Forums » RP Discussion » Tags in roleplay topic subjects

Ah, the confusion strikes again! I'm running into the issue that different people have different interpretations of tags denoting whether a roleplay is accessible to others, or not, and find myself confused about which is which as well!

So I ask you, what do you think the tags (Closed), (1x1) and (Open) mean? When can someone join and when not?

There is currently no 'official' explanation for these tags on RPR, as these are ruled by individuals of a roleplay and have no set standard. I'm curious what everyone thinks they mean, even if it differs from the majority.

I'm hoping we can get a better, general idea for this and if the explanations vary a lot between people, also create a little more understanding among each other. So, fire away!

(Closed) - You may not enter this roleplay, as it has reached the amount of players the creator wants.

(1x1) - This can mean one of two things: either the creator wishes ONE person to join, and one only, or the creator already has someone who is going to join and it is for the two of them only. Usually (1x1) is also (fredxgeorge) to show who is allowed in the rp.

(Open) - Come one, come all! Anyone is welcome to join providing their characters fit the preferences usually issued in the first post.


At least....thats what I've come to think of them as.

1x1 is duh. You only expect one other person. Open is everyone. Closed is the opposite of open--invitation, limited access. Although any of it falls on the decisionmaking of whoever founded the RP. More than once I started a 1x1. In a case where I thought an extra person helped, I'd ask my other and invite. In closed I never stated an exact number to be expected so I just use my discretion as a founder--guests should ask before inviting in any scenario unless it is "open". How i've always done it, seen it... Heck, it's how it worked in CC where like... 75% of the people I invited are from.

I've always figured it like this:

• 1x1, OnexOne, One-on-One, &c.
  This is the roleplay between the Original Poster and their designated RP partner. Generally only between them until or if another party is invited to join in. Roleplays marked with "For So-And-So and So-and-So", whether that be two player names or two character names, seems to be along the same line of thought.
• Open
  A roleplay marked with this is currently open to all players and may or may not be deemed "Closed" when a certain number of people have joined and/or when the plot is too far along for others to easily join in.
• Closed
  The roleplay has either reached the previous' Open's "too many people/to far along" status or was made for a select number of people prior to the original post-- sort of like 1x1, but with multiple per-determined/invited people

So there you go. As far as I've seen in my RP career, they are generally tags for how or who can join, not the actual RP content itself-- those details are usually reserved in OoC for the opening/original post(er).

1x1 is obvious, already been determined that only those two people will be playing

Closed to me should be the opposite of open, in that not just anybody can enter. Be it by invite, or already having an established character in that setting. This is determined by whoever started the roleplay.

Open is obviously a free for all, anybody can join

Those are the definitions I always followed with and I've been rping for a good nine years now

having a thought here: people who primarily chat rped probably have a very different view than longtime forumites. In most chats your rp title was the channel name. Of course (open) becoming (closed) at a certain point was silly unless you want everyone to migrate rooms and channels. It may be a difference in perception. Usually when i saw closed on forums at cc (which were secondary to the chat) it was something like registration (closed). So it's easy to see how forumites would evolve "closed" into that entirely, over time. Rpr has this weird thing where it's both chat and forum though, and gathers rpers from every system, so it may be wisest to figure on what can be most universally applied. I mean, if you were playing furc, would you wanna leave a dream while they reupload it just to change tag status?

(1x1)
Two characters/players in the roleplay. Private and only for the invited people.

(Open)
Anybody can join as long as the rules are followed.

(Closed)
Only for people who were previously invited. New people may be added. Personally, I always check with everyone in the roleplay if it is okay to add others.

Wow, thanks everyone for the many replies! I think the 1x1 and Open tags have the same definition for everyone, but I'm seeing a handful of differences for the Closed tag.

Myself, I have always considered the tag closed to mean nobody else can join, unless everybody in the roleplay agrees for a new addition. In that respect it always has the 1x1 feel to me. I can see that in some cases Closed means the topic starter decides without checking up on the rest. That's an interesting difference!

I'm not entirely sure what you're talking about here. Mostly because the only places I ever roleplayed were Furcadia and RPR, and I'm unfamiliar with whatever CC is. It makes the explanation in your post a little confusing to me. Can you elaborate and maybe link us there so we can get a better idea?

I don't know if we can truly have a universal rule for these tags. It would mean we'd have to enforce the correct use of the tags, and if people are having issues with them then moderators would have to get involved.

In my opinion, the way we have this setup right now works well. Players decide the rules on even simple things like topic titles (as long as they fit in the general rules of the site, of course) themselves. It wouldn't hurt to put a short line in the topic elaborating one's interpretation of the tag or discuss it with those involved first, to ensure there will be no confusion, but it's not really necessary - only for one's own comfort. It's not caused any real trouble so far with the occasional mishap here and there that was peacefully resolved.

Plus we risk confusing people if their definition of a tag suddenly changes to something they're not used to or maybe don't agree with. I'd not be comfortable with the idea that the OP can invite anyone without having to ask me if it's okay when the RP is tagged (Closed), because I'm used to always checking up with everyone. It'd throw me off my rocker big time!

The reason I created this thread is mainly so we get a better picture of the differences and be aware of them. Knowing what I read so far I decided I'm going to check the definition with other roleplayers first just to make sure we're on the same wavelength.

CC is The Keeps old sister chat. It got bought out by idiots who ran a horrible administration and people ran to The keep, here and elsewhere. Ignoring the "cc" part the post should actually self explain: for those tags to mean "closed means nobody else now, quota filled", itd mean everyone in a chat had to change rooms instead of edit a thread, hence why i compared it to reuploading a furcadia dream. Also, just because a community reaches an agreement on something it doesn't mean mod shave to enforce it. I don't see kim screaming into threads in a police car because we dont use the repository map where the world says RPR.

Thanks for the explanation on CC, Minerva. That makes more sense to me now.

As for the universal definition, if you'd like to make that a suggestion you can create a topic in Suggestions & Development so Kim can have a look at it and everyone can give their input. I'd rather not focus on that specifically in this thread because I'm mainly looking for people's definitions to keep in mind and possibly discuss.

Coming from the same place as Minerva and Loki my thoughts are very similar. Forum rp is not my uh...well it's not my best skill lol. But I also come from a background of complete free form. So everything on RPR is slightly different. We'll all have different backgrounds and thoughts on this, but if we can talk it out with our partners before hand it should be fine. And for the most part, it is in this community. (Which is VERY different than the community that Minerva, Loki, SanityCatch, Dingoz, and I come from.)

I think the tags are quite self-explanitory. At a glance, both the (1x1) tag and the (Closed) tag suggest to me that no other characters are being accepted, while (Open) means folks are able to join. If I was looking for a roleplay to join that I had not been explicitly invited to, I would skip over anything that didn't say (Open).

In some cases, however, I don't think the tags by themselves are enough. For example, some (Open)-tagged threads might have been started by players who would rather be asked before one inserts their character, and some (Closed)-tagged threads might list that they are open to more characters if one approaches the original poster with enough interest or a very good reason to bring in another character. How the newcomer is added in changes based on the roleplay, the rules of the thread and the players participating, and I don't think this should ever be policed.

In general, the tags are very basic indicators of the status of a roleplay, and I believe that they are and ought to be flexible. The original poster should probably elaborate a little in the first post to avoid confusion. If they don't, however, and one is really unsure of whether or not they'd be allowed, I believe it's always best to send the OP a PM and ask about it. Even when this is not the case, I would still advise asking to join, even on an (Open) thread, just because it's polite (unless the thread states that the OP would rather that you didn't ask, and just hopped on in). The same goes with an OP talking to players already in the thread about the admission of a new player. There shouldn't be some sort of solid, site-rule-based obligation to do so, though, because that would be ridiculous.

TL;DR: The tags are fine the way they are. Leave interpretation to the OPs and let them elaborate if they have a selective (Open) topic or a reasonably available (Closed) one, and if there's any questions, PMs are always an option. Common sense! Communication between players, considering players and the OP is good, and if you're not sure, inquire!

I've also seen (ask) tags!