RPG Help!

[Ash Firestar]

Ok, so I've got this RPG and made these awesome skins and stuff...yeah. I've advertised in as many sites as I can think possible. But it still doesn't get any members, like, ever. That's what happens to all of my RPGs, they die within a month or so because they never get any real members.

As you can see on the side bar (<--that way) my RPG is the sister site to this one, Running on Adrenaline. It's a fantasy wolf RPG, i thought it was unique and different because there I haven't seen that many. =D I am still curious why i haven't gotten virtually any new members. Any advice?

Thankies,
sEa

[taro]

I probably wont be much help, but I can tell my tale. I have made a bazillion web sites, and sure enough each of them died. I soon stopped making web sites and just sticked to the ones who were doing well, but I still wonder what makes a certain web site famous. Maybe its how much you advertise, or how interesting you make it sound. You prbably also need nice members, who are good and active members/posters.Sorry if I didn't help much, but I just wanted to let you know that you aren't the only one.

;;Speedy xoxo

[Ash Firestar]

Thanks speedy. =D that makes me feel a bit better.

[robin]

Where have you been advertising your site? Because it may be if you've been advetising on cats and human roleplays that the peoples may be more interested in roleplaying humans? Try wolf sites if you haven't already. Plus, I can't tell you how much a good skin & banner is needed! I like a site with good graphics. <3

So anyways, Speedy seems to have summed up a lot of the other stuff I should have said, but for now - best of luck with the site! I would join but I'm SO busy at the moment, with three busy forums to be active on, two games to level up on, and a 50,000 word novel to write by the end of the month. -_-

[capella]

Ditto on the 50k word novel, Robin. NaNoWriMo is taxing.


ANYWAY, as an admin to a site that's growing in popularity slowly but surely, I might be able to help you out a little bit. The two must have's are a great skin and dynamite advertising.

But don't just advertise. Go that extra mile to affiliate with anyone and everyone, even if it means - groan - signing up to their board and having at least fifteen valid posts before doing so. Places like the Proboard Support Forum and RPG-Directory are good places to have an ad or be listed at, and on RPGD, you can even look at threads that people make asking for good RP suggestions, and it's like a free slate to advertise straight to them!

On the flipside, if you're registered at any online games, such as Ragnarok, Team Fortress, WoW, or even places like Neopets (but you more often that not get suspended for hinting at any sort of URL that isn't Neopets-related there, yikes...), that can work, too. Also, don't limit yourself to certain kinds of sites to advertise or affiliate on. Just because you may be an equine RP, for example, doesn't mean that advertising only with other equine places will make a positive difference.

Try topsites, too. Get listed at any RP topsites that you can find, even the sucky ones, because you never know if those will take off somehow.

Another good tip is to not have too many boards available in the beginning, because it gives the illusion that the plot is already superdeveloped, and new members may be scared off by having to figure out so much backstory to jump in.

I hope I could help! Good luck with your site. ;D

[Ash Firestar]

Thanks so much guys! =D I also realize that opening a site in the school year doesn't help either. o_X Here's the most recent skin that I've been playing with:

Background Color, Link Color
Title Background Color, Window Background Colors, Borders
Category Background Color

If you want to see the whole skin together click here.

I also took your advice, Rufus, and moved some of the "extra boards" and made them like suboards, I figured i could change those later. (good luck on your board too.)

Thank you guys soooo much! Your advice is so helpful!

<333
sEa

PS--> good luck on that 50k story, Robin!

[robin]

Thanks! I love the skin by the way. <3

[sorcha]

(Great Skin, btw.^^)Along with the other stuff on here, one thing I've found is at least the appearance of activity of some kind on your boards. If people see there aren't very many members, or that most of the categories have no threads in them, a lot won't think the site's worth their time since it wasn't worth many-body (*made-up word) else's. So if you want the site to get more active, a great way is to just be more active. Rules are amazing, I've personally found. If you have a rule thread in a lot of different categories, it looks like there's more threads at a glance and that you've put more time into it.

It's not much--everyone else's suggestion beat me--but I hope it helps some. ^^ Good luck getting it active!