Discord-Only Vs. FH Roleplays

[Pawfreak]

So, there is something that have been bothering me a lot.

As time has passed, more and more people has been opting for Discord based roleplays, where all the roleplaying happens within the more convenient, non-limiting chatbox of the software/website. Which well, I don't blame then, in-game Roleplaying can be hard, and being able to post during a trip or in the work does have it's advantages.

Warning: If you don't want to see my rant, don't click the spoiler button

spoiler

But let me say one thing I've been seeing A LOT.


So it's Saturday. You are finally free and have been craving some good RP, so you go to the forum ingame and search in the roleplay advertising section. And oh! It's that one obscure fandom you really love, and it is hosting about your favourite series! You can't lose the opportunity!

 So you read all the paragraphs about the roleplay, check their website and starts to explode in excitement. I can't wait to join!
 But then, you scroll down and see the following words...




Discord-only.





Well, I guess if you like Discord rps, you won't mind. But if you're someone like me, who joined FH to be able to roleplay with some graphical representation, it's tiring.


Well, why did I even search on the forums anyway? I should go in game and wait for the recruiter, this time I couldn't go wrong!

So it's Sunday, and you hop on FH and find a nice spot to sit back and wait for a video adv. After some long hours resisting the temptation to just tab out or go to Cherika, a group that has interested you starts advertising!
 Oh my, that's unique! I would love to apply for your grou...






Discord-based.






Well... Now, it can be tiring to go through the Roleplaying advertisment section and all the rps that interest you being discord-only, but hoping IN-GAME, so you join a group that doesn't EVEN play the game actively?


Well, If no groups play in-game, then I guess I would have to make my own, right?

So you create a group, and struggle to gain members since it's about that obscure fandom no one but a handful people know about. But eventually, you start grow in numbers and can finally sigh in relief! But then, the new members go out their way and ask.





So, where is the group's discord?







You decide to control the urge to implode, and calmly informs the member the group has no discord. The member says they only like roleplaying with discord and leave. I guess you win some and lose others, no? ...


Well, most "active" and organized groups have a discord to list rules and rankings anyway, so maybe it won't hurt making a discord server to list the important announcements and plan when we are going to play in-game, no?

So you create a discord server, maybe even a site, to list all rules, ranks, art, announcements and yadda yadda. You go to recruit in game, they join your discord and everyone starts to mingle happily on the discord-server, talking about all those cool character and history ideas and suggestions they have for the group. Everytime is good, a lot of people joined and you can't wait to rp with them! So you call them to hop on Bonfire to play with you and then...






Wait, so we are not going to play on the RP channels?




You sigh frustatedly, talk with them but they convince you they like to play through discord and we could have both! and all of the other members agree! So, you create RP-channels so they can play there, while occasionaly you and your members can hop ingame when they can and play on FH! Nothing could go wrong, right? Why not both?




But as time passes, NO ONE even hops in-game and only play through Discord, leaving you thorn between the choice of either playing along, or leaving you to play alone.




And that's how you go back to the forums and search for another roleplay frustatedly, only to find Discord-only roleplays!

If I wanted to join a Discord roleplay, I WOULDN'T BE SEARCHING ON FERALHEART, A GAME THAT PROVIDES IT'S OWN PLATFORM!

Of course, it's my opinion and if you disagree, that's fine. I just want to know if I'm the only one who's been having this problem.
So, what are your thoughts on Discord-only, or FH-only roleplays? why do you like your choice?

[Edolicious]

I'm with you on this one, as I've had the same frustrations in the past.

Group discords that were merely meant to be a social hub were fun! It was nice to be able to stay in touch with people when you weren't able to sit down and start up the game, or didn't have the time to roleplay.

But as soon as rp channels n whatnot are added, I suppose it becomes difficult to manage between in-game and on discord. Especially since once roleplay starts on discord, it's usually hard to bring that topic to roleplaying in the game.

So personally I'm with you on this, but to each their own.

[FlyingGrass]

I prefer a mix between Discord and FH.
I can't grow my group(Mechanicafeles) in its WIP phase where I'm rarely ingame and people who don't see me online think I've left FH, so I feel that every member of the group has to know what's happening while the group's offline, that's where my group's Discord server comes in, I believe it lets people know that when the group isn't ingame the group is still running.

Our Discord server has a channel for roleplay, but it follows a different storyline than the ingame roleplay, the ingame roleplay follows the events of Mechanicafeles' real plot.
I believe I have confusion-proofed my Discord server very well, but as the group hasn't grown yet, I won't know for sure if Mechanicafeles is going to encounter problems with its Discord server.

[Arkham_Scout]

Honesty, I dislike these discord only roleplays. It take the fun out of roleplaying on Feral heart. I mean half of the people on Feral Heart can't get a discord. It's just unfair and half the time, Discord doesn't work, and if you're not active in the discord group you can be easily kicked or banned from that group. Feral Heart on the other hand, you can rejoin the group anytime.

I mean yes, Discord based roleplays are great but think about everyone else who can't get an discord. Half the roleplays on feral heart are just kids and can't join discord.

#Thinkofthekids

[wolfdog01]

Agreed. When I started FH, you acted out what was happening the best you could, you didn't just sit there and tab out to type in discord (honestly I don't understand why people log on anyways just to tab off of the game for hours). Not to mention a lot of the rps seem very complicated with a massive plot and all these rules and things, just make simple rps that everyone on FH can join without a discord to keep things updated. I think that is why it seems like a lot of rps are dead or there is just nothing to join, because everyone is on discord. You would have never known this was a roleplaying game without the tiny ads here and there on the forum or the spam of movies in game because no one actually seems to rp ingame anymore. It's depressing. I myself am getting out of discord because it blows up my phone. I didn't join the server just to mute it, so not everyone really wants/can get discord. If I didn't want a 3D representation of what was happening I would read a book or fanfics or never signed up for FH in the first place.
For those few groups that I know of that rp ingame, good on you! Don't ever stop! Seeing someone rp ingame wil insipre other people to join or even make their own group. The public rps are the ones that really help with this. It used to be easy to just jump in and join a random rp about horses or TLK or something, no one had any real groups and discord wasn't really a thing. You just hopped on, found some people who seemed nice, and started rping around them; half the time they would rp with you and it'd be a fun time. We need more of that honestly.

[Likuu]

I have to agree... feralheart was my go to for role playing for so long and as soon as big role plays start adding those “discord role play channels” it makes members feel as though they don’t HAVE to get on and role play which is usually not the case, it was helpful for keeping members busy if they can’t be on for a period of time and the discord app for the phone made it a nice go to for role playing on the go, but it begins to take over and people begin to avoid getting on and focus on role playing on the server instead. It’s a sad sight to see, honestly

I genuinely miss when you’d be excited to jump online and jump into your groups and everyone would be on role playing and events would be happening, discord is great to notify people of things and throw out announcements that need to be read and sometimes people don’t like to check websites for annnouncements and it makes it much easier to just take a look at discord rather than look up the site and find the thread and all that.

Hopefully more roleplays will begin to focus on being in game only rather than letting discord take over with role play channels.

[Morgra]

Thank you for posting this. I couldn't have said it better.

Let me preface by saying that I am not a roleplayer. It has been years since I've roleplayed at all, in and outside FeralHeart. However, as a game moderator, monitoring the chats gives you a chance to witness first hand the current 'culture' of the game and the way the game members and groups like to operate. And being around for so many years, I have seen a dramatic shift in the way people roleplay over this past year. And this change is because of Discord. I was going to eventually make a topic about how Discord is changing the in-game chats overall. A few other members of the staff team have noticed this change and it isn't exactly a positive one for FeralHeart's sake. I will probably still make another topic as it's a bit different than specifying the effects on just roleplaying. Anyway....

I am certainly not going to bash on Discord. I love the platform for chatting and spending time with friends. I can understand why groups use it to not only organize their roleplays but have a means of communicating outside of FeralHeart. However, several good points have been brought up throughout this thread. Discord is ruining the roleplaying atmosphere that FeralHeart once possessed. FeralHeart used to provide all of the resources necessary to carry out a successful and enjoyable roleplay—forums included. You could organize your roleplay on the forums and carry out the actual roleplay ingame. If someone in the group missed out on the roleplay, they could read about it on the forums. Back then before Discord, the community seemed to be more active when it comes to roleplaying or finding a roleplay to join. You would see more local chat roleplays, more OOC conversations amongst members of a group in the maps and the maps would feel more 'alive'. Alive meaning, people would actively move their characters around corresponding to their characters actions or movements in the rp. Now all I see is a bunch of dead, empty chats and characters just sitting motionless for hours on end. Reason both the chats and people's characters look so dead and still is because they're carrying out their roleplay in their Discord server and not in the game chats. It's slowly but surely leading to the death of FeralHeart roleplaying as it once stood and it's depressing to see. Roleplaying in FH used to be a fun experience where you immersed yourself as your character. FeralHeart was supposed to provide a different user experience than your average text-only roleplay you'd find online. That was the whole point of the 3d game engine and character customization options: to serve as an enhancement to your roleplaying experience. Not to leave the 3d game engine open in the background while you chat in other platforms.

I don't think there's much more to express than what I've already said. I'd just be repeating myself if I continued.

For those few groups that I know of that rp ingame, good on you! Don't ever stop! Seeing someone rp ingame wil insipre other people to join or even make their own group. The public rps are the ones that really help with this. It used to be easy to just jump in and join a random rp about horses or TLK or something, no one had any real groups and discord wasn't really a thing. You just hopped on, found some people who seemed nice, and started rping around them; half the time they would rp with you and it'd be a fun time. We need more of that honestly.

^ I miss this. I miss seeing in-game, public chat, public map, non-elitist roleplaying groups. It used to be so much fun to not have to worry about impressing other people in order to be a part of a group or to find people to roleplay with.

[Valar.Morghulis]

I absolutely agree with you on this one. To keep it short and simple, FeralHeart based groups should have RPs in-game. Discord in my opinion should be used for setting the rules and for chat, only to have general chat.

[Arandomperson]

I am strictly FH only. I started rping in this game. It just feels better being able to see and control your character online. I do not mind being in rps with discord, heck. I don't even join rps without one. And I have no issues with mixed, however You would see me less active on it if everyone just rps on discord. And Discord only rps should really not advertise in a game they won't even play in. Its like going to Lioden and adverting you have a lion rp on a totally different lion game. I do understand they need members. But im sure there are countless discord only discords that will be willing to let you advertise discord only rps.

[zRichtofen]

I didn't know Discord-only RPs were a thing. I remembered that there were forums sites for different clans in the game.

In my eyes since the update replaced all of the OG maps, it killed FH roleplaying entirely. It's hard to find a good rp because most people have left the game. I even also think that roleplays have gotten worse.