You Deserve Better

Thoughts on accessibility and roleplay running specifically for WCRPs. Ask is open. Please take everything here with a grain of salt, as this is personal experience and opinion and not fact. For more context, please read the about page.

[better-wcrps]

Before You Read

Everyone knows someone who has an awful WCRP experience, if not that person being yourself. Although I can’t speak much for other roleplay communities, the problems I’ve noticed in the WCRP community are widespread and absolutely foundational. I myself have had major problems with these roleplays– ranging from repeated disappointments to incidents in my teens where adults running roleplays refused to protect the minors in them, including myself.

This blog is meant partially for the reasons of catharsis as I continue to process some of the worst experiences I’ve had that have left a genuine impact on me as a person. It’s also an earnest and genuine effort to request that the community please examine itself and change for the better. This blog includes my suggestions, take them with a grain of salt.

Before you run to the askbox to say ‘it’s just cat rp, calm down lmao’, I want you to consider that there have been people who have been groomed, bullied, and more in WCRPs. Even if the issues aren’t as ‘severe’ as you may think they need to be to be taken seriously, minimizing it is wrong. It’s okay to care about things and be hurt when they go awry. That opinion is dangerous and leads to the cycle of issues that persist in this community. Pushing away genuine criticism with mean-spirited dismissal is a massive portion of the reason why the problems exist. In fact, if you’re someone to make that point, you may very well be a perpetrator of these issues.

For those of you who have been hurt similar to the way I and many others have, you’re welcome here. The problems you faced are serious and leave scars. I hope that by openly discussing these things, we can make a change.

[better-wcrps]

Hello, long time no see!

Ultimately, this blog fell to the wayside for me for a spell due to life picking up. I've been thinking about it lately, though. I miss the little community here and I do love writing up theory for it as well as answering questions.

I may shift this from less of a WCRP focus, mostly because I am slowly leaving the community myself. May keep the aesthetic though, because those paintings and artwork can't be beat! I'll always have roots in the WCRP community, however, and many of my friends have a home here for the foreseeable future. That is to say, I don't intend on scrubbing this totally free of Warriors. Just that advice may become more general in the future or perhaps I'll fuss with the blog name.

Some of the content here is 3 years old now. I've read back through all of it and most of it still holds up well. There's a few posts that have typoes or poor wording and maybe a few things I've minorly shifted opinions on as I've seen more examples over the years. For now, I'm going to leave the previous writeups in their current state for posterity and just continue pushing forward.

With the gap in years, I have gathered more material and first-hand evidence to support the theories I've laid out here. I'm glad to say that the roleplay I mentioned acting as admin for is doing wonderfully, and the standards I mention on this blog have lended great longevity and increasing returns!

The inbox as it stands is empty. If you have questions about the blog, roleplays, or anything else, feel free to send things in. In the meantime, I'll be working on more write ups.

[better-wcrps]

How would you go about introducing new members to an RP that has already been going on for a while, so that they don't feel left behind? Thank you! This blog is very comforting.

So glad to hear that!

Combatting bias and focusing on inclusion is one of the major challenges you will face after the initial struggle of building a successful roleplay. There's a few aspects to this I'll try to cover.

Context

Assume these new members will know nothing. They are coming into a new environment with people who have known each other for quite a while at this point. Your existing members have had time to build up stories, in jokes, and all sorts of things you may not even notice as someone who has been in charge of this space for so long.

If anyone mentions an in-joke, explain it. If anyone mentions a roleplay event, explain it. If anyone even mentions a character trait of a specific character, explain it. The more things a new player doesn't recognize the more othered they will feel and the more likely it is they will decide to leave because they feel so left out.

This is a lot of work! But it's well worth it. The moment you can explain a joke or the context, that player can now be part of it and start to laugh along. That makes things even just slightly easier, especially seeing that effort in action to make them feel included.

Simple context references are also a useful tool in helping a new player understand the current feel of the roleplay or what perhaps the mood in it is. Describe recent events or a general mood. The season, the weather. Keep these as brief as possible. Do not overwhelm them with information but make it clear they are free to ask for more.

Priority

Whenever you introduce new members, I feel it is the staff's responsibility to prioritize them over existing members for a little while to make sure they are able to plant roots. This isn't to say brush old members aside! When these newer members are able to get their footing, then you can start to distribute things more evenly again.

But, when new members are just being introduced, prioritize them whenever possible. Make events for them, prioritize them for including in whatever situations occur, reach out to them for roleplays, give them special chances. Whatever you can do, you should. This will look different for every roleplay, but specifically make an effort to reach out to them to help get them started. Things like this are so key.

With enough communication, as I will mention further below, your existing members will understand.

Inclusion

Invite them to roleplays! Talk about and ask about their characters. Be familiar with their characters so you can include them in jokes and conversation. Offer connections with your own characters, or pick out common themes and suggest they interact. It might even be helpful for mods to think about existing characters who these new characters might get along with... or start a new rivalry with! Provide lots of ways to easily get involved in roleplay! Intro events for new members are great, so are smaller events that are easy to hop into. OOC events are also good for helping people get acquainted.

Addressing Existing Members

This is perhaps the most important part. Bringing in new members is not only a staff responsibility, but a player responsibility as well. The first thing you should do after selecting your new members is to address the ones you have now. Emphasize all of the above. Explain that there are new members incoming who will know nothing and feel nervous about getting involved. Encourage them to provide context, be understanding that these new players are prioritized, and tell them to take a genuine interest in these new characters and reach out.

Building a roleplay community to be a healthy, welcoming place is a team effort! You should never be afraid to address your community over these things, in fact I would consider this a required part of bringing in new members. When it's more than just mods making an effort, it will make a place feel more welcoming over all and help prevent clique formation.

If anyone else has tips for things that make them feel included in roleplays, feel free to respond or send an ask in and I'll include them here. These are just the things that occur to me.

[better-wcrps]

What are you thoughts on servers that allow members to talk about other ongoing rps? Alternatively, what are your thoughts on rules that limit/discourage it? Personally, I’ve been on both ends and tbh I’m starting to like servers that don’t talk about other rps- it’s so difficult to keep up with these kinds of conversations because it ends up seeming exclusive and even cliquey. Sorry for the little vent here, I just wanted to share my thoughts on this and hear yours ^^ Have a good day!

I think either are a reasonable set of rules depending on what you want for your roleplay, there's not really a wrong answer here in my opinion. Different roleplay runners may have different comfort levels in that sort of thing, or different reasons for wanting to limit discussion on it.

If it is permitted, I feel that it needs to be limited or directed to some extent either way. If conversation about other roleplays is dominating popular discussion and making it inaccessible to other players who aren't a part of those roleplays, I would make either specific containment channels for it, encourage the thread function to be used, or at the very least make sure there's a second general chat. If it's still out of hand, then there should be a specific effort by staff to warn the community that the focus should be on inclusive conversation.

At no point should one topic that only includes a specific group of people be the main conversation point in a roleplay community. It's isolating and drives uninvolved players away and just like how you said-- it gives the impression of a clique.

I also think that allowing extensive complaints about other roleplays should not be permitted, for the same reason that I discourage vent chats. Not only does it put others in a sometimes awkward position to comfort them or reply to it, it is very difficult to moderate, and runs the risk of rumors spreading like 'the admins of this roleplay allow their members to talk badly about this roleplay' and so forth. It's not appropriate conversation for a public space, really, and even just generally can bring the mood of a roleplay down.

[better-wcrps]

I've been going through this blog for a while and it's highly comforting. Thank you to the person or people who run this blog for bringing light to how the WCRP community sometimes feels outcasting or unwelcoming, especially to disabled people who write disabled character. I see a lot of ableism in the warriors series and seeing it bleed out into fan content is extremely disheartening.

Thank you again, it helps a lot!

I'm thrilled to hear that. I absolutely agree with how the ableism seems to bleed from the series to fan content, and I hope by talking openly about it we can start to set different standards for roleplays. It's deeply important that we can build environments for everyone to feel comfortable in.

Thank you for reading! It is just me running the blog here, but I do receive invaluable input from others (some in the community, some outsiders) on essays and answers to try to put out well rounded works.

[better-wcrps]

a lot of rps i see are 18+, how do i only find ones that accept minors?

Unfortunately, there’s not really a better way than checking a roleplay’s rules or sending in an ask if you don’t see any information about it. I don’t believe there are any tags to help, as this isn’t something roleplays usually tag.

To any roleplay runners reading this, it may be good to double check that this is listed somewhere easily accessible— whether it’s in your rules or bio.

[better-wcrps]

Do you know any like good rps out there??I don't know any lol thought I'd try here

I wont list specific roleplays for a plethora of reasons. Instead I’ll try to give you some advice in looking for a roleplay in general. Some pieces will be bolded for extra emphasis.

Choosing A New RP

Rules

The first place to check a roleplay’s quality is their rules. I’ve said this many times over but rules plan out what sort of community you want for your roleplay. Look for rules that protect LGBT characters and players, lay out clear policies about inactivity that you agree with, and have rules on venting in server, spreading rumors, or conflicts. No NSFW rules are also really helpful, because I really don’t think that any NSFW content and Warriors themed roleplays should mix.

Be aware of roleplays that have sparse rules or leave many things to ‘common sense.’ A good roleplay will have all of their rules prepared and placed up front whether or not they feel they are common sense, there should be no questions about them. A sign of unprepared mods is sparse rules that are built on over time, these really need to be firm and clear from the beginning. 

Think– are the rules reasonable for you to follow? Are they covering any possible negative circumstance or lay out consequences for bad behavior? Do they adequately protect you as a player?

The rules should exist to make you feel comfortable and safe in that space, at minimum they should encourage you to seek out staff whenever you have a problem (even something as simple as ‘talk to staff!’ works for this.)

Boundaries & Protecting Members

Expanding on the above, another huge plus is if they talk about what they do to protect their members and how they handle issues. You may even want to send them a message about this to see. How do they handle inactive players? How do they prevent favoritism? How do they vet applications and how are invites handled? 

Do they have a specific way to contact staff or a place for you to speak openly about concerns, even if it is just speaking with staff? This indicates a roleplay that is prepared to change and prepared for problems occurring, which is healthy and normal. It helps as well if they have check-ins now and then about things they can do better, and listening to member feedback. 

If you manage to see them have these check-ins or give them feedback, do they actually listen and change because of it?

It can be beneficial when roleplays have staff listed upfront. 

Do they manage with professionalism? Are they kind and courteous no matter what? 

Listening to others personal experiences with the staff in question can be helpful but I heavily recommend you try to judge for yourself– there’s often circumstances that may obscure the situation if you’re hearing from only one person about it so it’s helpful to take this with a grain of salt.

After You’ve Joined & Extras

Have firm boundaries. If you see *anything* that crosses a line for you, or seems off, leave. Don’t hesitate. Don’t bother sticking around and wasting time in a roleplay that isn’t worth it or isn’t properly managed. 

If you end up loving the roleplay, but see things that concern you, bring them up to staff. A good staff will listen. This is hard sometimes, but really, truly is worth it.

Notice how communicative the staff is. Are they around often? If they aren’t able to be around often, do they indicate why? Active staff helps a roleplay thrive, even if it’s as simple as letting you know when they aren’t around. 

Does staff encourage you to reach out to other players or help build connections in roleplay? This is a little optional, but it can be very helpful to make you feel included.

This may be personal choice, but I love looking for roleplays that allow their passion and excitement for their work to shine through. You can just tell when someone puts a lot of love and thought into a roleplay, and this can be a wonderful driving force for a successful roleplay.

So much of this can feel very personal, but these are basic things I look for when entering a roleplay. Your priorities may be different than mine, so I tried to keep that in mind. For me, what’s most important (besides the above) is that a roleplay is patient and kind. I need understanding for when I cannot be there, whether I’m busy or struggling with personal issues. It’s helpful if they can help me get back involved afterwards. An active and involved staff really helps me with that. 

Decide what’s most important to you, and look for those things in roleplays. You may have to do some personal thinking about this, because again– this is different for everyone. Maybe you need a staff that allows you to do all kinds of plots and has specific ways to submit them. Maybe you need a staff that specifically allows disabled characters (though this is something I think needs to be included in all roleplays, if this is something especially important to you, look for places that say this upfront!) and so on.  Think about what’s hurt you in past roleplays, and look for things that specifically avoid that because they most certainly exist.

You spend a lot of time in a roleplay! This is a pretty time consuming hobby, you might as well make sure it’s somewhere you’re happy with.

[better-wcrps]

not sure if this is the correct place to ask a question like this but i would appreciate your thoughts nonetheless: do you have any tips for dealing with burnout from a roleplayers pov, not as a mod? i've gotten plenty of depressive episodes as well as burnout while i'm in a server. because of it i fall into inactivity and then so much time passes (like over a month) that i feel anxious trying to go back. do you have any advice for returning to a rp or just dealing with or preventing burnout in general? much appreciated!!

It's absolutely okay to ask questions like these here, I love answering these sorts of things too. This can be a very personal and unique experience, so take my answers with a grain of salt. These are things I've found personally helpful to me.

Preventing/Dealing With Burnout

Pace yourself. I find overwhelming myself with roleplays can be a quick way to make things very hard on myself. Only take on as many roleplays as you feel you can manage or even less than that. Learn your limits and respect them so you don't end up buried in roleplays you don't know how to approach.

Provide an in-roleplay reason for a character to be inactive or not present. Making it part of your character can be a fun way to provide something for you to lean on when you can't quite be there all the time. This might mean that your character is prone to migraines, or they have bad allergies, or perhaps they tend to wander and get themselves lost fairly often. They may have a specific goal they're working on that takes them away from their usual locations a lot, like looking for a sibling or item. This makes it easier to explain away breaks or absences and it makes sense as to why they might not know everything that's going on in roleplay while you (and them) have been away.

Take breaks as needed. Learn your limits as best you can. If you find yourself avoiding the roleplay, struggling to write posts, or other signs of burnout outside of roleplay-- it's time to take a break. Sometimes even if you notice yourself feeling a little low, it's good to just take a break ahead of time before things might get worse. It's okay to do so. A good mod team understands and knows people will sometimes just need time.

Be kind to yourself! This happens to lots of people. I would go as far as saying that it happens to everyone at some point. Don't force yourself to do anything and don't shame yourself for needing some slack. Being unkind to yourself will not help you recover faster, it will only make you feel worse. You deserve patience and understanding. Intentionally resting and allowing yourself this time will go a long way.

Returning To Roleplays After Inactivity

Ask for recaps from either staff or other members. If there is no channel or place for recurring roleplay updates, it's totally fine to just ask the people in the roleplay what you've missed or if anything happened while you were away. This can be helpful to get a feel for things, but honestly sometimes it's good too to just jump in.

Speak with mods about how they feel it's best to get involved again. They may have helpful thoughts about it or suggestions for ways to do so!

Catch up on other people's characters and follow up on ideas you've mentioned before. If one of your characters had a dynamic with another that you really enjoyed, reach out to them. Chatter with others about their characters, search out some new connections or find out things you might've missed in the meantime. This kind of socialization is helpful in general for roleplays, learning to reach out to others can be a wonderful tool for making yourself feel at home in a roleplay. You can't always expect others to be the ones to follow after you, as often they too will have hesitations about putting themselves out there.

In liquid time roleplays, cut out any old roleplays you may have lingering around. This allows you to start a fresh slate on roleplays that might be quite old by this point, freeing you up to take on some newer ones and letting your character/s feel more like they live in the present. I find this can be especially freeing for me. People will understand and they won't blame you. Let go of what you don't need.

Take things slow to start with. I would be cautious and only take on a very small number of roleplays at a time, perhaps just one to begin with even. Test the waters slowly, and again, be kind to yourself about it all.

If anyone else has helpful tips for this, please feel free to share! I understand this can be a very individual experience so the more options someone has the better.

[better-wcrps]

Can we get your opinion on the wcrpconfessions blog? Are you affiliated with it?

I haven't seen it until this ask. I am not affiliated with it at all.

From a glance at the blog, it looks like it has already gotten out of hand quite quickly. It gives me a pit in my stomach and I don't plan to interact with it.

As many of you know, I too want the community improved as a whole. I appreciate the intent behind starting it, but I don't think that's the way to go about it. Naming roleplays directly and giving specific details is something I avoid. I would prefer to address the issues in the community and give standards and things to look for when starting or finding a new roleplay. If a player wants to address staff, I suggest they do that to staff directly. Just in general, there are very few problems that can't be solved with direct communication. This method can breed distrust and anxiety and that's not the type of grounds I want the future of WCRP built on.

I also understand the kind of horrible things people go through to want to submit things to the blog. As we've discussed extensively I have personal experiences with some of the worst sides of roleplay and I most certainly have empathy for the same for others. This may be cathartic, but I've seen this dissolve into fighting on other blogs of the same type. Fighting on the blog means no WCRP mod, even those mentioned, are going to want to take this seriously. The format defeats the purpose, if the goal is to change the community or help it.

[better-wcrps]

One thing that’s always bugged me about wcrp, and especially as of late, is just how unwilling people are to communicate with each other. Constantly the wc fandom begs the authors to communicate with each other, and yet most drama in the wc fandom, from what I’ve seen and experienced, has stemmed from people straight up not wanting to converse. I know this is an issue with most fandoms but it’s especially prevalent in the wcrp fandom and looking through a lot of the points you’ve made throughout the course of your blog, many of these issues would not be as big or noticeable if people just talked! I’m sorry for rambling but this has been and always will be something that really upsets me regarding wcrp as a whole.

Absolutely. You're completely right, not only is this issue everywhere in the WC fandom, but it is the cause of many problems in WCRP. I truly believe that in most cases, the best way to handle something is to talk it out. Just letting another person know where you're at and what you're feeling as well as learning about same for them can take you so very far. A few examples with common problems:

"I've been having problems with someone in my roleplay..." -> Have you tried asking them about it or bringing the problems to their attention? If you approach kindly and with respect, I guarantee in most cases you'll be able to find a solution. Obviously if their response is aggressive or they lash out other action might need to be taken, but I rarely see this situation unless staff approached with aggression first. A lot of times people genuinely just don't realize they're causing a problem.

"This person isn't active..." -> Have you tried checking in first and making sure they're okay? Have you tried offering ways for them to be included or ask what would make them feel more involved? Sometimes people just need space and time too, and that's fine! They'll at least know you care because you checked in.

"I feel like people aren't following the guidelines in my roleplay..." -> It may be time for an announcement that addresses the roleplay as a whole, gently bringing up that you've noticed issues and reminding people of the rules in place without singling anyone out. Sometimes communities will need reminders! It doesn't mean you've done a bad job managing it, a lot of times it just means they're so comfortable there that they forget some of the basic things. This also works for reminding members to follow the blacklist should there be one and preventing formation of cliques by reminding your players to interact with everyone! If you see a big issue, just bring it up.

[better-wcrps]

do you have any advice for someone who wants to start a roleplay server but has no friends/partners to start it with? or is it possible to make a roleplay group alone without a mod team?

It is definitely possible to start a roleplay alone, though I would be wary of the strain it would put on you. I would think of it, if possible, as a temporary solution. Once you found it on your own, you can hold later trials for mods to help you out. The key point of having mods is that with them, you are able to take breaks. Going too long without any help or assistance as well can be a quick way to burn out and cause the problems I've discussed in a few posts, so I would make this a priority. Until that point, I would keep the roleplay exceptionally small (5 to maybe 10 people at most.) I do not believe that running a server alone is possible without sacrificing the things that are most important to prevent burnout.

I have seen roleplays hold applications for mods before opening, though, so I don't think it would be far fetched to put out a few feelers before opening your group up. I would recommend sharing some of the concepts you have for the roleplay publicly beforehand to start to build up some eyes on it. Talk about what you're excited about or what you're developing at the time. If you can manage, with luck, to build up a small base of folks-- it may be a good place to ask for mod applications.

When it comes to selecting mods, make your expectations clear! Tell them what they'll be doing, what sort of help you'll be needing, and train them in what to do in various situations that might occur. Doing so makes it clear how you expect them to treat the members of your roleplay-- ideally with kindness and professionalism. You may want to let them know what you're not comfortable with as well. I've met admins who prefer to handle the main plots and prefer mods to be more administrative, which is totally fine but definitely should be communicated up front to prevent unwanted suggestions.

It would be helpful as well to let them know how active you'll be able to be so they can kind of know there will be times where they might need to be around more.

Good luck to you, Anon. I believe you can find yourself a great team.

[better-wcrps]

as a staff member of a wcrp i appreciate your recent post. it offered a lot of interesting perspectives that i’d like to keep in mind going forward

This is wonderful to see. I'm glad to hear it was helpful. I will probably reblog that one a lot over the course of this blog's writing. If you or any others have questions whether it is about staffing a roleplay or just general information, please feel free to send in an ask. I truly love to discuss these things.

Good luck with your roleplay endeavors!

[better-wcrps]

Staff Burnout & Being Prepared For Roleplay Running

In my discussion about staff’s negative view of their roleplayers– I touched on the idea that staff are often so burnt out they become sick and tired of the members of their roleplay, dealing with roleplay ‘drama,’ and tend to become distant and critical of the community as a whole. Though it isn’t a bad thing to be critical of the community, when your feelings regarding your roleplay sour, there may be an issue there.

I think that oftentimes roleplay runners, creators, and mod teams don’t understand exactly what they’re getting into when they start a roleplay. Without fully understanding the undertaking and what others expect of you, you begin to resent what you’ve built or dread the work. I do not say any of this to scare off potential runners! Just to let you know what you expect. Knowing these things will allow you to have a successful roleplay with a strong and happy community that allows you to enjoy all the best parts of it. I love running a roleplay, truly, and knowing what to expect doesn’t spoil it. It only prepares you.

Before I go over a few key elements of what to expect and how to prevent foundational flaws, please note my about section that describes what perspective I’m viewing this from. As usual, take my advice with a grain of salt or several. This is going to be quite the long post.

What To Expect When Running A Roleplay

A roleplay community is a fun, exciting thing to get to share with other people. It’s a great way to strengthen storytelling and character building skills and a fantastic way to make friends. It is, however, not as simple as opening the place up and expecting it to run itself. Although player activity can take you a long way, a roleplay needs an active or at least communicative staff to survive. You have a responsibility to help maintain and direct the health of the roleplay. If you never appear in your server for example, players get the sense that you either don’t care or don’t have time for the roleplay.

You need to be able to resolve conflicts. Have a plan for various scenarios, run through potential situations with your staff so that everyone is clear about how to handle common problems. Plan for what your worst consequences would be and in what cases you’d have to use them, and plan too for the everyday slipup that needs to be gently corrected. Be prepared to use them as needed.

When you can, be active and present… or at least let them know what’s going on. You don’t have to be there all the time and I encourage you to take breaks. You don’t even have to constantly roleplay. Simply speaking in the OOC will help keep things afloat easily. Just… communicate with them. When you take on the responsibility of running a roleplay, you are making a promise to your members that you will not vanish on them. This means that sometimes you will need to let them know when you’re not able to do things. You don’t get the luxury that a player would, to vanish when you’re in a position like head mod or admin. This can easily kill a roleplay, this is why it’s important to know this ahead of time before you jump in so you know what to expect.

I have seen too many good roleplays go under because key staff members leave their mods to scramble for what to do, or completely ghost their roleplay. I can’t imagine these staff members wanted to do this, or realized this would spell the end for what they’ve made. All I ask is that you let your community know when things are hard for you. If you can manage it, let them know you still care and you haven’t lost interest. They will understand. 

Please keep in mind you are maintaining a community. This means you set standards, rules, and keep to them. It’s your job to keep an eye on how active people are, what your roleplay could use more of, and take feedback. Get to know people. Get excited if someone who you haven’t seen in a while shows up. You are at least in part responsible for making people feel comfortable in this space, for making sure they’re feeling secure and having a good time, and ensuring that any rules will be followed. They trust you to maintain these things, communicate with them, and keep things regulated. This is a bigger undertaking than people expect, I think. It’s hard to describe all the different things needed to run a community, but always remember that communication is key. There are few things that can’t be resolved by talking it through and hearing someone out.

Expect at least a little work. There will be oftentimes a lot of writing, a lot of planning especially in hands-on roleplays, and a lot of interpersonal communication to get plans moving and give instructions to mods. Sometimes you have to do boring or tedious stuff. Occasionally there’s ways you can try to make these easier, or work as a team with other mods, but usually there’s just no way around it.

If you are going into this planning to specifically roleplay only or mostly with your friends, stop there. Plan a private roleplay instead of a public one. Players can most certainly tell when you only roleplay with specific people, only give opportunities to specific people, and it feels more like just watching you and your friends play. It’s isolating and disappointing. If you’re planning and expecting to maintain a community, this means you interact with all of your community and work to make them feel included. If this isn’t your goal, if you don’t intend to make new friends, I don’t think a public roleplay will be good. Of course, I’m not saying you shouldn’t roleplay with your friends! But you need to include other people too. Make them feel welcome.

People will expect you to be kind and professional. Never let strong emotions rule how you speak to someone, and never make exceptions for friends when it comes to things like rules. Professionalism means you treat everyone with fairness and with respect to the rules, even when it comes to your staff. It means you aren’t going to snap at people or be exceptionally rude to them, and it means if your staff break rules or act inappropriately there are consequences.

People WILL be intimidated by you because you’re staff and there’s simply a power imbalance between the average member and the mod team. Make an effort to be approachable and kind! Interact with them in conversation, acknowledge their messages, and get to know them. Make it clear they can come to you about anything and build trust. There will also be a power imbalance between mods and admins, which can cause issues in cases where the staff team are friends. Be wary of how this may change a friendship or cases where you may have to provide criticism or discipline to mods if you’re in an admin position. If you don’t think you would feel comfortable giving direction, feedback, or even having to warn a friend, it may be best to choose mods that you aren’t as close with. 

People will look to you for direction on plot. Even in a sandbox roleplay, it's important to make it clear that they can come to you for plot approval or for some inspiration. 

A lack of communication will kill your roleplay. This means rude or obtuse staff who are not willing to listen to critique. This also means vanishing without a trace. Not following up on promises to players without any talk in the matter can also lead to frustration and disappointment.

What Do You Need To Be Able To Do Before Starting A Roleplay?

I would first identify what sort of roleplay you feel comfortable running, whether it be real time, liquid time, or rollover based. Think about a concept for it that you find interesting and fun. Stretch the definitions of what a Warriors roleplay can be if you’d like, or keep it traditional. Take the pieces you enjoy, throw out what you don’t. Pick something you can generate a lot of ideas for. Decide if you want an overarching plot. Passion drives the idea forward, and draws people in. If you’re excited, others will be excited!

Decide what sort of community you want and write rules appropriately. There’s much to be said about this, but generally I would establish activity policies (even if it’s ‘we have no activity rules’), decide what ages you’re willing to deal with (some feel comfortable maintaining a community with mixed ages, others prefer an environment of their peers), and lay down rules about being kind and respectful no matter what. 

You MUST be comfortable addressing issues and speaking plainly to people about problems, but learn to be kind and patient about it. Everyone makes mistakes, there’s no avoiding at least a little conflict. Most ‘drama’ can be avoided by being kind, direct, and swift with any action. Handle things in private whenever possible. Public corrections make for unprofessional servers.

Be able to take criticism or feedback. This. Is. Key. 

Work well with others in general. 

It helps to have good organizational skills! Or… find a mod that does. Find people to fill in the gaps for you.

Please understand that this is not a small undertaking, it is an investment. One that I consider to be very worthwhile, but not everyone is willing to do such a thing. 

The remaining sections I will brush over, as there is a lot to be said on these topics that probably deserve their own posts. 

Roleplay Maintenance & Moderating

I gently recommend taking advantage of Discord’s built in community server modding to help with moderation, as well as using whatever bots you can to your advantage. Ticket tools or go-between type bots are wonderful for handling many types of issues. Once you have your rules, stick to them and do not compromise unless absolutely necessary. Of course, having multiple mods can be very helpful. When handling issues, don’t be harsher than you need to. Approach others kindly and openly and provide room for growth whenever possible. Know that most have had a bad experience with staff mishandling what are often minor issues and work hard to be direct but kind.

This may be surprising, but a roleplay does not always have to be active. Lulls and quiet moments are normal, particularly during busy times of the year for some, like exam periods. Summer (speaking from a Northern hemisphere perspective) can also be a much busier time than people expect. It can be helpful to spark OOC conversation during these times, but I would provide some patience on the roleplay end of things so people don’t feel pressured. To get roleplay started again, try events or simply even discussing characters or plots OOC to help get people hyped. Oftentimes, I notice this will happen on its own. If you set up a comfortable environment where people and yourself can take breaks, and you communicate openly with them during quiet periods, players will return to roleplay when they are ready. I am not often worried about this, but there’s more I could say about this in other essays.

Plots & Characters As Mouthpieces

When you are taking an active role in trying to involve players in plots or the main story of your roleplay (should there be one), I encourage you to spoil your players whenever you have the ability to do so. This means involving their backstories or themes in their character’s stories! Putting their characters against challenges either in groups with other characters or individually. Giving mysterious dreams or secrets to players can be a great way to make them feel special. 

Provide ways for them to get back involved in plots after an absence. If you notice a player has reappeared, I encourage you to reach out to them to either provide simple recaps or ask if there’s a way you can help them feel more included. This can be a fun element. Use them to help dispense plot.

Using mod characters or NPCs as plot drivers can be very useful. The goal would be to lead player characters through a story where they have choice and agency, guided by NPCs or otherwise. It can sometimes become problematic though if staff characters or NPCs are the star of the show– leaving players to only react to what’s going on. Using these characters too for only plot purposes to kick things off for the players can grow… exhausting for staff. I’ve heard several times that a character becoming a mouthpiece for plot sucks all the fun and life out of them. It’s not beneficial for either player or staff, and it’s good to find ways around this where players can be tossed right in. It can be helpful to find people to play roles in plots to lessen the use of mod characters as well. Allow players to interact with the world and make choices whenever possible. Allow players to pitch and run plots themselves.

Have fun with this stuff! Don’t forget what excites you about roleplay.

Feedback From Players

The opinions of your players should matter to you. I would recommend trying to offer spaces for feedback every now and then. Ensure this is anonymous to allow comfort to those who may have complaints. 

Please take advice into careful consideration. Not all feedback will be helpful of course. Some advice simply won’t fit the path you want for your roleplay, but there will be helpful tidbits or reflections on what you’ve built and how to adjust it for comfort to others. Some may have heavier complaints, or even come from a defensive perspective expecting staff to scorn them as they probably have been before by other staff teams. 

Keep in mind that in almost all cases, it is not personal or meant as an attack. Tying your roleplay with you or your worth as a person isn’t healthy and means that any critique of your roleplay or what you’ve built may come across as a personal slight against you. Keep a healthy distance. Incorporate feedback accordingly, come up with plans to implement it. 

If a player makes a simple request for their comfort, there’s really no reason not to accommodate it. I’ve seen staff receive basic requests and laugh about them behind closed doors, which makes me angry beyond reason. I’ve also seen staff act completely unreasonably in response to feedback and either deny fair feedback outright or make huge, sweeping changes to fix small issues. Try to respond accordingly. It helps to have a team to go through this together to help discuss it as a rational group. 

Staff Burnout

If you go into a roleplay without planning and are unprepared for the demands and expectations of the players, you will burn out as many, many staff teams have learned the hard way.

If you scoop too much onto your plate by constantly adding responsibilities or trying to stretch yourself too thin, this also risks burnout. Be reasonable and understanding with yourself. If you can’t take on more roleplays, let people know that, but promise chances to roleplay in the future. Learn your limits.

If you handle consistent check-ins or constant updates, be careful. I’ve seen weekly rollovers or updates become tedious and exhausting to staff. Cut out anything that becomes too exhausting. Although some work you can’t avoid, don’t bother making things harder for yourself when you don’t need to. Make things as simple as possible, automate them when you can, take weeks off from updates, or have players help you maintain that sort of thing.

Find a better way or cut out things that act as roadblocks to you. This can be very case by case, but if something becomes too stressful or stops your enjoyment of the roleplay… find other solutions. This may mean asking more help from players or other staff. 

Cut yourself some slack. Take breaks. Tell your players you need some time off, either give them a date you’ll be back (or at least a date you’ll give them an update at). Do fun stuff. Remind yourself of the stuff you enjoy. It’s nice to indulge now and then. If you’re constantly doing stuff for everyone else, you shouldn’t be afraid to give yourself a plot every once in a while. People won’t judge you for this! They’ll be excited to have you along, especially if you’re a hardworking mod who puts in work for others. It’s only when the plots are only ever focused on staff or mod characters that it becomes a bit frustrating to people.

[better-wcrps]

I hope it's okay I shared your asks in their entirety, please let me know if you'd like me to delete and I will! I thought they were extremely well worded and valuable to read and I wanted others to see them. I think many will relate.

I don't have much to add that you haven't already said, I love that you consider so many angles of this and I know exactly how you feel when it comes to trying to keep up and yet not being able to find solid ground... even when you're trying your best. I absolutely have been in that position and it can be so demotivating and it truly does make you turn to consider if it is something wrong with you. And nobody's wrong when it comes to what works best for them! I'd just love more consideration for all varieties of people and more patience when it comes to needing breaks or accommodations.

You deserve to feel accommodated and welcome in roleplay spaces. I truly hope by talking about these things we can do exactly what you said and help others feel less alone as well as try to improve the community's accessibility as a whole.

This ask meant a lot to me! Thank you.

[better-wcrps]

Sorry, I meant RPs that permitted members blocking other members within the server!

Belated answer, but there's really not much you can do about this nor I feel is it a roleplay's place to judge. I would expect members to be polite to each other in a public space whenever possible-- regardless of whatever has happened in the past (given it isn't something horrific). You can't force members to interact, and I wouldn't want to if it would be unpleasant for both. This is a matter of personal choice and feeling on their part. Two people who dislike each other can exist peacefully in the same space if need be.

As long as they aren't spreading rumors about one another, bringing any issues into the public, or otherwise being unnecessarily mean or distasteful-- it's not a big deal as far as I can imagine. Their characters can pass like ships in the night in most cases and the rest of the roleplay continues without issue. They'd probably have to be willing to compromise in some cases perhaps for plot purposes, but that sort of depends on the situation.

As far as I know too, blocking just prevents you from sending DMs to someone and prevents you from reacting to their messages with emojis. It doesn't prevent them from interacting in a server if need be.

If there's something I'm missing here, feel free to let me know. I just personally feel you can work around this as long as everyone is civil and the blocking wasn't over a serious, potentially threatening to the server issue (and if not, that would require other solutions or removal of one or both depending on who the behavior is coming from) and I wouldn't feel comfortable asking a member to lift a boundary they've placed. Not everyone gets along after all. It's different when it comes down to non-members like staff being one of the people involved though.

[better-wcrps]

Point Systems & Limiting Disabilities

In some communities, particularly ones with information housed on forums or Deviantart, point systems are established. These point systems mean that when a member makes art, or roleplays, or sometimes even participates in OOC events– they gain points. These points can be spent on boons of all kinds that vary wildly across different roleplays. Everything from animal companions to staff art and more.

If done well, these can be a great motivator. I find that when building a point system, it allows you to encourage the behaviors you’d like in a roleplay. You can encourage people to interact with new players or players they haven’t roleplayed with before, you can encourage OOC bonding, you can encourage character progression, and more. Point systems can also work towards communal goals, unlocking features for all characters to enjoy– which not only enhances the sense of community but keeps things on a nicely level playing field. That allows less active or disabled players who can’t be around often to still enjoy it, especially if the way to gain points isn’t only activity based.

The benefits can be fun as well, I’ve seen some very creative uses of such a system. My own opinion however is that plots should never be stuck behind a paywall– they should be accessible to each member and an inherent part of running a roleplay is working with players on what they’d like to do and see done. I mentioned an issue with this in ‘Players Should Be Participating, Not Just Watching.’

However, I do believe firmly that an objectively poor use of a point buy system is locking disabilities behind points. This also can apply to roleplays that allow limited numbers of disabled characters for ‘realism.’ All players should be able to make disabled characters, there is no such thing as ‘too many’ disabled characters, and this is only once piece of a much larger problem in the WCRP community’s treatment of disabilities.

This problem is one that does stem from the original books themselves, as the Erin’s treatment of disabled characters is uncomfortable and unfair at best. Cats being forced into a certain lifepath, whether it be retirement or the life of a healer regardless of their own wishes, is awful and sets a standard for the roleplay community that already is flawed by way of establishment. It removes the agency and choice from these characters and ignores the fact that usually cats with disabilities still navigate their lives incredibly successfully. Why would they need to be, say, forced to retire?

Sometimes warped and jaded attempts are made at trying to ensure disabilities are played respectfully– from thorough but invasive questioning, to complete regulation, and sometimes this comes in the form of completely not allowing them at all. Regulation can be done well, but this can often times feel uncomfortable and belittling to disabled players. Not allowing disabilities at all excludes disabled players from being able to play a part of themselves that they would want to see represented. I feel that a better approach would be to have few if any restrictions on this and let players take charge. If their representation truly is flawed, then speak to them about it. I can understand wanting some idea of what a player’s plan is, though I do feel that there has to be a level of trust here that allows disabled players to explore their own experiences without being forced to disclose information about themselves or being limited completely.

Disabilities are a part of the human experience, and when you limit them you hurt people who feel that they themselves are not allowed or permitted in the roleplay community you have created.

There’s a great deal to be said about disabilities, but in the efforts of preventing this from being too long I will likely split it into future posts.

[better-wcrps]

ohh my god, the one thing i hate about roleplay servers the most was the whole policy of inactivity. i usually get depressive episodes often and i’m unable to respond to roleplays for a good couple of days, possibly even weeks. this makes me vulnerable to getting kicked or possibly banned from a rp server for being “inactive” about something i can’t control, and i literally cannot stand it. yes, there’s usually a submission for hiatuses, but i wouldn’t say i was taking a hiatus from a roleplay server. i feel like it’s generally common sense that an active player, which i was most of the time, would begin to fall out of that grind due to external forces that someone cannot control.

This is something that really hurts. I feel a lot of grief over this.

Again, I truly believe that some of the best players have episodes exactly like yours. I am one of those people as well. There's so many incredible players that because of their problems in real life or mental illnesses, they are removed from spaces where they should have been given patience and understanding.

My personal feeling is that expecting people, who might not be able to muster up the energy to get out of bed, to go and fill out a form or disclose a hiatus is unfair and part of a bigger problem of detachment when it comes to modding. It can be upsetting and humiliating to have to put yourself out there like that, not to mention that you cannot predict when these things will happen. By the time a depressive episode may occur, it's probably already too late for you to have the energy to disclose it.

Many people in the WCRP community are disabled or have mental illnesses that would prevent them from being able to go through the motions of such a thing, these people can be mods. It does not, however, occur to them that it might be uncomfortable or exhausting to have players do all the work of having to describe their situation and take the initiative to do so. They set up these systems thinking they will work for everyone and leave it be. The same goes for things like relationship or plot finding channels, or requiring players to volunteer unprompted. These things will work for some players, they are absolutely not inherently bad.

Those that need additional help getting included or do not have the energy or social know-how to reach out, however, do not work well with these systems and I've seen this time and time again. There's more you can do for inactive players. I would prefer a system of just keeping a loose eye on players, checking in now and then and seeing how they're doing.

If you notice an active player is no longer around, I would personally reach out to check on them with no intent to remove them for inactivity. If someone responds and communicates with you in turn about their issues or inability to do something at that moment, then it is your responsibility as a mod to grant them understanding and time. If you're met with no response, I would still give it some time, reach out again, perhaps even once more if time passes, and if you're truly completely ignored then maybe removal can be considered.

Communication is a two way street, and by staff taking the effort to reach out-- you have at least extended the olive branch and take care of many of the gaps that make it hard to respond.

It is my opinion that staff have to meet players halfway. Make an active effort to reach out and check in, offer plots to them, and more.

Again, I prefer an active mod team. I believe that there's a certain level of responsibility on behalf of the mods to do the legwork on these things.

[An ask from before I took a break.]