Character creation is usually the hardest part of getting involved in an organized RP. This is something that has been a topic of discussion time and time again because it seems there are occasions when nice people who are potentially good writers can't manage to get through the character submission process and join.

How could this be?

Well, for one, creative differences—differences in origin, experience, and expectations. What may be perfectly natural in one RP group's setting isn't in another; what may be a stellar character in another group isn't here, and possibly vice versa.

So, we thought and talked about this. How can we run a fun group where we don't have to turn so many people away, while still ensuring we don't compromise the standards and styling that make our group what it is? Enter beginner members—a usergroup that facilitates the immediate and easy involvement of new people by allowing them to dive in, get a feel for what our story is like, and possibly develop and flesh out a compatible character on the fly (all while still thoroughly protecting our cast from being infested by super-saiyan ninja Shadow recolors, to boot).

As admins, we're all in pretty good agreement about giving this system a shot, but I know there's going to be at least some head shaking going on in the ranks about the decision. I do understand the risks this entails (such as low-commitment newbies bopping their way in, making pointless posts, and vanishing, thus disrupting threads, and so on), but it's something I'm willing to try. Frankly, I doubt we'll even get that many people utilizing the system. We're not exactly mega-popular. But, in the event it doesn't work out, or something particularly bad arises from it, we will can this entire concept hard and fast.

That said, we will remain open to input as this moves forward. I look forward to seeing it utilized for the first time.



Also, in other news, I promise some sort of version of Chapter 3a is coming eventually. Things like this new feature are easy for me to add to the RP since the concept is so straightforward, but the "mystery story" promise I laid out for myself to fulfill is lamentably hard, and I still haven't been able to arrange things yet due to real life concerns. I hope you guys understand.