What does it mean when people disappear?

[Jsc]

A Normal Community

I've been roleplaying in the PbP genre for about five years now. As expected, people come and go. This is not new, irregular, unexpected, nor malicious in any way. This is how we play. This is normal. So what does it mean when people disappear? What does it mean when days and weeks go by with no replies? Why are we still asking ourselves these questions at all?

A: Because life.

...And that's a good thing.


About Soldiers

Some of my favorite writers are soldiers. Men and women from all countries who serve a hectic schedule and can disappear from RP for months at a time. Often, without notice. Leaving my threads hanging or inactive completely. Now? Do I slight these men and women for their jobs? No. Never. Do I complain that they left my threads hanging? Nope. Do I whine that they may never return at all? No. Not a chance.

Instead. I just wait for them to come back alive from the field so I can say with a warm heart every time, "Welcome back friend."

...Cherish the writer who is away.


Hanging by a Thread

Over the last five years I have accumulated over 500 threads across 6 websites of StarWars RP. Less than 20% of those threads were ever finished or completed. Yes. That few. LOAs, inactivity, drama, closure, or just walking away from them. 80% of my threads die. And I'm okay with that. Because I enjoyed writing 100% of those posts.

And that's why I'm still here.

...Love every post you make. Especially the dead ones.


In Closing

Never apologize for life.

We'll see you Space Cowboy. Until we meet again.

 

[Jsc]

To discuss:

Q: How do you feel when somebody leaves your thread hanging? Does this make you frustrated? Why?

 

[Jerek Zenduu]

The only thing I get frustrated by is not being able to tell the character story I want. Most of that is on me, but when I wind up in a perfect thread with someone else where the story I want to tell is unfolding, and it stalls out...sure, I get frustrated. But that frustration is out of the desire to tell a great story, not because I'm a control freak who needs people to be punctual. Lord knows I'm far from punctual with my own posts.

For me, I just continue to hope that I'll get the chance to tell that part of my character's story someday. Whether with the same person or not.

 

[Lief]

I admit to leaving people hanging a lot more frequently than I ought to. Real life happens, muse dips, my focus turns to other characters, or sometimes I simply forget! Now I feel dreadful whenever I look at a thread and realise it's been weeks since I last posted, but at the same time sometimes it can't be helped. There are times where I'll post an RP LOA (meaning I still plan on doing work as a Staff member) yet I still feel guilty if during that time I decide I'll post to this one thread I've been thoroughly enjoying and not in the countless others I owe. At present I'm still on an effective LOA from Roleplay and about to take a more extended LOA due to travelling and seeing family/friends as of next week. Yet I still know that I'm going to feel bad if I jump online to post to Bob but forget to reply to John. Even though I probably shouldn't.

On the reverse, I don't see anything wrong with people taking their time. I usually have a good idea of where I want my characters to go, meaning I can work around it. I'm not one to pester for replies ( ones from [member='Connor Harrison'] don't count ( I joke<3 ) ) - but I do understand why some people dislike having to wait.

 

[Gherron Dragovalor]

I dont find myself getting frustrated by this as much as I did when I first started here about two years ago, and that's a good thing. I like being laid back enough to say "No sweat man, life happens." The only thing that does really get me is when people deliberately leave for no apparent reason. For instance, I won't name names here, but not too long ago, I started a thread with two others. One simply dropped out without a word, and wouldn't answer either of us via pm. The person then went on to ask for more roleplays. That's just rude. Just my thoughts.

 

[Kei Amadis]

[member="Jay Scott Clark"]
Been writing for a little while, over the years i've been very frustrated with myself for leaving threads, and often times it delays my return because I feel i've let people down. The reasons are varied, but not as important to the other party, its just the result of me dropping a character arc they were needing or running that makes a difference.

It did teach me to enjoy each post as and when it comes, whether that's 1 or 50, and to not care whether that takes a day or two weeks, much more than caring about an ending. It also taught me to end threads sooner rather than later when you are on a good run and find a logical point for it . Because next week you might be completely stuck and unable to post.

 

[Akabane Jarvik]

[member="Jay Scott Clark"]

I always love your optimism

I don't usually get frustrated unless its an important part of the character's history. A roleplay about two meeting and fighting, I might shrug off being upset over its inactivety. If its a brother and a sister meeting for the first time, of course I might get a little frustrated. But in the end, life comes before make believe, right?

 

[Judah Dashiell]

To discuss:

Q: How do you feel when somebody leaves your thread hanging? Does this make you frustrated? Why?

The only frustrating part would come from stories where one characters fate is tied with another. It can make things slightly complicated. Continuing on and figuring out a creative solution is part of the fun though, part of the story. I've slowly learned to just continue on and see what comes of it. One never knows.

 

[Kay-Larr]

Being left hanging on a good story is like a cliffhanger on a show that never gets resolved. The shock from that goes away at times. But life happens. A bunch of people that I write with ask for gentle nudges every now and then to remind them of certain threads if it's been a while. But then that's what multiple threads are for It can keep you busy while waiting.

 

[Blake Knight]

I get why people go poof I think sometimes it's cuz they get bored.

 

[Ellie Mors]

I have to be reminded about threads I put on hold if I get busy with work, otherwise they get forgotten. I don't necessarily abandon threads unless I just don't have time for it.