I've been wondering why a lot of "clay" roleplay sites seem to have problems looking for members. Of all the sites in which the majority of the content is created by the members instead of the admins, most if not all of them seem to be run by very few but very devoted members, when the concept requires a good number of people.

If you want a better definition of what I'm specifying: A "clay" roleplaying site is one where little of the content has been created when the site has been created. That is not to say that they are lazy, but rather that they would like others to imput their own ideas so that the world is less of an (humans, elves, dwarves, orcs, goblins, ect.) standard world and more of a unique one where the creations have more depth than normal ones and the roleplaying has both political and standard individual facets

Any thoughts on why these are less popular than solidified roleplaying sites where content has been pre-made and character creation is the majority of the formatted writing?

I have no clue why 'clay' sites don't get many members, I'm having that issue myself. *sighs* My site's thing is where you pretty much wander around the Netherworld, having your own plots and whatnot.

I think a lot of it is, people don't want to join a site with no members, BUT, on the other hand, unless people join, the site won't gain members. *sighs*

I dislike "clay" sites because I don't want to put in the work. If I'm going to create this and that, I'd rather do it on my own site than yours. The setting and plot are the two main things you have to sell your board with, if you leave them ambiguous, then you lose a lot of attracting power. Just like an overly strict plot, having none can be equally off-putting. In addition, I value uniformity. I'm too jaded not to think that someone will come in and create some super setting-breaking behemoth or ridiculous cartoonish freak. No thanks.

I've found that both work well, but the appeal to me of "clay" forums is that they seem to attract a more literate audience.

Here's an example of what I mean: On a fantasy forum, about a year back a member posted a lush (by lush I mean 11 filled-out replies worth of content) civilization based off Britian's folktales. I have never seen anywhere near that much work on a single civilization, even on nation roleplay sites. There is a certain appeal to be able to create something unique instead of something hundreds of people have done before.

In response to your annoyance about god-moded creations, nearly all of these sites have a skill cutoff before you can actually use your creations, so unless this isn't the case (hopefully it is), that wouldn't be the problem. However, the plot point is valid and I do agree that they lose a good deal of their attractiveness without a lot of content already in place.