So after seeing and partaking in the many Roleplay's that seem to have popped up recently, a few things have stuck in my mind, and while being unable to sleep for 3 hours, I thought of a few ways that could be implemented into a system, but I would like to know what you other Roleplayers think.
First problem, when giving information, you may give too much or give irrelevant information, resulting in the RP player abusing the knowledge.
For example, (Thin, I know I personally requested this, but oh well) In Thin Topo's RP, Thin drew a map, but it gives away information that the player would not have been able to know, for example, the RP players now know that there is an item in one of the rooms, which may influence their actions, good RP players may refrain from doing this, but it still poses a nuisance.
My solution: Only release information, when the player themselves find it. How do you do this you ask? Like dees.
Example---
RP Bob: My character wakes up, and looks around.
Mod: Bob's character sees a great forest of trees, the undergrowth creating a carpet that is so deep, it may prove nearly impossible to viable travel through.
RP Bob: My character decides to look around the forest to see if there is anything of interest.
Mod: Bob see's a glowing flower.
RP Bob: Upon further inspection, My character find a glowing flower and decides to go and pick it.
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See? This allows for Mod's to properly handle what players know, as well as adding an additional dimension of more choices, and the possibility of creatives decisions. However, it may result in longer posts, and more dependency's on the Mods. To partially remedy this, I suggest that not everything result in a mod providing information, some things may just turn out to be plain old simple.
Second problem; time discrepancies, and RP players waiting for other RP players. Since no one can just sit there, constantly refreshing their page, waiting for new posts (except me over the summer :P) and because life is life, some players are able to post very frequently, while others may only occasionally pop in. I don't think I need an example for this one, but it is one of the most prominent problems. And along with that, time discrepancies. Every person writes differently, and some perform actions that would result in different amount of time consumption. This leads to some players falling behind, or being forced to be power-played to match up with what they missed.
For example--
RP Bob: My character decides to ambulate about aimlessly for large periods of time. ER I MEAN. My character decides to go searching through the mountains.
RP Jim: a character walks up to The Character. "Morning The Character! How was your sleep?"
RP Bob: My character returns from his long trip, after finding nothing. Tired, he goes to bed as the sun sets.
RP Bob: The next morning, My character decides to go kill a character. He finds him and then attacks him with his sword.
RP Jim: OOC dude im liek stiil wiatin fro him why r u doing taht?
RP Bob: Yo chill dude, you dind't even spel 'like' right! I'm bored, it's like 3 am in the morning, when are you gonna post Tom!?
RP Tom: (OOC: By great heavens, I thoroughly apologize for my lengthy absence, leaving you unable to continue this magnificent roleplay. I was just so occupied with saving drowning orphans and ending world hunger that I just was unable to locate time to access my computing device!) a character approaches and talks to me, I reply saying, "Why yes! It was great! What should we do today?"
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See? Problems abound. My solution to this problem is a bit tricky, and may be disputable. My first idea would make it so that people who post frequently can't post about events that happen over long periods of time, while people who post rarely, are able to post about events that occur over longer periods of time, to account for the time that they missed? My other idea is this; what if we had a sort of 'stamina' system that meant that you couldn't post after a certain amount of time, so that people don't get too far ahead? It doesn't really solve the waiting problem, but maybe we can come up with something for that? I think what we would do, maybe, is have it so that people who post often must be more detailed and specific, while having a less chance of something happening to them, while those that post less have a higher chance? This kinda brings me to my next point.
Third semi/pseudo problem. Dictatorship? Or Anarchy? This is seen with Sintag's RP, Thin and Topo's RP, and Kaiju's RP. In Sintag's RP it is clearly seen that without him being there, the RP is able to progress and continue, BUT it is completely in the hands of the RP players, who have taken it very far from it's actual main idea. In Thinslayer and Topoyozariane RP it is very structured, and players are heavily influenced by what the mods choose, posts slowing down and eventually stopping at a certain point if mod action is limited. In Kaijuhunter's RP it is a bit more relaxed, but as soon as the mod ceases action, the entire thread dies. These are all examples of how mod action can affect the RP, but what is the optimal and prime amount of mod intervention and involvement? It may depend on what the mod want's to happen, and it may depend on what the players want to do, but what does every prefer here? You also ahve to take into account what happens if mod action is limited. For my attempt at resolving this, I propose that depending on what involvement level the mods and players want, the mod may want to have back-up, to help keep the thread alive when they may be absent, or create a more structured and mod dependent environment, if the mod knows that they will be able to frequently help to moderate their thread; opposed to a more open and free environment, if the mod knows that they will be unable to monitor the thread for a period of time. Maintaining these levels and keeping them constant may help a thread remain focused, as well as independent.
That's all I can remember for now, so thoughts?
Releasing information as the players find it sounds like an admirable idea, but in practice requires more modding than I am willing to put in. If we give the information to the players irrespective of what their characters should know, we end up trusting the players to use it wisely. Giving them the extra information and stepping out allows them to use their creative energies in describing the levels as they proceed through them. Otherwise, if I had held back the information until it was required, the only person doing anything substantially creative would have been myself.
Put simply, a little extra info lets players write better stories and reduces the need for moderator creativity.
Your example about time discrepancies was pretty confusing. If you're referring to infrequency in posting, all that really does is hold up the roleplay. If you're referring to people who play in different time zones...be patient! If you're referring to posts containing time-consuming actions (like searching a mountainside), then it's important for players to keep them in the past-imperfect tense. For example, instead of writing, "Bob spent all day roaming the mountains and came back exhausted by evening," one should write, "Bob began to search the mountains," leaving open the possibility of interaction.
But if you wish to interact with a player who wrote a time-consuming past-perfect-tense post, then as long as both players realize that the resulting storyline will be non-linear, then just write as if the action wasn't done yet. To use the prior example, a player writes, "Bob spent all day roaming the mountains and came back exhausted by evening." The next player writes, "While Bob was roaming the mountains, Jim walked up to Bob and said, 'Howdy partner!'"
Now, the guys over at Mizahar have a strong solution to time-related problems, but I don't think their solution would be appropriate for our style of roleplaying.