The Bitter Truth Behind RPG Sites

THE BITTER TRUTH BEHIND RPGS AND ADMINISTRATING

There is a bitter truth behind running a RPG site that a lot of people do not realize especially if it is their first time administrating.  In simple words,  it’s not easy;  it will be hard grueling work from day one and onward.   So be prepared to devote at least a couple hours a day just to keep the site running smoothly and efficiently.  What I hope to define in this article is not a concise blueprint on what a board needs and requires but simply a kernel of universal wisdom in a nutshell. From conception to the final days,  these are the things any administrator should know.

First of all you have to come up with an enthralling story,  something that is both highly defined but loose enough for creative liberties to be taken by the players.   The concept behind the board should be something that allows for role-playing.   Some people have come up with great stories and themes but the ideas are very limited when actually trying to get a cast of people to join and interact with the world.  Typically the formula of having opposing groups each fighting for some cause always offers players a varied choice plus giving the potential for in-game conflict.   Opposing groups could be anything from two warring nations,  two social/political groups,  rival sports teams,  territorial street gangs and so on.    Offering players a variety of races to play and giving each race a unique culture also helps make the characters diverse to liven up the setting.

But the difficulty and hard work behind running a RPG site doesn’t just end or begin with coming up with an exciting story or amazing world.   In today’s on-line RPG culture standards have been set.   There are certain things that people associate with high quality role-play communities.   One of these quality insurance checks  is the site’s design, it’s color scheme and overall layout.   The colors have to be appropriate while at the same time being easily viewable.    Boards that have strange color schemes that make it hard for viewers to read the text will immediately exit the site, never returning ever again.  No one wants to strain their eyes trying to read the rules.   But colors also have to make sense.   If you’re running a board that takes place in a metropolitan city,  using rural themed graphics and color schemes just won’t cut it.   Role-players even on a text-based RPG enjoy eye-catching visuals.   It is  my belief that the first thing people see when they visit your site is the banner or other visual elements.   So if you can’t grab their attention with the graphics  they probably will not stick around long enough to enjoy the rest.   Many  RPG-related resource sites offer help for graphical designing of boards and websites,  so even if you are not the artistic type you can always look there for help.

Now even after you have thought up the most incredible storyline,  designed the most awesome graphics,  chosen a breathtaking color scheme and laid all the forums out, included the rules and all other supplemental information you might think you are done, all the hard work is over,  right?

Dead wrong!

The real hard work has literally just begun.   Unless you have a group of friends standing by to jump onto the board and start posting you basically only have a board with you as a member.   You probably didn’t create this board to role-play with yourself so you have to lure others to it.   And thus we come to the dreaded process of advertising.   Advertising to a lot of people means making up an advertising post then surfing from board to board posting in each board’s advertising forum, a highly repetitive and boring process.   And some think that doing this for a few days after the board has been complete is all that is required.   Again,  WRONG!   It is a helluva lot harder than that.   Advertising is a constant process from day one to the end of times.  The moment you stop advertising you may as well consider the site dead.   Did you think it was that easy and being an administrator of a RPG site was all fun and games?

There are two primary advertising methods among the RPG communities.   One is the typical posting of an advertisement in other boards’  advertising forum.   The other is the Affiliates method in which a handful of sites associate with one another usually within the same genre.   Affiliates can yield better results in my opinion,  the reason being is each site has only a dozen or so Affiliates on average and  the less choices presented to a person the higher the chances they will click on your Affiliate button.   People also tend to hold Affiliate sites in high regard compared to sites just randomly slathered all over every board in current existence.   So one of your best options is to quickly acquire some Affiliates.   For people who steadily watch for new Affiliates on sites will immediately notice when your site starts to become Affiliated with the sites they pay most attention to.

But as mentioned earlier,  Advertising is something that starts at day one and becomes an on-going process thereafter.   There are always new boards popping up left and right, up and down, cross-ways,  pretty much everywhere and it is your obligation as the site owner to insure that you have advertised on all those new boards.   As the site administrator one of your duties is to be an aggressive marketing manager.   Always be on the look out for new avenues to advertise on,  new Affiliations and so forth.  But you don’t always need to do this alone.   It is sometimes more efficient if you have a couple dedicated members to share the duty with.   Create an advertising schedule where the other members advertise on different days and then you advertise on a few of the days that they do not.   But always pay attention to make sure you don’t post an ad on a site where one of your other members has already advertised on.

Now here is the real bitter truth behind running an RPG board:  Even if you adhere to all of the things mentioned above it is not guaranteed you will succeed.    Having the most enthralling storyline,  most captivating graphics and colors and advertising like a madman will not automatically insure your board a wealth of members or high activity of any degree.   And even if your board does succeed it will not happen overnight,  it might not even happen in the first week or month.   Some site owners have had to run their board for months and months before the board even showed a peak of interest!   This can be the downfall of many boards because the administrators lose that excitement and become filled with discouragement when they don’t see the immediate fruitful blooms of their labor.   Patience truly is a virtue that every site owner has to possess.   Never lose hope no matter how inactive your board becomes it is always possible to revamp and rehabilitate,  pump a second breath into it and get back on the horse! You may notice that each time you end up revamping the site you always start off the next run with more loyal members than the last time.  That’s because some people will become devoted to the site as much as you are and they feel such a part of the site they will stick around even through multiple revamps.

Never stop advertising or seeking any form of promotional benefits.    From first hand experience, I once ran a board that started off with only a handful of members and no more active members joined for months.   By our second year though we were getting a new applicant on a near daily basis.   And even after that board was laid to rest,  I personally received a handful of letters from new visitors wanting to know if the board would open up again,  that isn’t counting the other messages my co-administrators received from similar visitors.    But it took over a year and half before our board ever saw that moment of peaked interest.  With long-term dedication though  your site can achieve the same popularity as long as you keep abreast of the current standards and interest among the RPG community.

The attitude of the administrator and other staff is also very key in the success of a board.  Administrators who take the time to help and assist players while also being friendly are a lot more lovable than the ones who are only concerned about the characters and players they favor the most.   Nearly every administrator has a pet peeve or two about characters and people in general.  It is very important that we do not let these pet peeves cloud our judgment in giving every player and character a chance.   The fact that our sites are on-line means we attract people from all over the world, from different ages, genders and backgrounds.  Sometimes it is necessary to show more patience and understanding to players who seem to test our patience because they can’t fill out an application properly or because they act oddly in-game.   Take this plausible scenario for example:  A new player joins your board and submits an application but the application is riddled with typos, misspellings and  doesn’t have all the fields completed as the rules describe.   A lot of admins might immediately criticize  the applicant for even submitting such a flawed application.   But what if you didn’t know that this applicant was a nine year old girl who just wanted to join in on your fun site?  You would probably approach the situation a little differently.   Even if you know the person’s age and where they are from you might not entirely understand why they  couldn’t fill out the application as you expect it to be filled out.   This can sometimes happen when a person who has never joined a RPG before choses your site as their starting point.  Getting accepted on most RPG boards is not an easy task and for a newbie it could be one of the most difficult processes to learn.  So as an administrator you should be open-minded and be prepared to deal with people from various backgrounds.   The more likable the site’s staff the more enjoyable the site becomes.  When you have a staff composed of friendly, understanding and helpful people your board will flourish with a reputation that people find appealing.   The administrators should come off as just another friendly member and reserve their administrative mode for more critical moments.

Anyone can create a board but a truly skilled Administrator can make that board soar!

If you have any administrative advice you would like to contribute to this article please post your comments below!    Or you may even want to post an extension to this article, feel free to do so because I know I couldn’t possibly cover every detail.

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~ by Vane on 03/12/2009.