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[Kaden]

Elitism

E: I also think we've become a fair bit elitist over the years. I think we all forget that most of us used to be like the immature, basic, nigh-illiterate writers over at these other DBZ sites, and that we developed, mostly together, into the writers we are now. And now that we are where we are, we think we're above people who are where we were. And don't say that's not true, I've had talks with a bunch of members here about recruiting who, when i bring up that these other sites have loads of active members, reply with: "they aren't what we're looking for."

I am going to say it is not true. However, that doesn't mean it wasn't true.

We were elitist when we could "afford" to be elitist. When we had new applicants every week, we could cherry pick the type of writer we wanted to accept. Sadly, whether or not this was the correct approach is no longer relevant. It was, however, short-sighted of us.

What we were left with was a group of people we told to "come back when you're better" floating around the internet. The circle of DBZ RPGs is not a particularly expansive one. The perception became, rightly at the time, that we are a very elitist group.

I firmly believe that is no longer the case. I honestly can't imagine telling someone that today. If people are around writers who they think are better, they will either strive to improve themselves or they'll just go their own way (assuming such a discrepancy made them uncomfortable). Unfortunately, what I believe doesn't make a lick of difference. We are exactly what people perceive us to be; if the rest of the world thinks we're elitist, then that's what we get to be.

Now, I'll admit that I haven't been particularly plugged into the joining process in quite a while, and that's a failing on my part as an administrator. If we've been helping that along with an excessively elitist joining process, then this would be a good time to let me know.

Why am I saying all of this? Well, I'll be honest, it started as a knee-jerk reaction to Trafford's edit. Had that been the only reason, though, I wouldn't have posted. What my point ultimately ended up being is that if you encounter people who feel that way about us, try to tell them that we're not. We made decisions that made us unpopular and we're dealing with the consequences of that now. Maybe they'll listen and hop on over. Can't hurt to try.

Bunnying

Another thing I wanted to talk about in this post was that we are a fairly unique RPG and I'm not sure everyone realizes that.

The term "bunnying" is often used on other RPGs. When someone is "bunnying" it means that they are writing someone else's character. Generally speaking, that is a strict no-no.

Now think about that for a minute. What would this RPG be like if you could not, at any time, RolePlay someone else's character? It would be really weird. And probably pretty lame.

Belle accurately described why other RPGs deal with extremely short posts, as Vad said. It absolutely does happen and it is usually to avoid bunnying. If you're in a fight with someone, what else can you say other than "Joe ran forward, throwing a punch at Bill's face"? You can't continue that without breaking a rule.

I've heard quite a few times that people are simply blown away by the amount of control they give other people over their characters. Or that they give them control at all. It really is a unique, defining feature of the RPG.

Connecting the two

These two things are what cause inactivity to hurt so us much. If we weren't a fairly tight-knit group of people, each comfortable with the writing ability and maturity of the others, bunnying would definitely be an issue. Instead of someone getting warned or banned when they do something wrong with someone else's character, they're simply told by the other person. This is really remarkable to me because it's the community helping itself sharpen its collective critical reading and thinking skills. It goes from being "I did X so I got punished" to "why did X not make sense for their character?"

The elitism, though, is something that I see as being responsible for that, though. I'm not saying it was necessary, mind, I'm just saying that it facilitated. If we had let everyone in (a hyperbole, I know) without any ruling or limitations against bunnying, then everyone would have been much more guarded with their characters and who got to write them.

There's been an evolution to the RPG and I hope people can see that. Let me preface the rest of this by saying that I'm not accusing anyone of actually doing this, I'm warning people to not do it. It's easy to say "we never should have turned people away" or "we should be less elitist" in hindsight. What we need to do is look at what we do well and what we can provide new members and even how we can do things to help undo some of the damage that's been done. We don't need all our members going on marketing campaigns or anything like that, but, like I said, if you see someone saying something bad about the RPG, maybe ask them why or try to tell them its no longer true. If you know someone who likes to write, point them here.

Yes, we're a Dragonball Z RPG, but that's not all we are. We have plenty of talented writers willing to forgo the DBZ references and simply write. Others like using it and that's fine, too. We've made efforts to be as accessible as possible and we want people to use that to their advantage.

I kind of started rambling now. What's important is that we, as a community, see what we are now, not what we were in the past. Look at how we got to where we are and how we can move forward in a more positive way. If we can't see what a great place this is for writing, be it on your own or with others, then we'll never be able to show other people.