Bringing URPG back to its former glory

It is if you're a woman. If you dealt with the shit I dealt with in URPG chat, you'd think the same way. Not to mention the people who have contacted me in private IMs that I've ended up blocking. It's really awful. One person asked invasive and horribly personal questions. One started hitting on me even though I said I was dating someone and wasn't interested. One person kept insisting on wanting to see my face on camera to see if I was ugly or not. I'm not exaggerating and I'm not the only person this crap has happened to. It needs to stop.

I don't think this needs to be dismissed. Fawkes, you are a respected member who is on often, so a lot of stuff isn't targeted at you. But you have to agree that things go way past the pg-13 rules at times, and even when they don't, people can be bitchy or make comments inappropriate for children who may be in there.

 

@Elysia; Yeah, I always thought it would be cool to be able to write for EMs mostly because I'm really cheap. I think @swiftgallade46; had some ideas on this system.

And I agree completely with you here. There would be a fine line on what is added bloat for easy money and what is actually key to story. As far as the "that's why we have Graders" goes, I feel we already put a lot of pressure on them when they have to determine whether a story passes or fails. They literally give out free Pokemon. Asking them to make stories more of a math problem would be a lot of extra stress.

@TheProtobabe; Rangers have always had creative free reign in the Park. Most of our current user base just wants the mon/mon/mon set up. Rangers have always been able to do more Roleplay things and create grand adventures if they wanted to. Muddy took me on a run that was like that and it was very fun and had it's own plot. Rangers are free to do this as they wish. But we also have to keep in mind that a lot of users aren't interested in a longer RP. They go inactive as it is. We do need another Event, which have plots that connect to the Park, such as the Outer Heavens collapse, but we usually save those for the busier months so we actually have participants. Case in point our last event that didn't have too many people. There should be a longer task-based one in the fall that might be similar to the Halloween one we had previously.

Also some more Park stuff while I'm here. I have some other suggestions about the other topics but I'm a bit tired so those will wait. The Pedia is in the process of being rewritten to be more clearer/suggesting more RP things since a lot of Rangers don't want/know them. There will be a lot of condensing. Along with this, the Newbie Mini Run is going to be a permanent fixture once it's set up, for all members two months or newer as an introduction to the Park.

The thing I'd like to caution here is that we need to be careful not to just list the same problems over and over again, which is happening a lot. Some of these issues have been brought up before, such as the RP thing Blue and Smiles are working on, so bringing it up again and again isn't making progress on it. We need to establish plans of attack on these issues with things we can actually do so that we don't become overwhelmed. Let's try to narrow down perhaps the top 3 things to work on and go from there. If we spread resources too thin, nothing will be accomplished. What are 3 key things that we can actually have a plan to fix?

 

@WinterVines; Hmm, yeah, you're right. I suppose it's just sometimes frustrating to try and work around that formula in the Parks. I do think events could help with this.

As for your comment on focusing on the main things, my three main things to implement into the URPG:
-Welcoming committee
-modding the chats better
-Help Smiles and BlueTowel implement their ideas after we come to an agreement on things

 

imo

1. Attracting new members - improving forum presence (more forum battles, urpg'ers advertising urpg in sig and posting around all the forums, cooperating with forum mods to get a shout out)
2. Keeping new members - giving members incentive to stay (better sign up packages[free pokemon/ems etc], increasing community banter[scheduled ffas/event nightsl like cah,isketch], general willingness to battle]
3. improving other areas of forum - spice sections up [the thing blue and smiles are doing/ write for ems/ contest/ art/ contest]

also my final point about chat, I know at times the chat isn't exactly pg-13 in terms of both conduct and topic, most likely because people aren't conditioned to think that way, we were always told that chat has to be pg-13 but it was rarely enforced because there are no people of that age range, the last person that pg-13 would have applied to was zekrom, and people couldn't wait to see the backside of him. Definitely if we get a new surge then this will have to be reviewed but you can't blame people for not sticking to it in the past

 

Everyone cares so much. It's really inspiring to see.

• RPG Expansion - Read the bolded sections, including Dungeons, Boss Battles, Adventures, Characters, Campaigns, Cash for Creatives, Achievement Points, Reward Packages for Completing the PokeDex, Joint Projects, and the last few posts of that thread. I'd really like to get started working on a lot of these, but will not start blindly walking into the dark until I know exactly what the community wants. Any kind of feedback, from "Smiles dis sucks" to "yea good" to full essays of why you're in approval or not - anything from that and in between will be crucial at this time. You are my light.
• Welcoming Committee - Yes, definitely in agreement with this! We could also make the welcoming committee in charge of outreach, so they're the first people new players meet when they're recruited through VM/ PM / etc.
• Forum Presence - totally with Fawkes on this. The URPG is like the greatest secret character of your favorite video game. The problem is that you have to unlock it, and that's hard to do when all the actual fun and friendship takes place on a chat somewhere far away.

 

@TheProtobabe; As far as the chatting thing go, I don't really see where all the toxicity you claim to be everpresent was :?
Granted I'm not a woman since you say sexist jokes and stuff happen all the time but most of the things that happen on the blast chat are just people joking, such as a lot of people make a little fun of me or of Ash or of Syn or of a random person d'jour but they don't really mean - I don't think I was here for the particular event you listed on your spoiler so I'll abstain to talk about it but I in particular fail to see anything oh so offensive on the events there described.

If you really think "PG-13" and "professionalism" and whatever should be an integral, important, part of the chat some things you might want to remember that most of the "unprofessional"/"innapropriate" topics stem from people just talking with friends and nobody really caring much about whether it's appropriate or not because more often than not are the people that just don't really care about much - we might have different appropriates here - for example, yesterday there was 2 FFAs, at least 3 battles, a lot of chatting, two members on break came back, Harry got on AIM, etc. this obviously odd on a Monday. Most of the weekdays - and even some of the weekends - the chat is barely alive with 2 to 3 people chatting, if there's a ref that isn't Monbrey or Ash it's one or two. The Skype chat doesn't get much too busy very often either, most of the time it is, it's because someone is copy pasting a FFA there, usually for Harry.

So if you want to add professionalism, appropriateness, etc., remember that you gotta have in mind the people in the chat and that it isn't always that busy - and that's AIM/Skype, relatively widespread chat applications that can be accessed via phone, etc. - so you might want to think before adding yet another chat that'll need modding staff, and a bunch of staff and people will probably not go there anyways.

 

I think last night Winter or someone suggested doing Exhibition matches on forums, which I'd support and like to be a part of, other that I'm stuck for ideas on how to improve the forum.

 

I'm just gonna do a short post because mobile for now, but I think Nitro sort of has a point. There are a lot of factors that are completely out of our control that can hurt/limit our new member flux. I don't know how many people remember this, but there used to be a free web based site called meebo that allowed users to use the aim client without downloading anything. That was BIG. A lot of people, especially new members used meebo. I personally used it a lot too, because at times it was more convenient. Unfortunately this site has closed.

Things like this are really not in our control, but I'm not suggesting that the urpg can't do anything to fix the activity problem. I think we should be focusing on the changes that have happened since the "golden era" and try to retroactively return to that place (wherever possible), instead of trying to create brand new ideas. I think implementation of IRC is a great idea, as long as we aren't nestled away in our own chat! Also, integrating urpg into bmgf more (as was the case with urpg and pe2k), is a really solid plan of action. These are the ideas that I'd personally like to see us hone in on.

Expect more from me soon ;o

 

You know, I'm getting tired of being dismissed.

YES, THE CHAT IS A PROBLEM. IT DRIVES A LOT OF PEOPLE I KNOW PERSONALLY AWAY FROM IT. I'M NOT GOING TO SIT HERE AND LET YOU TELL ME IT'S NOT THAT BAD, BECAUSE IT IS, AND I'VE EXPERIENCED IT. Maybe YOU haven't had the problems I've had, but how about some of the ladies from the URPG chat, hmm? Maybe they haven't spoken up because it's embarrassing or intimidating. But let me tell you, because my name is available to click on for private IMs in URPG chat, I have gotten personal, uncomfortable invasive questions, someone hit on me AFTER I said I wasn't interested and I was dating someone, another demanded to see my face to know what I look like (in public and in private, mind you, right when I was new). People think making degrading woman jokes is funny, but it is NOT. Chat modding needs to happen.

 

I obviously haven't had most of the private IM problems mentioned, but even just from the main blast chats it seems really bad and has for years. What one person considers a joke isn't always received that way by the person it's targeted at remember. And just because a lot of people have become used to the current discussions in the chat doesn't mean they're okay. It also doesn't mean every new member who joins the chat is okay with them and sticks around. Possibly more on this later because I'm kind of in a hurry.

 

Yo, dismissing proto or others is definitely not okay. No one should feel discriminated or demeaned or degraded or anything here.

@TheProtobabe ; I'm sorry that has happened to you and you were made uncomfortable from anyone in the URPG. Instead of moderating though, I feel like the report system is far more effective and reliable. If someone does anything that makes you incomfortable, report it directly to Harry or a BMG Moderator. Maybe we should put more emphasis on this because it's proven effective time and time again.

I love your welcoming committee suggestion though! I think it's definitely going to help. Maybe you, @Smiles ; @BlueTowel ; @Felly ; and @Ash K. ; would be interested in making a formal committee out of it or working out some kind of system, like two per forum or something! Also, new members on BMG are encouraged to make threads to say they're new and talk about themselves and their interests. Maybe we could try inviting people from each of those new threads to try out the URPG with a little summary of it.

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@Felly ; Transition to IRC is such a good idea if we can make sure to be in not just our own chats. IRC even has dice rolling abilities so that should be good if we can make sure everyone can get online and have some way to access for our mobile users.

Bearing that in mind, I'll try to do an IRC FFA today in about three hours from now!

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For people interested in BMG, some cool subforums are the Writer's Workshop (they have some amazing authors), The RP district (extremely active, welcoming and varied), the Artist's Alcove, The War Room (for mafia), The Battle Center (for metagame/battling)

 

@Synthesis; @Ash K.; Thank you for your support. I do agree that reporting should be ideal, but unfortunately I feel that nothing happens when I tell mods something about things that have happened. I'd like to see staff actually follow through on reports in the chat, especially if there are logs available or witnesses.

I also think a welcoming committee would bring some warmth back into URPG.

And where is this IRC?

 

If you look at the top of the page below the banner, look at the headings in white. The seventh one is IRC Chat. I'm mobile atm so I can't confirm how to create a room or what server to access. IIRC Mibbit is an easier way to access bmg irc and there's a guide somewhere around lol

 

Ok, this thread is too all over the place. It's really unfocused. Might I suggest having a topic of discussion set? The first step is narrowing down to several areas which to focus on. The idea would be to have a discussion first of what we think is the biggest current set back. Then everyone would discuss why they think each thing deserved the most attention. After that, we could vote, or the mods could just decide what they think is most important (based on the discussion).

Then create separate threads to discuss each of these areas individually. This way we can come to actual conclusions instead of people just constantly bringing up new points and people just tossing around ideas without anything concrete being decided on. Also, this could lead to multiple actions instead of just one, which is usually how a thread like this would end up.

Also, can people not be petty/confrontational; that'd be great

 

Just throwing a thought here.

I think we need some sort of committee or ambassador team. Their primary duties will involve promoting the URPG to new and existing members of BMG. That would also mean that they would need to be active in various boards of BMG. I'm not sure if BMG allows advertising? For example, advertising the URPG and calling out for people to join by welcoming members in the Garden Grotto? But that could be a possible start.

That was what happened on PE2K, except we didn't have any sort of team. There were virtually URPG players on every single board of PE2K and they would always somehow manage to rope in more players through their conversations by promoting how fun and interesting URPG is.

Also, I have moved this thread to Trainer's Court as it seemed more appropriate.

 

@Elamite ; @Ataro ;

I think this being cluttered or erratic is the precise point of this thread. This is very much early days and what we want now is people weighing in with both their opinions and what they want to see from the URPG. It being too focused now prevents people from expanding on their ideas or presenting new ones. I also don't think everyone should pick a top 3 and vote on it. Every viable suggestion can work with a team behind it. Maybe it is time for committees, but I'd personally like to see more input on anything and everything (even though we've gotten a lot so far).

Also, to be blunt, I think a BMG committee is really lame. A committee that has a goal of just posting on BMG makes it seem like it's a dreadful chore. A specific welcome one is good, but not one that solely represents the URPG. I feel like we all have an obligation to post in other aspects of the board for the sake of unity and just enjoying what BMG has to offer if nothing else. And before I get pounced on, I post on all 3 forums semi-regularly (my postcount on either of the 3 is higher than most urpgers), but I would like to post more, yes.

E: no problem with advertising on-site, both through sigs and welcome threads is allowed, probably even encouraged. You just can't advertise another forum specifically.

 

@Ataro; I really like the idea of an Ambassador Team! I feel like reaching out to other BMGers (never used that word before; now isn't that problematic?) is the first step towards making our presence felt as not just a sub-board but as a community. I'd be down to start posting all over BMG with URPG sigs and stuff; I'd be honored to do so.

And I like that ideas are being thrown here and there and all over; it feels like an artistic mess from which masterpieces arise. I'm going to throw down another idea quickly.

It'd be neat to have a mentoring system for all URPG categories. The mentors would be: someone who's managed to capture a Hard-ranked Pokemon through a story; someone who's managed to earn five gym badges; someone who's managed to capture a Hard-ranked mon through art; someone who's been on three park runs before; [someone parallel for contests].

And the mentees would be anyone who feels like they're lacking in a certain area, or someone who just wants to improve. People can mentee/mentor in multiple things at once.

So you get paired up (randomly) with someone experienced, defined by those standards, and you work with that person for like a month or so. They give you goals (ex, today I want you to try 2 3v3's and learn something nice). And then maybe you can challenge other mentees in your area, as I think rivalry is fun and challenging for both parties. You keep surpassing their goals, until you feel experienced in this new area. And then at the end of the month, maybe you get a free medium-mon or something for trying to improve.

 

then we name it something cool like super urpg squad 8)

maybe do a referral system where existing members get paid if they come to urpg via someone else, encourage spreading the word

 

Just fyi just you can only advertise on BMG in sigs and blogs. At least that's what the rules say.

 

I think they were saying it's different because URPG is hosted on BMG, so if you're advertising BMG's URPG branch it's not a problem. Often we do this on PWN when someone makes a welcome thread, suggesting that they should check out URPG.