RP Drops - Some New Ideas I had

[Aleister Black]

The original title was going to be RP Droppings, but that sounded to much like excrement.

This thread kind of continues on from another thread, probably located in the Wild Cards or RP Anonymous groups, where I have already covered the taking over and killing of other people's characters. In this thread, I'll briefly gloss over some new insights, which will hopefully stimulate discussion to the benefit of all!

The leading cause of death (if not the only one) among RPs is the dropping of either a single player or a group of players. The causes of someone dropping from an RP have all been outlined in this thread by Contra Fates:

http://www.risingstarforums.net/show...Why-Do-RPs-Die

Allthough the thread deals more specifically with the dieing of RPs, it does go into the motive for an RPer to drop from an RP.

Do not underestimate a drop. A player drop is not just a single player. It signifies something may be wrong in the RP and if not dealt with in time, this may kill the RP alltogether. Not only is a player drop a sign of the RP not being in good order, it also sets a precedence. When one player drops, it is easier for another player to do the same. Do not let a player drop snowball! A player drop may stop the story altogether, when the character was an important one, or involved in a central interaction. A player drop should be handled with GREAT care!


Here, I would like to discuss the best way to prevent someone from dropping or to heal the wound a drop leaves behind.


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Preventing a Drop

Keep it interesting! In an RP, it is common for two people to go very deeply into the interaction of their own characters. However, this might sometimes alienate another player, whose character doesn't seem to be able to get into the interaction. Ignoring another player is a surefire way of getting him or her to drop, so try to involve them as much as possible. The more someone interacts with other people, the sooner that person will decide to stay instead of leave the RP.

An extensive character interaction, while often extremely good to flesh out an RP, can take the speed and action out of the Roleplay. When a dialogue starts to take too long and no action seems to be going on at all, other people may get bored and eventually leave the RP. Try to keep dialogue to Private Messages, E-Mail or Instant Messengers and post it as one post instead of a long interaction that takes two pages to finish. Of course, when the interaction is with more than two characters, doing it in the RP thread is A-ok!

Basically, you will want to keep someone enthusiastic about participating in the RP. If such a person has only little time to spare, it helps to keep him interested to make sure he will spend what little time he has to create a new post.


You will also need to watch out for interpersonal relations between players. Sometimes people will drop because of personal differences with another player, and if these differences are not resolved/smoothed over in time, it will eventually result in a drop from the RP.

Of course, sometimes, there's nothing you can do to keep someone from dropping.

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Handling a Drop

So how do you handle a drop?

Ideally, you will want to fit it into the story somehow. This works best when the character isn't currently involved in an interaction. When someone drops permanently, the best way to get rid of a character is by having it die. However, don't do this without giving it some though. If in any way possible, try and make the dropper stay for a short time, or take over the character yourself, long enough to make sure that the loss of the character will benefit the RP in the long run.

For example, when Doaj dropped from the original Centra Crisis RP, his character's death actually enriched the story and gave rise to a whole range of new options for the story. The death of the character had reason and background and felt right in the circumstances. When you compare this to another character's death in the same RP (Akira, played by Neofrodo) you will see that the latter lacks the necessary preparation to make the death credible. Without the proper background, a character's death will be detrimental to the RP's progress. However, if the death is executed properly, it might actually be a boost for an RP to continue.


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Taking over a character is, also, a good way to deal with the loss of a player. However, this too should be done with the utmost care. In the RP, the character needs to stay the same character (bar character development, obviously). It is often nearly unavoidable for a character to change when another player takes over, because of different styles. It really pays to read the posts of the person you're taking over for, not just for background information, but also to get the hang of that person's style of writing.

Of course, I'm not saying you should completely neglect your own style and keep it out of that character's posts. Rather, the character's actions and thought should be roughly the same; they should make sense. Taking over someone else's character takes much effort. Unless the person you're taking over for has provided you with a full plan of everything he was planning, you will need to reinvent much of the character's future as well as the past. One might say that even if you know what the original plan was, you might want to give it your own twist. The rule of thumb here is: whatever benefits the story the most.


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So in short:

-prevent a player from dropping by keeping him interested and involved - properly managed interaction is a great way to make this happen
-give a lot of though to how to handle a player drop. Don't kill or take over characters without giving it much thought and preparing it as much as possible. You want everything to fit, and above all, the story must benefit!



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PS: I admit that at least 40-50% of this is rehashed information. The other 50% is probably just common sense. Nevertheless, I wanted to write it down anyway, to provoke some discussion on the subject so we can unearth some really innovative or foolproof plans to deal with possible drops.

[Doaj]

I think it's important to note that character drops don't have to bring down an RP. Often times the person(s) dropping from it wasn't posting often already (or at all) and a confirmation of their leave simply gives the GM the power to do something about it without offending the sensibilities of the departing RPer. The most common reason, in my experience, for people leaving an RP is because their schedules are exponentially getting busier. This will show for any person. When you can look through an RP thread in the making and see that one or two people are posting far less than anyone else, you can assume that they're the most likely to drop. Not only because their schedules are busiest, but because when they do post they have more to catch up on than anybody else as well. It's crucial in an RP to make sure everyone is posting at about the same frequency, so that everyone has a similar workload. The only exception to that, of course, would be the GM who should be in regular contact with every member, so as to know whether or not to expect anybody leaving, or more practically, what their plans are pertaining to the role-play.

With that, a great way to boost activity in your RP is to simply talk about it. I've spent hours at once talking about my RPs with potential members, simply hyping up the story and getting them ready for action. Everyone loves getting online and seeing that they have notifications. Sometimes hearing about a great idea for the storyline of the RP can inspire your members to write out the best material they can, and reading creative and fluid posts can inspire others to get out their own. A great example of that was Kendra's Aristocracy. The RP had so many people that it was several pages despite not having ever really taken off. What it did have, though, were some intense, incredible first posts. One that stood out in particular was Ness', and I know there were others that received multiple praises for their unique and frightening posts.

[Aleister Black]

While it is true that a single drop does not necessarily kill an RP all the time, I have seen if happen quite often that an RP gradually died after its first drop, even though it had been going strong before. Of course the methods of keeping people interested only work if the person doesn't have a really restrictive schedule that means they are simply too busy to post.

I agree that keeping everyone's posting frequency up to par is essential to running an RP, especially since it would mean everyone is equally involved in the making and the progress of the RP.

Anyway, this is why my focus is more on how to deal with character drops than how to prevent them. Oftentimes, you will be quite unable to do anything about a drop no matter how hard you try. The only thing that's left at that stage is how to deal with it, and this is where you can go really, really wrong. The way I see it, what you do when someone drops from an RP makes the difference between the death of an RP or a boost in its story.


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And yeah, talking about an RP and hyping it definitely helps make it successful (as long as the GM stays present and maintains the RP). On the topic of Aristocracy, I agree with you wholeheartedly. I was astounded by the insane quality of most if not all intro posts. Ness' one had really eery music to accompany it which I still have on my Youtube favourites; it fit perfectly. I loved the pre-planning and the overall atmosphere! Also, my posts for Fiacre are among the ones I'm the most proud of.