I Can Share
This is the first time I've ever actually been peeved by members being part of other RPs.
I've never had a problem with players being members on other forum RP sites or in other groups and having another RP circle of friends. Hell, good for them! Great! Wonderful! The more fun the better! I've been a member of multiple sites, too. Places where I can just be a regular member and chill with a different theme or world to play in and have no demands except to reply to a post here and there. I hold nothing against the players who play in more than one place. Honestly, I don't, some themes are a bunch of the same players, so sites often do end up sharing players and that's fine.
I do, however, find it rude when a player goes inactive for months at a time or posts absence notices and claims they will be or have been gone because of real life stress and demands, but is actually playing it up on another site. In some cases, maybe two.
Not like I go around hunting down missing players on similar RP sites, because that is quite frankly a huge waste of my time. No, the only way this is learned is when myself or another of the Admins is making the rounds updating our ad and finds the player chatting in their chat box about all the plots they're in or the new character they're making. Meanwhile back on our site we think that college is kicking their butt or they have a big project due so they'll only be available on a chat service or they've come down with the flu because that is what we've been told. So we've got players who are waiting for them to come back, who would give them a warm welcome every time because for all we know they're not lying about what they've been up to, and then get on playing the relationships and stories they have on-going and have left hanging.
Seriously, would it hurt so much to just be upfront and say: "Oh hey, I'm going to be gone for the next couple of weeks or month or so because this other site I'm on is having a huge major event and I really want to be a part of it. I'll be back when things cool down and the event ends. Later folks!"
Because that doesn't smart as much as: "School's been real hard and I got this awful cold and this past month has been such a drain and I just can't play anything or find the time to even get on the computer and then when I could my computer got this virus and it took a whole month to mix it and reinstall everything... Sorry I've been gone so long. What have I missed?" When I know from another Admin that during that time period they were playing and chatting actively on another site.
Or if my site just isn't tickling your fancy all that much that you're absent to play on other sites instead, my feelings won't be hurt if you leave. Just stop leaving my players hanging on what would your character do because their character is married or related to yours or there's a plot you got involved in and left halfway through.
What the heck do I do? Do I bother confronting you about this? Or do I make some general blanket site announcement for everyone that? Something like, hey guys, if you're part of other sites that's cool and if the other site will be taking you away from ours for awhile then just let us know and we'll wish you happy RP times until you make it back. Because, you know, I can totally share players.
FYI: No direct quotes were used in this rant.
I've never had a problem with players being members on other forum RP sites or in other groups and having another RP circle of friends. Hell, good for them! Great! Wonderful! The more fun the better! I've been a member of multiple sites, too. Places where I can just be a regular member and chill with a different theme or world to play in and have no demands except to reply to a post here and there. I hold nothing against the players who play in more than one place. Honestly, I don't, some themes are a bunch of the same players, so sites often do end up sharing players and that's fine.
I do, however, find it rude when a player goes inactive for months at a time or posts absence notices and claims they will be or have been gone because of real life stress and demands, but is actually playing it up on another site. In some cases, maybe two.
Not like I go around hunting down missing players on similar RP sites, because that is quite frankly a huge waste of my time. No, the only way this is learned is when myself or another of the Admins is making the rounds updating our ad and finds the player chatting in their chat box about all the plots they're in or the new character they're making. Meanwhile back on our site we think that college is kicking their butt or they have a big project due so they'll only be available on a chat service or they've come down with the flu because that is what we've been told. So we've got players who are waiting for them to come back, who would give them a warm welcome every time because for all we know they're not lying about what they've been up to, and then get on playing the relationships and stories they have on-going and have left hanging.
Seriously, would it hurt so much to just be upfront and say: "Oh hey, I'm going to be gone for the next couple of weeks or month or so because this other site I'm on is having a huge major event and I really want to be a part of it. I'll be back when things cool down and the event ends. Later folks!"
Because that doesn't smart as much as: "School's been real hard and I got this awful cold and this past month has been such a drain and I just can't play anything or find the time to even get on the computer and then when I could my computer got this virus and it took a whole month to mix it and reinstall everything... Sorry I've been gone so long. What have I missed?" When I know from another Admin that during that time period they were playing and chatting actively on another site.
Or if my site just isn't tickling your fancy all that much that you're absent to play on other sites instead, my feelings won't be hurt if you leave. Just stop leaving my players hanging on what would your character do because their character is married or related to yours or there's a plot you got involved in and left halfway through.
What the heck do I do? Do I bother confronting you about this? Or do I make some general blanket site announcement for everyone that? Something like, hey guys, if you're part of other sites that's cool and if the other site will be taking you away from ours for awhile then just let us know and we'll wish you happy RP times until you make it back. Because, you know, I can totally share players.
FYI: No direct quotes were used in this rant.