PbP Optimised RPG

I wasn't trying to poo-poo ideas, it just seemed like there was a lot of confusion around terminology... I'm probably a semantics whore, technical writing is a big part of my IRL job :P I apologize if it seemed like I was attacking any one idea,

Your possible mechanic I find to be a very interesting idea for tying IRL activity to in-game activity. But ultimately I don't think it wouldn't work for me because (and I think ppl would need to consider);
1. It's hard enough to get players to keep up with doing things IC. To put an IRL burden on them and I think it would discourage participation, especially if it was a block for advancement. If it was somehow a carrot instead of a whip, might be better.
2. I want to recruit/choose the people who are gonna game with me.

Ultimately, recruitment in a PBP game is a gm responsibility, IMO.

You may be right about that - finding players isn't really a problem. Keeping existing players active and bringing them back after they become inactive are the real problems of long running PbP games. Maybe we could be inspired by common practices in the video game industry - "Wilson Loot Boxes". I'm not a big fan of them (good blog post about them here) and am not suggesting that we start monetizing PbP game play. What I am suggesting is that we think about how loot boxes drive player engagement and borrow from that.

Thoughts?

I have a few:

Have good post counts give players an in-game benefit. First X posts in a week = 1 point, +1 point per post after, at the end of each week roll on a table for some Boon. Each Boon should reward the rewarded player most, and have some ancillary effect with helps the entire party.

An example scenario: The base number of posts per week is 3. Some enthusiastic player posts 5 times. That's 3 points. The GM rolls on a table for each player at the end of the week, and this player gets a 3+3 from their posts. The table says they get "Attaboy", and get to upgrade (or your system's equivalent) their roll and another player's roll when they're in the same same scene during the following week.

Also, Blade in the Dark's crew Mechanic is absolutely perfect for the drop-in concept. Old players continue as NPCs at the Hideout, and new players join as previous members of the Crew.

Another Mechanic to consider is the way Dungeon World handles XP. You gain it when you fail a roll. This is awesome because it both narratively rewards learning from failure, but also it means you can advance without needing to prod the GM or wait for other players.

I've recently found ICRPG, and there's two concepts I'd like to share here.

First of all, Loot mostly constitutes the advancement of the character. There are only 10 stats, and all loot available helps with the appropriate stat increases, continually improving your character.

The other concept is the Target. The GM would announce a Target at some point, let's say it's 11. Anything you as the character, want to do, whether it's climb a tree, attack the monster, or unlock the chest, the Target is 11. Now the characters know when they succeed! As the stakes become higher, the BBEG comes out, more reinforcements appear, etc. The Target increases to 12, 13, etc.

It's also very rules light, leaving a lot of options for both players and GMs.

As I've started to play a larger variety of system types I think something that @strumdaddy calls out that's been helpful is knowing the target as the player. It allows me to have my PC act, succeed or fail, and react all in one shot. Now I'm not waiting for the GM to tell me what happened but they're trusting me to play a part as a fair GM. I think having a mechanic like in GURPS or the magic system in OneDice have opened my eyes to that possibility. Not sure if it will stand the test of time but it certainly seems to address the lull issue to some extent which then affects player retention.