Okay, so I know that many roleplays don't last all that long but the first roleplay I ever partook in lasted more than a year and because of that I cannot stand the fact that some admins make a roleplay and then when it doesn't get 6 billion members by the third week, they close it down. However, because of this I have a problem; when is it time to give up on the roleplay? I've only ever closed one roleplay, but even that one was, as most of my other ones, lacking member activity and enough was enough. But what if you have a site that's a bit active, with a few people posting a week but it's still not really active? Is it time to close?

I would talk to the members that are left to see what they feel was right. If they're not ready to give up, you shouldn't either. Maybe you all can work together to come up with some fresh ideas to get more people in. You can do a major revamp, and then try bulk emailing the old members of the board (if their accounts are still there). Or you could go on a mass advertising spree, or join a bunch of topsites.

But if they're ready to move on, maybe you can start working on another board that they'll be interested in, and see if they'll migrate there. Just talk to them to see what they want.

Don't give up until the rest of your members do.

I would think that if you are only getting a few posts a week it's time to really revamp the board, or close down the roleplay. If it has been a few weeks give it time, but if it has been a few months and not much of a buzz has been generated it's time to start over and try again.

If you still have loyal members you should offer them the chance to migrate over to a new board you might start. Starting fresh is better than revamping in my opinion.

Not all RPGs are super duper active. Some are more laid back. Not every RPG is gonna get a bazillion posts a day. ;3

I don't close RPGs. |: But I've only ever run two in my life, and I plan on keeping it that way; my games shall last forevah! xD SotE is one of those super crazily active ones, and RotE is pretty laid back. I love them both, and they're both equally successful in my eyes--because me and the members are having a blast.

Just because a game is slow it doesn't mean it's dying, and I see no reason to close a game based on that. Maybe it just needs a revamp to pick it up, or maybe it is just a laid back game. Are you and the members having fun on it? Genre can also play a part in that. Make a HP RP, and you'll be booming. Original games take more effort.

Advertise, advertise, advertise...change the skin...keep posting. :3

Changing the skins and vamping it up doesn't always save a site either. I got worried about only having a few posts a week but frankly, Im very laid back about my forum. We are currently a small but loyal crew and I know the members enjoy it so why shut it down if people are enjoying themselves?

Does advertising loads work for other people? I dont know that we've gotten many members through advertising...more through word of mouth from members....

Try telling the members to wrap it up and the new V2 will be coming out and then advertise the new version. We did that, making it ten years in the future of where V1 ended. The kids were grown up, etc, and politically things changed and we advertised for new members.

Advertising a lot works for me. If I hadn't advertised like a madwoman with SotE, it wouldn't have gotten so big. Now it runs off a lot of word of mouth, but I still advertise. It started out SMALL and was really, really slow for like a year. But persistence pays off, and now it's a well known and popular game. :3

You have to advertise constantly, though, and everywhere. Don't limit yourself to advertising on forums.

But yeah, as long as the members you have are having fun, who cares? :3

I've noticed a big trend in new sites being closed down right away. I don't know if it is because of the admins losing interest or if it was like you said Lady Notorious that they get upset or discouraged after they don't get a million and a half members right away posting a hundred times a day.

There have been a couple sites I have been on where people seem to just disappear including the admins but as long as the board isn't put offline me and my RP buddies will still post there in hopes people will come back or until we give up completely (which doesn't happen much) I've ran several sites, some that never really took off and are waiting re-vamping and others that have a small dedicated group. They might not look very active to some people but I would never close them down. Maybe eventually if we keep up at it we will get bigger and more active. But advertising does work for me. I get a good deal of my members from posting ads on other sites and I even encourage my members to post our ad on the other sites they are on so we can get our adds in more places.

That seems a bit like jumping the gun to me. Sometimes it can take weeks, months, even a year or more for a game to really find its groove and take off. If the people who run the game and the people who play in it love the RPG, why would you put it aside so easily? And more importantly, if you don't love your game then why did you either create it or join in the first place?

Part of this issue seems to stem from managing expectations poorly. Creating and running a RPG is like anything else -- expecting instant gratification is silly even if it's difficult to shake. Managing expectations and short attention spans is a Big Deal. And let's face it, very rarely is painless success worth having. IMO, you have to work for something to fully appreciate it.

If the admins are not there, there are no IC or OCC posts, then its time to close IMO.

I'd recommend closing an RP when:

1) Few to zero members are active, AND

2) (and most importantly of all) YOU, the admin, no longer feel any motivation to play on it, either.

I agree with SmathNa. It's true, a lot of boards seem to be closing down before they even get started, which seems more like the admins over-reacting. It takes time for the board to settle and become active. Of course, life gets in the way and members do leave and all, and the best thing to do then is wait a while, try contacting them about whether they're still interested in the board or not and then decide for yourself if you think it's worth keeping the board. As the admin, if you still like the story and think the board has potential, you should get back on the game and trying to get new people over, advertise and all. However, if you're not interested in it that much anymore, of if you don't see it having a future, then it's time to think of what to write for the headstone :/

It's really easy to get disheartened when your game doesn't take off as well as you think it should, and I can understand mods who close their games early. But I have to agree with the people saying that sometimes it just takes time. As long as there's still a story to be told, and players/characters willing to tell it, it's worth keeping it going.

My game had a major die-off back in December, came back strong, and is going through another die-off period. It happens.

If you're a player on a game that's closing, would the mods be willing to turn it over to you? Or could you set up a related game of your own?

abandon it when and only when there are less than three (not including three) active people. and even then only after advertising until your fingers fall off.
aka.
never. force it to live.

^{I close down mine when there's no one left whatsoever. Because even if there might be two active people other than myself, I can't just say "you can't roleplay with each other on here anymore" and be all mean. But I think that after one or two re-vamps (two maximum XD), and you end up with no activity after a short period of time, then you really should close. Either that or hire some more admins/moderators. More admins means less applications and such for you to handle, less things to do and more time to listen to members and actually take part in threads yourself. More moderators means that they can handle the smallers issues like advertising and such. And therefore the advertising from the moderators helps you to gain more members. But even if that doesn't keep people on your forum, it's probably the concept that's letting you down. Either try a different approach or just close it down. And don't even bother opening it if you're going to spend more time doing so much other stuff that you can't even focus on your own forum, because it's the members that'll get annoyed; and therefore leave.}

i have a quick question along the same lines.

i have a site that's been running for a while -- we've revamped three times, my members/fellow admins promise to keep things going .... and then vanish until i start musing about shutting down, claiming they're there helping out, but i'm still left with all the work.

at this point in time it's way overdue for my site to close seeing as how the only members there are ... three of us, all admins, and my co-admins seem to be anywhere but there ... and yet they always guilt me into keeping it open.

so is it terrible of me to want to shut down when i can't keep people there at all? as much as i love the site, i've lost the ability to post there, and because of my hours i'm not on often enough without the help of my co-team -- but they claim i should keep it open and that it'll be fine ...

I would close mine when no one is having fun anymore and your members have pretty much left. I've done it all, revamped and readvertised, it worked for a while but after a few months the site died again. Its hard to run a site with no members and its hard to just RP with two people. I always check with the other Admins and we decide what to do about the board, we also discuss it with members and see what their opinion is.

Pieces: If they're so eager to keep it open and alive, let them do it. Remove anything you care about, and leave the site in their "capable" hands.

If it bothers you to see your creation 'going on' without you, though, I'd just close it.

I have been in this place /many/ times.

Me and about 8 loyal members have gone through 20+ site changes, genre changes, and revamps. We've always stuck together. And we usually move or revamp when no one has posted for about a week. It's hard getting members active again after a week of inactivity. Activity checks help, but that usually does nothing for us.