RPing Questions? Ask Here!

[Vancon]

So, two more questions. First: Would trying to revise and then revive my existing RP be worth trying, or should I just chalk it up to a failure and try another? And second, what's this supposed to mean?

1. Blocky text that people aren't invested in reading

I can literally parse that sentence, but exactly what kind of advice it's trying to convey is opaque. The paragraphs aren't that big (and I've double-checked compared to successful RP threads - they seem to have similarly sized paragraphs often enough), so when you say blocky do you mean that it's got formatting problems? And when you say that people aren't invested in reading it - well, yes, obviously, but why not? I'm not trying to sound defensive or anything, I just literally do not understand what you're trying to say.

If you read the rest of the help, you will notice that I said might be at fault.

You gotta keep in mind for a small post, by a person with a low post count, not a whole lot o' people will be interested in reading what you've wrote just because you are still a noob. You might not be, but everyone else will think so.

I guess it's just a timing problem. You posted it to early in your RPing career I'm afraid.

[The Macabees]

Aeternum Regnum, have you tried reaching out to other players? Maybe there are player you see you might like to have in your RP; you can TG them, give them an overview of what you have in mind for your story, and see if they're interested.

You could also join other RPs, where you'll meet other players, and once they know you they might be willing to reciprocate by joining your RP.

[Aeternum Regnum]

In my experiencing, I have found it extremely hard to get people to join with TG for entry, unless you invest in brining the RP forward yourself.

I've wondered about that. Leaving things wide open to anyone who wants to join typically makes me really uncomfortable because it usually ends in disaster. But for intentionally low-stakes RPs I guess it can't possibly go all that wrong.

Aeternum Regnum, have you tried reaching out to other players?

A handful. No responses.

You could also join other RPs, where you'll meet other players, and once they know you they might be willing to reciprocate by joining your RP.

This was my original plan, but RPs seem to be pretty strictly limited to two things: Alliances and wars. I'm trying to avoid both of those. The handful of exceptions are either 5+ pages in and thus very difficult to catch up with or else they are closed.

For the first time I really regret having no interest in sports. That forum's pretty active and something my nation could get involved in.

[The Macabees]

Hm, from what I've seen the most successful RPs for "young" players are the ones that appeal to the outrageous. E.g. "Nation legalizes slavery" or "Nation bans labor unions." Those are easy to respond to because players can either support or condemn, and then go from there. But, you're right that RPs like these, especially wide open ones, don't tend to go in the direction you might want your RP to go in.

Another option is to join a strictly RPing region that contains players that seem similarly minded to you. I don't have much experience with The West Pacific, but you might enjoy a smaller region, where cooperating with fellow region-mates is easier. Since players are also likely to be a lot closer, in terms of both being neighbors on a map and being OOC close via intra-regional communication, they'll also be more likely to post in a coronation thread, since they have a strong reason to -- it can be used as a diplomacy thread, where their characters get involved with yours, which could in the future branch out into other RPs.

[Erusuia]

Hey, I think this would be the place for this, but if it isn't preemptive apologies

I've just started RPIng for the first time and so far I've written up two posts, and I was wondering how I could improve. I don't feel like I'm meeting the post quality of the other people involved

RP in question

[Kreise]

It seems to me, that a big part of an RP, is giving people something to do, preferably something they want to do. War RPs are popular, because the plot is obvious (although often simplified), and people want to invade other nations. A coronation RP is hard to do. Having been to a coronation (technically it was an inauguration), there isn't usually a lot of foreign involvement.

The main traditional role of foreigners is as observers. Heirs to the thrones of other countries visit and get a front row seat for the ceremony, and then presumably attend the party afterwards. No one wants to roleplay just sitting for a while and then making small talk later. True, there is plenty of opportunity for interesting plot in the party, but people aren't going to invest in the RP, if they don't think there is going to be that pay off. So as a new RPer, your best bet is to set up an interesting plot yourself.

[Alaskan Democratic Federative Republic]

Hello everyone, I hope this question goes with the thread, but if it isn't I apologize for my incompetent behavior.

Anyway I want to know on how can I improve on my RP skills ?

Here a link for a preview
Here

[Vancon]

Hey, I think this would be the place for this, but if it isn't preemptive apologies

I've just started RPIng for the first time and so far I've written up two posts, and I was wondering how I could improve. I don't feel like I'm meeting the post quality of the other people involved

RP in question

I'm not gonna read the whole thing, but if you're feeling incompetent, copy how the pros are doing it

Also, try to cut up your paragraphs a bit. They're pretty big.

It seems to me, that a big part of an RP, is giving people something to do, preferably something they want to do. War RPs are popular, because the plot is obvious (although often simplified), and people want to invade other nations. A coronation RP is hard to do. Having been to a coronation (technically it was an inauguration), there isn't usually a lot of foreign involvement.

The main traditional role of foreigners is as observers. Heirs to the thrones of other countries visit and get a front row seat for the ceremony, and then presumably attend the party afterwards. No one wants to roleplay just sitting for a while and then making small talk later. True, there is plenty of opportunity for interesting plot in the party, but people aren't going to invest in the RP, if they don't think there is going to be that pay off. So as a new RPer, your best bet is to set up an interesting plot yourself.

TL;DR
Make up your own stuff and hope people join.

But first, join a couple small groups and get a team of friends who'll play with you.

Hello everyone, I hope this question goes with the thread, but if it isn't I apologize for my incompetent behavior.

Anyway I want to know on how can I improve on my RP skills ?

Here a link for a preview
Here

First and foremost, what do you want to to with your RP there? It looks like you're just writing a story for shits and giggles.

You also suffer from the lack of posts thing, so join some other RPs to get a feel for how they work.

Learning to RP is just a matter of trial and error by means of joining groups and writing in them.

[Heirosoloa]

Anyway I want to know on how can I improve on my RP skills ?
Here a link for a preview
Here

First and foremost, I would advise you to edit the title of the thread to display more prominently that it's not MT (Modern Tech), which is the general assumption most posters will have when they see an unmarked thread. It's up to you how you want to do that; you could use PT, but I always associate that with even earlier time periods, so I'm not sure. The second thing I would do is reformat to normal-sized text; I don't know how true this is now but I used to similarly use smaller-sized font and I got a lot of complaints and a lot of people who just wouldn't bother to read it because it was so small.

Now, on to content: I like this idea; I like what you've done here. The prose is competent (although there is a strange dearth of periods) and the story is intriguing. What I think you could do to attract more interest is to give other players a more clear jumping off point into the story. The first thing you should do is stipulate how you want other players to interact with the story: do you want them to send troops to stop the Americans? Do you want a high-tension war-backed interspecies romance between Yuri and a half-fox seductress? While I would estimate that you would prefer the former to the latter, the post does not make it abundantly obvious and I think people would feel slightly more comfortable with posting if there was a given structure. Perhaps you may want to include an IC call for help to other republican states. The other thing you may want to include, since you don't have a factbook linked in your signature, is a very brief description of your country, so that people know what they're getting into bed with.

Finally, a brief notice: you're nation is seemingly very based in an alternate timeline. While this is not uncommon, I think it would be disingenuous to say that there is no stigma or connotation associated with basing your nation in real geography and history rather than in the greater NS canon. Some players choose to acknowledge RL geography and place their nations on a map of the RL Earth. Some players even choose to acknowledge existing IRL concepts or concepts within the Nationstates game itself (like the UN or the WA, respectively). This inevitably runs into some logical conflict when two players claiming to own the continental United States enter the same thread, or one player based in RL geography interacts with one based in fictional geography. Players can and do frequently work out solutions on their own, but the easiest one is the acceptance of the NS multi-verse, or as I like to put it, the "Everyone's an Atlantic Ocean Away" principle, which is just a handwaving of international geography in favor of broad principles of distance and location.

So I got off track and I don't even know if you're new and needed the third paragraph, but this has been a post. So enjoy it or something?

[Ardoki]

How do you calculate a realistic GDP per capita?

My country is economically (as well as socially) very similar to the Nordic countries. However my population is around 720 million. How would you create a realistic GDP per capita for that country?

Thank you in advance.

[Draica]

What is the opinion on a new RP I just released?

viewtopic.php?f=5&t=320656

[Lubyak]

How do you calculate a realistic GDP per capita?

My country is economically (as well as socially) very similar to the Nordic countries. However my population is around 720 million. How would you create a realistic GDP per capita for that country?

Thank you in advance.

It's really complicated to get a 'realistic' GDP per capita. You're getting into areas of economics, and some are going to argue that you can't have ludicrously high GDPs per capita without some kind of extenuating circumstances (e.g. massive oil production, tiny population, etc.) Really, the general rule of thumb is to copy the RL GDP per capita for the country you view as most 'similar' to yours, and base it from there.

Remember, most people aren't going to really care what your IC claimed GDP or GDP per capita. They'll care about whether your nation is 'First World' developing or what not, but they won't care about the specific numbers. It's ok to just abstract these kind of things out.

[The Macabees]

What is the opinion on a new RP I just released?

https://forum.nationstates.net/viewtopi ... 5&t=320656

I liked the approach of your OP. Rather than reporting the event, you RPd it. Awesome job!

[Ardoki]

How do you calculate a realistic GDP per capita?

My country is economically (as well as socially) very similar to the Nordic countries. However my population is around 720 million. How would you create a realistic GDP per capita for that country?

Thank you in advance.

It's really complicated to get a 'realistic' GDP per capita. You're getting into areas of economics, and some are going to argue that you can't have ludicrously high GDPs per capita without some kind of extenuating circumstances (e.g. massive oil production, tiny population, etc.) Really, the general rule of thumb is to copy the RL GDP per capita for the country you view as most 'similar' to yours, and base it from there.

Remember, most people aren't going to really care what your IC claimed GDP or GDP per capita. They'll care about whether your nation is 'First World' developing or what not, but they won't care about the specific numbers. It's ok to just abstract these kind of things out.

Thank you a lot.

[Los Gringos]

It's really complicated to get a 'realistic' GDP per capita. You're getting into areas of economics, and some are going to argue that you can't have ludicrously high GDPs per capita without some kind of extenuating circumstances (e.g. massive oil production, tiny population, etc.) Really, the general rule of thumb is to copy the RL GDP per capita for the country you view as most 'similar' to yours, and base it from there.

Remember, most people aren't going to really care what your IC claimed GDP or GDP per capita. They'll care about whether your nation is 'First World' developing or what not, but they won't care about the specific numbers. It's ok to just abstract these kind of things out.

Thank you a lot.

So I've found an economy calculator that shows all sorts of stuff including your GDP. Here's the link. http://nseconomy.thirdgeek.com/nseconomy.php?nation=ardoki

[Santheres]

Thank you a lot. :hug:

So I've found an economy calculator that shows all sorts of stuff including your GDP. Here's the link. http://nseconomy.thirdgeek.com/nseconomy.php?nation=ardoki

That calculator is a very popular tool but generally speaking, you don't use if you want a realistic dataset. The calculator works great but it's all based off the silliness of your nation page - you can make your nation page look very realistic for the most part if you try, but the real issue at hand is population. Unless you trash your economy as your nation ages (quickly), you're going to have a very unrealistic GDP per capita for your nation's population, which just puts us back at square one.

[The Macabees]

I'll leave it here that according to economic theory (increasing returns to scale; i.e. the division of labor), GDPPC should increase as population increases.

Edit: We often see that high population countries in RL tend to have low GDPPCs, but remember not to confuse causation for correlation. Low income countries tend to have higher birth rates, because the kind of industries where they have a competitive advantage are relatively labor intensive.

Edit2: Here is something to read on the theory I'm referencing.

[Snakelan]

Since this is an RP-questions thread, I'm just wondering, What does it mean to say "*Encryption*" before a letter or something of the similarity?

[Stahn]

Since this is an RP-questions thread, I'm just wondering, What does it mean to say "*Encryption*" before a letter or something of the similarity?

That other people are supposed to act in character/RPs that they have not read it because it was encrypted. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Encryption

[Lubyak]

Since this is an RP-questions thread, I'm just wondering, What does it mean to say "*Encryption*" before a letter or something of the similarity?

It's what we call 'Secret In Character" (SIC). Basically, this is something that is posted in character, but is meant to be a secret. This would mean something like a secret message from a government to another, containing battle plans, diplomatic messages, and other such things. OOC, you know about, but IC...your character's don't.

[Vermark]

How does a new formed nation get involved in International Incidents? It seems to me like the storylines of II involve nations with precedent histories and adequate amounts of power. A newer nation such as mine has none of the above, so how can I go about getting started?

Thanks.

[Northern Collectives]

How does a new formed nation get involved in International Incidents? It seems to me like the storylines of II involve nations with precedent histories and adequate amounts of power. A newer nation such as mine has none of the above, so how can I go about getting started?

Thanks.

They way I started RPing on mine was a war between myself and a NPC nation. A lot of people do civil wars when they first start out, since they are among the easier to come up with a plot for, but is really up to you. Some do banquets if you want to stay away from the combat scene, and others do a ton of warfare, so it fairly open overall.

[Rhodevus]

How does a new formed nation get involved in International Incidents? It seems to me like the storylines of II involve nations with precedent histories and adequate amounts of power. A newer nation such as mine has none of the above, so how can I go about getting started?

Thanks.

Just like Northern Collectives said, there are many ways to start roleplaying. I started with a civil war, then a hostage situation and finally a war. Starting with these 3 types of roleplays allowed me to figure our my style of writing and to choose whether i preferred to RP as a full army a single person or a small force.
Some of my friends have started by joining other roleplays with newer people as well and to try and copy the types of roleplays more advanced players have done.
You asked about histories and power. Those two things come from starting out. My first RPs are still the basis for my entire nation's history. Power tends to come from roleplaying often.

[Heirosoloa]

How does a new formed nation get involved in International Incidents? It seems to me like the storylines of II involve nations with precedent histories and adequate amounts of power. A newer nation such as mine has none of the above, so how can I go about getting started?

Thanks.

I personally wouldn't advise starting out with posting a thread, as you may want to get to know the scene a bit more before you have to manage entities within it.

That being said, I would advise starting with the stickies, as it's the greatest single compendium of useful knowledge on II that I know of. From there, I would try to find a thread marked "Open" with a quality-level of RPing you feel comfortable with, and join that so you can get a taste of what's what.

[Frindgeland]

What do you mean declaring war can I just type that I declare war on another nation or no