Since the Annoying Members topic was kind of getting off track, I figured I'd go ahead and begin a topic concerning where we were off-tracking to.

The pros and cons off multiple user accounts.

This topic should produce a wide variety of comments and opinions. I'm not looking to change anyone's mind, who has a seperate view of this from me. I'm hoping no one in that group is looking to change my mind.

But a lot of newer admins may not have had the luxury of seeing the varying pros and cons...and opinions about those....to this topic. So, on the chance this might help anyone out, or even inspire educated discussion (that's as close to politically correct as you're ever likely to see me.....), we'll see what we come up with here.

I'm not a fan of multiple user accounts. I think they inspire confusion, more than anything else. I've seen people post under the wrong name numerous times. Most sites don't keep track of what person holds what accounts, so new members are easily confused by talking to the same people several times....and I really do think a number of sites out there encourage them, simply to look busier and more active....and decieving new members, or guests, to get more members, is a bad policy all around.

I'll go into more details, concerning my opinions on everything I just stated, as the topic rolls on.

Good topic ^^

I actually like having multiple accounts ONLY when there's an even distribution of males/females per person. Like if you already have two guys then you have a girl or vice versa. I don't allow someone to have all girls, or at least, I try not to. I've let that rule slip and didn't enforce it against my co-admin on one of my sites, but its not too bad.

The only thing I've seen multiple user accounts do that was anywhere close to bad was inflate the member count. Now whether or not you wanted that to happen, well, that's your choice. Sometimes, people want to seem like they have more members than they do, and sometimes its not a good idea.

One thing I will say that's bad, would be when staff member's, like the main administrator, goes and has seven or eight accounts, and the forum has just started out. If they end up taking that many characters, especially if a good amount of them are canon, well that doesn't leave much for the other people to chose from.

Like I'd said in the last topic this was being discussed in....

And this is a very extreme example....but a shining one...

I once joined a site, with a little over 100 members. It took me nearly a month, to narrow down to, aside from me....there were only actually 7 other real people RP'ing on the site.

I spent a lot of time, trying to get to know a bunch of the rest of the site....and had accomplished my goal, within a week.

If a site allows multiple accounts per user, at least have the decency to keep a regularly updated listing of what actual person plays which user accounts....like everyone else, I consider my personal time valuable, and I dislike when I feel people have wasted my time. A site wasting my time, either by intent, or neglect, is the fastest way to get me to no show back up.

I understand what you're saying, and I've seen that happen before.

I actually like your idea of having a list, but another wondrous idea would be to put a limit on the amount of accounts a person can have. I mean you don't want someone running around with 20 different accounts, like it sounds like what they did on that site you were on.

Allowing members to have that many accounts can get boring after a while, and quite confusing. It also, if they have canon characters, takes away from what other people who just joined can have when it comes to characters.

I actually prefer to have people have multiple accounts, one for each character. Our system used to be that you had all your characters under one account, but I found that to actually be far more confusing, as you'd HAVE to state the name of your character in your post, when perhaps you were trying to hide that fact, or at least not mention a name in that particular post in order to give that sense of mystery to the character. Now, we changed the system because it just made more sense for each character to have their own account, as to me it demonstrates that each character is a separate entity on the forum. I don't like the fact that it makes the forum seem like there are more members than there are, but if each character is kept active by the writer, it doesn't really matter - it's as if that character is being played by different people.

I do agree, however, that it can cause OOC confusion, when you post with the wrong account or you're talking to someone and they think you're two different people. What I do, though, is try to make one of my accounts the one I post with OOC each and every time (I've done it a few times where I'm on another account, but it's not a big deal), while just roleplaying with the rest to keep the confusion down. I also let people know which ones are me.

Mostly, we do it to curb IC confusion and, for me, it makes things seem a little bit neater. It does, however, cause some headaches, as when I do the account deletions, I have to remember what character belongs to who, as they may be more active on another character at the time where I decide what to do about the account. Otherwise, though, I prefer one character/one account as opposed to one account/multiple characters.

Uh...Well no, actually.

You could use a signature to signify that, and if it's any sort of RPG, then the tone of the writing or the situation should give way to who the character is. the fact of WHO it is, isn't something you absolutely have to know immediately. That's completely absurd.

If you wanted to obscure the identity of the person you're writing for, you simply write to be obscure--something which is more successful with APP.

It's laughable to treat naming your character in a post as a chore, because it isn't. It's something that happens naturally within a post, unless, for impact, you want to conceal it. In that case, knowing who the character is doesn't enter in the equation at all. You strip away all mystery by having APC and open your character up to other characters using OOC knowledge to identify your character. APP doesn't allow for this if you don't want it to.

I've never seen any real confusion IC, to having multiple characters on one account. The only place confusion has ever cropped up, is when a post introducing a new character to the topic was poorly written, or if someone didn't read the topic very well....

Generally, multiple characters are used to spread your involvement in a site. Most people don't RP with several of their characters in one topic very often. All someone needs to do is pay attention to what's going on, to figure out who's in the topic.....and most posts should include the name/identity of who is being posted for, anyway....

I've played both now and I think I really prefer one account with small icons and links to the profile page of the PC's in the siggy. I play on Plothooks and I've got folks in like three or four games I know I should know as their main screen name, but don't....

On Pollo Loco, you can choose to have all your charries on one acount, or to have them on separate accounts. Since we don't have an upper character limit, this makes it easier for those of us like the admin staff who might pick up a character to plot with a newcomer then establish said charrie in our account.

Members who choose to have separate accounts get their own member group with a pip that has their name on it, so that while their account name is different, a newcomer will know they're talking to the same person.

Rokkan....that might just be the best compromise I've heard to the whole concept, right there....

I never said it was a chore >>. I simply stated that if you would rather NOT post your character's name in an introduction post, but it would make it easier to clarify exactly which character you're using (so, let's say you have two who would tend not to give away their identity, for differing reasons) for others, you're at a bit of a standstill. Do you post your character's name, or do you leave it and see which members get it, and which ones don't? And I have seen IC confusion before, with people going, "Well which character are you using right now...?" I've also seen people ask why you're using two characters in one post, among other questions.

I dislike multiple accounts. Simply because I am so easy to confuse, and someone having multiple accounts just throws me off.

At my site you can have as many characters as one wants. Members just link all their bios in their signatures. And lately have started color coding them, so you can tell right off which character belongs to each faction and guild.

Lately new members have been making multiple accounts. It confuses most people there. And is a pain when they make a new character on that account, cause they add a rank that you have to work up to (unless you main character already achieved the rank). Then staff and members think we got another new member who never bothered to read the rules. x.x

Probably wouldn't be so bad if they mentioned it, before someone said something. But then, I don't see the point in making multiple accounts, when one works just fine. And is less confusing for me. lol

Any good introductory post to a topic, either it's beginning, or a new person's entry to it, should always, without exception, give you enough information, to at least have a solid idea who is in the post...at least the OOC you....who cares about the IC you?

Most people have a certain way to style thoughts in a post...itallic being the most common I've seen. Or just decent enough description works.

If I post a character coming into a topic....anyone who reads what I write, and checks my bios...which, having only one account, are easy to locate all of...knows what character I just posted for, even if somehow or another, that character's name does not appear in the post, which is, and should be, unusual....

As far as the two characters in one post?

My biggest personal pet peeve, on any RP site...is running up post counts. If I have 2 characters, or more, in one topic, which does happen, from time to time....you better believe I'll be posting for as many as the rest of the topic allows, in a single post. Posting seperately for each is spamming the board, plain and simple.

I will also add that most of us who have multiple characters on one account colour code them. So I might have one character in red, one in silver, one in yellow, etc. Then their names are in my sig, in the corresponding colour. Since i'm a reasonable graphic artist, my charries get an animated sig, but other users just text it under a sig with whichever charrie they feel like promoting at that moment in time.

It avoids confusion when you need more than one character in a thread.

Does anyone else have rules about it?

My board employs an interesting solution to this problem.

Accounts are created for each character, because the "join form" or "app sheet" or whatever you want to call it is the account's member profile -- this is why accounts per player are necessary.

Because I run SMFv2, I have enabled the option to link sub-accounts. You may link several character accounts together, or create a player account and link your characters to it. You log in with the single linked username and password, and the option is provided to remain logged in forever. You are then provided with a drop-down list of your linked accounts in approximately eleventy billion places; you can select which character you're posting with on the fly, while typing a post.

One particularly nice option that solves the 'omg who is that player' problem is that the member list can be configured to display linked accounts as a group, like so:

I have this option turned off for the moment, because it's more important to me to display the characters by IC group, but the option remains.

I just want to present the notion that there is NOT a black-or-white ONLY PLAYERS or ONLY CHARACTERS solution here. There are other ways and other methods, you just have to think outside the box. :)

Not a bad solution...and the idea behind posting it definitely keeps with the theme of the topic...providing insight into ways to address the situation, not argueing about who's idea is better. Thank you.

And thank all of you who have posted, for giving your insight and experience a public hearing on the subject.

I prefer a single account over multiple accounts. I've played on boards with both, and I can deal with either, but I find overall that a single account is better.

I will say that, one advantage to allowing multiple accounts, is that your board has more members and looks a lot more active. However, on the flip side I do get confused as to who's who. It's not that big a deal, I guess, but on a large board it can get kinda crazy.

But my main reason for preferring a single account is because it allows you to play as a writer instead of as a character. I started as a writer and got into role playing, so when I was told on some boards that I could only play as one character from one account, I can't tell you how much that sucked. I like to write plot-based stories and play multiple PC's to guide the other players through the story (kind of like DM'ing, but less omnipotent). It's fun to have your PC's interact with each other, to have characters in several places with other peoples' characters, and it really helps you develop your characters in the story because you can do more with them without always having to wait on another person's response.

*shrug* I know that's not how most people do things, but that's my two cents.

I think it should be dependent upon what the members themselves want and find confusing. To tackle the situation on my board we took a site wide poll. The first question asked about the use of collective account, and then our second question was would they like a list stating what player, played what characters.

Both options were voted no. I guess it is because that our members are graphics makers and therefore like having their individual accounts to create graphics for. Also some players like a certain character or two to remain anonymous of who the player was. Of course the admins would know (email and IP check eliminates that) but the regular members wouldn't then bombard them to play that character at all times.

There's been no confusion, and it is pretty obvious to tell who plays who just by the writing styles once you read around.

I can see the pros and cons to each. I personally prefer to have multiple accounts and use different browsers to eliminate confusion on my part of who I'm posting with. Certain characters I have stored on certain browsers so I always know that So and So is logged in on Mozilla. But I'm also a graphics making junky.

I think the poll idea, letting the members decide also has it's ups and downs....

Say you take that poll early on...with...15-20 members...and 70% of them favor one way...then a few months later, you're at 50 members...different users....that poll might come out very differently...

Also....the members you have, should honestly be the least of your concerns as to who is, or is not, confused. The two big groups you don't want confused, are your staff, and your new members.

Staff obviously, is the same for getting an opinion, as current members....new members? I've discussed my issues with that. I do know I'm not the only person who walks away from a site, if I need to create multiple accounts.

Though, to be fair, there are probably others, who do the same, if creating multiple accounts is frowned upon.

Though, I will say this much....getting, and respecting, your members opinions on policy is very important.

Letting members set or determine policy for you is probably the fastest way to ruin any RP site....

I prefer having multiple accounts, and I don't think that adds any confusion at all, whereas I think having one single account does. Signing on with a new character only takes a second, and if you happen to post with the wrong account, it's no biggy. You have an admin delete the post, or you edit the post to tell the other member that you posted with the wrong account. Or just not bother to do anything at all, if it's not the first post you're making in that thread, since people tend to know who they're RP'ing with.

As for OOC confusion, I've never felt confused by the multiple account, because I don't really care who plays who. Hahaha, that sounds bad, I guess, but we do have a list of who's who, and who plays what character. Other than that, as I get to know the players, I'm able to remember who they play.

I'll admit that having one account removes any sort of OOC confusion, but it would make me batty if I didn't know which character was being used at all times. You'd have to get the name of your character in there somehow, and I think that limits your creativity when you're writing the post. Preferably, the name should be mentioned early in the post, as well, so that you don't have to read the entire thing wondering who's replying.

Single account for me, folks.

I actually made a documentation about this. You can find it in the documentation section; I don't think it has been sorted yet, but if it has, it'll be in the "member document" group. There I debunk myths about the APP system.

At any rate, APP is so much simpler and convenient. I don't have to constantly switch users and worry if I'm on the right account and all of that stuff, which means that I have more time to devote to running my site and--gasp!--roleplaying. ;]

I'm okay with APC, but what really frustrates me are the people who proclaim the glory of APC from the rooftops but have never even tried APP. It makes me sad. :[ If you're going to proclaim one as better than the other, you might as well try both. After all, you never know if you'll like APP until you try. ;]

(PS: Drugs are bad. Don't experiment with drugs; experiment w/ board types instead.)

Cal, I like the way you do it! That seems to me to be the perfect blend of APP and APC, and I wish all forums had that option.

We (hopefully) lessen confusion on StC by characters having the player's name in the signature, with OOC accounts' signatures listing who that person plays. It doesn't stop people posting as the wrong characters, but copy/paste and the delete button are very useful, and we haven't had too many problems with it.

I should maybe tell folks to check who they're logged in as, if there's the slightest confusion. But then, I should learn to take my own advice first. :)

With the site I'm on, we have a "Who's Who?" list with our members' names and then all the characters they play below that. I feel that it definitely helps. But the people on our board are also really open and we're always talking about all of our characters in the C-Box. However, with a huuuuge board I can see where confusion can come into play.

I have, however, posted as the wrong character before. That was incredibly annoying at first, but easily fixed. I dunno. For me, when I log in, it's almost like a separation thing for me. Like, "Okay, I am logged in as this person, and this is who I'm playing." Sort of like a ritual thing, I guess. It makes it easier for me to separate myself from the other characters I play.

And for some people, that works. But I've seen tons of people who can't make the seperation. I've seen tons of people who post with the wrong account, and say...well, it's my character anyway....and at that point, why bother with multiple user accounts at all?

As for the discussion in cbox? Odds are, that confuses new members even more....since most people use shorthand, or abreviations, in a cbox...

i prefer APP myself, because if you are in several threads wit hdifferent characters, it's rather annoying having to log in and out between each, especially if you have a post volley. Plus, then you always know where to send your pms and you know which character belongs to who. the only PRO i see to multiple accounts is that you never forget the other character's name/picture (if its the avatar)