Well, not totally about rps themsleves, but more about the rpers. And this may be a total bust, but I thought I'd post it anyway. Well, we have a workshop, and that's good and all, but newbies may not read that. And seeing how there's a lot of them...well, the rp section isn't all that impressive. So I thought of a simple solution. (Well, more like stole the idea...but yeah... Details. Who needs them?) RP Teachers. RPers who are decent at rping can be assigned to help out newbies. Course, can't force teach people (without getting in trouble that is...) so someone can make a thread where people can ask for help and get it. Course this can be doomed to fail, but I wanted to know what other people thought of it.
You mean kinda like the adoption for the Forum Familes? This is a good suggestion, but people can read the guidelines and rules for the RP section, can't they? If not, open up a question thread for newbies. If all else fails, the newbs are just blind then.
I like this idea actually. I had something similar in mind although couldn't think of getting it to work while your idea seems more workable than what I had. I think I might try this after a word with others and see if it can be done as we hope. Problem is though, certain members may consider themselves top notch when they themselves have problems in the odd place or in general are just too over confident. I think it could work if we can get polite, decent RPers yet willing to commit members involved. I do agree, the RP section does need some work in it's actual rping skills and some variation between RP types and styles (seeing how most people tend to do anime or game based fantasy these days while the real life section is deader than dead). I'm all for this idea, just need some more feedback from others though.
Would these rp teachers specialized in a certain form or style of rp? I wouldn't know the styles myself because I'm a joke of an rper, but I was just wondering.
@Docyx no15: Yes, I meant role play. And, out of curiosity, did you read what was in the workshop? This is just to see if it'd be better to have teachers or not... I think that would be up to whoever is teaching... It might be best to have someone for each type of rping, but every person has their own style.
Then again, there are certain characters that are always a staple is certain rp's: the hero, love interest, rival, villan, henchman, independant, and so on. Alot of people I see select archetypes that either they don't know or simply aren't prepared for. I was thinking that the teachers specialized in a certain type of character and such.
Every rper favors a certain type of character too. They learn to specialize with that type of character, mainly because they use it often, like it, and maybe even it is based off of themselves. But experienced rpers should know how to do many roles. Plus rps shouldn't be limited to only those stereotypical characters.
I didn't say limit. I'm just saying that those are key roles in rp's and those who take them should be taught at least certain guidelines about them. If you'd like, I'd explain it more in pm.
Maybe on the sign up page for the teaching sessions, it could include common problems that many Rpers have, so that people can notice that something they are doind counts as a problem.
I'm liking this idea. Personally I was nearing the point of not RPing here anymore because all the good RPs get swarmed by people who only half know what they're doing. Also from a phychology of learning perspective it would also help the teachers because teaching is a great method of learning ironically enough so it would likly help the teachers iron out the flaws they have as well. The only thing is that I'm not sure how well it will work since people would need to volunteer to be pupils and I don't picture to many of the amature RPers doing that. They could allways prove me wrong but that's my thought.
Been RPing for ages and never really thought about that. But why do we need it? If us "good" RPers think we're so great, shouldn't we already be teaching people how to RP? More than once I've had people come to me with questions about RPing and ideas...so why can't the already active(and decent) RPers just do more to help others? As in join ...er...below average RPs and try to improve the quality of that one RP. No need for official stuff really. If people don't want to use the workshop, then maybe it should be redone and turned into more of a...well, "help" place.
How would that work? I mean, people don't use the workshop, what guarantee is there that they'll sign up to be taught? In the end, it's up to the RP Maker to decide who to accept in their RP. Yeah, it might be rude to deny someone because of their lack of sense-making, spelling or grammar errors, or typing like a script, but it'll stop the RP itself from suffering. It's been awhile since I've read the rules in that section, but maybe update them with more common problems (if they're not already there)
Guys, sorry to say this will not happen. There are many ways people role-play and the only teachers should be in actual role-play threads of an rp. If you don't like how someone is role-playing, pm the person or say so in the thread that they need to meet requirements. Write on a role-play thread on the first post what it is you seek from role-players, so there's no doubt as to the GM's rules and guidelines. If you don't want one-liners or loony stuff, post you don't want it in your role-play. If the person persists, tell them they can no longer be in the role-play. A game creator has that right to decide someone is 'unfit' for the role-play.. but not -every- role-play. An idea that isn't so skewed as in people decide 'what is role-play' for everyone might be this. What about the option of doing an area of OOC chat for roleplayers where they can meet up with others, collaborate ideas and maybe even have 'test' posts before approval to an RP? In this way, those who are of like minds on what RP is can do an RP together and give it a whirl instead of dictating to others what their concept is of a 'correct' role-player.
The thing is that people need to be able to practice and fine tune your skills and RP owners all know that because we've all been there. Saying that a person's post isn't good enough for an RP is like telling someone they are too fat to excercise. It can happen, but it's an extreme.
But people don't always notice their mistakes until someone points it out. I still see people who make their characters do a bunch of things in one post, like finishing a battle, doing something they can't do and then traveling across the world or something. I still see a few people who write like script. If you don't point it out, they won't notice. The best way to hone your RPing skills is to practice. If someone read the stickies in that section, then they would at least have a better understanding of the basics.
Well that's why RP teachers is a good thing. They can point out the things that people do or don't like in an RP post so that they aren't unknowingly forming bad habits. Maybe I'm understanding it wrong but I was picturing a thread where we would match teachers and students and then the teachers would help those students in the other RPs they are in and maybe some proxy RP postis in the main thread. I really only see two bad things. First we don't get students and the thread falls on it's face. Second the teachers we get aren't great and they enforce bad techniques. The first isn't really a reason not to try and the second is likely to be worked out shortly after it surfaces.
