]Name of Site: RPG Lounge Site Genre: Roleplaying/RPG Site URL:http://rpglounge.forumotion.com/ Type of Review ( Full/Quick ): Full Opening Date: 8/8/13 Additional Notes:
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First Impressions & Appearance – (8 out of 20)
Oh my. So today I will be reviewing the "RPG Lounge", will I? I am quite excited, as this will be the first RPG forum I've reviewed. Ever. Forum Promotion, or otherwise. It's always nice to review an entirely new genre, but why would I find this particularly enticing, one might ask? Well, the RPG genre happens to be one of my all-time favorite types of entertainment; whether it be the RPG video gaming scene, tabletop RPGs, or just general forum RPGs.
To iterate, "RPG" (not to be confused with MMORPG's) stands for "Role-Playing Game". It's a genre setting in which you, the player, takes the role of a character that you may or may not have created and use him or her to interact with an original imaginary setting. The selling point of this is, by far, the vast sense of immersion that this imaginary settings sets out to create; the player can get deeply lost in their mind, exploring all of the different aspects and elements these settings have to offer. Food for the brain, as it were. Such a setting does not appeal to all of course, but those that appreciate the POWER OF IMAGINATION AND IMMERSION!!! will find themselves enthralled with this genre. Needless to say, I am one of those individuals.
But that's enough of my relentless exposition at the moment. Let's crack this RPG forum open and see just what it has to offer in that regard. Will my mind be forever lost to the interesting settings and worlds this forum has to offer? Or will my connection to reality not even suffer a chink? Let's find out.
Sadly, I will be starting this review off with aesthetics, the element I am honestly not the least bit interested in for a genre such as this one. Oh how I anticipate the "Content" section of this review. Nonetheless, here we go. The URL has been entered into my browser, the site has been fully rendered aaaaaaaaaaaaaand...
Oh. Well this a bit underwhelming.
Hmm. Well, first of all, I'll say that these aesthetics gracing my eyes right now are not offensive. I would not even say that they're bad. However, they are leaning on the underbelly of mediocrity. These aesthetics most definitely consist of some very interesting textures, ones that don't quite comply with my monitor's resolution. It does not reach the point where it's particularly noticeable, but they do feel a bit stretched and low-quality. Furthermore, these textures are not exactly pristine. I have a hard time trying to distinguish between whether they're textures of dirt or some strange form of brown granite. The color-blending of this forum meshes very well and everything falls into place, but it's quite boring and unadventurous. There are but two primary colors: brown and light gold, not bad colors by any means, but once again, rather boring and uninspiring for the RPG genre.
Well, let's check out the header, starting with the banner; and what a banner it is. It's downright massive, with the dimensions scaled at an impressive 921 x 203; which fully consists of an interesting use of light-gold colored font reading "RPG LOUNGE", "YOUR GAMING HAVEN ON A CLOUD." sprawled over what I assume to be a stock photo pulled from a Google Image Search or Art/Wallpaper website somewhere. Stock or not, it's certainly not a bad image environment. I am not usually a fan of large banners, but in this case, the shoe fits and it's blended relatively well with the theme. There is, however, a slight anomaly in the aesthetics in which the banner doesn't quite blend well enough for a seamless transition between the theme's textures and the banner itself, but it's only barely noticeable. It's not a particularly creative banner, but it fits and it's decent enough work.
Moving on to the secondary part of the header, navigation elements, I'd have to say that while the buttons look relatively decent, text can be a bit eye-straining to make out. The text can also be...err...hang on a moment...
I...what...what does that say? It...oh. Oh, okay. It reads as "FAQ." Sorry, it just...looked like something else is all. Moving on now. Aside from the above, there is another element I must express my disdain for,
Yes, this. This is an incredibly glaring flaw with your navigational buttons. While I am certain that some individuals will not mind or will eventually get used to it, it still very much bothers me. Every time I reload the page, my attention is greedily stolen by this IRC button, or more specifically, the lack thereof. I would very much suggest alleviating this problem and add a button here. If you do not have the button template, and thereby do not have the font, copy and paste letters from the other buttons if you have to. Between all of them, you have enough to spell "Irc", "Irc Chat", or even "Irc Channel".
Beyond that, the navigation elements are decent, if slightly difficult to read.
Next up on the aesthetics critique list is the actual index itself, which makes use of the standard Forumotion design. It's been a very long time since I've used Forumotion myself, so I am not entirely certain how much of that you can edit, but I do have a few gripes. For instance, I'd have to say that actual forum design is a bit too blocky, with forum categories being all squares and no curves. There's nothing necessarily wrong with it, mind you, but it does feel rather dated, especially with HTML table separators being fully visible (the lines that separate statistical data like topics/posts and the forums themselves). And once again, the textures serve to downplay the design here a little bit, being too low-resolution and subsequently causing them to have an unattractive blurriness.
There's one last thing I do have to mention on forum design. This.
This is bloody irritating. It certainly fulfills its goal in grabbing your attention and telling you that you have unread posts in a forum, but boy do I hate blinking animations. It is honestly quite offensive to my delicate eyes, I'd even say it hurts them. And I am certain that many other delicate eyes will share the same opinion.
With all of that being said, it's certainly not a glaringly bad design or anything of the sort. Text is clearly visible and easy to read. Colors blend wonderfully, even if they're not particularly exciting. That's the only real problem with this design. It makes a genuine attempt to be higher-quality than the norm, but falls flat on its face in doing so, ending with a simply bland and boring theme that fails to impress but still serves its purpose well enough. The question to ask here is if that's enough and all that it needs, or if RPG Lounge strives to be exceptional? If the latter is true, then this theme simply will not do.
Site Layout – (12 out of 20)
Layouts, layouts, layouts. Much like aesthetics, this section is not the interesting part I want to get to, but it is an important one nonetheless. Why? Well, the RPG forum is a concept based more in complexity than your average forum genre. The more complex a genre, the more cautious one must be when creating the structure of a forum, especially one that attempts to take a unique spin on an already complex concept (though RPG Lounge does not attempt to do this). Otherwise, the structure will only confuse its users. So then. How does RPG Lounge fare in structure?
Well, let's take a look at functional structure first; how easy it is to navigate the various features of the forum. RPG Lounge runs on Forumotion's custom software, as evidenced by the URL and Forumotion branding in the footer. Therefore, it should obviously use Forumotion's site navigation, discounting any mods that may be installed. If I am to be perfectly honest, I have never been fond of Forumotion's functional navigation. I've always felt it to be a bit cluttered and even impractical. Nonetheless, it works, and it is by no means exceptionally difficult to navigate. And everything that should be there is there. So let's move on.
Next on the agenda comes the all-important index layout. As I mentioned, this is definitely important for a complex genre, and RPG is most certainly a complex genre. So is RPG Lounge's index up to snuff? I'd have to say "Not quite, but you're on the right track." This index has a pretty decent structure going for it, but it still has some kinks to work out.
The most prominent example of this would definitely be the "RPG Gaming Corner" category, which I feel to be very poorly optimized, and if I may be so bold as to say, it shows. This section is host to the most inactive forums that RPG Lounge has to offer. Posts are infrequent and spread quite thin. Sadly, I don't have any immediate recommendations for improvement, but I would suggest compressing it a little bit into more general approachable forums. For instance, is there a need for a "Tips & Tricks" forum? Normally, that would be a nice addition forum a gaming forum, but in this case, it's a bit too broad to be useful, as it applies to any RPG game which widens available choices a bit too much.
Everything else looks pretty decent in terms of structure. The "Role Playing" board has several role-playing genres that the forum userbase can participate in, along with a general roleplay discussion board. The "Improvement Lounge" is a bit short and unoptimized, but the general topics it covers are quite good. The Off-Topic forums is equipped with everything it needs, and of course, the "RPG Hub" has all the necessary essentials.
Still, even with all of that, the forum still feels as though it's lacking and I cannot quite place it. It covers several subjects but still feels as though it's not covering enough. I don't have any particular suggestions, and sadly, I believe the only way to truly fix this would be to scrap most of the index and rewrite it. But that would be a bit extreme. Still, I can't help but feel the impression that it's an incomplete puzzle.
I do hope that RPG Lounge can eventually find the all pieces and put them altogether to fully complete this structure. It's certainly not bad, but it is missing out on something.
Statistics and Activity – (13 out of 20)
I always find myself in something of a struggle to write for this section, as it's a difficult section to truly critique for. Statistics are always an unpredictable element that one cannot always easily build upon. Furthermore, it's difficult to offer suggestion for improvement beyond "Welp! Better go advertise, sonny!" Ah well. Enough of my moaning. Let's take a look at the statistics of RPG Lounge.
By all appearances, RPG Lounge was founded on August 17th, 2013. Since its creation, RPG Lounge has garnered a total of 151 registered members and 8,823 overall posts. These statistics have been gathered over the course of (almost) four months.
My consensus? *whistling* Not bad! Not bad at all, RPG Lounge. Very well done. I would not go so far as to say that these statistics are genuinely astounding, but collecting almost 10,000 posts over the course of four months is by no means a small feat. Not only that, but there is a decently active community pulling behind it. In the past 24 hours, there have been 17 active users (not including myself). While some of these users are not part of the daily community, it's clear that RPG Lounge has still gathered a strong, if small, following.
I have no critique to offer here. Just keep drawing in more community members to yourself, RPG Lounge. And I'm certain you will be just fine for quite awhile.
Content – (12 out of 20)
Oh goody goody, yes yes yes! We finally arrive at the section I've been eager to tackle ever since I began writing this review. As RPG Lounge is an RPG forum, and as its reviewer, this is literally the only section that personally matters to me. Content! The true merits of an RPG forum are based almost solely on the content it offers. And what content might that be? Why, the roleplay, of course! The interesting settings that the forum offers for all your immersion desires! And I've been denying myself the privilege of exploring RPG Lounge's roleplay settings for far too long! Let's get started!
Alright. Let's see here. There's five different genres to choose from, with a total of 54 active roleplays. Whew. It's like trying to decide between ice cream flavors. Well, I'm going to have to just take a random shot in the dark here and choose Fantasy! Now then, which roleplay to choose? "When Darkness Beckons"? That sounds interesting. Let's go with that.
The thread greets me with this...
Admin said:
When Darkness Beckons - A Fantasy RP
The flickering darkness, the casting flame, the touch of light...
OVERVIEW
I decided to make a fantasy themed roleplay, except I would like to make the one fun, but mature and serious. I would... prefer long posts here, at least with a fair bit of description.
Before you begin rolepying here, please put the link to your rp sheet in your first post here or in your forum signature so people know who your person is, etc. So, preferably, use the name you have chosen on your rp sheet so users can refer to it without the confusion.
So, this is pretty straightforward, a mature rp, if it gets 'too mature' I will move this to unrestricted roleplays section and if I see a user making awkward contributations to this rp like - 'suddenly jacky popped out of the bush, he was going on a big adventure!' <posts like that, will be deleted. The way, I would like you to post would be
'Jacky scrambled to his feet, clasping the sword with two beefy hands, he wouldn't be defeated, not today - not ever. He swung sword viciously, the blade licking the air and narrowly missing the undead corspe which groaned in front of him. Jacky cursed, jumping quickly, avoiding the skeleton's flick of steel.
Jacky pounced, putting the sword deep into the corpse then ripping it out. A shrill scream shattered the air, and a pile of bones dropped to the ground. He didn't have time to celebrate, corpses started exploding from the ground, dozens of them.'
I think I have got the general bit out of the way. 🙂
STORYLINE
The world of Galadamish (Ga-la-da-mish) is being destroyed, bit by bit, town by town, city by city. A dark force has swept over the lands, no one knows where it can from or who summoned the evil. What people do know, though, is that Galadamish is on the brink of extinction.
The king has been assassinated and all hell has broken loose. Riots spread through the land, food is getting sparse and the amount of soldiers are dropping.
Nearly the whole of Galadamish has been destroyed, except for the lands of Agash, a wealthy land guarded by the most superior of forces. Here, in the heart of Agash lies the story of a group of adventurers who's life's will change forever. The remaining survivors have been locked in the church, surrounded by knights and anyone (Over 30) willing to help defend the lands.
Here in a this church is a glimpse of hope... Some help... The darkness won't stop, it will just keep stabbing... And stabbing...
Welcome to the roleplay of shadows and fire, welcome to the beckoning darkness that shines.
HOW THE ROLEPLAY WILL BEGIN
Hopefully you know everything about this rp now, I will make the first post below. If you have any questions or queries, send me a private message.
Gandal's eyes flickered open to reveal hundreds of people, chattering, sobbing, crying. He had no family, they were taken away by the monsters. Vicious things the monsters were, some of them were skeletons, some were - Gandal erased the though quickly, lifting him self to his feet. For the past five hours, he had been sleeping on the floor of the church.
He stretched two beefy arms, cracked his knuckles and pushed through the mob of people until he reached the front of the church. This part wasn't as full, luckily. In front of Gandal was a wooden altar and a large array of candles, flickering in the breeze, dancing in the wind. Gandal knelt, slapping his two hands together as he projected his thoughts.
God, hopefully you can save us from this outbreak, this plague. Please take care of my family. God help us...
Gandal rose to his feet, holding back a torrent of tears.
Well well, that's certainly not a bad roleplay setting. A bit cliche, perhaps, but the concept is certainly interesting. And the roleplaying potential is gorgeous. The thread's original post is structured beautifully, including general guidelines and setting information. The rest of the thread is a bit slow-paced, but it's generally decent with detailed descriptions. Overall, very decent roleplay is being enacted here.
Let's check out another, shall we?
Well, I'm on a bit of a fantasy high after that last thread, so let's check out another Fantasy roleplay thread. Let's see here...Pirates of Zarpi? Sounds good, why not? Let's see what the thread has in store for me.
JustTopaz said:
Welcome RPers old and new to the re-wright of the highly popular Pirates of Zarpi. Rules:
No godmoding
No killing other people's character/s without permeation
No taking control of other people's characters
Swearing is aloud as long as it isn't to bad(like every 2nd sentence)
Make sure you are on regularly
Be serious
Try to make your post make sense(I know that sometimes you can't think of the right word it's OK but do try
Plot: Zarpi an ancient land lost in time: is a world full of mystery, wonder, secrets and most of all treasure. At the heart of the moving island Trmisy lays a huge maze-like temple lies a ancient puzzle map that shows the way to The Lost Treasure of Zarpi, many have tried and failed to obtain it. The temple is littered with the bone of the fallen.
Recently the island had been spotted East only 5 days sail away(if the winds are in sailor's faver) from a small Pirate town called Port Krizie. For one this is to big of a chance to let pass by her name is Just a elf banished from her home forest, trying to make her was to the most-wanted list. strange dream for most but not for her owning nothing but the clothes on her back, her dream, spirit and her beloved collection of knifes. she seeks to 'appropriate' http://click.dictionary.com/click/nn1ov4?clkpage=the&clksite=thes&clkld=0&clkdest=http%3A%2F%2Fthesaurus.com%2Fbrowse%2Fappropriatea ship and set sail to the moving island before it disappears again.
Not as detailed or as structured as I'd hoped, considering that last thread, but it's still got the basic essentials in guidelines and setting information. So it's not too bad at all. The roleplay, as far as I managed to read, was going pretty decently. Again, not bad at all. Pretty good roleplay.
Let's get off of Fantasy now. We'll try a different genre. Let's see here. Eenie meenie minee...Sci-Fi. I feel like Sci-Fi. Now, for the thread. "The Planets of Maldora"? We'll give it a shot.
Cpt.Nemo said:
As you might of heard there is a fantasy one of this, so I decided to make a Sci-Fi one of it.
Rules:
1. No spamming.
2. No Joining with over powered armour.
3. No swearing.
4. Have fun!!!
Back Story (might sound like the fantasy one but changed a bit)
The Planets Of Maldora were a lost race of warriors which had Armour forged from molten rock and many had went in search for them but only few came back with mortal wounds but one man went there and took a piece of their armour and came back to tell the tale. A terrible attack came on to him a few days later, losing the armour piece, he left a note for his grandson Nemo to go in search for the missing armour piece and The Planets of Maldora still away for any trespassers to come by.
A boy walk into the tavern with a destiny in his sights but he can't complete it just yet, He awaits many people to help him on his treacherous journey.
Once again, not as detailed or as structured as the first thread I read. But it, once again, covers the essentials with guidelines and setting information. *Definitely* a rather cliche backstory, but still quite some decent roleplay going on here.
I continued to explore the many roleplay threads that RPG Lounge had to offer. I wasn't able to fully read many of them, but I grasped the general idea and direction they were heading in. And I have to say, I was rather pleased with what I saw. Not everything met my quality of standard for roleplay, but the majority of these threads met with satisfactory favor from my eyes...some of them I would even deem quite enticing to partake in. One of the most pleasing aspects of this forum was the fact that most everyone within the community upheld their own standard of quality. Posts were often relatively detailed and structured with excellent grammar and spelling.
The thing that bothered me a little bit here is that RPG Lounge has quite a pristine community of roleplayers, but it doesn't seem to have much in the way of aspiration. There is a category for several genres of roleplaying and a couple discussion forums, but that's where it ends. The roleplay is there, but it doesn't try to do anything unique to set itself apart from other forums of the RPG genre. And for a genre like forum RPG, this is where one should really make an attempt to add some interesting twists to the forum's niche.
Nonetheless, this forum has some solid RPG potential. Most threads all adhere to adding basic guidelines and setting information, grammar is mostly in tip-top shape, and overall, very decent RPG settings. It could definitely stand to grow, but I certainly like where things are heading.
Spelling/Grammar & Professionalism – (12 out of 20)
Alright, time to start wrapping things up. Normally, I would be grading this section based on the standard of the staff as well as grammatically correct and interesting writing for the index and forum guidelines. However, as this is an RPG forum, I will also be rating it based on the grammatical quality of the RPG threads, of which I already touched a bit on in the previous section.
And, just as I've mentioned in the previous section, the grammatical quality of the RPG threads are all but pristine. Writing is detailed and generally interesting. Everyone in the community seems to try and ensure that their quality is at least above average, a trait that I really must admire. It can be a challenge to find a roleplaying forum that maintains such a standard, and they often tend to either completely derail or lose their quality entirely after awhile. I greatly appreciate that RPG Lounge has maintained theirs.
Moving on to the quality of forum descriptions, they're on the light and boring side. Disappointing, given the amount of effort that's clearly been placed elsewhere, but this is not a major gripe. They properly describe what the forum is used for, but I do still wish for a bit of creativity in this area.
Lastly, I have seen no issue in regards to the staff. Everyone is polite, professional and seemingly competent with their positions. Although I feel I must question the owner's decision to keep his/her name as "Admin." What's that about? I mentioned in a previous review, but this is an aspect that can only ever be negative, even if on a minor level. The owner raises the flag and keeps the community together. No one wants that individual to simply be known as "Admin." Come on, owner. Take on a face. Get a bit more personal with your community.
Well, that wraps it up. Overall, things could be better, but spelling and grammar are, at the very least, decent across the entire board.
Total Score - (57 out of 100)
Herring's Grade: C
Final Remarks:
I must say that I find this fact rather ironic, but this is my highest-rated forum to date. Ironic, because it runs on Forumotion, making what the owner can do with the forum somewhat limited. A little easier, but limited. And I would like to state that while a 57 sounds bad, it most certainly is not. 60/100 would be a pretty good review from me, and RPG Lounge is a mere three points away from that rating. That being said, 57/100 is by no means an excellent rating. I'd say I could summarize it as "Slightly above average."
While it does have its share of flaws, RPG Lounge shines where it really counts: the RPG content. It isn't the best RPG board I've ever visited, but it is definitely decent, and I really admire at how its RPG content maintains a certain quality standard. Everything is (mostly) grammatically correct. The roleplay threads may lean on the cliche (and occasionally cheesy) side, but they're very decent, and I believe I would not be unhappy to participate in them.
Sadly, this is also the only area where it really shines. Everything else is either average or sub-par. I am delighted to say that there are no critical weaknesses here, but nothing really stands out either. The roleplay may be pretty good, but there's nothing unique about it. Statistics are also pretty good, but nothing to brag about. And the worst part, I feel, would definitely be the aesthetics...otherwise known as the general design of this forum. It does not offend me, but it is quite unattractive; complete with slightly blurry and hideous textures, an uninspired color scheme, an uncreative banner and blocky forum design.
Nevertheless, I was reasonably satisfied with this forum. While I may not have been genuinely impressed, I did myself somewhat tempted to fully join and become a member, but I'm afraid it simply doesn't stand out enough for me to really consider the idea. Still, as I've mentioned, this is indeed the forum I've rated highest in all my reviews with Forum Promotion, and that definitely counts for something. Congratulations, RPG Lounge. Whatever road you travel, whatever path you walk, I wish you the best in success. Good luck.
Red Herring, signing off.
Strengths:
- Statistics & Community - Very Decent RPG Threads - No Critical Weaknesses
Weaknesses:
- Boring Design - Lacking In Unique Content
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