Fear another topic by me that induces thinking and explanation.

Most forums have this system, maybe by a different name. This is the system where certain threads are Open to anyone to join, or are Closed to only people who were invited by the thread creator.

What're your opinions on the system?

Personally, it is an okay system, but I don't like it. It begs for elitist cliques to roam about a forum. It doesn't allow a sense of a welcoming forum. It doesn't allow heroes nor villains to play at their full capacity when they're not allowed to come into the thread to do their thing. And there are more reasons I could come up with for my dislike against it.

Besides plot events and other such threads where the staff NEED to limit the amount of people in the thread, I don't think people should be allowed to have Closed threads.

I bring this up, because I was making a new version of one of my sites and was trying to get rid of some of the less necessary rules. This system was one of them that I realized that I didn't like, but I brought it up to my members and was given a large amount of grief about it. I bring it up with you guys now, because I'm wondering if I should put the system on my new site.

Converse.

I don't think there's anything wrong with closed threads... Maybe they do sometimes not allow as much freedom/opportunities to happen, but at the same time, if I want to leave a thread open for something random to happen, I'll leave it open. If I have a closed thread it's because I've got something specific planned to do with someone, not because I just don't want to play with anyone else. Letting random people into some threads would ruin everything. If we've got something planned that needs to happen in a semi-specific way, but then someone else barges in and throws our important plan out of whack, I'd be mad, not happy at the new open/closed system.

I have absolutely no problem with the system. If there are threads where I want to RP with particular people, because there's a particular plot I have with them and we know what we want to happen in the thread, then I'm going to make the thread closed. End of story. I would find it a far worse system to have all threads open all the time. I've had a bunch of great threads ruined over the years because of random people hopping in and going MS on me.

It's like that quote, "don't be so open-minded that your brains fall out." Except it's "don't be so open-threaded that your plots fall apart."

So you assume. It just depends on who you get in the thread. A n00b would ruin it. A RPer of skill would add onto it with their own flare.

Besides, most people are kind enough to leave a thread if you ask them to. And if you're too nice to ask people to leave your thread, then it is amazing you are surviving the internet.

@.@

Okay. So, lets say I've got a plot with Player A. We need to take our characters somewhere specific, and do something specific, with a specific outcome in the end. All's going well. Then Player B comes in and does something incredibly random, and it takes the whole thread in a different direction, ruining me and Player A's carefully-laid foundation in the process.

How is letting him do this good? Sure, I could ask him to leave, but it's possible that person would be mad. After all, it was an open thread, wasn't it? He has every right to be there. Maybe he worked on his post for an hour, I don't know. Maybe it's even a good post. But it's not what me and Player A needed for this thread. Why couldn't I have just had a closed thread to begin with and avoided this trouble?

I like open threads just fine. But having all threads opens seems more like an invitation for trouble than an invitation for fun, to me.

RPing isn't about having everything planned out; if that is what people think, then no wonder RPing is a dying hobby amongst a lot of RPers. If a guy changes your plans, then it happens. It is no different than an RP battle.

If people want to write with a plan without any interruption, then they should write a book with a few others. RPing is all about interaction amongst many people.

Besides, if you don't like someone in your RP, then there are IC actions that can get you to not have to deal with it. But not even giving people a chance to enter your thread is something I don't find cool at all.

Some threads have conceived endings. Some don't. I'm fine with both. But if I've got something I want to do with someone, then why the heck can't I do that? Me and that person will have plenty of fun playing it out, even if it's not totally random how it ends. I happen to enjoy plotting. It can often lead to very rich interactions and character moments that may have been missed otherwise. So can open threads with no original purpose. But just because something is plotted doesn't make it less fun than another thread. Or less valid as roleplaying. I'm still interacting with someone, I've just got that particular thread roped off for me and one other person (or maybe more, whatever). But that doesn't mean I may not be playing with others in other threads as well, does it?

Plotted threads can be just as stimulating as non-plotted. And I've got to interact with people to get the really good plots, PMing people and thinking about this, or that, or what if we tried something one way instead of the other. It sparks creativity just as much as going into a thread and thinking "okay! what can I do now?", to me.

Time for my two cents! ^^;; I know. You were all just longing for them XP

I have a character, as does my friend. We decided they should have a thread together. There wasn't really anything specific planned out for it, my character, Kas, inadvertently wound up working for hers, Fallon, despite the fact that the thread had gone less than well (multiple threats of violence, that sort of thing). I never wanted her to hate Fallon, it just sort of worked out that way on its own (she threatened to beat me if I didn't let her have her way >.>), but as a result, Kas has gone from unemployed social outcast to bodyguard who is in a good position to make acquaintances who aren't likely to look down on her because of her race. I cannot think of a single character on my board - and many of them are brilliant - popping in who could have given that favorable of an outcome, as far as her outlook on the forum is concerned. Seriously. She probably would have wound up arrested, hunted by the criminal underbelly, or dead. Unfun.

Not planned, no, but better than it likely would have been otherwise.

Kas (what can I say? she's my favorite XD) is currently in another thread with two others. These characters were selected specifically because conflict would be unlikely, all characters were beaten into submission more or less happy going into it and, be it in this thread or later ones, they'll all end up reasonably good acquaintances, if not friends.

Mild planning.

Then there are the open threads - the wide open threads. My princess is currently intimidating the hell out of a twelve year old, simply because his player decided to be cruel to him one evening and shove him in (poor thing does horribly with royalty; she forces him in with them whenever she can >=]).

I swear there was a point in there, I really do. I think what I'm getting at is that, planned events or not, sometimes you just need a closed thread. Yeah, it's not realistic, yeah, it might be a bit controlled, but it stops folk from running about all willy-nilly.

Sadly, it also makes all-out tavern brawls less likely, so open threads still have their place =P

Personally, I like the system of open and closed threads. Like others have said, people jumping into threads at random can screw up the entire plot I've got planned, and I wouldn't like that. There are probably plenty of open threads around the board, so there are plenty of things to reply to. If there at one point isn't an open thread to reply to, then you can write your own. Or, if there's a closed thread that really snags your fancy, why not ask the players involved if you can jump in? If your idea is good, I wouldn't hesitate to let you in on the plot, but if you just want to post something frivolous, I'm going to be pissed that you ruined a planned thread for that.

Lets, for instance imagine a serious conversation between two people. Let's say they're having an affair, of which their spouses know nothing. Originally, the plan was to only have those to people have that conversation. Somewhere along the way a new person just jumps in, posting random stuff that doesn't really have anything to do with the plot, it just creates a break in the conversation. Sure, that can happen in real life, but in a thread, it just distracts from the plot.
If you, on the other hand, played one of said characters' spouses, or a close friend, or a child of theirs, and wanted to jump in, then their presence would create an interesting plot twist, which I'd probably agree to. But I'd like to be asked, so that the plans I have for my character aren't ruined. One thread might not seem like much, but in my case, one significant thread often leads to another significant thread, and if someone were to mess up that first thread, then a long line of important threads would be ruined.

Jumping into a thread uninvited, to me, is kinda like jumping into a conversation with two people uninvited. Sometimes that's okay. Sometimes, it's downright rude. The open and closed system lets other players know which time is which.

I've always used that system, and for one fact I can say OitB is not an elitist board XD. Closed threads only get used when threads were specifically plotted by two or more members, and they want some privacy without anyone else butting in to explore their characters relationship or something along those lines.

So that's why I use closed threads. Normally we do pre-plot a bit, but we don't 'work-out' the whole course of the thread. We pick something we want to RP out, for instance atm my character, who's captain of her own ship, is in a closed thread with a new passenger. We found out (me and the other player) there was some attraction going on in both of the characters without us pre-planning it. So now we decided to have a thread (which is closed for now), to explore that a bit more and see how our characters will react to each other. As you can see,this is a closed thread (or invite only) but nothing is pre-planned. We'd just like some time to explore how our characters feel about each other, how they react to each other etc. If another player contacts us halfway through the thread with a nice idea to butt in, and we both agree, then that person is free to join us too.

But there are enough open threads going on on my boards. We even have one big event going on at the moment with about 10 characters posting the same thread. Also the members on my forum know that if they wanna be in a thread with someone, they can just ask that person ^^.

I think the open/closed thread system how it's used, and how it appears to the outside world, depends a lot on the community, so the personalities of the members, as well of the staff. You can make it as elitist looking as you like.

Well for some it's a little turn offbecause then they'll think there not welcome and feel a little like, okay what the heck.[I] I remember being a member of a site and asked someone if i could roleplay with them. The one user was like, yeah sure. But then suddenly they titled it saying the two user's names who cold roleplay and the other user said i could roleplay. So i'm just kind of confused, but whatever. It gets on my nerves. People will use it to be rude, but i don't mind it if they have a post for a specific user and they mention that in the beginning before someone asks to join.

I like the idea, I normally play open but it can be really anoying when your doing a one on one role-play, some big moment in your plot and bang, in comes someone being stupid to mess everything up lol had that for a time with a roleplay who needed to post is very rp going lol

I like to start with an open thread, and close it when the plot gets going. There's no rule saying that you can't leave an ooc message to people (usually in bold) saying there's no more room.

I like the system, and I post both open and closed threads myself.

While I'm not for heavy planning, mild planning can be great and give a sense of direction and purpose (though 90% of the time I do no planning at all. P: ). But sometimes I just want to do, say, a one-on-one thread.

It's not clique-ish to me, especially given me 'n' other players have snagged brand new players for closed threads. It's also not an extremely rigid system. There's been lotsa cases where we'll be doing a closed thread and then decide, hey, it'd be fun to add people to it. So then we wrangle people into it. But on the other end of the spectrum, I've been involved in one-on-one closed threads that have lasted for many pages and years and have been utterly EPIC--and no, me and the other player didn't want anyone else to come and post in our sandbox and potentially smash our sand castles. P:

I think players have a right to make that decision.

And in some cases it IS necessary. For instance I just posted a closed thread with my character waking up from a coma after his legs were SMASHED. It's intended for his mentor...who also is the one who did the leg smashing. His mentor would be the first one who would get there, realistically, and the other player said her character needed to give mine a heart-to-heart. P: If it was an open thread, well...anyone could reply, the conversation might be put off or derailed, etc. etc. And it's an important conversation that's probably gonna be setting the stage for the rest of this character's life.

But like I said, I love both. 90% of the threads I post are open. And heck, I'm also involved in a couple open threads that have 10 players posting in 'em, and those are hella fun.

I love the randomness and unpredictability of an open thread. You never know who's gonna respond, and I've had so many EPIC plots form from replying to and being replied to open threads.

Closed threads are also fun, however.

I love subplots.. And subplots need closed threads. Like, for example, I'm on a time twist Harry Potter rp, and we don't have to make our character's stick to their canon histories now everything's gone topsy turvy, so I'm writing my Andromeda as going back to the Black family, rather than staying with Ted. She's just walked in on her psychopathic sister murdering someone, and now she has to try and convince her to let her back, while being utterly terrified considering there's a corpse lying across the way from her. Could you imagine what would happen if someone made their character stroll in now? I'd expect that they'd be quite shocked at the corpse, scream a bit, and then cause a great hubbub which would stop my Andy giving her little 'let me back!' speech, and wham bam kazzam, subplot gone.

So, I do think it's important to have a closed thread sometimes. However, I think open threads are quite cool too, I only do these when I'm in the mood for a super random roleplay. My head starts to hurt when there's too many people in one thread, so I normally just ask on the cbox if anyone would like one, and I'll tag them in the thread when I make it. So it's still going to be quite random, because there's no former planning, but it saves my brain exploding incase five other people walk in, or something.

I wouldn't say it's elitist at all, because, like I said above, a lot of people ask on the cbox if someone wants to thread, or they post roleplay requests. Meaning that everyone has a chance to roleplay with someone, as long as they ask. I personally think there should be a balance between closed and open threads.

so you assume.

first problem: finding that 'skilled' rper who is capable of said flare.

Second problem: the aforementioned roleplayer is willing to do the above.

That's the biggest problem, really. People are waiting on other people to make the first move. Then those first moves are rarely the Very Big Adventures they're painted to be.

I like planning. I like these things called story-lines in my roleplay. I bring a character into a game with an idea of their direction because I spend a lot of time getting a grip on my character in my head. Then I will indulge in some open threads to get a feel for other roleplayers and characters, weed out the potential. Get my story-lines rolling with the help of several other people because it is collaborative storytelling and that is fun for me.

I find the inability to have a closed thread would hamper me, not help me in my character development--especially in the cases of villains. Why? Because well-thought out situations, one shots, short briefs with other characters can really show you what they're capable of. Then of course, you can make sure you are playing with someone who is okay with all the horrible things you are about to do, and they aren't a player whose characters can miraculously emerge from a dangerous situation unscathed. These are not, amazingly, things that n00bs do. I've seen seasoned gamers, even good gamers do the same things time and time again.

Despite my enjoyment of closed threads, I will work with a myriad of characters if the opportunity is there. However, I do not always want an open thread because at least when me and one or three other players get a vague goal in mind for a thread, then it helps to battle a variety of issues that plague RPers. A loss of, 'inspiration', running out of ideas, not having the gumption to play out an idea because we're worried other people might think it's lame. They're things we don't like, but a planned thread is more likely to overcome them than an open one.

When I read the first post, I had exactly what I wanted to say flaming across my brain in big bold letters. But, thankfully, I stopped to read what everyone else said first.

So, here's my opinion, slightly altered from what I originally wanted to say:

I can see a place and purpose for closed threads. Really, I can. That being said, I'm still not a huge fan of everything being closed. A good mix of the two, in my opinion, is probably the best way to go. That way, the things that do require a little more planning than spur-of-the-moment, off-the-cuff roleplaying can be done...and anyone can join in to some of the threads, too.

That being said, I'm on boards that have closed systems, open systems, mixes and other systems. One board I'm on is very, very much structured like a table top game...using the same systems and dice rolling. You have to submit a character idea to the person running a particular game to play in that game. So, I suppose it's closed in a way. But there aren't tags underneath each thread saying who can and can not participate.

The worst experience I had with the closed system was with a forum that had something of a mixed system. I made a character, got accepted, and found a thread sans tags (that by the boards rules should have been open) and posted. It wasn't a random post. It was very much in line with what had already been posted. However, it caused quite a stir and some rather rude comments.

From that experience, I do tend to see a board with a closed system and immediately think of the "elitist cliques." Although, some of the defenses of the closed system have caused me to take a step back and realize that, yes, it can serve a valuable purpose.

I still think that a mix of the two might be the best way to go (and is what I will do on any board I'm in charge of). That way, new players have open threads they can jump into without having to worry that they're committing a horrendous faux pas. They also won't have to worry that if they start a thread, it will be ignored because they are new.

I like a balance.

I'll be honest, I use more closed threads than I do open. This is partially because I have too many characters for me to be loading on random threads. I wouldn't be able to handle it--whatever my co-admin might say, I know my limits. :p

But really, more often than not it's because I mention something about one of my characters in the Cbox, and someone else says "Oh hey, your character was in my character's class at Hogwarts. We should have a thread" and I agree. If there's not already an open topic by one of our characters that would be appropriate, one of us posts one, and tags the other, thus closing the thread. That's normally the extent of the planning that goes into most of my closed threads.

Of course, I'm just a really big fan of closed threads thanks to a VERY bad experience on my first board. Player A and I were a couple of thieves planning to steal the royal seal (which was crucial to not only our plot, but someone else's) when a "hero" decided to barge into our thread, which had been closed from the beginning and was already well underway, and arrest us both.

I virtually never have open threads anymore, to be honest. Most of the threads I'm in are designed to tell a story which has had planning going into it frankly because in the past I've had too many open threads that don't lead anywhere. Two people run into each other, they talk a bit, they leave. That being said, I'm open to whoever wants to do something with my characters and if someone can pitch an interesting reason for a character to appear in a scene that they weren't already planned to, then I'm all ears.

Er, a closed thread means you have chosen to RP with a certain character for a reason, chances are you are moving the plot forward or doing something fluffy that you've had planned. Open threads are great for new people, but if you're an established member, there's no reason for you to just place your char somewhere and expect something to happen.

Also, I prefer newbies who talk to players and decide which chars they want to RP with and do what and when and why because it shows thought and planning. Also, most players are busy with moving their own plots along, you can't expect people to welcome you if you won't plan anything.

E.g a new player came to a site I'm on. She didn't start an open thread for anyone to reply to, she started a planning thread and asked people to offer possibilities for threads. Many people replied offering even more characters, and she chose which threads to do when. This means that she became immersed in the game and got her character some shipping webs earlier than many other newbies, and I think that's the best course of action for a newbie.

Closed threads are elitist and unwelcoming? No. Players are elitist and unwelcoming, or the exact opposite, planning who to post with has no fault at that. Frankly, players who move from open thread to open thread don't tend to be good RPers. They might write like Tolstoy RPing requires planning.