So, I was just thinking about how Evelon has very much become, at least in appearance, a sort of 'do your own thing' community. People self-RPing, people keeping to their own plots, and literally no open RPs. I remember back in the earlier days when the whole community would know X pet from Y user. Kyuukai and Senervel are two examples, but there were more; Taliña is another one, and Lord Baal...
But I feel now members don't even really get in touch with other people's characters or stories? We even have the Meet the Characters section that literally nobody uses. :/ I remember being excited for that section... and no one ended up really using it.
It tossed and turned in my head, and I'd like to suggest something... I'm not sure how worthwhile it'll be. Members will need to contribute to make it work, but it might spur some camaraderie? Maybe.
What I am suggesting is a sort of peer review system.
How would it work? Now, fair warning: this topic is going to be long. Stuff is up for debate though! But here is just a basic idea of what I thought of.
For one (1) month, members can PM staff (or a designated person for this) voting for RPs they read and enjoyed. There could be a limit of how many RPs you can vote for; such as maybe 3? And of course, to keep things fair and well... to keep it from falling apart... one cannot vote for oneself. Even if you could vote for other people, well, it'd still be biased and unfair to vote for yourself.
So, let's say I see this RP somewhere by another user. I take a look, and it sounds interesting. I keep on reading, and I think to myself... that was really good! I bet other members would enjoy reading this.
I can then PM staff and tell them, I'd like to vote for this RP here. It deserves attention and for others to read it!
Okay! So what's the point of doing that? Of sitting down and reading RPs and voting for them?
At the end of the month, whoever earned the most votes gets featured, and when they get featured, they earn a reward. What is the reward? This part is obviously up for debate, but here's what I thought of:
When you get featured for the month: your reward is something from your Wishlist WITHIN REASON.
That means NO customs with COMPLICATED ADD-ONS or MARKINGS; but if you'd like a non-breedable custom with very small markings or just as a recolor, that's fine.
To me, the reward should be something that encourages the person to keep on RPing. That could be an Elixir of Fertility (to finally RP a breeding/lifemating they've always wanted), KS (change up some Kuhnas? get some experiment pets? future seasonal releases?), pets (even RARE Kuhnas!)... anything that will encourage to get a pet and say, "I really want to write their story next"!
So you might be reading this and thinking... what's the point of doing this?
Well, besides getting the reward... I feel like it will:
- Get you to read really cool stuff!
- Get you to connect with new characters and even members you haven't really spoken to before!
- Get you to RP with new people because you found out, hey, they have cool characters!
And overall, I find this will strengthen the community bond. The feeling that others are reading our stuff. The feeling we're not just RPing on our own with our own pixels in our own little corner. That people do think we have some cool characters. To encourage people to even pick up and CONTINUE or even FINISH RPs. To know, even if it's just a handful of people, someone thought your work was worth reading and even mentioning to someone else.
So then, here are some questions I thought of, and some solutions that I think may work out for them. This is up for discussing and you guys tell me what you think. I am but one person, so other points of view are welcome.
How can you be sure someone has read the RPs they're voting for?
I judge that one month is enough to read through an RP of a few pages. I think many of us have smartphones; when you have a moment in the bus or transit to/from home, when you want to relax before bed.
But when submitting a vote, maybe the submitter would need to say why they liked the RP? What was it that really stood out to them? Did they like the character development? Did they really like the style of the narrative? Did they find the characters realistic and relatable? What is it that got their attention?
It doesn't need to be paragraphs long and worthy of a star on your A+ essay. It can be just a few sentences to express why it really stood out to you. And hey, if they do end up winning, maybe your 'review' could be there to encourage people that it is a really good read!
How am I supposed to even start with this? There are a lot of users, and a lot of RPs!
Here's my idea...
Perhaps a subsection under Important Documents?
A small section where members can officially keep track of their RPs. You post a topic, and in there, they could list either all of them, or the ones they judge to be the best they have to offer. That includes breedings, RPs with others, self-RPs, old RPs, unfinished RPs... anything they wrote. And maybe, to get your attention, they could even include a brief summary of what the RP is about! It doesn't need to be paragraphs long; but just a short summary to get your attention.
That'll help users - especially the busy ones - to skim and filter through the RPs they'd love to read the most. Instead of users sitting and starring at the forums and asking themselves, 'okay, where do I start? Which RP should I read?', they could keep some RPs in mind and put it as a sidenote to check those out first.
What kind of RPs can be voted for? Anything? With anybody?
Well... yeah! Breeding, unfinished, even old RPs... why not? Because it's a breeding doesn't mean it's bad or too short; because it's unfinished doesn't mean it has great potential and you want to see what's going to happen next; because it's old doesn't mean it's bad or obsolete and not worth your time.
What about RPs with partners? ... What happens to the rewards then? ... I would personally just reward both writers, if only because the RP is a result of shared efforts. But, thoughts on this part?
I can vote for 3/X RPs? Do I just say which RPs I liked with no preference or order?
If we want to have multiple winners or multiple choices for one featured winner, I don't think it truly matters which RP you liked the best. So long as someone gets a point from a vote you submitted, whether they were your first pick or your second pick or actually your runnerup pick; you picked them! So I personally don't think a scale of most to least or 1 to 3 is necessary. But, thoughts?
I feel like me not getting nominated means I'm a horrible writer. I don't like this at all! Why do I have to compete with other users?
Let me be clear... this idea isn't meant to make the community become a center of competition. It's meant to highlight the efforts of writers and to give them recognition. We all work hard, and we all do our best when we write. If not our best, if anything, we write because we enjoy writing. But it adds to the enjoyment of writing to know others are also enjoying your writing.
That's why I'm not saying this should be a permanent 'contest' the same way we'd done the lifemate one years ago. We won't have fixed judges, we won't have a fixed time frame. Maybe someone didn't vote for your RP because they didn't see it yet! Maybe they haven't gotten to really reading it. Or maybe they did like the other RPs better; but that doesn't mean they didn't enjoy yours too. There are Grammy's and Award shows every year to determine which movie was best, which actor was best, which movie was the best in X category... even if you don't get featured for that month, you might get featured the next!
Does that make sense?
Hahah, there's no way to know if I'm bribing friends to vote for me so I can get free stuff! I'll get all my friends to vote for me!!
Well... I hope not. With this system, I'd hope for a lack of bias. I'd hope users can look beyond usernames and just look at the material in front of them. That goes especially for shared RPs, since it'd be really disappointing for someone to withhold their vote because they don't like your partner.
And well, bribing is no good. If you are found bribing for votes, then I'd suggest that you'd be disqualified for the month. The point of this feature wouldn't be to earn free stuff if you get featured. The point is to have the community come together to give feedback, enjoy what everyone has to offer, and maybe even expand on their RPing circles and experiences.
Many people describe(d) Evelon as the place that motivated them to write and to grow as a writer. To me, that feeling has sadly faded long ago... because I feel like no one even reads what I write. Will I stop writing altogether? No, I won't. But does it kind of demotivate me? Yeah, it does... the story is already in my head... so if no one else but me is going to really read it... why write it?
It's meant to bring the community together.
War RPs?
Actually, unless everyone can see the two Mess Halls... I'd say no. It's not fair to limit your chances for those RPs to the select members who have actual visual access to it. Unless people think it's a very tiny factor, and they would love to vote for those, then that's okay too! Up for debate.
Not everyone is at the same level... why just one person getting featured? What about younger or less experienced members?
Maybe we could have 3 winners a month? That is to say, one top winner that gets featured + Wishlist reward; and then 2 runner-ups or so, that got the most amount of votes after the featured winner. They could get a little prize too? Maybe KS? Or no prize? Up for debate.
Heck, we could even have a specific category where people get critiqued? Of course, all for the sake of getting better as a writer. It wouldn't be a critique of 'I really hated how they used that bright yellow for the dialogue, ugh!' but rather things that might've stuck out to you that made you go with other RPs/winners. None of us write perfectly and none of us ever will! If it's meant to make you better or if it's meant to even help a story (admittedly I don't always know what I'm doing when I write), we could have a category for it.
Under their own little topic in the subsection, people could say if they're all right with being included in that section! I realize not everyone might want to get included in there, so that would be a choice.
I think... that covers everything I'd thought of?
The point is that this is a feature that will be easy on the staff (all they gave to do is tally up votes and then declare the featured winner), quick and easy to implement (just make a set of rules and create the new subsection), and then the rest... depends on the community. It depends if you guys would like this, it depends if you guys would like to try to implement this.
How does it sound? How does everyone feel about it? Anyone has anything to add and/or say about it? Please discuss!
But I feel now members don't even really get in touch with other people's characters or stories? We even have the Meet the Characters section that literally nobody uses. :/ I remember being excited for that section... and no one ended up really using it.
It tossed and turned in my head, and I'd like to suggest something... I'm not sure how worthwhile it'll be. Members will need to contribute to make it work, but it might spur some camaraderie? Maybe.
What I am suggesting is a sort of peer review system.
How would it work? Now, fair warning: this topic is going to be long. Stuff is up for debate though! But here is just a basic idea of what I thought of.
For one (1) month, members can PM staff (or a designated person for this) voting for RPs they read and enjoyed. There could be a limit of how many RPs you can vote for; such as maybe 3? And of course, to keep things fair and well... to keep it from falling apart... one cannot vote for oneself. Even if you could vote for other people, well, it'd still be biased and unfair to vote for yourself.
So, let's say I see this RP somewhere by another user. I take a look, and it sounds interesting. I keep on reading, and I think to myself... that was really good! I bet other members would enjoy reading this.
I can then PM staff and tell them, I'd like to vote for this RP here. It deserves attention and for others to read it!
Okay! So what's the point of doing that? Of sitting down and reading RPs and voting for them?
At the end of the month, whoever earned the most votes gets featured, and when they get featured, they earn a reward. What is the reward? This part is obviously up for debate, but here's what I thought of:
When you get featured for the month: your reward is something from your Wishlist WITHIN REASON.
That means NO customs with COMPLICATED ADD-ONS or MARKINGS; but if you'd like a non-breedable custom with very small markings or just as a recolor, that's fine.
To me, the reward should be something that encourages the person to keep on RPing. That could be an Elixir of Fertility (to finally RP a breeding/lifemating they've always wanted), KS (change up some Kuhnas? get some experiment pets? future seasonal releases?), pets (even RARE Kuhnas!)... anything that will encourage to get a pet and say, "I really want to write their story next"!
So you might be reading this and thinking... what's the point of doing this?
Well, besides getting the reward... I feel like it will:
- Get you to read really cool stuff!
- Get you to connect with new characters and even members you haven't really spoken to before!
- Get you to RP with new people because you found out, hey, they have cool characters!
And overall, I find this will strengthen the community bond. The feeling that others are reading our stuff. The feeling we're not just RPing on our own with our own pixels in our own little corner. That people do think we have some cool characters. To encourage people to even pick up and CONTINUE or even FINISH RPs. To know, even if it's just a handful of people, someone thought your work was worth reading and even mentioning to someone else.
So then, here are some questions I thought of, and some solutions that I think may work out for them. This is up for discussing and you guys tell me what you think. I am but one person, so other points of view are welcome.
How can you be sure someone has read the RPs they're voting for?
I judge that one month is enough to read through an RP of a few pages. I think many of us have smartphones; when you have a moment in the bus or transit to/from home, when you want to relax before bed.
But when submitting a vote, maybe the submitter would need to say why they liked the RP? What was it that really stood out to them? Did they like the character development? Did they really like the style of the narrative? Did they find the characters realistic and relatable? What is it that got their attention?
It doesn't need to be paragraphs long and worthy of a star on your A+ essay. It can be just a few sentences to express why it really stood out to you. And hey, if they do end up winning, maybe your 'review' could be there to encourage people that it is a really good read!
How am I supposed to even start with this? There are a lot of users, and a lot of RPs!
Here's my idea...
Perhaps a subsection under Important Documents?
A small section where members can officially keep track of their RPs. You post a topic, and in there, they could list either all of them, or the ones they judge to be the best they have to offer. That includes breedings, RPs with others, self-RPs, old RPs, unfinished RPs... anything they wrote. And maybe, to get your attention, they could even include a brief summary of what the RP is about! It doesn't need to be paragraphs long; but just a short summary to get your attention.
That'll help users - especially the busy ones - to skim and filter through the RPs they'd love to read the most. Instead of users sitting and starring at the forums and asking themselves, 'okay, where do I start? Which RP should I read?', they could keep some RPs in mind and put it as a sidenote to check those out first.
What kind of RPs can be voted for? Anything? With anybody?
Well... yeah! Breeding, unfinished, even old RPs... why not? Because it's a breeding doesn't mean it's bad or too short; because it's unfinished doesn't mean it has great potential and you want to see what's going to happen next; because it's old doesn't mean it's bad or obsolete and not worth your time.
What about RPs with partners? ... What happens to the rewards then? ... I would personally just reward both writers, if only because the RP is a result of shared efforts. But, thoughts on this part?
I can vote for 3/X RPs? Do I just say which RPs I liked with no preference or order?
If we want to have multiple winners or multiple choices for one featured winner, I don't think it truly matters which RP you liked the best. So long as someone gets a point from a vote you submitted, whether they were your first pick or your second pick or actually your runnerup pick; you picked them! So I personally don't think a scale of most to least or 1 to 3 is necessary. But, thoughts?
I feel like me not getting nominated means I'm a horrible writer. I don't like this at all! Why do I have to compete with other users?
Let me be clear... this idea isn't meant to make the community become a center of competition. It's meant to highlight the efforts of writers and to give them recognition. We all work hard, and we all do our best when we write. If not our best, if anything, we write because we enjoy writing. But it adds to the enjoyment of writing to know others are also enjoying your writing.
That's why I'm not saying this should be a permanent 'contest' the same way we'd done the lifemate one years ago. We won't have fixed judges, we won't have a fixed time frame. Maybe someone didn't vote for your RP because they didn't see it yet! Maybe they haven't gotten to really reading it. Or maybe they did like the other RPs better; but that doesn't mean they didn't enjoy yours too. There are Grammy's and Award shows every year to determine which movie was best, which actor was best, which movie was the best in X category... even if you don't get featured for that month, you might get featured the next!
Does that make sense?
Hahah, there's no way to know if I'm bribing friends to vote for me so I can get free stuff! I'll get all my friends to vote for me!!
Well... I hope not. With this system, I'd hope for a lack of bias. I'd hope users can look beyond usernames and just look at the material in front of them. That goes especially for shared RPs, since it'd be really disappointing for someone to withhold their vote because they don't like your partner.
And well, bribing is no good. If you are found bribing for votes, then I'd suggest that you'd be disqualified for the month. The point of this feature wouldn't be to earn free stuff if you get featured. The point is to have the community come together to give feedback, enjoy what everyone has to offer, and maybe even expand on their RPing circles and experiences.
Many people describe(d) Evelon as the place that motivated them to write and to grow as a writer. To me, that feeling has sadly faded long ago... because I feel like no one even reads what I write. Will I stop writing altogether? No, I won't. But does it kind of demotivate me? Yeah, it does... the story is already in my head... so if no one else but me is going to really read it... why write it?
It's meant to bring the community together.
War RPs?
Actually, unless everyone can see the two Mess Halls... I'd say no. It's not fair to limit your chances for those RPs to the select members who have actual visual access to it. Unless people think it's a very tiny factor, and they would love to vote for those, then that's okay too! Up for debate.
Not everyone is at the same level... why just one person getting featured? What about younger or less experienced members?
Maybe we could have 3 winners a month? That is to say, one top winner that gets featured + Wishlist reward; and then 2 runner-ups or so, that got the most amount of votes after the featured winner. They could get a little prize too? Maybe KS? Or no prize? Up for debate.
Heck, we could even have a specific category where people get critiqued? Of course, all for the sake of getting better as a writer. It wouldn't be a critique of 'I really hated how they used that bright yellow for the dialogue, ugh!' but rather things that might've stuck out to you that made you go with other RPs/winners. None of us write perfectly and none of us ever will! If it's meant to make you better or if it's meant to even help a story (admittedly I don't always know what I'm doing when I write), we could have a category for it.
Under their own little topic in the subsection, people could say if they're all right with being included in that section! I realize not everyone might want to get included in there, so that would be a choice.
I think... that covers everything I'd thought of?
The point is that this is a feature that will be easy on the staff (all they gave to do is tally up votes and then declare the featured winner), quick and easy to implement (just make a set of rules and create the new subsection), and then the rest... depends on the community. It depends if you guys would like this, it depends if you guys would like to try to implement this.
How does it sound? How does everyone feel about it? Anyone has anything to add and/or say about it? Please discuss!