I think it's certainly possible to have both the journey and the slice of life all in one! Only thing is, you'd have to have a significant enough member base to support that. Moderators generally cater to the majority, and people role playing slice of life probably wouldn't get fed much of anything in terms of site-wide events the way people playing as traveling trainers and coordinators are. But to cater to both, you'd have to have a pretty significantly sized staff team, since, well. Most Pokemon site mechanics can get super cumbersome if you don't give much leeway, and have the potential to fall pray to exploitation by those people who are there for the game aspects over socially interacting much with anyone if you do.

And by that point, it's like frying burgers in a coffee shop. if you have to do all the legwork to feed yourself while staff is serving up content catering to the main demographic... sure, some other people might see what you're doing and want in on it, but unless one of the baristas comes out as a fry cook and serves you too, you were probably just better off going to a diner somewhere. 

(also pokemon conquest is baller and I'm frankly shocked that I haven't seen any sites based on it tbh)

I keep wanting to do a more light hearted AU where it's just back to the old League lore of having the Summoners and the fights being "guys please only fight here instead of nearly tearing the world apart with magic again" bloodsports. Scandals of saying a certain champion is too powerful so there's magical restrictions put on them. In world arguments of people writing fanfiction shipping a champion with a popular summoner. Negotiating contracts to be part of the League but you're not paying me enough and why did you allow that person from Demacia/Noxus/Bilgewater in?!



yeah yeah i know it wouldn't work with a lot of the new champion lore but still, lots of hijinks to be had

I've personally always viewed this as being a matter of intention & focus

A site with a major over arching plot and factions intends to be a plot driven action including story with events and plot influence and things determined by character interactions etc etc.it's more like a story book or an action movie and the intent from the beginning is to pass through Plot check points and play out the story as participants in it.

Slice of life is more about a setting and general interactions resulting in something far more laid back. The goal is to have a nice general setting for characters to established in but no over arching canon story, it's more about the blending of every day adventures and shenanigans with the occasional "but what if this happened?!?" Thrown in to help keep it spicy. They also tend to rely more heavily on member driven plots to make stuff happen than staff driven.

Ex:
A fantasy site where vampires and werewolves hate each other and have been warring for centuries, the war is hitting a boiling point and about to bleed into human society upsetting the cosmic balance between the special and the not, how will you survive when the world starts to fall apart?!?!

Vs

A fantasy site where non humans coexist with humanity, magic and gods are abundant and well received. Peace is the common state of mind and the world can't wait to hear your story.

The latter is most likely to be labeled slice of life because while a werewolf pack and a vamp coven might be fighting in it the intention of the site is not to focus on them specifically, just to let them exist.

A fantasy site where they are the focus may have slice of life elements or characters in it but they are not its main focus, just something that isn't entirely shunned because there's no reason for it to be pushed out when it's just kinda there.


Eta: to be a good girl and obey the rules of the thread..... Kinda feeling a semi modern fantasy setting again. Just a little bit. Miss playing my unruly demons/vamps