Roleplay Groups and How to Start Them
DISCLAIMER: The things below are not targeting anyone at all, nor is it aimed at a specific group. These are my personal opinions from years of experience, and for helping those who are thinking of starting up a roleplay group.
The first thing to ask yourself when making a group is a very simple question. “Do I have the time and energy to moderate a large group of people daily?”
Most people don’t understand that moderating a roleplay is a full-time job. You must log on daily, keep members from starting drama or breaking rules, as well as be responsible for making sure the roleplay remains active and exciting. If you can’t dedicate 2 hours a day to your group at minimum, you can’t create a successful group.
Okay, so you have the time and energy to make a group. Now what? Next thing you’ll need to do is create a setting, and decide on the size of your group. For example, if making a Warriors roleplay, decide on the amount of clans, and how many people you’ll have per clan.
I’ve found you’re more likely to be successful when your setting is somewhat basic. Don’t rely on gimmicks and fancy stuff to make your roleplay more desirable, because these can tend to get old quick. For example, look at threeclans. The setting is simple, yet enticing.
Once your setting is made, create the characters that will lead your member’s characters. These leading characters will be important, as their personalities and quirks will be what causing events in the future.
Now, although this is optional, I would create a small lore for your group. What’s currently causing the group to struggle? Be it a predator, another group, natural disasters, or anything else, give your characters something to fear.
Here’s the hard part. Now you’ll need the technical stuff. There are four big things, however, that must take priority.
How will people find and read about your group?
How will your group be moderated?
What platform will the roleplay take place on?
How will people apply, and what kind of applications will you do?
All of these things are crucial to figure out before doing anything else. I recommend having a blog and/or website for your group, for the sake of you, your members, and people interested in applying. Be sure to have allegiances of all the characters!
For moderation, there are many different paths you can take. Some groups like to make it so there’s little to no moderation, and players take full control of the story, where others prefer having 1-4 mods who keep an eye on things, or there might be a more complex moderation system, with admins who look after everything, and mods who look after one specific clan under the admins. Do what you think is best for what you’ve created.
The platform you use is also going to vary on the kind of group you wish to own. There’s skype, telegram, and discord, as well as using websites and forums. Do what you like the best!
Applications can be taken in two different ways. Open applications, where anyone can join at any time, and closed applications, where the mods decide when they open, and choose from the applications turned in during that time slot.
Once these things are set up, there’s two more things you’ll need to think about.
Now, we all know a roleplay is 50x better when there’s events and plot to it! From what I’ve seen, the best way to start out a roleplay is with a small event. By doing this, it allows members to show more sides of their characters, and overall just bond during and after the event has taken place.
As your members get closer to one another, you can expand and do bigger and more complex events. It’s always good to have an approximate plot for the course of your roleplay. Be it a conspiracy, a war, or something else, having a consistent plot for you and your members to follow makes members want to be active and encourages them to participate.
Be careful these events and plot don’t revolve around mod characters! Events should be for everyone, not just you and your mods.
Moderators and Moderating
Now we get to the fun part. Moderating your roleplay once it’s up and running.
There are things you’ll need to follow, as well as make sure your fellow moderators to follow once being put in this position.
This is by far the most important thing you need to follow as a moderator. If your members don’t feel safe talking to you or the moderation team, your roleplay will spiral down and nothing good will arise. Nobody will know the problems of your group better than your members, and if they can’t talk to you about these problems, your group will never improve. Always encourage members to go to you when they see something going wrong, and never punish your members for going to you about a problem, or critiquing you. They’re doing this because they love the group and want to help it, not because they want to anger you.
I can’t tell you how many times I’ve seen members get shut down or forced to quit because of bias. Keep opportunities fair and let everyone be considered equally for roles and events. Bias is what causes members to quit, and nobody wants that.
3. Sometimes you’ll need to be the bad guy.
If you can’t tell someone “no” or enforce rules, you aren’t cut out to moderate. Sometimes you’ll need to shut someone down if they’re starting drama, or tell your members that they’re being childish. You’ll need to tell someone bad news, or kick people out. That’s just part of moderating. You can’t let people walk over you, as a group won’t get along without rules and order.
This is the most common thing I see that causes groups to fail. If you’re a moderator, it falls on you, and only you, to keep the group active. You can’t expect players to keep a group up and running, because every single time it will simply wither out and die. Start roleplays, be the one who puts out starters, and interact. That’s your job.
There you go. Those are my tips for roleplay groups! I hope this is somewhat helpful.
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