Ok, so it seems to me that there are two main methods when it comes to releasing a board to the public. The first is once everything is done, and you're satisfied with it all, just opening it up completely and letting the members trickle in. The second is opening the board and the in character sections seperately. First, members can join, get to know each other, maybe post an application, butthe RPing doesn't actually start until a later pre-determined date.

It seems like the advantage of method is mainly instant gratification. No waiting for the member or mods, everything is good to go. On the other hand, method two (of you can successfully attract members) gives everyone built in time to build a community and plot so you have a nice base to start on when RPing does officially begin. Though, if the RP start date is too far in the future, some might simply lose interest and leave.

Which method do you all use? Why do you like it?

I'm going back and forth on this. I think I prefer the idea of having it all ready and opening the RP right away. I can see advantages to waiting, too, as long as it's mostly ready to go when you let your characters sign up.

I don't like it when people start advertising their game before they actually have rules and stuff ready (which I've seen). It's like movie trailers that tell you absolutely nothing about the movie. Why bother? I'm not going to get excited about the prospect of playing something when I don't know what it is. Going around to people and saying, "I've got this idea, what do you think?" to see if you should bother taking it further is okay, but saying, "Game X is starting soon! Make your character and watch here for more information!" when the new information (like character-building rules) takes a long time to show up turns me off.

I used method one. In my opinion, an rp that already has some rping activity is more appealing when I'm looking to join. Also, I think sometimes once people join a site, they want to get to rping right away. I think it's just a matter of personal preference, and when you think potential members will respond to the method you choose. I'm too much of a coward to try method two and gamble on people liking it. I'd rather go with what's safe and I know will at least get me a few members to start.

Method one. No matter how new a place is no one wants to touch it if its dead (unless they're into projects). Also having RP's out there and ready seems better because people can jump right in and not have to worry about making one themselves..

I could see how method two might work but personally I want to get to know someone by their RPing ability first and we can move on from there (or maybe I'm just mean).

Oh, I had a topic like this going in the roleplay talk section, but it was a poll. If you wanted to look at it too for reference/opinions.

http://rpg-directory.com/index.php?showtopic=16646&hl=

I still can't decide which way I like best, but then, I've only opened one game once, and only been part of a game once before it officially opened. Both times were the open character section and ooc first, then everything later, which I like.

For the first time I´ve created a board where I had about.... 6 staff to start out with, some have gone inactive, but most stuck around and together we created the board. Also some people have pm´ed me about the board already because they were so interested, so we have our first accepted members already too, even before opening. I was like o.O when I saw all the applications XD, the IC forums and info topics weren´t even done yet. (and still need to be finished up). For some reason I like it, because when we have our grand opening (today/tommorow hopefully) we have an active community already, where it's even more attractive to join up with as a new member. Because well, there are already people. Yesterday evening we had 8 people online. EIGHT! like o.O lol.

I think it's defiantly a way of making a forum I'll try again if I make another forum.

I've only created one RPG, and I went for Option One, because I knew there were players who wanted to get on and play, and it would take me some time to learn all the different bits and pieces to get the board looking good.

It's worked, and it's definitely the way I would do it again in the future.

The first method, or, "instant gratification" as you put it. I've joined games (not on InvisionFree) that employ the second method, and that seems to stir up a lot of interest and even a little frenzy to get in before the opening date, or get in so the game can open (if it's one of those that opens "after X amount of applications"). I see the second method used a lot on journal-based RPs; I've never seen it done on an InvisionFree board. I wouldn't want to try to see how it works out, though. I'm too much of a details perfectionist to let people in before the site is completed, plus I make too many last-minute changes!

I can definitely relate to being a perfectionist. I just opened 2376 today, and there were quite a few things that I hated until I had redone them two or three times.

I've never actually opened up a board myself, but if I were going to, I'd do method one. I'd be able to work on my on my own schedule, and I, at least, would be more likely to pass an rp by if it wasn't finished yet. That said, if I had friends/people from other rps that were interested, or if I posted something about it on here and people seemed interested, I'd let people hang out in the c-box if they wanted until the site was open (but the rest of the board would be in offline mode).