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 for :
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 The Leech Spoiler for :
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 The Lurker (a.k.a. The Sneaky Snooper) Spoiler for :
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 .
The Nameless Spoiler for :
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 The Veteran Spoiler for :
The Veteran s 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 The Brat Spoiler for :
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 .
The Child Spoiler for :
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 Makes childish jokes Mentally younger by years than their physical age Examples include:
FairlyZ ,
kaboth The Wannabe Spoiler for :
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 The White Knight Spoiler for :
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 The Repentant Spoiler for :
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 The Inactive Spoiler for :
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 The Damned Spoiler for :
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 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.
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