Overly Complex Background Anemia Syndrome
From Egs Mayhem
Overly Complex Background Anemia Syndrome, or OCBAS, is an unfortunate side effect that frequently, although not always, plagues RPs with particularly developed and/or detailed backgrounds. It causes them to dwindle, sometimes starting out with a normal postrate but other times being slow throughout their lives, usually dying with a page count well below the norm for RPs of the time. In addition to this, they tend to catch fewer players' interest to start with, which puts them in peril when the inevitable handful of dropouts happen.
However, not every RP with a highly developed background has been affected by OCBAS. The War, for example, has one of the most detailed backgrounds and histories on Mayhem; however, it originated in Carrot..? and has several GMs to help manage it. Other RPs have had detailed backgrounds develop (or, alternately, be revealed) over time, such as the Classmates RP, rather than starting with a fully-fleshed-out concept.
RPs believed to be or have been affected by OCBAS
- The Driftersverse RPs
- Fade, The Second Age of Man
- Anything by Piebunny, with the exception of The Massive Flaming Plane Crash Thread
- Many of Zerras' Elderai Saga either crash and burn halfway through the script, or never leave the ground. His most notable failure in this case happened on a non-Keen forum. (-Zerras which one???)
- Add more if you think the description applies.
