Hey guys, obviously this board is one of our biggest, most successful ones (wooooooooooooooo!) and I'd love to expand it. I've been watching and lurking in some RPs for some time, but I wanted to get some thoughts on how y'all experts would handle expanding.
Some terminology, upfront: the "Roleplaying" section on the forums here is a "Board". It has many "Threads" (of which this is one. It doesn't belong to a group of boards like the rest of the forum, e.g. Characters/Magic/Creatures in the "Worldbuilding" section, Writing Prompts & Plot Factory in the "Writing" section, etc.
I'd like to create a "Roleplaying" section with several (probably 2-6) boards. My question is this: how would you like those boards organized?
Some ideas, but obviously they're not that great (or, I don't know if they are), which is why I'm asking for your help:
- Genres (fantasy RPs, sci-fi RPs, romance RPs, realistic RPs, general RPs, etc)
- Ages (middle school RPs, high school RPs, adult RPs, etc)
- Topics (vampire RPs, criminal RPs, adventure RPs, etc)
- Familiarity (introductory RPs for anyone, beginner RPs, advanced RPs, expert RPs, etc)
So… any and all thoughts are very welcome. I won't be creating the section/boards quite yet, as I'd like to get some discussion going and comments rolling, but I am looking at this (and other ways) to improve the forums, and this board in particular. I'll open up another thread soon with some news on other features that'd make the forums better, so if we could focus on the forums in the context of roleplaying here that'd be amazing.
Thanks, everyone! :)
Maybe divide them by genre and then age? Or vica versa? Familiarity would be good too.
Genre and familiarity would be the most helpful ways (for me at least) to organize the boards.
I agree! Genre and familiarity make the most sense to me.
Yes, familiarity would definitely help.
Tbh I agree with them genre and familiarity would help
I definately agree with Familiarity and genre. Although I kind of like how this is already designed because its easier for me to go rp to rp.
Do you think we can have some sort of chat notification like a notification pops up on your screen whenever someone has chatted on your rp and you click on it to take you there, kind of like pinterest?
I think genre would be great. Ages could be bad, since a lot of people rp with a range of different aged people and alot of rps have a range of character ages. I think familiarity isn't that great since i found RPing with more familiar rpers a good way to develop my skills.
just my personal opinion though.
I personally think that it’s lovely just the way it is.
I personally think that it’s lovely just the way it is.
hmm yeah. it's really easy to go from one thread to another right now, which I like. i reckon if you divided the threads into boards, something like the pinterest notification that @AmericasFavoriteFightingFrenchGirl_LAFFETTE! suggested would be needed
It seems fine the way it is right now, but if we were going to sort it, I’d probably say by familiarity or genre
I quite like it the way it is right now, but if we are going to do this, I’d say do it by genre. @BookAddict gives good reasons for why the other sorting systems wouldn’t work as well.
Also, rating. Like, PG or G or PG13 or R or anything in between? I think that would help since a lot of young people (including me) want to keep their innocence. It would also help for what people choose what to respond in the chat forum. And also, maybe there should be a "Kick" or "Unkick" option for the people who have made the thread so if someone is being abusive on the chat then they can simply boot the user out. It would be a good thing to put on all chat forums, actually. Sorry if my ideas are stupid, you don't have to take my advice, I'm just putting it out there as a suggestion and nothing more.
Rating could work. Genre is still my preference, but rating is probably my second preference of the ideas so far.
Rating could work. Genre is still my preference, but rating is probably my second preference of the ideas so far.
I was thinking both would work together, actually. Everyone has way better ideas than me lol.
Rating could work. Genre is still my preference, but rating is probably my second preference of the ideas so far.
I was thinking both would work together, actually. Everyone has way better ideas than me lol.
no, your ideas are good. you're the first to suggest an original sorting method, all the rest were suggested by @andrew (Our Supreme Lord and Overseer)
I like the whole rating thing, but I’m not sure how easy it’s be to mix more than one sorting pattern together
yeah, I feel like more than one sorting pattern would be way too confusing and result in way too many boards
Also, rating. Like, PG or G or PG13 or R or anything in between? I think that would help since a lot of young people (including me) want to keep their innocence. It would also help for what people choose what to respond in the chat forum. And also, maybe there should be a "Kick" or "Unkick" option for the people who have made the thread so if someone is being abusive on the chat then they can simply boot the user out. It would be a good thing to put on all chat forums, actually. Sorry if my ideas are stupid, you don't have to take my advice, I'm just putting it out there as a suggestion and nothing more.
I really like this "Kick" - "Unkick" idea.
And I really like the Genre, Age and Familiarity
I really like the idea of it being sorted into genres or topics. I feel like separating it into different age groups would be quite restricting as many roleplays have a multitude of age groups. For similar reasons, I don't think sorting by familiarity to roleplaying would be good either (it would be restrictive and I feel like you would miss out on an opportunity to learn more about roleplaying and get better at them). I do; however, really like the idea of the roleplays having ratings based on what happens in them. Finally, (and sorry for such a long paragraph) I think that if you are going to sort the roleplay boards into different categories it is best to keep things as simple as possible (as has been stated by others) because if there are too many sections to click through in order for you to get to your roleplay it would just get confusing and honestly, quite annoying.
I like rating, and I like the notification and kick-unkick as well. I also think that topics is a good one.
