Recent Posts

options
quote
Quick Interest Checks written Nov 7, 2023 5:53:25 GMT
aliasox
pronounsshe/her
16written posts
oxoearned bits
offlinecurrently
oxo
New Member
oxo Avatar
It's late night rambling time to honor of giving into the possible impulse of ditching a concept for another one I lowkey enjoy more. :^)





I've been thinking about creating an over the top action roleplay, most likely in a futuristic/cyberpunk universe. I've been playing a lot of Cyberpunk 2077 and the DLC along with the heavy inspiration of a playlist I set up that I think personally matches the many emotions and general atmosphere the entire franchise brings out. No overarching plot, but heavy focus on character development and how characters can shape the world around them. I've always enjoyed the aspect of how much of a hold technology has on mankind along with how dependent people have become with megacorporations that practically produced everything around them, whether they like to admit it or not.

Members can play regular humans, humans decorated in cyberlimbs, cyborgs, or full blown robots. They can have (almost) anything at their arsenal; enhanced jump via cyberlimbs? Done. Immune to fire? Done. Being able to lift a car over your head? Boom. That said, there will be limitations so people won't go too berserk with customizing their characters, should they decide they want their human to have a little chrome in them. The best part about this is that this will allow a very free range of (illustrated) face claims that can be used. Characters have the ability to change their entire appearance, whether certain parts have a function or they're there for aesthetic purposes. In other words, you know have a reason to roll up with a dog tail or look like a completely different species. That said, this also includes original work so as long as credit is listed.

I also want to focus on plots that characters and factions alike can bring to the site, each action having a consequence. This gives access to characters (nearly) doing anything that can have an impact on the site's overall direction. Small scale heists, assassinating an important figure, being on the city's most wanted list, etc. Again, there will be limitations and restrictions to make sure people don't go overboard, but characters have the ability to shape the world created for and around them. Combat is a norm, but not at all something that is required. As stats are also nonexistent, characters can be as strong or as weak as they want with, once again, limitations and restrictions.

I may bring in canon positions, but characters with such positions aren't favored over characters that don't hold such "prestige" roles. Canon or not, everyone has equal opportunity to control the fate of the city.

Now in terms of the general premise, I don't want to give too much away since I don't want to ramble too long to the point where it's just nonsensical, but I'm more than willing to go into full depth of the premise if there's any interest for this idea!
options
quote
RPing and mental health written Nov 6, 2023 16:42:48 GMT
aliasox
pronounsshe/her
16written posts
oxoearned bits
offlinecurrently
oxo
New Member
oxo Avatar
I'd like to share a little bit of how I view roleplay:

Roleplay has been a massive positive experience on not just my mental health, but also my life. My very first RP site I was on was a Warriors site that had its own host (I don't remember if it was actually self-host or it did use one, but it wasn't on PB, Jcink, etc). I LOVED the series and I've always wanted to sort of create my own "story" off of it, so the idea of creating my own character, being able to write with other people's characters, and managing to have SOME form of impact on the plot was straight up dope as a tiny wittle baby. I'm a very imaginative person, so having a space (a la preferred rp genre) where I can actually make stories and memorable plots with other people who have the same sentiment was very mind blowing.

I've never really used roleplay as a form of escapism or view it as such whenever life is being a little shite head, only because I do think my mood can heavily impact how I write and how I interact with other fellow writers, so I just take a step back, breathe in, breathe out, and come back whenever I'm more levelheaded. Other hobbies like video games are how I cope whenever something terrible happens because I'm all on my own, I have no one to snap at by accident, etc (singleplayer games are a blessing fr). I know how I act whenever my mental health goes to shite and me being able to recognize that roleplay isn't the best outlet to escape from reality in my case prevented SO much conflicted that would've ignited on my end if were to do so otherwise.

I think the ONLY time where roleplay has had an actual negative effect on my mental health are negative people within the community I'm in, mainly the ones that just needlessly start drama on an issue that could either be dealt with privately or something that can be handled swiftly by all parties involved. Writing itself with other people has never been an issue, but rather who's in the space and their overall demeanor. Here's a little snippet:

SPOILER: Click to show
So this was way back when I was still a freshman in high school, so like 14-15. I was on a Naruto site and I noticed that the position, Hokage, was available as said on the village's roster. I want you to keep in mind, they had a "first come, first serve" type of system, if you will. Whoever finishes their app first for a position gets it, provided there are little to no errors for fixing.

I thought, "oh cool, I can just transfer one of my kage's here!" because I was way too lazy to whip up a fresh new one. I asked staff if I could do it, and they said sure. So boom, I was Hokage.

Now, this guy, I'll name him Doe, was not pleased. Doe already had a WIP up for Hokage, but it was never mentioned in the title that he was applying for Hokage nor was there any sort of reservation made (even though it's first come, first serve), NOR DID STAFF EVEN TELL ME THAT SOMEONE WAS WORKING ON A HOKAGE.

Doe was OUTRAGED. He complained that he's been working and has been chanting "DEATH TO (my Hokage's name)" and "DEATH TO KONOHA." He's been making op jutsu and shit to try and wreck the village and the staff were just egging it on along with the majority of the members that were present. Only like one staff member and two regular members were like "ayo chill it ain't that deep."

I had no choice but to revoke (idk if that's the right word) my position as Hokage because it was all overwhelming. That little bit- I mean Doe was very smug about it as he became Hokage, acting as if I was still going to serve under him. It wasn't until one out of the two regular members gave up one of the kage positions they were working for on their apps for me, which was extremely nice of them.

Alas, I was a very petty bitch at the time who wasn't in the right headspace at the time. How petty, you may ask? To sum it all up, I cussed up a storm, I said stuff that should NEVER be said, and it went to a point where I convinced my friends to start trolling and spreading rumors about the site that ultimately led to its closing just months later.

Am I proud of what I did? At the time, 14-15 year old me would say absolutely; they deserved it. 90% of them were assholes that deserved to be treated like dirt. I D G A F.

Am I proud of it now? Looking back at it, the most I could've done is just simply walk away instead of going the extra mile of ruining a site that people who were actually considerate and generous on. Or, realistically speaking for 14-15 year old me, call them bitches and dip LMAO.


So, echoing the sentiment that others have said, roleplay isn't this or that, but it's really on how it's used and why it's being used that way. BUT, in my opinion, I don't think it's the best hobby for I guess you can say coping or a form of escapism. Being able to use roleplay as a way to relieve stress and distract yourself is 100% valid, but it's a problem when you become too reliant on it as such.
options
quote
Factions and Stats: How To Approach Them written Oct 2, 2023 22:19:28 GMT
aliasox
pronounsshe/her
16written posts
oxoearned bits
offlinecurrently
oxo
New Member
oxo Avatar
*bangs virtual pots and pans because oxo needs help, like a lot ngl*

So my friends and I are sort of drawn split in the middle when it comes to making factions for our upcoming site. We already have the general premise of what each faction is in terms of their history and how they play a role in our setting. These factions also have relations with each other in terms of how they view each other, if they're allies or rivals, etc. What we're more concerned about are two things: how many factions we should have, and whether or not these factions should have any canon/major positions. I'll give some of the specifics on what we're split on (without spoiling the genre, I'll do that when we're ready to do a little preview and collect interest via interest check :eyes: ).



- We have a total of about 13 factions (yes 13), or at least these are the ones that we think are good enough for character to be made in. The reason why there's so much is because the lore we have and the overall IC environment are the result of multiple groups with different interests, every single one of them having accomplishments and the likes being unique. First friend says we should have 13, but my other friend wants to shred them down to 5-6.

- We're planning to have a reputation system that'll affect a character's overall standing on the site, how they're viewed amongst others, etc. The same first friend says that major/canon positions are needed because they can help shift a faction's direction. While of course all characters, major or not, will have an affect on the site's plot and their affiliated factions, major/canon positions are somewhat held to a slightly higher standard. Just slightly.

Second friend, however, argues that there's no need for canon/major positions because the reputation system we made can give more freedom as to what people would want to do with their characters. Though, it's mentioned that these characters with such positions will have a higher reputation and will vary depending on the position itself along with their importance.

- Stats. We decided to have missions as a way to earn both site currency and reputation points. They're mainly used for missions. Friend 1 says "yes", but friend 2 argues that it'll limit what people want to do with their characters and it'll seep over to actual RP threads, since it wouldn't make sense that these stats would be restricted to missions and not reflect outside of it.


sdfghjmk I know this is a lot and may not make as much sense as it did in my head, but I'd love to know your thoughts on this. Both friends aren't necessarily adamant about whether or not they want things to go a certain way, but I'd LOVE to have some insight/advice to help settle things.


EDIT: Pesky typo cries.
last edit on Oct 2, 2023 22:21:35 GMT by oxo
options
quote
Forum Plotting vs Discord Plotting written Sept 30, 2023 2:05:07 GMT
aliasox
pronounsshe/her
16written posts
oxoearned bits
offlinecurrently
oxo
New Member
oxo Avatar
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.
last edit on Sept 30, 2023 2:06:14 GMT by oxo