I think RP Forums are coming to end, for awhile they have been the big thing on forums, and RP Forums are everywhere, but I have a feeling RP Forums will die eventually.
No forums will come to an end if people are persistent and believe in themselves. If you constantly think that something bad will happen, chances are that it will.
Being creative, imaginative and innovative will ensure your forum remains popular.
There is an audience for everything even what you may find the most boring topic in the world, say wood cutting for example there is still an audience out there.
As we have seen many times before there could be a forum that is started about a very popular niche yet it still doesn't take off if your not creative and don't put the time and effort into making your community unique and different it will come to an end regardless of the niche.
I personally think that all forums can have a shelf life if they are not maintained to the highest standard, not just RP forums. It is very difficult to compete with others when there is a multitude to choose from and finding something that is unique is a hard task, only a tiny handful of forums become so big and successful that they can thrive past a year or two. The one thing I can say is that you will never know until you give it your best shot, if you admit defeat before you've tried then it's always going to be doomed to failure.
Just like to mention I'm all for Rp forums to stick around and my new 1 be open soon. But just putting the question out there, but I have to ask what would you define as shelf life Misstake?
The "shelf life" of a forum can vary, most general chat forums tend to dwindle within a year of opening, people get bored and move on, it's only the die hard members that keep them going towards the end. Sites that discuss football/soccer seem to struggle too, as again there are just so many to compete with. Very popular TV show sites tend to fair better, even when a show ends there is still plenty to talk about. I've not had any experience of RP sites so I don't know how they progress?
I know one RP Forum that is small, doesn't have very many members, but is still a VERY popular forum. Not only do people want to take part in the forum, but some guests just go there to read the RP.
Mine will celebrate its millionth post late tomorrow. I sure don't intend to see it die. You guys ought to have a look at the proboards-invisionfree roleplaying community as well if you think it's dying...might open your eyes...
It does something that MMO's can't, which is not just play characters but tell a story that can be built on and built on. I think as long as collaborative writing is alive and well, so will roleplaying on forums.
It's not dying, but it is definitely changing. Some parts of the RP community have evolved into highly specialised roleplay of one type or another. But that just means there's more to pick from than ever.
And more people find our site by keying in "warrior cats rpg" into a search engine. Meaning that they came looking specifically for an RPG at the outset. Where there is demand there is supply =)
