Group Roleplays: Your Ad.

Reasons People Join a Group RP.

If you believe your roleplay ad is inconsequential, think again. 

95% read your ad.

Only 5% of all those who took the survey, admitted to not caring what your ad looked like before agreeing to join.

Grammar was mentioned 13 times along with well-written, which was mentioned 16.

Here are some other words that came up most often in the commentaries.

WHAT ARE THEY LOOKING FOR?

” Shared interests, if the group appears to have effort put into it, some level of organization, and maybe originality? I wouldn’t want to join a group that ive already seen 13 other almost exact groups of. “

– Survey participant

“if there are a lot of typos in the add, or if its not well-worded, then I am less likely to join”

– Survey participant

What people don’t like.

Elitism was mentioned 19 times as something that turns people away. It’s not surprising. After all, not a lot of people would be comfortable joining a group where even the advertisement was condescending.

Ads that look like they were slopped together rarely get a second glance. Disorganization and hard to follow intros are a massive turn-off.

While 26% of participants said they will only join a group if there are a lot of members, 21% said they would only join if there were a small amount of members.

This actually shows that the member count of your group, is overall, inconsequential in their decision to join or not. Bringing them in is all about that ad.

The length of the add

Does not make or break you. There are only 10% who won’t read your ad if it’s too long, and 31% who wont read it if it’s not long enough.

How others responded..
Ad’s should be lengthy and detailed, or I won’t join:
40% – Neutral
21% Disagree
5% Strongly Disagree

If an ad is lengthy, I wont bother to read it or join.
24% – Neutral
38% Disagree
28% Strongly Disagree

It’s safe to say: Your ad should be of medium length, with only relevant information. People want you to be honest so they can know what to expect. They don’t need the complete rules list, but they’d still like a gist.

Do you need a graphic?

In short; no.

48% of people said that graphics don’t catch their attention. 12% were neutral, and 40% agreed that graphics catch their eye when browsing. (Of those percentages – only less than 8% were in strong agreement or disagreement)
One user says:

“Visuals and description usually take my interest. Understand the hardworking that went into a well organized server and clearly stated rules and plot help my interest. I also look for friendly and welcoming chats or overall environment on the server. A member count is one of the lesser things I look for. “

Typically, I focus on whether the ad displays solid lore that seems to intrigue me. On top of that, if the graphic that may come with it is high quality and appealing. If it looks as though it was badly photoshopped or done on MSPaint, I don’t bother. Last, if it’s a Discord server, I look at the members. If it has less than 20-25 members, I assume that other people aren’t interested in it, and those few members likely don’t put a lot of dedication into the RP.

It’s a strong opinion, but it makes some good points. Without this input, I might have assumed that it “couldn’t hurt to try.” in regards to adding a graphic, buuut… It most definitely can. No graphic is usually better than a bad graphic, and this circles around to how all of your advertisements should reflect some type of effort.

Once you’ve made that ad..

You need to go find those people. While the majority of survey participants do actively search for groups, (results showing just over 59%) – You still need to go find that other 41%

This link will take you to a list of places you can join to advertise your RP. I am open to suggestions on more places to add, but chances are, there’s some places you just don’t know about yet.

Coming Next.. “Why people Stay”

and a comparison of some successful group ads, vs some unsuccessful ones.

A comprehensive look at what makes people stay in your group once they’ve joined. This part has a lot of elements to it and I want to make sure the information is presented in a simple and easy to read fashion (much like how we just learned our ads should be)

other comments on advertisements

“Based off looking at an ad; give me your strong points, and your weak points. How are you trying to improve them? How’s it looking on grammar and punctuation? Are you open to questions/concerns/suggestions? Turn downs would be overusing emojis on each damn line, and being the opposite of what the advertisement states.”

“The writing in the ad. Maybe I’m an rp snob, or an elitest, but if the ad doesn’t draw me in, then I never go and check it out.”

“Well written stories and very developed character creation processes (without stats and crap) re the key to my heart. Friendly communities are also a big kicker!”

“A roleplay group I want to join would have interesting lore, a friendly community, and lots of block text paragraphs. Things that turn me away is when the server is obviously going to make e lot brain cells, or make me stressed in general, I like roleplay servers because it’s fun. I just prefer a more positive experience.”

“I usually try to seek out groups that are inclusive and welcoming. I also usually look for people with similar interest levels and ideas, but also understand that RP is collaborative so ideas might be different. What usually turns me away is… members taking on personal crusades against other servers/sites/people.”

“Rather than the quantity of words in an add or members in a group, it’s the quality that draws me in. Information overload, waffle or grammar errors will turn me off. At the same line, you’re unlikely to catch my attention with just a few lines. A good premise is the most important thing to me.”