I know that forum based role playing is in a state of serious decline, especially over the past few years (okay, decade), but I had recently found a glimmer of hope. I had never heard of role playing directories before. These are websites that are specifically designed to advertise for role playing games. In fact, the idea of dedicating an entire forum to a role playing game is just something I can't seem to wrap my head around. I've heard of, and have been hosting a forum for a long time, dedicated to anime and role playing, and the combination thereof, but there's always been other topics for discussion, and multiple games to participate in.
I took a look around these directories, joined a few of them even, and I have to say that I'm rather disappointed in them. Turns out that not only are they fairly strict regarding the qualifications just to add your site to the directory listing (one directory requires a minimum of 500 members before you can think about adding your site!), that's just bonkers to me! Many of the role playing game boards that I've investigated turned out to be mostly dead, with recent activity at the minimum of a couple months ago. And as for the directory sites themselves, practically on autopilot. Several sites have a Discord as well, but from the few that I've tried to inquire the status of the forum sites, the admins seem to only be interested in receiving messages from friends-- so if you're a new or potential member, good luck getting any sort of attention!
I'm disappointed, in that I have a couple of games in mind, but I can't launch them just yet because I need people to play with! One of which, I'm excited about is a game based around the fictional world of FARTS. It's an idea I've tried to launch several times in the past with slightly different mechanics, and every time it fails, simply because I don't have any body to play with. So, I'll just keep the game idea shelved for now.
Anyway, sorry, I guess I needed to rant.
I took a look around these directories, joined a few of them even, and I have to say that I'm rather disappointed in them. Turns out that not only are they fairly strict regarding the qualifications just to add your site to the directory listing (one directory requires a minimum of 500 members before you can think about adding your site!), that's just bonkers to me! Many of the role playing game boards that I've investigated turned out to be mostly dead, with recent activity at the minimum of a couple months ago. And as for the directory sites themselves, practically on autopilot. Several sites have a Discord as well, but from the few that I've tried to inquire the status of the forum sites, the admins seem to only be interested in receiving messages from friends-- so if you're a new or potential member, good luck getting any sort of attention!
I'm disappointed, in that I have a couple of games in mind, but I can't launch them just yet because I need people to play with! One of which, I'm excited about is a game based around the fictional world of FARTS. It's an idea I've tried to launch several times in the past with slightly different mechanics, and every time it fails, simply because I don't have any body to play with. So, I'll just keep the game idea shelved for now.
Anyway, sorry, I guess I needed to rant.
