Verence Wrote:However, I do think a poll probably won't help much. Am I mistaken in stating that the goal here is to get the RPC revitalized and active again? This would mean we want people who AREN'T using the site, to use the site. Yet, a poll on the site asks people who ARE using the site what would make people want to use it. The wrong people are being polled, and it doesn't really seem possible to poll the right people.
This exactly. I have my doubts about spreading the word in-game, too. I tried that before with that "community night" thread and it went almost entirely ignored save for a few people. I honestly can't tell if was a lack of interest, forgetfulness, disliking me, or wanting to avoid these forums all-together.
Now, I've spent the past few months actively trying to get in touch with new roleplayers that pop up on the RPC, or ones that I find in-game. Whether by getting them into Redpearl and exposing them to multiple linkshells, or asking them what they're interested in and pointing them in the direction of linkshells that might suit them. Point being, more than once I actually heard directly from these new players that they were hesitant about joining the RPC. That they had "heard" it was just a big cesspool of drama and to be avoided, and wasn't something they wanted to get mixed in with.
...And this was somewhat recent. If those events are still this long reaching and word of it is being spread around, that's kind of a big issue. It could just be a small base that's still in that mindset, but it's impossible to know the scale of that line of thought.
Verence Wrote:I think at this point, it's time to accept that things aren't working out around here and just go ahead and try something different.
I know Castiel has put a lot of effort into these forums, but maybe it's just time for a reboot? Structuring a new forum all-together (or a re-hash of these forums) with some push and reason to have members participate. It might be on the more drastic end of the spectrum, but it'd give the community a clean slate to work with. Give people a reason to get involved again. Free of all the lifeless posts cluttering the forums, all the past bickering. Maybe even go back to the old days, when we had that journal-esque page showcasing linkshells. Could also try to put to use the ability to host linkshell forums on the RPC itself, much like what Avalon is doing. At least for newer shells in the future that don't already have forums set in stone.
More importantly, it would be a clean start for linkshell relations. We could just try to agree to leave everything that happened here on these forums (farfetched, I know) and just start new, together. Bring back the days of putting our minds together and bringing out constructive posts about RP and the world of Eorzea.
Even looking at dying games like Aion, they still have actively used RP forums. It's unfortunate that we don't have that as well.
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