I really doubt this is the most debated topic in RPing on the boards. I really doubt that. So I’ll answer a couple of the unspoken questions here as well.
A GM should never force its players to do anything; you should have both worlds set before them. If the player wants to engage in the main quest that the GM is hinting towards, then they can seek out the GM character or events. Take Okotan Adventures: Spider Saga for example.
However the player is also open to do whatever they please, with realistic outcomes for their actions. Open-world doesn’t mean total anarchy. The laws of the setting still apply.
But the biggest thing to keep in mind as a GM is that Your Path, Your Plot, Your Characters, They Don’t Matter. Telling the players that they can only follow after the GM and do nothing else is railroading the playerbase, and it’s a good way to antagonize yourself as a GM. You need a backup plan for a backup plan for a backup plan for a backup plan, your plot has to be flexible, articulate, able to change and sometimes even entirely switch goals based on what the playerbase does.
I think your definitions need re-defining.[quote=“Mctoran, post:1, topic:49648”]
One style, a narrative-based one, is an RP that follows a tight, singular story, usually GM-produced, that nearly all players follow or have to follow. These usually work better in smaller player groups, of up to under 8 people at the largest.
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One style, a narrative-based one, is an RP that follows a tight, singular story, always GM-produced, that takes heavy predominance in the actions of the RP. Players are still welcome to do whatever they please, but ignoring the events of the plot often leads to their characters being viewed an inept, uncaring, or antisocial to a great degree.
An example of a perfect description of this formula is an old RP from offsite: a group of Matoran are living in a sinkhole-ridden desert, are desperately in need of water, have extremely limited technology. A tyrant several miles away has a grandiose supply of fresh, drinkable water, but trades pittances of it in return for heaps of scrap metal in return for a few gallons. Here the player is allowed to ignore events of the clearly GM-controlled tyrant being critical to character survival, although it could lead to death, unless they mooch off the water being brought in and never do anything to contribute. It got cut off before the main plot could even be established, but it was handled masterfully, and nobody was railroaded or pushed about.
Meanwhile, an Open-world RP is one in which the players are given nearly directionless freedom, and the GM-created plot has such a minor focus it usually takes place entirely in the background with no player interaction whatsoever. Players expected to take part in the plot have to hunt desperately to find any presence of it.
The only good example of an RP this drastically open is a massive, site-spanning RP (offsite) that was handled by staff of the website. It consisted almost entirely of player-to-player interaction across the island of Mata Nui, which was bustling with different species, hundreds of Toa, and most of the baddies were normal people just being evil.
Again, I heavily recommend Okotan Adventures: Spider Saga for any new or old players who want a good RP on the boards, and it’s a testament to how an RP should be run. The GM-plot (and subplots) strike a perfect balance with player interactions, flowing naturally with the order of events. Both @Runa (former GM and the creator) and @jayzor17 (current GM and owner) did an exceptional job with the setting, plot, and… Well, everything. What issues it has are overshadowed by how well it’s structured and GMed.
Here’s the signups if anyone’s interested.
Oh yeah, and one more thing: site RPs are not DnD. They don’t really function the same at all, so if you’re an experienced DnD DM and you’re trying to become a site GM, tread carefully.