Running out of steam here...

[Illysia]

Alright now. I woke the forum back up from a hard death, but I can't drive this on my own. If you want people to realize this game isn't dead and give it a try, some other people are going to have pitch in harder on this making some noise stuff.

Even the main website thinks nothing's happened around here since August...

People don't want to play a dead looking game.

[Dilihin]

Good to see others havent gave up aswell, but everyone (like me) dont always have the time demanded to acomplish that. This game really needs more active players atm, and its even better if they pull the same rope so to speak. I must admit that isnt very easy, but if ones are persistent enough, their efforts shall be rewarded. Also it's good idea to ask for help whenever needed, if you never ask, you never get answer they say.

[Illysia]

Time is definitely limited; however, hours and hours from every individual isn't what is needed. What is needed is making an effort to do a little, more than once in a while.

One will get back what they put in.

RP communities are like pets. If you feed them sparingly, they will be weak and tiny. They may even die. Yet, if everyone chips in a little to feed it, there will eventually be an abundance and the community will grow big and healthy.

In healthy RP communities, there are groups of people who put aside time to tend the community or at least their ciricle of RPers. That is, in turn, supported by the people who can't invest the time needed to drive the RPs. This is what keeps the community going.

So even for people that don't have much to say, saying something, however small, is still important. For those that have no idea to promote, looking for ways to help those that do is still important. For those that feel they lack experience, looking for ways to gain experience or looking for people to learn from is still important.

Every little bit helps.

...It also helps prevent losing the people who try to make a push to burnout.

[Rigwyn]

If you want people to realize this game isn't dead

Hey now... I see what you're doing, there!  The truth is, it's for the most part, dead. There might a hand full of players, but that's about it. To try to make people think otherwise is to deceive them. Why would you want to trick people into thinking this game is alive and well? Is it so you can have a community to play with?  Somehow, I don't think so.

[Illysia]

The community is dead but the game actually isn't. Both are in bad shape, thought they can revive... or do you think the game started out with 200 players? If the game couldn't grow from a handful of players, there would have never been as many people as there were when you started playing.

Besides, why try finish off something weak just because you personally have no use for it?

All PS needs is a new RP community. Forming a new RP community is like forming a pearl. It has to have something to form around first. So I ask current players to form a nucleus that other RPers can eventually grab on to and grow.

[cdmoreland]

I did my best with the RCD. I even said that I would open anytime someone would let me know, in advance, when they wanted it open.

I've always enjoyed the spontaneous role-play with other players. There is no one around- it's like being on EZPC again.

[Illysia]

That's because the community died. There's definitely players on and some people who want to RP, but there isn't a nucleus anymore. That's why I ruffled feathers years ago when there was one last visible nucleus. I knew the game was going to be in bad shape if it lost that and the odds were good for that happening.

But as long as current players wait for the PS world to change, or just move on, it's going to stay the same. Nothing short of deliberate action on the part of several players is going to dig it out of this grave. The community is not going to fix itself; it's not that healthy. One or two players can't do it either.

[Thoss]

just seems nobody really cares... this game takes a lot of effort... and it is near impossible for folks to keep up the energy for the effort when  most responses are crickets.

The only roleplay I do, and have time to do given all the time spent waiting for people to show up is to RP the first time meeeting... or "hello fine sir or madam how have you been."

much beyond that, the odds of running into the character again are so low, it's barely worth the thought to expand beyond that.

If a reader is like pah, that's not true I roleplay stories all the time... well guess I just am no good at the game... as I see nothing and haven't even since 6 years ago.

There needs to be a system. Random doesn't work for me and never has... I can't lurk online all the time... I have an hour... can make that nearly any night, but about an hour.

But with this game, you can barely do anything in an hour... without coordination to stop and agree to carry on the next time... or something.

my thoughts,

[Illysia]

just seems nobody really cares... this game takes a lot of effort... and it is near impossible for folks to keep up the energy for the effort when  most responses are crickets.

Yeah, maybe the answer is that PS still doesn't have the raw materials to rebuild yet. It's not enough to have players. RP requires community. The game won't dig itself out until it has enough players that understand the need for community and effort. Everyone doing their own thing separate doesn't work well for RP anywhere.

It's just a shame. I don't think the odds are good for getting a large enough amount of those kind of players. Most of the people that seem to stumble on to PS seem new to RP. They don't necessarily realize what goes into sustaining it.

[Thoss]

Yeah, it's really easy to get bummed out... but honestly, 5 people... 5 people with similar mind-set and goals that pick a time to RP in-game is all it would really take for me.

5 people seems do-able.

[MishkaL1138]

Hasn't been the same since Mariana/Evirea left.





And you know it.

[Illysia]

and Roled...

They were apart of the last nucleus I saw.

However, I hope you get those five people Thoss. What PS had was special and I'm not talking about a mythic past golden age. There used to be enough RP to where you could stumble across it and get sucked in. There used to be interesting characters that people sought out to RP with. There used to be experienced players in the game teaching new players the craft.

Though there is RP in lots of places, most of those places do not have the game features that support it as well as PS does. It is a shame that some places have the RPers but not the mechanics, and some places have the mechanics and not the RPers.

[Jessamine]

I don't know how you guys keep missing all the RP...and some times you just have to take initiative and start it yourself. I've thrown two giant parties with food and music that sparked a great deal of RP as far as the planing and inviting and setting up and the actual event and then people talked about it for days after, granted because my second party was a surprise party (Which I managed to keep from the birthday boy for 6 weeks both IC and OOC thank you very much!) But because I was unable to post on the forums or flyers in game I had to rely on word of mouth IC it was slightly smaller but still had a great turn out and I think all involved had a ton of fun.

As far as weekly RP there is a player market. It was totally dead and I've worked very hard to revive it and try and keep it going most weeks, I think people think they need something rare to sell or  I'm not really sure but anything is useful to sell, so many items you come across daily can be used in crafting which are great items to sell.

I even had alts at the market to encourage other people to join because I noticed no one wants to set up unless they think others will too. So a few times I used an alt to sell something simple, I decided a flower/herb vendor was simple and realistic so I made an old tired over worked farmer lady to sell flowers--the funny part was both times I used her someone bought a flower for Jess and gave it to her--But I got discouraged with her when one day someone kept trying to RP with her over and over and asking a billion questions about her history and her past and my vague answers were not satisfying enough so I sent them a tell explaining I had no intention of RPing this char though out the week she was simply a vendor to make the market seem more alive so more would feel comfortable joining in and that I don't have that much of a backstory for her I'm sorry and when I told them she's my alt they left me alone. However latter that night when I logged on my friends told me how when someone in gossip asked how the market that was that day the player stated something about Jess's alt selling flowers....which really upset and annoyed me because that defeated the entirety of what  I was doing in trying to make the market look more alive and like more people were participating if everyone knew it was all the same person. The following week I skipped the market and did not log on out of total annoyance, I latter heard there was no market that day, and I'm sorry for that. But this last market was alive and thriving and there was so many people there to browse and wander around and it was amazing and how it should be! Sadly I had to leave early.
 
One week it was just  Jess at the market I mentioned it in gossip and people came by to check it out, and  they talked with Jess, some bought food but most just stood around and chatted for a bit after about an hour Jess closed shop RP does NOT have to be a six hour long or days on end ordeal  to be considered a success.

The problem is with a game that's open to anyone from all over the world people log in at different times every day, some times are better than others, usually just say something in gossip--hey anyone up for some RP? Or what's everyone up to? to get them interested a lot of people just do crafting or grinding to help pass the time and don't realize there are others who want to RP right at that moment. People have real lives and things going on and can't immerse themselves into a world that can consume all your free time before you know it. Right now there might not be a whole lot of people around but there IS a community still and people do enjoy the game and the RP it has to offer.  A lot of them right now however don't use forums so you won't see them on here, I've heard  several people tell me it breaks the IC for them to have to look or go outside of the game for anything information wise. What is annoying is the people that keep logging on just say "oh only 15 people online?" blah blah blah....if you want more people to play and enjoy it and so many of us really do then stop complaining about it and just RP, encourage others and just do the best you can do (I know I personally have so much to learn about RP and I think I learn something new each time I RP with someone new!) But no one wants to play when  all people do is complain and whine.

If you want to play and encourage others great! If not then move along because being discouraging is not helpful to anyone, it tears people down, I've seen it happen to many times.

Okay yeah it's really late and I just really started to ramble and I'm not even fully sure what all I've said or if any of that makes sense so enjoy!

My main point is there is RP, sometimes you have to spark it yourself to some degree but it's there. Just going to have to maybe be a bit OOC about it and ask in gossip who's up for some for fun sometimes if you can't find anyone on your own, but it's there. Also keep in mind Everyone has their own RP style and tons of people are new or not good at it or don't really fully understand it so don't take it so hard core and just be relaxed and go with the flow, stop being so judgmental all the time.

*steps off her soap box she did not really realize she was even on*

[Illysia]

I apologize if you feel like this thread is stepping all over your efforts, Jessamine. It's not my intent. However I'm going to point this out about your soapbox. It sounds ironically judgmental for someone complaining about being judgmental. I'm not sure you meant for it to sound this way, but it definitely came off a little hypocritical.

Also, if you think it's discouraging for people to speak against another's very real experiences, consider this for a moment. You've just wrote several paragraphs effectively telling people who struggled to find RP (because they genuinely wanted to RP) that they just were't trying at all, that they are wrong, and it's just them. That completely invalidates their experiences and effort. If it occurred to you to try to reach out to find RP, assume it occurred to someone else. Congratulations you too have now joined the discouraging train.

I don't fault you for your base argument and I don't doubt your experiences. It may well be working for you, and good for you, but the way you made your argument undermined your point a little. Nevertheless, I'll just assume you meant well, and that it just might have come out a bit funny late at night.

Now to address the topic at hand:

I'm glad PS is able to work for your enjoyment and I'm glad you were happy with the turnout of you events. However, I've been in healthy RP communities and even in PS when it was healthier. You seem new to RP so you may not see it yet, but PS is not fine, exceedingly alive, or healthy. It may be a lot for you, but I've seen more in games that aren't even well suited to RP and certainly more in PS, across timezones. I'm not new to RP. I started RPing in this game back in 2006-7. I know you don't trust my experience on this, but I've already seen pitfalls you apparently haven't encountered yet.

I agree the game isn't dead, but there is no spinning this as healthy and self-sustaining. Your market example proves that. Your description doesn't make it sound like an active market. It makes it sound like one person pushing to make it work. That's not sustainable. I know... we've tried it before. You will burnout like me and countless others who did the same thing did. You are going to need more than people RPing with you when you make a push. You need several people pushing at the same time help to make something sustainable.

I have not encountered one active RP scene that doesn't have at least one cohesive community in it and forums have traditionally be the springboard for such communities in this game. I've seen people be so persnickety about their immersion that they cut themselves out of resources that help build RP. I'm not saying it's wrong to be that way, but it makes it hard build community. There simply aren't enough people in game to have an entirely in game network. Further, there isn't enough people to sustain having a majority of people who can't stand to do anything but the game. The RP community is just too weak. You need more people forming a community both inside and outside of the game.

I will say this, though, I'm pretty sure that given time you too will be repeating these same complaints. In the past, people used to shoot down my threads because it was "OK enough" for them when it was not for others. I found that those people eventually got to the point where they weren't satisfied too. Strangely enough, what I always complain about is a trend not just my isolated experiences. That trend eventually grows beyond any dissenters' tolerances too.

Those people who took much the same position as you, Jessamine, eventually started to say the same things I had for their own reasons. So forgive me if I don't take your zeal as indicator that things are alright enough. I've just seen this pattern enough times to know that if you hang around long enough, you will see it, and you will voice the exact same concerns. I'm not trying to take shots at the fact that you are enjoying yourself now, but I've seen all of this play out before.

Not to mention, this is the same behavior that interfered with rallying the community before the peak dropped down to 30. That is nowhere near the online peak of 200 in game. The game has done so much better than this with so much less. That's not a sign that it's OK.

What is annoying is the people that keep logging on just say "oh only 15 people online?" blah blah blah....if you want more people to play and enjoy it and so many of us really do then stop complaining about it and just RP,

Now this takes me back right here.... Show of hands, how many people remember this argument being thrown around in the past? Did it help? Did it help? *looks around* No. But at least my PS nostalgia trip is now complete. If just RP was enough to fix the mess PS finds itself in, it would have worked all the other times someone thought to say it.

[Dilihin]

...ironically...judgmental...hypocritical...discouraging....

This threat literally soaks these things... oh the irony...

Also its good too see there is still people that still try to get RP up, keep up the good work Jessamine