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Running Forum Events

pronounsshe/her
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scarlet
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Something I've always been curious about is the way other people design forum roleplay events. So here goes!

What forum events have you run that felt successful to you, and what are general practices that have proven effective for you when running events overall?

This can be anything from sharing types of events that have gone well, basic dos and don'ts in event running, etc.
aliasAsu
pronounsshe/her/hers
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Asuearned bits
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Asu
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With all its sham, drudgery and broken dreams, it is still a beautiful world.
I've helped run quite a few events in the times that I've been an admin! I've done both heavily guided events, with one main thread and DM'd NPCs, and I have done more lowkey events, where there's a special forum for an event that is happening. I've also done dev events with bingos, where people follow prompts and do tasks to get money. One of my favorite events, which I have to credit the idea to another site, was something of a Nanowrimo, where people would put their posts on word docs and we would give awards based on how many words people would achieve.

The most successful events were more self-directed, at your own pace. Granted, the more modded ones ended up being rally fun, but as a staffer, I would end up burnt out and having difficulty working on my own personal writing. Striking a balance between am I enjoying the event vs. running something for the whole board is definitely something.

People respond well to awards, and incremental awards are great because you're awarding people at every level and quantity of writing.

So, my basic advice? Make sure you're enjoying the event too and that you and staff are also participating. That's what gets people enticed to join something if you're doing it. Events are a great way to spark activity on a site, giving people a common talking point and an opportunity for their characters that may not be interacting to interact.