Honestly? It's 50/50. A plotter (or shipper for some peeps), to me, is just a cliff note of what a character is, how they came to be, and how they would interact with others via the traditional "friends, enemies, lovers, etc" (or in recent times, simple blurbs) format. These days, you can then speed up the process of getting your plotter seen by posting it in the plot channel which is the best of both worlds.

Forum plotting I think I'm more appreciative of. It helps give the site some life via showing that there's some form of activity going on, etc. I'm starting to notice just some sites not having shippers/plotters at all, or even a full-blown development board. You don't necessarily have to reply to it if it was linked on Discord and you can just carry out the convo there, but I do think it helps contribute to displaying engagement on the forum as a whole. The only downside for my lazy ass is setting up pics because o lordy loo, ik my character is beautiful and all, but idk if I'd want to keep cropping and resizing any longer lololol. Don't get me wrong, there are a heck load of beautiful ass plotters/shippers, but I'm too lazy to put in the images.

Discord plotting, however, is quick, relatively simple, and overall more convenient. You either message "yo, dm if u wanna plot", "i have xyz ready for plots!" (not exactly word for word but something along those lines), and you (may) get a response or two. You can even post a link to your character's bio and write a short blurb. Easy! And there's not a lot of sites that does this, or at least to my knowledge (ngl I'm not even on any rp site atm lmaoooooo), but I would LOVE the shift of plot channels -> plot threads. Yes, the creating thread feature on Discord. I think it should 100% be the norm, since people won't feel their plot stuff drown out in the upcoming spams of other people wanting to plot, or just feel as if they don't know how to jump into an already ongoing convo. Want a plot, or a specific plot to go down? Make a thread in the plot channel. Bump it every week as a rule. Boom. That way, people can peacefully and comfortably pour out what they want without the fear of their convo getting sidetracked and what not.

...Okay I'll be honest, I find myself leaning towards plotting on Discord a bit more for the reasons above dfghjfdfvg. However! I see both of them complement each other and mediums for other people's preferences on how they would like to plot. :^) 


Attempt to sound smart over. thank u for coming to my nonsensicle ted talk.

Forum plotting all the way for me.

I say everything I feel and think. To me, this is a way of the other rper grasping all these details that aren't always relevant. But it's a way of capturing bits about them. I throw details and I want to be thrown details. I want us to geek out over each other's characters and then work something out. Writing it down helps in paras in one page helps keep things organized. We can also always go back and systematically respond to each as needed, which is important because of all the details. 

I find it really sad that people find this "intimidating" and "confusing" these days. Back then - and really, this sounds like a boomer thing (im millenial tho lel), people would say "sorry for rambling" and people would go "no please ramble away / wall of text pls." It's not like people weren't anxious back then either. But, I don't know. Do people feel more afraid of saying what they want? Do people not fantasize about their characters anymore when they're staring at the air? 

I met someone recently who just apparently didn't know how to plot in forums. They didn't realize my rambling was for plot, not a scenario. So personally, I am thinking of providing a forum plotting guide when I get around to making my own site. I really think it's better. It's not slower at all. You get a lot of things done at the same time. But I think it's a matter of focus that's different. When plotting in the forum, you have to sit and work your thoughts out. You can't get things done bit by bit like in Discord.

Still, I do both, but only because people prefer Discord and I get responses when I ask and bug people in channels. Can't do that in forums. THOUGH, sometimes, it works. Really depends on the site.

The separation of a social channel from rping is also very important for me. I hate having to check my socials and I don't want to constantly be receiving pings, so I have to mute the server anyway. But a site, I can refresh any time and immediately get the information I need based on active topics. I can scroll through it without there being distractions. 

Discord replies tend to be briefer. Short isn't bad. But I just really enjoy the experience of gushing out with someone. Being able to read through the long crap we talked about without having to scroll through chat is very cool.

And just to make sure, no hate on anyone who prefers discord!! Both are very valid. Yes, I do think plotters are better but only because it's like having a shared diary together, okay? Didn't you do that in school? Where you and a friend just talk to each other and put your thoughts down in one notebook...

For me, I'd really prefer to use plotters on site because it's a kind of fire-and-forget thing. But I recognize that, just like introduction threads, they're really dead. Maybe you'd get a response or two, saying "I'll DM you!" but little more than that.

I find it difficult to just 'plot' with people on Discord, I just don't think I really have that kind of social spontaneity - if that makes sense. Am I supposed to just DM them saying "Here's what I want to do with my character! What do you want to do with your character?"

Personally, discord plotting gives me energy and life (and I realize as I say this that my attitude may be contributing to the slow death of forums, but c'est la vie--)

I'm really not a fan of the standard friends/enemies/lovers template, largely because I tend to rp aro/ace characters, and I tend to struggle with personality sections in general. I'd rather write a standard profile of the character's life events and figure out their personality from there.

Discord plotting lets me ramble in semi-coherent one-liners, it's less anxiety-provoking because it's private (if the person never responds, I can mute the DM and never think about them again, instead of having my unanswered plotter pitch on display for all to see), it's easier to follow the flow of a conversation because you can reply directly to things and pin important things for public threading later (whereas if I post on your plotter, do you reply to my post, or is your reply on my plotter thread? and if the latter, doesn't that make it needlessly confusing?).

The major downside is that it has the effect of making the forum look less lived-in (if nobody's responding to plotters or even public discord threads, does that mean the site is dead, or does it mean everyone is plotting with everyone else in private DMs?) but that's a tradeoff I'm willing to make.



Less "What do you want to do" and more "Suppose my character is doing X, then I think your character would do Y, and Z would happen as a result, would that be fun?"

But I agree, that level of spontaneity isn't for everyone! That's why like having the "DM me!" vs "Please don't" roles on a discord and I try not to bug people unless they're showing the same level of energy in the server that I am (which, admittedly, can be a lot).

I’m aware this isn’t an option but: Private Messages. I still miss plotting in PMs on forums. While PMs are technically not as private as Discord DMs (any admins, typically, can view them if they really want to on most hosts and especially self-hosts) the not-as-public aspect removes most qualms I have about responding to anything more publicly. It’s still -almost- the best of both worlds for me, especially since you also just use character accounts for the PMs and keep all plots/planning/IC-related communication neatly sorted that way.

That said...

I think everything I could say about forum plotting here has already been said. I do miss it, since outside of Private Messages, posting threads with all my ideas and all that felt easier. 

I never really used the ol’ friends/lovers/haters templates and moreso did freeform ideas alongside my typical “I will thread with whoever and if you can’t think if anything I probably can” since I do love making up scenarios for characters to just sorta stumble upon. I also still like first-meet threads—given that it makes sense for the characters to not know each other. One of my favourite things I notice on sites nowadays is the use of “public information” and making it clear what characters may know about each other, which makes spontaneous open thread shenanigans a bit more fun.

While I always tell anyone that there is no need to instantly respond on Discord, I’m a rambling fool and all that, there remains the pressure to respond quickly and even the expectation from others, at times, for that. Which ultimately makes sense as instant messengers are designed for that, it was the exact same when I used to use MSN, AIM and so on. And with those messengers I mentioned: you also had the mortifying ordeal of being unable to edit/delete your messages! And the MSN nudging. Ough. I appreciate roles which indicate whether or not someone’s fine with being messaged and/or tagged, saves asking or worrying (I will worry anyways, but that’s for /me/ to deal with).

But I think it’s a matter of mentality and that Discord DMs can actually be better than or the same as non-PM forum plotting for me because it’s private and I feel a lot more comfortable that way. I’m a patient person, despite also being as forgetful as a pebble, and I also don’t like being rushed, and so chatting in a public plotting channel just puts pressure on me when I like to sit back and think. I do like the idea of Discord threads, but I’d have to test it to see how much I like it.

Forums will always have the fact that they don’t tend to have such a limited character limit as Discord does, and Discord feels downright cramped to me. Etc etc.

So too long, didn't read: it’s Private Messages > Discord DMs ≥ Forum Plotting ⋙ Public Discord for me (and let's hope I remembered the correct face for greater than...)

im a millenial who agrees with all of this lol

also to add. YES more rp and social separation please. i hate that there's implicit pressure to have to be social when all i want is for our characters to make something cool happen together. im a big believer in "we don't have to be friends to rp" and it makes me sad that attitude seems to be near nonexistent anymore. im sorry my social energy is limited but my plotting energy is LOTS

edit: i also feel like the conflation between rp relationship vs real friendship has forced people to have to try to be friends with people they don't actually get along with very well. which is a problem when canon positions exist. we should accept that not everyone wants to be friends that that's OK as long as everyone is civil

Lots of good thoughts here but since im on the toilet, i will quote this first

A life lesson i have started to adapt: the less you know someone, the better. We don’t have to learn everything or most of someone. You can just learn to have fun with them without having to share everything about each other. Be each other’s fun zone. Whatever is going on with them irl, just wish them the best.

excuse the double post i am now not in the toilet

f/e/l template sucks. i haven't done it in years. i just highlight whatever is interesting/going on with my character and provide plot hooks. is it useful? i have no idea. but i am trying lmao. i honestly can't tell if it's been helpful but i know it would be so helpful for me to have a starting point on how to approach someone

as for having your plot go unresponded in display, happens to me a lot and i wear it as a badge of honor. goes to show i tried and let me tell you, i really try a lot. it's a risk for me too but having done this for some time, it has built some resilience on learning how to accept that people just aren't going to reply to you. it sucks but every five years i get better at just sucking it in lmao. and honestly, this is actually my litmus test on how well i think i'd get along with the community. it's totally valid to not want to plot or have a change of mind. but it's still a "tanz will remember this" moment for me lmao. unless you say no explicitly, it just kind of feels like a silent "don't talk to me" kind of thing.

the whole replying to the other person's plotter though to reply to them - i absolutely hate that. it is so superficial, i'm sorry. it's all a show of making the plotter look alive, or idk, making the person feel better? it is how it is imo. you can't curate to every aspect of people's feelings. we all know that's not how it is in reality. some plotters just end up looking popular bc that's where people dropped by. it should be every rper's habit to check someone's empty plotter when they're just browsing about in their free time. it's there. you can see it. read it! we need to read more! there's no system to fix it or try to paint over it to make it pretty. be the change you wanna see, cliched as it is. encourage the habit if you're staff.

Big advocate of 50/50, with the condition that both need to be directed and specific.

The forum 50 for me is listing the exact Wanted Plots, Development, and Relationship Dynamics your character is looking for, per character; this can go into a plotter if the forum has the space, but imo it's easier and better if we all started putting this as a section in our character profiles directly. Like I'd even go so far as to say it's more important to have this section than an actual personality written, because I've written characters before where I literally had no idea how they'd react to people and circumstances, but I knew all the shit I wanted them involved in and developed from there to splendid effect.

I started doing a Wanted Plots section on my profiles towards this, but only on one char and I should def add it to the other :thonks:

The discord 50 is diving into PMs of people directly, which admittedly could also be forum PMs for those who still prefer them. Point here is to.. just read what other people have written on their profiles and pitch threads or loose premises to them specifically. I'm actually really against generic "looking for threads" messages in public spaces, not because I dislike them specifically, but because I find they often just don't accomplish anything — there's this known phenomenon with human psychology where in a big enough group, if an emergency happens and you're asking for someone to call 911, the majority of people will completely walk by because "someone else will do it", and I find that mentality occurs a lot in servers too. Everyone thinks someone else will get to it, they don't have any ideas so why bother, and/or we just forget. My goto has always been divebombing directly into someone's DMs like a Bazelgeuse that just spawned on-map or calling them out specifically in a channel and pitching a loose premise or specific setup, and I've never felt under-threaded in my RP life.

This includes my trans, gay, and PoC characters. I often see people talk about how they can't get plots when they write these types, and I just.. I genuinely cannot sympathize. Then again, the only plot I've never been able to write is an m×m romance despite writing literally every other configuration and everyone insisting this is way easier to get than f×f, so maybe I really do live in the upside down ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

tl;dr write on your profiles what stuff you're looking for and read random profiles + carpet bomb DMs asking people if they'd like to write a cool fight thread where yeah sure their character could beat up yours on paper, but what if a building collapsed midway through and they fell into an antideluvian booby-trapped tomb of death and had to get over their intense hatred to escape the spike pit lava pool traps?? it'll change your life

my experience with Forum plotting is that I find it disorganized and impersonal. My ideas are usually too scattered to write down on a plotter and come out all jumbled, I would rather just come into a discord DM and ask someone if they're looking for any thing specific for their character that I might be able to provide, or provide them with my own idea to se if they would like it. Discord plotting feels more personal, because I can connect on a level where it's private, where as Forum Plotting is public, on site for everyone to see. 

If someone was strictly accepting Forum plots, I would reach out to them on the forum to make them feel comfortable, but I do have my preference and would ask if they have a discord I can message. 

I will be blunt: I hate Discord and Forum Plotters are pretty, but I just do not have time for a formal format. So I guess Forum Plotter, but less formal structure and simplistic plotting?

I highly prefer someone talk to me directly via DMs over forum. Mostly due to experiences in Discord have been negative between cliques, gossip, and mixed information. Plus, the times I have attempted to plot in Discord (and I am not sure about the standard plotting type in Discord) but plotting is easily derailed (and multiple times) when discussing details. Plus (I am not sure how) but misunderstandings develop easily. I know this is not everyone's experience, but this has been mine almost consistently and I tend to just stay out of them.

Also...I seldom reach out for those things because of those incidents. I think I am that rarity of person that still make threads with the [OPEN] tag and see what develops after that Roleplay with a person (or talk to them during since I tend to understand and appreciate their writing during that time).

I do know that Discord is becoming the standard for being used alongside forums, but I do feel uncomfortable with it. I have often digressed away from forums that have Discord requirements in order to even participate in the community or have experienced aggression due to myself preferring my privacy and not being in Discord. So I rather just have plotting and details be in Private Message so I may gradually communicate with others I feel comfortable with.

Seconding all of this in general - I'm mildly less allergic to "plot hook" type shippers, though I still suck at making words for those too. >.>



I don't know if it says something about animanga rpc in general but I have never been on a site where being cishet was the overwhelming norm.



ok but only half-joking when I say I'm stealing this. sorry not sorry

Y'all plot??

TBH I never got into plotting, either way really. I find that I mostly plot on the fly. I toss out ideas and sometimes they stick to the wall like cooked spaghetti. Sometimes they fall into the abyss and are never seen again. I've never used plotters, except whenever they were required, and I don't openly really plot on discord either. I think though, if I had to choose, plotting on discord is definitely way easier for me.