Personality Archetypes of New Members on RMRK: A Study of Behavior Patterns

[tSwitch]

I've been here since early 2007, almost 4 long years ago.  I began my journey in the RPG Maker forums, nearly exclusively, until one day Deliciously_Saucy started a catgirl thread, and I proceeded to make an avatar pack out of the images found within.  This marked my first real contribution and involvement in the community as a whole.  Since then, I've posted several game projects, won a few awards, made 7,784 (7,785 after this) posts, and risen the ranks from lowly newbie leech to the prestigious administrator position.  There has been plenty of drama, fun, and flaming the whole time, and I'm still around.  Enough about me.

But some new members come, and then leave.  Usually this marks a burst in activity and interest, usually in the sewers, or sometimes in a project thread.  I have decided to take the time to compile a list of behavior patterns that I've observed repeatedly after having spent so much time here.  Hopefully, you will recognize some, see members who exhibit signs of them, and remember them from the past.

Keep in mind that patterns are not mutually exclusive, and some members take all or parts of multiple behavior archetypes.  Such is the human condition.
Behavior Patterns:

The Contributor
[spoiler]
The Contributor qualifies as a member who focuses on RPG Maker, sometimes with complete ignorance of the General Boards.  This member signs up, sometimes neglecting an introduction, and gets right to posting topics, giving to the community during, or even before asking for something in return.  They are usually on multiple forums, spreading their goodwill across the RPG Maker scene.  They also have big-name projects that many have heard of, and serve to usher in new members.  These members are the threads that bind together the communities, as they tend to link back and forth, and flaunt their expertise by finding obscure resources from different sites that nobody has heard of before.  The Contributor often sticks around to be come one of The Veterans as they age and grow weary of hobbyist game engines, though many still use RPG Maker from time to time; usually for competitions.

Qualifications

• Motivated RPG Maker User
• Contributes in some way, Graphically, Scripting, Eventing, etc...
• Tends to assist new users
• Uses Google

Examples include: The Shadow, Joy, NAMKCOR
[/spoiler]

The Leech
[spoiler]
The Leech who may also be one of The Lurkers tends to post requests in quick succession for a project they have either posted very sparse information about, or none at all.  They almost exclusively have near no posts unrelated to requests, and nearly never give anything significant back to the community.  More often than not, their projects remain incomplete, and they do not stay around very long.  Furthermore, the game ideas are usually thin and two dimensional (no pun intended).  The Leech tends to have mediocre RPG Maker skills at best.  Sometimes The Leech evolves into The Brat after The Veterans begin their work.

Qualifications

• Flighty, unable to finish a project
• Very few posts with real substance
• Does NOT use Google

Examples include: Mad Klown, Mr Moo
[/spoiler]

The Lurker (a.k.a. The Sneaky Snooper)
[spoiler]
The Lurker is a large userbase that likely has not registered or posted at all.  Little is known about The Lurker save the group's fascination with Child Porn.  The Lurker may be an anonymously logged in member, or simply a Google Web-sifter doing its routine page ranking.  Without details to go on, the only real behavioral pattern The Lurker exhibits is a lack of posting.  The Lurker is often a member of the archetype, The Leech due to their tendency to take without returning anything.  Sometimes, The Lurker will create an account and reveal itself as being a member of the other archetype(s) entirely.

Qualifications

• Does not post
• May not even have an account
• Might be a robot?

Examples include: Everyone who's never registered or posted.
[/spoiler]

The Nameless
[spoiler]
The Nameless are a group of lesser-known users, though they make up the largest body of the population.  They borrow characteristics from both The Leech and The Lurker but more often than not they contribute sparsely, and have short life-spans.  The moment one of The Nameless becomes recognized by the community, 90% of the time it evolves into one of the other behavior archetypes though interaction with The Veterans

Qualifications

• Mostly silent, though active.
• Does not contribute much
• Might be a hidden talent or Crouching Tiger hidden Veteran
• Likely will not stick around long

Examples include: Mr_Wiggles, Redwyn
[/spoiler]

The Veteran
[spoiler]
The Veterans are most often than not members who originally signed up for RPG Maker, and grew out of it, sticking around to hang out with the other Veterans.  They are likely in the Extra Access, RPG Maker Advanced+, Pervert usergroup(s), or are on Staff.  The Veteran is a thick-skinned and savvy internet user who has survived many a flame war with their personality intact.  They have bouts of inactivity, but are most often the most active participants in community events and the General section of the forums.  Many of The Veterans hang out in the RMRK Community (not RPG Maker help) IRC channel.  The channel is often filled with self-masturbatory ego-centric circle jerks, and many of the lesser-known members, especially The Nameless are often ridiculed mercilessly upon entering (usually for demanding RPG Maker help, or generally exhibiting behavior that The Veterans find annoying.)  The Veterans are both the most and least mature archetype, and pride themselves on their demonstrations and psychological warring against 'lesser' archetypes.  Whether this be due to boredom or some sense of superiority is not yet confirmed.

Qualifications

• Long active membership
• Not much RPG Maker interest or activity
• Thick-skinned, able to take jokes
• Volitile, quick to start forum wars

Examples include: Roph, Anski, NAMKCOR, Arlen, Holk
[/spoiler]

The Brat
[spoiler]
The Brat is a simple archetype.  They are always immature, demanding instant gratification or praise for their work, and are always extremely vocal.  They cry for attention constantly, and when they are criticized or told to be quiet, they throw an even larger tantrum.  Some of The Brats "leave" multiple times, sticking around to see what people say in their "I'm better off without you, so I'm quitting RMRK" topics long enough to get angrier and fuel the forum war longer.  The Brat is The Veteran's easiest and most enjoyed target.  The Brat almost always starts as a sub-par RPG Maker user, or one of The Nameless, but a choice few have been successful active members before devolving into The Brat

Qualifications

• Loud
• Drama-whore
• Obnoxious
• Prone to quick rage

Examples include: boxxy, billybullshot.
[/spoiler]

The Child
[spoiler]
The Child is arguably the least mature archetype, and borrows from many of the above archetypes, but dumbing things down and making the characteristics colored by immaturity.  They most often do not understand basic English grammar, be it from having English as a second language (forgivable in this case) or simply being plain ignorant of it (unforgivable).  The Child makes dumb jokes, and uses tons of emoticons, and tends to try and fit in with The Veterans through use of self-depreciating humor or dramatic antics and non-sequitor.  The Veterans often spurn The Child and it is their second most preferred target.  They are often mistaken for being far younger than they actually are, leading to the grand reveal of their true age to be disbelieved by the majority of members.  This immaturity is theorized to be caused by the lack of true identity, and thus lack of tangible consequence on the internet.  The Child is often totally ignorant of the community backlash to their antics, and think that they are liked when they are deeply loathed, attempting to use their childishness to assimilate into the community as some sort of comedic relief.  Some seem to be aware of the dislike, though unable or unwilling to change their immature ways, and continue to post as they were; perhaps out of spite.

Qualifications

• Often grammatically ignorant
• Likes  :[hearty laughter]:
• Makes childish jokes
• Mentally younger by years than their physical age

Examples include: FairlyZ, kaboth
[/spoiler]

The Wannabe
[spoiler]
The Wannabe shows up and is active, exhibiting signs of The Contributor, however once the Poster Board is available, they attempt to get traffic to their own Clone Community.  Most of the times, it is an InvisionFree or Proboards forum on shoddy hosting, and has zero real active members.  Often, The Wannabe will offer staff positions to people who sign up, banking on using the advertisement and opportunity to control a small spit of cyberspace as fuel to drive traffic into their site.  These sites have short lifetimes, and The Wannabe is often told preemptively that their site is saturating an already oversaturated niche, but to no results, leading to a Self-fulfilling prophecy.

Qualifications

• Runs their own forum
• Flaunts it
• Shortsighted and flighty

Examples include: Mad Klown
[/spoiler]

The White Knight
[spoiler]
The White Knight is another fairly straightforward archetype.  Sometimes also known as a "Member Moderator", they seat themselves upon a moral high-horse and try to impose their views on everyone around them.  Most become hypocritical, and easy targets for drama and dissection by The Veterans, they often like to criticize the forum staff, attempting to tell them how their own forum should be run.  Almost always, a White Knight will also be a Brat and further devolve, upon their ego remaining insulted, into The Damned.  The White Knight may also become The Repentant but this is rare.  They are often extremely cynical, black-and-white, and shortsighted.

Qualifications

• Cyncal or Rude
• Feels they embody a driving force for some "Greater Good"
• Believes themselves superior to any who disagree (often implied through their speech)
• Insatiable Drama-Whores

Examples include: BDMarvel, Ultyma
[/spoiler]

The Repentant
[spoiler]
The Repentant always start as an archetype that is prone to some form of drama, be it The Brat or The Child.  This group is the second that a drama-monger might fall into after the war ends (the other simply being one of The Damned or devolving into The Lurker)  The Repentant attempts to apologize for their actions, claiming they've turned over a new leaf and changed their ways.  90% of the time this is a flat out lie, as The Repentant has a short-lived time of low-activity as they try to re-assimilate themselves into the community, before starting their shit all over again; though some are truly changed, and adopt a new archetype accordingly.  Many tend to push their apology too hard, leading to more drama, and most often a continuation of the flame war.  The Repentant are most likely to become either The Damned or return to be The Lurker or The Inactive depending on the circumstances surrounding their departure.

Qualifications

• Convicted of earlier drama
• Loads of apologies
• Often tries to justify their previous issues

Examples include: Kaboth, Animefan
[/spoiler]

The Inactive
[spoiler]
The Inactive are members who have quietly descended into inactivity, either through quitting to further their real lives, or from losing interest in the community.  Many of The Veterans become The Inactive over time, and it usually ends with much sadness.  The Inactive contain some of the most missed members of RMRK.

• No longer here
• Quiet or Sad departure

Examples include: Kitten, Deliciously_Saucy, Zeriab
[/spoiler]

The Damned
[spoiler]
The Damned go out in an explosion of flame.  Usually upon becoming The Repentant or simply skipping the apology phase and going straight to the ending, one of the more drama-centric archetypes will reach critical mass from the ridicule and flaming from The Veterans among others, and will enter blaze mode.  This is a high-point in the lifetime of The Damned where they get more attention than anything else on the forum at all.  After a large climactic flame war, The Damned are often banned outright, being snuffed out by the Staff to quell the unrest across the boards.  Like the final life cycle of a star, The Damned are no more.

Qualifications

• Entirely focuses on drama, often spreading it outside the thread where it originated
• Never last long, usually due to Staff intervention
• Never liked during this stage of life.
• Sometimes might be an old liked member or Veteran prior to blazemode

Examples included: Animefan (sometimes), blaze, billybullshot
[/spoiler]

If I have missed any, or you feel that some of these archetypes are incomplete or incorrect, let me know.  In any case, let this serve as a template.  Most members fall under one of these categories.  If you can identify them beforehand, have fun knowing what is to come.

[Irock]

Wonderful post. You truly did accurately outline the behavior patterns of RMRK members.

[tSwitch]

Thank you Irock, I'm glad to have been of service.

[modern algebra]

Quite accurate indeed

[Moss.]

I've seen some things, man. And some stuff.


....I wouldn't recommend it!

[Grafikal]

haha, nice. If ever we get those member badges/icons working, we'll need some for these classes.

[Cascading Dragon]

Not sure where I fit in. Not that it matters, because I have a different opinion about myself then everyone here. However, this list looks very accurate.

[Grafikal]

Step up from a Nameless. Whatever that would be. A Named? lo!

[tSwitch]

Not sure where I fit in. Not that it matters, because I have a different opinion about myself then everyone here. However, this list looks very accurate.

you're a contributor, average member that posts shit.

[tSwitch]

double-post with an update: The White Knight added to the archetype list.

[Holkeye]

I would like to add that the environment of the forum effects a person's archetype on a large scale. For example, sometimes, when people go away for a while, and the regulars are different, it can change a member's archetype.

[tSwitch]

Of course, people shift from archetype to archetype constantly, this is less an archetype of the person, and more of their current behavior pattern (as well as the most likely shifts from group to group)

[Gracie]

Not sure where I fit in. Not that it matters, because I have a different opinion about myself then everyone here. However, this list looks very accurate.

you're a contributor, average member that posts shit.

That's me all over.

[heisenman]

double-post with an update: The White Knight added to the archetype list.

The name fooled me.
More like self-righteous bitch.


tvrmrktropes xD

[tSwitch]

Oh dear, how could I forget The Wannabe?

double-post with an update: The White Knight added to the archetype list.

The name fooled me.
More like self-righteous bitch.

Same thing, really.

[Sophist]

Added examples. Seeing as most of the vets aren't derp retards, they can only expect their name once. Other kids who will come in and whine will probably see their name a lot and whine about it more!

[IAMFORTE]

So...what am i? XD  great list Nam, you got it perfectly

[cozziekuns]

This list is pretty dead on. I guess I'm a contributer of sorts...

[joy]

Pretty dead on. 'Cept I'm one of the mean contributors.

[Ryex]

I feel like there is an archetype missing.

I guess you could call it The Student?  I'm talking about the member who isn't a leach and isn't yet a contributer but clearly will be.
they usually start off without any skills that are conducive to producing an indie game or very mediocre skills in a limited area.
they show a willingness to learn the skills of the contributers.
when they ask for help it is usually a request for knowledge rather than a request for a material.

Dose that make any sense?

[tSwitch]

that's still a leech/early stage contributor.
they're asking for resources, whether it be skills or actual material, and they are learning, so they are going to give back.

the archetypes are final manifestations of behavior patterns, if anything those members who are not yet contributors are the nameless, and haven't really shown themselves yet.

[Arrow]

ME ME ME WHERE DO I FIT

Also your original post reminded me of how long I've been here. SHIT. When was it that the old version of the forum finally died? You know, when crankeye was still AROUND?

[tSwitch]

Arrow, you're a Veteran.

[phillip1756]

i ent a brat  u need to put a G one 4 me

[Grafikal]

Haha, get the fuck out, brat.