About This Website

[itmeJP]

Been thinking critically about everything we do here at RollPlay lately, and I wanted to see what you guys think about this website.

We had a great initial start with a ton of new users, etc, but it seems that it has died down over time and is now pretty slow here - and so is the Reddit. I have my own thoughts as to why this may be, but, I wanted to hear from you guys since you are very critical (in the most positive way of saying that) about what we do here.

What could we do to spark more discussion(s)? What do you wish existed? Are the Q&A’s not interesting anymore?

Let us know!

[Slightlyobscene]

I personally found this thread pretty difficult to read. Has a drop down tab for replies but then the replies also appear in the thread it becomes a bit messy and hard to follow. Main personal reason for not using it as much as I used the reddit in the past.

[anaconda156]

For me it is just a lack of time. Not enought time to watch all shows so as a result also not enought time to participate in the community. Real life and work take a crap load of time
I however come from time to time to read the news about the shows or future shows with more details than on a tweet.

[aramaki82 (Twitch: BinaryFyre)]

I’m still pretty new, but from an aesthetic point of view it seems a little busy looking at least. I’m only able to view this on mobile, blocked on the work network. But easy of readability, I’m still learning. With all the different topics and threads, it’s kind of info overload? I have no idea how much this stuff costs, but maybe an itmejp Android an IOS mobile app? Built in the standard mobile format? Just my two cents, hope it helps.

[boostgeek (Twitch: eyearcana)]

It’s probably partially because the number of ongoing shows has decreased. Right now we only have NJ and CoS. I also really enjoy when the cast would post replies in the threads but I know that’s not always possible.

I know i can be critical but a suggestion that would get me to participate more would be to post an announcement as a separate thread other than the locked news one. I would have definitely replied to a thread about the GM Roundtable. Super excited about that one by the way, glad you put that together.

[Liefington]

I’m really only here for Rollplay stuff, and even that is rarely, cause I feel like there’s just not enough going on. I’ve also not gone back to the reddit after it got resurrected.

There’s rarely anything worth reading/viewing. Most art makes the rounds on twitter instead now. All QnA(/other background info) I feel like is just paywalled into the patreon and the free community site is nothing but “well there is a zine about this” and “we talked about this in the post show”. Some actual content from the creators would draw me to check back more regularly.

[GunsnBlazes (evan (gunsnblazes))]

For me it’s just been not having time to engage with content when it’s live. Maybe have some more official engagement for those who aren’t live. I realize that’s pretty much what the patron is dedicated to, but I guess just try to balance if you want the site to be more active.

[Fimbulwolf]

Agreed. One of the upsides a site like this could have had, would be opportunities to directly interact with the cast and creators somewhat often, yet this rarely happens. Ultimately it remains to be just as non-personal as a subreddit would be, yet lacks the accessibility.

[RAIDLITTLEHEAD]

I’d agree with what other’s have said, that the overall flow for replys and chain discussions makes it less likely for me to read chains of comments.

That being said, the biggest reason for me is that the post-show patreon videos have filled that extra 15-30 minutes of content I’m looking to consume outside of the show. I do miss the fan-art & creation threads though.

[sythmaster]

A lot of it has moved to discord stuff for me (both you and Adam’s). Additionally, the Q&A’s are nice, but I think a lot of my questions i’d normally ask get answered/replaced by watching the post-show’s in patreon.

Likewise a lot of the awesome ‘what-ifs’ or “what is this going to be about” get likewise thrown into the patreon “pre-show” stuff. So a lot of the time it gets weird to discuss patreon vods here (I know i’ve fallen into the trap of writing “It was in the patreon.” more than once) but between here, discord, live chat, AND patreon - it can get a little confusing on where/when to discuss things.

[Bitghost709 (Twitch: Bitghost_)]

I think that there’s, in general, a lack of discussion because Rollplay shows don’t really promote the kind of discussions you find from TV shows where people talk about theories and callbacks to previous seasons/episodes due to writing/cinematography. The best threads are the threads immediately after an episode, but even then most of the replies are “fantastic show guys!” which is great but doesn’t exactly spark any actual conversations. I also think that people replace talking about stuff here with talking about it in chat when it’s live.

I think what Lief said above is pretty on the point. If there was actual stuff here from the creators/cast then it would draw people in more, but you can’t expect your cast to be using/monitoring the forum when you’ve also got them on Patreon. And you obviously want people talking more amongst each other without needing cast/post-show threads. Which brings it to another point which is splitting the userbase. When you announced the move from Reddit many replies were about splitting the userbase and now that’s split again by Patreon (people talking about Patreon-only stuff here means a lot of people not being able to chat about it if you’re NOT a patreon). There’s discussion happening but it’s split between live chat, reddit, here on the forum, Discord and Patreon comments so it doesn’t really have a place to “build up”.

I also think forums are sort of a dying art. People tend to go to Twitter or Reddit for discussion/posting about anything nowadays so coming to this site is very different and not as accessible/pleasant to view. Replying to a user here puts it in the same spot as a reply to the OP post which makes tracking individual conversations difficult.

For non-show discussion, I think it’s going to be hard to get people to talk about say, video games, when they can go to /r/games and get a more accessible experience. I think the main thing to remember is this forum is focused on you and your shows so that should be the main draw, so what can you do to spark more discussion on the shows themselves?

I kinda just puked my own thoughts on it out there but that’s why I think there’s lack of participation on this site. It’s hard to nail down why but accessibility is definitely a huge one.

[wolf_brother7]

@itmeJP

and so is the Reddit.

I’m surprised you even keep tabs on the place. I thought the whole point of this site was to distance the brand from the sub, having control over things, etc. If the sub is still considered part of the community then splitting the community between two websites seems an obvious point of concern as far as traffic and new users.

@Liefington

There’s rarely anything worth reading/viewing. Most art makes the rounds on twitter instead now. All QnA(/other background info) I feel like is just paywalled into the patreon and the free community site is nothing but “well there is a zine about this” and “we talked about this in the post show”. Some actual content from the creators would draw me to check back more regularly.

This also plays a huge part. There’s not a lot to discuss on these sites.

[grafzhl (Twitch: no742617000027)]

First off, I think the Q&A’s are still very cool and I enjoy reading Adam’s answers.

Fimbulwolf wrote:

Agreed. One of the upsides a site like this could have had, would be opportunities to directly interact with the cast and creators somewhat often, yet this rarely happens. Ultimately it remains to be just as non-personal as a subreddit would be, yet lacks the accessibility.

That’s pretty on point from my perspective. It feels there is not enough benefit to justify the extra effort of visiting here (I know it sounds dumb when we’re jjust talking about visiting and engaging with a website).

Also now, user input and engagement is split between three sites: this one, Reddit and the comments over at Patreon, which also contributes to the feeling of thinned out activity I guess (oh, and Discord I guess, not sure whether to count that).

And a tree structure for posts in threads beats linear post structure, in my opinion. It’s just easier to keep track of discussions that way.

[mwthecool]

While I like features such as the built-in schedule system, it’s just so much more convenient to use a service I’m on regularly. I’m more likely to randomly check a sub reddit than a totally different website. Perhaps I see a cool thread while I’m looking at /r/rollplay or /r/itmeJP and I jump on it. If you’re dead set on this site, however, I think there needs to be a bigger push to advertise it. I myself only come to the site when someone in the Discord links an interesting conversation. If you were to advertise that you’d be having X conversation after the stream, or just advertise the site on stream in general, I expect you’d see a rise in the amount of people coming. However, I think it’s a better choice to back the Reddit completely. Having both just diminishes your group for either.

[Deastin (Twitch: arielleej)]

I agree that there just isn’t a whole lot to talk about. CoS has nice arcs which are several episodes long but all get neatly tied up at the end. Further, most of the questions anyone would ask are in the patron videos anyway so there’s no reason to ask them.

I think what would be really cool, is to have an AMA every so often with a cast member. For example for CoS it would be cool if the guest would do an AMA after their arc finishes to talk about their character. Obviously you would have to get buy-in from the cast to do this, but from what I’ve seen most of them end up loving their characters enough to want to participate in such a thing.

I actually check the site fairly regularly, but for me personally I’m less of a talker more of a “take my money” kind of a person.

[Rubxcubedude]

the q&a seem pretty pointless bc any time ive asked a question of cast about plot its either gone unanswered or the response is “you will see in future”. other than that they seem to be rules lawyering with the gm or circlejerking how good/cool episode was.

also less activity bc fewer shows right now and both shows require significant investment to get caught up.

[SuperSealion]

I enjoy frequenting the various posts. The only problem that I have is with the Q&A’s, as somebody who can’t watch live I often don’t see the point in asking questions after I’ve finished watching the episodes because it’s almost a week later and I doubt that I’ll get a response; though I still read through them.
More cast-focused posts would be really cool, things such as Dan’s character AMA’s. It would also be interesting to have posts which allow us to just talk about the various shows without focusing on anything specific, but that’s really more on us than you.
Either way, thanks for reading!

[putridcheese]

I personally enjoy using the site for updates. I do miss the post show discussions because timezones don’t allow me to post in the height of discussion. However, I do feel that the most active members of the community are the people on creative.

[BorisIgnatievich]

I’ve always lurked on places like reddit or here more than I’ve posted but tbh I come here rarely now. There is hardly anything worth reading when I do check, so I get laxer and laxer in terms of checking in.

The one thing that used to bring me in and was likely to get me involved were the post show threads. But with the move towards US focused live slots for everything, I’m at least a day or two late for them as an EU viewer. At which point it feels like I’m unlikely to get an answer to any questions I have, and I’ve missed the immediate wave of chatter, so it feels like a waste of my time trying to get involved.

I would also agree with others that the split between live chat, discord, here and reddit won’t help, nor does the divide between “patron at X tier” and “non patron/lower tier patron” when it comes to people wanting to talk about stuff. Like the thread adam started about his CoS micro game, if you aren’t at the zine tier, it feels much harder to get involved in chat about a project like that

[NoorElBahrain (Might be Captain Marvel)]

@mwthecool

However, I think it’s a better choice to back the Reddit completely. Having both just diminishes your group for either.

The subreddit is completely unofficial so there is no backing for it.