hey y’all, if you’re looking for a fun and intimate, semi-private roleplay experience, please take a look below the cut because i’m doing an open-invite period for new members into a site i have that’s currently in a limited-membership soft open. i’d love it if you’d join us!
i’m currently in a testing phase for my RL roleplay site (hosted on jcink) called the neighborhood. it’s currently a close-knit community that has thirteen participating members (including myself and luxe who are on staff). we have seventeen characters amongst all of us, and we have room for about six more while the soft open is still ongoing.
we’re using the soft open as a chance to test a few features of our site that we believe set us apart from other sites. we don’t know if they’re good ideas yet, which is why we need help testing them! here’s what they are:
we don’t have a free-for-all approach to character creation in the neighborhood like most real life sites. all characters who join have to join into an existing workplace, where at least 3 other characters will also work. on the site discord, we have workplace location chats where all of the roleplayers who have characters that work together can come up with workplace dynamics, traditions and superstitions, and answer questions about the workplace that the staff ask.
the site has no set location -- it’s a generic city-adjacent neighborhood that is just referred to in and out of character as “the neighborhood.” this allows us to not get caught up in too much realism; instead, we can make the neighborhood exactly what we want.
periodically, we hold polls to determine certain things about the neighborhood. to date, we’ve had two polls: (1) what the most popular holiday attraction in the neighborhood is and (2) what winter weather in the neighborhood is like (the answers? a seasonal ice skating rink that goes up in december and a shitton of snow!)
we started the site with only two parts of the neighborhood established and 4 open workplaces. over time, based on member feedback, we’ve grown to a third part of the neighborhood with 2 new workplaces. since our usergroups correlate to the locations where the characters live, that means over time we will actually be adding usergroups as our members vote for them. the neighborhood will constantly grow and change to become what the members need and love!
we allow characters to quit their jobs and find new ones as well as moving out of the part of the neighborhood they live in to go live in a new area. all we ask is that you write a development post addressing the move and that they move to a job they’re reasonably qualified for (no 19 year old police chiefs, you know?), and you’re good to go! we think this will add a bit of vibrancy and offer ways to reimagine your character if you ever feel backed into a creative corner with them.
we require members to be in and participate in the site’s discord at least in the form of providing feedback through reactions to polls we have.
i can vouch that the community we have so far has some of the most kind and talented people i’ve ever had the pleasure of roleplaying with. we’ve all bonded over a mutual sense of feeling excluded when trying to join established sites but also feeling overwhelmed by the experience of being in pre-open site buzz tags. we’re trying -- together -- to make this a more positive experience all around. we care a lot for each other, and we want to open the doors to a few more people who maybe also want a home to call their own in rp.
we’re not asking anyone to give up sites you’re currently on or running -- all we need is 2 roleplay posts per week (no word count and rapidfire is encouraged) and participation in the discord -- and as long as you’re a kind person who’s open to meeting new people, you’re more than welcome.
you can actually take a look at the site for yourself here. it’s small, but every character gets shown some love. we believe, as a site, that most of the time roleplayers get out of a site what they put in -- but we’re not going to make you feel alone or begging for plots. that’s part of the benefit of making sure everyone joins into existing workplaces.
if you think this is a site experience that you want to try out, please feel free to visit our site discord and take a look at our site tumblr (which is still a WIP but has some great resources including a page covering our soft open rules, available usergroups, and job locations). right now, we’re currently looking for characters that will fill the following job roles:
web designer at engage marketing, a downtown marketing firm
lead tattoo artist/manager of pins & needles, a renown tattoo shop
tattoo artist/piercer at pins & needles, a renown tattoo shop claimed!
owner and/or manager at the riot lounge, a beloved local music venue claimed!
audio technician at the riot lounge, a beloved local music venue claimed!
lead host of the morning show at spectrum fm, a local radio station
barista at unbeanknownst, a trendy coffee shop claimed!
for a little more information specifically about these job locations, you can see this help wanted page on the site itself and i definitely encourage you to take a look at all of the information pages linked in the sidebar there as well.
you can also message me directly here on tumblr or on discord at astronemesis#1712 if you have any questions or concerns about joining a semi-established (but small and ready for new friends!) site. we really, really would love to have you. please consider taking a shot on us!
