Hello! RR here.

I'm sort of at a loss for what people usually want in an RP site... I've tried many options, but as I've been limited to free, pre-built web scripts and such, I'm also limited as to what I can offer my site's members. Now, roleplaying is pretty much my life, but I want to offer more than just a forum. You know, right?

I'm trying to expand my horizons by learning how to program for the web, but until I can consider myself much more competent in PHP/MySQL, I need to work with what I've got.

What this means is, I want to fix up the way my site works, and tweak the rules so that they're both inviting to new members and good at keeping things safe, organized, and fun.

Okay, so now I need to know what you think is most important of these qualities of a site. On a scale of 1 to 10, please rate each item, with 1 being unimportant to you, and 10 being of utmost importance to you. If you find a quality you absolutely don't like, use a zero. You can certainly comment on any of these, but you don't have to if you'd rather not.

1. Strict rules and rule enforcement
2. Fairness of staff
3. Knowledgeable staff
4. Friendly members
5. Anti-Godmoding rule
6. Many ways to increase your member ranking/stats
7. Long, well thought-out roleplay plots/posts
8. Lenience of most rules for first-offenses
9. Mediation of player-to-player disputes, provided by the staff
10. Open staff positions available
11. An OOC section for off-topic chat
12. OOC contests and prize drawings
13. Rules allowing members to advertise their site in their avatar/signature/posts
14. Newbie-friendly roleplay
15. Rules that are well-explained and detailed, stating examples and consequences if applicable
16. Multilingual site with areas for posts in non-English languages

Many of these are really open ended, and they've been discussed a lot in Roleplay Talk and Managing your RPG, so I'd suggest you start reading in those forums instead of running such a wide questionnaire.

1. Strict rules and rule enforcement 6-7
2. Fairness of staff 10
3. Knowledgeable staff 7
4. Friendly members 10
5. Anti-Godmoding rule 8-9
6. Many ways to increase your member ranking/stats 1-2
7. Long, well thought-out roleplay plots/posts 1-5
8. Lenience of most rules for first-offenses 5
9. Mediation of player-to-player disputes, provided by the staff 1
10. Open staff positions available 1
11. An OOC section for off-topic chat 4-5
12. OOC contests and prize drawings 2-3
13. Rules allowing members to advertise their site in their avatar/signature/posts 5-6
14. Newbie-friendly roleplay 8-9
15. Rules that are well-explained and detailed, stating examples and consequences if applicable 10
16. Multilingual site with areas for posts in non-English languages
depends on who it's geared to.

1. Strict rules and rule enforcement 6
2. Fairness of staff 10
3. Knowledgeable staff 9
4. Friendly members 9
5. Anti-Godmoding rule 10
6. Many ways to increase your member ranking/stats 1
7. Long, well thought-out roleplay plots/posts 6
8. Lenience of most rules for first-offenses 7
9. Mediation of player-to-player disputes, provided by the staff 1
10. Open staff positions available 1
11. An OOC section for off-topic chat 8
12. OOC contests and prize drawings 1
13. Rules allowing members to advertise their site in their avatar/signature/posts 2
14. Newbie-friendly roleplay 4
15. Rules that are well-explained and detailed, stating examples and consequences if applicable 8
16. Multilingual site with areas for posts in non-English languages 0

1. Don't want to go all the way with that 'strict'. It's an RP, not SWAT.
6. I can't decide on this one. Sure, it's always nice to be appreciated, get a higher rank and whatnot. But. I've accidentally stumbled on a site once where members were given prizes (or something like that) for post length and such so they were now writing these ridiculously novel-like posts and each time they were trying to surpass their previous post length. The content, accuracy and fun was lost, long gone. Kind of sad, really.
8. Depends on the importance rule, of course.
11. As long as it doesn't get bigger than the actual RP forum.
14. Everybody's got to learn sometimes and, in that respect, mods should be understanding to a degree.
16. No way. A forum should only use one language so that everybody understands what's going on. If someone wants to post in another language they should provide translation. It's not fair otherwise.

1. Strict rules and rule enforcement (10)
2. Fairness of staff (10)
3. Knowledgeable staff (3)
4. Friendly members (9)
5. Anti-Godmoding rule (0) - People are too possessive with their characters in regards to godmodding
6. Many ways to increase your member ranking/stats (1)
7. Long, well thought-out roleplay plots/posts (8)
8. Lenience of most rules for first-offenses (6)
9. Mediation of player-to-player disputes, provided by the staff (9)
10. Open staff positions available (2)
11. An OOC section for off-topic chat (6)
12. OOC contests and prize drawings (1)
13. Rules allowing members to advertise their site in their avatar/signature/posts (4)
14. Newbie-friendly roleplay (8)
15. Rules that are well-explained and detailed, stating examples and consequences if applicable (9)
16. Multilingual site with areas for posts in non-English languages (0)

1. Strict rules and rule enforcement 7
2. Fairness of staff 9
3. Knowledgeable staff 10
4. Friendly members 10
5. Anti-Godmoding rule 8
6. Many ways to increase your member ranking/stats 2
7. Long, well thought-out roleplay plots/posts 9
8. Lenience of most rules for first-offenses 2
9. Mediation of player-to-player disputes, provided by the staff 2
10. Open staff positions available 0
11. An OOC section for off-topic chat 5
12. OOC contests and prize drawings 0
13. Rules allowing members to advertise their site in their avatar/signature/posts 0
14. Newbie-friendly roleplay -50
15. Rules that are well-explained and detailed, stating examples and consequences if applicable 8
16. Multilingual site with areas for posts in non-English languages 0

1. Strict rules and rule enforcement (6)
2. Fairness of staff (10)
3. Knowledgeable staff (9)
4. Friendly members (7)
5. Anti-Godmoding rule (7)
6. Many ways to increase your member ranking/stats (1)
7. Long, well thought-out roleplay plots/posts (9)
8. Lenience of most rules for first-offenses (9)
9. Mediation of player-to-player disputes, provided by the staff (0)
10. Open staff positions available (0)
11. An OOC section for off-topic chat (10)
12. OOC contests and prize drawings (1)
13. Rules allowing members to advertise their site in their avatar/signature/posts (1)
14. Newbie-friendly roleplay (7)
15. Rules that are well-explained and detailed, stating examples and consequences if applicable (9)
16. Multilingual site with areas for posts in non-English languages (6)

9. It is not the problem of the staff. If he player isn't mature enough to handle it themselves they need to leave or get over it. Staff should not be involved.
11. I like getting to know te people I RP with. That's what I love about it. You're talking to people you can have intelligent conversations with (hopefully).
16. I suppose this would be nice if I was multilingual. For now it's just English and a bit of Spanish. But a board like that might attract oher people.

1. Strict rules and rule enforcement (10)
2. Fairness of staff (10)
3. Knowledgeable staff (8)
4. Friendly members (8)
5. Anti-Godmoding rule (10)
6. Many ways to increase your member ranking/stats (1)
7. Long, well thought-out roleplay plots/posts (8)
8. Lenience of most rules for first-offenses (5)
9. Mediation of player-to-player disputes, provided by the staff (5)
10. Open staff positions available (1)
11. An OOC section for off-topic chat (5)
12. OOC contests and prize drawings (1)
13. Rules allowing members to advertise their site in their avatar/signature/posts (1)
14. Newbie-friendly roleplay (5)
15. Rules that are well-explained and detailed, stating examples and consequences if applicable (10)
16. Multilingual site with areas for posts in non-English languages (1)

1. Strict rules and rule enforcement 8
Mostly this is simply to keep those n00bs from god-moding. But I prefer to use in-game punishments as opposed to banning or stuff.

2. Fairness of staff 10
That should always be high on your priority. You won't have much fun if you have a staff who're losers.

3. Knowledgeable staff 7
Less important, as long as they're fair.

4. Friendly members 6-8
Depends on what you mean. Encourage being nice (if you're like me you have rules against meanness) but don't ban someone for being a rabble-rouser.

5. Anti-Godmoding rule 5

6. Many ways to increase your member ranking/stats 2
This just feeds pointless posts and spam.

7. Long, well thought-out roleplay plots/posts 4
Well-thought out YES. Long NO. At one of the sites I run we had a period where we actually had people competing for 'longest RP post'. I won at 13,000ish words. At that point we all realised that no one wanted to read those things because they were so long.

8. Lenience of most rules for first-offenses 9
Everyone screws up.

9. Mediation of player-to-player disputes, provided by the staff 3
I would let the players deal with it, unless it becomes the staff's problem directly. Although I'd likely serve as the IMPARTIAL ADMIN JUDGE and then at one point I'd declare a 'winner' of the arguement and shut up that thread.

10. Open staff positions available 1
What your position in power shouldn't matter to people. We don't want it becoming a war for power.

11. An OOC section for off-topic chat 2/10
If your group has an OOC section for chat at one site, it's essential. But you don't usually need one for other RPs that your group regulars.

12. OOC contests and prize drawings 1
We have one... it's not very exciting and these just cause more bad feelings than good ones.

13. Rules allowing members to advertise their site in their avatar/signature/posts 5
I don't care, so I allow it. I mean... I do it too :p

14. Newbie-friendly roleplay 9
Lots of staff/member support for people getting into the RP groove is important. But you don't want to dumb it down for them.

15. Rules that are well-explained and detailed, stating examples and consequences if applicable 10
Otherwise you end up with rules mis-interpretations and it gets very messy very fast.

16. Multilingual site with areas for posts in non-English languages 0
Never had to deal with it.

1. Strict rules and rule enforcement 7

I want somewhere that's fun and free. I don't to have a place where everyone runs around with sticks up their hineys because they just have to follow the rules. So for the first part about the strict rules, I'd give a 5. However, I say I'd give a 9 to the enforcement--the rules are there for a reason and they should be enforced. (As long as they are fair.) But above all, it should be consistant.

2. Fairness of staff 10

I'm not going to stay on a board where the staff treats some people better/worse than others. I understand if the staff members know member x more than they do member y, but that doesn't mean that one is any better than the other. We're all equal.

3. Knowledgeable staff 7

As long as they get done what they have to, I'm cool with it. Experience isn't mandatory for me as long as they aren't horrible admins.

4. Friendly members 9

I love joining a site where the members ask me if I'd like to RP with them without making me grovel and stuff. I understand that as a member it's hard to keep up with the newbies and all. So at least talking to me in the cbox and OoC chat area is wonderful.

5. Anti-Godmoding rule 9
6. Many ways to increase your member ranking/stats 2

I don't really care about this at all. I just want to have fun and kick some hiney.

7. Long, well thought-out roleplay plots/posts 3.5

Creativity is what I like to see. I don't care if your post is 4 sentences or 40: I just want to see some creativity and love for writing put into the post.

8. Lenience of most rules for first-offenses 9

I just hate seeing in the rules "if you don't join with FIRST and LAST name, I'll delete your account." Hello. We're all human here. So are you. At any rate, we sometimes make mistakes.

9. Mediation of player-to-player disputes, provided by the staff 10

If the staff doesn't do something about it, it'll rip the board apart. However, the staff has to be good at it and not take unfair sides or play favorites.

10. Open staff positions available 0

I don't think I know the approach this question is taking. I would never ever demand a staff spot upon coming to a board. In fact, I've turned them down before because I hadn't been a member long enough. And if you're talking about seeing a bunch of open staff places, I don't really care about that.

11. An OOC section for off-topic chat 10

I love talking OoC and becomming part of the community. And I love when there's an active community that's very inviting.

12. OOC contests and prize drawings 1

I don't mind them, but it's certainly not a deciding factor.

13. Rules allowing members to advertise their site in their avatar/signature/posts3

Don't really care too much as long as it's not rude.

14. Newbie-friendly roleplay 7

As long as it's not n00b I think it's great to encourage people to RP. I cannot stand it when boards label themselves "elite." It sounds like they have a stick up their hineys. (No offense, but it sounds so . . . bleh. My words fail me.) At any rate, helping newbies grow is great.

15. Rules that are well-explained and detailed, stating examples and consequences if applicable 7

This one is hard. I like really, really good rules. But I like them to make sense and to be written concisely and clearly. If they ramble on, then I'm likely to not read it. I'll read it better also if there are plenty of spaces between paragraphs and the font isn't tiny.

16. Multilingual site with areas for posts in non-English languages 0

Uhh? If it's multilingual site, wouldn't there be places for non-English languages? If it's a unilingual site, I don't mind a thread, but a whole section is overkill.

1. Strict rules and rule enforcement 6
A set of rules are one thing, but strict rules usually take forever to read. And if the rules are going to take forever to read, people are more likely to just skip them entirely and bring more problem members. Strict enforcement though, is key - enforcement should be equal towards all members, new members, old members, staff members whatever - it should be equal.
2. Fairness of staff 10
3. Knowledgeable staff 8
For the above two - 'nuff said. A good, fair, helpful staff is really what makes or breaks a site in my opinion. I know I recently left a site because they had a crumby staff.
4. Friendly members 7
Friendly members who are open to new people are extraordinarily helpful when you are the new kid on the block. I know I'd be discouraged if I joined a site and then everyone was so set in their cliques that they refused to RP with me.
5. Anti-Godmoding rule 8
6. Many ways to increase your member ranking/stats 5
I'm not really fond of having 'ranks' because it tends to clique or glorify certain members over others and can be discriminately applied. Have a quality posting award of some sort to point out the exceptionally strong role-players, but otherwise I would generally avoid making some members seem more important than others.
7. Long, well thought-out roleplay plots/posts 4
While short, tiny posts are horrible, extraordinarily long posts are equally annoying. There's a balance in the middle - remember, smaller posts can be as excellent in quality as longer posts. Forcing members to have a well-developed plotline that they have to keep track of in some manner for you is really, really controlling and frankly would send me running the other direction.
8. Lenience of most rules for first-offenses 7
Always for the minor things - if you come off too heavy handed, you'll just as easily scare away members. Be gentle on the first offense. :)
9. Mediation of player-to-player disputes, provided by the staff 5
For problems within the confines of the board, sure, go ahead, make sure they aren't being abusive of each other. Anything outside the board - IM, e-mail, etc. - never. As an administrator even you have your limits, and although some administrators have undoubtedly deluded themselves into thinking that they can punish members for things that happen on IM, they don't have the right to moderate other people's chats. If someone comes to you with that kind of problem, tell them to stand up on their own two feet, tell the person to knock it off, and if he or she doesn't, advise them to make use of that nifty little block button on most IMs. The one exception: if you entrust them with staff/main plot secrets that they swore never to give out and they do. That should certainly necessitate some punitive action.
10. Open staff positions available 1
11. An OOC section for off-topic chat 1
12. OOC contests and prize drawings 0
13. Rules allowing members to advertise their site in their avatar/signature/posts ???
Generally, just make an advertising forum especially for this purpose so ads don't clutter up the rest of your site. It's nice and neat and helpful that way. ^_^
14. Newbie-friendly roleplay 10
Always be welcoming of new players - whether they're new to role playing, the genre or just the board, because that's a good way to get and keep members.
15. Rules that are well-explained and detailed, stating examples and consequences if applicable5
While I certainly have been known to draw up long, rambling sets of rules, that is a big fat no. The rules should be clear enough that they are understood, but short enough so that they don't take forever to read. As I said above, great long rule topics tend to drive members away more than keep them.
16. Multilingual site with areas for posts in non-English languages -10
No, no no no no. :) Unless you have staff members that are fluent in those languages and are willing to specifically patrol that area and whatnot, a great fat no.

1. Strict rules and rule enforcement **7** Some people are getting carried away..
2. Fairness of staff **10**
3. Knowledgeable staff **10**
4. Friendly members **10**
5. Anti-Godmoding rule **N/A** That depends on your RPG. ^_^
6. Many ways to increase your member ranking/stats **2**
7. Long, well thought-out roleplay plots/posts **3** I get tired of reading this stuff
8. Lenience of most rules for first-offenses **7**
9. Mediation of player-to-player disputes, provided by the staff **9**
10. Open staff positions available **5**
11. An OOC section for off-topic chat **10**
12. OOC contests and prize drawings **1**
13. Rules allowing members to advertise their site in their avatar/signature/posts **7**
14. Newbie-friendly roleplay **10**
15. Rules that are well-explained and detailed, stating examples and consequences if applicable **6**
16. Multilingual site with areas for posts in non-English languages **n/a** Don't care.

Well, that was extremely helpful! Thank you everyone, and keep them coming! I thoroughly enjoyed hearing your viewpoints on all these topics. I was especially intrigued at how many of you preferred newbie-friendly roleplaying instead of the advanced roleplay I've been preferring. This has really opened my eyes, and you all make very good points in your answers.

This is awesome. I'm so happy this many of you took this survey, and it's great to hear from you on these matters.

Thank you a lot! If you haven't answered yet, please do, and thanks to you too!

:D

1. Strict rules and rule enforcement: 7
2. Fairness of staff: 10
3. Knowledgeable staff: 8-9
4. Friendly members: 10
5. Anti-Godmoding rule: 9
6. Many ways to increase your member ranking/stats: 2
7. Long, well thought-out roleplay plots/posts: 8
8. Lenience of most rules for first-offenses: 6
9. Mediation of player-to-player disputes, provided by the staff: 2
10. Open staff positions available: 0
11. An OOC section for off-topic chat: 7
12. OOC contests and prize drawings: 1
13. Rules allowing members to advertise their site in their avatar/signature/posts: 0
14. Newbie-friendly roleplay: 10
15. Rules that are well-explained and detailed, stating examples and consequences if applicable: 6
16. Multilingual site with areas for posts in non-English languages: 0

1. Strict rules and rule enforcement 6
2. Fairness of staff 9
3. Knowledgeable staff 9
4. Friendly members 10
5. Anti-Godmoding rule 9
6. Many ways to increase your member ranking/stats 1
7. Long, well thought-out roleplay plots/posts 4
8. Lenience of most rules for first-offenses 8
9. Mediation of player-to-player disputes, provided by the staff 7
10. Open staff positions available 3
11. An OOC section for off-topic chat 10
12. OOC contests and prize drawings 1
13. Rules allowing members to advertise their site in their avatar/signature/posts 6
14. Newbie-friendly roleplay 8
15. Rules that are well-explained and detailed, stating examples and consequences if applicable. 7
16. Multilingual site with areas for posts in non-English languages 1 Of little importance to me personally, but it's definitely something I'd love to see and therefore would encourage me to join a site should it have this.

Thank you so much for all your awesome answers! This survey has made me realize how much I had to learn about the psychology of RP. I was completely in Advanced mode, and I wasn't getting many members, and in fact, I had lost many due to my methods. I understand now that, in much the same way that lower prices increases sales and profits for a company, more manageable requirements for joining and participating in an RPG will inevitably bring in a larger player base.

This is a big change for me, and once more I want to thank you all for helping me to begin to make the transition from advanced-only to accepting all. In short, if you posted here, you totally rox my sox!

Thanks!! :D