staff.....advice....eh? 🚬 ( context: some pokemon, plot-driven sites, event-oriented with original progression systems, urban fantasy, statless combat, etc. )

my number one piece of advice is don't do it with people you don't love. (merry chrimmus cila) don't have a team of seven moderators. don't do a staff search on pixel perfect. don't put your love and effort into something and then create a backdoor where you give other people an equal say in the thing that you have lost sleep over.

if your project fails, at least let it be your project. you can't afford to be afraid of that.

make it very very clear that you have authority. project it, use it. AND YET don't dress it up as something YOU are not—don't feel the need to type or act or speak a certain way, or coddle members, or capitalize your sentences (unless you do that already). instead, be funny in the way only you are. approachable. enjoy yourself and be interesting. charming, if you can. start conversations. get to know the people around you because otherwise you're really not going to have fun and that's the most important thing you can do as an admin. don't find "middle-ground" between nice and serious, because then you become boring. instead, be both, just at the right time.

care about the site plot more than you care about personal plots. care about other people's plots more than you care about personal plots, but not more than you care about the site plot, and not more than the 1-2 plots that make you really happy. make sure all people are happy, sure, but first make sure they are not bored. never let people get bored.

and as one really great kinda cool #3rd ranked (according to them, not me) admin in the world once told me, albeit paraphrased: "the number one rule of being an admin—NEVER, EVER, EVER, EVER make a mistake. and the number two rule of being an admin—there are no mistakes. you're always right."

(confession below to stay on topic, warning for abrupt change from the much cooler tone of the above message—)

oh god i have been absolutely dissecting this as of late. here's what i've thought of and noticed, but ofc this is all about me and sometimes The Muse Strikes and all of it becomes irrelevant because i just gotta write that one reply now!! and all of this is also impacted simply bc...life. and external or ooc factors are not included.

i like and easily reply to posts that are:

- relatively simple. the more stuff you have for me to reply to, the longer i'm going to take. interestingly, i've found it applies to spliced dialogue in posts or posts with too many dialogue segments. the more stuff there is to reply to, the harder it is to maintain a continuous and logical flow of reactions and responses in my own posts, EVEN IF all of that stuff is amazing and i love it, it's just going to require a Coorindation Effort from me.

- however, the above does NOT apply to super long descriptions or things like that. i don't mind winding prose and people going "all out" or throwing in flashbacks or writing something incredibly long with lots of introspection. love it! ur absolutely not going to get length matched from me HAHA but it will not affect how long i take to get back to u.

- characterizes other things well. i've noticed even when there r subtle mischaracterizations or misalignments—say, if we are both interpreting the setting differently, or if your interpretation of my character is off-base, or if i write xyz npc as being a, b, and c, but then your post chooses to portray them differently...it takes me longer to kind of bridge the gap and figure out a compromise, and also makes me lose interest because i have to do "logistics" for the thread.

- has a very obvious hook. sure, not all of everyone's characters are going to be talkative. but you can embed an obvious hook within prose as well ("my character is quietly reading a book. the book is upside down. on closer inspection, they don't even look like they're blinking. are they asleep?") without the need for dialogue or action. provide direction.

- the thread/scenario itself has a clear direction, or at least a goal. if the thread is a "let's throw them together and see how they mix!" kinda thread (or even "hey let's do another a x b thread, love their dynamic!"), i'm going to take 99 days to respond because the thread isn't serving a clear purpose for me personally...i really need something concrete to be happening in the thread! what, by the end of the thread, will have changed for my character? if you can answer that, i'm hooked!!

- if i'm doing most of the work/"dm-ing" the thread, i tend to reply very very quickly at first, and then absolutely lose interest after a while. HAHA. i love control but hate to be stuck with it, what can i say. not sure why this happens, just a pattern i notice. sometimes the "DM high" lasts and i'm quickly replying the whole thread, though. i don't mind if i have to do most or all the work though, personally.

- ultimately...if i know what i gotta do. if there's a post and i just. i know what the next plot point is cuz we discussed it, or i know what should happen next bc ur giving me clear signals, or if i know exactly how my character and the setting are interacting and we're on the same page about the vibes, or i know what the timeline and context of the thread is so i can tap into my character's mood and thoughts...yea. im writing u that response soon!!


BONUS: if the writing itself is fun. if i feel like we're pingponging off each other and we're stealing each other's metaphors and i'm engrossed by ur writing and ur vibing with mine and we're getting playful w/ the characterization... delicious! (though, i think this tends to happen only when the above are also happening)

okok i have little experience w vrmmo rps, BUT i do run a site w/ a magic system that works pretty similarly to what ur describing with the "strict" style, and i do think it has some advantages over freeform as u describe it.

[for context in the site there are x fixed magic types, and you select one and progress through the spell trees/skill trees. staff regularly updates with new spells that members can unlock for their characters]

pros of doing it this way, that i've seen (other than what u already have):

- control over balancing. u never have to worry abt approving sth that might be "OP" or not well-received, and it gets people off the ground faster.
- i've found it creates a fun community aspect to it—members will talk abt new spells, share in the progression system, it adds to the shared culture of the site in a fun way!
- the IC implications for lore are soo much fun with a strict system, imo. it makes ur world cohesive when the magic/ability system is set, and creates for interesting dynamics ICly compared to when each character may be coming from their own baseline system of abilities.

cons:
- it's a lot of work, esp if u intend to continue to add new skills as time goes on.

and about "freeform" — i'd still consider the strict version of doing things freeform because IMO, you can still interpret the skills and use them creatively when there are no stats/hard and fast rules. for example, consider a freeform pokemon site where all the abilities would be pokemon moves...there's still an element of creativity to stringing the movesets together, using ur pokemon to achieve certain goals, and mixing and matching effects! sometimes the abilities being set in stone helps pushes ppl to channel creativity elsewhere, so i kind of see it as a win-win!!

i would also say that it helps if there is enough variety in the skills u are selecting from so that members/characters can still feel like they are achieving unique progression (and not that all characters of a class tend towards the same skills or same niche)

also u could consider a hybrid thing where maybe at a certain point a character can learn a cool signature ability or sth, to add even more layers to progression....

goodluck w the system-building!!

hi iori!! welcome back to forum RP. there's a ton of cool sites around, but maybe moonrise would be interesting to you? it's a modern-setting animanga witch rp with a lot of cool lore.

the general gist is that witches, i.e. magical humans with familiars, have to band together to fend off evil daemons -- but there's a lot of power struggles within and in between factions known as covens.

• we're site-plot focused, with regular high-stakes events, though members do enjoy threading out the everyday SOL thread from time to time. we don't have stats, but our spells and ranks system gives a good sense of progression. battles are freeform and up to the players, though events might use dice rolls and other systems
• the app is as short or as long as you want it to be!
• no word count
• constantly expanding lore. though it's still pretty easy to jump right in -- just pick a coven, and a magic type, and you're set!

good luck with the search!!