Calamity Finch on Apr 25, 2014 wrote:

I am one of those who was sad that the roleplays on the boards have been suspended. How about adding a new section to the boards along with Shipyards, tavern, bilge pump, etc? Yarn Spinners! All of the group storytelling in one place. It would be easier for people to find one if they want to jump in, possibly cutting back on some of the new threads that don't go anywhere. If moderation gets too busy, it could be understood that Yard Spinners could be posted last after the other boards are done, on the back burner so to speak, or with a longer time for posts to appear. Maybe there are other things they could do technically to help keep it manageable, if it was separate, which they wouldn't want to do to all the boards.

Thank you for your post, and it is definitely something that has been suggested in the past as well . . . and I do appreciate there being a differing set of rules for a roleplay-specific message board.

Unfortunately there are several problems inherent with roleplaying on these message boards that go beyond the issues you bring to light.

1- Keeping things rated E while still roleplaying as a Pirate. For instance, people continue to want to roleplay yum as a drink with alcoholic properties, and this is not acceptable on these message boards. Depictions of violence and encouraging violence in a roleplay are always problematic. Finally, relationships forged between characters in roleplays tend to go off the rails at some point, and moderating all the above is difficult because meanings are suggested in varying degrees that over time build to become something unacceptable.

2- Cross-overs can be fun, but how much cross-over is too much cross-over? 80% Pirate101 vs. 20% other entertainment company products? Should it even be allowed at all on a company message board where competing entertainment businesses could seed-plant their products in a roleplay? Most likely not.

3- How do we moderate unacceptable roleplay behaviors such as god-modding, metagaming, in character mixed with out of character, lorebreaking, powerplaying, etc. Do players self-moderate this behavior? What does a moderator do with arguments and rude behavior spawned from unacceptable roleplaying? Is it enough to ban or suspend a person from the message boards?

4- Separating reality from roleplay while protecting our younger visitors--Protecting a player's personal information is a must, but separating someone who is "playing" a 12-year-old character and modeling it after themselves starts to blur the lines of fact and fiction. How does a moderator protect the younger audience from themselves in this instance?

5- Lack of available staff to accommodate the verbosity and complexity of roleplayers in addition to other tasks while maintaining our standards and code of conduct on the message boards.

Now, given all the above, I am quite happy to help encourage the creativity inherent in roleplaying because it can be very cool, and many of our players do very well with keeping things acceptable. Unfortunately these message boards were never meant to accommodate roleplays and our rules for posting and roleplaying behavior have been severely lacking and would need to be much more refined.

In the past, let's say roleplaying on Pirate101.com was an interesting experiment until it became problematic, but I think it taught us a lot. Our roleplay fanatics are definitely a very talented bunch.

Whew. This is a lot of typing for a Sunday morning. ;)

Simply put, BOTH the increased popularity of roleplaying AND the inherent difficulties of moderating caused the temporary suspension, but I do appreciate the suggestion of a new roleplay forum with specialized rules. In the future it may be something we consider, but not for now.

Thanks!