So I've been making a forum for a couple of weeks now and I'm unsure whether to turn the post count in the games section on or off. Games are fun but they detract from actual roleplaying and it doesn't seem fair that someone who has three IC threads will have about 20 posts whereas someone who might have none could have ninety. But is it going too far to turn off the post count and will it turn people away?

The only reason I ever turned post count off on my RP boards was because people had to have a certain amount of posts before they could make a new character or be eligible for certain IC things. RPG-Directory turns off post count because people could post 15+ pointless things in games and be able to send in their site's advertisement.

I don't see the necessity of turning off post count if post count doesn't have any IC or OOC consequences (like getting certain benefits if you have X amount of posts). However, some people are concerned about getting in the Top 10 Posters screen... even in RPs. But I don't think it would turn people away. It's such a small thing. =)

Honest, serious question: what does it really matter?

If you're having trouble with people being active IC, run an IC activity check where they have to make an IC post within X-time.

We have post counts turned off in IC games (and basically all non-roleplaying places). All of our forums, IC games and general chatter alike are still active. Like Sunday said, we have benefits to having it off, though. Plus, we like seeing how much people roleplay.

I agree with everyone so far. Unless there's going to be something riding on post count, I wouldn't worry about it. If anything, it just makes your members and forum look more active; because, and someone can correct me on this, but posts that don't count toward a member's post count also don't count toward a forum's stats, correct?

I turn the post count off on anything OOC, including profiles (though I've often debated that one). The reason, mostly, is because we have a money system set up and it's based on your overall post count, but even before we had it the OOC was always a no-go. OOC posts aren't (usually) posts involving any sort of prose, and games especially usually consist of less than 50 words, it seems.

I think you'd be fine. Maybe just set something up saying, "If all you're doing is posting in the games and never IC, you will be warned/spoken to/whatever". Most probably won't post excessively in it, but you never know... There are those who will.

Hmm, I'm not sure but I've always assumed all posts go towards overall post count.
...now I want to check and see. ;p

Nah. We have post count everywhere. We don't care about whose post count is what. Some people have 700 posts just because they post in the games so much, but they also RP a lot so I don't care. As long as people are RPing sometimes, I don't care about their participation in the games.

It does work for some games to turn post count off so post count is indicative of RPing, but I keep track of people by knowing what threads they are in and when they post rather than their post count.

Post count matters on our site because we have experience levels, a banking system and a bunch of other IC perks that are based on post count, so we turned the count off for every board except the IC roleplaying forums. I think, if posts didn't matter, I'd probably not turn the count on though. If it doesn't matter how many posts someone has in game terms, then post count doesn't matter at all, I don't think. :)

And on IPB, at least, I don't think posts made in forums where the count's turned off go towards the overall, but I wouldn't swear to that. ¬_¬

I prefer having it so that the only posts that count toward ones post count are in IC forums. This is mostly because activity evaluation is based on the number of IC posts/ month, and determines who gets an IC promotion or demotion.

Likewise, I can see how some boards don't count. Although, I find that if you count the OOC posts toward ones post count, it just becomes an unnecessary function for competition within the board.

And in IPB, I know that you can go to forums and make it so posts do not count toward the overall post count, so Emma's (Xanth) right in that~ :3

I turn post counts off on both my RPGs for any board that isn't part of the actual roleplay {IC boards}. It encourages people to participate in order to move up in post rankings.

I think post count is really important, especially for players that take role playing seriously. On my forums, I turn the post count off on OOC forums. The only forums with the post count turned on are the actual role playing forums. They are role playing forums after all. I know I would feel a sense of pride knowing that I have X number of quality role playing posts over somebody who has more OOC posts or even more role playing posts of a lesser quality. It's not really about post count anyways. They have always said "quality over quantity."

Just to clear things up: posts that don't add to the player's post count does add to the forum total. I just tested it.

Personally, I'm not really adamant about not getting credit for posting in games, but I prefer it. I've been on many RPGs where the post count is oh-so-important to some people, and it results in a lot of silly game posts, which is fine, but as an admin, I would rather have an easy way to determine who's actually posting in character. Sure, I could try to keep track of it by seeing who's in which thread, and who's posting when, but frankly, once the site reaches a certain size, that's highly impractical. I might even go so far as to say it's impossible.

I leave the post count on on all my forums on all the boards. Post count doesn't matter on my games at all, so there's no reason to care enough to turn it off anywhere. x3 Post count doesn't effect anything, and rankings are no more than an amusing phrase under your name. So it's no big deal.

I like not having post count for the whole board. RPs don't really need post counts, in my opinion. But as for games vs actual posts, I don't really care too much unless people are spending all of their time in the game section.

Post counts don't count for anything, so I ignore them. The only good I ever thought of them was when I was competing with my friend on our dead forum to see who could get their post count highest by taking over all thirty-something games by replying to them all before the other could. But a post count doesn't matter, and it's easier just to leave it so that they are on. I like to see that they are on so that I know who I'm roleplaying with won't have just posted once and then be liable to disappear suddenly because they can't be bothered with this forum they just joined. If it's someone with a particularly high post count, then you can rely on them replying, but that's really the only useful thing I can think of.

But turning them off in the games forum would be acceptable if you have one of those promotion things where, once someone reaches a particular post count, they get promoted. And that would be a reason why I'd turn it off. But on roleplay forums, I don't generally tend to have it switched off in the games forum because there's nothing to be promoted to. [=