[quote=@Sugar and Spite]
It's no big surprise that the role-playing scene has shifted drastically in the last few years. People have more real life responsibilities, AI can make finding a face-claim difficult, etc. 

The purpose of this thread is honestly just to gather feedback from the RPG community on what rules and guidelines people like to see when they consider joining a roleplay now. 

For example - do we prefer posting deadlines? Do we still prefer real life faceclaims? How many characters do we enjoy handling per RP? What genres are more popular now? As GMs, how are we going about making sure writers stay interested and engaged without coming across as overbearing or annoying? 

I just want to hear what makes you interested in a Roleplay (outside of engaging plots) and what makes you go "oh, nuh-uh"?
[/quote]

okk so let's go from the start I guess? 

1. Posting deadlines are something I'll always advocate for but soft ones specifically. Life happens to everyone and a GM who understands that will always retain writers longer than one who doesn't imo. 

2. Character count is something I think should be flexible on a per-writer basis with a cap of two being a solid default, but a GM who knows their players well enough to trust certain writers with three or four is fine as well. 

3. Face claims are honestly not something I feel strongly about either way. I think all of them have merit and the right choice really depends on what the RP is going for aesthetically. 

4. For genre, I've personally noticed a real uptick in superhero and slice of life RPs lately, though I love a good horror but I also know it's one of the hardest to sustain. 

5. GM engagement is the big one for me, and the one I have the most complicated feelings about. The things that have worked best in my experience are having a Discord with low-pressure spaces so like…as one example, having celebratory reactions when someone posts. Plotting with individual writers in DMs so they feel personally invested in upcoming story beats is also something I think gets underutilized, which is unfortunate because if you know something exciting is coming specifically for your character, you want to post pretty much. Public praise for good writing goes a long way too, though it's worth being thoughtful about how that's structured. And on that note, I've seen recognition systems that had genuinely wonderful intentions but ended up reinforcing a pecking order rather than celebrating the whole community, and it can do more damage to morale than no recognition system at all. And it's not about scrapping the idea entirely as...that would defeat the entire purpose of me bringing it up in the first place, lol but maybe have things in a way where everyone feels like their contributions are visible. 

Anyway, those are my thoughts. Interested to see what everyone else thinks.