

Of course there is the argument that walk-in idiots can seriously compromise role-play under that rule, but:

A) How else is anyone going to pick up on what is going on?

B) Part of the fun of role-playing is to 'stick to your guns' and let others catch up with your part in the story or ...

C) Move on if the person you're dealing with is just too off-the-wall, or ...

D) If, for reasons best known to his/her self, some fool continues to harass other players regardless of the RP, then get their sorry ass banned.

It's only pixels and chat for cryin' out loud. Barring a schoolmarm with fascist tendencies, what sort of individual needs all these strictures on his/her behavioural shenanigans?

If an individual must have a notecard with a comprehensive list of rules to tell him or her what to do and how to behave then they really ought to send that person back to Orientation Island. They can RP their way out of their own version of Papillion from there.

NB: I should qualify my remarks by saying that I have yet to find a decent RP sim. Some have come close but I had to cancel group membership on several occasions because I was bugged by far too many idiotic IMs popping up while I tried to work. I also ditched a number of promising RP sims because it turned out to be just too much like hard work to keep up with rules like 'you must be this', 'wear that tag', 'chat like this' ... To the point where there was no room for me to be creative and play a role because the sim owner/regulator/whatever insisted on having it all worked out from the word 'go'.

Hasn't anyone ever watched a drama before? Chrissakes it ain't rocket science.

I pretty much agree with most of this and I feel the same, in fact I don't rp inworld in rp sims any more having had similar experiences to you Ephraim by the sounds of it.
They often start well but end up pretty medicore at best and at worse...well the drama does end up killing the fun.

Actual *roleplay* would be nice to find. I think some things that can attract this are: a good back story; a topic people are interested in; clear on whether it is PG, R, or X rated; easy to get into as a newcomer to the sim i.e. either offers free costume/props or is cheap to buy them in SL (landmarks to such places might not be far off, though many sims have their own mall, so they don't point people to cheaper stuff); well for the rest, see below.

The worst is a very laggy sim. Use mega prims! Keep the setting simple! Ever notice in an rp sim most people huddle around one spot anyway? Overbuilt sims no one can even move in are counter productive. Cos, well, no one can move in them.

Also too many rules or not enough rules are counter productive. People want to feel they can be spontaneous but it is also bad if people stand around running 'gestures' all day. Maybe even pay people to be there to answer newcomers' questions, hang out and rp a bit, or enforce the 'in character' type of rules. An empty sim is as prohibitive as a laggy one. Have a few people there round the clock if you can afford to pay them somehow.

How do you mean?

Well, a storyline of some type but again *keep it simple*. A common goal, to roleplay around. People can roleplay for or against this common goal. One example might be predator and prey - vamps and victims. If you can, pay people or get friends to make up the core personalities of the sim to begin with. For instance the mayor of toon town. I dunno. But someone and something to structure sim events around.

As for type of rp, I don't know. I think the topic could be just about anything as long as the sim structure and the sim story are kept simple.



People being there, for a start. I think OOC events are a good way for people to attend to see how many are in the group and all that...and to talk without being inhibited by their character. For instance going up to someone who would be chasing you in the sim, but talking to them enough to see if you would want to rp with them or not. Honestly though a lot of what I'm saying is guess work because I've yet to find a sim that has all of these magical properties.

There are some good tips in this entire thread but I would like to expand on this excellent one.

Try to have some people to welcome visitors to the sim. It's all very well having a notecard dispensor at the telehub, but they can't compare to having a bright and enthusiastic greeter. This can be done in one of two ways.

- Informal: you can just spread it through the group of permanent players to keep an eye on the telehub just say "hi" to new visitors and "do you need anything?".

- Formal: In large groups, it's possible to have a rota with someone on shift duty welcoming people. I'm not into Star Trek RP myself, but I've visited a Starfleet a few times and have always been impressed by the bright and enthusiastic welcome from a (usually junior!) member standing at a welcome desk near the telehub. It really makes you feel welcome, and they can either direct you to a specific part of the sim, assist you with the enquiry, or know who to ask. Obviously, you need a rather large and enthusiastic group for this approach.

The key though is not to be overzealous. I'm sure everyone's had the experience of going to a shop and being chased around by a store attendent so that you're almost feeling like you're under surveillance or like you've just acquired a new shadow!! It should be a brief welcome, giving any assistance then leaving them alone to experience the RP.

Guys...

Thank you so much! So many insightful posts for me to look through and take advice from. Great ideas. I do plan on having greeters, and the sim does in fact have freebie give aways, and even games to play around the sim that are combat oriented, but free to engage even as a new player...but become much more fun as you become better.

I was lucky enough to be a part of a very successful rp community, and was an integral part in the start up of the group and helped get it growing and running in the beginning. My own company RAGE Fighting Championships is also quite a success, and it was the success of RAGE that has led to this current project actually on Devils Moon.

I won't go on about the sim here yet, because it is not open officially for RP yet. Once it is, we will have a grand opening and hopefully I'll see some of you wandering around checking it out.

Thanks everyone.

Are there free cookies?
And pie?
Pie is important.

The only thing that tends to make me leave a RP area quickly is the Fae RP areas that are No Fly. I'm a Pixie.. I have wings, I fly! Then they pull out the reasoning that it was being abused... well, kick out the abusers, don't bring everyone down to their level!

Other than that - well, if it is a no chocolate area - then I leave even faster!

If by Pie you mean Daggers...

and by cookies you mean Quest kits...then yes. There is enough Pie and Cookies for everyone!

I mean yeah, there's pie in the fridge.