User blog:Origamarose/How to spot a bad quality server

When you're starting off with rp it can be hard to figure out the good servers from the bad. How can you know the difference if you've only been in one or two servers? Don't worry kids because I've been in the best and the worst of them. These aren't exactly indicators of a bad server by themselves but they are red flags to watch out for.

Lack of Rules
A lack of rules in a server is never a good thing. Things like 'Use common sense and be nice to people' aren't in-depth enough. Servers that have been around a while will have had people test the rules, break the rules and will probably have had to make new rules based on people's actions. People will say just because it's a new server doesn't mean it's a bad server, which is true for the most part, but people who are experienced will have at least 10 rules that they saw in a server they were in or owned.

Lack of rp channels/too many or lack of ooc channels
A very small amount of rp channels could mean a few things. It could mean the server is quite small, so people have no need for so many rp channels. However it could also indicate that the universe the rp is set in is either not well researched or, if original, they don't have many ideas for places. Too many ooc channels could mean the server focuses more on the community aspect than the rp aspect so if you're looking for an rp server this may not be the type of server for you. If the server only has some information channels and a general channel, that really isn't a good sign. Things will go missing, it will probably be clogged with pictures, memes, and everyone will be interrupting each other.

Low quality emotes
As soon as you can after reading the rules and information of the server, go straight to the rp channels and previous rps. A couple of newbies is common in every server but if you see a server full of one-liners, there's probably a reason there are no old-timers there.

Relies completely on casual rp
This means they have no events what so ever. Every good owner knows that to keep a server alive you need people to cause drama, fights, make enemies. Without a story to follow or events where everyone is present the server is probably going to slowly lose players from boredom and then close down.

it's inactive
If nobody talks and nobody rp's get out of there. nuff said.

Bad staff
This is a few points under one bullet to save time. If the server has staff that are unkind, biased, give special treatment out, think the rules don't apply to them, you don't want to be in there. Don't give toxic servers your time just because you like the universe. Rp should be a fun experience.

Servers that are all canon characters
If you like this sort of rp, you go for it. Just be careful. I personally have never come across a good canon server. Firstly, fights can break out all the time over who gets what character. There's only so many canon characters to play so you have a limit on how many people you can have in your server. A good player understands that universes must be adapted into rp and there are reasons for this. Some things just don't translate well into rp, pre-existing universes have their own stories where you have one or two main characters that go through an arc then get a resolution of some kind. Their characters have limited things you can do with them, you can't just sleep with someone who that character would hate, but original characters have little boundries.

Bad behavior not being punished
This ties in with the lack of rules point. You really don't want to be in a server with a toxic player base, if you see people constantly being rude, making people feel uncomfortable and sad you know what to do *click*

Got any more signs of a bad server?

Have you had any experience in a bad server?

Let me know  in the comments ^-^