RPR Archive Tips/Advice Articles: Etiquette for Creating and Playing RPGs

I think Xan these disticntions are quite much those of words. But most users who appoint Co-GMs do this to have 2ndGMs. not to have equal partners.

 

Mod -> Main/Lead-GM -> GM -> 2nd GM -> Faction-GM -> Co-GM -> Sub-GM ->
SelfGming Player -> Faction Leader -> player -> part-time player -> lurker -> non board member -> non Star Wars Fan

That´s they way see them. From the highest responsibility to the lowest.

 

A rant-ish piece that some may disagree with. I confess that I have been guilty of most of the sins I describe below. And I'm not really having a go. I'm just reminding players that, despite their enthusiasm, they need to be realistic about what they can manage.

Commitment

A dirty word in the RPF.

What we do here is pure leisure activity and meant to be fun. But fun and commitment are not mutually exclusive. In fact, sometimes they are mutually interdependent.

The great games on the boards are the source of many treasured memories and the foundations for lasting friendships. Those great games were not great because of creative game design, or brilliant individual posts, or colourful characters, or epic stories. Those qualities make a game very good...but they do not make it great.

What makes a game great is a long-term commitment from GMs and players alike.

Of course, like embarrassing parents at a teenager?s party, Real Life will inevitably intrude. And there are times where (quite understandably) you will not see it coming. But let?s be honest with ourselves. There are many times when we put off posting not because we have any RL concerns, but because we just cannot be bothered. Because we?re lazy. Because we aren?t really interested in that character anymore. Because it looked better in our heads than when we started playing. Because other players can pick up the slack for us.

And then you need to ask yourself, honestly: how committed can I be?

And if you can?t put in the effort, then inform your GM that you are leaving instead of simply putting off posting. Better still, restrain yourself from joining in the first place. It is so much better in the long run. Don?t join half a dozen games at the end of summer if you know that school is starting soon. Don?t join three more games just because the ones you?re in are currently going slow. They?ll pick up, and then you?ll be in trouble.

It is so frustrating for GMs when their players vanish from the thread and yet are still active in other games or on the boards generally. Because that?s a judgement on their game. It says: I do have time, but not for this game.

I think my whole point in writing this is that you have to realise that while joining/starting an RPG is a bit of fun, it is at the same time a commitment to others. And if you aren?t careful about what you commit to and how much you commit to, then RPing becomes a chore. And then it?s fun for no one. It?s not fun for you, because you feel like you?re being dragged to the boards. And it?s not fun for people playing with you, because they?re always waiting on you.

It is easy to point an accusing finger at the abstract spectre of Darth Real Life. It is much harder to blame yourself for procrastination, poor time management, and over-ambition.

 

Market Theory
One way of looking at the RPF
-By Imperial Hammer

** Start Up **

Conceptualizing the Market
- The first thing you need one needs to do when approaching the RPF from the Market Theory perspective is to define your place and the environment you are operating in. The first stage of conceptualization is to look at the RPF as a market. RPers/Players are consumers, and GMs are vendors. The currency is time, and the good being bought is entertainment/satisfaction/good feelings. This metaphor, I contend, will go far in providing a framework to understand the RPF.

Designing a Game
- One of the most important steps in gaming according to Market Theory is making a good product. Players will not invest their time into a game they do not think will do well or yield satisfaction, just as consumers do not spend money on broken appliances. A successful game under this theory will do one or more of the following things:

1.) Exploit a Demand: If there are twenty types of the same soda in a market, the 21st type of soda will not do well unless it really has something amazing that the others do not offer. Likewise, do not run a Jedi v. Sith game unless you feel you can compete or can offer something unique that the other 2-8 cannot. Exploiting a demand can usually be fulfilled by doing something others haven?t done before, though bear in mind the forum needs to want to play such a game. This is one reason why RPGs based on obscure franchises tend not to do all well; they are unique, but there exists no demand for them.

2.) Offer an Assurance of Success: Even if a demand is present, if players feel that the project/game is built on a shaky foundation, they will be hesitant to invest. Assurance of Success (AoS) can be offered via a few methods. At the very least, an AoS can be inferred through a well designed first post. If a game has a well-thought-out story, a rules section, a character sheet, and usually some part explaining gameplay, this demonstrates that the GM is at the very least knowledgeable about current social protocols at work in the RPF. The addition of HTML, pictures, soundtracks, and the like work to make a product more attractive, both aesthetically so and by demonstrating a GM?s commitment to his or her game.

A more potent AoS is to do all this, and in addition, build up a reputation for quality and persistent gaming in other RPGs. This demonstrates that you not only have knowledge, but that you have a stability and permanency in the market (think of this as getting an ?Est.? sign; companies that have been around for hundreds of years are generally thought to be safer than internet upstarts).

The most extreme form of AoS is to build a brand-name. One does this by taking the first two forms of AoS and pushing it to the limit. By staking your entire e-reputation on the success of your games, you not only show that you?re knowledgeable and permanent, but that you are serious about the prospect of success and you seek to aggressively pursue it. Brand Names can be tarnished by failure, and so this form of risk taking communicates a confidence of skill above and beyond simple reputation building. If properly aquired and maintained, brand names can guarantee a GM players, regardless of what game is created. The GM then woos on reputation alone, and not on the strengths of his or her product/game.

3.) Utilize Advertisements: You may have both a demand and an assurance of success, but if people don?t know about your game, the chances of it failing are still considerable. Although having a brand name is its own form of marketing, more successful games, according to the theory, make stirs before they open. This can be done at least through posting a trailer in the RPR and at most by sending PMs out to people. This step is not complicated. The more people that know about your product/project, the more people who might choose to spend their time on it. Like a brand-name, aggressive marketing is a risk, for as a game is well-known and watched,

 

Fantastic bit of work, Impy. I wholeheartedly agree!

And Winged, nice rant.

 

It's easy to blame us for procrastination, poor time management, and over-ambition, but what about those of us who actually have issues with all three?

Anyways, both essays ring true.

 

Indeed Hamm, I know the feeling.

For anyone reading: I should probably stress that my 'rant' had been sitting in a word document for some time now, was not directed at anyone particular, and certainly not my own batch of current players, all of whom I am very contented with. It's just advice to keep in mind.

Imperial_Hammer, a superb analysis. You've really nailed how the RPF works.

This is one reason why RPGs based on obscure franchises tend not to do all well; they are unique, but there exists no demand for them.

Agreed. And I would add that here lies the greatest vulnerability of the NSWRPF. The one and only thing you can be certain of on these boards is that everybody is a Star Wars fan. It is the only franchise where you have a guaranteed audience. The moment you move away from Star Wars, you can shrink your market quite considerably. People tend not to play what they haven't heard of, even if you can provide wikis and online resources for them to catch up.

Fortunately we currently have a crop of creative GMs and enthusiastic players who are willing to try new things, and the NSWRPF is doing very well from it. But there'll always be that danger there.

 

I wonder how I fit into this profile of IH. I had quite some submissions (which was surprising as I saw the brand "Fin" as bankrupt ) and probably using another GMs brand (Sinre´s 128 ABY?)? Which has it´s fans and haters, I guess. Also I wonder what it means to be a "german" in this context.

Actually this is excellent food for the brain, IH. A really good dossier. I must think about it and make up my mind if I agree with everything, but that´s what good essays are made off, isn´t it?