Well, a little while ago I decided to start an 'old school' wolf role play. Go back to allies and enemies instead of affiliates, back to getting involved with other boards IC, back to basic role play instead of this purple prose 10000 word nonsense.

It's turning into so much more, though. Coding wise, anyway. It's going to be a basic role play with allies/enemies and the like. But so far the layout has gone far beyond my expectations, with drop down logins and drop down menus for the user options. I'm planning on completely customizing the html of IPB.

A friend is also looking into writing a mod that would basically make it so you have an OOC account and can add characters onto, posting under the characters identity when you post IC. If that even makes any sense.

My question is.. is it worth it? Is an RP without such high standards, something for all levels, something that's kind of 'stuck in the past' worth putting all this effort into? I believe it is, honestly. But I wanted less biased opinions.

That's an interesting question. Hopefully, I might have an answer for you. But, answer this question first.

What do you consider as high standards?

I'm not really sure. My old wolf RP - in the end - had a 300 word limit. Personally, I always shot for over 600 words. Good grammar, no words that don't exist. Which I guess is high standards kinda?

Those last two will always stand in my RPs for the sake of understanding people. But this particular site won't have any limits. It's basically a 'give enough to reply to' kind of thing with applications that should be detailed in history and appearance (again, no 'must be over this number of words' rules), but personality can be worked on while you RP.

Good grammar it is important. But I wouldn't deem it to be that much high standards. I think over time players that need to work on their grammar could possibly improve. When my RPB used to be active, I had a few players that had poor grammar. But, one player really stood out. When I looked at her character sheet, I knew she needed work. But, I wasn't going to reject her because of it. However, over the months, her grammar and writing started to improve big time. I was really impressed.

Word limits are pretty much a turn off. A board that requires a word limit isn't necessarily a "high-standard" one. People have their own writing and RPing styles. One doesn't necessarily need to have so many words. As long as a player gets to the point, doesn't matter how many words. But, if a post is mainly fluff, it's pretty much a waste of words. Quantity doesn't always mean quality.

To answer your question, the type of board you're describing isn't stuck in the past. I think it is worth it. All it matters is that you're providing a very good story. Something for all levels is very important.

I found out about RPG-D after joining Alphabet City. One of the things that attracted me to Alphabet City was that there was a section in general information that had a set of beliefs. The set of beliefs was typed up by Mousie of RPG-D. I do believe that all boards should have a set of beliefs like this. I mainly RPed on these boards that revolve around this flash animation called XIN. One of the reasons that I noticed a lot of OOC drama is that those boards lacked a set of such beliefs. When I started my board, I wish I had found a set of those beliefs.

I do feel that having a set of beliefs should help present the board as something for all levels.

I would say not to think much about "high standards." There is no universal set of so-called high standards. I would say, just focus on the quality of the board. "High standards" does not necessarily mean quality and vice-versa. "High standards" is like when staff focus too much on the logistics and end up losing sight on what the board is truly about. I would say treat the board as if you're writing a book or a movie. But, it's an interactive movie where everybody can participate.

As long as you know how to tell a good story, you should attract a various range of players.

The standards aren't particularly high when you think about most of the people who post on RPG-D, though you probably will attract people who seriously need help in grammar - but, as has been said, they will like improve as time goes on.

The reason I don't say 'everyone on RPG-D' is because not everyone with an account actually posts.

But it sounds like a really good game - all back to the basics rp wise, but bringing a bit of a more modern twist to it too, format wise anyway.

Not every board needs to be "super advanced to literate 1337 specialness." The board I currently run is for everyone no matter what level, though that doesn't mean we don't have standards. I still expect people to use decent grammar and spelling and to try.

So yes, I think a board like that would be cool.

Both of my games accept everyone, and we still have standards (and we tend to attract awesome writers if I do say so myself o.O). We're also very 'old school' compared to the typical proboards/IF crowd. :3

Yes, it's well worth putting effort into. o.O

I find that without word minimums and junk like that, people go above and beyond even more. There's no pressure, so you can write naturally and comfortably. Seriously, my games have no word minimums at all, the guidelines are "give people enough to reply to, use spell-check and good grammar" and...that's it. Yet people still bust out 600+ word posts--because they want to/they have the inspiration to, not because they're forced.

We don't even have applications. :B Just a simple joining form.

It's worked well for almost 8 years and the quality is high. I wouldn't be worried. ^^

it's most certainly worth it IMO, because it gives new roleplayers a chance to learn how and to give them an idea of something they could work up to while having a good time.

You know I think it would definitely be worth it. That'd bet anything I could create totally out of the water. I think that if you do it right, you could make an awesome wolf rpg out of it. I wouldn't give up. Really I wouldn't. The more features you can add for members, the more members tend to like a site.

Thank you all for your input ^-^
I'd go with a no app process thing, but since it's realistic wolf and people to tend to lean more towards fantasy in that genre, it's not really an option.
I'm glad people like these ideas. I've still got a lot of kinks to work out and Shadow may or may not get the script done, but either way I have loads of ideas swimming in my head for simple things that'll enhance the rp at least a little >3

I say that it is very much worth it. Why? Because if you create a community without super strict standards, a community that accepts all, eventually those who would normally be unaccepted, will become very talented writers. None of us started out perfect, we all, at one time, sucked.

It is with that in mind that I always make my rpgs and because of that, several people who I had seen with basically no writing skill when they first joined my RPG two years ago can now write better then me. Why? Because they thrived in an environment that was mixed, from new people to intermediate, to advanced, and because of that they were able to learn and improve them selves.

Needless to say given the nature of my site I was not without limits, of course, certain types of characters which were deemed strong the player had to have a certain quality of roleplay to be able to play them and because so many wanted to be that type of character the newer people had something of a goal to advance too.

Now even after my site is mostly good I get messages all the time about how people got their start in roleplaying on my site, and since they joined their english grade has improved as well as their overall writing ability. So no, it is not a waste of time.