Oh, and not to flog a dead equine, but I still think the game should have its own subforum under Gaming. Just sayin'
Please....
Gets out the pleated cat-o-nine tails
*whap* *whap* *whap*
I agree that it should have its own forum. It's good that we're out of off-topic. We were annoying people there. But even with the new limit, we're going to have real problems with our threads falling into the archives a lot. Because PBP is such a fast-moving forum with so many threads, and new ones always being created, and because Free-form Roleplaying moves at a much slower pace than that, it's kind of inevitable. Just delayed for a bit right now.
I agree. All that has been done is that the problem has been transfered to a faster moving forum.
Well, after a week of trying out the new area, I for one am not very pleased. There is no coherence to the threads now, even less than in the OTD forum. It is hard to find them, and I have the feeling the game is slowly strangulating. I would again ask respectfully for a separate subforum for the free-form RPG. I understand that it is probably a pain in the @zz to do, but I would really appreciate it. Otherwise the game will most likely die.
I will admit that I'm having trouble finding all of our threads in there, now that they all 'look alike', so to speak. I'm not sure what we can do to fix that and still be respectful of the threads that were already there though...
Your Friendly Neighborhood Dalesman
"Bringing Big D**n Justice to the Bad Guys Since 1369 DR"
If you are not using the 'focus' option, I would suggest trying that. It should make your threads very easy to find.
I actually thought that 'Sandreef' was a PbP, because I'd never visited it before. I only clicked on it due to luck.
Exactly. It's virtually impossible to tell the free-form threads from the PBP threads. They get lost. Focus only helps some if you're also involved in lots of PBPs. And it's currently pretty much impossible for anyone new to join the game-in-progress. Please, please, please can we have our own forum?
Would it help if the free-form threads were labelled somehow?
I think it would. If the free-form threads could 'stand out' from the standard PBP threads, it would be easier to keep track of them (for me, at least).
My humble 2cp, of course... :)
Your Friendly Neighborhood Dalesman
"Bringing Big D**n Justice to the Bad Guys Since 1369 DR"
Anything to make them stand out. There is so much activity on PbP that they drop down to the bottom quickly. Prefer a Free-Form Thread but will take any help you can provide.
Thanks!
Senior Software Developer
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I dunno. Threads in the off-topic forum have a tendency to turn into free-form roleplaying threads if they go on long enough, and I kinda like that about that place, and feel like moving the roleplaying threads into the pbp forum hasn't worked out as well as I'd hoped.
Breaking all the free-form roleplaying threads into their own forum has its own problems. Do we move threads out of off-topic once they have some sort of minimum amount of roleplaying? (Lots of off-topic threads veer in that direction.) Do we break up all the other pbp threads into subforums? How do we do that -- by game system? By genre? By adventure path? None of those seems particularly good. Do we have a forum with 200 active 3.5 threads and one with ten labelled "other"? If a thread converts to Pathfinder RPG, do we move it? etc.
Maybe the answer is to move the free-form threads back into off-topic but provide some sort of labelling/tagging/filtering system or something. Or maybe we encourage more use of the gamer life forum instead of off-topic (possibly by moving it so it's a peer with the off-topic forum). I don't really have anything particular in mind at the moment, I'm just kinda spitballin'.
Maybe the answer is to move the free-form threads back into off-topic but provide some sort of labelling/tagging/filtering system or something. Or maybe we encourage more use of the gamer life forum instead of off-topic (possibly by moving it so it's a peer with the off-topic forum). I don't really have anything particular in mind at the moment, I'm just kinda spitballin'.
Gary, first off thank you for posting. I realize we are giving you a headache, and I just want to say thank you for chiming in with some ideas. I think I speak for all the free form RPGers when I say I appreciate your time and effort in trying to resolve this problem for us.
Personally, I think that the OTD forum doesn't want the Free-Form RPG there. Folks like Aberzombie are upset because the fairly frequent traffic on the threads keep their 'fun' threads rolling into archived territory. The roleplaying in threads like 'Untitled II', and the 'Angry Jack Cult' is more slapsticky and jokey, I don't think they'd want to move to another forum.
I can understand not wanting to split up a separate forum for FFRPGing, as that might cause issues with other types of PRGs, but it really is kind of a special case. The game is spread among a dozen and a half threads and characters move through them as the plot unfolds. It is hard to keep track of who is where and what is going on unless the threads are grouped together somewhat.
As for which threads would merit being in a separate FFRPG subforum, I would say if we moved the ones we have now, then if someone wants to make a new one they would have to start it in the new subforum. I think everyone involved can keep their FFRPG thread creation in check to the subforum.
Your idea of moving the threads to a less-active forum like Gamer Life has merit. I think that that forum moves fairly slowly, so the FFRPG threads wouldn't disappear like they do in the PbP threads. The only problem I see is if the folks in Gamer Life start to resent the 'illegal immigrants' taking over their forum much as the OTD crowd did with the FFRPG threads.
Anyway, just spitballing as well. Thanks for your input Gary, and I encourage anyone else who has an idea how we can slice this Gordian Knot to speak up.
Wow. Definitely more complex that I thought. We're really after staying out of the way of the other OTD posters, so we don't swamp their fun. They pop into FFRPG threads just to show their annoyance with us, so I don't think thread title changes will help if we go back. And we might recreate the problem if we go to Gamer Life. No spitball ideas to add. Just thinking thru the problem.
Thx for putting the thinkin' cap on for us Gary.
If we move the threads into a FFRPING subforum, we can always have an 'archive' thread which explains what happened in threads that turn RP, or that turned slightly RP at one point (like the Kitten Thread, or the Jack Thread right before the creation of the Roleplaying Game thread, or those little 'internal dialogue' threads I had going, like the prison thread, that aren't major enough to move, but that deserve to be remembered because they played a small role in the start of FFRPing here). But a FFRPing subforum seems the only way to counter both the discontent of other Paizonians, the posts getting buried, and the fact that we clog up every forum we get moved to. I understand that it may seem like there aren't enough threads to justify a whole to subforum, but new they just keep on coming, and eventually we'll be completely clogging the OTD, or we'll have to constantly dig up out threads from the PbP archives.
Isn't this thread about to turn into a free-form roleplaying thread? I keep checking in to see if it has happened yet ...
Kobold Cleaver scratches his bony head and stares at the cow.
"This is a new development. I shall report to my masters."He vanishes.
;)
Isn't this thread about to turn into a free-form roleplaying thread? I keep checking in to see if it has happened yet ...Kobold Cleaver scratches his bony head and stares at the cow.
"This is a new development. I shall report to my masters."
He vanishes.
;)
The cow smiles to himself as he chews his cud. "Hah! Soon even dragons will know of the sacred cow. There will be a great slaughter marking the ascendance of the 5th edition."
HAY HAY! HO HO! FREE FORM DISCRIMINATION'S GOT TO GO!
HAY HAY! HO HO! FREE FORM DISCRIMINATION'S GOT TO GO!
HAY HAY! HO HO! FREE FORM DISCRIMINATION'S GOT TO GO!
HAY HAY! HO HO! FREE FORM DISCRIMINATION'S GOT TO GO!
HAY HAY! HO HO! FREE FORM DISCRIMINATION'S GOT TO GO!
Rawr!
The flame troll of doom feeds on the power of the angry mob, and channels and unleashes the wave of hatred and negativity in an outpouring which threatens to reduce his hated foe, Emperor7, to ash....
Rawr!
The flame troll of doom feeds on the power of the angry mob, and channels and unleashes the wave of hatred and negativity in an outpouring which threatens to reduce his hated foe, Emperor7, to ash....
Oy! You. Out of here. Bad Flame Troll.
One hand on hip she points and gestures, and herds the Flame Troll out of the thread.
I myself dont see a need the freeform roleplying is off topic and trying to move stuff back and forth would be a hella headache
Or you could, you know, just bookmark all the threads you need to find.
Maybe have a separate 'folder' for all your freeform RPG thread bookmarks, to keep them separate and identifiable from the rest of your bookmarks?
(So long as you grab the address whilst it's not archived, it should find it even if it is archived, unless there's been a really big shakeup of the boards.)
Bookmarking the threads has two drawbacks. 1. If someone makes a new thread and you don't know yet that it's part of the Free-form game you are likely to miss it. 2.It's still difficult to the point of nigh impossible for anyone new to join the game-in-progress.
Well, I'm not sure who is going to post up all these links and whatnot on a regular basis. All I know is that I am personally finding it very difficult to keep up with the threads. I am seriously thinking of just chucking the whole game and giving it up as a loss. It would be easier, and I will just go back to dealing with my regular PbPs.
Well, I'm not sure who is going to post up all these links and whatnot on a regular basis. All I know is that I am personally finding it very difficult to keep up with the threads. I am seriously thinking of just chucking the whole game and giving it up as a loss. It would be easier, and I will just go back to dealing with my regular PbPs.
Maybe a monkey-shaman forum?
Srsly though, the PbP threads still get pushed downstream quickly in the PbP forum.
Sorry for the tone of my previous post, it was the frustration talking. Be that as it may, I think I will be wrapping up most of my characters in play as I am having a seriously hard time keeping track of the action. Perhaps later I will reenter the game, but at this point when something like this becomes so frustrating, it's not really in the category of 'fun' anymore, ergo, why continue?
I myself dont see a need the freeform roleplying is off topic and trying to move stuff back and forth would be a hella headache
Look, every other forum I know of which contains FFRPing has a separate subforum for this. I fail to see why we should be any different. I apologize to Gary for the inconvenience, but we need a subforum.
Sorry for the tone of my previous post, it was the frustration talking. Be that as it may, I think I will be wrapping up most of my characters in play as I am having a seriously hard time keeping track of the action. Perhaps later I will reenter the game, but at this point when something like this becomes so frustrating, it's not really in the category of 'fun' anymore, ergo, why continue?
Aw, don't leave, Patrick! The plot's still fun, even if we have to look around for the thread!
Aw, don't leave, Patrick! The plot's still fun, even if we have to look around for the thread!
I am just going on hiatus for a bit KC, until either my life settles down a bit or we get our subforum. I'm not quitting, just taking a vacation from the game. It's not worth my aggrivation.
I am just going on hiatus for a bit KC, until either my life settles down a bit or we get our subforum. I'm not quitting, just taking a vacation from the game. It's not worth my aggrivation.Aw, don't leave, Patrick! The plot's still fun, even if we have to look around for the thread!
Alright, then. You will be missed, you're one of our first players, and you probably comprise about half of our aliases.
Well, I had hoped that perhaps with the retweaking of the messageboards perhaps our subforum would have been snuck in. Guess not. Well folks, I will probably be out of the FFRPGing threads until Fall then. All my avatars might pop in now and again, but I really can't deal with the hunt and search.
Okay, see, now I'm pretty sure that being in the PbP section is actually keeping us from getting new members. Most people assume we're another PbP, and they don't bother looking and seeing it's something they can join. WE haven't had a new person since, like, Dalesman.
just increasing my post count post.
This is a legitimate grievance. I understand that the Postmonster has been busy reformatting the site and stuff, and I like the changes, but the FFRP branch of Paizo is fading, and that is partially the fault of the move to PbP. The OTD was better than this. Much longer and it'll be completely dead. With Patrick gone (Fall has come and left), our little group is dying. I beg those with the power to help to do so. I miss this.
:(
Point taken, but given that Patrick Curtain had nearly half the aliases at one point, him leaving made a pretty big difference. If you take a look, you'll see it was pretty dead before November, too.
It seems that, at this point, the best thing to do would be to make a new plot. If the first one is indeed dead, and everybody has given up wrapping it up, then I see no other choice.
Well time for a little thread necromancy...
Cuts the head off a Farmville chicken and splashes the bytes in a pentacle on the floor
By the Apple, Window and Dell I summon thee!
OK, so we have a tech subforum now. Great. So how about a free-form RPG subforum? We've been asking for a while now. The game we had died. Dead dead dead. At least let us go back to the OTD thread.
Having all the separate threads coralled into a separate subforum is very helpful when running multi-thread stories and plot arcs. The PbP forum moves too fast, and too quick to push individual threads onto the second page. Having a space dedicated to it would help keep the game coherent.
I won't even ask about a politics subforum, I know that's not going anywhere ...
OK, so we have a tech subforum now. Great. So how about a free-form RPG subforum?We have something we're going to try. Stay tuned.
Awesome. Thanks Vic! :)
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Chief Technical Officer
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OK, so we have a tech subforum now. Great. So how about a free-form RPG subforum?We have something we're going to try. Stay tuned.
I've moved a bunch of them to the new Forum Games forum. If I've missed some—and I'm sure I have—just flag them as being in the wrong forum, and we'll move 'em.
I've moved a bunch of them to the new Forum Games forum. If I've missed some—and I'm sure I have—just flag them as being in the wrong forum, and we'll move 'em.OK, so we have a tech subforum now. Great. So how about a free-form RPG subforum?We have something we're going to try. Stay tuned.
Thanks Vic. I hope the word game fanatics don't freak, but hopefully it will work out ...
Yay! Thanks a lot, Vic. It just might work. :)
Here's one.
I've moved it, but if you find any more, please just flag them as 'thread is in wrong forum.'