Loose ends
Julius here,just wanting to comment on the global plot and or plotts revolving around. Mainly speaking, I think we should focus on the global story at hand and work from there. Casual RP is all well and good but too much of it can cause, as many of you know stagnation. So, lets get more ideas circulating and start adding on to the history of the rats and mice of NIMH.
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Re: Loose ends
You're not the first person to make a post like this, and you won't be the last. The GP lives, but despite what a lot of people might believe, these things don't happen overnight. In fact, a good global plot is often so large and all-encompassing that it's difficult to see at all.
People should feel free to organize any RP or plot that they like. So the question here is really, why aren't they? My response, is that it seems much easier to try and get someone else to make up stories for them to play out, than it would be for them to come up with ideas of their own.
I've seen quite a number of NIMHmuckers lose their enthusiasm, even their interest in the MUCK altogether, because they simply got tired of being used as a source of entertainment. People get burned out, in other words. Every suggestion and encouragement in the world falls short of motivating them, yet they can't really move on either. They are in limbo.
I feel there is a greater problem than lack or shortage of RP which needs to be addressed. The people who hold the NIMHmuck community together are tired, and this needs to be acknowledged. They need to be allowed to rest, and for some, also to heal. I do realize a lot of people, new and old, are eager to RP, but good fiction seldom comes from burned out writers.
Secondly, there are a good number of people who's characters' backstories are mangled as a result of others disappearing forever without notice. These stale links need to be dealt with, or the plot will just continue to sputter and stall despite what effort is put into it. Messing with history is not something I like to do, but it may be necessary.
Lastly, but perhaps most importantly, I feel that through our various periods of trauma over the past while, parts of the MUCK's vitality have been shunned or allowed to slip away. No matter how one might try, for many it seems at though things on the MUCK are somehow diminished and lackluster. And that feeling can and often does spread to individual people, leaving them feeling drained and beaten down.
This is the thing which is not so easy to solve. But one must realize that it is not the MUCK which is broken. That is just a side-effect. No, what has been broken, is us.
A long time ago, I told a friend that I thought people were drawn to NIMHmuck because they needed to be here. I still think that holds true, but the MUCK as a whole has lost its way. We need to find our path again, even if it means going back to the beginning to do it.
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I'm still waiting for my fur to grow in.
Re: Loose ends
I totally agree with you, Julius. I've been saying something similar for months! Except not as nicely.
I feel that Tzolkin has a strong point--integral RPers tend to burn out because they're exhausted--it's not easy being an entertainment source. (Not that I would know.) However, this is how stories themselves work--around a character or few characters--so it's hard to RP much of anything without this becoming an issue.
Setting up a GP with two or three characters (with different players) might be a good way to go. If one burns out or has to work overtime or what have you, then the others can take over in their place. I feel like this is starting to happen with the Stagg RP--we Stagg players just need to figure out our eventual goal.
Don't get me wrong, I love sponteneity, but I don't love hanging around for months, putting my energy into a plot that comes to nothing because someone flaked out. While I understand the burnout scenario, a bunch of dead-end plots don't do a whole lot to increase morale. Low morale = less energy = total burnout. It becomes a vicious cycle.
For the purposes of the Stagg RP, I'm happy to initiate a conversation betwixt those of us with Stagg characters, and figure out the eventual goal of that RP, and develop that accordingly. Because without a horizon, we're pretty much lost without a map.
And though I do think that a GP involving several main characters is a good way to go.....those who make the conscious decision to build an RP around ONE character need to realize that they WILL be in demand--and that if they should choose to do this, they should plan accordingly for their RPs, and what happens if they lose interest in said RPs. Does another player take over the character? Is the whole thing retconned, etc.
Because Tzolkin's comment about characters' backgrounds being totally messed up beyond repair due to plot lines that fizzled is dead-on, and that's something else we've got to contend with. But with proper planning, our RPs don't have to die.
Re: Loose ends
I'm not sure how one can have a GP involving just a few people, since GP means Global Plot. A GP is supposed to be the main, overarching theme of the game, and that has to include absolutely everyone. As I've said, it's not something that was meant to be strongly visible to everyone, and is really the responsibility of the RP wizards to try and maintain. And since we currently lack an official RP wizard who is active and motivated, I've been trying to fill the gap as best I can with the limited amount of free time that I have. So we have a GP. There just needs to be more day-to-day RP and mini-arcs for us to work with.
I think what you're looking for would be a TinyPlot, or TP, which is a smaller scale story which spans a larger time-frame than a single RP would. Organizing a TP requires someone with the motivation to do so, but that motivation must also be met by that of other players bringing their own creativity into it, or it will fall short and die. That's a major issue on NIMHmuck, since from what I've seen, a lot of people seem too lazy to actually think of an idea, and instead try to rely on the GM or organizers to dream up something for them to play out.
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I'm still waiting for my fur to grow in.