NuttsnBolts

Mahz's Dev Journal

@Pair of Hearts A favourites feature could be as easy as linking your friends list to the status updates. You're already following that particular person to see if theyre online, naturally you'd wanna know of their status updates.

Cara's Originally Titled OoC Hangout Thread ♥ (Still)

@NuttsnBolts Puncraft! The darkest of arts! Ahead of math and actual witchcraft by a fair margin if I do say so myself. Love the idea though, that could be an entertaining diversion.

I do believe you're allowed to call them a pig if they give you Swine Flu, along any other expletives you see fit. Then again etiquette's never really been my strong suit, so take that with a grain of salt. What do you do for a living? If you don't mind me asking.

@Meiyuki

Retail sales at a large scale hardware warehouse. I used to be the main guy in power gardening (mowers, line trimmers, chainsaws, etc) but got moved to kitchens and plumbing cause my background is in cabinetmaking. Its not too difficult, pays the bills, and I can leave work without taking it home with me. :)

Cara's Originally Titled OoC Hangout Thread ♥ (Still)

@NuttsnBolts Going a little crazy with all this time on my hands, I'm either gonna write something horrible for kicks, or pick up something delighfully boring. Knitting maybe, that sounds about as dull as anything else.

Swine Flu huh? That doesn't sound pleasant, or like it would lead to bacon like the first word might suggest.

@Meiyuki

Wait....
Write about a knitting adventure. Intertwine the story and let it unravel. (Terrible puns)

Everything leads to Bacon, but sadly I got this off some disgusting customer (call I call them a pig?) that popped into work. Been off sick from work for 8 days cause of it. Even now I'm still not 100% but I am well enough to for some work.

Mahz's Dev Journal

The Status hider would be anonymous, @Pair of Hearts and I meant a 'Hide' button instead of dislike. I would also not recommend any kind of counter or notification that your status was blocked.

But this is all besides the point until the site is...I can't remember the right word right now.

@Zardoric

Basically, we want to discourage bad behaviour and encourage positive thinking. A better site work well without the negative bullshit that some people bring. Simply look at chat when some annoying member that's a nuisance comes online. Just watch now quickly people will scatter because of them.

For statuses to work well you want this ingrained into people's thinking. I don't agree with the whole blocking or hiding people option, nor hide all statuses that was mentioned earlier as you are essentially cutting content and censoring yourself from things that shouldn't really matter. It's like sticking your fingers in your ears and singing "lalala"; a bandaid solution for a bigger problem. However forcing a ranking system that sorts statuses based on positive and negative feedback will show everyone what's more acceptable.

It comes back to that old saying of "don't feed the trolls". If the people that are bitching don't get any feedback, then they'll stop it because it isn't justifying their own pointless existence, but if you reward those with good posts, then others will follow in their footsteps.

Cara's Originally Titled OoC Hangout Thread ♥ (Still)

@The Harbinger of Ferocity Love the new avatar.

In summary: Hi! How are people doing?

@Meiyuki

I'm well, considering I just came off sick leave for having Swine Flu. =_=

Yourself?

Role-Play Advice

Much of what I have go say probably has been spoken about already, but this is my 2 cents.

• How do I do a proper collaboration post?
• How do I portray ships, buildings, and inanimate objects in general through writing without sounding boring?
• What is the right amount of detail in most posts? Are there any exceptions?
• I intend to head to an Advanced role-play at some point, but I would like to increase my skill beforehand. Do you have any general writing tips?
• What early signs are there that a role-play will have longevity and not die out quickly? How can I help keep a role-play alive and fun as a poster?

@Gendarme

A good collabs should be written in real time with someone on a site like Google Docs or TitanPad. This allows you to chat with the other individual and write in a fluid mix. Doing so in PMs can often come across very back and forth with a heavy emphasis on one character at a time. The final result just ends up being choppy most of the time.

If you want to describe something, think about how you would explain it to someone that wouldn't mind visiting the place or seeing that object. Descriptive words are your friend in speech, but on some parts maybe over exaggerate. You want to incite imagination and creativity.
I had the pleasure recently of reading a rather boring post about a character's morning. It felt like a chore and they were describing things that had nothing to really do with the scene or objects that didn't need a description.

For advanced... be descriptive, learn proper English, understand your tenses (past, present, and future) and just enjoy yourself.
Descriptive text is the difference between, "the wooden door opened" and, "the old, oak door groaned as it opened, stretching the cobwebs to their limits before snapping the strands". By adding a little more you have described an action and scene.
Proper English is key to allowing others to understand your text. I started using semicolons (;) more often as I learned that they can help in the right situation when you don't want extra conjunctions (and, but, if, etc) "Heavy snow continues to fall at the airport; consequently, all flights have been grounded.
Tenses are rarely talked about but using the right tense can change the feel of a particular section. Want suspense? Use a present tense. I wont go Amy more into this, but read up a bit and you'll see how a good scene is conducted by the timeframe it is presented in.

Finally for a long lasting roleplay... this is always hard. What I look for is what is motivating the characters. If you have a roleplay where the player feels that there is a goal to aim for, then they will place more effort into staying committed. Because of this I'm not a huge fan on create your own adventure as it's relying on the players and honestly... some players can't create their own story lines.
The storyline/motive doesn't have to be much. Pokemon is about being the ultimate Pokemon champion and yet it's been a huge success, and then you have minecraft which is just a giant sandbox. Looking at these two you can see that one has even a small goal, but its something to work with. Take a look at some roleplays and you'd be surprised how many have built an amazing world but have little motivation for the characters in what to do in said world.
Now there is plenty more as to what can keep a roleplay afloat when it comes to players and dropouts and so much more, but the main thing any GM should do is ensure that he or she keeps the players coming back for more.

Let's B!tch. I feel it's a healthy release for our roleplay annoyances 2.0

I don't get it; if you're the GM, why the hell are you trying so hard to keep pretentious, narcissistic players in the RP when they're blatantly chasing others away for their inexperience?

Better yet, why the hell are you letting them dictate your post requirements when they're not even Co-GM?

If you've got the hammer, you use it to kill the fucking pest, not plow everyone's patience to keep it around.

@Verdaux

It is a shame that some people allow this in their own roleplays. If anything, it shows how little the GM cares when they're listening to pretentious players who are clearly a virus in the roleplay.

I've actually got a private list of people that I wont roleplay with for this very reason. Admittedly its only two or three members, but I had to do it after I've seen how these people treat players like absolute trash. Worse part is that others stick up for them... really? You wanna stick up for the Guy that will belittle his own RP members?

NuttsnBolts 1x1 Interest Check // Mature ~ 18+ Players Only

Things have been a bit slow with my role plays at the moment, so I'm bringing up my 1x1 for something to fill up the free time. Currently feeling like a cyberpunk adventure but that can change is there are some good ideas that are presented well. :)

Mahz's Dev Journal

There's a lot that needs to be done with the VMs, PMs and the Statuses.

From what it feels like, the Statuses are meant to be a bit like a twitter feed, a place to just mention something silly and fun, or promote a Roleplay. What could be added is a system, similar to Facebook's feeds, where you can select your favourite users and their feeds will come up before others. Its not blocking, but it'll help promote your friend's statuses and if you don't like seeing the negative comments, just deselect them so their status messages go back into the normal rotation.

That way the side bar can be used for your friends, and clicking on a link will expand that out to the forum's listings.

#bitesize-RP prompts.

Baby Blue stood there in shock, or was it horror? The goat that he had summoned was speaking to him, asking how he was able to be of service. Was this the sentient weapon that he had summoned?

"I... was making a pact, a demonic pact that is, with a weapon," he started, still looking at the goat with curiosity, "Are you that weapon?"

The more Baby Blue thought about it, the more he wondered if he had actually succeeded in summoning a demon instead. He pulled out a piece of paper that held his notes, checking over what he had done and making sure he followed through the ritural correctly.