Current state of DB RP

Never understood why the aim must be to keep growing and have huge numbers? In fact large guilds always crumble and disappear, they might be around a year or even two but sooner or later they will split up, reform or whatever.

For me quality has always been more important than quantity and you get a totally different atmosphere in a smaller guild than in a larger guild, so I have always tried to keep HLB quite small.

I rather reject five persons and bring in a one great person and im not speaking great as in terms of RP, we have always accepted people new to RP as long as they are willing to learn, personality is in my mind more important.

Right, well I've seen people saying that RP has been dwindeling since Vanilla. RP is always Seemingly 2 weeks of Low Rp away From Dying. And I admit I both Laugh and sigh, every-time I see another one of these threads, and I'll say "RP is fine" as always.

Activity in WOW has Always and Will Always remain Cyclical. There will be ups and downs. As there have always been.

Activity has always had his lows and had his spikes. Its weird.

I could write a few pages on the cyclical nature of it, but nobody would be interested in reading it. So I'll just post the bullet points, as to why we're currently in a "low" spot.

Firstly: The Last Patch was in June. Even in Wrath The time between content patches was at Most 4 months. Meaning we should have seen 4.3 Around October. Because the End of October begin November is Prime-time for New Releases. In the past 3 weeks, out of just the AAA games: BF3, MW3 and SKYRIM have been released with no new WOW content. This alone will give a Dip in activity.

Now why hasn't 4.3 been released yet? I believe it has been hold off and will be released in December to fuel the holiday craze and to retain members since SWTOR releases the 22nd Dec.
Which sadly meant we have been dry for 2 months of much needed new content.(since december is usually a spike in activity due to the holidays (though regulars dwindle slightly)

which basically means that the entire wow population drops slightly in number of hours played per week, which naturally will affect the RP scene as-well.

Then there's still the Attrition of a 6 year old game. nothing to do about that.

Then, End of October/beginning of november Are when most Colleges have Midterms or the equivalents of it. So a lot of students spend a few hours less in wow and a few more in books.
This is normal. Just like you see a decline in Highschoolers around April/May. and you see a decline in Regular RPers during Summer time. (though New or OLD Rpers play feverishly in the summer so recruitment does increase there)

Now that would be my analysis for the current low figure of RP.

And its funny that the moment there is a week or two of below average activity, people immediately scream DEATH OF RP but alas.


Then there's the guild Concentration.

I rather find it slightly backwards to Blame Big Guilds for the decline in Random RP. or The difficulties of Recruiting for more Niche-members. as others Like Drustai have pointed out.

In the end, Recruiting comes from have an Active leadership that can put the time and dedication needed into the leading of a guild with "new" members. To get them into the mix, have them come to RP events, Prevent Segregation amongst New and Old members. Promote individual RP plots. etc.

The Point is Leading a Guild as an officer and making it work isn't Hard in the sense that it is Difficult, anyone can do it. It is "hard" in the sense that it requires an Officer Team that has the Time to spend 2/3 hours a Day, every day leading a guild, both OOC organisationally and ICLY be present as an Anchor. That simply requires a Commitment, that can burn people out. or that people cannot keep as their life progresses to its next stages, which means that leadership is at the end of the Day Fluid, and can be difficult to keep running. The problem with that is, that every-time their are new officers to take up the mantle of veterans that lack the time. the exact same rookie mistakes will be made by everyone, while still being a clear presence.The most detrimental thing to a guild, is wanting to be "big" but not having the officers put in the required work. because its a time-consuming job.

This part of why for example the Arathorians are so bloody Cyclical. they come up when their batteries have been recharged and full of ideas and ambitions. then wane again when they're empty.

The officer commitment is also why the Strand hasn't steadily been recruiting. We have a Legacy on DB since the server's start without ever changing concept or guild-ideology, and the current "active" members, all 5 of them, have been through everything that this server has to offer and all the guild-drama, PVP, PVE, and are damn good friends. The fact that we've been in this single guild for the past 6 something years, has created big bonds, has created an atmosphere where we all know where everything is going, and how to approach different situations for the best results, but our time isn't what it used to be, we can't put in those 2/3 hours daily to get this thing properly on the road for months and months on end. and you need to recruit new young officers every month to keep things going. to keep recruitment steady, to keep rp and plots moving. And one of our in-jokes has always been, yeah we need to recruit a few 16 year old officers to do the recruitment and the handling and progression, while we the old dogs try to prevent them from making the rookie mistakes. but the problem with that is, we have 6 years of legacy and we're "hesitant" to just hand the reigns of the guild that we love dearly, our characters "Are" the Strand and the Strand is US. that we simply make big Server Wide events, and Help and support other guilds creating big Server-Wide events with our experience and knowledge. And we have accepted, that that means that you will never see 50 members online with the Shining Strand Tabard in one place again. And It doesn't mean we don't have great ideas, cool events, and shit, but we know that our activity levels alone cannot get everything working properly. so Instead of spending the month with full batteries to do shit, building up the guild again just to see it dwindle afterwards, We build big server-wide events. and random guild events. but then just like other guilds our batteries are then empty and our presence lowers slightly bar from the recurring events that our members take part in...

Nathaniel wrote:BOOM! RP.

I like you.

To be pefectly honest, it would be easier to find RP on Alliance than the Horde side. The Horde side is more guildbased RP (If we are looking away from Silvermoon). It's hard to go into Orgrimmar and look for roleplay then to go into Stormwind and do the same. The Horde guilds keep more to themselves unless there's a campaign versus the Alliance somewhere.

Im usuall not critic towards other RPers until I get to know them (Unless they are a Black Dragonflight-Blood Elf-Death Knight-Lesbian-Scourgelord-Vampire-Demigod or something). You know, the ones who twists the Lore their own way and makes a completely illogical characer. Im happy to RP with anyone, buuuut, a Shadow-worshipping insane sadistic arrogant Death Knight might be a bad choice to RP with random people. But that's just me. In my opinion alot of -well know- people has left, yes. But, should we care? It was their choice to quit the game/leave the server, it's their loss. Why should we sulk around and simply stop RPing 'cause a influentic player stopped? Thenkar stopped playing, the Cult is still going on to carry his legacy, as he has done with the former Shadowpope.

Round and round and round it goes...

Same old really, nothing changes. Some people will always be all pessimistic and claim that RP is becoming less, a few of them having only their own self to blame for being too lazy to seek it out/create it themselves. Others simply don't know where to look, since the old RP hubs are admittedly somewhat deserted nowadays (leaving SW was a good idea, but entirely abandoning it wasn't *watches the tumbleweed roll across the cath square*). Others have different games/RL distracting them and some others don't see wtf is up with all those claims, since they get RP anytime they want. So...

....nothing new

Weeelll...

My characer is a very cheerfull person, generally. I often go around stormwind just making contact with random people (especially casters) to initiate contact. The most common reaction for them is to groan and shoo her off. The second most common reaction is to punch her in the face.

...Okay yeah I know dear Delidah is a wee bit insane, but do people -have- to keep puncher in the face?

What's with the Hate about Cath-square?

Last year and the beginning of this Year People were complaining about Cath Square being the New Goldshire and that the RP "sucked" and tired of the constant deathknight fights happening there...

and now that those people have left, people complain about that also?

>.>

People... Sometimes I wonder...

<.<

Amaryl wrote:..and now that those people have left, people complain about that also?

Not only "those" people left, everyone has xD

I'm not complaining mind you, I'm barely around myself nowadays. Was merely an example of the things people complain about.

A few random thoughts:

I've only been here for like 2 years and I only RP Nelves. I also work odd hours so I can't join most big plots. So I'm kind of on the outside of what most of you are discussing. But I don't think I ever seen so many big campaigns and something as ambitious as the famine plot.

It's true that everything goes in cycles.

Our memory also plays tricks on us. We remember several awsome RP experiences years back and think they happened all the time. They didn't.

One "oldschool" RPer said that she was amazed about all the OOC planning nowadays, stating that much of it would have been labelled as "meta gaming" back in the days. It got me thinking. Maybe some of the OOC info could be spread IC instead. And maybe it would promote more time being spent IC?

For me it all starts with our characters. Develop your character and let RP follow that. Encourage your friends to do the same. And don't stop doing it. That is when characters die. Do it through RP, or do it through stories. IMO you can only squeeze so much out of a background story. You need to go back and change or develop a new side of your character or RP will go stale.

Spend more time IC! RP starts in your head.

Frostfeather wrote:One "oldschool" RPer said that she was amazed about all the OOC planning nowadays, stating that much of it would have been labelled as "meta gaming" back in the days. It got me thinking. Maybe some of the OOC info could be spread IC instead. And maybe it would promote more time being spent IC?

For me it all starts with our characters. Develop your character and let RP follow that. Encourage your friends to do the same. And don't stop doing it. That is when characters die. Do it through RP, or do it through stories. IMO you can only squeeze so much out of a background story. You need to go back and change or develop a new side of your character or RP will go stale.

Spend more time IC! RP starts in your head.

Big QFE here.

Definetly. The only reason why I'm "metagaming" at the moment if because I don't have a computer to run wow right now and I want to keep Delidah going, one way or the other. All of her previous stories have been initiated and played out completely through IC interactions.

Oddly enough when I came back few months ago from a long break I was amazed at the amount of RP going around and especially random RP.
Compared to how dry the game felt when I had left during late BC or my short visit during Wrath.

Hasn't RP been dying on Defias since the first 6 months of the server?

Cyclic activity is something always worth mentioning. Tarvik and I used to talk about it a lot when activity waned. It was a rather lazy way of just shrugging off any doubts we had in our own leadership and moving on, riding out the waves as it were. In that regard I think it's also a healthy attitude to take. Don't worry about recruitment. Worry about the events you're running. Worry about the members you already have.

Recruitment for the Seal took little to no effort on our part. We hung around the Keep/Stormwind/Eastvale and inevitably people came flocking. What took the vast majority of our time was keeping things fresh. I've said it before but I'll repeat myself. Attracting and recruiting members is easy, retaining them by delivering on your promises takes a lot more work.

Rightly or wrongly the only thing Tarvik and I ever really kicked members for was a poor OOC attitude - as well as character ill-suitability, but that was rarely a problem and usually tied to OOC attitude. In that regard accusations that we were chiefly concerned with building a close OOC community are partly correct. I have to say it also helped with activity. It's probably not what Amaryl meant but I'll piggy back on her idea and say that the guild meant an aweful lot more to our members than the RP alone did. To the extent where the leadership took a five week holiday the guild was just as healthy afterwords as it was prior. Each and every member was willing to pitch in to carry the guild through a rough patch rather than jump ship and join somebody else.

To conclude I think it is far more important that guilds focus on their OOC community and IC events if they intend to grow rather than recruitment left and right. If you spend all day recruiting you'll have no time left over to RP or arrange RP and the members you already have will grow disillusioned and potentially leave.

...when did the thread become a how-to-lead-a-guild guide? o_O

Guilds have less to do with the overall RP activity, unless of course they limit their members' RP to specific locations and only within the guild. People are still free to wander around and engage at random RP regardless of whether they're in a guild or not.

Mandui wrote:...when did the thread become a how-to-lead-a-guild guide? o_O

Guilds have less to do with the overall RP activity, unless of course they limit their members' RP to specific locations and only within the guild. People are still free to wander around and engage at random RP regardless of whether they're in a guild or not.

Guilds are basically communities within the community. The parts are ultimately what makes up the sum.

*shrug* Some characters tend to be more restricted to their guilds than others. At least for me. Jean-Pierre would wear his tabard and DoL ideals everwhere, but he can be seen without his guild more often than not. Gav used to be in the seals, and he would walk around without tabard when off duty. Yet he wouldn't venture around a lot without his fellow guards/guildies.

So, no.. I think the community is more than the sum of the guilds. Not to mention that some people simply have characters that don't fit in the existing guilds and may not be numerous enough in their kind to make a new guild for it.

Jeanpierre/Ragnilde wrote:Not to mention that some people simply have characters that don't fit in the existing guilds and may not be numerous enough in their kind to make a new guild for it.

Where's my mage guild?

I R NO GET RP! ME ANGRY! IDIOT BLADES FOR HIRE STEAL MY RECRUIT OMGWTFBBQ! RAVENHOLDT ARE MAKE BAR IN MY BAR! WHY U GOING IN MY HOUSE?

Get the out there and do something about it instead of going "Q_Q" in circles (that's all these threads do, true story). Complaining is easy, I'm even complaining about the complaining right now. Get out there do your events (or do events at all) in public spaces, advertise on the damn realm forums or whatever, have a cup of coffee and chill the fuck down.

Frostfeather wrote:The parts are ultimately what makes up the sum.

Exactly, so it's every single RPer that ultimately matters, not guilds xD

Braiden wrote:I R NO GET RP! ME ANGRY! IDIOT BLADES FOR HIRE STEAL MY RECRUIT OMGWTFBBQ! RAVENHOLDT ARE MAKE BAR IN MY BAR! WHY U GOING IN MY HOUSE?

Get the out there and do something about it instead of going "Q_Q" in circles (that's all these threads do, true story). Complaining is easy, I'm even complaining about the complaining right now. Get out there do your events (or do events at all) in public spaces, advertise on the damn realm forums or whatever, have a cup of coffee and chill the fuck down.

I'M COMPLAINING AT YOUR COMPLAINING ABOUT COMPLAINTS

No really. So true words

Braiden wrote:I R NO GET RP! ME ANGRY! IDIOT BLADES FOR HIRE STEAL MY RECRUIT OMGWTFBBQ! RAVENHOLDT ARE MAKE BAR IN MY BAR! WHY U GOING IN MY HOUSE?

Get the out there and do something about it instead of going "Q_Q" in circles (that's all these threads do, true story). Complaining is easy, I'm even complaining about the complaining right now. Get out there do your events (or do events at all) in public spaces, advertise on the damn realm forums or whatever, have a cup of coffee and chill the fuck down.

Very much this! Braiden wins the topic!

Delidah / Scuzy wrote:

Jeanpierre/Ragnilde wrote:Not to mention that some people simply have characters that don't fit in the existing guilds and may not be numerous enough in their kind to make a new guild for it.

Where's my mage guild?

Better to do a mage non-guild organization so that any mage can get involved. Ideas like that typically fail when you make it a guild, as many people who might want to participate aren't going to leave their current guilds for it.

Fair enough. There's just no guild that can hold a Deli.
Also, I need HGWT to fullfill certain role-playing needs, so.

Drustai wrote:

Delidah / Scuzy wrote:

Jeanpierre/Ragnilde wrote:Not to mention that some people simply have characters that don't fit in the existing guilds and may not be numerous enough in their kind to make a new guild for it.

Where's my mage guild?

Better to do a mage non-guild organization so that any mage can get involved. Ideas like that typically fail when you make it a guild, as many people who might want to participate aren't going to leave their current guilds for it.

That includes me. I love searching for possibilities to rp outside my guild, but i would not leave the Blades for any price.

I'm sure we'll have encounters once I'm back in the game