So I was wondering which way you prefer to open a game, or see a game opened (if you're with it from the beginning as either member or staff).

Personally, I will join games that are just starting, and I kind of have a preference for games that have an All Open Date that happens a little after I can register and apply for a character. It helps me get a feeling for the board before the actual playing begins and helps me decide if I'm going to want to stay or not. Having one "free for all" forum open before that helps too, for seeing if writing styles and game-wants click properly.

I think it helps build a good OOC community, but it also runs the risk of making people bored because they can't actually play on the board yet. I guess the whole OOC community thing is just really big for me, because I'm less likely to go out of my way to post for a game if I don't feel really connected to the other players (which can happen after a board has been opened, I know).

I don't honestly care too much. xD

Both of my games opened without anyone even knowing about them in advance (well, in the case of RotE the other admin knew about it; it was kinda her idea. :B The mod knew too) and they did just fine! It was just sorta like, "SURPRISE!" and then lotsa advertising sprees, haha.

When I join a game, I just want it to be open so I can start playing on it. Games with a set opening date I sorta just...forget about. Especially if the date is far away. Basically, in the case of both of my games, they were finished when they were finished and once they were finished they were opened! Voila! The OOC community in both my games never suffered, either. It's strong.

But ultimately it is, of course, up to the owners. x3

I'm with Rhi-Rhi on the not caring too much bit.

I guess I just like the whole "throwing caution to the wind" and diving in thing. When you first open a board, frequently there's a lot of time to do boardly things while waiting for activity to pick up. When I started my first board (which is still alive in a reincarnation), I pretty much RPed with myself for a month and built it up slowly as I discovered that I wanted feature X or feature Y. Then other people had to come and ruin my fun with stories about being locked up with werewolves and possibly werewolf-house elves. :p

My opening style is similar to my joining style. When I come to a site, I want to be able to start the process immediately and with as few hiccups as possible. Getting approved, waiting, and then playing OOC games would likely bore me.

Another thing: I would probably want the administrator and staff members to already have their character information set up before the site was officially opened (free-for-all stye, of course) to the public. That way there will be somebody to play with when the character sheet and fun things like that get approved.

Like Rhi Rhi, I tend not to announce my boards. I had the idea for Tally - had it live by the end of the night and went straight to opening that day. It was announced as officially open a few days later, but we'd already been playing.

I tend not to join boards as they're opening, so I don't really have a preference, but I guess I would more want everything to be open and running.

I prefer the other option. I've never set a date for opening a site. It just happens when I think I've done all that needs to be done. Character's don't get posted until the site is completely finished. And when it does get opened every section is open for posting.

i chose the second one why?
i get a little iffy if the board is bare.
considering there are usually a lot of forums on my board i know that sometimes guests will be like huh... so nothing.
which is why on my most recent board i had me and my staff post a couple open topics BEFORE opening... that way members can jump right in instead of waiting for someone to post a topic. ^ _ ^

The set date and opening thing has worked well for me.

Here's my thinking, derrived from the numerous conversations that have taken place on RPG D, and the Requesting RPG section.

People want a new board.
But people don't want a board that looks inactive.
Admins get itchy feet when no one joins and get impatient, sitting around waiting for that new member to join, to please them during the approval process and get them playing without risking them upping and vanishing between joining and being accepted.
People want a friendly community but not necessarily something huge.

When you set a date, but allow people to apply and use the ooc sections and plan and talk about their character ideas, you're creating several things:

A build up. You create excitement and get people talking to one another. You can use this opportunity to start building a community so that when other members join they can see how other members are with one another and how the admin is.

You give yourself time to collect up a few accepted applications so that when you open a board you can kick off with some consistent play.

By building up the community you can generate authentic OOC activity and you can get the opinions of members as to what kind of launch post they might want to do--if they do at all.

This also gives you a more structured start, rather than leaving everything to chance. Not to say, of course, that not having a start date will not work as well, I'm sure it has its benefits, I just can't help you out with figuring out what they are because I've never opened a board on the spur of the moment. >>

Someone help me out, here!

I prefer allowing applications and ooc chatter before the site officially opens. Maybe even a few starter threads so that we have decent activity. I like kick-starting a board with action, and that's impossible if you're the sole admin with no one to RP with. I also invite a few friends so that I do have someone to help me with plot, brainstorm, making sure the board is fit for opening and starting some actual threads with. My only fear in that regard is making others feel unwelcome because I've already begun RPing with others. I do my best to welcome any newcomers, though, so hopefully it's not too much of a deterrent.

I have opened boards without any previous involvement of other players and it's never worked out, they almost always flop. I get too antsy waiting for the first few members.

I hate with an extreme passion boards which allow characters and things to be applied for and approved but not roleplayed. In my opinion, when you open, you open everything, or nearly. If I come across a board going 'yes...we'll open [date] join!' I roll my eyes, call them stupid and trying to make their board seem more important than it really is, and leave.

When I opened NMTB I had made all my forums, gotten my rules, plot and application sheets in order - and that's about it. Oh, I think my advertising was sorted too. NMTB still isn't all finished (some forums don't have descriptions) and we've been open nine months.

I don't believe in kick-starting, because that implies that the board is going to keep going once you've done that and that's rubbish. Perhaps some will, but going around talking about things like that will give new admins the idea that their boards are supposed to happen just like that. See my fire analogy in one of metallicar's threads for how I see it.

(I apologise for the harshness - I'm sick and I've been reading Jane Eyre and I may have picked up some of Mr Rochester's attitude.)

When I start a board, I finish the OOC first, so I always invite people to come talk there. Then, I get to work on the IC sections. I always start with the OOC, that way we're not just RPing buddies when the site opens for RP, we're friends.

I don't like opening boards until they are ready and everything is done so then when I open up I can open it completely.

I voted for Open at a certain date and open everything at once, character posting and role playing and for other. I will open the whole board at once but I try to have me and the other admins have posted the character profiles and maybe even started RPing before the actual open.

This is both for our own amusement and to show that people are around and posting as well as a profile or two as examples.

I like to open my sites asap, and letting people post their bios and began roleplaying. Usually I'll start with a few innocuous game days to let people get into the groove of things, and let them began RPing and meet each other, to keep them from loosing interest in the game itesels. It seems to have been working for me pretty well, as the members that I do have are RPing together wonderfully and are patiently waiting for me to get more members before I start the really good plots that I have in store for them.

I like to open my boards right away. Usually, I get an idea for a site, and then I start making it. When I think I've gotten everything finished, it's open and I start advertising. People can join and start roleplaying as soon as they're accepted. I've never been on a site that didn't do it that way, and I think I would lose interest if they did. I want to start posting as soon as I can, not wait around and post OOC. I like to start playing my character and really get a feel for them, and if I wait too long, I'm bored with them before I even get a chance to post them, and then that would just make the whole site boring for me. *shrugs*

I like option number one. Boards that usually have a set opening date tend to make me a bit antsy. Usually I like to start roleplaying right away, and when nobody's allowed to post outside of certain forums it tends to annoy me. What I have done in the past is get the whole board done, get my character sheets completed, post an introduction thread and some games, and post a few open threads with my characters. On my last board I had a co-administrator with an advertising mod. With the combination of our characters (we each had three for nine total) and a few threads for each character, it we managed to make the place look pretty active.

I don't know if it's the same for everyone, but when we opened the board, we made the board look active when we opened to help gain members, advertised like crazy, and roleplayed with anyone who wanted to and things picked up pretty quickly. It worked out pretty well....until some troubles with my co-admin caused some major drama that caused everyone to run away screaming...but that's beside the point.

I'm personally a fan of trying to hype up my own boards with encouraging people to post in the ooc forums. The two rpgs I opened before Piece of the Action had a lot of success and I opened them the same way. For Piece of the Action I didn't bother telling anyone about it till it was already completed and ready for members to play on. Now I kinda regret it since I'm having a hard time finding active members.