Forums » RP Discussion » Best way to handle players who become inactive?

Hello all. I have good role play going right now and actually have people actively posting. While this is a good thing, one of the players involved in the story has stopped posting. It has been almost two weeks I think since her last post. I am needing some advice on how to continue the storyline but not leave her out of it. In the story, our characters are fighting and the newer characters that have joined have been writing posts on what is happening while they fought.
As I said I do mot want to move on and end up hurting her feelings but at the same time I do not want the story to die out due to it not going any further. Please some good advice is needed here.

Depending on the rate of posting, I'd suggest asking the others if they're willing to wait, say, a week while you attempt to get in touch with the missing player. If you end up moving on without her, send her a message explaining that, and perhaps offer to help figure out a way to re-integrate her when she does return. I also feel it's fair to ask if such disappearances are common for her (though she has no obligation to explain them), and if they are, you can politely explain if you feel it won't fit well with the group. Differing posting habits can be rough.

It's fantastic that you want her to feel welcome, and it may be possible to talk with the group to make things work. Ultimately though, you are not responsible for that player's good time, and you it's not right to feel you have to sacrifice the fun of yourself and others for the fun of one who may have trouble keeping up (and so might be getting stressed instead of having fun anyway).

As a person whose never truly gone inactive, and someone whose probably rp’d in thousands upon thousands of roleplays, I can attest that there’s no proper to this.

For me, personally, it depends. For one thing, I heavily recommend communication to be the key. Communicate with your roleplay partner; see what’s happening in their life. Is this is a temporary rut? Are they busy in rl? Was it never really a hobby that was gonna catch on anyway?

I would also suggest having a personal deadline before even considering someone ‘inactive’. Given how insanely busy I can get (it can take upwards of 15 days for me to get through replies, sometimes), I have wide period where people can reply to me before I check up. Generally, I do my first check-in when a reply hits 2 months with no response; then I will drop it completely if another 2 months pass by.

Yet, even dropping it, I don’t close the door. There have been so many times where I’ve dropped someone or an rp only to have those people rebound later on and become some of the most dedicated rpers.

Ultimately, I would suggest being mindful and respectful of people’s RL and privacy, checking in only to make sure they’re alright; then moving on graciously if too much times passes. At the same time, you have to look out for yourself; roleplaying is a hobby, not a chore. If you feel someone is taking too long to keep your interest, maybe it’s best to move on. That said, on a personal note, I would give AT LEAST a month before even considering someone ‘inactive’.

Since there are multiple people involved, it's important to find strategies where one person not responding for longer than average does not hold the RP up for everyone else. "Longer than average" might even be 1 day, or it might be a week, depending on what is "normal" for your particular group at this particular point in time.

It's good to have a posting order so that everyone feels like they get an equal chance to participate, but you'll also need to establish some kind of "after x hours, it is okay for the next person in the order to go ahead and go if they'd like" so the works don't get gummed up and end the RP for everyone if someone gets the flu or is tired or bored or whatever.

I would suggest having a few stock excuses that can be pulled off the shelf should someone miss their turn in the posting order a number of times in a row. For example, maybe their character goes back to headquarters to do some research, or they are called away to deal with family business, or their sink springs a leak and they have to go home to keep their apartment from being flooded, or they had to go meditate to refill their powers, or they got a phone call and had to go for no stated reason (maybe they can fill this reason in later when they're ready to come back) or whatever -- an action which plausibly moves their character out of the scene, but leaves the door open for them to rejoin at any time when their business is handled OOC and therefore IC. This reduces the awkwardness of other characters trying to act like their friend is there but is somehow taking no actions, and can ease the rejoining of the new player as they don't have to make up an excuse for missing so much playtime themselves.

I know the game you're referring to (Mirima here), and there doesn't seem to be a really great way to move on from being in the middle of a conversation. The only suggestion I can think of is having a reason for her to be unconscious..., but even that could seem overly controlling to some people.

Edited to add that I just had a thought: She is now outside the cave, so why wouldn't it be possible for her to "disappear" again to the others and remain outside until the player returns?

Great subject Eric! I recently had a member in our group go inactive also. It has been difficult and challenging for me because she was one of the original writers to join our thread. It has been a month now and she has not responded. Kim's response was very helpful for me in this time. Our group has an OOC private thread where we stay connected, offer ideas or concerns and we have a posting order that we follow. I attempted twice to contact the player to see if she was okay and needed more time. But I could not delay the group any longer and so I had to carry on. What I did do though, because we had more members interested in joining, and since we communicated in private thread, I created another thread for the new and old members, also keeping the inactive player there, in case she returns. You can always hope that they return. Then they will see the progress and see that we honored their character. In story, it is the most challenging, because you need to find a way to allow her an honorable out, without killing her off against her consent.

Communication is key. I feel it's thoroughly up to that player to let the others know what is going on. If they fail to do that I don't feel you have an obligation to hold their spot for them. If you have reached out to the person and they haven't answered you or given any sort of indication that they plan to bring their character out of purgatory, I feel it's safe to check with the other players if they would like to start a new version of the story without that character (if they are the type to be concerned about continuity in their threads) Or if they would like to simply continue under the assumption that the character who has entered purgatory was a glitch in the matrix ¯_(ツ)_/¯

If they return, whoops, another glitch!

I am like.. the number one person to become inactive. I have had loads of stories dropped from my random amd frequent disappearances.

So i suggest having rules set for your group. Whatever YOU feel is necessary. (Posting order, posting limit, etc). Mention if someone doesnt post within the time you allow (like skipping a day when its required to post once a day) then you will give x amount of time before moving on or even writing their character out.

Definitely message this person though and let them know they have so much time after you send the message to respond. You never know. She may have just quit the roleplay without saying anything at all. Which is pretty common for people to do.