New Crossovers RP Layout and stuuuuff!

[Manestream]

Hey Everypony! It feels like forever since I was last able to sit down, shake off the coffee grounds from work, and post something about the board!

I wish I had the time to do daily updates- Celestia knows there is enough going on that I easily could. Anyway, Luna is best pony because she inspires me to not sleep and POST PONIES. Maybe I can get Artax to make another Luna smiley isn't enough!

On to the actual news:

Many of you have probably noticed by now, that the RP section of the board has undergone some major re-arranging. Here is an easy breakdown of the major changes so everypony knows where they can find everything, and what its for:

Changes Made:

-The Crossover's section has been COMPLETELY re-imagined. The Crossover forums now include 3 main sub-forums:

[*:2uv1mgx3]Equestria - On The Horizon [Future]
[*:2uv1mgx3] Equestria - The Golden Years [Present]
[*:2uv1mgx3] Equestria - Long Forgotton [Past]

These new forums all work like the Mane RP in that they are based on the same FiM Equestria RP Layout. What is different about these new crossover forums is that they are not restricted by the same adherance to canon that the Mane RP requires- meaning that the crossovers are the perfect place for new ideas, test-bed locations, or 'universe' crossovers with other shows/comics/games/whatever you can imagine.

But what the heck do the [Future], [Present], and [Past] Tags mean? Well, I am so glad you thought to ask! Each of the crossovers take place in a different time setting; Equestria 1000 years in the future, Equestria as we currently know it (exactly where the show leaves off in the present), and Equestria's long forgotten past, 1000 years ago and/or even before the conflict between Celestia and Nightmare moon. I feel this will help organize a lot of crossover RP's of like elements; space odyssey, technological ponies, and Princess Twilight RP's can be found in Equestria's [Future] Rp. Rp's where Mane cast are transported to other worlds, or other worlds end up in Equestria all belong in the [Present] Equestria Rp; and finally any medieval, ancient pre-Celestia/Luna or wild/unsettled Equestria RP's can be found in Equestria's [Past] Rp.

I think this is a much more inviting setup for crossovers, and will encourage some well thought-out and interesting RP's, rather than the 'cast aside' feeling that crossovers had in the past. I can tell you ponies now that some of our board-wide events will be based off of (and set some guidelines) for the [Future], [Present], and [Past] Rp's; and some of them are sounding pretty exciting; but more on that when the time comes

- I have created a 'Crossover RPers' group for those ponies who have a Crossover App approved, but no Mane RP application approved. This allows you to RP and post in the Crossover forums, as well as the crossover OOC chat, but not in the Mane RP or the Private RP. Those are reserved for when you have an OC approved for the Mane RP; but now you are not required to have a Mane RP OC in order to RP in the crossovers. Hopefully this will be a solution for those of you who are not keen on having to create a Mane OC just to get your Crossover OC approved.

-All the OOC chats are now neatly organized in their own category- OOC Discussion. Here you can find OOC chatter for the Mane RP (general), Crossover Rp's, and private RP's.

-I have created a Category/Forum for past RP events to be stored in. This way all users can revisit RP events and read up on all the awesome memories and cool things we've already done. These forums will be primarily locked, or restricted to users from creating new topics/posts. The idea is to keep these things special ;} But know they have a place and all your hard work RP'ing wont just 'dissappear'.

Changes Coming:

I will be working on redesigning the Mane RP forum setup. I have considered this for a long time, and feel that the current setup is a bit confusing. The new layout will likely have subforums for every city in a region, amongst subforums for the most prominent of landmarks (Everfree forest, Dragon Mountain, Whitetail Wood, whathaveyouetc). If that doesn't make sense now, it will eventually. Just know that change is coming on the horizon for that as well.

Other News:

We have been discussing changes to some rules, posting guidelines, and well, everything honestly. Artax has also implemented a really cool Tab system here on the forums that I have yet to master, but it makes long posts about rules and stuff really easy to read. Keep an eye out for that, and our updated material as it comes out.

Oh, and I will be posting a contest within a day or so as well; but seeing as it is 1:30 AM, and I work two jobs tomorrow, it is time for bed!

See you soon everypony, and hope you enjoy the changes!

[Hippo]

I like the notion of not having to have a OC approved for Mane RP in order to post in the cross-over forum.

The only thing that worries me is the content in the Crossovers as it relates to the other RP sections. Maybe this is just me, but I would hate to think that the lack of 'approval' for characters in the Crossover threads and the 'anything goes' mentality doesn't spin out of control and cause the Crossover forum to become a less professional forum. The crossover forum should be used to encourage RP newbies to the RP culture, since we value quality posts in the Mane RP. But it would be unfortunate if the Crossover threads became less of a great opportunity to let one's imagination run around and more of a connotation that a Crossover RP is 'not as good' as a Mane RP.

I guess what I'm trying to say is I don't want the Crossover forum to become a "trash forum" where all the rejected RP stories go.

I'm probably alone on this thought, but I thought I share the comment.

[Mojo]

I like the notion of not having to have a OC approved for Mane RP in order to post in the cross-over forum.

The only thing that worries me is the content in the Crossovers as it relates to the other RP sections. Maybe this is just me, but I would hate to think that the lack of 'approval' for characters in the Crossover threads and the 'anything goes' mentality doesn't spin out of control and cause the Crossover forum to become a less professional forum. The crossover forum should be used to encourage RP newbies to the RP culture, since we value quality posts in the Mane RP. But it would be unfortunate if the Crossover threads became less of a great opportunity to let one's imagination run around and more of a connotation that a Crossover RP is 'not as good' as a Mane RP.

I guess what I'm trying to say is I don't want the Crossover forum to become a "trash forum" where all the rejected RP stories go.

I'm probably alone on this thought, but I thought I share the comment.

You are NOT alone, fellow Brony!

I am THRILLED that Canterlot.com has a Crossover RP section! I do NOT consider this a 'throw away' forum. To me, it is a grand opportunity to bring in characters, ideas and plotlines that expand the 'bounds' of the set Equestria universe.

There are two proposed Crossover threads I plan on joining when they are started!

Thank you, Manestream, for establishing this fantastic opportunity for adventurous, creative MLP FiM fans!

[Manestream]

I guess what I'm trying to say is I don't want the Crossover forum to become a "trash forum" where all the rejected RP stories go.

I'm probably alone on this thought, but I thought I share the comment.

You arent alone, as this was certainly our concern with the original crossovers forum; and it *was* largely treated in the past as an RP forum that we 'couldn't handle'. As our RP is getting bigger though, I think that we can start dedicating staff to the crossover forums as well. Really, this is a combined concern with another element the staff has noticed- that the community has expressed.

Our "Mane" RP was built to stay as Canon as possible to the show. I believe its original intent was to attract more intense and serious RP'ers interested in RPing within the actual show element, without deviating too far from it. To build that, the applications and guidelines were created- Equestria suddenly had to have a lot of rules, Mary-sue characters had to be sorted out, nuances on things like location, profession, etc etc all became important in order to keep that standard- in short, it became very selective and a bit 'picky' or 'strict'.

Some of the staff have commented on feeling picky or difficult when trying to work out applications with users, and often run the fear that they are (which, indeed, at times I have required them to be). While this is all very well and good for the Mane RP and the more serious/hardcore RP'ers, it is not so good for the casual RPer, or beginning RPer, and sometimes comes off as pretty intimidating.

*My* vision of the Canterlot boards is a place where *anyone* can RP, of any skill level, and it has become increasingly apparent to me that the Mane RP is not all inclusive because of its 'strict' standards- and lets face it, not everyone WANTS to put in THAT much work just to get started RP'ing. It was my fear that this would eventually start leading casual RP'ers away from us.

Thus, the re-imagining of the Crossovers- which in a way should almost be re-named to Casual RP. The hope/idea of the Crossovers was to not have an 'anything goes' RP that would result in trashy RP- but rather an open ended more Casual RP that is not limited by strict adherence to canon elements. However, leaving an RP open ended and casual makes it hard to also 'patrol' for quality. I know I will be creating an ettiquette guide for the Crossovers that will explain how the crossovers are intended to work. Instead of having the staff try to set a bar for everyone to meet, (we do have a bar, but it is a basic one); it will be largely up to users to define in their opening threads the kind of post length, quality, and involvement of the RP they expect for their topic.

In this way, the staff upholds the "Mane Canon" RP, and users can define their own standards for the RP in "Casual/Crossover" RP. The crossovers are certainly NOT a place for discarded RP, and the staff will be involved in helping define the Crossover setting much like we have drawn up the world for the Mane Equestria RP. The cool thing is that the Crossovers are much more casual meaning we are open to implementing user ideas. We still want quality ideas- and will drive you all for quality; but we will not be saying "No, that doesnt belong in the RP because it is not Canon."

If the Casual/Crossover RP gets big enough (depending entirely on how it evolves as you all use it), then we may end up seperating and re-defining it further- or implementing entire sections of 'crossover elements' (locations, species, etc) into the "Mane RP", and dubbing it 'canon'.

Really, think of the crossovers as flexible- definetly NOT a trash dump! HofE is eventually geared for the crossovers as a board-wide event; and thats my pet project; so the proof is in the pudding ;}

[Hippo]

I love that it was and is a concern. May I make a suggestion of changing the forum name? Perhaps "Crossover" is too inviting of misfit categories. I feel that the best interested RP that exist in the thread can be considered "Modified Canon".

I can't really imagine what other names you could call it, but it's just a suggestion.

[BaconofChaos]

Ooh, walls of text

Okay, so I like the new crossover layout thing, and I'm glad work is being done of the main RP layout since at the moment it's a bit... how should I put this... cramped? Like, it used to be wide open and now it feels crushed. Does that make sense?

I'm glad to hear that crossovers aren't simply a place to dump RPs no one else wants. I'm a little confused about Crossovers and Apps at the moment, so hopefully that will be addressed. Do we need approval or not? If so, how many helpstaffers need to give the go-ahead? Stuff like that.

I have a thought on the name. What if we called it "Free RP" and then added a separate Crossover section to it? I think Free RP gives the right feel to it. Casual RP could work too, but for some reason it feels like that would invite the kind of "anything goes" RP you're looking to avoid. Maybe that's just me, I dunno. The Crossover section would then be specifically for mixing worlds and stories with MLP. Makes it a little more obvious where things go. What do you think?

[BlindJester]

From Princess Mane:

I think you both have very good suggestions. I've given it a lot of thought already, but perhaps I need to give it a little more.

Crossover apps do require 'approval', but I use that very loosely. Staff will check apps to make sure they don't have any offensive content in them, and that all basic fields are filled in. If the creator asks for help/ review, then feedback can be issued, but as long as all basic fields are filled out correctly, any crossover app in question will be accepted. Any rp helpstaff has the power to approve crossover apps, so the wait on crossover apps should be *very* minimal, if non-existent.

If it is a users first OC of any type though, they will have to wait until I can add them to the crossover rp group.

[BaconofChaos]

Something else I thought of that might need looking at later (no rush): Do we really need the Private RP board? I know some people have been using it, but really, if you want to make an RP invite only, you can just put a [Closed] or [invite Only] tag in the main RP section. People know not to intrude on those topics.

I know one aspect of the Private board is that you can play whatever characters you want (after all, that's what I'm setting up for my Maid RPG) but it seems like this could probably be merged in with the Crossover/Casual/Whatever board with little problem. On the other hoof maybe if we wanted we could have truly private RP i.e. RP topics that can only be read by those who are invited to it (and the mods, for obvious reasons). I don't know if that kinda thing is possible on the boards.

Well anyway, that's my two cents bits. If I've missed the point, do let me know