Dec 12, 2016, 1:36 PM

@Thenomain said in +wantrp Command Suggestion:

Yet here we are, on a board, having a civil conversation about tools. I can still use email for useful conversation even though it's mostly filled with cruft. I couldn't possibly use a Mu* bboard nowadays, I wouldn't ever go back to my old email client. The tools have changed, the applications evolved, but they are fundamentally the same.

And yet, bboard doesn't fulfill the basic function of serving as a reminder to a particular player that I'm waiting on them for a scene and what I want that scene to be about. I mean, you can create a LRP/Want RP board, and some people might post to it, and the posts will be ignored and then usage will drop off because boards are a terrible way to organize RP.

The path I've been down before is working to create an awesome new system that would help resolve a common complaint...and it's never used. The culture has to want to use it. This very much starts with one person saying, "Hey, can I have this?" And for all my navel-gazing, that's enough to code it.

Here's the thing - I think something like this is wanted, even if people don't know it yet. Not only do I want a discrete, non-invasive way to remind people that I want RP, but what prompted this post was a discussion with a player. In this discussion, the player lamented that she was shy, and had no problem paging people once or twice, but felt self-aware doing it more than that. She admitted that she probably wasn't being aggressive enough in seeking RP, while simultaneously bemoaning that she hadn't really made "friends," despite being (from what I saw) a pretty decent RPer. I enjoyed my RP with her, and saw immediately that the chars could have connection and we agreed that we should RP again, and then that desire disappeared into the either. Maybe we will RP, but my life is busy and maybe I'll get distracted with people closer to me and she will be too shy to page and when her character drifts away, I will silently bemoan that we didn't RP more.

To get more specific: We've created an environment in MUs where it's hard (not impossible) for people to break out of RP cliques and for new people to break in. We expect people to act in a way that is not in line with human nature and then bemoan the results. I think this command will be used because it will appeal to the people who are not on this board - the people who want RP, but who come onto games and struggle to get it, and don't know the crowd well enough to page or who feel self-conscious about it.