Pokemon Roleplay Discussion

[Feign]

I bet he is studying for exams. :3

It's that time of year again.

 

[Mika]

I bet he is studying for exams. :3

It's that time of year again.

^ this.

Alter's said it in Alter's vms etc. :3

As far as canceling a RP submission, I'd send Alter a PM and tell him/her you're no longer interested. You could VM but I'd say from personal experience that PMs get gone through on a more regular basis.

I know it's been a long wait guys but it's just that time of year again when school kicks everyone's butt. Alter isn't slacking off on you guys, I think Alter's just preoccupied with real life stuff that, as always, takes first priority over the online world. ^^;; I know it's a long wait and if you can't stay, at least from me you get a 'baww i wish you would stay ;.;' but I know that there's frustration on both sides.

 

[pokemongarnet]

Would anybody be interested in an UBER long RP that would go through all the regions?

 

[Mika]

Would anybody be interested in an UBER long RP that would go through all the regions?

What would be the reason for doing so? i.e. what's the plot?

Uber long rps are great if they can stay alive that long. Take it from someone who has a tendency to make overly complicated roleplays, they die rather quickly when you can't keep up the pace. o3o

 

[TundraCanine]

I honestly do not see how someone else like Loki or Twilight can't approve all the RP submissions. The longer Alter is gone, the more submissions that are going to pile up.

 

[Mika]

I honestly do not see how someone else like Loki or Twilight can't approve all the RP submissions. The longer Alter is gone, the more submissions that are going to pile up.

Only Alter, who is the Moderator for the Roleplay section, can approve threads in the Roleplay section. Twilight is a moderator in another section, not this one, thus he/she doesn't have access to the threads pending approval.

As far as Loki+ goes, SuperMods and other High Staff are responsible for more than just one section. Asking them to take on an entire moderator's work isn't just unfair, it's not plausible. They have other work to do besides pick up the slack for one mod who's got a very legit reason for not being as active as he/she usually is. Not to mention, for those of you who may not know, the way that threads are accepted here isn't just a plain and simple yes or no. Alter does a quick critical review of each RP and if it's not up to par, he/she comes up with reasons as to why it's not up to par so that you can fix it before you submit it again. He/she doesn't approve of slacking in this category because he/she likes to see improvement among you guys as well as see the great rps this section is known for. Yes, if he/she didn't do that, the RPs would go through alot faster but then, and this has happened before guys, you guys would bombard him/her with questions as to why your roleplay didn't make it through moderation which is an even bigger pain to hear I bet. :x

Yes it's true that submissions are going to pile up but that's just how it goes sometimes. I get you guys are frustrated but try and put yourself in his/her shoes. If you had literally life changing exams coming up, wouldn't you want to pour your heart and soul into studying for that even with people whining where's the new episode and tugging at you from every angle to do things for them regardless of the fact they know what's keeping you away? I understand your frustration I really do, I want to put a roleplay of my own through moderation but at the moment, we just need to be patient. Real life > PC. Always. It's a fact of life, even for the moderators. They can't be here 24/7 and sure, maybe someone else should be helping in an ideal world but it's just that time of year for everyone.

Seniors in the US are getting ready to graduate on top of AP Exams not to mention semester finals if you're a college aged student in the US[or Canada tho most of theirs are done now] and in Europe, it's college entrance exam season. In Australia, the semester is just getting tough as they've passed the halfway point and are now getting an incredible amount of work put on their shoulders. If this doesn't make sense, I'm listing the places where the staff here on PC come from to try and give you a sense as to why your rp submission is not the #1 priority right now. :< It's nothing personal, really it's not.

 

[parallelzero]

I honestly do not see how someone else like Loki or Twilight can't approve all the RP submissions. The longer Alter is gone, the more submissions that are going to pile up.

Loki hasn't been staff for like a month, so. =x

 

[Rabbit]

Alter does a quick critical review of each RP and if it's not up to par, he/she comes up with reasons as to why it's not up to par so that you can fix it before you submit it again.

Remember when Alter decided to quit doing in-depth critique of submitted roleplays because it took so long? That doesn't seem to have happened. I wonder why?

 

[Mika]

Remember when Alter decided to quit doing in-depth critique of submitted roleplays because it took so long? That doesn't seem to have happened. I wonder why?

Mm, it was that people constantly vm'd/pm'd him/her over it to the point that he/she decided for awhile to just decline/accept to make it faster but then people, to best of my knowledge, vm'd/pm'd him/her asking for reasons as to why their RP was not accepted which bogged the process from another angle. :x

He/she reconsidered:

Just a small update for you guys.

I think I've had enough of a breathing break now, and fast as it is it just goes against me to watch people doing things horribly wrong and not explain why. SO

WE'RE BACK IN BUSINESS PEOPLE. DETAILED COMMENT WILL BE GIVEN AS USUAL.

My thanks to those who respected my need for space and to Loki for a much appreciated intrusion on the thread moderation. Hopefully this will be the last time I need to do something like this.

The above-which quote was taken from this thread.

Loki is no longer a staff member and parallelzero is the only other former RP mod still around nowadays and he/she is a Staff Admin who has far more important things to do than moderate a section. :x I know it's frustrating but I promise Alter hasn't forgotten you guys.

 

[The Pretender]

Only Alter, who is the Moderator for the Roleplay section, can approve threads in the Roleplay section. Twilight is a moderator in another section, not this one, thus he/she doesn't have access to the threads pending approval.

As far as Loki+ goes, SuperMods and other High Staff are responsible for more than just one section. Asking them to take on an entire moderator's work isn't just unfair, it's not plausible. They have other work to do besides pick up the slack for one mod who's got a very legit reason for not being as active as he/she usually is. Not to mention, for those of you who may not know, the way that threads are accepted here isn't just a plain and simple yes or no. Alter does a quick critical review of each RP and if it's not up to par, he/she comes up with reasons as to why it's not up to par so that you can fix it before you submit it again. He/she doesn't approve of slacking in this category because he/she likes to see improvement among you guys as well as see the great rps this section is known for. Yes, if he/she didn't do that, the RPs would go through alot faster but then, and this has happened before guys, you guys would bombard him/her with questions as to why your roleplay didn't make it through moderation which is an even bigger pain to hear I bet. :x

Yes it's true that submissions are going to pile up but that's just how it goes sometimes. I get you guys are frustrated but try and put yourself in his/her shoes. If you had literally life changing exams coming up, wouldn't you want to pour your heart and soul into studying for that even with people whining where's the new episode and tugging at you from every angle to do things for them regardless of the fact they know what's keeping you away? I understand your frustration I really do, I want to put a roleplay of my own through moderation but at the moment, we just need to be patient. Real life > PC. Always. It's a fact of life, even for the moderators. They can't be here 24/7 and sure, maybe someone else should be helping in an ideal world but it's just that time of year for everyone.

Seniors in the US are getting ready to graduate on top of AP Exams not to mention semester finals if you're a college aged student in the US[or Canada tho most of theirs are done now] and in Europe, it's college entrance exam season. In Australia, the semester is just getting tough as they've passed the halfway point and are now getting an incredible amount of work put on their shoulders. If this doesn't make sense, I'm listing the places where the staff here on PC come from to try and give you a sense as to why your rp submission is not the #1 priority right now. :< It's nothing personal, really it's not.

Damn chill out, it was just a simple statement.

 

[pokemongarnet]

What would be the reason for doing so? i.e. what's the plot?

Uber long rps are great if they can stay alive that long. Take it from someone who has a tendency to make overly complicated roleplays, they die rather quickly when you can't keep up the pace. o3o

I don't really know, just I wonder if it could be pulled off.

 

[Mika]

I don't really know, just I wonder if it could be pulled off.

Something I learned about half a year ago I wish I'd learned alot earlier:

Don't plan too far ahead in your roleplays.

My 'teacher' taught me that if you let your plays somewhat dictate the movements of your plot/you keep the plot somewhat open ended, rps last alot longer. :3

If you want something like that, maybe think of a reason to go from region to region [ex: a scavenger hunt etc] and don't go to ever single town. That'd get so old so fast in my opinion. @_@

 

[perfectmonster]

Yes!!! Alter Ego has finally posted! I'm not so happy that I'll have to look through all of them :P

 

[pokemongarnet]

New RPs are up, that's great, It would seem that the people who waited that long to get their RPs declined must've been pretty angry

Something I learned about half a year ago I wish I'd learned alot earlier:

Don't plan too far ahead in your roleplays.

My 'teacher' taught me that if you let your plays somewhat dictate the movements of your plot/you keep the plot somewhat open ended, rps last alot longer. :3

If you want something like that, maybe think of a reason to go from region to region [ex: a scavenger hunt etc] and don't go to ever single town. That'd get so old so fast in my opinion. @_@

Thanks, that makes alot of sense.

 

[Alter Ego]

Well, on the note of why you haven't seen much of me around lately, here's what's up:

I'm currently preparing for the entrance exams to not one but two universities, both of which will be in June. One is a high-end university with harsh exam standards so I'm also enrolled in a prep course to prepare for it. The course has lessons three times a week (Monday, Wednesday, Friday), effectively taking over those days. Tuesday, Thursday, Saturday I have to self-study for the other exam and finish the homework from the prep course, so again not much time to spare. I still try to get on Sundays, but that's also the day I have set aside for odds and ends I didn't have the time to finish on the other six days not to mention it's also supposed to be the day I get some peace and quiet so I don't go into full burnout over the workload.

...that and I got a particularly nasty case of flu this week that left me behind in schedule. Fortunately, this is also a holiday week so I had a bit of extra time to spare to finally go through all the submissions.

So yeah, sorry for the wait everyone, I really am ridiculously busy for the time being. I'll make an effort to get the moderation checked up Sundays, but with my schedule being what it is I can only promise 'when I have the time to spare' right now.

That being said, this state of extreme busy should be over and done with by July, so just hang in there until then. If **** really hits the fan a gentleman in red MIGHT indeed step in to help, but really: don't count on or pester him about it. Any higher staff assistance I get over here is given purely at their discretion.

As far as the discussion on getting another mod goes, well...the moderation process is a high staff matter and not in my jurisdiction. That being said, just rush-recruiting someone to help deal with the load would probably not be a good idea. To begin with, it would have to be a competent and reliable person with some depth of experience on how things are run in this section. In all honesty, I'd also want to break in any assisting mod on a more peaceful period where I can make sure we're both on the same page on how things should be run and they can get used to handling the position. Moderator powers take a bit of adjustment to get used to and make some really nasty messes if they're used carelessly.

On moderation process and comments...yeah, what happened was basically that the people whining about moderation taking too long then came to me and started whining even more about why their RPs were getting declined. As much as it made sense from a logistical point of view, it really just felt like the punishment was unfairly hitting the good members who actually put time and effort into what they do while having no visible effect on the mindless whiners. I may resort to the hit-and-run decline/approve again from time to time to keep things rolling here, but as a norm I'll at least try to give the comments as well.

As for GMs...that's a term that's been used to describe all kinds of things, really. Usually around here it's used in the capacity of 'game master', which just refers to whoever is hosting the RP you're participating in. But yes, it can also be shorthand for God Mod, so I prefer 'RP master' simply because it's less cluttered with confusing usage.

I honestly do not see how someone else like Loki or Twilight can't approve all the RP submissions. The longer Alter is gone, the more submissions that are going to pile up.

The answer to that would be the same as to why there's thread moderation in the first place: to keep order and standard in the section. Submissions are screened in moderation because otherwise we'd be flooded with spam, misplaced threads, plots that need filler characters to fit the post character minimum and people trying to advertise their own crapshot RPing sites.

The Loki angle has already been covered (and you will note she's never been a blanket approver either), and the notion of bringing in a moderator from a completely different section (even if we ignore the fact they'd have no moderator privileges here) is absurd simply because those moderators DON'T follow the comings and goings of the section and are not guaranteed to have any knowledge of or even interest in RPs and would thus have no idea how they're supposed to be judging the threads. It's also a far more time consuming process than you'd think. See all those threads with the sometimes very long plots lined up in the section? I read through those. All of those. That's what fair thread moderation requires. Even as a routined reader, I still need upwards from half an hour for the average moderation round. That's not something you can just dump on a person who never signed up to deal with this section begin with.

Rather than complaining about the moderation process, I'd suggest that you repeat the phrase 'I will post my threads in the appropriate subsection' as long as it takes for you to remember it the next time you try to submit something. You seem to be having a bit of trouble with that concept. :\

I agree, Garnet, there should be some consequences for dropping out of a roleplay unannounced. It's really common and can ruin the roleplay for everyone else. People should treat their spot in a roleplay as a responsibility. A reputation system might be a step in the right direction.

I'm wondering, how would a system like that work? Would there be a way to make sure only GMs use it, or should anyone be able to comment on a roleplayer's reputation? Couldn't it be easily abused?

There isn't such a large number of roleplayers on this forum. Maybe reputation could be kept track of informally on one large thread. If someone quit without notice, the GM would tell the thread's creator, and a tick would appear next to the roleplayer's name on the list. Future roleplay creators would be able to judge applicants based on the number of checks.

Alright, I hate to be a cynic but...

...no reputation. Never reputation. Systems like that are always abused; just look at the never ending stream of complaints about reputation abuse in the C Q&A. It would just become another tool for insecure RP masters to pick on whoever disagreed with them, or got into a fight with them, or who did anything they didn't like, and someone would try to implement some kind of demented system with them for their RP and...

...yeah, too abusable. A member vote type system only works if the majority of members use their votes responsibly, and every reputation type system out there is solid evidence for the fact that things just don't work like that. I see it leading to more hurt feelings and quarrels over ticking than anything else.

As far as I can tell, the best you can do abot flaky RPers is keep them in memory. If someone just vanished on you last time then you should take that into consideration when they try to sign up next time. We can have whatever rules and systems we want, but at the end of the day, if RP masters don't act against it then things will stay as they are because people like that will still keep getting accepted into RPs.

I don't really know, just I wonder if it could be pulled off.

It can, and I recall it happening once. That being said, I recall a lot more times when the RP master proudly declared all regions and then the RP tripped up on itself before they got out of Pallet Town. My advice would be don't focus on the length. It's not a virtue in itself and it usually leads to overly airy, long-reach plots that lack the momentum to keep the RP interesting. Approach it from the direction of making an enjoyable RP then just roll with it as far as it will go; it's a lot more fun for everyone that way.

And yeah, with an 'all regions' thing, given how all the regions game-wise are built on the same formula, you'd really have to figure out a way to keep it from becoming the same old same old around the second or third region.

 

[ANARCHit3cht]

Wow... its been too long. But... Alter Ego is still in charge... hoorays for that.

T.T This new layout is confusing me...

Also... I wanna know what kinduh RP is "in"

 

[Rabbit]

Also... I wanna know what kinduh RP is "in"

Roleplays with thoughful, complex plots that leave room for character development and have an assortment of character roles are totally in right now.

Nah, I'm just kidding. It's journeyfic roleplays as usual. (Please don't make another one! Please! Dx)

 

[ANARCHit3cht]

Roleplays with thoughful, complex plots that leave room for character development and have an assortment of character roles are totally in right now.

Nah, I'm just kidding. It's journeyfic roleplays as usual. (Please don't make another one! Please! Dx)

Oh god.. still? Blargh! Those should like be banned! But of course.. if that happened... then the RP section as we know would be gone.

 

[Zeta Sukuna]

I really do kind of wish that there were more of the former, Rabbit. But that isn't the case. There are a little too much journeyfic RPs out there, and the irony is that I just joined one.

Eh, for some reason I like that kind of RP, despite the fact that my own writing should shy me away from that, it's just nice to sometimes work under a controlled medium. Journey fic RPs don't give much for an assortment of character roles, but they're not really designed to be like that, nor should they. I tried to do that once upon a time, and it didn't work out, at all.

 

[pokemongarnet]

I've noticed alot of "alternate world" kind of stuff with much more abstract roles than a regular trainer.