Usually I spend a few weeks working on an RP if I'm not changing the whole template.

My newest one that I still have yet to finish I've been doing for at least a month, probably more. Yesterday I spent over seven hours working on the templates and doing a bit of coding to add some new features and get the profiles done.

It seems like these days RPs are popping up all over the place and people aren't spending more than a day on them. It kinda makes it seem like I spend too much time customizing everything. It'd be even longer had I decided on phpbb3, but since I'm used to modding IPB (coding and template wise) it's actually coming along faster than it usually would. I'd say it's about 80% done. I have a few more templates to do, forums to set up then the information.

But.. is this too much time to spend on such a simple concept? My RP is very simple, back to basics, all welcome kinda wolf RP. It's gonna have unique skins and features that I don't think anyone else has. But I don't know if that'll draw people in or scare them away. I don't think my time has been wasted, because either way I'll end up using the files and template again (they're gonna be my default from now on) so I don't have to go through all this again xD

In short:
How long do you spend on a forum and does it affect how many members you get?

I think any work you put into a forum will pay off in the end. I worked on AG for two months before opening, I've advertised at about a thousand sites in four months, I've made two skins, and Lord knows how many hours I've put into general site maintenance stuff. I have a fun, successful site because of all that. Dedication, ultimately, will earn you members. Cheap, quick, and trendy sites may be more successful right at the start, but a site like yours, where you really care about it, will last.

I've been working on mine for years now, well, maybe about three. It's more of a hobby than anything since I use it to work on my writing. We have five very loyal members, the kind who I wish I knew in everyday life. We can't seem to get any new members even though I've tried to make us new member friendly and I guess that's just something we have to deal with. I'm not going to stop writing although some times I feel like we're not delivering the right material that people want. So what I'm trying to say is that you have to be observant and see what makes a role-play in, and your case a wolf RP, successful. My downfall is that I don't subscribe to the classical fantasy/medieval descriptions and whatnot (aka what people want). You have to market yourself to a crowd of people who look for very specific things. You can't control the "supply" of role-plays so you have to manipulate your RP to give the people what they want or at least let them think it's what they want. I don't know. I don't like getting into the psychology of role-playing because then I feel like a total nerd, like now. So I'm just going to go and read some science book about string theory. xD

Do. Things. At. A. Pace. That. Fits. You.

That has been my motto. Generally, I work on my RP forums as slow as I can without my head exploding. It really frustrates my memberbase who are waiting on my next forum to come out, but it is worth it, because---by working on it over a handful of weeks instead of completing it in 3 days---I've spotted various things that needed to be fixed or have come up with various new plot additions.

Also, by working on it slowly, I've been able to get more feedback on certain things via RPGD.

Those forums that you see pop out in a day are generally die quickly. The work you put into the forum will reflect upon the memberbase. If you slap together a forum, your work will reflect that, and few will join.

You get out what you put in.

I nurtured the ideas for ASMM for 2 years before it came into fruition. Then it was many, many intense sessions with Wildething over getting my stuff written down. Months ain't slow! XD

If you churn something out in a matter of days, it's not made of strong stuff--moreover, it's success is too dependent on chance. Unless you're a gambler, take time over the game, make sure you've covered everything at a comfortable level for you.

I don't really get forums that take about a week to open.
Because I personally have had to take months to make one.
I mean one I still have on back burner from last year.
But, MY issue is I make so many, my ADD kicks in and I have some new cool idea I want to make into a forum and move on so I literally have about 7 unfinished boards. I think I just do it for the graphics to be honest. AND... I felt like that didn't help but yes, truthfully, some people can churn out stuff in a week or so but I don't usually see those sticking around.

=/ I have to admit the actual idea for my site is very basic, nothing major but we have been open for over a year now and we are doing pretty well. We have loyal members and the RP is fairly active at the moment and we haven't shut down once. Thinking about it now if I had spent more time thinking things through before beginning to set it up then maybe it would be more detailed but I don't think it would be the same site. I have members that like my site the way it is and don't want it to change.

I can see what you mean but I think it depends. It took me a few months to set the actual forum up, but the idea itself was completed in a few days. =/ I don't know where I was going with this, I just kind of wanted to put this in.


But ZR, I love the look of your sites so I definately think that the effort is worth it and I am hoping to join one of yours when I get more chance.

I don't think there any right or wrong answers to this one. Like GreyScale said, do things at a pace that you're happy with. If you can make a good board in one day, then spend one day on making it. If you need six months to finish, take six months. As long as the outcome is good, there's really no need to worry about how long it takes you to make it. That being said, I've never actually met someone who was able to get together a decent board in one single day, and I generally think that a little more time and effort is required.

Refer back to what I said about chance. for every one example of a game working out when it's taken a couple of days to compile there are, like, 10 that fail. A fail being a game that shuts down within 6 months of opening.

It also depends on what else you're working on. I had a plot I created a while back and was used on another site. That site died so I'm making a new site with my same plot. Pretty easy so far mostly because it's set up in the Harry Potter universe where so many things are already constructed. I started working on this yesterday morning. Finished it about ten minutes ago. I was thorough, the site looks neat and clean, and I don't have a bazillion forums for every square foot JK Rowling ever mentioned.

It's been really interesting for me to get back into message board roleplays over the past couple of months. While I was in high school, I spent almost all of my free time on boards...but I kind of fell away from it when I went to college. My point is, I was stunned to see just how much work and effort put into coding their boards and making them look graphically pleasing. It just wasn't like that when I started role playing initially.

I have to say that seeing most of the sites up now is intimidating. I can't code to save my life...and I worry that if I decide to make my own board my lack of nifty skins and graphics will keep people away.

But, I really think that the heart of any roleplaying game is the plot line and the people you have playing.

Anyway, I definitely agree that things can take time to develop--be it with the coding and layout or just the plot or both. So, go at your own pace and chances are you'll wind up with something you're really happy with.

I don't think there's a right or wrong answer here.

Spirits of the Earth, I literally had done and opened in like...a few days. It was spur of the moment, a completely impulse-driven creation. :B It's gonna be 8 years old in December. When I made it, I really had no idea that it was going to be a success because it was kinda experimental on my part. xD I had no high expectations at the time and man, look how far we've come since then. Yet again, it lierally only took me a couple days from start to finish to create it.

Remnants of the Earth was a collaboration between me and my co-admin, and it took maybe a month and a half and many brainstorming sessions to complete it. x3

The right amount of time it should take is the amount of time it takes to put it together. That's all! If it only takes you a few days, that's the right amount of time. If it takes years, same deal. People work at different paces.