#admin tips

How To Choose A Prompt/Task

So this is really the most basic part and will factor into how to write your prompt/task as an admin. When you have a plot-driven rp, I feel strongly that you should make your tasks/prompts for members something you can use to further the plot and gauge how characters are internally reacting to their surroundings. Prompts and tasks during a plot-driven roleplay are super important for admins to engage with because they can shape your next plot drops, your world-building, and directing your ideas. For plotless roleplays, prompts and tasks are great for world-building and character development. These can be dropped any time and require less work from the admin team to follow up on, in my opinion.

How To Write a Plot-Affected Prompt/Task

When you’re writing a prompt or task that is in response to a plot drop/event, I highly encourage you to encourage it in your plot drop/event post. (Not sure how to write one of those? Click here for a guide.) For this example, I’ll be using a plot drop of a New Chain Store being opened in the neighborhood.

You should mention pre-cut that you have a prompt/task that accompanies the event/drop, and then put it under your cut with your OOC explanation. Some basics that you should include about the prompt/task:

Why is this part of the plot/event? Answer the question before folks ask. Start by prefacing why you are adding this prompt/task, an example would be: “With the new business opening, many folks are concerned about gentrification.” This gives your prompt/task context and hints the relevance of the plot/event, and adds some mood to the event if you haven’t already established it. (Great for uncanny valley style event writing imo!)

What is the task/prompt itself? Provide what you’re looking for immediately after the why. We’ve got short attention spans, this is social media even though it’s roleplay, so just immediately give your prompt. An example would be: “Provide your character’s response to the business opening” and then listing some common reponses in question form, like “Are they concerned about losing business for their own shop? Are they excited for the new job opportunities?”  

How can they answer the task/prompt? After giving them the task/prompt, let your group know what’s an acceptable response! I prefer to give people a wide range of opportunities for answering so each mun is comfortable and able to work with the prompt. Here’s an example: “The prompt can be answered in any form you’d like, here are some ideas: An op-ed written by your character, a diary entry from your character, a collage of their outfit for the opening, or a moodboard of their response. There is no right or wrong way to engage!”

So then your prompt looks like this:

With the new business opening, many folks are concerned about gentrification.  Provide your character’s response to the business opening.  Are they concerned about losing business for their own shop? Are they excited for the new job opportunities?  The prompt can be answered in any form you’d like, here are some ideas: An op-ed written by your character, a diary entry from your character, a collage of their outfit for the opening, or a moodboard of their response. There is no right or wrong way to engage!

How To Write a Plot Agnostic Prompt/Task

For plotless roleplays, prompts/tasks are great for ensuring character growth and checking in with your writers. Plot agnostic prompts and tasks are perfect for keeping your writers engaged with the main and even with characters they may not necessarily work with.

For plot-agnostic prompts/tasks, you’ll create its own separate post for the prompt/task. Most of the time these will be completely OOC unless every single character is involved in an organization that would lead them to canonically engage with it. 

Here’s how to announce these:

Why are we doing this prompt/task? Right off the bat, tell writers what to expect from this prompt/task. Is it for character exploration (history, headcanons, etc), character development (AUs, journal entries, etc), or something else? This will set expectations for the writers and prepare them for some ideas before you disclose what exactly the prompt/task is. This can be as simple as announcing that it’s a holiday to do a holiday-themed task, honestly. (See below example)

What is the prompt/task? This is self-explanatory. Provide your prompt/task.

How can they answer the task/prompt? After giving them the task/prompt, let your group know what’s an acceptable response! I prefer to give people a wide range of opportunities for answering so each mun is comfortable and able to work with the prompt. 

Here’s an example prompt:

That's what I mean. Just because you're a specific race, gender, sexuality, or other minority, does not mean you know absolutely everything that there is to know. It may make you an expert on your own opinions and perhaps even the opinions of your friends, but you cannot know everything about everyone that is affected. That means that it is still possible that you could say or do something offensive, and it is still important for you to respect that. Just because you are part of the community, does not mean you have the right to disrespect other people's opinions and feelings. If they're part of the community, they have just as much right to define their own experience, and look for their own definition of safety and inclusion, as you do.

But how do we know if we're talking to someone that has no idea what they're talking about or someone within the community? The answer is simple; never assume. If someone says something to you about your level of inclusion or how you handle something that affects their place within the community, assume they are coming to you as someone within the community unless you know that they are not. Nobody should have to out themselves to you in order to be taken seriously. It does not hurt you to consider someone else's feelings, and it does not hurt you to consider them calmly and to treat the person that is speaking to you with respect.

So now that we know how to handle it when someone comes to us questioning our inclusion, what exactly should we already be doing in order to be inclusive? Good question. It starts with words, as simple as that.

Here are a few suggestions for ways that you can make your roleplay inclusive:

Never misgender anyone, and never make excuses for it. Time passes, people change, gender is fluid, we all know that. Not everyone feels the same way about themselves every day, and sometimes an fc will announce that they feel differently. Respect that. Always. Respect it as if it were your own gender. You would never want anyone to misgender you and you would never want to hear anyone sit there and make excuses for it afterwards. Even if the gender or pronoun you spoke was correct at the moment that you said it, if it is no longer correct you have absolutely nothing to say in defense of yourself. The moment that the person came out and said that they felt differently, you should have changed it. If a moment arises when human error has made you forget and you are called out on your error, fix it. The end. No excuse. An apology might be good too. Otherwise, you just look like you can't respect anyone else's gender and it makes people feel excluded and unsafe. 

That goes for any instance in which someone tells you that you have done something exclusionary or wrong. If someone is telling you that you've done something hurtful, it should be your prerogative to understand what they're telling you and fix it. You're responsible for the safety and comfort of your entire roleplay and anyone that looks at your page, not just your own comfort levels.

Make a rule dedicated to authenticity. It's usually mentioned somewhere that admins expect people to remain in character in a way that stays true to their canons, but it is also worth mentioning that other things should be authentic as well. The first rule of authenticity is to remember that not everyone is the same and that there is no official "way to be authentic" for anything, and the second rule is that it requires research and devotion. Mention that, just to show that you want people to keep that in mind. This affects gender, sexuality, race, neurodivergence, and a bunch of other things.

Mention that diverse characters are welcome on your application. I've seen transgender, intersex, and non-binary people feeling so excluded from the rpc lately that they feel the need to ask roleplays if they're allowed to apply. That's ridiculous, and I think that the least that we can do as admins is try to resolve that obvious anxiety. It never hurts to mention that you welcome transgender, non-binary, and intersex characters. It never hurts to mention that you welcome body diversity, age diversity, racial diversity, neurodiversity, and any other forms of diversity that you can think of. Making a minority feel immediately welcome is never a bad thing.

Recommend diverse fcs when asked for suggestions. People come, both on and off anon, to ask admins who their most wanted characters are all of the time. Before you reply, take a look at your masterlist and really think about how you can add diversity to it. It doesn't hurt to take a few minutes to research your answer a little bit either, if you've got a roleplay that allows OC fcs.

I am always here if anyone ever wants me to look over their roleplay to make sure it's inclusive, give out advice on how to make it look more welcoming, or literally anything else you may need another person for in this regard.