Discussion Past and current experiences with other roleplay communities?

[Caedyn Arenais]

Hey a fellow Talkcity user!

I started out on Talkcity with a chaotic group in the Star Wars chats. There were various rooms, like Naboo and such, and somehow people had sectioned themselves off for RP. Had a lot of fun and was sad when it ended.

Moved on to The Gungan Council and various other smaller forums. Did that for a while before calling it quits and giving up RP for years.

Wanted to RP again and went back to TGC and was there for a bit when this site was catching traction. Joined here and straddled both for awhile until this was my main source for RP.

Heya! TalkCity was my first introduction to Roleplay; I was an addicted fourteen-year-old. My roleplay was absolutely terrible but it paved the way for where I am today in my literacy and creative writing

I had met another former member here, though they have since left Chaos sadly. I always hoped something like Talkcity would come about again, but thankfully we still have Chaos and it's wonderful ways <3

 

[Alan]

I started out on Habbo Star Wars Roleplay, then Libby (if anyone still remembers her) invited me over to Chaos. - I developed a good bit for writing dialogue there, from Habbo, since it was a browser-based game and you were constantly writing dialogue. But I also picked up a lot of bad habits when I transitioned over to here, from Habbo. It took me a while to get over the powergaming aspect that I wasn't even really seeing- things that were normal to do on one site, weren't acceptable on another, etc. I think now I'm much more aware of it, and I think the transition was honestly for the better. Habbo is a cesspool and has a lot of issues. A lot of drama, infighting, splits, just bad things.

I've been on Chaos and Gaia too, Gaia is full of good writers but just a lot of unfounded potential and dying threads.

I really liked the world of Chronicles, but honestly I don't feel like I'm in the right crowd of people or know enough people to get it going. One thing that's super, super great about Chaos and people don't really realize it enough, is how accepting it is of new writers. Within two days, you can be in a major thread, and be talking to other characters in a faction or even a first reply type deal. Within a week you can be in five different threads. I just don't see that on other sites as easily as this one. Now, we are larger and have more of a different style of roleplay, true.

But I still think it's neat.

 

[Yael Kandar]

my first experience of online roleplaying was an e-fed (pro wrestling RP) called UWF. wrote there for a year, took a break when I dislocated my shoulder and never made a comeback. it was a totally different experience compared to a fantasy/sci-fi RP, as it is very dialogue based, in form of trash-talking and promo (standard pro wrestling stuffs). it’s also more competitive than collaborative, and while I enjoy some aspects of it, it was also harder to bond with people in comparison.

I also tried TSWRP, but never made it past a couple of posts. I actually thought that I wouldn’t last that long here, as I only started to fill some free times post break-up and between finishing my thesis and graduation. I ended up writing in Braxant Covenant and I feel like I jumped into a group of writers that I could really vibe with. Fast forward, it’s been almost 5 months and there’s no sign of stopping.

Chaos is a huge place with a lot of style and niche, but it’s also a very welcoming place in my experience. I’ve made and deleted various characters in this very short-time, all to try to find a place I’d fit in the most, and I think that’s the beauty of Chaos. you are afforded the chance to try find a place for you.

 

[Vizion Trozky]

I won't write long about this. The long-form includes Gaia, some urban fantasy RP (vampires, werewolves, etc), multigenre/multifandom RP boards, many highlights (cherished memories), and some shadows (drama, toxicity).

Short form, I started with the TalkCity Star Wars chats when I was about 15 - 16 years old, went from there to SWFans where I stayed almost exclusively until 2008, when I also joined SWRPG, which was run by someone who moderated those TalkCity chats! Then in 2014 I got pulled to Chaos by people I long befriended on SWRPG. I was straddling all three sites until probably 2017... about as not-successfully as you might imagine. Blame the squirrels living in my brain.

Chaos was freeing, in comparison to where I'd come from immediately before it, which was pretty restrictive. Detailed rank progression requirements... that's all I'll say. Chaos is not only very welcoming to new writers, but very forgiving; I've been able to ebb and flow in and out of RP (again, the squirrels!) and always find my way back into something and have always been able to plug right back in.

 

[Kei Amadis]

Alleria was my start way back when. Also known as Aeylria depending on who you ask. That's the grandaddy of all forum roleplay, I think it goes back to the 80's, but its gone through many rises and falls. You might still find a wiki article under one of those names. Some of the old members I remember here came from there. I wrote a Black Jagara warrior katta named Paareth. Who I have tried to restart several times, and somehow here on Chaos ended up as a sith alchemized monster (but maybe i'll redo that!)

The experience there was structured. I loved how the whole kingdom/board ran under a set of laws that bound it loosely together. It was also a bit more technical, in that you had to keep track of your prized items and gold. (A lot of early forums did that.) Which is just busy work mostly unless it could be automated these days.

I had a Charon and also a Sith I believe was called Saareth but I can't remember exactly, on very old star wars boards, where Sorcha and Dale did some amazing early Sith roleplay. Sorcha inspired Kiara and Niaana for their madness and dead gardens. That place was short sharp replies, like much of older starwars roleplay, and sometimes threads would explode quite often, as OOC/IC was more mixed on many early sites.

Although there were ancient starwars muds and mushes that inspired the fandom to stay alive before the prequels, and I fully believe without that we would not have got the prequels. I do remember a certain board run by a big gungan which was fun for a time. Then there was swrpg which I designed the Keth family saga, and a few characters who I now write as NPCs or dead force ghosts. A lot of people here writing came from there. I have tried longer-format posting on some forums but found it too introspective from a singular character.

SWRPG was relatively strict, and thus a lot of early Keth I had to build in the hurdles to him. Basically constantly being restricted became his character, never able to really grow beyond that fight or resistance inside of him. It worked quite well, but it was limited in my opinion. Also back then I was going through it irl, so I was naturally testing the status quo more often.

I did a spell on Mizahar twice, I still like the lore there, savage by nature. But I find the admins somewhat too strict over lore mistakes, I may be an old writer but I have 15,000 lores and characters in my head to balance; that's what I felt like replying when they said - I expect better! over a lore slip up in a new character bio. I wrote a cop in a vampire world once, that was memorable. I forget the board. To me it offered a lot of narrative hooks just by design. The players there really tried to engage each other in larger stories, which, honestly, I feel chaos lacks sometimes by its factional design. - I think this comes from the Vampire the Masquerade session 0 inspiration, but it can lead to "Aha, you're my sister, and "Aha, you're my sisters second cousins former roomate!

I have at times here felt at odds missing both a character's wanted area and/or scratchpad. - The LFG is good, but i've almost never seen it used as a way to advertise for specific characters that would tie into people's stories. Because its factional by design, so its usually for stories or for factions to generate interest, fitting the board's nature, of course.

I've tried running two or three boards myself, the most serious of which got very popular for a short time. Revolving around nobility and titles, and very high drama as it evoked real-world focus and history, with players fighting over forums/sub forums (and thus titles). Done in a feudal hierachical form.

So when Germany invaded France, the French players were not happy, and I had messages a mile long in my inbox about the results of the battle. I wrote a Saxon king of England, who the Normans were trying to oust. Although it was a great deal of fun, with people writing a large wikipedia of history on it to give it a connected, cohesive feeling, in the end it was too much drama, and moreover, I was threatened with a lawsuit by an American bank for using an English country flag in one of the many forum titles. - Wrap your head around that one!

Natoline, Glade is a very old character that's gone through many different versions on these forums, from thief to artist to orphan, etc. Much of that is played out in her now. Characters like Taiden also take inspiration from many of them. So i've taken pieces as i've gone. I've written on more forums but this is what comes to mind.

 

[Judas]

How was your experience?

Variable. It depended on the establishment. I came from a time where people were hard line and structured. Politics. The usual Internet shenanigans.

Did they do things better or worse, were the people way more chill or super try hard?

For the most part? Terrible. People were way too emotional and reactive. I had to spend years walking on eggshells with a lot of places. It is one of many reasons why I stopped writing and was demotivated. As the years passed I noticed all the people I knew have moved on and did other things. I tried coming back years ago though it has not felt the same as the old school days.

Any ridiculous rules you came across?

Strict ranking systems and heavily controlled roleplays based on your reputation as a writer and who your friends were, cliques. Politics, as mentioned above. It was not necessarily a rule but it was quite blatant in most places I spent time in.

Any tangible experiences you made?

I am not sure of the context of this question. Create experiences, I suppose? I would like to believe so. I had a natural ability of causing community disruptions in roleplays whether it was for good or bad. Although I feel this was something that developed over time as my character was drawing a lot of attention to himself from different places. There were times where I would start a roleplay and I would get a spammed inbox of everyone who wanted to join them.

 

[Jacen Nimdok]

It is funny seeing this thread get resurrected five years after I posted in it and realizing I never actually explained how I found Chaos.

During my first couple years of college I maintained a personal wiki. I planned to write a fantasy book series and was creating articles about the characters and setting and such. It is not an efficient way to worldbuild and I spent way too much time trying to keep dozens of articles up to date when I should've been writing the actual story.

Anyway, I would also peruse other people's wikis for fun. That is how I stumbled upon the Star Wars: Descension wiki, which was still up despite the forum itself being gone. I was already a Star Wars fan and I was fascinated by all the character bios I read. One of them was for Scherezade deWinter , and it had a link posted leading to her bio on Chaos.

I checked this place out, thought it looked cool, decided to try and write here. Within four months of making my account, my best friend and I had a falling out, and then COVID hit. For better and worse, I stopped focusing on that book series I had planned in favor of writing exclusively on Chaos, where I got to interact with people in the outside world during quarantine.

A lot has changed since then. I haven't thought about that wiki or the book series I was so intent on writing in a long time.

 

[Darc Xavior Talus]

Wrong account.

 

[Judas]

It is funny seeing this thread get resurrected five years after I posted in it and realizing I never actually explained how I found Chaos.

During my first couple years of college I maintained a personal wiki. I planned to write a fantasy book series and was creating articles about the characters and setting and such. It is not an efficient way to worldbuild and I spent way too much time trying to keep dozens of articles up to date when I should've been writing the actual story.

Anyway, I would also peruse other people's wikis for fun. That is how I stumbled upon the Star Wars: Descension wiki, which was still up despite the forum itself being gone. I was already a Star Wars fan and I was fascinated by all the character bios I read. One of them was for Scherezade deWinter , and it had a link posted leading to her bio on Chaos.

I checked this place out, thought it looked cool, decided to try and write here. Within four months of making my account, my best friend and I had a falling out, and then COVID hit. For better and worse, I stopped focusing on that book series I had planned in favor of writing exclusively on Chaos, where I got to interact with people in the outside world during quarantine.

A lot has changed since then. I haven't thought about that wiki or the book series I was so intent on writing in a long time.

I remember Descension. I spent time there with the oldies. For a brief time I recall being part of staff as well.