The history of RP in Europeia: Can we consistently run successful RP's?
By hyanygo with support from Calvin Coolidge and HEM
uh... maybe the right thing would be to give up about it... I thought everybody would like roleplaying... now I see I'm wrong =/ - Delvetia, 2007
Roleplaying has never been that high on the Europeian agenda, so it was a surprise when President Mousebumples created the Ministry for Role Play and then nominated Seven Deaths to be its first Minister. Part of the reason why roleplaying has not been a major part of Europeia is because the political game is so attractive. It is an attraction that makes West-Wing themed recruitment telegrams vastly more effective than roleplaying ones, it is an attraction that keeps people pressing F5 on election day, it is an attraction that causes the melted cheese to fall out of your mouth as you say “No way, he just didn’t do -that-!”.
Whatever the future for roleplays, it is up against it with the politics of Europeia. The history of roleplays does not bode well for it either. On the face of it, the most active roleplay forum, EuroFantasy is a red herring given that it is replete with sign ups and indicators of interest. The story repeats itself, sign up thread after sign up thread being the largest topics in the roleplay forum. There is a big problem with getting those interested to play. And this is a big problem since people who play, stay.
We tried to follow TNP’s lead but with little interest and activity in EuroToday. We tried national roleplay and that languished at the side. We tried a World RP which went into single digits with its activity: 1 post. We haven’t done well historically either, with Overthrow Anumia!, Democracy in Action, Mafia RP, and other archived role plays. This ought to spell doom and gloom for Seven Deaths, especially since in his interview he mentioned not researching (1 minute). Previous administrations presumably with the research of experience, have admitted defeat:
There is some silver lining on our clouds however, we did outstandingly well in World RP! and American Election RP III, the latter being probably our most successful roleplay as a region so far. So why was this successful? Energy, and a lot of it. So much so that HEM burned out, Jerrymania dropped out and the game finally ended in a whimper. It was “good deal of work” according to HEM. But at the end of the day, even Skizzy found it to be
It’s no surprise that American Election RP was such a hit: it provided quick feedback, “sessions” were short, there was a clear goal and it used the attractiveness of Europeia and its politics positively. Furthermore, the rules were very short so that anyone could jump in at any time. So it seems like there is a lesson from history here:
Have a clear goal
Have many smaller, quickly achievable goals
Make the rules simple
Tap into interests
When you tap into interests and keep the rules simple even pigs can fly, for example, the When Hawks Fly roleplay. In the end, that roleplay did not reach its end, so it is difficult to say whether it was a complete success. Nevertheless, allowing it to organically bloom and having a mix of personalities who were attached to their game-side nation allowed it to be successful. And history shows us that even though, in absolute terms, our success with RPs have been small, we have seen more interest when we’ve used our nations.
With the advent of live-audio and skype chats, could short sessioned live role playing using our nations be our most attractive bet? Or could it be that we’ve been asking ourselves the wrong question, is it not “can we make a better roleplay?” but “can we make better roleplayers?”.
By hyanygo with support from Calvin Coolidge and HEM
uh... maybe the right thing would be to give up about it... I thought everybody would like roleplaying... now I see I'm wrong =/ - Delvetia, 2007
Roleplaying has never been that high on the Europeian agenda, so it was a surprise when President Mousebumples created the Ministry for Role Play and then nominated Seven Deaths to be its first Minister. Part of the reason why roleplaying has not been a major part of Europeia is because the political game is so attractive. It is an attraction that makes West-Wing themed recruitment telegrams vastly more effective than roleplaying ones, it is an attraction that keeps people pressing F5 on election day, it is an attraction that causes the melted cheese to fall out of your mouth as you say “No way, he just didn’t do -that-!”.
Whatever the future for roleplays, it is up against it with the politics of Europeia. The history of roleplays does not bode well for it either. On the face of it, the most active roleplay forum, EuroFantasy is a red herring given that it is replete with sign ups and indicators of interest. The story repeats itself, sign up thread after sign up thread being the largest topics in the roleplay forum. There is a big problem with getting those interested to play. And this is a big problem since people who play, stay.
We tried to follow TNP’s lead but with little interest and activity in EuroToday. We tried national roleplay and that languished at the side. We tried a World RP which went into single digits with its activity: 1 post. We haven’t done well historically either, with Overthrow Anumia!, Democracy in Action, Mafia RP, and other archived role plays. This ought to spell doom and gloom for Seven Deaths, especially since in his interview he mentioned not researching (1 minute). Previous administrations presumably with the research of experience, have admitted defeat:
Lethen Jan 7 2011 said:Look, Roleplaying is not something every person is interested in, and its hard to regulate a passing interest. With that in mind, the government tends to take a minimal role in this area past a Culture Minister trying to stir up some fun.
Its up to you, the RPer, to make this work. Think up ideas, get people involved, and get things started. Many RPs start with enthusiasm, but never get off the ground into the actual Role-Playing stage.
There is some silver lining on our clouds however, we did outstandingly well in World RP! and American Election RP III, the latter being probably our most successful roleplay as a region so far. So why was this successful? Energy, and a lot of it. So much so that HEM burned out, Jerrymania dropped out and the game finally ended in a whimper. It was “good deal of work” according to HEM. But at the end of the day, even Skizzy found it to be
Skizzy Grey said:a fantastic idea
It’s no surprise that American Election RP was such a hit: it provided quick feedback, “sessions” were short, there was a clear goal and it used the attractiveness of Europeia and its politics positively. Furthermore, the rules were very short so that anyone could jump in at any time. So it seems like there is a lesson from history here:
Have a clear goal
Have many smaller, quickly achievable goals
Make the rules simple
Tap into interests
When you tap into interests and keep the rules simple even pigs can fly, for example, the When Hawks Fly roleplay. In the end, that roleplay did not reach its end, so it is difficult to say whether it was a complete success. Nevertheless, allowing it to organically bloom and having a mix of personalities who were attached to their game-side nation allowed it to be successful. And history shows us that even though, in absolute terms, our success with RPs have been small, we have seen more interest when we’ve used our nations.
With the advent of live-audio and skype chats, could short sessioned live role playing using our nations be our most attractive bet? Or could it be that we’ve been asking ourselves the wrong question, is it not “can we make a better roleplay?” but “can we make better roleplayers?”.
