What would it take....

So i'm wondering what some of you would like to see here, on GamersPlane. keleth here has done a great job with making this wonderful place that integrates game sheets, dice, and cards for use with play by post gaming... but what we really need is more people, and more active people.

What would get you, or other gamers here to play, post and be active? What would you like to see or ask.
Would you like to see those of us making RPG games on here asking for input and help testing?
Maybe you'd like to make a new system or monster or the like?
Articles with your questions for devs?
Perhaps you'd like to debate rules and items?

What would you like, and lets see if we can't make it happen!

Thanks for bringing this up ExperienceLtd. Let me throw in some things that are coming along soon:

- Hellfrost will be added soon, which will bring with it a new game from SharnDM
- D&D 5e, the hot new system, which I'll be adding soon
- A blog setup for microblogging; anyone with an account on Gamers Plane will be able to start up their own blog on here (with some required guidelines to start)

oooh blogs you say, do go on!
what if i already have a blog and want to make it easily accessable through gamersplane, for instance?
like, say i've got this handy little game development blog for a game i might be working on...

Well, Wordpress has import functionality we can make use of. I can also add a blog field to the user profile.

see that'd be very neat for any of us who might be working on a PnP RPG :)
i personally think it'd be cool if there was a way to make a game on here, though that'd be kinda complex i feel

What do you mean by "make a game on here"? I never wanna shut an idea down before I know it! I'll shut it down later :D

like, to create a new set of mechanics // core game system here that people can test out on the site if they want.
it'd be a lot of work on your end with the person making it though, unless you made them able to create it themselves...
like a form they could fill out with spots for mechanics and how they work

I think we need to revisit this discussion. The key problem with Gamer's Plane is the lack of active members. Anyone who is has stuck around knows that Gamer's Plane has or will have features that make it worth using, but how do we express this? Which of these features is the reason we stayed? How do we attract new (active) members and get some games going? My reasons for staying are simple. I know Keleth personally, unfortunately distance and circumstance has largely kept our friendship electronic but we have several mutual friends. Beyond that I stay around because Gamer's Plane has integration similar to more popular sites like Mythweavers and plans to do more than they do. I also love the by gamers for gamers feel to the site and the transparency of development. It is nice having a developer right in the trenches with you.

I appreciate that Azzorak, and thank you for sticking with me through all this. So I'll talk about where I am on this. Obviously, I have a strong vested interest in Gamers Plane becoming something more than a casual site for a few people.

- Right now, I'm super active on Twitter. We've gotten a lot of people to sign up, not many chatting or in games.
- Thanks to Twitter and from what you guys have said, this site is confusing to use. So figuring out an improved UX is on the list, but pretty far down, as for that I'd like to hire a firm but I don't have the money for that right now. In lieu of that, I'm working on the FAQs, but with features/bug fixes, its slow going. If anyone wants to help with that, lemme know.
- The blog is also on the backburner, but its coming.
- I'm back to streaming, which may help, and hopefully I'll have my own place soon. If so, I plan on doing things like streams of painting minis, and playing tabletop games (I'll need to buy a big of equipment for that, heh).

After that, I'm at a bit of a loss. I'm going to be hitting up a number of cons next year, hopefully that'll help. Its this weird point where a lot of people seem interested, but don't see a bunch of activity so don't join. But because they're not joining, there's no activity. I'm doing my best to encourage people to try the less involved features, like the libraries. I'm gonna try to draft up a bunch of NPCs for specific games to share on the library, which hopefully would get people visiting.

I have my own place and all of the equipment for wargaming but I don't have the voice or the time to do videos, otherwise I would offer my services in streaming for wargaming. I will continue to post wargaming tutorials, showcases, and reviews as time allows, the blog will help with this. I also intend to contribute to the activity level of the site by hosting and playing in as many games as time allows. I will gladly help with the FAQ just let me know what you need and feel free to PM or text me with any other things I may be able to help with. I will gladly do whatever time will allow. For the record I do not feel that the UX needs much over haul. I do not think the site is difficult to use, but rather lacks instruction and occasional bugs may it appear to be difficult. As we iron it out I think it will improve naturally.

I know for me i've been thinking that if we could get more people who are in the dev process for games it'd be wonderful for them to interact with gamers in a way that places like RPGGeek and BGG don't typicall interact with newbies and older members.
To me, that would be an amazing thing and great resource to have.

I had a similar thought involving shout outs or mentions in popular podcasts and channels. Many youtube channels finally break out when a more popular youtube channel of the same topic mentions them. If we can getting a big RPG podcast or Miniwargaming.com or the like to mention us or at least link us that would be pretty neat. That would take some effort though.

I chat with a number of bloggers and podcasters on Twitter as well. I planned on asking them directly to check out the site once a few basic features/items were up, a big one being the FAQs.

Checking it out is nice, but maybe we can get them to be active even sometimes on it, or as an extra outlet for their media as well.
That way they go "oh hey you can also find my stuff @ the gamers plane" as a plug :)

Sorry, I kinda meant that with "check it out".

words :P
But yes, having a multifaceted purpose that serves the players, the devs and the socialites would be something unique i think, and hopefully able to drive people into posting and commenting

Something that would be nice would be Tapatalk support https://tapatalk.com/

PbF sites I've used in the past that have had Tapatalk support have found it easier to keep games going longer because players (and GMs) can keep up with the game from their phones. I mean, it's also not a bad thing to support in the first place if you can.

I need to look into Tapatalk protocols; its actually already on my list of things to do. Its one of the more complex things to do, and one my current git branches that gets a little bit of work done each week is a big overhaul of the code driving the forums. At a basic level, it works well, but there are a lot of bugs and a lot of things it could do better. I plan on adding an RSS feed for the forums, but I have to work out stuff like how do I authenticate its you on the RSS feed?

One REALLY long term goal is completely mobile friendly. The site isn't good on mobile, but its not TERRIBLE. Ok, its pretty bad, but I wanna make it good. As we get sommore activity, I'm gonna have to shift some focus to adding in things that'll help generate some revenue for Gamers' Plane: I plan on adding things like links to Amazon to buy books for the games people play, where I'd get a cut of each sale (I will avoid ads as long as I can, but eventually ads too), and of course, a donation button. Once I can save up enough, I'll drop the few thousand dollars I'll need to hire a design team to help me make the site mobile friendly. And prettier. Def prettier.