[ADVICE] - Running a family / activity

[_ImHere4You_]

SO!!! As some of you know, I am the lead of the Ai-Family. However, in the recent months, It seems that the family is inactive. Now, most of this is really chalked up to the HUUUUGEEE difference in timezones amongst family members (Which I attempted to reduce by creating a little activity channel to help everyone see when are the times members of the family are around) that makes it a DIFFICULT job to ever try and conduct a meeting or an event- and if does work for people, it ends up interferring with the SCHOOL-DAY and icly timing </3 (and also, the period where I had to get off the family for around a month due to exams and graduation)

There was also a struggle mainly with motiviation amongst members(not all, but somehow most) - and due to how different my own timezone is from like, everyone else, it was harder for me to even catch people online on their characters without it being absurdly late

THIS is the current situiation at the moment. Or atleast what I've gathered, and I truly don't want the family to die out or fade off-- so, this is why I am here. What advice could you provide for this? What really bums me down is most of this is really out of control, the timezones aspect and intererring with IC-ly timing- What I do want though is advice on bringing back motivation within the family!! Which I believe will help it stand back up even if timezones are different <3


(I am also partially to blame, as I wasn't active on my LEAD character due to my own struggle with the faculty faction and keeping up with the activity) (guys don't be scared facutly is fucking awesome I just wasn't able t keep up <3)

So, putting all this into perspective, what can you lot tell me as advice ?? or even critisim of how this all works.
ik this all looks miserable but i refuse to let go of this family i have such awesome people within that i don't want to let down

 

[GoodbyeRanden]

I am the lead of my own family [Kagami Family] I too have the same thing, but one thing I would keep in mind is the date and month as some times throughout certain months people start or end school earlier then others. Another thing I do personally is I try to make myself more approachable via dms rather then having a whole channel dedicated to Inactivity as sometimes people would rather be private about it. As this allows you to become more approachable. I am rather laidback when it comes to inactivity and I'm also aware that people go through similar circumstances. One thing I do well some other families, we have a period of time where it's a Purge where if people don't respond to an announcement within a set period of time, they'll be removed from the family. But event then it's always best to have communication with members and make yourself approachable in a not so stern way. Then again these are things that work out with me, and may not always go to plan. For Events I would make it occasional rather then consistent, like I would have my own family events be based around pre-existing official events if you want one. (obviously also getting notes on who might attend or not)

In the end I'd focus more on having fun as a family rather then being super uptight with inactivity. Personally I don't want to treat being in a family like being in a Faction, but rather a safe resort for people can chill and have RP moments.

 

[_ImHere4You_]

I am the lead of my own family [Kagami Family] I too have the same thing, but one thing I would keep in mind is the date and month as some times throughout certain months people start or end school earlier then others. Another thing I do personally is I try to make myself more approachable via dms rather then having a whole channel dedicated to Inactivity as sometimes people would rather be private about it. As this allows you to become more approachable. I am rather laidback when it comes to inactivity and I'm also aware that people go through similar circumstances. One thing I do well some other families, we have a period of time where it's a Purge where if people don't respond to an announcement within a set period of time, they'll be removed from the family. But event then it's always best to have communication with members and make yourself approachable in a not so stern way. Then again these are things that work out with me, and may not always go to plan. For Events I would make it occasional rather then consistent, like I would have my own family events be based around pre-existing official events if you want one. (obviously also getting notes on who might attend or not)

In the end I'd focus more on having fun as a family rather then being super uptight with inactivity. Personally I don't want to treat being in a family like being in a Faction, but rather a safe resort for people can chill and have RP moments.

i don't mean to come off as strict not at all!! thankfully i have such awesome family members and a fairly limited roster of people !!
also, can you elaborate on pre-existing official events??

 

[GoodbyeRanden]

also, can you elaborate on pre-existing official events??

Pre-existing events as in events that are scheduled out by the Event team.

For instance the Gothic Ball event, you could have a family gather during the event dressed in a gothic attire. Or a Summer Festival where people from the Ai family gather around. Generally any events scheduled by the Event team and announced on the RPHub discord server you could make a family event around that.

 

[urufu]

Co-Lead of Akiyama here!!

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I get what you mean with struggles of inactivity and motivation. The family me, Frenzy, and Kinyuun run has the exact same problem, though this stemmed mostly from the three of us not really catering to the family like we should have been. In its prime though, events were the way to go. Little things like group trips or a ritual at the shrine; anything that builds motivation will keep your family active.
Another main thing is the members in the family itself. Families that do not accept new members will not last long, this is because they usually end up consisting of friends and friends-of-friends, and the sad truth is a lot of them will simply make a throwaway character to be involved... HOWEVER! There are many many people who are interested in finding a long term family, so it is VERY important that you allow people the chance to join in!

 

[DarkEclipic]

Hey!! Zennix Head, Mori Head, and Hanazono Co-Head(and other families) here!

Having families on SRP and for them to be 'active' will always be off and on depending on what is going on, how intensive you are with the family, and so on. Even with my own families, it is a struggle on keeping a family extremely active and things. So, what you could do is schedule events, oocly hangouts, and stuff like that! Allow them to put characters of theirs into factions or (depending on how your family deals with crime) maybe let them get involved in some type of crime if that is something they wish to do. From my knowledge, don't limit them. Always have a rule of 'fuck around and find out' when it comes to ICLY situations. and from my experience, keep everything in character AS POSSIBLE besides arranging times for events, goofing around, and stuff like that. This doesnt work with all families, but this is how I see long-term families last on SRP is having those types of rules.

 

[Benspudgydad]

Wave wave!!! Co-Lead of Watchers here (Kinda main lead right neow but shrug)
OKAY, so the FIRST thing you HAVE to have to keep your family active is WELL-KNOWN ADULTS. For example, say you had 3 Abe Irwins in your family and 3 Moriel Maengs; these two figures are WELL known and are more likely to be asked if they can be adopted/join the family. So in my personal experience, it's little to nothing about OOCLY meetups; it's more about WHO is in your family and if they are willing to interact with the kids and stick with the vibe of the family and contribute to the family. This actually makes your family attractive to newer/older players, as if you have well-known people in the family, outsiders MAY be more encouraged to join. SO Second bit of advice here!! Have some sort of beef, icily, with SOMETHING… This may/will motivate people to be better than that group, meaning that sure, beef isn't good, but it sparks up motivation to be more active to beat the group. The THIRD bit of advice is simply having applications open 24/7!!! If your applications and players are limited to a certain amount, people will feel restricted about joining. Plus, if the application is long and rather time-consuming (WHICH YOU REALLY SHOULDN'T DO AS NO ONE WILL APPLY), they will just not bother. So moving onto my fourth bit of advice, applications… Siiiiigh – Personally I HATE family applications, as they DO NOT show the personality of the character nor if they will be active, so personally I've implemented a more practical way to join a family (which has worked greatly) and a normal-ish application. SO my fifth and FINAL bit of advice is asking your players WHEN they can show for events and if they want said event. If you do this, you can easily make your player base think they can choose when events are, etc.
I hope this makes sense and helps.
Just remember this, recruiting people who are well known is good but as soon as they go inactive you wont live as a family. A family depends on in character interaction and an out of character community.