Unless I'm sorely mistaken, my birthday is tomorrow and Centrus's birthday is the day after that.

Which inspired me to suddenly shout out "Admin Birthday Doubleshot!" this morning when I thought about.

It only seemed logical that since normally boss's birthdays inspire cake and all sorts of awesomeness, you should be rewarded as well.

Soooo

Everyone
+1 Mage's Soul
+1 Resurrect
+1 Antidote
+1 Restorative

BUT THERE IS A CATCH.

We want you to give us something. (Okay, well, I want you to give us something, and I'm putting words in Centrus's mouth up here.) The gift of the site being active again, because nothing would make us happier.

...Pretty corny, I know, right?

So basically, all I'm saying is, in order to get these gifts, just post in this thread telling us what you think needs to happen for things to get rolling a bit better. Or telling me that I'm crazy and things are rolling just fine, that works too. I'm just sure there's something (other than getting the Anniversary Party rolling, which'll happen on the first of July) that we can do to make things perk up around here... I just don't know what it is!

So seriously everyone, pop in here over the course of the next couple of weeks, grab your presents (I spent all that time tying ribbons on them, don't let it go to waste), and give us your insight. Or just pretend to and grab the stuff anyway, whatever. Just Happy Birthday to us!

Let me be the first to say happy b-day to you guys then. I'll just snag my present and be on my way. I'm not on a lot, but I think this place is probably quite active. I think it's me who has to become more active.

Well...I think that if the people here wrote a bit more, it'd become more active as it were. We have a lot of users, but not a lot of people posting very often. Not sure why. Not really sure what to do about it.

QUADMONTHLYEVENTSHUZAH! Oh sorry, lol, Happy Birthday Centsy and Lyrica!

OwO Yosh, you have been dubbed by Wat-wat! WOO!

I am on the site just about every day looking for posts to reply too and read and whatnot.... ^_^; I have no life apparently XP

As for increasing this HORRIBLE AMOUNT OF SLOWNESS that makes me cry, What about more standardized events being opened, not always just the tournament or show up and get this on this day kinda thing, but something big! Like chose four of all the holidays or celebrations from.... well anywhere in the world you want, Infinite Internets hellyeah! And hold an event that is allowed to be posted in along side your regular posts, (I know that's horribly breaking time and space) it's just for fun ones, like if you wanted to add a tournament then go ahead but other than that it's a server just for people to have fun in with each other or by themselves, the information for the event like... Tanabata, will be a festival in a bamboo forest area with a stone bench and paper tags with ribbons and brushed to write your wishes on and hang before heading into the bulk of the area and taking part in a fun day at the fair with temporary character clothing changes into Yukata and Kimono available as a choice upon entering and after teh fun with the catch a goldfish and drown the clown games, end the event with fireworks shows! WOOT! Just making the story weather in a group or as a solo for no real gain other than the fun of putting your self mentally in a carnival and having fun...
Unless you want to add a tournament, that's always good too, random slots and teams just for fun, and maybe EXP or a special one of a kind that year only this event prize for hte ultimate champion! Bwahahaha!

I think I just talked way too much....

other idea, Send a block email to all registered members to remind them of the sight in case they forgot. And/or every time an event like the one above is created so they can do it XP

I know from experience that the event may take months to get everyone that wants in it there so let it stand maybe three months per event before closing all complete parts of it, (leaving open to post any solo's or group outings there were just too fun to get done so fast XP )

Bring back Rayo.
Finish events.
Make it so schooling and jobs aren't mandatory or at least necessary..
Give me my tournament rewards.
Christmas in Summer.
Brainwash people into becoming active again.

I was serious about at least one of those <.<;

*takes his newb set*

Yeah, I think running some new events you can post in alongside a quest would be awesome. Also, if the mods running the event made sure to actively post every week (even if any mod could GM, and then made the character posts every week) then it may encourage people to be more active. You could even have mod boards discussing the events so that anyone could post so long as it was on the given day? I dono.

-takes her gift-

*takes stuff*

...uh, buy a slot in google advertisements?

I would definitely bring in events that not only didn't last forever (see: tournaments), but were finished as some people have already said. I've seen that work in the past to boost activity.

*Slings the nooblet kit over his shoulder.*

I think events seems to be the most popular answer, and I have an idea based on that. Tiered events.

Have events that are open to different levels of players, say 1-5, 5-10, 10-15, etc. etc. Also, if the events were connected somehow say, there was something in the 10-15 tier that relied upon something else being done in the 1-5 tier, I think it would be a way to breed a sort of community interaction, that way its not segregated as low levels and high levels sometime are.

I has made a chart! (note: It's not meant to offend anyone - it's practically a half-joke...practically.)


**All of this is assuming that once people start posting, they continue to post since writing is awesome and they just forgot how much so :P. At least that's how it works for me. I always forget how fun it is unless I'm actually doing it.

My main point here is: we've got plenty of members on this site to make it amazingly awesome and active (ooh, alliteration). We just need them to be more IC-active or just active. If everyone that checks this place every day or so jumped into a quest or posted in the one they've been stuck in - we'd be 90% to awesomeness. That last 10% comes from people finding the site and seeing the 90% awesomeness and making that last 10% easy as pie.

That's my two-cents, now I shall take your two :P. *takes the bag-O-goodies*

EDIT: forgot to say two things:
-The thing in the upper left of that chart is not too far off >.>
-The chart continues on in sort of a chain-reaction method because I know Xan at least is in a few quests other than just with Lyra. Also, don't hit me on this (though I won't blame you if you do >_>), but if Sydofh becomes active and drags his whole clan into it? Holy crap I just got chills. *salutes to you all*

Hmm...I shall attempt this when I had back to school in the fall. =3

Like Tak said, we just need people to write more. I know I haven't written anything in...I don't even know how long. lol But that's the sum of it all. How should we do that? Well, I think what we already have in the works is definitely a good start.

Woo, gifts! Thanks adminy-folk. <3

Okay, I have no fancy chart to offer. But! I do have idea(s)! There have been many events I would have loved to participate in, but found myself too busy. (Duh, I know the site can't fix my RL, but anyhow.) Something I think that could help with events and people's busy-ness is knowing about them in advance. I know when I'm aware of something coming up on the site, like the coliseum event, I clear some space in my schedule to participate. With something like the velociraptor event, I had no idea it was happening until it already was and so I had no time worked out to devote to it. (WHICH MADE ME SO SAD because it would have been real fun.) I think the sign-up period that some events have fills this role. Or just an announcement being like 'Hey, this cool thing is going to happen in about a week! <brief outline>'. I know this sounds simple, but I think it could make a big difference.

On a slightly related note, what's the reasoning behind the 'you can only be in one quest for rewards at a time' rule? I ask because there was a long chunk of time when I was stuck waiting in a quest for a friend to post and they never did, and I would've quested with others during that time period. Is it a matter of not wanting people to spread themselves too thin? But since people can already be in multiple quests, I don't think that really makes a difference. (In fact, rewards might encourage people to remain active in all quests they are in.)

MADE YOU SAD? T_T my poor velociraptors...

Consider this your warning: Various events, whole month of July, because even though April is the Anniversary, we've learned the hard way that FINALS TIME IS BAD TIME.

...one rewards quest per customer rule is there primarily to avoid timeline issues. There's a few other things, too. I didn't make the rule so I don't know what its original reason was other than to keep subs from becoming more powerful than main but I know the reasons we kept it, however vague they are.

Also: STANE, SHRINK YOUR DAMN IMAGE A LITTLE, AT LEAST CUT OFF THAT WHITE SPACE, IT'S STRETCHING MY WINDOW.

Well, is there anything to stop a reboot of that OMGDINOSAURSRUN event? 'cause I still think it'd be fun! Though, if July is jampacked with stuff, maybe it'd be overload. XD I will be sad if it is in August while I'm abroad. ;.;

And oh. Don't timelines get messed up anyway? And thus people go ((OOC: This actually happened at this point.)) or whatever? Meh. I say, do away with unnecessary restrictive rules! But that's just me. And unnecessary is very subjective.

I agree with Fayre. That way people wouldn't get "stuck" in quests either. Like, it wouldn't be something we'd encourage, but it would stop people from bugging other people to "OMGPOST" all the time. Even if it was just upped to two things at a time.

OMG DEJA-VU

http://z1.invisionfree.com/forums/DIVERGEN...dpost&p=5320584

That's about where the "why not two quests at once for rewards" argument comes in. Whether they're graded or not, Stane is in a few places at a time so the whole "continuity" is up to the player presently. Therefore, I do not deem continuity as being on either side of the argument considering that to violate continuity is being done, legally, at this very moment.

The only relevant issues I can see -
-is whether the graders are up for a few more things to grade (by the way, most of the time that people are flagging rewards, there's someone else in the quests that's getting rewards, so the quest is read no matter what) - which doesn't seem to be an issue at the moment considering that this is a discussion about how to get more IC activity.
-people gaining levels too fast. I don't see the problem with people being rewarded for the good work and effort they put into their work even if everyone else had different standards when they were writing. This rule puts a cap on the amount of work someone can do at any given time, but wasn't there also a time when levels were given out easier? So, the whole "unfair becuz I couldn't do that when I wuz questing" argument is a little moot considering that leveling hasn't been consistently hard. It's been easier years ago and fluctuated. The bottom line for me is: who cares what levels anyone is - have some damn fun.

Ahahaha! I'm in the flow chart! I feel suddenly at least 10x awesomer :)

Fayre, I used to try to work around that by being in multiple quests at once and then just getting rewards for non-concurrent ones as they finished. :) But then all that happened is I'm in a LOT of dead threads instead of a few (and no small number I was an active killed of). So yah, I can see how that might be something good. (Or maybe up the number to two plus a quest to keep people from just going nuts and paying no attention to continuity?)

Also... possibly start a newsletter? Every two weeks or so, members can sign up, could cover upcoming events, any rules changes, highlight good/long-running quests, interview "characters" or their players, just as a way to remind people in their non-invisionfree space that we're here and things are happening?

((As though I can say anything about that, I'm SO LAZY DEAR GOD)

Happy birthdays Lyra and Cent. :3

I have to agree with Damek and Fayre. I find it easier to solo when I'm posting my solo up bits at a time, but now that I've started it, I obviously want rewards for it... but it's causing me to put off other questing because I want rewards for both. If there's the argument of 'it'll just make more dead threads', uhh... we already have a LOT of dead threads anyway? At least this way there will be some incentive to finish some threads, maybe moreso than there is now. And if a thread dies, just leave the dead where they are and keep moving, instead of clinging to the corpse.

Certainly, no one is being forced to do more than one quest for rewards, so people should learn how to pace themselves. So... I guess that's something I think would really help activity. Maybe we're wrong, but I can't say I've ever really understood the stubborn insistence of clinging to that rule. Perhaps we could give it a 3-month trial run and see how it goes?

HAPPY F!&@*ING BITHDAY!


*quotes combichrist*

Happy B'day! *CougheventhoughIthinkI'mlatecough*

As for me, I just needed a break from Divvy and some incentive in roleplays. I think bringing back the rares in the Pawn shop would be nice though...

Ditto.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY LYRA AND CENTRUS!!! ZOMGWTF!?!

Anyways, besides my spaz attack, I have pretty much concluded that I have come back. I told myself when I quit that I would never come back, that I needed to take a long break from my writing and settle myself. Well, I've settled myself and getting back into the swing of things is actually quite easy.

Honestly, I don't think there needs to be much changed. There really just needs to be more activity. How? My friends above described it quite well. :D

*takes items and poofs*

Happy birthday, assorted admins. : D

An amusing event, free kitten giveaways, cake?

I dunno. Hire a good necromancer? *shrug*

Happy birthdays Lyra and Centrus!

I would recommend a quick event (yes I know one is bound soon, it IS summer and we ARE mostly all free x.x) after closing up the last one, but other than that, there isn`t really much we can do to force people to get active again. Unless you show up behind them with a riding crop, gun, knife and whip while they`re on the computer. Or sprinkle inspiration dust all over the world.

*eyes weird looks* Well hey, they ARE suggestions.

Make more of these threads.

Some events might spiff up the activity a little. ^_^ And I like the idea of being able to take rewards for two quests rather than one. I think that'd help quite a bit, however complicated it might end up in the end...

Oh yeah, and maybe even another tournament. ^_^ That seemed to get activity up a little...

In order to be active you have to make yourself known to get more members. Members are the lifeblood of any forum. You have a good solid RP forum, so don't worry about changing much of that.

Well, I'm late, I know. But, if it counts, I send Cent a Happy B-Day through IM but he didn't respond..boo.

Happy B-Day Lyra even though I know you don't remember me!

But there's plenty of things to up activity, most have been mentioned, but how about events out the ying-yang? Advertising? Get more affiliates? Hell, maybe even a new layout? This place has been the same forever...

Or, to set Divvy apart a little, create a contest to where people can design a new class or new weapons/armor. Whoever wins can win said weapon/armor (keeping it in inventory until they're whatever level needed) or can just update themselves to whatever class when the reach that level without like...approval or something...

I dunno, random input from the guy desperately trying to make a comeback.

My problem is that I have tried a few times to join up with someone so that I can post with another person. Unfortunately, all attempts have failed, and therefore I continue to try and complete my solo run, which also fizzles out when I encounter writers block.

But other than that, the site seams that, as long as the veterans keep reaching out to new players, we can eventually make Divvy one of the greatest pbp's out there!

With the issue concerning questing partners, I find that if you keep in contact with them, quests tend to be completed more often than not (even if the length of the quest is totally unrealistic timewise *cough*). As for the writer's block with solos, that's something I run into a lot as well. The best thing to do there is to take a break from writing them for a little while, them come back to them. Alternatively, just writing could push you through the block and get you quite a ways in (I'd recommend the first method if you've been trying for a while, the second if you've just had enough as I tend to).

On the original topic: It seems that activity has picked up recently (or am I just hallucinating? *hugs pills*) in a bunch of areas, not quite as much so in the Subplots section. Maybe something as an incentive to quest more? People are pretty greedy (including m'self).

*snags the goodies*

I know I am alte but i've been around =P


anyways hold a card tourny!

and actually play, I don't know fo anyone else who has Lyra's card toehr than myself XD

*drops in and folds her wings neatly*

Honestly what you're doing right now is perhaps the best way to go about doing it. Data Drain the garbage out, perhaps more frequently. Granted my own activity hasn't been that stellar recently, but perhaps its that as a community we're very disjointed. Yeah some of us met at Animazment and some of us know each other IRL, but we don't branch out from our comfort zones. We don't care about our neighbors anymore or the other clans. And that is a fault we have as people. And the thing that came closest to perhaps breaking that down was the Big Brother/Sister program for the newbs. It gave us someone to care about and fostered activity, especially when players were put with more experienced and active members.

Or I could be completely out there, which ever works best for ya.

*gathers her goodies and vaults back up to the rooftops*