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Guilds on RPoL?

Posted by Martel
Martel
member, 16 posts
D&D, Free-form, Original,
and Fandom-based RP
Mon 27 Nov 2017
at 17:43
  • msg #1

Guilds on RPoL?

Not a request for a feature; I'm wondering about a social thing.

Most big multiplayer video games have guilds, clans, or something to that effect. People who play games together, due to looking for similar things. Often, they cross individual game boundaries, maintaining an independent online presence and playing multiple games together.

Is there anything like this on RPoL? Groups of people who look for/join/internally advertise similar games, together, possibly with a game/discussion forum "platform?"
bigbadron
moderator, 15473 posts
He's big, he's bad,
but mostly he's Ron.
Mon 27 Nov 2017
at 17:49

Guilds on RPoL?

The closest thing, I expect, would be the various privately run discussion forums that exist here, dedicated to specific games/systems.
Martel
member, 18 posts
D&D, Free-form, Original,
and Fandom-based RP
Mon 27 Nov 2017
at 17:58
  • msg #3

Guilds on RPoL?

In reply to bigbadron (msg # 2):

I stumbled onto those last night; it's what got me thinking. They don't seem very active (or, rather, there don't seem to be a lot of them); maybe the medium isn't conducive to the idea.

Thanks for the feedback man. I'm going to go ahead and assume that you'd be aware if they were a larger presence on the site, staff and all.
Hunter
member, 1400 posts
Captain Oblivious!
Lurker
Mon 27 Nov 2017
at 18:06
  • msg #4

Guilds on RPoL?

Guilds in video games usually provide one or more in game benefits (such as improved experience, cheaper travel, additional storage space, etc) rather than just being social conduits.

What I'd expect to see here is more of a discussion group.   Where you can exchange ideas and the like.
Nerwen
member, 1883 posts
seek to understand before
you seek to be understood
Mon 27 Nov 2017
at 18:34
  • msg #5

Re: Guilds on RPoL?

Martel:
In reply to bigbadron (msg # 2):
I stumbled onto those last night; it's what got me thinking. They don't seem very active (or, rather, there don't seem to be a lot of them); maybe the medium isn't conducive to the idea.


The medium per se should work fine for discussion forums of various roleplay-related topics/systems. The problem is getting enough people to find them and want to discuss things there. A lot of times I'll see posts in CC or other official RPoL forums that would fit well with one of the unofficial discussion forums, but they get discussed in CC etc. instead because that's what everyone knows about - because the official forums are well-advertised, while the unofficial ones are only allowed to mention themselves by name in WP or within individual games (just like regular games). It makes it harder to reach the critical mass of regular posters where a community becomes active and self-sustaining.
bigbadron
moderator, 15474 posts
He's big, he's bad,
but mostly he's Ron.
Mon 27 Nov 2017
at 18:55

Re: Guilds on RPoL?

In reply to Nerwen (msg # 5):

They're also listed over in the Heaven - Gaming Resources board.
icosahedron152
member, 812 posts
Tue 28 Nov 2017
at 09:58
  • msg #7

Re: Guilds on RPoL?

Nerwen has hit the nail on the head, there. There are a number of Private Discussion Forums here on Rpol, but they are not always easy to find.

I'd love to have a Historical Gamers' Guild, or a Traveller Player's Guild, or something of that type here, to gather players with a shared interest together, particularly for the less popular genres, but AFAIK, they don't exist.

There is a list of private discussion forums on the Heaven board, but it's not exhaustive, since they're not automatically listed. The GM has to know/recall that the listing is there, and then ask for his/her forum to be included.

As an example, having been reminded of the list's existence by BBR's post above, I've just passed that information to the GM of a forum I'm in, which isn't listed yet. I'm sure ours is not the only unlisted one.

Since Discussion Group (or some such) is an option in the Game Description, Rpol's Search Function is another way to find them, but again, that depends on the GM listing it as a Discussion Group, which, sadly, isn't a given.

Everything relies on the GM. IF the GM is aware of every advertising opportunity AND takes advantage of it, AND describes the forum in a way that the Search facility and prospective members will recognize, AND prospective members know where to look, there is a chance that interested parties will meet up, but there is little that individual forum members can do to help things along.

The list of private Discussion Groups doesn't warrant a Public Forum of its own, it's merely a sub-thread within the resource forum, and people forget it's there. Still, at least a list exists now. That's new in the last three years, so things may be moving in the right direction.

So yes, there are 'Guilds' of a sort here, but even if one you'd like to join exists, you may not find it. There is nothing inherently wrong with this medium for creating 'guilds', but the current site policies don't really encourage them to flourish.

I believe there is a facility to have a private forum raised to the status of a public forum, where it would get much more attention, but the bar is set so high that in the decade that I've been a member of Rpol, I don't recall any private forum making the grade. Personally, I think this indicates that the bar is set too high, but hey, who am I?

As an illustration, there is one particular private forum I'm thinking of that would be very useful as a public forum, and it is accessed frequently by a lot of enquirers 'in the know', but since it is effectively a read-only resource, it's traffic is never noted as a post-count, and doesn't contribute to its status.

It’s not mine, I’m not affiliated to it in any way, but even so, I can't tell you what this useful forum is, or where to find it, because the site rules don't allow it. QED.
Mad Mick
member, 917 posts
The end
is in the beginning
Tue 28 Nov 2017
at 11:30
  • msg #8

Re: Guilds on RPoL?

I had no idea that Heaven had a place to list game system discussion forums.  Thank you for pointing that out!
Martel
member, 20 posts
D&D, Free-form, Original,
and Fandom-based RP
Tue 28 Nov 2017
at 20:38
  • msg #9

Re: Guilds on RPoL?

In reply to Mad Mick (msg # 8):

Likewise! Appreciate it, Ron. I'm considering starting a discussion board for world building, though I'm a bit swamped ATM. Would happily join one someone else created.

Is that something that could be advertised in Wanted - GMs, or no? I'm guessing not, but I thought I'd ask on the off-chance.
This message was last edited by the user at 20:40, Tue 28 Nov 2017.
facemaker329
member, 6973 posts
Gaming for over 30
years, and counting!
Tue 28 Nov 2017
at 23:14
  • msg #10

Re: Guilds on RPoL?

I've seen ads for forums like that in  Wanted: Players, and I don't know of any prohibition against listing a forum on both W:P and W:GM.  As far as the 'mutual interests across multiple platforms' aspect, the closest I've come to that is just having players (who've become online friends, in many cases) inviting other players to check out games they're either starting or just getting into, as a way of trying to proliferate pleasant, reliable players being in the games.  As I don't play MMORPGs, I don't know much about the finer nuances of just what a guild (for gaming) is...
Nerwen
member, 1884 posts
seek to understand before
you seek to be understood
Wed 29 Nov 2017
at 00:09
  • msg #11

Re: Guilds on RPoL?

The Discussion section isn't automatically available as an option for putting your new "game" in (or wasn't, when I was putting something in it. Since the only other one is still an RPoL-mod-run forum, if the option is available now no one knows about it...). The mods had to put it there manually. I wholeheartedly encourage more people to get theirs put into it just so that there's a hefty list that makes the whole section more enticing to browse through.

If by "public" forum you mean that anyone can walk right up and start posting in it without having to be manually added by a game GM... Turning a private forum into a public forum is also possible, but again, not automatic. In my case I had to do a ton of arguing in favor of it before they let me have it. (For people who have just now become aware that this is possible: they will ask you which people to turn into forum mods (effectively the GMs for the forum); I suggest picking three so that there's a tie-breaker if mods disagree about how to handle something, and not more than that because then situations are more likely to bog down in committee).

Then, of course, the lack of advertising options came into play. WP was the only public place I was told that we could advertise, back when I was advocating for public member-run discussion forums. So now it's more like an extensive repository of resources for a particular family of game systems than a discussion forum (which is also handy, since regular games are eligible for deletion off the site after a while, and it's nice to have somewhere permanent to store things).

I had no idea Heaven had a list either, and I think that was more because I forgot (because now that I'm thinking back on it, all of my arguing probably had something to do with its creation..). Heaven isn't somewhere that I normally think of to look for things though, maybe others look in there more.
horus
member, 326 posts
Wed 29 Nov 2017
at 07:17
  • [deleted]
  • msg #12

Re: Guilds on RPoL?

This message was deleted by the user at 07:20, Wed 29 Nov 2017.
icosahedron152
member, 813 posts
Wed 29 Nov 2017
at 12:18
  • msg #13

Re: Guilds on RPoL?

Nerwen, when I mentioned 'public forums', I was talking about the forums that are run by Rpol and can be accessed directly from the home page.

What you are describing there is still a private game which isn't visible to all via a home page link, but has to be sought out as a game using the normal channels.

There are a lot of people who are not aware of the list in Heaven, or have forgotten about it. That's why I would advocate that a list of Private Forums should be included as a direct read-only public forum (like Rpol Announcements), rather than being buried as a sub thread in another forum.

When they have reached a certain standard, they would then be promoted one rank, to become their own public forum.
bigbadron
moderator, 15475 posts
He's big, he's bad,
but mostly he's Ron.
Wed 29 Nov 2017
at 15:37

Re: Guilds on RPoL?

Privately run forums are just that - privately run.  RPoL does not run them, nor do we have the time to do so.  Basically, if you want a forum for your favourite game, you will need to set it up and run it yourself.

Setting it up is just like any game board on the site.  Set it up, advertise it, recruit members.

When you think you can show us that it can sustain itself (ie: it has plenty of members, frequent posting) then you can contact us about making it into a forum in the Discussion section (note that this only applies to gaming related forums - if you want to discuss knitting patterns, then you are free to do so, but we will not give you a discussion board to do it in).

If we agree that the game is sustainable as a forum (and does not duplicate an existing forum), then you have two choices
  • An open board, just like Community Chat where any site member can post.
  • A closed board, where membership is required before somebody can post.
Beyond that initial proving period, there is no need to qualify for either type of forum.

The new forum will be under the control of the original GM and co-GMs.  They will be responsible for moderating it, and enforcing their own rules (though it should go without saying that those rules must also comply with rules of the site).

quote:
That's why I would advocate that a list of Private Forums should be included as a direct read-only public forum (like Rpol Announcements), rather than being buried as a sub thread in another forum.

The Heaven list is the response to previous requests for a place to advertise these privately run forums, and was only implemented when Skald started running the forum a couple of years ago.  Considering how few people seem to read the Announcements (in spite of that board being on everybody's sticky list) I seriously doubt that posting the list there would make the slightest difference.

Note that the Heaven forum is also "a direct read-only public forum (like Rpol Announcements)", and any ads posted there would still be "in a sub thread".
This message was last edited by the user at 15:41, Wed 29 Nov 2017.
icosahedron152
member, 815 posts
Wed 29 Nov 2017
at 18:04
  • msg #15

Re: Guilds on RPoL?

Ah, I misremembered the details. Thanks Ron. :)
Nerwen
member, 1885 posts
seek to understand before
you seek to be understood
Thu 30 Nov 2017
at 04:56
  • msg #16

Re: Guilds on RPoL?

My aha! moment:

There is also a list of member-run forums in the Game Systems forum, in the notice post. I knew I remembered cruinne doing that way back when... just forgot where.
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