OOC talk for Monster Academy.

[JennyDK]

You're welcome. I am sure we will have a nice time, naturally. You are a good and creative partner, after all!

I will be busy for several hours though, so now you are warned. My return will be once my weekly guests leave.

[JennyDK]

Hello everyone!

I am back from Yule tide celebrations with my family and ready to go on with creative fun again!

I missed you guys even though I had an overall good time.

I hope you too have some nice days.

[Chiyako]

I'll be back tomorrow if anyone wants to hang out with Nilaa! Well technically tonight now.

Also welcome back those who were away!

[Starcry]

Hello all! Just looking around before I take a nose dive in. ^^;; I noticed that some images are broken and I wasn't sure if anyone knew or not. 

I was also wondering if there was a director for human::monster and male::female roster so we have some rough idea of how many of which/what and such that there is here. Sorry to be a nuisance! 

[Godot]

Welcome to the club @LazarusLuna! I don't think asking a few questions will make you a nuisance, so by all means, if you have anything to say or ask, don't be afraid to do so. 

I'm sure you're not the only one that noticed the broken images, but honestly I don't know how to fix them, personally.

I don't think there is a director for those things, unless @JennyDK made something in secret. I believe the only director we have regarding characters is one that tells what staff characters exist and what their role is, but yeah.

Hopefully you will enjoy it here! If you have any more questions, ask away. I or anyone else may respond, but it's probably best if you wait for Jenny to respond, since she runs the club.

[Starcry]

Thank you very much!

Maybe we could ask the admins?

I was about a roster/directory asking because I noticed it was a lot to scroll through and to remember who is playing what and the genders. On another site I used to write on a few of the GMs they would organise things to prevent confusion on who was playing what and so they had some idea of the amount of players. It would also help me and other players decide what to play in terms of race and gender. This was because some people were more comfortable knowing numbers/sexuality and such so they could construct a character accordingly. 

[Godot]

That's a nice idea.

 I would make something like that, as it doesn't seem difficult, but a lot of the characters aren't active (sadly) and I feel like I would need to ask everyone about every character's sexuality (since it's not specified on characters, but I assume it's bisexual for most characters)

[Icarian Dreams]

2 minutes ago, LazarusLuna said:

Thank you very much!

Maybe we could ask the admins?

I was about a roster/directory asking because I noticed it was a lot to scroll through and to remember who is playing what and the genders. On another site I used to write on a few of the GMs they would organise things to prevent confusion on who was playing what and so they had some idea of the amount of players. It would also help me and other players decide what to play in terms of race and gender. This was because some people were more comfortable knowing numbers/sexuality and such so they could construct a character accordingly. 

There aren't any "databases" on characters I'm afraid. Jenny is the owner of the club, so she's the closest of what you'd call an "admin" here, but I seriously doubt she'd keep track of such stuff.

Besides, I'm sorry to say that most characters are very much inactive right now, so even if we had such a database, it wouldn't give you reliable information as to what characters are being played. I'd say just create what you feel like playing and don't worry about having to fit a niche or anything, but I can understand that it may not be your preferred course of character creation.

[Starcry]

Thank you both for the feedback. 

I am currently having a little chat with Jenny about a few bits and pieces. 

The only reason I raised sexuality is because experience has shown me that it would be best if people knew since some players (not on this site) wouldn't appreciate a futa or trap going after them when they and their character are heavily heterosexual. (My lord the drama...) 

I usually play pansexual, bi characters, and rarely straight characters. I also play both male and female characters depending on a character table so I don't tread on toes. (Too much crap in my time I swear. >.<)  This is why I was trying a little too hard to get to know characters around here. So I know what to play and such. :3

[Icarian Dreams]

1 minute ago, LazarusLuna said:

Thank you both for the feedback. 

I am currently having a little chat with Jenny about a few bits and pieces. 

The only reason I raised sexuality is because experience has shown me that it would be best if people knew since some players (not on this site) wouldn't appreciate a futa or trap going after them when they and their character are heavily heterosexual. (My lord the drama...) 

I usually play pansexual, bi characters, and rarely straight characters. I also play both male and female characters depending on a character table so I don't tread on toes. (Too much crap in my time I swear. >.<)  This is why I was trying a little too hard to get to know characters around here. So I know what to play and such. :3

If you want to be safe, check people's preferences, and if you want to be extra-safe, send them a DM with your intentions!  I generally recommend reaching out to the person you want to play out a scene with beforehand anyways, be it through this topic or EcchiTexts - makes it easy to get things like these out of the way and get a general idea on what you wanna do. With how considerate you seem to be so far, though, I don't think you'll have any problems around here ^^

I personally tend to play female characters, with a few exceptions every now and then. I don't really specify their orientation, so it's safe to assume that they're bi/pan until proven otherwise - although I will not roleplay male x male content or traps/sissies.

[Godot]

@LazarusLuna

I see.

That's fair. I had an incident like that happen to me here, but it's not super important for it to be mention-worthy. It was awkward, but it wasn't the end of the world. 

I feel like I should mention some things, since this came to light. Just in case this helps you (and others) in any way, all of my characters are heterosexual. My one and only female character, Myla'tina, I still haven't decided on her sexuality, yet. Still a new character. Everything is subject to change, though, depending on how much I decide to branch out, although my human characters will most definitely remain hetero.

I do not plan on making gay characters, unless they're female. I hope this doesn't disappoint anyone reading this! I will consider playing around with other futa characters using my monster characters (Keya, Drexel), however. 

Edited January 1, 2021 by Godot

[JennyDK]

Hello everyone. I hope you are all having a lovely day so far!

It pleases me to see the club getting more back into being active again. Though I think try to advertise for it soon in the future. Any suggestions for the best way to do this?

[Godot]

4 minutes ago, JennyDK said:

Hello everyone. I hope you are all having a lovely day so far!

It pleases me to see the club getting more back into being active again. Though I think try to advertise for it soon in the future. Any suggestions for the best way to do this?

You could advertise it through status updates, signature or you could speak to the admins to place it up to where other club adverts go. I usually see other clubs being adverted on the main page, so maybe that could be a possibility.

[JennyDK]

I think I will begin with a status update advert at least and look at more options to get us out there!

As far as I can tell, there is the option of having an advert on the top right corner of the  home page. I will look into this as well!

[Icarian Dreams]

I think it costs 2000 EcchiCredits a month to keep an advert of your club up, so that should not be a problem - maybe it would attract some new members.

What I fear is the problem though, is that not many people enjoy public roleplays/RP clubs on this site - I feel like most of the traction on the website comes from people in private roleplays/EcchiTexts. Majority of the recently active clubs have no more than 4-5 actively participating people at once tops, so I'm not sure if there even are people to attract.

[Chiyako]

I love public ones!

[JennyDK]

@Icarian Dreams

When this club was all new it was very, very active. So I think it mostly depends on the exposure and of course how each member feel about public RPs. I think what makes it easier here, is that we are talking shorter scenes which are mostly contained within themselves, rather than a longer and coherent narrative.

Personally, I really really enjoy the public open world things. So I will continue to do all I can to try and make my clubs visible and hopefully attractive to those who share this interest.

I will not pretend I know the interest of the community as a whole, so I think it's a bit bold to conclude either way. I am not saying you do by any means, but we have seen that clubs can be very attractive and active publicly. A few examples:
1) This one
2) The Pathfinder one
3) My Neuropa when it was newer
4) The Black Crusade one

@Chiyako Happy to hear it! So do I and I hope we can soon do more scenes. You are very fun to roleplay with.

Have you considered making more characters? The staff, for instance, could really use someone to take over some of those roles too.

 

[Chiyako]

Unfortunately I don't really like creating too many characters, especially now that stuff is a little busier for me. But I'll consider it!

[Icarian Dreams]

@JennyDK Yeah, I definitely agree, except I feel like you should give more credit to the novelty effect. As you mentioned, most of the clubs you brought up were active near the beginnings of their existence, and since then, they died down a bit. Given, my knowledge on the Pathfinder one is scarce, and it's literally the first time I hear of the Black Crusade, but from what I gather, they were more story-driven, with what I feel would gather a group of more constant players.

I feel like lack of direction may be a part of the problem - you basically need players to come up with interesting scenes with each other on their own - giving them a setting instead of a premise. I'm not saying it's a bad thing - I, too, enjoy much of the open-worldness of these sort of clubs, but I do feel like people may be dropping in because of the seeming repetitiveness of the process. You make a fine point with the length of the scenes, but I do feel like they rarely bring much substance. I know some people enjoy the slice-of-life approach, but I'm unsure how many of them are around.

[JennyDK]

3 minutes ago, Chiyako said:

Unfortunately I don't really like creating too many characters, especially now that stuff is a little busier for me. But I'll consider it!

Very true, but surely we can agree on that there is a thing between "one" and "way too many" characters?

I will be more than glad to help make things easier for you.

The main reason I suggested it, is because it allows for much more freedom and scope to do scenes with. If I only stuck to, for instance, Yoko, I would probably never be doing any lewd scenes since that is not the type of scenes I really seek with her.

1 minute ago, Icarian Dreams said:

@JennyDK Yeah, I definitely agree, except I feel like you should give more credit to the novelty effect. As you mentioned, most of the clubs you brought up were active near the beginnings of their existence, and since then, they died down a bit. Given, my knowledge on the Pathfinder one is scarce, and it's literally the first time I hear of the Black Crusade, but from what I gather, they were more story-driven, with what I feel would gather a group of more constant players.

I feel like lack of direction may be a part of the problem - you basically need players to come up with interesting scenes with each other on their own - giving them a setting instead of a premise. I'm not saying it's a bad thing - I, too, enjoy much of the open-worldness of these sort of clubs, but I do feel like people may be dropping in because of the seeming repetitiveness of the process. You make a fine point with the length of the scenes, but I do feel like they rarely bring much substance. I know some people enjoy the slice-of-life approach, but I'm unsure how many of them are around.

You also need to consider that multiple very active users have pretty much vanished by now. There were several who put a lot of time, effort and creativity into this and whom I miss having around. We had an amazing and sprawling community. While I know that when it gets busy again, it will be different, I still think it is worth trying to aim for. I had a wonderful time back then and I think it is worth my time and effort to try and even get near it again.

Are you suggesting that I put in some story lines to help things go forward? I will say this though: I am trying to create a longer story for all of my characters over time. I am not sure if it shows, but it does require that my characters interact with the same ones multiple times for it to properly show. For instance, I greatly enjoy seeing Karnis try and be more open to new people and experiences.

With that being said, I am also very interested in dropping some story lines on the characters of members. Would that interest you?

[Icarian Dreams]

13 minutes ago, JennyDK said:

You also need to consider that multiple very active users have pretty much vanished by now. There were several who put a lot of time, effort and creativity into this and whom I miss having around. We had an amazing and sprawling community. While I know that when it gets busy again, it will be different, I still think it is worth trying to aim for. I had a wonderful time back then and I think it is worth my time and effort to try and even get near it again.

Are you suggesting that I put in some story lines to help things go forward? I will say this though: I am trying to create a longer story for all of my characters over time. I am not sure if it shows, but it does require that my characters interact with the same ones multiple times for it to properly show. For instance, I greatly enjoy seeing Karnis try and be more open to new people and experiences.

With that being said, I am also very interested in dropping some story lines on the characters of members. Would that interest you?

What I'm saying you need is a way to keep things fresh - the idea I have in the back of my mind would be events, changes to the world that the characters could participate in - perhaps a masquerade coming up, maybe a school trip, maybe some seasonal celebrations. Things that would raise some interest and keep up the engagement value.

I am with you on the community part. I miss dearly a lot of people whom I too used to play with in this very club. It was the "golden age" of the club, even though it was rather short-lived. Still, with the people who dropped out, some of them are gone for good, and for the rest you need to consider why they left like they did. I have to say that I personally do not know, but if you figured that out, maybe it would be of help.

I'm not sure what exactly do you mean by "dropping story lines" - but I'll trust your judgement on that. As always, I'm open to your ideas, and if you think you have something that would help, then hell yeah, go for it!

P.S. Speaking of Karnis, I did finally write back to our little thread back there - sorry for the long wait, but I had a really weird case of writing block back there.

Edited January 6, 2021 by Icarian Dreams

[JennyDK]

3 minutes ago, Icarian Dreams said:

What I'm saying you need is a way to keep things fresh - the idea I have in the back of my mind would be events, changes to the world that the characters could participate in - perhaps a masquerade coming up, maybe a school trip, maybe some seasonal celebrations. Things that would raise some interest and keep up the engagement value.

I am with you on the community part. I miss dearly a lot of people whom I too used to play with in this very club. It was the "golden age" of the club, even though it was rather short-lived. Still, with the people who dropped out, some of them are gone for good, and for the rest you need to consider why they left like they did. I have to say that I personally do not know, but if you figured that out, maybe it would be of help.

I'm not sure what exactly do you mean by "dropping story lines" - but I'll trust your judgement on that. As always, I'm open to your ideas, and if you think you have something that would help, then hell yeah, go for it!

P.S. Speaking of Karnis, I did finally write back to our little thread back there - sorry for the long wait, but I had a really weird case of writing block back there.

There was talk about larger events for members to participate in, but I doubt I need to remind you how well our classroom meetings went. It was a huge jumbled mess to keep up with. I am aware not all find it difficult to do, but I do know a fair share prefered not to do it again.

I would love to bigger events, but how would you go about it, without it turning into something what we saw in those times? I honestly would really, really like that to be a thing, but the execution seems difficult to pull off without it turning into a bigger project each time you need to interact with the "room" as a whole.

It seems like the people who stopped using the site altogether also often correlate with those who also stopped using the club. Like Olruk, ThatAnnoyingGod, Multiversal for instance. I don't think it was the club as such, but more a question about their activity on he site as a whole. I really hope that if members do find issues with the club, that they are vocal about it - otherwise, it's either a complete guessing game for me or I will have to keep bothering people who fall in activity.

Do not worry about it. I have a lot of patience, as long as I know my partner is still wanting to do a scene or roleplay. Sadly, I have had some people here just outright stayed silent about things and left in me in "limbo" about whether or not something was "dead".

[Icarian Dreams]

3 minutes ago, JennyDK said:

There was talk about larger events for members to participate in, but I doubt I need to remind you how well our classroom meetings went. It was a huge jumbled mess to keep up with. I am aware not all find it difficult to do, but I do know a fair share prefered not to do it again.

I would love to bigger events, but how would you go about it, without it turning into something what we saw in those times? I honestly would really, really like that to be a thing, but the execution seems difficult to pull off without it turning into a bigger project each time you need to interact with the "room" as a whole.

True, I personally never took much issue with it, but I've heard plenty of feedback about how difficult to handle it was. Maybe the problem was not the even itself thought, but rather the execution? In the end, it was based around having people cramped into a single topic. If the events are more "global", you'll avoid that problem, and will still give a prompt for the players to write around. Spread it across a couple topics, leave a few out for the players who do not wish to participate - maybe it could work.

The only issue I personally see with this idea would be the fact that different people have different speeds of replying, so, for example, a topic like our Lucy x Karnis, which is now spread across two IRL months, would have trouble fitting with this sort of global dynamic "timeline" of events.

6 minutes ago, JennyDK said:

It seems like the people who stopped using the site altogether also often correlate with those who also stopped using the club. Like Olruk, ThatAnnoyingGod, Multiversal for instance. I don't think it was the club as such, but more a question about their activity on he site as a whole. I really hope that if members do find issues with the club, that they are vocal about it - otherwise, it's either a complete guessing game for me or I will have to keep bothering people who fall in activity.

I didn't want to mention by names, but yeah, they were some of the people I have the best memories of. It's a real shame that they're gone, as for me they were somewhat pillars of this community. I agree that their reason for leaving may not be correlated to MA, but still, there's not much you can do about that. They're gone, marketing or not.

Still, we have 72 members of the club, and only around 5 of them are actually active. Even if you discount these few you mentioned, what happens to the other ~60 or so? My experience had been that they come around, write a scene or two, then leave, never to be seen again. Why is that? Why are they not engaged?

[Starcry]

Going to read up more in a bit but what caught my eye was the "too many characters" thing. Guys. You don't know too many characters until you have been in a group rp with an attention whore who nags everyone for replies and makes a big deal when they make one. Then ends up making 12 + characters... one with a disability simply because reasons.

I will say that the inactive ones need deleting or putting in an "inactive" thread to tidy things up a little. Anyway I'm gonna go back in my cave for a bit and will be back in a bit to read more.

[JennyDK]

12 minutes ago, LazarusLuna said:

Going to read up more in a bit but what caught my eye was the "too many characters" thing. Guys. You don't know too many characters until you have been in a group rp with an attention whore who nags everyone for replies and makes a big deal when they make one. Then ends up making 12 + characters... one with a disability simply because reasons.

I will say that the inactive ones need deleting or putting in an "inactive" thread to tidy things up a little. Anyway I'm gonna go back in my cave for a bit and will be back in a bit to read more.

As always, I LOVE hearing your input, Luna...and no, no sarcasm intended!

I already know I have a ton of characters here, but I think it makes a little bit more sense with me being the owner and such. In any case, I don't think you should feel any sort of required to or pressured into making more than one character. It does give you a lot more options of course, but it does require more of you as a player naturally.

Regarding inactive ones: I have removed the staff members who are basically "dead" RP wise. I DO give people the option of telling me if they are still interested in playing said staff members and if they say they are, they can stay.

For students and townsfolk, I see it as less of a problem, but if there is a bigger interest in making it clear who is active and who is not, from the community, I will try and make a thread for that.