I'm going to address each of your points individually so that I can keep better track of my thoughts.
If anything I say is unclear here, I apologise -- I'm not feeling well and my brain is a bit foggy. I'd be more than happy to rephrase if there's something that isn't particularly clear!
I know you're not
trying to do this, what I'm saying is that is the
result. Roleplayers in your genre (and most RPers in
general, this is far from an isolated case), expect to be able to look at a forum and decide if they want to explore it
without clicking. Remember: it takes 10-30 seconds (
source,
source,
source, to name a few) for someone to decide to
stay on a web page.
The advantage that other forums have is that their plot, or at least a small part of it, is readily available + they generally have a brief explanation as to what their forum playstyle is also readily available. You do not; a guest / prospective member has to spend more time on your forum than a competing forum to find out what it's about.
Taking any of the forums I provided as an example, I can find out what their plot is in about five seconds, where it took about a minute to figure out where you kept your plot (especially since it wasn't organised in a way that made hierarchical sense, ie: OOC information taking precedence over IC information).
Your job is to convince a prospective member to stay and explore, so by not having information readily available, you've (inadvertently) brought up what is effectively an ultimatum: either spend more time on the forum in order to figure out what it's about and what they have to do OR leave. Since you haven't offered anything to pique their interest (no plot snippet, no explanation of your forum's play style), they'll leave.
So, no, you're not
trying to force this, but how can they tell if they're interested in being in part of the game without actually spending a significant time on your forum hunting for information to decide?
A quick analogy: you want some Mexican food. Restaurant A has a sign that says "Mexican food" but there is nothing else -- the exterior and interior look almost twenty years out of date and you're not really sure how expensive the dishes will be, and there are no windows so you can't get a peek to what's inside. Alternatively, Restaurant B has a sign that also says "Mexican food" but the exterior and interior are modern and are well maintained, there's a menu posted online, and you can see through the windows to the cloth-covered tables inside and can tell that it's not a fast food restaurant and rather a sit-down restaurant. Which restaurant would you be more likely to spend time at -- the one where you know what you're getting within the first few seconds, or the one where you'd have to gamble?
It's not that it's a cat theme that's the problem, it's the methods with which the theme was designed is
outdated by about 20 years. What I was trying to show you with those examples is that, while each theme was different, they followed
modern design standards which make them more appealing for today's audience. I don't mean it in an insulting way when I say your forum
is not. The colour contrast is not ideal (black on grey is not easy to read!), and the way the graphics and colours are chosen are more reminiscent of the 90s.
While you may personally like it (and that's okay! there's no judgement on that front) the roleplaying community -- in particular, those interested in animal-based RP -- by and large expect something more modern. It is irrelevant if there are other options (especially if they are designed in a similar fashion) because a)
a guest does not know thisand b), again, you have 10-30 seconds to convince someone to stay and again, the forums with more contemporary looks will be more successful at that (especially if the text on their site is easier to read!). You want to put your best foot forward, and guests will assume that your default theme is your best foot; if they don't feel that your theme & content fits their expectations, then they will leave.
Since you haven't had much success in converting guests into participating members, I hazard the guess that they have chosen to leave.
I definitely understand and 100% support that! But there's a difference between trying something new in terms of plot and mechanics (great!) and also completely disregarding what people have come to expect from RP forums in terms of aesthetics and overall availability and organisation of information (not great). You don't have to be the
same as Warrior Cats forums. You should, however, organise your information in a way that makes sense -- you're an RP forum, so make sure that all RP information is available and there's a bigger focus on RP than OOC; remember that people read from the top of the page to the bottom, so if all your RP stuff is at the end of the page and it takes more than 10-30 seconds to figure out what your forum is about
people will leave and not even get to the RP part of your forum!
Don't tell
me, tell your prospective members. Any prospective member should find this information quickly and in a logical place.
Yes, I
know. My point is, since you're an RP forum,
so does everyone else. It's 100% redundant in the RP section to signify that the "game boards" are where the game takes place. We know! That's why we're here!
But
why. How does this make sense
in the context of your story
and setting? (This is a rhetorical question -- don't answer
me, make it clear on your site for your prospective members!) There's also nowhere on the forum that tells me this is an expectation / your intention! Suspension of disbelief only goes so far -- a player can accept, subconsciously, that the cats speak English because of mysterious reasons; this is a cat RP after all so it's just a given that the cats can speak in some manner. But adding in that they
make cat puns while they talk, that doesn't generally make sense for a "serious" RP, and would be more along the lines of a parody RP. If your intentions are to have a serious RP in that you're not just goofing off and not caring about the story / plot, then you need to provide a reason for expecting a manner of speaking that a) players would not normally use and b) breaks immersion.
I hope this makes sense. Let me know if I can clarify anything!
EDIT: you might have some results in getting other suggestions by posting in the
Get Opinions About Your Forum board, rather than in this board. This isn't
really about how to manage your forum, but rather you trying to find out why people aren't joining. If you post in GOAYF, you can get a better view from respondents as to their first impressions (which, again, can be the determining factor in whether or not a guest stays to check out the rest of your content) + their overall impressions about the content, organisation, and looks of your forum.
