For the love of god why are they so prolific? I am in one or two, but only because the concept seemed so interesting that went with it.

School for elementals cool. School for Magical warriors, cool(idk if that counts for the purpose of this conversation. I mean the ones paired with being kids though...
This message was last updated by the user at 15:27, Sun 20 July 2014.

In reply to Merevel (msg # 1):

I don't understand either, The only school game i'd like to see is maybe a game about the Warhammer 40k Schola Progenium, a bunch of trainee commissars and stormtroopers sounds like fun. But regular highschool? As someone who's in it, trust me, it's not very fun.

Oh I remember. It has been 10 years but I remember. I think it's the whole in training part that bugs me.

Btw I noticed a typo in my thread name... how would I fix that?
This message was last edited by the user at 15:27, Sun 20 July 2014.

It's a staple anime setting. And TV show setting. It'd seem strange if it wasn't the same for RPOL.

Fair point, what I am wondering is WHY though.

In reply to Merevel (msg # 5):

I think we all know why for anime: Dem school uniforms.

In reply to Merevel (msg # 5):

I said the same thing about 90210... Drama I guess.

Probably because people like what they like -- no more explainable than why so many people like this color or that.

It's not for you?  Truth of the matter is that most things we use for RP settings suck if you're in the middle of them and seeing all the good and the bad.  No one ever thinks about the toilet habits of a D&D character or the wonderful smells of a medieval city.  Highschool was a while ago for many of us, and when viewed in hindsight and with nostalgia is an attractive place to play (in no small part because you forget the bad parts and idealize the good).

It also has the benefit of being a nearly universal constant.  If I set a game around a crew working on a nuclear reactor, how many people would bring that life experience with them to understand the ins and outs?  Same question for a high school.

Fair point I recon.

Nostalgia glossing over the bad parts. When does that kick in? 10 years and waiting. At least it was better then middle school.

In reply to Shannara (msg # 8):

I hate to disagree, but science CAN explain why you like what you like. For instance, the colors you see are not the same as everyone else. We agree because when I point to something and say "That is blue", the kid I'm teaching who might see a green object, will now associate that color as blue. There is a science theory that says we all like the same color, but because how we see colors varies, we all say we like the color it's agreed to be.

On the flip side of that, enjoying school based RP makes perfect sense. It's an RP of the fun and social parts of school without the school work. We enjoy making friends and associating with peers. Humans are naturally drawn to grouping with similar humans, that's why communities exist in such huge numbers. Being that we're all on an RP site, we have at least some things in common. We're all open minded to the possibilities rather than stuck with what life gives us, for example.

Now taking into consideration that we're all at least in one way like-minded, that means there are certain conventions that will always be popular. Socializing among peers (aka School or Work WITHOUT having to do school work or without having to be accountable as an employee). Another thing that's vastly popular is adventure, anything where the unknown is all that's in front of you. Of course this is popular. You can enjoy the social aspect of being in a dangerous group of adventurers who seek to improve themselves without the fear of death looming over you.

This is just my theory though.

 Well school is an easy way to group a large amount of players together. You have 15 PCs that are vastly different? No problem they all go to the same school and many the same classes. So they all know each other. I have using the same Business company, The  same Mercenary Organization, the same Guild, Etc. But nothing just instantly  connects PCs like the same school.

What I wonder is why there seem to be more high school RPs than college RPs? For me, university was much more fun than high school... Not to mention, in such a RP you'd be actually get to play adults.

In reply to Varsovian (msg # 13):

My guess? More people went to High school than college.