What's your interest level?

[BlazeofLife]

Hey Pm thanks Just so long as you don't killem and you follow thier character traits you can go a head and do any thing you like with em.
You mean I'm that sad, oh Dear I'm on here everyday when I'm not at work even if it is just to have a quick look to see whats happening.
Help I think I need a life *waving arms around like a drowning man in need of a life belt*.

You think you've got it bad? I must have already drowned and just be haunting this forum, 'cause I spend every day here, even when I'm supposed to be at work.
Do I need help returning to reality?
(I prefer to think I'm simply exploring a more ephemeral state of reality, by interacting without the benefit of physical being)

 

[Lady Violet]

You think you've got it bad? I must have already drowned and just be haunting this forum, 'cause I spend every day here, even when I'm supposed to be at work.
Do I need help returning to reality?
(I prefer to think I'm simply exploring a more ephemeral state of reality, by interacting without the benefit of physical being)

Blaze! are you playing hookie??

 

[BlazeofLife]

Me? Never. That would be wrong. (snicker)

 

[faust]

Hey, you know, I've been looking around and didn't notice any real falloff in the thread membership. Maybe it's just that some of the older threads are dying off? In that case, new ones just have to be added more frequently. And, if worst comes to worst, the six of us will just have to RP by ourselves...

By the way, I'm surprised how open-minded you folks are. After years of frequenting all those dumbass censored forums out there, it's really great to be in a place which takes that whole "free speech" idea seriously. I haven't even recieved any hate-mail yet! This site is great!

 

[BlazeofLife]

Too right, Faust. The way I see it, as long as you know what you're getting into (and you should, if you're in Lit) then you should have the right to say whatever you want, so long as it doesn't violate anyone else's right to coexist in here.
As long as you're not deliberately offending or antagonizing anybody, it should be no-holds-barred. If somebody says something you don't like, ignore it, or respond to it. We're all adults here, and we're all capable of hearing another person's opinions without our precious little selves being tarnished by the words.

 

[PmTick]

Too right, Faust. The way I see it, as long as you know what you're getting into (and you should, if you're in Lit) then you should have the right to say whatever you want, so long as it doesn't violate anyone else's right to coexist in here.
As long as you're not deliberately offending or antagonizing anybody, it should be no-holds-barred. If somebody says something you don't like, ignore it, or respond to it. We're all adults here, and we're all capable of hearing another person's opinions without our precious little selves being tarnished by the words.

Amen to that. By the way Blaze where do you get your avatars, I've seen three of them and they all kick ass. I usually can't get many avatars I like because the files are too big.

 

[BlazeofLife]

I just download them, PmTick, I don't worry about the size. If they're too big I just resize them. No big deal. If there's anything you're looking for, let me know, I've got thousands of these things on my hard drive so I should have something that appeals to you.

 

[Quiet_Cool]

Server downtime and whatnot, not to mention the real world, aren't really issues concerning this board. The other boards are still lighting it up pretty well. And as far as people coming and going, they always do, at least since I've been here (not that that's been long). A lot of people bounce from one board to another when they're online. So the basis of finding more interest in the ORP board is to give them the new ideas that (Lady Violet?) suggested, in new threads and see if anyone latches on on their way through.

How about a western. Mystic West seems to have died out fairly quickly. Star Trek: Frontiers, did quite well, but alos died out pretty fast. Horror might be a good idea, if you can get one moving that stays horror without people jumping in with god-like characters, which tends to be a recurring problem in the areas of fantasy and horror both.

Let's maybe deviate from the basics though. I like vampires and werewolves, but it wasn't too effective in Dark Isle, and it may be because it's too well-known and too over-done. Too uniform, I mean. Maybe something new or something older with a new twist. Perhaps something set in the Roman Empire might work? Greek? How about a Jurassic Park thread?

How about (check this one out...) a Lord of the Flies thread? Not Lord of the Rings, but Lord of the Flies? Kids trapped on a deserted island, forced back to their roots, like in the novel, but with all new characters and a full open scope to work with?

This thread might just be what we need to get things moving again.

 

[Sephiroth]

In my opinion the problem seems to be short attention span or lack of interest. I've joined a couple of threads that started out pretty well, but after a couple of weeks the people who started the thread would simply stop posting. They'd disappear for several days and never come back to it. I tried bumping them to the top but they would simply be ignored. One person can only advance the story so far alone. I've thought about starting my own threads but never got around to it. Whenever I suggested an idea it was completely ignored.

Just needed to get that rant off my chest. What do you guys think?

 

[BlazeofLife]

You're probably right Sephiroth, I've noticed the same thing myself a few times around the forum. I guess the only thing we can do is to hope that the person starting the thread that we're in will have a longer attention span, unless you want to start your own threads. (I've already given up on most of the threads that I'm involved in, the exact same thing happened, the creators left, so I went and started my own thread, THE SUMMONS.) At least that way, you know that the thread will be around for a while, provided that you get a decent response to it.

 

[PmTick]

I agree, it seems that I often find myself waiting days before a new post is up. Last week I put up 2 threads, so far they're both still on page one and will probably die out completely by the end of next week.

I'm not trying to be critical of other's ideas but it seems that, with some exceptions, everyone likes the same type of thread: slow-paced, midevil types. While I do enjoy these threads and I'm part of a couple of them, how many types of these threads can we have? I have two more ideas for threads I'll try soon but I'm not expecting much.

Where are these other boards i've been hearing so much about?

 

[Quiet_Cool]

well, how about this?

We've got who? Sephiroth? Pm Tick? Lady Violet? Faust? BlazeofLife? delite? Possibly Crysede? That everybody? Is anybody there mistaken?

Okay, if that list is right, then we've got seven or eight, not to mention myself. That's a good following should we stick together. No promises of course. IF we started say...four threads, that would be plenty to draw new attention should anybody new be wandering around, and I know of at least one, who wanted to join Calamus and said he/she (I think he, but how would I know for sure?) would be interested in other threads. Not even sure if I can fit him into Calamus anyway. Sorry, rambling. Like I was saying, if we started four threads, and each one only picked up two people other than ourselves, and only three of us kept interest in each one, that's four decent threads moving all at once now, and new ones to draw in new players, which was a problem for some people before, no new threads to join and too much reading and intricate plot for the old ones.

What do you guys think? My last attempt was Frankenstien, and it seems to be a bust, not even getting out of the starting gate. You guys have any ideas?

Oh, and a little off-track, but something to chew on. A lot of the Role-Players are good writers, and might be working on other projects currently. y'know, caught up in the work and not posting for that reason. Just a thought.

 

[Violent C]

It's me, it's me, Violent C

I looked over all of your responses and whatnot, and just thought that something was worth saying.

In my humble opinion the biggest problems seem to be abrubt dropoff of interest and hackneyed ideas, both of which have already been suggested. However, the largest obstacle that I have faced is one of unobtrusiveness; I can't bring myself to jump into a thread that already has over two dozen posts. Not only do I feel like I'm intruding, but I also have difficulty catching up with the storyline.

Another problem I have faced is not just the the repetitive nature of these threads but the total disinterest in certian subjects. The regular ol' coffeshop scene, not with immortal characters or daemons from another realm but a simple afternoon at the local Starbucks. Or perhaps a professional-wrestling based theme. Hell, just about anything that isn't purely fantasy and sci-fi.

I know that most of what I said here has been said before, and will possibly be said again. I just wanted to rant for a while, get my voice heard. You know how it is.

Anyhoo, that's about it...I'd just like to add that I would gladly follow a thread started and maintained by any of you.

Peace owt!!

 

[BlazeofLife]

I don't know about the rest, but I think that a pretty good idea, Quiet_Cool. I've already started a thread, The Summons, there's a casting call for it at http://www.literotica.com/forum/showthread.php?s=&postid=1126418#post1126418 . Its based on a series of novels, but since I made it take place before the timeline outlined in those novels, its open to anyone who wants in. You don't need to have read them to understand the plot, because its outlined in the casting call thread. I havn't seen most of the others here there yet, but delite and myself are both in it, and it just started last night so its open to everyone.
If you have any more ideas, keep posting them! Its interesting to see how different people view the recent dropoff in patronage among the threads, keep it up, and good luck, everybody!

 

[PmTick]

QC I like the idea. If we stick togethor we can at least occupy oursleves. How should we organize who will start threads at what time? I'm anxious to begin asap.

Violent C lots of great things in your post. I too agree that we need something with just everyday people in it. One of the thread ideas I mentioned before, which is still somewhat a work in progress, involves normal people.

The idea centers around heist movies, books, or other media (The French Connection, Ocean's 11, Entrapment, Elmore Lenord books, etc). All the characters are either thieves, police, or average people just caught up in the mix. The plot itself would revolve around an elaborate heist. My only concern is that there would be at least one guy who either writes it so that he single handly steals the loot or stops the entire gang. I don't know what do you all think?

Either way I think we should all jump on Quiet Cool's idea. Blaze I'm definatly gonna check out Summoners now, I didn't consider it because I thought it was centered around this book I have never even heard of before.

 

[BlazeofLife]

No problem, Pm, I think a lot of people thought that, that's why I mentioned it here. If anyone wants to join, the casting calls still open, in the meantime, if anyone else wants to try Quiet's idea, I'll check out the threads to see what they're like.
Here's hoping, everybody!

 

[faust]

About casting calls...

Also, it seems as if casting calls are pretty much wated efforts. Most of the time, a dozen or so people sign up, yet the actual thread goes nowhere. Take PmTick's Project Orlock thread for example - lots of people signed up, and it looked like a great idea at the time of the casting call. Now that the thread's been up for a week or so, PmTick and I are the only people to have posted. Perhaps the best idea is to skip casting calls and go straight to the story, hmm? Might save everybody some time.

 

[BlazeofLife]

Actually, I'm in favor of casting calls. They give you a chance to see who's interested in the idea before you post the full thread, they help to weed out those who tend to just jump in and out of threads, and they provide a forum for people to voice their opinions about the thread OOC so they don't interfere with the storyline too much. As well, it provides one central place where you can go to see who's in a given thread, along with their profiles and character information, without having to scroll through an entire thread to find it.

 

[PmTick]

I go either way as far as Casting Calls go, I lauched Know Your Enemy and Shadow Government on the same day, SG I used a CC for because I didn't want to be the only one posting. Know Your Enemy I thought at least one other person would post regurlary.

SG did have a few people respond to it and one person has told me they have offically backed out. As far as the others go, it seems they just wanted to post characters for the hell of it. Either way I'm hoping some new people jump in soon as well as the current members keep posting.

 

[Quiet_Cool]

Casting calls can go either way, depending on the thread. I started Wasteland (that was my first one, and it just died out after about threee months) without one and we did quite well, but Calamus, my most recent one, has one and it's actually another working part of the htread, as we don't post OOC on the story thread. Either can work, depending on the elaborateness of the thread.
Unfortunately, given this normol people concept (and I'm not knocking it) I have an affinity for the futuristic sci-fi and fantasy type threads, hence the two I mentioned above. Now, if we started a thread about say...time travel, that we could blend the characters of two different times in, perhaps that might work, or maybe something more...occult, like a modern day horror type thing, not as extravagant as many of those we've started, with normal characters in unusual supernatural situations...like a Stephen King type thread, that might work.

 

[delite]

I was thinking of starting a thread based in Britain around 495-500AD It's a round the time of Druids and the start of christianity, Britain is made up of smaller kingdoms, the Saxons have taken over most East Anglia, and pose a threat but the smaller kingdoms of britain rather than fighting the Saxons are fighting each other, and the old religion is fighting against the new, It would have a lot of scope for knights driuids, priests, royalty, the irish who by the way have invaded and hold the part of wales known as Demetia and of course the odd marauding saxon. The quest could be to find Arthurs excalibar to help reunite the kingdoms of Britain? what do you think please be honest.

By the way Quiet_cool if you start a time travel thread save a part for me please that sounds great.

 

[Guest]

Heh, heh... anyone notice that we're getting a lot of great thread ideas in here, but not one of them has been started yet? C'mon people, make these ideas come true! I especially like:

The modern-day Afghanistan thread
Roman Empire thread
Time-Travel thread
Lord of the Flies thread

Any one of them might really add some variety to these boards
**************

By the way, it does appear that there is a large number of midieval threads - you know, the whole "valiant heroes VS evil mage/warlord" ideas that pop up on a daily basis. It's a nice idea and all... but how many times can you roleplay the same scenario? What we need are a couple hardcore sci-fi threads. Not the "magic in the near future" ones, but true high-tech types. Something set in Asimov's Foundation/Galactic Empire world, perhaps? Matrix? Post-apocalyptic Earth (think Fallout, or Canticle for Leibowitz)? A space opera of some sort? Something along those lines...

 

[faust]

how annoying...

Unregistered is me. (What the fuck is wrong with this system anyway?!? I could swear I was logged in!)

 

[Quiet_Cool]

How about this?

This is a mixed play between the the Sephen King type thread I mentioned above and the Time travel thread, but time travel wouldn't really be the true nature of it, since no one would be changing times and actually traveling anywhere...have I confused you yet?
Anyway, this is what I mean, if I can explain it without messing it up. We have say...a castle in England, or a large Victorian style house/mansion in perhaps New Orleans, huge, with many rooms and whatnot. The house/castle would be the center of focus, the story spanning across two or three diferent generations of the same family, the inheritors (if that's a word) inheriting a curse only known to those who live within the house, and never seen by any others. The curse wouldn't be directly related to the house/castle (not a Rose Red spin-off, if I understand the concept of Rose Red--I didn't get to see the miniseries) but just a curse trapped within the house, like perhaps the house's occupants could be. Ghosts of the past would walk the halls, until the reason for, and therefore the vehicle to end the curse, is found. The different levels of time would overlap within the house, things constantly happening within the walls at levels throughout time at once, meaning, should the same table remain in the house through three generations, it would be idnetical thoughout all three generations. Say, it is spotless in the modern day, then a character in the late nineteenth century should accidentally knick it, then table would suddenly attain that mark in the present day, instead of the table having always had the mark. So, instead of it being time-travel, the past and present would blend together within the house, sometimes ghosts appearing to those who are currently living who represent the past, such as say, the character who knicks the table is a child crying afterward for fear that her/his father would punish her/him. THe present day charcter could see the child as an apparition, crying in the kitchen near the table.
We could work out a curse after the thread is up and moving, though that should be fairly easy. By the way, this is how I tend to kill threads...too intricate a plot and too much detail. Let me know what you think about this one...

 

[PmTick]

QC I like what you've got so far with the house/curse thread. Personally I'm holding off on starting any new threads for a little bit. It seems that the majority of the threads right now are all new threads which quickly get replaced. Because of this lull the board is in, some perfectly good ideas never get a chance to become realized because they're here and gone before anyone notices. I was chatting with someone who's a board veteran and she told me that the board is usually slow around this time and picks up again during the summer.

On another note, what did you guys think about my thieves idea? I'm still trying to fill in some of the blanks but I'll probably bring that out very soon. With another to follow.