RP Ideas are Falling?

[Wizardmymom]

Has anyone noticed...

That creative RP ideas are dieing?
I mean, all I've seen lately is:
Warrior Cats: We are clans. We battle. Rawrrrr
Wolves: We are random packs! We like to find mates and have a million pups!
Lions: Rawr. Pride. Yes.

No dragons, no gryphons, no unicorns, not even HORSES.
Now, the dragon fad seems to be coming back in Bonfire, and I'm hoping is spreads by the time I finish my dragon group.
But, really? I remember how fun it was to RP as a dragon, or a gryphon, or even a horse or an elf.
I know a lot of people like JUST Wolves and Warriors and Lions, but come on now.
Be fun!

FH is about creativity and having fun, right?
So why not be a bit more creative?

I find it annoying when I join a clan that has:
(A)
A focus on mates, or perverts as all the males.
(B)
A stupid plot-line based off a stupid prophecy.
(C)
A normal, run-of-the-mill clan who gives into every loner who comes their way (or fights, either one.)
(D)
Evil.

Or wolf pack that have:
(A)
Very serious alpha's
(B)
A very perverted style of RP, where every female's in heat and the males are mating 20 times a minute.
(C)
The 'I want to be alpha!' from everyone.

AND, finally, the lions:
(A)
We are a pride. Rawr?
(B)
More pervs.
(C)
We kill everything!

^ All that is ALL I SEE.
I remember that when my dragon RP's came, or my elf RP came, people were lining up all the way to Atlantis to join.
It's fun, creative, and different!


Why can't more people do that?
Anyways, what's your opinion?

[kewlkiera]

I have to agree with this post, actually.
Lately nothing seemed to interest me as much. It just almost seems like all of the different categories of roleplays are the same. They don't really have that "wow" factor that gives members motivation to jump in and join in on the fun.

I'm not saying that the group leaders/recruiters are doing a horrible job. Good gosh, no! All I'm saying is that sometimes it wouldn't hurt to just take your hands off of the keyboard and mouse, and brainstorm an interesting plot. A lot of people are impatient when it comes to this, however, and that's completely understandable! When people see large groups forming as they wander in... Say fluorite, we all know that we just want to make a group with the standard things so people don't get confused.
I just wonder: is it that much of a big deal to simply explain something new? Something that people may have never thought of? Surely it would interest them more, even in the tiniest bit.

Maybe, as Oceanwave mentioned, there could be this great Dragon roleplay, where the creator or volunteer took the time to create this exotic map. Floating islands and crystals, endless mountains with a flowing river, and for a twist there could be a set time before this world that they lived in suddenly "explodes"
Now don't just simply say "uses powers to protect the world from self-destructing". Even Spyro in 'Dawn of the Dragon' had to fit the peices of the puzzle before he found his purpose in the world.
Create a good antagonist in the plot! This is what truly keeps the roleplay interesting with good twists as turns. Have an epic battle and decide the fates or destinies of one another.

And remember, EVERYONE IS IMPORTANT. I cannot express this enough. There cannot be just one character who always takes the spotlight. Let others in the roleplay have a chance too! It makes them feel special, believe me.

Take your time when progressing through the roleplay. Yes, it will be slow at first. No, it won't always go the way you want it to. But that's why in a roleplay you must have one key thing, that I see most people miss.
Patience.
You must have patience. You can't have a successful roleplay without it. Trust me when I say that if patience is involved, everything will turn out in the end. There is always a light at the end of a tunnel.

[~Stargazer~]

I'm actually not really sure what your talking about :o

I saw some deer, gryphons and horses not long ago. Although, most of them are in Bonfire, I know more than one person that has a gryphon character. OreoHeroz, and Hugrf, both users on the forums. There are probably more out there. I see lots of creative RPs (not sure if it's just me). I joined in on an Assassins Creed III RP the other day xD I saw a water ship down RP, there are crocodiles in bonfire. I find that lots of people are coming up with more ways of creating characters by using just the feline and canine models.

There are also those occasional owls, and birds. Along with the zebras and bears I have seen. Cougars, foxes, snow leopards. I even saw a tree RP. I've seen bears, and tigers. Once again I say, I'm not really certain on what you're talking about...

EDIT: Heh, I'm sorry if the end of that sounded kinda rude ;-; I didn't know how else to end it...

[Vespian]

In my own personal perspective, it's not that creative roleplays are dying and individuals are becoming less unique. It's more so that said roleplays are not being recognized like they should be. Don't get me wrong as I too haven't noticed a roleplay in a pretty long while that was able to perk my ears and catch my unwavering attention. Yet I have seen, like Ms. Starry stated before me, subtle deer, horses, dragons, humans, etc. roaming around via Bonfire mainly as well as other maps. I've even seen a demon roleplay recruiting in Fluorite once or twice. Another problem with this is those few, creative organizations usually go inactive within a given amount of time. This doesn't happen every time it occurs, though I have taken a slight notion that some members in the community purposely prefer the original plot that some, like myself for example, find arid and uninteresting. This could be due to said users know not or is uncomfortable on roleplaying something out of their own knowledge, or it could be their own personal tastes. The various factors can be endless if one is to ponder hard enough over the matter. Because of these factors, said roleplays don't gain that many members (again, only sometimes this occurs) which results in less recognition and a bigger chance of falling inactive.
Though, if one were to linger around and look and/or listen, roaming around the variety of maps rather than just sticking to Fluorite Plains, I'm sure said user will be able to find some form of creativity to catch their interest, even if it's something vague. However, depending on the individual, it might take some time.

[darkknight]

I understand where you are coming from in the topic. In a sense, I think you are making a point between the lines of lack of diversity and originality. There has been a repetitive nature to some role-playing concepts, then it could be some other idea that makes the original concept even better. Then, there could be the lack of patience of a person to keep it active and the idea simply dies or is revived.

So, with this happening over and over, people could become skeptical about joining groups. Making the assumption their role-play would not be interesting. Or vise versa, the role-play does have a great idea, but people are not all committed, outside activity happens, lack of free-time, etc.

My point is, if an idea is good and original, it would be great for someone to use it to its potential. Or, if they are not sure of the idea anymore, simply pass it on to another person who could modify it and continue share it with the community. Or, if that's not your thing, keep it to yourself, maybe the idea was too much for people to come to grips with. With an idea, alone, it all depends on the creator and what they wish to do with it.

As far as role-playing ideas falling, I don't think I want to go that far. While I do agree that there is that ounce of blandness, it takes other people to come and say, "Hey, would this be a cool idea?"  
From there, do what you will, have fun, and if it doesn't work out, try again. *  

[unnbrellas]

I'm personally think that it's the players, not the plots, that gives the roleplay strength.

Granted, a plot is a very important piece, but done right the same starting plot change go a hundred differnt ways- assuming the characters are different. Take the warrior cat prophecy as as basic plot. Say a Kit with lime green eyes was said to be the doom of the clans. Well, changing the green eyed kits personality would change the story quite a bit, so I see nothing wrong with using similar plot bases.

As for some of the other stuff, those are more character ideas, not roleplay ideas. Like the idea of very strict alphas. I find this makes for a good roleplay, as long as they are not strict OOC and let's things slip for the sake of roleplay.

And for your complaints of lack of any other the warriors and wolves, I saw several herds of deer, a manticore, a lot of horses, crocodiles, birds, rocks (yes rocks) and once I even saw a literate bannana character.

[flomfloat83]

I never see any unique roleplays anymore.
And when I try to make one, no one joins.

[meeeea]

I haven't seen a lack of unique roleplays, to be honest. A bit of wandering around & you'll surely wander across some.

Usually, people don't always think outside the box & prefer more easy themes everyone could follow without this & that, whereas having a large fantasy roleplay would be found difficult to some users due to misunderstanding the concept & plot. A simple lion roleplay is easy to follow & not complicated.

If you look into Bonfire, for example, a huge number of Werewolves, horses, tigers, foxes, even dinosaurs will pop up eventually. Fluorite is a more peaceful place mostly for relaxing & advertising.

To wrap this up, I don't see a big deal about it, personally.

[Wizardmymom]

I guess I made this unclear, hmm?
I meant mapped RP's,literate RP's, and stuff like that.
Bonfire RP's last 2 minutes. XD

But you all make very good points.

[Birdi]

I've made about 3 fully plotted, mapped, and creative RPs. No one seems to want to join them, though. I go advertising for 5-6 hours at a time and am LUCKY if I get ONE member. No one wants fantasy whenever I'm recruiting. Also, there was a brilliant RP I used to be in (it was moved to a forum RP because it went mostly inactive) called Castroval where you could be basically anything, including an archangel or a dragon. There were tons of members, but it seemed to be pretty inactive. I had a character that was half bird half cat! That's not realistic at all.

What I'm trying to say is that most fantasy/unique RPs don't get noticed. And don't tell me I don't spend enough time advertising because I try my best! I've sat in FP for 7 hours and never got one member. Not even a whisper. In my opinion it seems that people may think of them as "too unique" and actually want to stick with the same-old same-old. When someone says they're looking for a new and different RP I usually later find them joining a normal one even though I'm sitting in front of them with a never-thought-of idea.