Space Man said:

There's definitely a lack of new topics. Most roleplays I've seen nowadays either follow the same storyline or are reposted / recycled roleplays that never exit the sign-up stage. Most of the best roleplays I've seen occurred in 2019, and especially the early to mid 2020. After that, there's been a massive dwindle in both roleplayers and roleplays alike. Forums don't reach the usual 3-4 pages anymore, and you're lucky if you even see 2 pages full of new forums. And yes this means there's lack of diversity. Diversity is a massive issue, especially with recycled content that is spit out every week or so.

A large issue nowadays is commitment. I've noticed roleplay creators have a tendency to reserve important or high position roles for themselves and friends of theirs, leaving what I call "scraps" for the remainder. This can be generally unfair, as it reatricts creativity outside that close group. When there's a lack of creativity, there's a lack of will. This then translates to abandonment by those who are outsiders from this group. It's unfair. So we absolutely need to change this "hogging" of positions and allow more people to hold the reigns.

Another issue is engagement. Hosts, a good 2 or so years back, when roleplays were very bountiful and plenty, were much more engaged with their forums and participants. They wouldn't wait long to make discussion forums, would check up on others, etc etc. Nowadays there's less of that. Engagement helps, because it allows for easy communication. Without communication, roleplays die. This is something that needs working on too.

I won't say this is a perfect fix, because it isn't, but hopefully these criticisms are constructive enough that they help future and current roleplay hosts alike

I agree with you on this. I slightly mentioned the lack of diversity in my post above, and I do agree that it is definitely a problem, especially with animal RPs. Most animal RPs are either wolf, horse, or lion RPs, which are very well known animals. I think that others also don't give trying to play as other animals a chance, since they're so used to having the same animals, that they just stick to the same ones.

I also agree with you on your second paragraph. Most RPs I see, the host is almost always has their main character the highest rank character in the RP, which is quite annoying sometimes. It does sometimes make me feel like the host and their friend's character's are the main characters, and always in a spotlight, while my characters never get spoken to. I feel like that often when I join almost any RP where the host and their friends take the higher ranked spots.

An issue I also see is some of the hosts seem to lack care about what their fellow RPs ask for. In many RPs, if I ask for like a drama plot of some sort, my suggestion will go by almost completely unnoticed. Now remember, I said some RPs. Not all. I think that many RP hosts do a great job at keeping up with their RP's discussion threads.

Now I'm not saying that RP hosts need to dedicate their entire lives to their RP once they host it, I'm saying that if they come back to 15 replies in their RP's discussion thread, that they at least read those 15 posts, and respond to a few, since most discussion thread posts are only a sentence or two long.

Eternity said:

I don't RP much on WP any more, on some days it feels like I've aged out of it a bit ahah. I used to roleplay on WP during 2018 and 2019. So I can't comment much on recent RPs.

However, I think almost the 'death of forum roleplay' has been a pretty common things amongst many of the forum sites I used to frequent. It feels like forum and text-based roleplay has died down a lot, and I can't help but wonder if more people are switching to online games and simulator games rather than forums.

Sir Froggington said:

Eternity said:

I don't RP much on WP any more, on some days it feels like I've aged out of it a bit ahah. I used to roleplay on WP during 2018 and 2019. So I can't comment much on recent RPs.

However, I think almost the 'death of forum roleplay' has been a pretty common things amongst many of the forum sites I used to frequent. It feels like forum and text-based roleplay has died down a lot, and I can't help but wonder if more people are switching to online games and simulator games rather than forums.

I'm not sure what all of the factors are and why the people on WP have changed, but I wonder if part of it is Covid, and people are glad to be back out in the world living and don't make as much time for WP. I thought Eternity's point was interesting, because I didn't know about that.

I also know a lot have "aged out" and moved on with their lives. I know that a few things that made a good roleplay was people who were excited to write and share ideas, had crazy sleep schedules and an unhealthy dedication to roleplaying, and also making friends in the roleplays so that the discussions were fun and we were comfortable with each other. I think I hit a time when people had the time and were really crazy and passionate about writing and roleplaying. We were inspired and pushed each other to become better. I personally don't have the time or energy anymore to roleplay the way I used to. I have different priorities, so I think the roleplay situation in the forums is not something that an interesting plot is going to change. I think the players have changed.

So I think one of my questions is why didn't new roleplayers move in and replace the old ones? Can we make people super passionate about writing and sharing their ideas? Can we encourage people to be super committed? I think that would be key in reinvigorating the roleplays

Spellbound said:

Yeah, and a lot of those who were good have left. I miss the good RPing days. Plus it's hard to find those that are active enough to keep up.

Imperial Sands said:

If you think it's so easy to create and maintain a Roleplay, Sputnik, why don't you do so yourself? There's no reason to be rude to Spellbound, she has plenty of successful roleplays, plus her skill in literacy and what she brings to the table for the rps is rivaled only by few. By being rude, you've ruined any chance of anyone taking anything you say on this type of discussion seriously since you've showed you have no interest in helping provide a solution and instead just ridiculing those who try their best. We're human. We make mistakes and we struggle with things. Instead of bashing people, perhaps you should offer ideas on how to help. If not, then perhaps this discussion isn't for you, because if it isn't constructive then there's no reason to say it.

Impasta to the rescue. :D

i've seen this a few times, been debating putting my two cents in. with recycled roleplays, i think they clog up the forms, but do more damage as well. people become accustomed to those roleplays, and so whenever someone goes to make something out of the standard, nobody joins. basically what i'm getting at here is they lack creativity and nobody wants to join a roleplay that's actually creative, and not the usual horse or dragon roleplay

and i'm not saying that recycled roleplays aren't creative, because some of them are. but after the first few times they don't take off, it just gets annoying to see them continually clogging up the forms. as someone who used to be heavy in the rp scene, both 1x1 and group, i can definitely see major changes. nobody is as literate anymore, not as invested in roleplays. so that does make it quite challenging for the people who host them, and i can see why they recycle the roleplays that they want to take off. while i do prefer 1x1s and rarely join group rps nowadays, it's because it's also so hard to find literate people.

i'll admit, i'm not nearly as good of a writer as i was when i was very involved in the rp scene. but still, it's quite hard to find people who are both active, involved, and literate. that's also a huge reason why rps are they way they are now. there's many other things i could talk about, but haha i'm not going to just drone on and on. those are my two major thoughts at the moment. as for fixing the roleplay scene, there's not all that much that can be done, in my personal opinion