#staff advice

[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]

What would you say is the best advice you can give a WCRP just starting out. Like, tips for including members and holding people accountable? What is the biggest problem in WCRP today?

There's a lot to encompass so this will be a long post, but I'll try to go over crucial things. This is basically the entire planned content of this blog I’m trying to stuff into one post because I feel there’s so much to know going in! Don’t let this intimidate you, though. It’ll be okay and you can handle it, and it’s okay to make mistakes too. Mistakes don’t ruin a roleplay– a good roleplay is never perfect. A good roleplay grows.

This will be Discord centric as I believe that's the most popular style of roleplay right now.

Rules

Plan your rules in advance and be thorough. Check through popular roleplays to see what sort of stuff they put down. Rules design the community you want.

Essential rules look like no NSFW, no powerplaying, emphasizing communication at all costs, ask before you run plots or plan them, LGBT cats welcome, no homophobia, transphobia, racism etc, bring issues directly to staff, etc. Allow no gossip about people or groups and I VERY much suggest you avoid a vent chat and limit venting that is too frequent or heavy in regular chats.

Rules are the time to establish boundaries with your members, lay out what your expectations are for writing and activity level (my preference is no post length requirement and lax activity check-ins as long as communication is given), and if liquid time is allowed.

This is also the time to express what the consequences are for breaking the rules-- for example, one rule break should be noted if it would result in an immediate ban based on severity of the comment or action but generally most rules would receive a warning.

Even if you think something is obvious, include it anyways. Never rely on 'common sense.'

What's important to you? What community do you want? When I set out to design my roleplay I knew I wanted a place that was LGBT+ friendly (because I had issues with roleplays over this before), no NSFW at any time, no vent chats, and communication would be the key both IC and OOC. I emphasized those in my rules.

Blacklists are always good. I do have people approach the mods for the sake of adding things to blacklists as opposed to this being anonymous, this way we can discuss things further (with their consent) if it comes down to a grey area sort of situation.

Holding People Accountable / Staff Advice

If you have a big community (over 60 people perhaps), strike systems and very clear approaches like that can be helpful. Lay out the consequences for strikes first (warnings -> discussions about behavior -> additional discussion -> ban) Big communities require lots of mods which you need to be prepared for. Keep careful track of strikes and communicate them clearly. Everyone should know where they stand, why they received a strike, and what happens next. These can refresh after a certain time period if you’d like. I have less experience with running large roleplays, so take this with a grain of salt.

However, if you plan for a smaller community-- I don't think strike systems are the way to go. This can feel impersonal, harsh, and allows little room for personal growth over time. I believe fully you should begin to actually bond with and see the people in your roleplay as friends. Having a strike system boils them down to a number rather than a person and isn't a good and dynamic way to approach things. If you're clear and up front with a person, they'll know where they stand with you. When you have problems, I promise you that in most cases the solution is just to communicate. Let them know what happened, why it violates the rules, but if it wasn't severe let them know that it's alright and mistakes happen because so many times it's not on purpose or the person doesn't realize. The person may be neurodivergent as well and may not understand what happened, so a direct but genuinely kind explanation is never a bad thing to do. Please. Please treat your members like people. Treat them with respect and kindness and they will do the same in turn. Never approach expecting a fight or conflict.

On that note, scale for severity. There's a difference between mentioning a blacklist item by accident and saying something horrifically offensive. In the former scenario, I would simply remind them to spoil it and move on (deleting and adding a note about why you did so if the user is inactive right after and cannot edit themselves is also fine). It shouldn't be a big deal-- a brief exchange is fine. Most things can be handled like this. If a member is outright mean, says something horrible (knowing what it means), or otherwise a severe situation occurs-- that's the time to step in and be serious. In the case of someone being harmful or abusive to other members actively, I would likely immediately ban and explain why. Everything below severe can likely be handled with direct communication. I find sometimes WCRP staff will approach too severely or intensely on minor issues.

If things seem tense in the chat, simply redirect to another topic or ask people to move on from the topic. Approach with kindness whenever possible. Never lose your temper. Speak clearly and directly, but with good intentions. It is your job to keep the community peaceful and enforce rules and direct away from uncomfortable or tense conversation. However, you need to do this in a friendly way.

There's a big difference between "Read the rules and blacklist. Do not bring up the topic again." and "Hey, -- is on our blacklist! I deleted the message. Mistakes happen, but make sure to review the blacklist when you can." It costs you nothing to be kind.

It’s okay to approach people over social problems. If someone is venting a lot in the chat or talking over people for example, I might approach them gently and point out that they didn’t acknowledge a few people or point to a rule about venting. I would remind them to include people in conversation. Often times I do the compliment sandwich sort of method. I approach kindly and gently, I deliver the problem and how to fix it, and then I remind them that they’re a valuable member of the roleplay who I respect and enjoy being around.

Keep. Track. Of. Everything. Everything needs records. All communication should take place in server if possible. Use a bot like Auttaja to keep track of every edit, message delete, and other changes made in servers. Use a bot like Ticket Tool to allow people to bring up issues (or even just creative questions or plots) and archive the tickets when they're finished. The premium version of Ticket Tool even sends a transcript to the member as well (they're free to mute the bot.) This is not only for member accountability, so that they cannot double back on something that's been said or try to delete incriminating messages but for staff accountability too. This allows you to point to where you've enforced rules or given warning before. It allows your admins to discipline staff members who are behaving inappropriately as well or not handling situations as they should.

Never leave a roleplay open to join. I mean having the discord link out in public. This is one of my personal pet peeves because you cannot actively control who enters and exits and you risk problem causers or spammers coming in. Applications are good for this reason, you can see what the person is like, who they are– and often times I’ll request social media to get a peek of them outside of this. Someone who has blank social media isn’t always bad, but requires you to watch them extra carefully. I’ve had wonderful players with blank social media.

Your staff should take criticism and feedback whenever possible. Do an anonymous survey now and then to ask for any feedback, how your members feel things are being handled, what you could do better both for the story and for modding, and if they've had any issues with players or mods they'd like to bring up. When you see this criticism, do not take it personally. If you are upset, take time first to process before addressing or fixing the behavior. Give it an honest consideration. Your response or reaction to it needs to be free of any emotions you feel about it and you should be willing to change.

Staff are not always right. If you’re frustrated, take a step back. If you aren’t sure how to handle something, consult your other staff or ask for second opinions. You’re even free to message this blog, I would likely get back to you pretty immediately. If someone brings up an issue with how you handled something, listen to them. You need to set boundaries and rules, yes, but everyone makes mistakes. Brushing off feedback is one of the things that causes the major problems in WCRP. It’s not Staff vs Players. You’re all working together to build the community and build a two way street of communication. Be kind, be gentle, approach with genuine respect and make people feel safe telling you whatever. Don’t automatically take the staff’s side if someone brings up an issue. I’ve corrected mods before when people bring up issues to me.

Set boundaries with your own staff if you’re a roleplay runner. It’s okay if you found a roleplay and want creative control– you can have mods only work on the technical side of things. Don’t let yourself be steamrolled. This will crush your passion for the place. I’ve had that happen before and it’s a mistake you make once. I communicated my boundaries and what I expected of them to my current staff and they’ve been nothing but kind and respectful of that.

Address your community if you notice problems of specific type coming up frequently, such as a lot of ignoring or cliques forming. Write an announcement to talk to them directly about what you’ve noticed and what you’d like to see going forward. Generally people agree and appreciate that you take the initiative to keep things from getting out of hand.

Know that if you bring in friends as mods for your roleplay where you are an admin, there will be a power dynamic there. You may have to have difficult conversations with them, or you may clash in decision making, or have other conflicts. There may be a case where you’ll have to choose the good of a roleplay over your friend if they’ve been the source of any problems. For this reason some people prefer to have strangers as mods.

Including Players

Write your roleplay for players when you first start. Build into the world of your roleplay gaps for players to fill. Think about how they can change the world. Think about how you’ll make them a part of the world. Plan around them. One of the benefits of doing applications for a roleplay is that you can look for themes in their backstory to help tether in. I always communicate about this and what their comfort levels are with me playing characters from their history, including asking how much they’d like to know about the inclusions I decide to make, but this is something that can make players feel really cared for an involved.

Always acknowledge a message when you can. Never let something go ignored in roleplay or out of roleplay.

Take an interest in their characters. Talk about scenarios between your characters, offer up roleplays, actively take steps to learn about their characters and get to know them.

Prioritize making sure everyone gets a turn. If something special is happening to a set of characters, make sure you plan special things for other characters as well. Give everyone their own story if you can– this is why I like smaller roleplays. It allows you a personal touch and allows you more room to really think about balancing.

Give up randomness and random selection to prioritize new players when adding additional players.

When you are adding new players, write an announcement reminding people to provide context for jokes, take an interest in their characters, make sure to acknowledge them, and roleplay with them. Helping people get settled is a community effort.

Players come first. I put my own characters or plots to the side to ensure players are included and their stories prioritized. Think about events and how you can build them to be more inclusive and interactive.

Consider using liquid time to be easier on players from different timezones and disabled players.

Pick roles in character only to avoid playing favorites. This makes it a fun and inclusive event as well– you can explore character politics so much better this way and it becomes a really enriching experience.

Work with players on their stories, but also make the effort to come up with plots or connections and approach them about it. This is part of what makes running an inclusive roleplay such dedicated work that needs mod help– you really actually need to put the effort in.

Ask for feedback. Ask what you can do for players. When you have inactive players, check in with them and ask what more you can be doing or what would help. Talk about plots you could do for them.

Assorted Tips:

Mods are key. Please be prepared going in. A small roleplay may require only 1-2 mods to start out with, and you can always grow this number as your roleplay grows. A big roleplay or one that is open to the public (such as a discord being available to join at any time) NEEDS multiple mods or things risk dissolving to chaos.

Expect problems will arise, but remind yourself communication is likely the answer, and believe that you can resolve these things peacefully… because you can.

Please think of bad roleplay experiences you have. Critically think about what you might have done better, how you wished it were handled. This is the time to avoid those things– but you need to be better than that. You shouldn’t start a roleplay with the intent to just fix what’s been done to you, you should be starting it with the intention to take players on a great community-based story, to make new friends, and to provide a safe place for these things to happen.

I write rules and these intentions for a roleplay that is hands on. These same rules and tips may not apply to a completely sandbox roleplay– but those personally don’t interest me and part of what’s fulfilling about roleplay running for me is being able to work with people individually and build a story together. I like being a roleplay runner in the most direct sense of the word, I want to be active and take part.

Take breaks. This is huge. Rest now and then! Build in slow plots or take breaks from plots all together now and then. You have to set aside time for yourself. If you find yourself getting overwhelmed, seek out more help. Tell your members you need a break and take a break. Assure them you’re still interested and you’ll be back. Working on your roleplay when you’re already exhausted and feel you have limited help will lead to you despising it.

After heavy roleplay scenes, please reassure members and make sure that everyone emphasizes that the problems are only IC and there’s still respect OOC. Maintain an IC and OOC separation, make this clear and you will avoid hurt feelings. Tell your players it’s okay to ask for comfort after these heavy scenes, because it is. It prevents resentment building between players and prevents things from becoming too real feeling. You will have greater success with intense events this way.

There’s multiple big problems, but to select what may be the main ones…

A huge problem in WCRP is the lack of communication. Staff are not transparent and players are not encouraged to talk things through. When there are issues, players are not given basic communication and respect by staff. Talk to your players like people. Address them like people. They will make mistakes, correct and move on. If you seen change, there's no need to go further than that unless the issue is serious. People will generally understand if you're upfront and kind to them about it. If you see an issue in your community, bring it up. Encourage them to bring up issues with you. Hear them out, trust them.

I promise you that communication is always key. If you have problems with your staff, talk to them about it. If you’re unable to be around the roleplay because of stress, just tell them. They’ll understand. Reassure people, remind them you like having them around and you’re glad they joined.That’s why I started this blog. Because this is such a huge issue, I figure that’s why no one’s attempted to… talk about it before. Maybe it’s been assumed that it’s not fixable.

WCRPs are also massively inaccessible. Despite being in a community of many neurodivergent people, a lot of WCRPs are not run in a way that is accessible to us. This leads to stacked problems as well where staff won’t take criticism because they believe that since they are also ND, they shouldn’t listen to problems from other ND people. You might think this doesn’t make sense, but this looks like the following: Someone displays signs of being ND, such as not understanding tone or not understanding how to reach out to people. The staff, who are also ND, see these problems but assume it’s not on them to do anything about it because the systems in place work for them. When this point is brought up, they may become defensive or tense over it because they too are ND– but it’s not accessible. Everyone is different. You have to learn to adjust and adapt for others and find halfway points in issues. Make an effort to bridge the gap and take the feedback. Your own status as staff and what works for you is irrelevant when trying to make accommodations for other people.

Make an effort as well to take pressure of disabled players or even just players who have struggles going on in real life– build systems in your roleplay that allow them to step away with no consequences regardless of rank. Provide recaps for them and include them in plots when they return. Don’t require specific roleplays like ceremonies that can drain people to do repeatedly and don’t provide too much time pressure. Real life paced roleplays can be difficult for a lot of disabled players– but do work for others. There’s no right or wrong way to do this, but I believe that regardless of the pace of roleplay there need to be systems in place where people can take breaks. It is essential.

When it comes to design as well– please be sure to avoid difficult to read fonts and low contrast when it comes to building a website or even a server. Pay attention to how posts are written– if a character’s dialogue is excessively stylized then it may need to be toned back or alternate text included so it’s easier on screenreaders. I would avoid text graphics when adding information to channels and use plain text again for the ease of screenreaders. Keep essential channels named simply, like OOC as opposed to a flavorful name. Lastly, you may want to disable the TTS feature– mostly because people use it for jokes and it can be misused quite heavily.

These are most of the things that come to mind when I think of essentials for starting a roleplay. I may be missing some information or tips. Much of what’s mentioned here I intend to talk about in a longer format later on. Pardon the long post, I wanted to be as thorough as I could.

[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]

WCRP Staff Despise Their Players

This may be a controversial one. As always, take this with a grain of salt-- I'm pointing out common themes I've noticed and it may be difficult to hear. As someone who has witnessed the interactions and discussions of mod teams and staff of various roleplays– from forums, to Skype, to Discord, and more– I notice often times the staff of a WCRP looks on their community with bitter distaste and worn exhaustion.

Of course, before we get too far there are most certainly lovely and earnest staff teams who still love what they do, their community, and even can find appreciation for the fandom as a whole. I have met some incredible, passionate people. They run roleplays that are genuine love letters to themes and stories they want to tell, solving problems with communication and ease. They plan ahead, design the community they want, and evolve the space they create as needed.

However, it’s been some time since I’ve seen a staff team I’ve interacted with refer to their community in a kind way. To staff, players become ‘freaks’ and ‘weirdos’ who act ‘crazy.’ Perhaps there are cases where this is warranted, after all, dangerous people roam in all communities– this is a fact of the Internet as opposed to an issue with WCRP.

Often times, though, after any minor issue words like that get thrown around. It is the exact kind of detached disgust that makes those same people try to dismiss real issues because it's 'just a warrior cats roleplay.' When a player makes a mistake, staff will proceed to talk about them behind their back beyond a normal manner. Staff chats become spaces for gossip where members are identified as problems and irrelevant experiences with other members or other roleplays are brought up. The WCRP staff I have seen are too often gluttons for gossip.

They are tired of modding, wish they had never started the roleplays they have, and resent the players who expect them to be kind and considerate. I have seen players make earnest pleas for patience on behalf of the mods, some basic consideration– only to be snubbed and then talked about for quite literal years in private mod chats. I have seen in extremely recent times requests for accessibility or accommodations be laughed about and ignored instead of addressed, behind the scenes these mods laugh about why these players can’t be ‘normal’ which is both extremely upsetting and personally hurtful to people who need accommodations. I’ve seen staff who actively choose to ignore or not interact with certain players. I’ve seen staff who make no effort to help players who feel ignored and scorned by the community these very staff have built. You probably have run into these issues with staff teams yourself, I most certainly have. I don't believe these staff teams are inherently bad people, usually they're so burnt out or bitter that they have built incredible and damaging distance between the very real people in their communities.

Many, many times this is because these staff teams did not implement basic rules or abide by extremely basic professionalism when managing or beginning their roleplays. They hate the monster they built by letting players get away with absolutely anything. Rules should serve as the guideline for the roleplay you want, setting clear boundaries before it even becomes a question. The sheer amount of roleplays with staff that admit outright they had no idea what rules to implement or had to include basic rules far later than they should have is staggering. A good roleplay should change and grow as needed, yes. You should not, however, be laying basic boundaries with a community months or even years into the creation of it.

In regards to professionalism, things are rarely handled with grace or kindness. There’s many times an underlying or quite apparent tone– staff will lose their temper with you. Discussions lack mediators. Moderation is lacking. A staff team should be keeping track of everything you can. Find a bot that maintains logs of edits and changes, record everything, keep organized. To keep records of everything is basic– it protects both you and your players.

And I say this with such deep emphasis, you should never do anything you hate. If you as a roleplay runner or mod team member feel tethered to your community, stressed out beyond belief, and you gain zero joy from it, please step down or make foundational changes. Close the roleplay, pass it on to someone who has passion for it. Or reexamine how you approach things and find the joy again, whatever it takes. It’s not fair to your players for you to view them with cynicism, as someone you owe your time and energy to rather than friends or players to provide a fun space for. It’s not fair to you to torture yourself and pour all this time and energy into something you truly despise.

I see often as well that these staff members are here only to roleplay with their friends, or fellow mods. You will see the same groups of people across a variety of roleplays, the same mindset, the same approach to modding. This is extremely deeply rooted and regardless of platform. If you have had an issue in one roleplay, you risk having the same issue in another given how close knit the community is– how common these mistakes are. In fact, you probably have had the same issue in another roleplay.

To any staff reading this, take a look at your roleplay. How you feel about it. If there is something good still there, if you still love your roleplay and the potential– I urge you to please take a look at how you talk about your players. How much you talk about them, what words you use to describe them. Are you brushing off basic requests? Are you finding yourself bitter or picking out only specific members to roleplay with? Does checking notifications for it fill you with utter dread? That’s not normal. Something needs to change.

Before you even think about beginning a roleplay, it is essential you do your research into others that work, draw on your past experiences, and prepare prepare prepare. Part of the purpose of this blog is to give you some idea of what things need to be in place before you do so, and I hope it can be of some help. I understand this may be difficult to hear, but I know I'm not the only one whose noticed these things and again I hope by bringing it up openly we can improve as a whole.

[better-wcrps]

What do you think of all the WCRPs that ban or paywall disabled and neurodivergent characters? It may just be the circles I found myself in, but it seems almost every group has this problem. I’m so saddened by how many of my group’s players express excitement at finally finding a place that doesn’t do those things ::(

This is one of the things that deeply, deeply upsets me. I've had this same experience, especially in regards to players being excited over what should be the standard. It hurts my heart. Everyone deserves so much better. I have a write up about this already started, actually. It'll probably be up in the next few days if time affords. Here's a snippet:

"I do believe firmly that an objectively poor use of point systems and paywalls is locking disabilities behind them. This also can apply to roleplays that allow limited numbers of disabled characters or ban them altogether 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."

It's not right, makes zero sense, and does nothing for the feel of the roleplay except make disabled players feel uncomfortable. Making someone pay to play characters with their own traits, something they experience personally, is wrong and unfair. I also dislike when people treat disabled cats how they do in the source material. Disabled cats are extremely capable many times and should never be permanently made elders or anything like that. When it comes to roleplays, all cats disabled or otherwise should be able to participate in events and enjoy the roleplay to its fullest extent.

You should be making changes and making things easier and more welcoming. Even if it's something you might not have initially thought of, it's never too late to change things or make things easier! And of course, always hear out feedback when you can.

[better-wcrps]

Players Should Not Have To Fight To Be Included

I’ve heard multiple times that across many roleplay experiences, a new player often feels that they need to fight to be acknowledged or interacted with when joining the roleplay for the first time. This can be both in character and out of character.

This means that out of character, a player is not given context to things like inside jokes, previous plots, or character relationships and interactions that have taken place in the past. These are not provided for the player, they are an after thought at best and usually will require the new player to reach out on their own– which can be difficult and not always worth the effort. This also applies to cliques that have developed OOC, friend groups that are well established and would prefer to talk to each other or go off on tangents that other people can’t participate in (such as playful arguing over something they’ve clearly talked about before outside of the roleplay.) This can even come down to simple ignoring– players will assume that someone else will acknowledge a new member or answer a question.

In character this means that when a new character appears for the first few times in roleplay… they often aren’t interacted with or reached out to. It puts them in a position to just react to what’s happening, irrelevant in the background until they earn the approval and friendship of established players via doing lots of work trying to break the ice. They may feel that their character has to make a scene or do something wild to be noticed, even if it would be out of character for that cat to do so. Only then might some eyes turn their way, or even worse– no one cares at all.

This is a deeply isolating experience and can be a major cause of player loss. Most people don’t have the energy or aren’t outgoing enough to want to put in the work to be a full part of a community– and they shouldn’t have to fight to do so. This is not a fault of the player but a major failure on the part of the staff of these communities and a problem with the communities they run– both existing players and staff need to change.

It is the job of staff to direct and remind players of what they should be doing– managing the community and how the community acts with other people. Staff should step in when they see this happening, and in fact they shouldn’t let it even get to this point. When introducing new players, staff should always make a point to describe their expectations for how existing players will treat new members. Never, EVER let something fall to ‘common sense.’ No matter what you think would be implied– it is never as obvious as you think and often times when people become comfortable in a community essential things can fall to the wayside.

Expectations should include that players will provide context for in-jokes and references new players might not get without being asked. It is also important to emphasize that current players specifically interact with new members, reaching out to them both ooc and in roleplay, getting interested in their character/s, and taking care to acknowledge their messages. A new member should frankly never, at any point, have a message that goes unacknowledged. Accidents happen, but the early moments of someone joining a community are key for their impression of the community. These ground rules are essential to making people feel at home. Staff need to direct players to do their absolute best to make someone feel at home. These reminders should happen with every new wave, no exceptions. There is no time where it isn’t relevant.

However, this responsibility does not fall only to staff. Existing players have the obligation to take the guidelines to heart. If players forget to include context– I encourage that other players bridge the gap and provide it for them. This is a collective effort. It is essential that if a player ignores these tips and stick to their own groups still, that staff step in for the health of their community and remind them to be more inclusive.

To players, I urge you to pay attention when new members are introduced into the roleplay community. Watch for their messages, take notice of their characters, make a specific effort to include them and plot with them. I do think that part of the appeal of joining a roleplay is making new friends, and just because you have made friends already in that roleplay doesn’t mean that you shouldn’t make an effort when new people appear. Players know what it’s like to be new and it can be hard, especially in a long-since established roleplay.

I also urge you to please pay attention to how you behave in events or early roleplay with new members. Although it’s understandable and sometimes natural to have your character behave in a way that might be especially attention grabbing– a new member’s first roleplay is not the time for your character to resolve a long standing issue with another existing member, or for your character to have a medical incident (unless the situation calls for it, like a new member’s character being a healer), or for your character to address the group over an issue that new members can’t take part in. It’s isolating. Save those sort of things for another time.

To staff, I suggest you address your community with the above suggestions. Specifically announce this and enforce it as well, provide context on your own, help bridge gaps between players both new and old, and design events that allow new characters to have some spotlight without it falling prey to older members taking charge. I might even specifically say when starting such an event that it’s focused on new members– that existing members are encouraged to join but should for the moment leave any personal in character dramas out of the event to keep the focus on new characters and establishing budding new dynamics with them.

The older a roleplay is, the harder this becomes and the more crucial it is for players and staff to make these accommodations. This is something that can easily cut off the flow of new players and drain a roleplay over time– it isn’t an obvious effect at first, but if your existing players take their friend groups elsewhere, you will have no one to fill the gap if you continue to focus on what existing players you have left rather than helping new members.

If you notice a high amount of player loss within the first few months after an opening, specifically where new members decide not to stay within the roleplay community, you may have this problem. There’s a natural player loss of people who find that the roleplay setting, pace, or environment doesn’t work for them. But if you lose a large amount or a leaving member cites a lack of muse or not feeling engaged– that’s the fault of the roleplay community. It’s easy to be comfortable enough in a community that you forget to be inclusive, but this is something staff should actively be looking out for and preventing. Find problems before they start, for the sake of the players who only want to be a part of the world you’ve made.

[better-wcrps]

Players Should Be Participating, Not Just Watching

One part of a much bigger problem in the WCRP community is the passive treatment of players by staff and ranked members of a roleplay. This can be a subtle effect, perhaps in part due to the fact that players have grown so used to it that it doesn’t appear out of the ordinary. In some communities players are treated only like observers, readers of a book they have no part in writing. They are an audience and filler characters for the ‘main cast’ of characters, often times staff members, NPCs, and ranked characters. Their impact in the world is limited by design, built only to react to plots rather than being allowed to make fundamental changes on the world. This is a fundamentally poor and inaccessible way to run a roleplay that serves only those closest to staff or ranked positions.

This is something I’ve personally run into multiple times in the past. The symptoms of this condition are fairly consistent over several roleplays, though some may be more insidious than others. This can come in the form of ‘point-buy’ systems for characters to receive plots, dreams, visions, or other special events– leaving regular players to put in the mileage to get a character ‘noticed’ or give them a fulfilling storyline while often times ranked or staff-played characters get those things for free. The most obvious symptom is that all the important roles are played by staff or ranked characters in a clan or cat group. Big plots typically focus on deputies, leaders, and healers– *especially* if these roles are filled by staff members. This can also happen outside of ranks, but oftentimes these cases still include staff members or friends of staff. The most popular players get the best plots, or are the only ones to get plots at all. An event is focused around a leader’s own personal struggles, them losing a life, their past, and so on.

Of course, these events would be fine if they were in moderation or isolated– interspersed with other, more inclusive events… but often times this is not the case when this problem exists in a community. This means that usually your character, if you are not part of those roles, is mostly forced to be in a position to react only. You are only witnessing these things, having thoughts about them, and otherwise making no impact on the story as a whole. I was once made a rank in a roleplay community wherein the admins would encourage you to focus plots away from the group or clan and specifically on rank and rank relationships. You were discouraged from including them because the ranks were the most ‘important.’

Again, this isn’t to say that events for ranks are inherently bad. It’s about more the distribution of them, how much members are able to take part and interact in a meaningful way, and a consideration of if these same plots and events are given to regular members excluding ranks. Using ranks or NPCs as a staff mouthpiece can unknowingly end up in this position as well. If your NPCs are only talking to each other, their storylines unaffected completely by player character decisions or changes… then something may be wrong there.

This unequal treatment particularly in the case of ranks vs average warrior characters deepens the divide between players and players with ranks. If ranks get all the plots, then those roles are highly desired. If a rank if chosen only based on activity, then players who need breaks or are disabled are not chosen for those roles. A rank in roleplay becomes an inaccessible role only for the super active and staff favorites.

A roleplay community should be built to be an interactive experience for a multitude of people. It should not be a playground for a select few friends or staff members to play with the characters they deem to matter most, are the most self indulgent, or that they have the most fun playing. This especially can become a problem when the WCRP community is small and well-connected. There’s specific friend groups spread all across roleplays that stick together and build one another up– excluding people they’re not familiar with and don’t bother to know, even when they’re in a staff position. New players become just a number to pad out the roleplay, another face to keep OOC chats active. If you started a roleplay for players to watch a storyline play out, or to play with your friends chiefly– you’re better off writing a book and starting a private roleplay respectively. It’s not fun for other people to watch a select few be treated and lifted up while they fight to even get acknowledged.

A good roleplay is interactive. The world bends to players, NPCs have meaningful relationships or connections to them, decisions matter. Come up with events that allow characters to actively make decisions that impact the world and drive plots forward, don’t make those decisions for them. Find creative ways to present problems to characters.

Take a few examples of ways to start an event: You need a character to be injured, you need a character to stumble on a discovery or notice something specific, you need a character to transfer specific information. Does your NPC or rank truly need to fulfill those roles? If your rank character starts events by experiencing them first in a dramatic way, it forces other characters to react to that first before being able to truly take part themselves. This is fine in moderation, but do they *always* fulfill those roles?

What if you raffle it off to players instead– allowing it to enrich their own storylines? Come up with plots for non-ranked characters specifically. Give them special events if you give ranked characters an event. Seek out individuals who haven’t been holding the spotlight much and lift them up. Truly think about the consequences of a character’s actions and (With consent! I will warn players ahead of time if i think something may have ripple effects.) apply those to the world. See if you can tie their backstories in and any themes you notice in their history.

This is essential groundwork for a long running and successful roleplay. I have essays and essays worth of lists over how to help include people in roleplays, this is only a brief overview. Truly I ask you to consider who you’re starting the roleplay for and why. Do you want observers? Do you want a passive audience? Is it an inclusive story– are your events chances for all players to get involved? Ask yourself these things and consider your answers seriously. It’s okay to want a private roleplay setting! But when you plan a roleplay for a group, you need to be looking at these things critically and thoughtfully. A good roleplay takes thought and planning, even if it’s difficult at times. And even if you’ve found yourself guilty of these things, it’s never too late to change. I’ve most certainly fallen into these problems early on in my roleplay career.

Mistakes happen. It’s how you fix them that matters.

[better-wcrps]

Inactive Players Aren’t Bad Players

I’ve heard staff teams mention at times that they view players with hesitation or don’t want to invite them into a roleplay if they’ve heard they’re inactive. I do see the value in having ‘active’ players, this being especially important for roleplays who have the difficult and often times popularity and activity based ranks in a clan structure. I understand as well that some players you can’t do much of anything for, but I do also believe that many times this is an issue of IRL life being too busy or difficult and mental health problems that cause absences.

With the right accommodations and environment, I have found that players considered inactive can be some of the most wonderful and vibrant writers. I believe that by removing for inactivity without respect to discussion or communication of said inactivity— as well as players being avoided entirely for inactivity issues— leads to roleplays missing out on incredible players.

If you build an environment where characters can be easily excused away whenever it’s needed, where roleplay time is not so harsh on characters as to leave them behind when they need breaks (such as firmly real time roleplays where each day of absence leads to mounting pressure to be active– these roleplays of course work for others who need specific deadlines to complete tasks, but I mean to focus on those who can’t quite keep up in this particular post), and where you form a line of communication and understanding with players— those who want to will blossom regardless of any ongoing IRL problems. If you make a player feel safe, welcome, and build structures for them to be able to move in and out of the roleplay as they need to, in my experience I have seen incredible results from players other roleplays would have (and often times have, from what I’ve heard from these players) removed. Making your roleplay accessible truly allows these players to shine when they’ve been scorned.

Making things accessible requires:

Lax time rules, or exceptions/excuses made for players who cannot maintain the same pace others can.

Built in systems that make a break or absence seem less jarring and therefore less isolating. This refers to systems where a character can go on a scouting mission for an extended period of time, or maybe finds themselves on some kind of other journey or plot hook. If your roleplay has supernatural elements, use that! Put in work for these players— working with them to excuse an absence even if it’s after they return can help ignite excitement for their character/s and make them feel like staff truly wants them there and is willing to work for it.

Lax activity checks or gentle ones where a simple ‘i've been unable to roleplay, but i’m still interested’ is accepted. My preference is check-ins with players if they’ve been inactive. I do not ask them to be more active or leave, I ask if they’re okay and if they need any help getting involved with things.

Good communication goes a long way. It’s hard for people to reach out and ask for help. The shame that comes with being inactive in a community (particularly if there have been bad past experiences) often lengthens the divide between staff and players and makes it feel almost impossible to bridge the gap. Please make an effort for these players. Talk to them like people— understand they may be going through a lot as I’m sure everyone has been at some point.

This may pose the question as well— what if players are so inactive even with these accommodations in place?

In that case, know that you’ve at least tried! I find often times if these players are checked in with, they will leave on their own. People know when they can’t handle something, and having an honest talk about activity and asking if they’re still interested now and then can help them look at the situation in perspective. I don’t have an issue with these players, as they tend to naturally shed. I’ll still do what I can, and if they’d like to try again in the future I am happy to work with them.