#rolescape points

[rolescape]

So, for what it's worth I'm gonna chime in here on the whole 'points-no-points' thing.

To those who may not understand why some people would want a points reward system, and I'm not saying this applies to every one of them, I can tell you personally that my particular brand of neurodiversity thrives on incentives like this. It's not about bragging rights, it's a way to get myself to do things my brain goblins normally say no to. Normally it's an incentive system for doing chores I dislike but sometimes it needs to be similarly implemented in other areas of my life, like writing and role-playing.

That's not to dismiss your concerns by any means, it's more so to point out a thought process you may not have considered. Having read both posts I did notice that both times it was said that you can opt out of the points system. That's a choice that Tumblr has never given us, so I think that's also something to keep in mind.

As for the concerns about clique culture, while I fully understand why you're worried about it I can also tell you that it never goes away. It has nothing to do with the platform or features implemented and everything to do with the people perpetrating the behavior. Points systems aren't what encourages them to be cliquey entitled jerks, it's likeminded people that encourage the behavior. If not a points system they'd find something else to latch onto and make them seem better than everyone else.

Again, this is not to dismiss your concerns, this in particular is me sharing close to 30 years of experience with being looked down on, picked on, and left out of things because that kind of behavior exists in various parts of life, including the workplace by grown adults who supposedly know better. This is not something the developers are going to be able to control no matter what they do or what they implement.

Finally, to end this commentary I'm going to say this. No one is going to like 100% of the features on a website that's designed to include all walks of life. There are going to be things that are helpful to one person but seem ridiculous to the next person. Again, we are being given an option to opt out of points, which is more than I can say for majority of other sites I've been on. We as roleplayers do get a say in what goes into the site, but we also have to remember that we aren't the only ones using the site and that different things are going to work for different people.

Thank you so much for your message! This was not only beautifully worded, but hit the nail on the head in a lot of areas. I think people would greatly benefit from hearing your experience / opinions on the matter so I’m going to leave this here.

I also personally thrive on incentives like that, and have a hard time enjoying my hobbies if I don't always get something tangible out of them.

[strykingback]

Porn Bots can you FUCK OFF!!!

[rpbetter]

Hello, I hope all is well with your laptop! I read your post about RS and I agree with you. I'm also worried if these badges or rewards do become public sometime, and if points really are just rewarded for opening a page or something, people will start using scripts to visit pages and boost their "activity"? It's not hard to code a simple script, schedule, or learn how to do it. It opens another can of unfairness worms, plus all the suspicion that would arise. I just hate this whole thing.

Hey, Anon, thank you for the well wishes with the laptop of dissent! I am happy to report that it is behaving exceptionally well now, so, I have been trying to get several responses done before releasing them since I am terribly, embarrassingly behind.

I hope no one minds me replying to one and posting it quickly! It's simply that this is, firstly, the last issue we had a discussion about on the blog, secondly, a pretty quick one to get out.

I have to say, as glad as I am that people both feel this is a safe place to express problems with things and that this is something people have an issue with, therefore, it is giving some validation to those out there that were made to feel like they were blowing things out of proportion and being ridiculous, I am also quite upset about it. Every point that has been made about the potential issues is valid as hell, and this is not the expectation we all had of how RS would handle things. Devolving from brush-offs to requests for feedback that come off as insincere when the feedback is received to tantrum-like anger.

We have all been appreciative of the dev these many months, especially as the platform was consistently being sold as something that needed a lot of input from potential users so that it could become the RPing platform we've all wanted. That is not an easy thing to undertake. The coding work alone is intense, but additionally, taking all the ideas and working them into something is always going to come with the downside of the impossibility of catering a platform to literally everyone. As I said before, that's not an excuse or a justification for ignoring people, using some inappropriate language for the venue, and not once, visibly and publicly here where it matters most, accepting that something is problem (or simply not favored) and going in another direction. When the answer is very simple - if you want a platform that includes all the diverse types of RPing out there, the real point of inclusion is allowing users to tailor their unique experience in a way that is a primary feature in and of itself.

I don't think anyone has brought up the scripting issue, they haven't anywhere I've been, but with the reaction to other points, can you blame them? Now that taking an issue, apparently, means you're ruining RS.

It is an extremely valid issue to bring up, however.

Because it absolutely will happen, you're correct. If something is exploitable, it will be exploited. I think there's a lot of naivety, to be honest, this isn't the first time I've thought that about the response to problems and solutions, or things already outlined to be implimented. For example, the idea that RS's rules will be so simplistic that everyone can and will follow them. Like? This is a platform for RP, but it is for real humans in the real world. I'm sorry, but real humans have a pretty strong drive to exploit systems in a way that will benefit them most, and some of those humans are not going to be good folks and simply resist the urge when presented with something so easy as being able to get extra points or have someone's account reprimanded for nothing.

If you can easily lay down a ridiculously simple script to keep your computer from showing you as idle when working from home by rapidly pressing a button that won't interfere with any work being done every few seconds...you can just as easily run one to cheat at earning points. It literally happens on every site that has any manner of reward system or digital currency. There will always be loopholes one cannot close or see as obviously as the people who will exploit them, but this is a bit ridiculous in lack of foresight.

Okay, they're just badges. We incessantly have been told this, as if that solves any of the problems. Value is placed on them, though, they're no longer going to be a "just" when that happens. For many people, no, it will not be enjoyable to cheat in order to collect or rack up so many points that they'll be able to get any new releases right away. The RPC here kind of demonstrates how low-effort with maximum-reward is normalized. What on earth would make you think this wouldn't extend to scripting for points?

It is really easy, and I've only seen one instance of script really messing up a platform (while I have seen others terribly affected for years by users who exploited loopholes for gain), but I'm sure it wasn't the only time in history it's happened. So, what I'm saying is that it also seems like a harmless thing to do, but what if, you know?

And this is, of course, the consistent issue with unfairness. Again, "just badges," but not with value attached by users. I certainly don't get it, my reward system for my hobby is, strangely, my hobby itself, and there is nothing on those badges that is my thing. They are popular things, though, and so is, apparently, requiring add-ons for one's enjoyable downtime. So, yes, they will gain a value beyond what they are, this will turn into cheating, and it will lead to users turning it into clout, sharing their point counts, and hyperfixating on this instead of RP*.

*Just don't with the shitty commentary, people. If hyperfixating on collecting anime character badges is something that sparks joy for you, I am happy that's been made possible for you. However, with RS being a social media platform that you can RP on, like almost everywhere else but with more RP mention and acceptance, you might want to consider being polite to others who aren't there for the same reasons. Such as stating in your bio that you're there for the social side primarily. Everyone can enjoy themselves while being quite different if we're respectful enough to opt out of interactions we don't belong in.

Something else I've not seen anyone discuss is the nature of the badges themselves being a potential issue.

They are several canon characters. I doubt that consent of use was granted or that this would, entirely and perpetually, fall into a safe category of transformative work like fanworks do. There have been some ridiculous concerns about content on the site and how this relates to what servers can be used, where an app could be hosted, and of course, thinking of the children. If RS is successful enough, the use of copyrighted characters and other property could very well be a problem. It is a bit shortsighted to be so worried about someone's evil, terrible, dark content being visible while making badges with these characters.

This is, again, naive, particularly when there has been the defensive admittance that nothing of the law is known. Not even the incredible basics of a platform adhering to the laws of the country in which it is hosted. This isn't just a thing between friends, it isn't happening at your D&D table or in a discord server, or being posted as fanart. The platform is meant to succeed across a wide variety of RPers and to be a social one, these things make using imagery and names of canon characters as a reward system given by the platform itself a problem.

So, if RS is big enough, it's going to get attention. Attention isn't always good, especially surrounding use of characters from notoriously possessive and litigious companies who will try intimidation tactics where they law isn't even on their side because they can.

This is bad for RS in obvious ways, but in less obvious ones as well - at some point, RS will require funding and doing something like this, the only way would now be asking for donations. I don't like to see anything like RS monetized, there is an inherent unfairness to a system where users have to pay for some features and such, but it's a reality that it will need income to run and limiting those options immediately is a bad idea. I believe this would also nix the possibility of ads. While no one wants them and they do have a bad success rate among the demographic being targeted, they are still, unfortunately, a wise option to keep around just in case. I don't even think you could sell physical merchandise either if the copyrighted content being produced was not by fans for no monetary gain, but rather, the platform itself, which might not be asking for money for that imagery but is still using the imagery to appeal to users.

This is also bad for users in both obvious and less obvious ways. RS isn't going to be so big as to compete with profitable social media sites, that era is long past and RP would be a bad way of going about it anyway. With sites like RS, then, you'd end up with something like what individuals are sent by these companies - takedown orders. Say you're very into this point system and collecting, you are proud of your collection and the work you've put into it. You log in, but today, your collection is gone. That could be a major loss to people and a hit to the site because of it. Realistically, RS would need, barring some astronomical rise to significance in popular internet culture, a while to get to the point where most companies would be too interested in serving anything. Probably about the time RS has to step up efforts to keep the lights on, and that could be a year or five years. Which means that a user's collection could be huge by that point.

As usual, I see a lot of the justification for the feature and demonizing of those who don't want it being that this appeals to neurodiverse folks. Not only is it extremely old that ND only means one or two mental differences and shouldn't be weaponized to silence valid problems anyway, but also, it is a promise that some ND folks will be very into this. If their collection is interfered with, that could be a significant impact to their mental health, it's a little irresponsible to allow "think of the neurodiverse" while lacking the cognizance of how this could negatively affect exactly those users. I may hate this idea and genuinely not understand the appeal of it, but when something more minor than this comes out of nowhere in my life, it is bad.

We all know there will be sharing of the badges and things going on with RS on twitter and tumblr, the wrong people will be aware, and eventually, it'll be worth their time to be dicks about it. This is an unfairness to users who are hyped about the badges when it happens, and though the transparency is that of a brick wall anymore, I've not seen anyone bringing up this concern. So, we have to assume from the poor evidence given that no one is thinking of it as a concern...just as "a fun thing." Fun things do come with downsides, sometimes, it is an unfortunate fact of reality, of which we are all quite unfortunately beholden to.

As you said, the whole thing is just rife with issues, and it concerns me considerably that the response is to get angry and refuse discussion and change. I would have, very much, liked to have seen RS be a great place that succeeded, but when the kinks that need to be ironed out upon launch include obstinacy and obliviousness of site management and user concerns, I don't exactly feel positive about any of it any longer. Nor can I blame anyone else for feeling that way, being reluctant about it, or entirely turned off. This isn't people being unreasonably pessimistic, demanding, or dedicated to ruining other people's time. It's seeing that every concern or disagreement turns into a wildfire that isn't ever put out because the only firefighter available is insistent it's great and you need to give a chance.

This isn't confidence instilling, the whole "discussion" over the point system has highlighted other concerned.

The whole thing uncomfortably smacks of tumblr's staff bullshit.

Oh, we know this post has 100,000 notes of disagreement and outright pleading within the first hour it was made, but we like it, it's great, you'll love it. We know you've been asking for this very simple thing that functional platforms had working when tumblr first launched, but since it isn't a problem on the backend, it's not a problem, but fine, we'll put it on the list, complainers. There is no way possible we did not see protests and months of posts we were tagged in, but you'll never know we did because we're going to ignore the issue.

Once more, I have to say it, there is a way to be more fair. It was suggested by more than one person in more than one way. The only way you could insulate the system itself from easy cheating, assure that users were truly opting-in and out instead of being othered as non-participants, and giving fairness to those who are participating and want to be proud of their efforts is to make it an opt-in contest. While allowing users to, indeed, completely opt-out. You don't want to participate? You don't have to see it beyond the usual announcement of such an event on a landing or announcements log page. No announcements about it are site-wide to users who haven't opted-in, and so on.

Absolutely better to label (former, I am sure) potential users as problems and ignore it all so hard it maybe goes away, however.

[paragonevil]

PSA / ooc ★ Ok, TL;DR bullet-pointed updates of my hiatus / explanations for upcoming slow-ish activity:

I’m finally getting some god damned therapy! Starting tomorrow, anyway.

Mom got two surgeries, so I’ve been taking care of her. She’s about to have a third, in all likelihood.

Trying to get my ducks in a row school, scholarship, and internship-wise in time for my graduation this December.

Thoroughly disenchanted with Tumblr and in more of an arty mood than a writing mood, so I’ve been avoiding this place if I’m being honest. Got my eggs in the good ol’ Rolescape basket, yo. Also putting a bit more careful consideration into the kinds of threads I’m going to set aside time to write, I think, ‘cause’a not having as much time / initiative to write. Wanna write stuff I’m actually invested in, you know?

Interests have been fluctuating. Got some new muses in mind for the multi, eventually!

Slow activity, ‘cause’a the above stuff, is what I’m getting at. I’m not gone, but I WILL be a bit slow over here, and esp as I get in gear in-character-wise, ya dig? Thanks for being patient with me, folks. ♥

[thenextchapterbegins]

a mun rants

so my friend just brought myself attention to “rolescapes” and after a brief look at @rolescape​

I HAVE SOME CONCERNS.

1. you guys dont have a fucking income planned out? maybe this has changed in ur discord but from ur page and guys i want you to really know what they have planned for ideas on how to generate income. 

Ads: Pay to promote your RPH, creator blog, character blog, Instagram art, deviant art, etc and we will feature you!

Ads: For Etsy artists, redbubble artists, critical role, etc.

SPONSORS!!!

Pay to buy points — points can be earned by using the site, or they can be purchased and used to buy promotion space and some types of collectible badges.

Content creators can sell themes, and Rolescape will take a very small percentage

There will be an entire section for cosplayers, who generate a lot of traffic and are an important part of the RPC in their own area. They can advertise.

Community fundraisers — talent show. Every week, we will ask for submissions for the talent show. Talent shows will consist of dramatic readings of stories/fanfiction, acted-out cosplay scenes, impressions, fandom songs, skits, fan art reel, and whatever the community sends in that they can think of. Buy a $1 ticket to the show and receive a one-time access code to enter the page. All money collected goes back into making Rolescape possible and pays for the storage space to host all those gifs of Adelaide Kane.

The bottom 3 are perfectly fine the top 3 are incredibly worrying. 

thats right folks

you can pay to win RP

nothing says like causing descivness in the rping community by allowing rpers with money overtake promotional spots because they can literally pay to promo their blog across the site whilst a poor struggling blog can only watch as they gather no interactions. IM SURE THAT WILL GO WELL.

also as you know rolescapes exists already. its a tabletop rpg website do you wanna hear their response to this. 

While Rolescape is not a trademarked name, we are looking into this further and will post any updates if changes to the name should be made.

Thats right boys and girls they legit went “WELL ITS NOT TRADEMARKED SO IF WE EVER GOT MORE POPULAR THEN THE OTHER SITE I SUPPOSE WE WOULD HAVE TO CHANGE IT.”  Like what the fuck is this?

also

just the cherry on this sundae

“ Made FOR roleplayers, BY roleplayers “

you guys remember this saying

lettme remind you

“DASHCON. a con made for tumble users MADE by tumble users.” and dashcon as u kno, was a great success. 

oop just came across this as i was reading on security concerns.

“We do not have a formal security specialist on board at the moment, but as Rolescape continues to progress and grow, there is room to designate specialists to further our commitment to user security.“

what the fuck is this?

do they have anything planned out? are people donating to a literal empty shell of a website?

so far they have plan for income, no real security in place besides the creator which means nothing because the creator will be too busy with the thousand other things and they need a security head, they have plans to make a hyper-agressive rping community by adding pay to win mechanics. 

also an incredible worry for me is how diverse is the staff making the website. is it truly a website for rpers? even with tumble as it is with its desciveness on characters, aging up muses, you know genderbends, dubious situations from evil muses gaslighting to abuse, etc etc. people all over the spectrum on what they think is ok or not ok of course within legal limits its incredibly worrying for me because a site made by rpers when i dont know these rpers could be a site that could be heavy on “badthought” rping  punishing those that rp what they think isnt ok and yeeting them from the platform or it could truly be an open place for everyone no matter their opinions or styles of rping and i would like to hope they know this going in but so far on their page im not seeing anything that would alleviate this fear.

[southern-belle-outcasts]

4, 11, 16?

@distant-wcrlds

Mun Views

//

4. On your fandom.

One thing I’ve been seeing a lot lately with Marbles fandom is virtue signalling by people claiming you’re this terrible person if you write xyz and should not be doing so, google doc callouts for it, yada yada yada. This is...such bullshit honestly and it’s tiresome. This is not a blog that does the purity culture thing, and if anyone is bothered by it, there’s the door. If you’re going to take issue with a mun writing subject matter or a character that in no way expresses their views, you’re no longer allowed to consume any amount of “problematic” media. G rated only- movies, tv, books, the purest of pure. Cuz you cannot draw lines at censorship like that, and then you start to slowly have the line pushed further and further back until nothing is okay. So if you’re going to happily watch something, or read something, and then get pissy someone is rp writing it...hate to break it to you buddy, someone wrote and portrayed it already AND you consumed it. It’s not suddenly different cuz it’s rp. Just grow up and don’t follow people that write stuff that bothers you, have some self accountability and really understand mun ≠ muse. Unless someone is actually saying “I love this and agree with this and this is how I view the world in real life”...It. Is. FICTION!

11. On your character. 

“Chaotic neutral never looked this good.” I’m quoting Dragon’s summary of my gang and well...I ain’t gonna argue it. Answered in more detail last ask tho.

16. On roleplaying in general. 

It’s something that is unique to itself, like, not really anything I can do that is quite the same serotonin/dopamine fix of both creating something, making something for someone, receiving something from a friend, watching a story unfold, etc. It really is one of my favorite things to do for the past decade, it’s made me a better person for having experienced so many different view points and people, I’ve been forced (by my own stickler attitude towards getting things right) to research different topics to be sure I’m portraying it correctly, I’ve become a far better writer doing this than I ever was made into via my English class. While some of the behavior and opinions piss me off, I just try to communicate and when that doesn’t work, customize with removal. It will never be GREAT because it’s tumblr and it’s stagnant with a lot of immature mentality, lack of self accountability, circle jerking with positivity but offer anything actually helpful towards self improvement and it’s too brutal for people, etc. I will be quite happy when Rolescape is functional and I can start fresh in a place where accessibility, a proper blocking feature, mutuals only posting, etc will be available. I’m too old for the drama nonsense, people having a problem and saying nothing and expecting you to read minds, so on and so forth. I love roleplay, I hate tumblr, but until something else comes up, this is the spot most conducive to multi para/novella style like I like to do. It’s a curse.

[bluesediting]

  A SOCIAL NETWORKING WEBSITE DESIGNED FOR YOU !

Writing is a hobby we have all come to love and enjoy, one we use to escape from our own daily stresses and find ourselves looking forwards to at the end of a hard week. But with constant updates ruining the ability to do it smoothly, we’ve had to turn to extensions to make Tumblr functional for writing. RoleScape will change everything about the writing experience. A website that will to cater to the roleplayer’s needs, full stop. No messing around.

— WHAT IS ROLESCAPE?

ROLESCAPE is an accessible, aesthetically pleasing social networking website (and mobile app!) with a myriad of features that the roleplaying community, over multiple websites, have been begging for. Made FOR roleplayers, BY roleplayers, the site quite literally would not be possible without the help of the very community it’s targeted toward.

Rolescape aims to change the hassle of needing to use XKIT in conjunction with Tumblr to have an enjoyable experience. A website where the website itself is more than enough. Created by people who know what features you want to see. In only a couple weeks, this project has grown from an idea in one person’s head, a single post and an ask for help, to an entire community dedicated to bringing a much needed platform to the public—for writers, cosplayers, nerds, and role-players alike.

                             INFORMATION  — SCREENSHOTS

— HOW CAN YOU HELP?

We already got things started, and have put forth money ourselves to make this dream a reality. We purchased a server, a domain, and a host… and honestly? Stuff’s expensive. But the point is, things only happen because people MAKE them happen.

But there are still things you, the individual, and the community can do for us. Whether it’s donating to one of our sources linked below, reblogging this post or joining the discord server for moral support. Every action counts. 

                     DISCORD   —  KO-FI  — PATREON  — PAYPAL

[rolescape]

Wait, can you explain this "points" system or refer me to a previous post explaining it? That last ask has me wondering.

Points are awarded for completing Rolescape writing challenges, and using the site. Points can be used to unlock certain special badges to display on your profile similar to how neopets used to be with avatars. Essentially we will post certain badges that can be bought with points at certain times and you can collect them. It's just a fun little way for us to gamify things for those of you who want incentives.

[rolescape]

You get a glossary, you get a glossary, you get a glossary!

Everyone gets a glossary

How does this work?

The Rolescape glossary reads an SKOS (simple knowledge organization system) and creates a page on Rolescape user profiles with a corresponding glossary. Any time a word or phrase from the glossary is used somewhere on Rolescape, a link pointing to the term in the user’s glossary is created.

The goal of this is to help make blogs and content more understandable as well as providing a basis for backstory. It would link posts with key terms and key terms with other key terms. Based on your glossary, terms in your posts and threads are high-lighted automatically, definitions are provided "inline" (as mouse-over effect) and links to the glossary terms are generated on-the-fly. The glossary is available as an extra resource on the blog and can be navigated to learn more about the knowledge domain instantly.

This can be used for terms, or even phrases, and you can choose whether or not you want to link to them on a post-by-post basis, so you won’t have to worry about giving repeated information every single time you use a word.

This will work with phrases/any keyword you set up and predefine.

USE CASE:

EX: If you are writing a thread with my character who is hard of hearing, i may add "hard of hearing" to my glossary so when it's mentioned in thread, you can hover over it and it will give you the backstory on how my character experienced an explosion.

I figure this will make interactions between people easier as sometimes characters have a LOT of backstory, and I know it can be overwhelming. This way, you can link to information only when it's relevant to your plot.

[rpbetter]

Everyone out there looking forward to Rolescape, a lot of you have my concerned about its longevity already and it hasn't even gone into testing. So, let's talk about something in brief.

The right way to think about this:

Rolescape has a numerous promising features in the works that will allow you to better cultivate your space. You'll be able to better insulate yourself from drama and muns you need to avoid, have a great deal of privacy, and be better able to deal with problems in a meaningful way.

The wrong way to think about this:

Rolescape is a fix for all of the RPC's problems, I cannot wait to be away from all this drama and negativity.

The right way still keeps the responsibility on you, on everyone in the RPC, to not create, foster, or refuse to stay away from problems. It acknowledges the reality that two of the most awful RPCs to ever exist are the target user base for RS - tumblr and twitter. And it expects only what RS's responsibilities should be (coincidentally, what other platforms should have been as well, but we wouldn't be having this conversation if they didn't abysmally fail there) - providing functioning ways of blocking, filtering, and otherwise cultivating one's space. The behavior is up to you.

The wrong way poses RS as an unrealistically utopian place no matter its user base. These are not alright expectations from any platform, places are going to be what you make of them. The same muns are going to be there, the same problems will come with them. It's great that you're excited to have a fresh start with promising features that allow greater comfort and cultivation, but these expectations I see many of you expressing are only going to result in you putting the blame on RS when you run into the handful of muns you have issues with or discover that purity culture and callouts are everywhere.

Let me repeat: It's great that you're excited to have a fresh start with promising features that allow greater comfort and cultivation.

But I'm excited for RS as well, and I'd really rather not have it bottom-out before it really gets rolling when too many muns rage quit because a new, improved platform did not fix every issue they had with the community itself.

Please:

be excited

support RS with reblogs, donations, giving feedback, and/or joining the team

tell your mutuals about RS and why you're excited for it

join the discord server if you're into that

stay realistic that the site will be in testing when you get to join, there will be bugs and things both added and removed, that's what happens during testing phases

stay realistic that the same blogs and RPC issues will only be moving over to a new location, not ceasing to exist

appreciate that you'll be able to control this environment a thousand times better to stay away from all that, know that you will need to do that

I cannot say enough how relieving it is that Rolescape is happening, it has so many great things that can improve the experience. Every day, at some point, I think, "I wish Rolescape existed right now." But it will not fix the problems in the RPC simply by existing. Do not set yourselves up to be disappointed and angry, and in doing so, set up RS to fail. This is the single most promising RP platform I have seen in all two decades of RPing online, please don't do that.

[rolescape]

i think it’s great how open and responsive you are to messages feedback and criticism but the same people who don’t want to get dog piled for voicing an issue seem to be piling onto you. everyone has problems and if every single one is catered to the way that every individual person interested in rolescape wants it to be, i feel like progress will halt.

obviously no one wants to be triggered and no one wants to be the cause of a trigger for someone else but not every situation is a controllable one or a comfortable one. i think in the future people should take a breather. it’s giving a lot of “i don’t care if you’re doing this great thing for us, you’re gonna do it *my* way” kind of vibes and it’s a little frustrating to see.

the insinuation from an anon that majority of rpc has had abuse is baseless and potentially harmful, but also reductive of why rp is so great in the first place.

i’m sure you have the emotional capability to handle us, but people are trauma bombing on you a lot and that’s a ton of responsibility for someone just making a website. you’re not our therapists and we shouldn’t treat you as such, you’re still a person.

idk i just wanted to give you another perspective bc while their intentions probably weren’t to sound ungrateful, the vibes are definitely there. have a nice day anyways bud 💖

Thank you for your message and I agree with you.

At the start of all of this, I wanted to make sure everyone felt like they were being heard, which meant answering questions/responding to feedback that happened to be on the tougher end of things for me. Unfortunately, I think some of those messages spiraled to the point that a lot of presumptions were made, and a lot of focus was taken away from what exactly I'm trying to do here.

You're right, I'm not a therapist, and the only responsibility I agreed to were the responsibilities I'm holding up to.

Unfortunately, there is a lot of triggering language out there that is not triggering for everyone else, and it can be difficult to know if/when those words are being used when they are words used in every day language. I have to also take into consideration that there are people who will remove themselves from the situation rather than attempt to ask others to change their language in an opt-in environment, and if I start policing language, where do I draw the line? Who says what words are okay to use and not okay to use? Nobody's trauma is more/less important and the only rules of the server is to not use language that is homophobic/transphobic/racist/misogynist/etc and to not be rude to others.

Which is why I'm going to make a point to keep questions answered on the focus of development and site-related things, and I'm working on a way to take unrelated site feedback privately since posting messages that contain language like the ones we've received in the past can be triggering in itself.

[rolescape]

"Points are awarded every 24 hours as long as you have used the site." Okay, so that precludes anyone with busy days who can't log on all the time, ie. daily. Do you see how that is an inherently unfair criteria for a site revolving around rp, which comes in many different flavours? Even if someone doesn't rp or work on roleplay-related site things every day, and just uses Rolescape to socialize with others, not everyone is up for socializing every day like that.

I'm not sure what exactly you're wanting here. If someone has a busy day and doesn't use the site, then yeah, they won't get points. Just like if they have a busy day and don't log onto their xbox to play games, they don't get things. Or if they dont go to work, they don't get paid. If someone is only using Rolescape here and there, not actively enough to accrue points which are extremely easy to get, then I doubt they're going to be upset about not being able to get badges. You'd literally have to never use the site to not be able to get badges considering we award a bunch of points on sign up too.

My advice is to wait until we launch, use it, and then give feedback, Because right now, all I'm getting are complaints about something that isn't even launched yet.

[rolescape]

Hey! How is the site progress going? Is there any prediction for the beta? No pressure, I was just wondering.

We’re in the process of Alpha testing right now. This means those that are testing are the volunteers helping to build the site. Beta testing will come once we’re in a better place and feel like the site is a bit closer to launch. We will for sure be making big announcements and talking about beta non-stop when we get closer to that time period. So keep an eye on this Tumblr and the discord for updates.

As for signing up, we’ll open for beta for 500 users via an invite code. Beta testing will be on a first come first serve basis over the course of five days where we will release 100 sign-ups each day at different times throughout the days. The schedule for the sign-ups will be announced ahead of time (remember! I said we’d be talking a lot about it so it will be hard to miss!)

Once we’re comfortable with that, the server load, modding etc, we will allow the beta testers to invite others so we can figure out where any faults or breaking points are before it goes public. We thank you so much for your patience and cannot wait to have you on Rolescape!

[strykingback]

Yeah.... I think Im growing tired of tumblr roleplay and the RPC on here... 

I mean what is the fucking point of coming onto to a fucking website that has a massive amount of toxic assholes that just really really fucking gatekeeps their dicks off like its some sort of game to them. Every time I try to atleast smile and bare it.... but at this point Im slowly beginning to fall apart as I do so. 

Every time I see a blog that says OC Friendly, I follow them and I read and even re-read their rules just in case. However in the end I GET FUCKED OVER because either my shitty blog isnt’ “appealing” enough, or ohhh you are so canon divergent cause #TheCanonIsMuchBetter. At this point HOW MANY MORE CHARACTERS DO I HAVE TO MAKE FOR PEOPLE TO BE INTERESTED!? 

How much more LORE Do I need to make for people to get interested?!  How much more promos do I have to do for people to be ATLEAST INTERESTED!? 

But Oooooh the RPC in all fandoms are OC Friendly MY FUCKING ASS!!!! 

If you are SERIOUSLY “OC Friendly” FUCKING PROVE IT TO ME. 

Thats why most of my muses are like DEAD IN THE FUCKING WATER Cause nobody is interested in writing with OC’s because either. 

They are all generalized to be “Mary/Gary Sue or Stu” or fucking whatever! 

They are all generalized to be “Shit Characters from this Fandom” 

Or whatever fucking excuse that everyone else comes up with, heres the thing that nobody thinks about. 

Those Canon Characters everyone plays as. We’re once OC’s as well. Yeah try and fucking think about that and you DARE say that OC’s are shit and you are roleplaying as a Canon Character that WAS ONCE AN OC. That makes youuuuuuuuuuu a fucking hypocrite.

 (Note- If you are playing as a Canon Character and are being friendly to OC’s good for you and thank you for being a kind individual) 

At this point what the fuck else do I have to?! TO ATLEAST GET SOME SHIT GOING HERE I FEEL AS IF I AM IGNORED ON HERE. 

JUST ANOTHER FUCKING EXPENDABLE ROLEPLAY BLOG ADDED TO SOME SHIT STATISTIC! 

Im fucking finished with tumblr roleplaying, like what is the fucking point of coming onto this shitty blog that has around 40 muses and nobody STILL wants to give them a shot. I even added a FUCKING CANON CHARACTER FOR FUCKS SAKES. 

So yeah, I’m slowly getting tired of tumblr roleplay and I may or may not be leaving. But once rolescape is up. Fuck Tumblr and Fuck the Tumblr RPC and its shit. 

[rolescape]

i know you've seen a lot on teh points thing you're talking about, but i saw someone say that traditonal forum roleplay don't have points: i play primarily on jcink forum roleplays and i've been following rolescape out of curiosity to see how it all turns out and will likely join. however, a lot of forum based roleplays have point stores with points you can then use for incentives: activity passes, badges, create an event, new characters, etc. this is fairly common in some rp circles.

Just leaving this here.

[rolescape]

Heya, so to piggyback that last anon…I just really don’t know how to word this any better since they worded it well enough for me but they were just basically dismissed entirely so I guess it needs to be more than one person voicing it?

At the get go this site was advertised as by roleplayers, for roleplayers, with input and the input is being snubbed if it isn’t immediately in 100% favor?? It wasn’t actually stated to be a social media site but a roleplaying site geared to roleplayers.

Don’t get me wrong I am super excited for this, super appreciative someone with the know how has taken this on, but that last answer sounded about as dismissive as the WIP blog, and honestly…hasn’t been the first one where it seemed like an honest critique was being viewed as hate. I don’t actually need anything to get started on a new site??? Like the idea of points and badges and everything? No I don’t actually need that.

Everything that’s been previewed so far- I can take that and roll with it and so could quite literally everyone I write with because our focus is the writing, the RP, the reason I was so hyped for this. We don’t need built in games or already loaded content, we just need a post button and an input box linked to an account.

You have worked in so many extras for organizing and accessibility and that is awesome, thank you, but can it please not be so easily brushed off if it’s not immediately all in favor? I don’t need a social side there’s a plethora of other places for that, or badges, and points (I am already getting anxiety about that and I also never log out of any of my accounts? I’m an adult with my own personal locked computer, why am I logging out?) I can’t stress enough I am still excited for this, but I am now worried this is going to be tumblr clique and count bragging on steroids, and I fully support the idea of full on opt out and being able to interact with those that do as well.

Totez want to emphasize I’m only giving this input because I’ve been following this since the day it was announced here, I’m hyped, I want this to be a success. I am only voicing this because I can see this going pear shaped and making it harder for the people with anxiety and performance pressure to want to join.

I truly do apologize if I came off as dismissive. I promise you that's not my intention, and will never be my intention. I try my best to be as direct with others as possible and I ask the same in return. I do this because being overly nice and bubbly can seem fake to some people, and while I am a generally positive person, I don't want to come off as fake. I'm a huge softy, and I don't want to make it seem like people who disagree with me don't matter? Because it takes discourse to get things done and I know that. So truly, if it ever sounds like I'm being a jerk, I promise if I was aware of it, I wouldn't be doing it. So all you can do is just bring it to my attention when I've said something that's made you feel that way and I'll always apologize because I genuinely am not here to make anyone feel bad. So I am sorry that I made you feel that way.

Anyway! Next order of discussion:

If you've been with me since the beginning, I hope you can understand why it's extremely confusing to hear now, nearly a year later, that collectibles like badges and stuff are a dealbreaker. You have always had the ability to opt out of things. Always. That has never changed. The very first post I made talked about them, and it's been a huge topic of discussion, and a huge focus of time and energy for us that we can't exactly just... throw all of that out after a year of working on it.

I'm sorry the idea gives you anxiety, but like I said, you really don't have to participate. Points are awarded every 24 hours as long as you have interacted and used the site. You don't necessarily need to log out and back in. If you turn off the option for points then you won't even know they exist and you can use Rolescape the way you want to and allow others to use Rolescape the way they want to.