[SIFR]

Simple scenario. You're on a roleplaying board that has some kind of combat. It could be anything; medieval fantasy, magical girls, post-apocalypse, pirates in the Caribbean, Hunger Games, Harry Potter, Pokemon- the list goes on and on of setting with potential combat scenarios driving their plots.

Now the question is, do you prefer to have numbers, statistics, dice or the like guide your character's power, or do you prefer sites where people trust each other not to godmod and these scenes are scripted and written out?

Why or why not?

[Egao, Egao Everywhere]

Because it's a roleplaying board, I probably won't be taking it that seriously. Having no stats would be more convenient and we'll just do everything on the spot and it would be hilarious. Besides, since it would be face-to-face, you can always point out flaws. That's one thing with having a monitor wall between communication in the Internet. It is much easier to talk to each other face-to-face, because some things just sink in subconsciously without the need to spell it out.

[Starry Neko]

I personally dislike stats. I was on a Naruto site that did them horribly (Like literally if you were only one 'number' below, you would automatically lose) and that just gave me a bad taste ever since. I know that it's personally not like that on every site, but I would like to see some more freeform because it's just easier for me personally. I know my character is going to lose, I know my character is going to probably going to get their behind handed to them.

Most people I've met- even people I dislike - have some maturity to keep this in line. Their characters might be blah to me or I might not like them- but we have a mutual respect not to try to murder each other's characters in horribly godmodded situations. The less stats you have, the easier it is to translate to all kinds of people, in my personal opinion.

I feel like it's clunky and unreal - as I mostly play with logic and emotional bases for the characters more so than the physical kit. I don't really care if a character can lift more than another - or another one would be swinging a sword better than the other. I personally find it a bit halting in game- and while I can understand some limitations and whatever for logical progression, assigning numbers to them pulls me out of the immersion I guess.

However some people like playing with stats and I've heard a reason such as, "It makes it feel like an actual game." which I guess could make sense for some. They like customizing their characters and enjoying feeling like they're 'building' something with real base stats and playing a game more like a MMO/something similar. I've had people honestly tell me it's the best situation wise so everyone knows their characters aren't equal.

So I guess it's more who you want to attract and what you feel builds the game. I'm not completely against joining a game with simple stats, but I'm also not going to go out and actively look for one either.

[Deleted]

I feel it personally depends fully on the site, but if you're concerned about being fair for certain things there are other ways to go about it than using hard numbers and stats if you're looking to say, kill monsters that have X HP or something on a site like that.

But personally I did one site with a dice system and stats and some people who popped in were kind of ehhh with it which was understandable but others who did join were fairly content with it as it only applied to some specific events that were site/plot relevant.

Though I won't lie after that closed I had stumbled across many sites with systems and to be honest even I was a little wary of it after my own site using it. Preferably I like no system now as a whole, trust your member base to play fair but if time and time again for certain things they don't play fair, then I can see implementing a system if only for a bit.

But again after my own using and experiencing other sites with systems, I enjoy just the creative freedom of being allowed to 1) not use hard numbers or specifics and 2) be as creative and free as I like with whatever the site allows. I play fair and I honestly don't care if things turn out with me winning or losing, I just want to enjoy my time rping.

[Elena]

We are a pirate site, having had battles and duels for four years and a half. I prefer freeform, with people commounicating and negotiating the main outcomes, so that they write a coherent story. Because the objective is for us together to write a good adventure story, and some of the battles were with 25+ characters and NPCs.

I think the stats and systems and judging are taking from the writers' freedom, pushing the story into hazard,instead of logical developments negotiated by all the writing partners together.

We are researching the strategy of the period, the battles which happened then, we adapt them to our stories, we discuss, given the technical possibilities of each ship and the direction we want the story to take, which is the winner, which is the loser, and which are the main damages (so that everybody writes in the same direction), then the details are at each writer's imagination.

[katya]

My fondness for systems is probably well documented. That being said, I'd typically vote no systems.

Firstly, I think they're a turn off both to people that don't like systems (and there's plenty of reasons not to) and to people that just don't want to read all those damn system rules. For a lot of sites, it's NOT GOOD to have a built-in turn off when most places are struggling for members. If you have even a moderately niche concept, it's not a good idea to further your limit prospective members.

Secondly, they're often completely unnecessary. If you already have rules against godmodding and powerplay, for god's sake, just use those rules. Someone wants to use five hi-ougis or whatever supermoves in one post? That's absurd. Tell them so based on rules that you've already got. Characters are dodge monkeys and completely invulnerable somehow? Tell them that's ridiculous too. You don't need a system to make people be decent rpers.

Thirdly, most systems I see suck. This kinda comes hand-in-hand with the above. If your system's short and sweet, you probably don't actually need it, so it's just unnecessary micromanaging. If your system is complex, then refer back to my first point. There's just no damn winning.

There are good (even great!) reasons to have combat systems. You not only have to expect a lot of combat, but it has to be combat that matters, where who wins or loses is somehow important to more than just the characters in the thread. Usually, this means sites with leveling and exp gain, so systems can easily find a natural place on MMO and pokemon sites, for example. For war or otherwise faction based sites, where a win or a loss in one battle could heavily change the site plot, it's up to you whether you think an orderly way to handle combat is actually beneficial. Often it is!

As an aside, I think stats and systems are separate. I did a stat-free system-heavy pokemon site. It had it's pros and cons. No numbers, but lots of strategy. I've also played at stat-heavy system-free sites, where you had stats to determine power levels and to compare strengths/weaknesses, but otherwise it was completely freeform combat. Both work fine if it's the right site and player base for it.

BUT THE MOST IMPORTANT THING ABOUT SYSTEMS, you can change your systems if they don't work. You can add, adjust, remove, buff, nerf, whatever. Roleplaying is a game, and games need bug fixes sometimes. If you're just opening a site and using systems, you should expect that there's going to be issues. That's 100% normal, and you can just smooth them out. Typically, staff should follow their own rules, but when it comes to systems, staff are above the law. The system should work for your site, and go ahead and mess with it until it does. Don't shoehorn your site to fit what you've got if it isn't working.

[Antiviral]

Katya basically said everything I was going to say when I saw this thread, and it's definitely one of those issues where there's no right or wrong way to do it. A .hack// site will benefit more from stats than say a Harry Potter site, even if they could both see combat.

Regardless, I think that no stats system should be as rigid as the one that Starry Neko mentioned. Even in video games, with luck on your side, you can end up winning a battle with under-leveled characters. It's not impossible to have stats, but still allow some level of freeform, and I think that's a fact that many people tend to forget these days when making systems.

Stats should always be a guideline not a rule. Making them rigid stifles creativity, and while roleplaying is a game, it shouldn't be all about the stats. Even in a dice tabletop game, you can get lucky and roll to beat the baddy despite being hilariously under-leveled, and I think those are the most satisfying moments, tbh; where a stats system ends up giving you surprising victories.