Howdy MRO;

It is no surprise that MRO has been in a serious slump for a while now. Posting has all but ground to a halt and largely no one has been trying to join. We don’t want to see MRO die but we’re not sure how to go about breathing life back into the site. We do have ideas, but we want to hear the thoughts of those of you still around.

Please post anything you think could help boost activity or any changes you want to see in the site. We have hit a point where we can completely reinvent the site if we want so hit us with the brilliant, the strange, and the transformative.

-The Mod Team

I love MRO and I know I'm part of the problem. In part there'd be delay / less threads and it gets harder to invest and/or you want to wait for people to give them a chance. However, I also know I then get less reliable, etc. One solution here is maybe more timeline planning or just communication of expectations for timeline, posting between those in a thread? Absences and delays will always happen and there is gentle NPCing here an dthere.

I also felt the focus seemed to shift more to chat and to non-MRO hobbies, which is great for fostering community but maybe limiting for posting. Perhaps we need to expand the types of stories to not just X-Men but other parts of Marvel overall or non-Marvel to capture other shows? I'd love to see some magic, as it were.

I definitely want to help if I can, MRO has been my home RP for ten years after all
One thing for sure, sites with more activity tend to attract more new activity as well, so yes, as Temp says, more active threads might boost interest as well (plus people tend to post more enthusiastically if they get faster replies). I know that's true for me too, and I'm here to be more active. Also, maybe another event of some sort (like the AV was) might bring people back from slumber?

Apart from that... maybe a promotion boost? I am also happy to help with whatever I can. Maybe a video trailer XD Okay okay I'll keep brainstorming.

Howdy hi.

Gonna bring Saph back to help out with activity where I can! MRO has been there for us, time to be there for it!

I’m still here and I still have Shin. Maybe a few others, but mostly my X-man.

I think one problem I have is a lack of focus because I have so many characters and want this wide world with lots of people interacting but logistically speaking, so does every else... and time is a constant rare resource. So while I may thread consistently with a few people, I tend towards the more active people and they’re also the ones with less time because everyone else wants to play with them (because they’re so good!). The problem having tons of characters creates is loving them and wanting to use them all everywhere, in every plot... I don’t know what I’m saying here. I just know I’m an altoholic and it can cause problems.

For major plots maybe we could try and limit people a bit more, depending on the scenario? I dunno. I know I am imposing this limit upon myself because it will make me really choose the best possible person for that thread arc.

As far as ideas for plots go, I do sometimes wish we had some of the more chaotic elements of the marvel comics verse. Someone mentioned magic. Aliens, magic, that sort of stuff... could open up new roads. Do I want a new sorcerer supreme Big Mac of New York running around? No. But would I be offended if someone had a tiny bit of some sort of magic... I don’t know. It’s worth discussing. I like space stuff and outrageous science fiction more. The fantastic four are some of my favorite superheroes... and mainly because of the dynamic and the ridiculous adventures they get in on.

Maybe New York could be invaded by aliens? Maybe some big bad group has tech. Maybe there’s a shadow organization comprised of mages, aliens, and scientists as well as vanilla mortals who are imposing beaurocramancers. Something like The Pride from Runaways (which I literally just started, no spoilers please).

The x men need more activity. Low-grade street level heroes could have more appearances too. We don’t always need the X umbrella. I agree with Tempest that Marvel has a wide and deep universe and there’s a lot we could explore.

I am all for brainstorming plots when I can. Time, as always, is tight. But I am still here and support getting the site moving again.

So many good ideas!

I'd been working on a list of possible changes to MRO to try and help. This list is my own personal considerations and is in no way an indication of what the mod team will eventually do (I only post it here to get feedback on my ideas).

I hadn't even considered expanding MRO beyond just mutants.After seeing the suggestion from Tempest it has jumped to the top of my list of changes I'm thinking about. My initial thought was that it would be very easy to add non-mutant powers to MRO that come from other science-based forms (radioactive animal bites, symbiotes, gamma ray exposure, etc.). The idea of adding magic in some form has been the thing that I keep going back to thinking about. The question being, how do we add it? Obviously we can use a plot to introduce, that's the easy part. How do we structure it so there is some level of constancy to it? Do we come up with a magic system to use or borrow heavily from some existing RP structure? Is it a more general system where magic characters can do a little bit of everything, can they only do a few things magically, or can they do a lot of one thing and a little of everything? With mutations we have it limited where all powers a character has are at least related to each other, is that how dive into magic and if so do we need a taken sorcery list to go with the taken mutation list?

As for plots I like what Tetsuya Shinbo suggested about limiting people some. If everyone who has multiple characters jumps into a plot with all their characters then they control the flow of the plot. This at best doesn't slow the thread(s) down but at worst can grind it to a halt if they have have a real life issue pop up for even a few days. If you can only have one or at most two characters in a plot then you can be a bit more easily skipped over for one round than if you have four or five in it (and even then, two might be one too many).

And I think a new plot is a great way to try and breath some life back into MRO. I remember how excited people were with the AV plot and how much activity there was. Lots of posting, lots of characters, lots of creative shenanery. Perhaps even a mini-plot to tide us over until a bigger plot can be kicked off (a bigger plot being the easy way to introduce more than just mutants into our own little universe). There was talk of a plot where characters are de-aged. That sounds like a plot that could be done "for teh lulz". That's how I did the Freaky Friday plot and I had a grand old time.

And a video is always welcome from you, Mirror Grey-Morris . They're always a real treat to see! Aside from that once activity has ticked back up some (which is appears to be doing even now) some kind of promotional or advertising campaign would be great.

My other ideas. I don't think they're all great ideas but ideas worth considering:
1. Taken mutation changes: The taken mutation list is great because it allows everyone to feel unique. It also could also prevent some people from joining who have an idea in their head they love but someone is on the site with a similar power. I'm not suggesting getting rid of the list, rather we reign in what constitutes an overlap. Instead of all fire creation powers being considered overlaps we distinguish between fire breathers, fireball fastball pitchers, living fireballs, and people who start fires at a distance with their minds. And so on.
2. Increase the power limit on MRO. Over the years the overall power that is allowed has gone down. A reverse power creep. In my opinion this allows for better roleplay as it means characters have more weaknesses or at least situations they can't solve alone. That said, a lot of people like the power fantasy that can be had with a mutant RP. Having a higher limit on powers means we have more plotting possibilities as we have a larger range powers can be in. People can play the mutant with a little power or the mutant with a lot, whichever they find the most fun.
3. Shake up the application process. Can some of the fields be removed or combined into other fields without losing how descriptive the application is when it graduates to a character profile?

hi, sorry- don't want to step on any toes, but I feel like I might be able to offer a little bit of insight? I'm currently running a rather large jcink resource site, so I see a lot of what makes sites succeed or die. I still have a lot of love for MRO in my heart, and I'd like to see it continue to succeed more than anything.

MRO has always had a good base - it's always been somewhere that people feel comfortable coming back to, and it's been running for FOREVER. That's absolutely something that people look for when joining a site, and you've got a lot to offer people in that sense.

BUT, MRO is getting to the point where it probably needs a good shakeup of sorts. Proboards isn't popular with rpers anymore, primarily because it's chunky and the customer service isn't as good. Something that would be a lot of work, but also would increase the amount of people that would be willing to look at the site would be considering looking at switching to jcink. It would be a big switch, but it would get you more in tune with the current base of rpers that you're looking to draw from.

As well, currently, the RPC is focused strongly on aesthetics. MRO has a great skin right now, but a lot of things on it are broken (the header has about 50px of padding from the top, the affiliates are floating and half of the images are broken, etc). Even apart from the skin, many images on players' accounts are broken because they're tinypic or photobucket links, which have been dead for a LONG time. There's a post in the header that's months old, and half of the accepted character profiles don't have all the information fields in their profiles filled out. It's just that general cleanup of making it look like there are people that care and will take the time to make sure that it's a presentable place to be.

Another thing to look into would be general site info, like face claim templates and a member directory. These things are considered to be very standard these days, and I know it might be confusing to log on to a site and be unable to find those.

I highly suggest looking into archives. It's great that MRO has this huge history, but it's confusing for players to log in and find posts floating around from 2006 and to have to wonder whether the site is really still active. You can absolutely still keep all these threads, profiles, and accounts, but consider making a forum to put threads and character profiles that are inactive so people know what they're walking into when they join.

Finally, advertise!! I cannot stress this enough!! It's a little bit harder in the proboards community, but I know there are still tons of resource sites, linkback sites, and maybe even tumblrs that allow advertisements from proboards sites. You're not going to bring in new players unless you're visible to the ones who are looking.

Basically, you need to go where the people are if you want them to join.

Here're a few places where MRO can advertise as a proboards site:

pixel-perfect.boards.net/
cttw.jcink.net/
rpg-directory.com/
rpgadverts.tumblr.com/

I won't give you a list of jcink-only sites right now, but I have a list if you need them.

I hope to see MRO chugging many years down the road!

From my perspective when it comes to adding on other types of powers and stuff to play with it, it wouldn't be that hard to use the current app formula for them. A main focus power, possibly a few small matching side things, and a healthy dose of realism. Anything is possibly so long as people approach it from a fair perspective, and adding in the extra lore is a relatively easy thing to do. Maybe an overlapping marvel verse where magic exists collides with us and BAM, suddenly we are seeing it everywhere when we didn't before. Or A cosmic event unlocks it, or whatever. Tons of options to let people play with characters that aren't 100% mutant, adapted, or human. I do think it would draw in new comers who aren't are fixated on the X's as the majority of us were, and I also think it might give older players who feel a little burnt out something new to play with.

I also think a new site wide plot would work wonders as a good refresher, but I think it should be managed so that people have as much creative freedom as possible within the limits. I feel that plots that rely on key players have a habit of burning out if those players happen to post slowly, or life pulls them away for a bit. Plots like AOS ran great because people were able to play with it however they felt, with whoever they felt until it wrapped up.

I personally like the idea of an alien invasion lol. Sounds like a great time!

I also agree with a heavy dose of advertising. There are quite a few sites that pop up with looking into "good rp sites" or just popular ones, and we aren't anywhere on them. I don't exactly know how to get on them, but I do feel that wherever we can we should pop in and place a link or two. We have an awesome community of members who love this place that could attract a whole new generation of MRO's.

In regards to the application itself, I do feel like we could tweak it a little bit to simplify things. It's pretty common to see a lot of newbies in the chat worrying about their applications and if they will be accepted or not.

Taken mutations could be a touchy subject, but personally I don't really care all that much if someone wants to use an aspect of one of the powers I have, or even if the whole power is similar. I feel like it makes a possibly run in with the two characters more interesting.

I'm not sure how the power limits would work while still making it fair to players that came before. Maybe, if power limits are relaxed for new applicants, older characters that came in during some of the more strict application times could get a free power growth? I feel like it might be a little it might sting a little if one person had to whittle down a power idea to match standards a year ago, but someone new comes in right off the bat with a much stronger power. Just trying to see things from current rp's sides is all. I'm sure there is a balanced way to do it, and i'm sure if her relax the limitations a little it might make bringing in new writers a little easier.

All that being rambledsaid, I am more than willing to do whatever I can to help out, even if that is just loitering in discord all day being friendly to new faces

Sorry, just a few more thoughts (I swear I'm not trying to dump so feel free to disregard??)

Maybe it's a good time to update some of the rules - I don't think any of MRO's members have been 13 or younger in YEARS, so it might be good to loosen up on some of the rules that make it a site suitable for a PG-13 audience? More leniency on more graphic subject material, swearing, etc.

As well, a it can be weird to have to email the mod account with an application, especially if people don't have a private email and are worried about doxxing themselves to people they don't know. I've never come across another site that does this, so it's very much out of standard practice for most rp sites, and confusing/unnerving for those who join. This can be done with PM or with a system where people post their apps on the site to be reviewed by the staff and are then sent PMs with things to update before they're accepted. It's less private than an email in one sense, but it's also a way to not have to give out your real name to people before you're ready.

Maybe look at other rp sites that are thriving and have the audience that you want MRO to have to see what they're doing to entice people. Sometimes when things have been going as long as MRO has it's easy to get caught up in a way of doing things that doesn't necessarily make sense for where a site is at anymore. Imo rules should get a good clean every year or so at least - does there still need to be a character post requirement? Does current time vs fluid time still make sense given the speed that people post at? It's okay to make changes if you think that will keep the atmosphere of MRO a good one!

I have a very tiny bit of input, mostly speaking from personal experience. I have actually been fairly active in roleplaying since bouncing (temporarily) from MRO. The main reason, for me, is that I'm a very character-driven/idea-driven RPer. And I have always found the post count requirement for new characters to be limiting.

I understand the rationale. But by that same token, it's easy for people to get bored or frustrated, especially with a casual posting pace. (Like mine.)

My proposal would be to broaden the number of characters a person can start with. Because then they can get involved with more aspects of the site from the get go. Or, make the post count requirements so minute that anyone can achieve them with ease.

So, for example, 30 post increments for each new character slot rather 150 post increments. Or perhaps the first three characters are free but after that you have to buy slots?

Honestly I love it when sites get a full site wide plot and all that. With a major bad guy who gets a group of followers to help terrorize everyone else. Either another mutant who wants to rule everyone, a human with tech to capture mutants or even mutants using tech, humans and mutants working together to force or brainwash other mutants to help with some plan, kidnapping other mutants and forcing them to fight each other, someone gathering mutants and selling them to the highest bidder for whatever the buyers reasons are, a disease that affects the mutants first then humans which could lead the humans to blaming the mutants which could lead to something said before. Things like that make a plot go long if its planned out right.

Maybe starting off with 2 characters instead of one? I know personally that having only one is hard because not every character clicks with others so having options makes it easier to have threads.

Nov 5, 2019 17:18:01 GMT -6 "Chief" said:

So, for example, 30 post increments for each new character slot rather 150 post increments. Or perhaps the first three characters are free but after that you have to buy slots?

[Be]
Yup, what she said.

MRO's biggest strength is also its biggest weakness- its focus on OC's.

If you add Canons, you'll attract players who prefer them to OCs. Just say'n.

Personally, from the day I bought and read Asgardian Wars graphic novel, I've wanted with all my heart to throw one (or more) of my New Mutants OC's into that scenario.

Currently, that's impossible in MRO. But if other elements like Asgardians were added, that would be a doozy of a Site Event!

The biggest thing I think you should do is ADVERTISE. Do a big recruitment drive. Pick a group of focus, and advertise & recruit for that specifically.
Shameless Plug: Why not start by building a strong student body? 

Oct 27, 2019 15:10:32 GMT -6 Fuegogrande said:

So many good ideas!

I'd been working on a list of possible changes to MRO to try and help. This list is my own personal considerations and is in no way an indication of what the mod team will eventually do (I only post it here to get feedback on my ideas).

Expand with non-mutant powers: Do IT! (very easy)
Magic: Just specify what they can and can't do. Particularly big, play-changing things. Honestly, I'd say magic characters should be earned, so you know the player and that they're not going to go nuts, but that's just my two shekel's worth. In GURPS Magic, there were colleges like fire, water, healing. Maybe limit to 1 or 2 colleges? I dunno. 
New plot/characters deaged:YES
Taken mutation changes/reign in what is an overlap: Do it. Also, clean up the list. If the character hasn't posted in X weeks, remove from list. (Easy for me to say, since my weird characters don't really overlap much of anything).
Increase power limit: Sure, if you want. Shrug. It honestly won't affect me that much. 
Shake up application process: Yes and no. I feel it should be site, rather than email based, but that's easy. Keep It Simple Silly! I like the level of detail. I'm just afraid of it changing into one of those coding nightmare apps of other sites. Just say'n. Specify what can be changed. Make it a site rule that touching the power without permission is a big no-no, but updating clothing, markings, personality & hobbies... Those things change, especially with young characters. Maybe arrange the app so that the "do not touch" is at the top or very bottom? I dunno, just brainstorming. 

We're the "new X-men"... Maybe allow an Avengers, with all OC's? An Avengers that is similar, yet different... That might be cool. There could then be a spin-off "Young Avengers". I dunno, I see lots of possibilities. 
Frankly, the 150 post for a 2nd character is daunting, especially when the site is slow. Maybe allow a 2nd at 30? That shows interest and that the player is probably going to stick around, but isn't such a long wait. I'd bring my other student, Claire, back in a heartbeat if you did that. 

Howdy all!

I had an idea, wanna see what y'all think.

What about plot specific characters? Specifically, Say, a new plot is introduced. Players can create a new character for this plot window, and choose to keep it at the end of the plot provided they reach a certain in-plot post count?

Say we introduce a new plot every six months, that's a lot of character growth potential, provided you stay active, and those characters start with a purpose and direction, plot related. That could generate more plot involvement as well.

In regards to the flood of apps this would create for the mod team every plot, I would be willing to help work apps through during said window if that's helpful >.> Mouse said she would be up for it as well.(being former mods)