Welcome to Gaia! ::

Gaia Forums » GAIA Community » Barton Town (Role Play) » Barton OOC
<3 </3

Rate?

█ █ █ █ █ 0.58139534883721 58.1% [ 175 ]
â–ˆ â–ˆ â–ˆ â–ˆ 0.11960132890365 12.0% [ 36 ]
â–ˆ â–ˆ â–ˆ 0.023255813953488 2.3% [ 7 ]
â–ˆ â–ˆ 0.01328903654485 1.3% [ 4 ]
â–ˆ 0.059800664451827 6.0% [ 18 ]
Needs more pictures 0.20265780730897 20.3% [ 61 ]
Total Votes:[ 301 ]
Reply
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 >

Offline
Anyone who follows none of this advice will make the perfect RP, and I truly mean this. I will give you all of my gold if you do this I am so serious.


User Image

        ◄　 MAKINGx thex PERFECTx ROLE-PLAY　 ▬ ▬ ▬ ▬
        xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxa 　 p o s t – b y – p o s t 　 g u i d e

                  In the past several months I have carefully observed the contents of what we refer to as 'Barton Town,' home of the role-playing community that resides here in Gaia. It is through this careful observation and extensive research that I have compiled what every thread must contain in order to flourish. And now, I have taken this upon myself, to share my research with the public.

                  •　THE BASICS
                          Before we get started on content, we must first describe how our content is to be presented.
                          x
                          Pictures — Every post you make must contain at least one picture. The larger the picture the better and preferably one taken off of a third-party gallery site (Safebooru, Zerochan, Tumblr, e-Shuushuu, &c.). Those who take their images straight off an artist's DeviantArt or Pixiv without consent get kudo-points for originality. Normally, though, just pasting the image isn't going to cut it; you'll have to take that image into a photo-editing program such as Photoshop, GIMP, or even online editors such as Picnik and place the creatively thought-out title of your RP on every image you use.
                          x
                          Type — Type is very important as it is what makes up a majority of your posts. Your Font-Size should be anything but default (12pt.). The smaller size you use, the more intelligent your posts will appear. It is also beneficial to use characters not included in the standard Roman Alphabet, Windings are appropriate for any situation, and using foreign letters to make up English words for titles and descriptions is most preferable. (i.e. ßℓαн) Whether or not others computers can even read the letters is unimportant. What's important is what looks lovely on your screen.
                          x
                          Space Reality — By 'Space Reality' I'm referring to the amount of webspace setting up your single RP should make up. It is very important to separate each idea of your role-play into a separate post (a precise method that I will be addressing later on), but it is equally important to separate even further into other threads. No single RP should take place in a single thread. You need a minimum of 3 threads: A thread for Out-Of-Character chatter; A thread for 'Character Profiles' (another matter to be addressed later); and, of course, a thread for the Role-Play itself to take place in. During certain circumstances you may require more threads (say, in a war RP, separate threads for separate factions' profiles; or perhaps have players create entire threads for their character's profiles; better yet, create a separate thread for every possible location your RP may take you.)
                          x
                          Colour — Your page should contain an entire palette of colours. Avoid all colours based in the default palette provided and fish out abstract colour-names and hexadecimal codes to ornate your page. You may want to match the elaborate image you have chosen to decorate your page, but it's more important that you change the colour of everything on your page. The lighter the text, the more elegant it will appear and the more people will join. Don't worry about whether or not it's legible, people can just highlight your text if they can't read it.





IGOTDATICECOLDWATER;ANDIT'SONLYONEDOLLAR

Offline
There is a special place in hell for ***** and those who talk in theatres.


User Image

        ◄　 MAKINGx thex PERFECTx ROLE-PLAY　 ▬ ▬ ▬ ▬
        xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxa 　 p o s t – b y – p o s t 　 g u i d e

                  Now that you know the Basics to how to present your information, let's move on to what information we need to present. It is important to grasp the concept that no single RP can be set-up completely in a single post. You must dedicate the entire first page of your main thread towards setting up your Role-Play (Trivia: there are 15 posts to a single page!)

                  •　FIRST POST — DEDICATION & CREDITS
                          The first post is what people will first see when entering your thread, therefore, should be filled with the most important of information. That being said, don't muddy it with plot or summary, your first post should only be a dedication. It is important to tell Role-players who are browsing the forums who made this, why, &c. Some important things you want to address would be:
                          x
                              Who made this Role-Play — You did, of course, but you want to emphasize this. Be sure to stress that you don't want others to take your idea.
                              x
                              Inspiration — A lot of the time people make role-plays as a favourable pass-time. Don't be afraid to straight out dedicate this role-play to your boredom.
                              x
                              Literacy-level — It's important the members of this role-play know what you want of them. The content of the words doesn't matter, it's the amount that's being measured.
                              x
                              Credits — Mainly for the pictures. Don't credit the artist, just the website you nabbed them from will do. You don't have to, of course, it's more important that others know who edited the pictures which may have been you or a friend.
                              x
                              Theme Song — Like most things in popular media (i.e. video games, television shows, movies, &c.) your role-play needs a theme song. Link to an illegally streamed video off of YouTube at this point and name the Song Title and be sure to credit the musician. It can be a favourite song of yours, Popular songs are good, but Indie is the way to go. It doesn't matter if the lyrics/tone of the song match your role-play.
                              x
                              Status — Tell casual browsers whether your role-play is Open or Closed. Accepting or Full. Have a slot for 'Dead', but never give-in: your role-play shall live on forever!
                              x
                              Genre — This is optional. Tell the role-players browsing the forums what your role-play will contain. Is the plot based for action? Romance? Fantasy or Real-world?
                              x
                              Other — Other things; Links to your other threads (as previously mentioned, no single RP can be successfully contained into a single thread). Table of Contents: what are the topics of the other posts on this front page; Lyrics to your theme song.


                  •　SECOND POST — PLOT & BACKSTORY
                          This is where your role-play's plot will go. When typing out your plot, type out as much as you can. Introduction stories giving first-hand accounts from unimportant characters who never actually make an appearance in the role-play help immerse casual browsers into your story. The little details about that character's life bring depth to your story so don't rush to get to the main plot that everyone else's characters will be dealing with. Your plot should take up about 3 - 5 paragraphs a single paragraph contains 10 sentences and an amalgamation of ideas. (WARNING: just because you start a new idea does not mean you have to start a new paragraph!) Not sure what your plot should be? Fear not. I have compiled a list of common themes that should help you out:
                          x
                              Vampires/Humans/Werewolves — It is present day (i.e. literally, the RP takes place sometime during the course of this year). Vampires and Werewolves have been at war for centuries, but only now are humans (Only the Player-Characters) actually witnessing this. Sometimes werewolves can be swapped out for other creatures. There will be Romance.
                              x
                              School for the Gifted — It is present day (i.e. literally, the RP takes place sometime during the course of this year). A school opens its doors to select students who share either outlandish backstories, special powers, or likeness in that they aren't human. (RP OWNER: Make slots out for specific character traits you want Player-Characters to portray. Creative liberties can kill this RP!). School budget allows every student a lavish 'dorm room' on campus; No learning shall ever take place. There will be Romance.
                              x
                              Arranged Marriage — It is either the distant past, or some fantasy-land where time-period doesn't matter. Warring kingdoms/races of people can only settle their differences by forcing marriage upon their children. There's usually a lot of kingdoms and/or prince/princesses that need to be wed and not much else. Despite the wars, there's not really much action or any assassination attempts because that would muddy the mood. There will be Romance, however.
                              x
                              Bands — It is present day (i.e. literally, the RP takes place sometime during the course of this year). Two bands are battling it out and are long-time rivals. One band is composed of all girls, the other all guys. There is a major record company at the next gig and these bands are 'practising' to win over their opinion. This RP, however, takes place during their hotel/rented-house stay the few weeks beforehand where the two bands happen to bunk next-door to each other. Players use this opportunity to pimp whatever music knowledge they have, link to all the 'indie' songs they know, and, more than likely, at least one character will have a foreign accent of some sort. There will be Romance.
                              x
                              Slave/Master — Time Period. Brief Description. There will be Romance.
                              x
                              Zombie Apocalypse — It is the not-so distant future (Possibly even 2012); A virus has infected the deceased. Whether this event is super-natural, man-made or otherwise isn't as important as the fact that they are now once again roaming the planet with new cause: To eat the flesh of the living. Pre-determined character slots are optional. There will be Action.. and Romance.
                              x
                              Mythical Creatures are Real — It is present day (i.e. literally, the RP takes place sometime during the course of this year). Despite what humans have been told, Mythical creatures (Vampires, werewolves, fae, elves, &c.) have always existed and lived among us. This role-play is either about characters discovering what the other character is, or just, slice-of-life, them coping with each other's differences. There will be Romance.


                  •　THIRD POST — RULES
                          The Rules of your RP are very important. (Some Role-plays place the 'Rules' post before the plot post, they're so important!). Be sure to write your rules out in paragraphs so you are certain to address every issue carefully. You want all of your members to read all of your rules, so don't bold or highlight important bits, No single word/sentence is more important than the next when it comes to rules. Group about 2 to 3 different subjects into a single rule, and be sure to throw in requirements you want your members to meet in their reserve PMs to make sure they read the entire thing. (Ex. 'place a llama emote into your reserve PM,' 'Title your reserve PM "Ninjas have bad Haircuts,"' &c.) Here are some basic rules that you'll need to add in addition to whichever is specific to your plot:
                          x
                              Gaia's TOS — Despite this Role-play being set-up on GaiaOnline's website, casual browser's will forget the fact that Gaia has it's own set of rules to follow while posting in the forums. Point this out to remind players, and line-out specific rules if you feel obligated to do so.
                              x
                              Godmodding & Mary-Sue/Gary-Stu's — Godmodding and Mary-Sue/Gary-Stu characters are a general no-no in Role-plays. They're not very openly defined, but most people know exactly what you are talking about so don't waste your time defining them either.
                              x
                              You are God — You want Role-players to bow down and worship your presence; as you have already stated in your first post, this is your Role-play, all the credit goes to you for creating it and editing the graphics in it. All you say is holy and shall be obeyed.
                              x
                              Romance — There will be Romance. State in your rules that you will allow it to happen, as if it wouldn't regardless. Emphasize the limits of the Romance as outlined in GaiaOnline's TOS in excruciating detail that in itself borders the rules of your own RP. Making users cringe over this rule will undoubtedly compel them to follow it.
                              x
                              Cursing — Another item outlined in Gaia's TOS that you'll find yourself reiterating for the sake of the masses.
                              x
                              This is a Long-Term Role-play! — You need to emphasize this. There are a great number of Role-players in Barton Town who think Role-plays are only meant to last a whole of 35 minutes! You want to dissuade these people from joining.
                              x
                              Make your posts pretty! — It's hard to keep track of who is playing what character, so demand that players ornate every post they make in your Role-play with the essentials: Song lyrics, an image (no room for credit, that will clutter it), tastefully placed Windings, the character's title, and lastly, what that character is thinking while the post was made. Players have the option of adding their character's name to their posts if they choose.


                  •　FOURTH POST — LIST OF CHARACTERS
                          Characters are what make up the whole of your Role-play. There will be so many people joining your Role-play it will inevitably become difficult to keep track of how many are participating. Some break down Character lists into separate posts: A post for boy characters, a post for girl characters, perhaps even separate posts for people from different regions and/or kingdoms of your fantasy world. When listing characters, don't just list their name, but also include: a picture, several personality traits (something that you may want to provide for the people joining since allowing them creative freedom can kill your role-play), their title or role in the RP, and their sexuality because there will be Romance. You can include the user that plays them, too, if you wish.

                  •　FIFTH POST — SKELETON & RESERVE CODES
                          Here is where you will place the elaborate coding for the profile and reserve skeletons you wish the players to fill out. Do not tell them how you want them sent to you, that's listed in the rules. You want to make sure they read the rules. Having reserves is important because, not only does it let you know that someone is interested in joining and prevents fighting for spots, but it also gets users to fill out the coding for you for your character list in the previous post. Profile and reserve skeletons are similar in what they need to contain:
                          x
                              Coding — It's already a given that there will be coding, but you want these things to look beautiful. The more Windings and foreign symbols the better. Use about 3 colours in your format: 1 to match your overall front page layout and let the player choose the other 2. (hide them in the coding by filling color tags with COLOR1 and COLOR2)
                              x
                              Titles — Logical titles are boring. Come up with creative ways to learn about characters. You want a character's name? List it as 'I have been called ______ my entire life.' Age? "I have ______ candles on my Birthday cake."
                              x
                              Information — Leave no stone unturned, it's no fun learning about a character through the progress of a role-play. You want to know everything about a character from their personality, their history, their family, their likes and dislikes, even to their favourite musical artists and colours.
                              x
                              Appearance — The only way to see a character is through an image, no written descriptions shall ever be permitted. Make a specific slot in your format for a precisely-sized image. Define if you want players to rip works from traditional artists or photographers. Crediting the artist is unnecessary.
                              x
                              Theme Song — Most important part of a character skeleton next to the image. Every character has a theme song. Every one. Make sure players credit the musician.
                              x
                              Sexuality — You need to know which way this character swings because there will be Romance.
                              x
                              Name and Username — It is important to know what to call the player or the player's character, but it's not mandatory. This section is entirely optional.


                  •　SIXTH POST — SETTING & WEATHER
                          Give a basic description of the setting this role-play is taking place in. A very basic description. Or, if your role-play is taking place in a fantasy world, you might want to dedicate an entire separate post to the setting so you can develop each country, kingdom, city, &c. with elaborate detail and pictures. Lots of pictures. Here you will also place a calendar, for this role-play, being long-term, will last forever and you'll need to remember which day it is RP-time. Also, the weather is very important. If this role-play takes place over an entire continent, just make the weather the same all over to save on detail. (i.e. it's raining. EVERYWHERE. From the Mountaintops to the shore.)

                  •　SEVENTH POST — CRUSHES, RUMOURS, & RELATIONSHIPS
                          There will be Romance in your Role-play so be sure to keep track of who is dating whom &c. Not sure? List it as a rumour. Encourage players to PM you their character's relationship status so you may keep this section heavily updated.

                  •　EIGHTH POST — ANNOUNCEMENTS
                          Announcements! Update this post whenever you see fit. Some update every time they receive a request to join, while others don't update until they make alterations to the rules, or add 'Thread Moderators.' Don't bother updating for important announcements dealing with the role-play itself (i.e. Time Skips, Closing the RP, Placing the RP on Hiatus, &c.), post your important updates in the OOC thread.

                  •　NINTH POST — BANNERS & AFFILIATES
                          This is where you post all your advertisement banners. Encourage members to place these banners into their signatures so you can gain more members. Even if your role-play is full perhaps a casual browser will be encouraged to read through your antics. Also place here links to role-plays your friends have made, or any other role-plays you have made.

                  •　TENTH POST — WHITE & BLACK LISTS
                          White lists and Black lists are crucial for creating order among the masses that compose the populous of your Role-play. The White list is to be filled with members (yourself and maybe a friend) who you feel set the role model for what a good role-player is supposed to act like, while the Black List will state "Empty. Hopefully it stays this way." It is hard to say what one could place on their Black list, if someone were to Spam, you'd undoubtedly place them onto your 'Ignore List' (a feature in the User Preference panel of Gaia), but actually placing them onto the Black List will gain them internet fame.

                  •　ELEVENTH POST — STORY THUS FAR
                          Your role-play, being long-term, will inevitably last forever. Forever is a long time, and equally there will be a lot of reading to go through. This is where you will place summaries the ill-educated members have demanded you give when they were too lazy to read what they missed on their two-week vacation.

                  •　POSTS TWELVE THROUGH FIFTEEN — RESERVES
                          You never know when you don't have enough posts to contain all the information you'll need to share with your fellow role-players. It's always important to make sure you have more than enough space. Even though these posts have no real content for now, it will be distasteful to leave them completely blank. Make a pretty banner using the image you used to decorate your first post, the extra kilobytes of load-time should be no problem to your mates with slow internet connection.





IGOTDATICECOLDWATER;ANDIT'SONLYONEDOLLAR

Offline
There is a special place in hell for ***** and those who talk in theatres.


User Image

        ◄　 MAKINGx thex PERFECTx ROLE-PLAY　 ▬ ▬ ▬ ▬
        xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxa 　 p o s t – b y – p o s t 　 g u i d e

                  Your Role-play now has a home in Barton Town. People will come flocking to join. You're steadily receiving PM requests, reserves, posting profiles in the profile threads, talking about nachos in the OOC thread. Now you just have to worry about one more thing:

                  •　KEEPING IT AFLOAT
                          Your Role-play, being long-term, will inevitably last forever, but there are a few precautions you have to make in order to ensure this.
                          x
                              Keep an active OOC — Be sure to post everyday in your OOC thread about useless things such as the weather, how horrible of a day you've been having, &c. You can even talk about other Role-plays you're in with your friends, and plan for new ones as you neglect posting in this one. Make sure that you apply a 'Post-style' to your OOC chatter as well, it makes others more interested in the conversation. Also, post important details pertaining to the current status of the Role-play in the OOC to make sure those who wish to stay informed will also participate in your idle conversations.
                              x
                              Posting Order — Apply a posting order once the RP goes under-way. This will guarantee everyone has a chance to post. If a player goes absent for a while, wait for them to return: it would be rude to skip! Don't take any effort to sort out what might be keeping them from posting, it may not be rude to let others wait, but it is very rude to nag or compromise.
                              x
                              Time-Skips — If your character has nothing else to do, that must mean none of the other players' characters are doing anything (you are God, after all). Go ahead and skip to the next day/week. Announce that you will be skipping in the OOC thread, as this detail is too important for the Announcements post, and give until the next day for everyone to process this new information. Meanwhile, continue OOC chatter as normal until you're ready to skip.



                  •　OTHER SUGGESTIONS
                          Being a Role-play creator, you should know that you never look to more than one source for research. For that reason, I have brought the all the research you need to this single thread. Here is more advice submitted by other seasoned Role-players that you would do well to follow.
                          x
                              Allow your responses to fluctuate — Don't forget that it's totally okay for the size and quality of your posts to depend entirely upon your mood and what the other writers give you to form your response... You can't step outside your boundaries because that would be dangerous! 　 Mature Content Warning
                              x
                                  Everyone knows that Quality=Quantity — Who cares what every English professor told you, about being concise and clear, or less is more. No, add in every little frivolous detail, no matter how irrelevant. Sure 100 words could be enough, but why stop there, when you can make it 1000 words or more? 　 Sachiko-sama







IGOTDATICECOLDWATER;ANDIT'SONLYONEDOLLAR

Offline
There is a special place in hell for ***** and those who talk in theatres.


User Image

        ◄　 MAKINGx thex PERFECTx ROLE-PLAY　 ▬ ▬ ▬ ▬
        xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxa 　 p o s t – b y – p o s t 　 g u i d e

                  This thread is a work in progress, as such, I am always open to suggestions and things to add. If you have something that you want to be added to this guide, feel free to comment.

                  User Image - Blocked by "Display Image" Settings. Click to show.




IGOTDATICECOLDWATER;ANDIT'SONLYONEDOLLAR

Offline

Offline
because everything sounds like a good idea when you're sick.

Offline
This is open for commentary, by the by.

I noticed someone doesn't appreciate this already. lol

Offline
Awesome research, hella funny. I was completely amused by this.

/shrugs
Don't know why someone else would dislike such a thing. 8 D
I noticed that you were sarcastic in some parts (but I like sarcastic!)

This guideline you wrote does make a role play look
completely 'perfect' but let's be real... most RPs don't last anyways,
no matter how much the owner of the roleplay hopes that it would
last for a very long time. /pessimistic

five starrssss!! <3

Offline
Haha, why thank you. xD

I think people need to lighten up a little; Role-playing isn't about appearances, it's about having fun. heart
Sometimes I think people forget what fun is.

Offline
I wonder how many people realize that ß is actually pronounced 'ss'...

Throws me off every time....
Gaia Forums » GAIA Community » Barton Town (Role Play) » Barton OOC

Quick Reply

Submit
Manage Your Items
Other Stuff
More
Get GCash
Offers
More
Get Items
More Items
More
Where Everyone Hangs Out
Other Community Areas
  • Guilds
    fan clubs for the stuff you love
  • Chat
    chat in real time with other Gaians
  • Art Arenas
    browse & rate gaian art galleries
  • Clans
    play zOMG with others
More
Virtual Spaces
Fun Stuff
More
Gaia's Games
Mini-Games
More
Play with GCash
Play with Platinum
More
//
//

Join Now

// //

Have an account? Login Now!

//
//