Just how involved are your players in maintaining your various wikis?
I got the impression that such things were mostly collaborative, with GMs tackling the bigger issues such as adventures logs and campaign data, while players maintain fairly fleshed out character pages, but then I see campaign entries that appear to be one-man jobs.
I myself haven't really gotten much in terms of support from my own players when it comes to updating, mostly due to time constraints, so I've been soloing much of my own campaign. However, I was just curious about what constituted the standard for player involvement for some of the other more established campaigns.
I've had a campaign on Obsidian Portal for two weeks. My initial hope was that a wiki would make player contributions more likely. However, so far the only players that have contributed are the ones who already contributed the most ideas, direction, and creativity before the move to Obsidian Portal. But it is still early in this process, and I think the active players may be able to coax the others to post material, especially because they can do it on their own time and without my oversight.
Even if the players did nothing, it still would be worth it to me. This is much easier than updating the static campaign web site I maintained.
My players have started to register, but I've basically been informed that updating my campaign wiki is something I'm going to have to do on my own. Between finding time to play, work, and their own campaigns, there just isn't enough time. However, since I'm also planning on fleshing out my areas in their campaigns as they get set up over the next few weeks, I expect them to eventually start doing the same.
I agree, though- even if I end up one-manning the entire project, it's worth it to preserve the history of it all. I personally enjoy things like these, so it gives me a little side project to work on when I have some down time.
Look at point 2 from this post: http://www.treasuretables.org/2005/07/running-a-campaign-website
I find that the best way to get players involved is the carrot vs stick approach. Either reward or punish them for not participating, but don't take it too far.
For us, I assign (or ask for a volunteer) for a note-taker at the beginning of each session. It's their job to take the notes and put up an adventure log posting. The rule is as follows: I give out XP within 24 hours of the blog posting being added. No blog, no XP. Considering the work that I put in as DM, asking for them to do this once per 4 sessions (ie ~ 1/month) is not too much.
it really depends on the players. One of them is active putting in the info. The others only update when necessary. I wouldn't worry too much about it. I essentially have the character sheets if somebody is missing. Our rule is the group plays the missing guy.
I'm happy if my players keep their characters updated, and it was an uphill struggle the first few months getting them all set up on Obsidian Portal. Now, one of my players is using OP for his own campaign. He also occasionally adds stuff to the Adventure Log, but pretty much everything else is updated by Yours Truly. I prefer it this way, because I don't have to worry about my players messing around with my organizational scheme.
Pretty much everything is updated by me... My players are... content to let me do the organization. Actually it can be difficult to get them to look at this site (though Solikawa checks in from time to time). My game is across the table so I think there's a big gap of interest.
I have found Obsidian Portal a good tabletop tool though for when I need to find an NPC's info without cluttering my laptop with endless word documents.
the Online SRD and OP are quickly becoming favored resources.
In general OP is sort of my obsession, not my players :(
After a very slow start in terms of player involvement, I've seen a lot of player activity in the last week. A couple journals were put up, four of the five players have put up some character background, and one even created the airship he hopes they will one day acquire. I think, to some extent, the players are now doing it for each other, in the hope this information will help make stronger group cohesion.
I would see journal entries as being an important part of playing a character, it helps develop as well as adds depth and perception to the character's point of view. Though it's quite a bit more tedious than just playing. Just a suggestion, but if you want to coax your players to be a bit more involved, start awarding an XP bonus for the most elaborate, detailed, etc. journal entry... or maybe a "luck bonus" of some sort in the next game session.
I've always found a little bit of incentive goes a long way to player dedication.
I just started my Wiki tonight, and have now invested about 7 hours in putting in all of my NPCs and their details. I don't expect that my players will ever spend nearly as much time as I just have on the site - but I am going to get them to at least create accounts and track their characters. My goal is to use the site to keep track of their inventories, goals, etc.
My intent has always been to award additional XP for helping to take notes, create maps, etc - because as a GM, player involvement in those things really means a lot to me. I also give my players "Roleplaying Points" whenever they do something that really furthers the RP aspects of the game, and I will certainly pass those out for involvement in expanding our game Wiki.
It helps that I have some very computer savvy and interested players, as well. :)
My DM took the anachronism, technophobe, and any other flaw similar to that when he was born. We're convinced he's some kind of entropy mage. In any case, he managed to make a few NPCs and pages for our game (Sins of the Father), along with a description of the game itself. But he's been so busy that he hasn't been able to do anything else, sol I've been adding to the game myself. I'm just a player, but I've done the majority of it (with limited info from the DM and other players.. it's been tough!) Sadly enough, the other two players have barely even looked at the game, and I'm not sure if the DM has either, but they are very busy, so. :/
bq. My DM took the anachronism, technophobe, and any other flaw similar to that when he was born. We’re convinced he’s some kind of entropy mage. In any case, he managed to make a few NPCs and pages for our game (Sins of the Father), along with a description of the game itself. But he’s been so busy that he hasn’t been able to do anything else, sol I’ve been adding to the game myself. I’m just a player, but I’ve done the majority of it (with limited info from the DM and other players.. it’s been tough!) Sadly enough, the other two players have barely even looked at the game, and I’m not sure if the DM has either, but they are very busy, so. :/
That's a shame, really. But, if it is any consolation, your campaign always looks very well organized and put together.
Since I was the one who discovered OP and got all excited about it, I've been the one helping my GM get notes online. This past weekend, I actually (gasp) _touched his book of notes_ and created bare-bones files for all his major NPCs (there's something between 60 and 80 of them). I then also made a post in the adventure log that lists all the major world settings he has ever created, with lovely red wiki links.
My hope is that he can take that bare-bones start and begin filling in all the "fluff" information. There are also plans to write down major epochs in the Yggdraverse's history, but the GM has already said that sort of stuff won't even come to mind until he starts fleshing out the NPCs.
I don't know if we'll ever use OP to actually keep running track of a running campaign. Of the two of his I'm in, one is nearing its end and one is far enough along that any sort of attempt to document happenings thus far would be sparse and probably pretty cryptic to outsiders. He was going to start a new one soon, but now he's talking about just weaving that particular set of plots into the second campaign.
Comments
I got the impression that such things were mostly collaborative, with GMs tackling the bigger issues such as adventures logs and campaign data, while players maintain fairly fleshed out character pages, but then I see campaign entries that appear to be one-man jobs.
I myself haven't really gotten much in terms of support from my own players when it comes to updating, mostly due to time constraints, so I've been soloing much of my own campaign. However, I was just curious about what constituted the standard for player involvement for some of the other more established campaigns.
Even if the players did nothing, it still would be worth it to me. This is much easier than updating the static campaign web site I maintained.
I agree, though- even if I end up one-manning the entire project, it's worth it to preserve the history of it all. I personally enjoy things like these, so it gives me a little side project to work on when I have some down time.
I find that the best way to get players involved is the carrot vs stick approach. Either reward or punish them for not participating, but don't take it too far.
For us, I assign (or ask for a volunteer) for a note-taker at the beginning of each session. It's their job to take the notes and put up an adventure log posting. The rule is as follows: I give out XP within 24 hours of the blog posting being added. No blog, no XP. Considering the work that I put in as DM, asking for them to do this once per 4 sessions (ie ~ 1/month) is not too much.
I have found Obsidian Portal a good tabletop tool though for when I need to find an NPC's info without cluttering my laptop with endless word documents.
the Online SRD and OP are quickly becoming favored resources.
In general OP is sort of my obsession, not my players :(
I would see journal entries as being an important part of playing a character, it helps develop as well as adds depth and perception to the character's point of view. Though it's quite a bit more tedious than just playing. Just a suggestion, but if you want to coax your players to be a bit more involved, start awarding an XP bonus for the most elaborate, detailed, etc. journal entry... or maybe a "luck bonus" of some sort in the next game session.
I've always found a little bit of incentive goes a long way to player dedication.
My intent has always been to award additional XP for helping to take notes, create maps, etc - because as a GM, player involvement in those things really means a lot to me. I also give my players "Roleplaying Points" whenever they do something that really furthers the RP aspects of the game, and I will certainly pass those out for involvement in expanding our game Wiki.
It helps that I have some very computer savvy and interested players, as well. :)
That's a shame, really. But, if it is any consolation, your campaign always looks very well organized and put together.
My hope is that he can take that bare-bones start and begin filling in all the "fluff" information. There are also plans to write down major epochs in the Yggdraverse's history, but the GM has already said that sort of stuff won't even come to mind until he starts fleshing out the NPCs.
I don't know if we'll ever use OP to actually keep running track of a running campaign. Of the two of his I'm in, one is nearing its end and one is far enough along that any sort of attempt to document happenings thus far would be sparse and probably pretty cryptic to outsiders. He was going to start a new one soon, but now he's talking about just weaving that particular set of plots into the second campaign.