[P2TM Chat] The Restaurant at the End of the Multiverse III

[Hanafuridake]

I don't even have Discord.

I have one, but will never use it for a RP. An OOC having a Discord seems to be a major contributor to thread death.

[Pasong Tirad]

Given the volume of information that can be conveyed in a single OOC post as opposed to lines of chat in Discord, I will still prefer the OOC thread over a Discord server. That said, I'm not totally opposed to the concept, as the ability to quickly type in a response and reply to others, as well as the ability to call one another, is still pretty valuable and I wouldn't discount it. I still prefer the OOC thread, but I can understand why some people would like to use a Discord.

[Achesia]

Discord- Great for groups like RPing clubs or Regions, not specific RPs.

Threads- perfect for specific RPs.

DMs if someone really needs to go back and forth with another participant and then sum it up in a OOC post.

[Pax Nerdvana]

I don't even have Discord.

I have one, but will never use it for a RP. An OOC having a Discord seems to be a major contributor to thread death.

I would have to agree.

[Rostavykhan]

Meh, Discord is basically just a different form of IRC to me - place where folks go to chat and have fun without clogging up the NS thread too much.

Discussion can get heavy there though, so I try to post regularly in OOC's as well to keep it from getting too stale.

Used to be, Skype was the place for banter, but Discord is just easier to hop into IMO.

[Forest State]

I don't really get most of the arguments against Discord, tbh. I mean, I get where they're coming from, but most of them aren't Discord exclusive, or actually harmful to threads. I've joined threads and lost track of them because of being busy with other RPs or other things, and that goes for threads that both use and don't use Discord. As it was pointed out earlier, time zone problems kind of apply no matter where you decide to place your OOC talk.

As for the lack of an active OOC thread, I don't think this actually affects anything. If your thread is active, people will be able to see. If you have a thread with, say, 10 OOC pages and 20 IC pages and the IC is being posted on at a fairly consistent rate, nobody is going to think that it's an inactive thread because the OOC is being bumped, and the IC acts as a bump for anyone that would be interested in joining the RP anyway. If it interests them, they can pretty easily find the OOC.

I personally have a decently active thread (15 IC pages with daily posting) and Discord adds a lot more than it takes, if we had to rely on the slower posting and harder to quickly read format that comes with OOC threads, we would be screwed when we do; A) Fight scenes where it's important to be able to talk quickly with other players and figure out what each character is doing or B) Clear up details about plans which can make a difference in whether a character or characters win or lose, or C) Further flesh out things like details seen in missions, complicated lore aspects, character tidbits that aren't directly related to the immediate IC, or etc without filling up the OOC with text walls as well as pages and pages of back and forth with one or two line comments.

I do get that it might not be the best for every single player in P2TM, but I'd say Discord greatly improves the quality of our IC by encouraging more conversation and encouraging players to ask more questions and explore IC situations and the world of the thread more in depth because of the faster rate of posting and the fact that it's less formal.

[Esternial]

I only use it to gossip with the other Mentors.

[Hanafuridake]

I only use it to gossip with the other Mentors.

(Image)

Great, now I'm imagining you all as bitchy high school girls hanging around in malls and making snarky comments about what the other shop goers are wearing.

[Grenartia]

Yeah, and it creates two classes: those who are available at the same time as the OP, who can contribute massively to the RP and the world building, and those who are not. Those who are not get left behind quickly, as discord is not at all easy to read back on.

This is not a Discord-exclusive concept, the exact same thing can and does develop in roleplays which do not use any sort of extra-forum communication and do all of the planning on the OOC. I can personally attest to that - I live in the worst possible timezone for role-playing, as I'm available when it's night and morning in the Western Hemisphere, so 90% of all chatter takes place when I am asleep, and back when the Infinite Justice series was big and moving quickly, I would always miss important planning and story discussion because all of it would take place during my night and I'd wake up to a complete discussion with nothing to add.

Perhaps this is because I hold no nostalgia for highly active OOC threads (waking up to four pages of OOC chatter every morning and having to shift through it for any information which may be important was never something I liked), but I believe that Discord is a better method of OOC communication than OOC threads. But only as long as you use Discord right, instead of just slapping down a basic server and calling it a day. Pins and separate announcements channels allow all the participants to quickly find important information in one place, and mentions allow them to find where they are personally required instead of shifting through pages of pages of OOC to find anything they are needed in. The Discord search function is a lot better than the NS one, too.

Oh, and, custom emojis too.

Here's the thing, though. The most successful RPs have active OOC threads. Having the OOC thread pop up often whenever someone clicks "view your posts" is a constant reminder that the RP exists, and there's probably developments to pay attention to, or at least just fun bantz, and that they should be thinking about their next IC post. And, more often than not, the IC is conveniently linked to in the OOC (or else also pops up in the egosearch, near the OOC thread).

Discord, while allowing immediate chat and bantz, actually has a bit more of a bad search function, no linking to posts, etc.

The only solution to the active disco/inactive OOC problem is if the person running the server and RP decides to actively restrict the kinds of conversations happening on the discord, which comes across as a dick move to everyone else, making them less interested in participating in the RP at all, even just shitposting in the OOC.

[Barapam]

This is not a Discord-exclusive concept, the exact same thing can and does develop in roleplays which do not use any sort of extra-forum communication and do all of the planning on the OOC. I can personally attest to that - I live in the worst possible timezone for role-playing, as I'm available when it's night and morning in the Western Hemisphere, so 90% of all chatter takes place when I am asleep, and back when the Infinite Justice series was big and moving quickly, I would always miss important planning and story discussion because all of it would take place during my night and I'd wake up to a complete discussion with nothing to add.

Perhaps this is because I hold no nostalgia for highly active OOC threads (waking up to four pages of OOC chatter every morning and having to shift through it for any information which may be important was never something I liked), but I believe that Discord is a better method of OOC communication than OOC threads. But only as long as you use Discord right, instead of just slapping down a basic server and calling it a day. Pins and separate announcements channels allow all the participants to quickly find important information in one place, and mentions allow them to find where they are personally required instead of shifting through pages of pages of OOC to find anything they are needed in. The Discord search function is a lot better than the NS one, too.

Oh, and, custom emojis too.

Here's the thing, though. The most successful RPs have active OOC threads. Having the OOC thread pop up often whenever someone clicks "view your posts" is a constant reminder that the RP exists, and there's probably developments to pay attention to, or at least just fun bantz, and that they should be thinking about their next IC post. And, more often than not, the IC is conveniently linked to in the OOC (or else also pops up in the egosearch, near the OOC thread).

Discord, while allowing immediate chat and bantz, actually has a bit more of a bad search function, no linking to posts, etc.

The only solution to the active disco/inactive OOC problem is if the person running the server and RP decides to actively restrict the kinds of conversations happening on the discord, which comes across as a dick move to everyone else, making them less interested in participating in the RP at all, even just shitposting in the OOC.

The best rp to manage both a discord and an active OOC from my experience is Metal on Metal.

[Finland SSR]

This is not a Discord-exclusive concept, the exact same thing can and does develop in roleplays which do not use any sort of extra-forum communication and do all of the planning on the OOC. I can personally attest to that - I live in the worst possible timezone for role-playing, as I'm available when it's night and morning in the Western Hemisphere, so 90% of all chatter takes place when I am asleep, and back when the Infinite Justice series was big and moving quickly, I would always miss important planning and story discussion because all of it would take place during my night and I'd wake up to a complete discussion with nothing to add.

Perhaps this is because I hold no nostalgia for highly active OOC threads (waking up to four pages of OOC chatter every morning and having to shift through it for any information which may be important was never something I liked), but I believe that Discord is a better method of OOC communication than OOC threads. But only as long as you use Discord right, instead of just slapping down a basic server and calling it a day. Pins and separate announcements channels allow all the participants to quickly find important information in one place, and mentions allow them to find where they are personally required instead of shifting through pages of pages of OOC to find anything they are needed in. The Discord search function is a lot better than the NS one, too.

Oh, and, custom emojis too.

Here's the thing, though. The most successful RPs have active OOC threads. Having the OOC thread pop up often whenever someone clicks "view your posts" is a constant reminder that the RP exists, and there's probably developments to pay attention to, or at least just fun bantz, and that they should be thinking about their next IC post. And, more often than not, the IC is conveniently linked to in the OOC (or else also pops up in the egosearch, near the OOC thread).

Discord, while allowing immediate chat and bantz, actually has a bit more of a bad search function, no linking to posts, etc.

The only solution to the active disco/inactive OOC problem is if the person running the server and RP decides to actively restrict the kinds of conversations happening on the discord, which comes across as a dick move to everyone else, making them less interested in participating in the RP at all, even just shitposting in the OOC.

Right, the most successful RPs of the past have all had active OOC threads, but here's the question - is it actually a mandatory thing to have or is it just correlation caused by the fact that Discord is a recent innovation and past RPs had no option but to have OOC threads? Young Bloods is a perfect example of a RP which has moved basically all chatter to Discord and thrives better than ever - the OOC thread has basically become just an archive thread for apps and artwork.

Though, admittedly, Discord is not for everyone. If one's RP does not have a prebuilt strong community and has to rely on fresh blood to stay afloat, then, keeping in mind the harsh competition for the valuable page 1 slots, having an active OOC thread is very valuable. Discord is, as I've noticed, significantly more convenient for established and lasting RPs and communities, which don't expect a rush of new players and would much rather prefer Discord's superior utility.

I also would not agree that Discord's search function is bad - it is definitely no worse than the NS search function. Discord search allows to swiftly search by user, filter out unnecessary channels, search specifically for images or videos, all of which NS either cannot offer or can only offer through advanced search features.

In addition, pins are a really useful tool for keeping the entire player base up to date which NS has no equivalent of, besides shoving all new information and RP plans into the OP or something.

[State of Yelm]

do yall think a modernish day life/organized crime RP would thrive or do these not exist anymore

[Vanquaria]

do yall think a modernish day life/organized crime RP would thrive or do these not exist anymore

I'd be interested in a crime thriller RP

[State of Yelm]

do yall think a modernish day life/organized crime RP would thrive or do these not exist anymore

I'd be interested in a crime thriller RP

thinking of getting one together

[Vanquaria]

I'd be interested in a crime thriller RP

thinking of getting one together

hell yeah

[Barapam]

Right now, I don't know what to post at all in any of the rp:s I'm in. My mind is completely blank. I still enjoy checking the forums, and creating characters, but when it comes to actually writing, it's like it's almost pysically impossible sometimes when I stare at the screen and try to come up with something. The worst is that it in a way feels like I'm letting my co-rp:ers down.

I guess this is just writer's bloc, but I don't think I've had such a bad case of it as this before. Any tricks to fix it?

[Talchyon]

Right now, I don't know what to post at all in any of the rp:s I'm in. My mind is completely blank. I still enjoy checking the forums, and creating characters, but when it comes to actually writing, it's like it's almost pysically impossible sometimes when I stare at the screen and try to come up with something. The worst is that it in a way feels like I'm letting my co-rp:ers down.

I guess this is just writer's bloc, but I don't think I've had such a bad case of it as this before. Any tricks to fix it?

Barapam - I'm kind of in that funk right now.

My dad always said that on days when you don't feel like writing, even if you get a paragraph in, you're making some progress. Maybe it's a matter of getting something - anything - down, just to keep your skills up.

You could always introduce that new character of yours in Mars Needs Windex, if you want something to work on.

[G-Tech Corporation]

Right now, I don't know what to post at all in any of the rp:s I'm in. My mind is completely blank. I still enjoy checking the forums, and creating characters, but when it comes to actually writing, it's like it's almost pysically impossible sometimes when I stare at the screen and try to come up with something. The worst is that it in a way feels like I'm letting my co-rp:ers down.

I guess this is just writer's bloc, but I don't think I've had such a bad case of it as this before. Any tricks to fix it?

Personally, if my inspiration is dead, I read or watch new media. Sometimes just getting ideas into your brain is all it takes.

[Vanquaria]

Right now, I don't know what to post at all in any of the rp:s I'm in. My mind is completely blank. I still enjoy checking the forums, and creating characters, but when it comes to actually writing, it's like it's almost pysically impossible sometimes when I stare at the screen and try to come up with something. The worst is that it in a way feels like I'm letting my co-rp:ers down.

I guess this is just writer's bloc, but I don't think I've had such a bad case of it as this before. Any tricks to fix it?

Go with the flow until you become the flow.

[Turmenista]

I think that discord are good when they’re super active, and with some RPs they’re the main source of activity and it should instantaneous communication. But, it’s a double edged sword here. They can obviously take away from general thread activity, and threads that have super active OOC threads are generally the more popular ones. I think what I might do is keep the chatter to the OOC thread, since I’ve been in plenty of RPs that are super active but don’t have discord.

[Vanquaria]

Kyrusia said no more shitposts on my rps OOC so I made a Discord server. Player activity increased hundredfold including worldbuilding and posts. Hell yeah.

[Barapam]

Thanks for all ideas. I'll do my best to come back (even though I also have a bad cold now, so that isn't helping... Or maybe it is, if it'll means staying in bed and NS:ing most of the day...)

[Finland SSR]

Hey guys. It's been a while, actually.

Still remember me, perhaps? I was the guy who wrote How Roleplays Die, a dispatch about roleplaying in this site which is so well read that I have been notified that it's been linked as recently as a few months ago.

I've kinda written an another essay, this time called Why Do Free-Form Roleplays Work?

https://www.nationstates.net/page=dispatch/id=1196585

Hope you are interested!

[Kaziimar]

Would anybody be interested in a navy RP (fictional navy of course) where you start as a midshipman and you try juggling your life with rising through the ranks as an impending war starts to come up?

[G-Tech Corporation]

Would anybody be interested in a navy RP (fictional navy of course) where you start as a midshipman and you try juggling your life with rising through the ranks as an impending war starts to come up?

Only if we can gain preposterous skills and loot