Site-wide Plot and How It Will Kill You Slowly

Every time I go to a site, I always see a site plot.
Either advertised on the main page, a sidebar, or a little spot all its own.
A big, main, all encompassing plot is fine and dandy if you're writing a book, but it is cancer for an rp site.
Here is How Site-Wide Plot Will Kill You Slowly and What You Can Do to Avoid It

Your Site Is Not A Book

Spread the Word. End the Confusion.

What Do You Mean My Site Is Not a Book?

Most rp site advertisements, home pages, sidebars, etc usually read like the back of some fantasy paperback novel from the used book store.

"The prince is dead. The city is in chaos. Warring factions must now come together to find the new heir or fall under the weight of their bloody conflict. In the heart of all the politics and corruption, sides must be chosen. Will you join those who rally behind the supposed "rightful heir", or will you help others put their pawn on the empty throne?"

This is great for a novel. In a novel, you follow a certain set of characters who directly influence the plot and its direction. Through them, we see the journey and resolution. It works so well because all the characters, main, side, and background, good and evil, are being controlled by one person: the author. The author is god. The author knows all, controls all, directs all, finds favor with all. And so, the plot flows smoothly and comes to its conclusion because there is one author in direct control of everything.

But rp sites are NOT novels. Instead of one author, we have a dozen. Several dozen. Several hundred sometimes. Only one author knows everything related to the plot (the site owner). Everyone else is only aware of what the author tells them as well as their own characters. These little authors do NOT know everything that is going on. They only see a very, very tiny fraction of what the god-author sees. If the god-author does not tell them that the sneaky weasel-nosed man is lurking behind a pillar and might have information pertaining to one of the factions, then the other little authors are never going to know that there is a sneaky weasel-nosed man lurking behind a pillar that they might get information from.

Because they do not know every single scruple of information, it is very difficult for members to know exactly what you intend for them to do. You need to give them things to work with. Don't just give them a good plot hook. Give them a wriggly worm or two. Drop hints, even out of character, where their characters can go or what they can do that might get them involved in the plot.

Even then, not everyone is going to be involved in the site wide plot. In all honesty, only a select few will actually have any direct part or key position with the actual events.

Think of it like this.
Once upon a time, in Earth's own history, there was an event called World War Two.
In World War Two, as the name implies, pretty much the entire world was engulfed in one war.
While World War Two was in full swing, the entire world kept on moving though. Babies were born. Banks were robbed. Pets were adopted. People died. People ate food. Movies were watched. Crops were planted.
World War Two is the site-wide plot. It is the massive, huge, all encompassing event that your world is currently engulfed in, or at least a huge chunk of it. It may come in different flavors and scales, but it is still World War Two.

The site-wide plot should not be affected directly by ALL the characters of the site. Decisions relating to the direction the site-wide plot takes should be determined by actions that key figures make.

What do I mean by this? Let me use an example from my own site.

On my site, the heirs of various factions were kidnapped by the enemy. The Pendragon faction went abroad to fight the enemy. However, they left their home base primarily undefended. This allowed the Hawthorne faction to slip in and conquer the Pendragon home base.
The decision to go off and fight the enemy was agreed upon by the majority of members in the Pendragon family. The rper of the Pendragon leader (myself) announced the decision to go out and attack the enemy. The plot started off as "enemy kidnaps children". The plot direction was then taken to be "Pendragon attacks enemy."
The decision of the Hawthorne to conquer the Pendragon base was left to the leader of the Hawthorne. He posed the idea himself as an order, saying "we the Hawthorne faction will conquer the Pendragon". He led his army to attack the Pendragon base and they succeeded in conquering it. Thus, the plot direction was taken to "Hawthorne conquers the Pendragon faction".
The over arching, site-wide plot was that the heirs of the factions were being kidnapped. The people in key positions to make decisions for their majority went on to affect the direction of the site.

Not everyone is involved directly. It did not matter that some of the members of the Hawthorne were not totally behind the idea of conquering the Pendragon. Or that the Pendragon were not cool with being conquered. Those were just two factions anyway. The other seven factions had their own issues to deal with at the time and were not directly involved.

As much as they might want to be, not every single individual is going to affect change. They can try. Sometimes they will win. But the focus of the site should not pressure your members to get involved with the plot directly. It should give them opportunity.

Then What Is A Site-Wide Plot Doing There?

Site-wide plot is good to have. It gives everyone an idea of what the big picture of the goings on in the world is. But because it is a big picture, it should be left up to a small number of individuals, either "chosen ones" or people in important positions to affect the actual changes.

Because a small number of people are going to be involved, ALWAYS change up just who exactly is the focus of the site.

Plenty of sites like to have "chapters", "versions", "episodes" or "parts". Or any other word that means a part of a whole. More will be discussed on that later. For this example, I will use the term "season", just as you would the season of a TV show.
Seasons on Tv shows have themes. The hit show Supernatural had clearly defined themes to each season that set them apart. One season was about demons training psychics. One season was about the apocalypse. The next season was about the stuff that escaped from Purgatory during the chaos of the apocalypse (oh my!)
Just like a TV show, your site should have its own "seasons" or whatever you want to call them. Each of these should have a theme, or a Site Wide Plot. But every time the theme of your season changes, so should your focus of the central characters who will be directly affected or directly affect the goings on of that plot.
If you just use the same characters/groups over and over again, the rest will begin to feel isolated. It's nice that Mary and Gary and Bob were the Chosen Ones in the divine prophecy to overthrow the mad king, but in season two, maybe the theme is that the previously unmentionable village of Brown Town has had a booming necromancer cult ready to take over the world. Keep Mary, Gary, and Bob busy fixing the aftermath of the Mad King plot, and let characters from Brown Town and maybe the next town over deal with the necromancer uprising.

Site-Wide plot is there for world building purposes. It will affect your characters in some ways, maybe in a huge way, maybe in a passing fancy. Most everyone will know or hear about it at least, so in some part, it WILL affect their lives. In World War Two, people were still having babies, but probably fewer babies since men were off at war. People ate food, but not all were eating at posh restaurants. Some had to eat rats or grass. Banks were robbed, and for some, it was super easy since most cities were bombed to hell anyway.

Site-Wide plot, while necessary, should not be forced upon everyone and should not be your absolute focus. So... how do you stop it from taking over?

But What About the Regulars?

Always give them something to do.
In World War Two, yes, we focus a lot on Hitler, Mussolini, Churchill, and other big names because they were the important individuals who affected the changes in the plot.
BUT
This does not mean other individuals are not creating their own plot elsewhere. So give them something to do.

Usually people not directly influencing the plot will pair off by themselves and roleplay mundane, everyday things, wether that is eating at restaurants, sitting and talking, or sparring in a ring. This tends to isolate players since they are not effecting change, making impacts, and are essentially just fading in the background to be forgotten.
So give them some meat to chew on.

FEED YOUR REGULARS

With Juicy Delicious Plot Cabbages

So if people are not doing the main plot, what can they do?

Major Plot

Major Plot should be segments of plot that your site-wide plot is made up of. Like sections of an orange, each segment of major plot will come together to create a whole. Wether the end result of these plots will ultimately affect the main plot or lead to brand new main plot is entirely up to the direction it takes.
Let us use the World War Two example again.
In World War Two, there was big bad Hitler. Killing Jews and other minorities, taking over countries, and being a typical ambitious leader in general. While the majority of Germany loved Hitler, there was also a rather large amount of people who did not. Some of these people banded together and formed Operation Valkyrie, a special secret mission to kill Hitler and take the country into their own power. (look it up on wikipedia for more details, or go watch one of the two movies made about it). Spoiler alert, they failed to kill Hitler. But for a brief moment in German history, the military believed their leader dead and power changed hands.
Imagine what would have happened if Operation Valkyrie succeeded.
This is essentially a Major Plot. It is a big and impacting plot that runs alongside, interrupts, or assists the Main plot. Wether the goal of the plot succeeds or fails will be up to the direction it takes as well as your hand in it. It can also lead to new Main Plot (ie: the Operation was a success. What do the new leaders of Germany do?)
Major Plot should still be contained and only feature a small amount of members for control purposes. Too many, and it will run away from you.
ALLOW Major Plot to develop into Site-Wide plot. Nothing says good character rp involvement like multiple Site-Wide plots. It turns your Site from "this and that" to "meanwhile, this and meanwhile, that".

Minor Plot

Minor Plot can lead to Major Plot or Main Plot just as anything pretty much can, but it's focus should not be tied to any of them really.
Minor Plot should just be things your members can choose to get involved in or not based on their interests. It could be bad stuff like robbing banks or assassinating NPC targets to good stuff like investigating rumors or escorting princesses through the woods.
Again, Minor Plots can sometimes tie in or become Major plots or even Main plots. Always be flexible enough to adapt.

All You Can RP Buffet

Sometimes members are not entirely sure what is in the scope of their powers. Especially if they are new.
Hence why the majority of members, when left to their own devices, do filler rp. The usual mundane things that fill up any ordinary person's life. It is what they are most familiar with and it is what they will most likely not be shut down for doing. This sort of stuff is usually the aforementioned eating a meal, casual conversation in an empty area, shopping trips, walks, or (if fighting is a thing) sparring matches.
To help give your members a sense of diversity and exploration, create a list of things they are allowed to do unmonitored. Make sure the list contains things that you are comfortable letting them do by themselves. Think of them like teenagers. Which cars do you let them drive? The sea foam colored Pinto maybe, but probably not the sleek black Porsche fresh off the factory line. Executing a prisoner might not be available to them, but assigning themselves to assassinate NPCs of their own design might be in the cards. Consider dividing the options up by rank/faction/etc. Maybe players who are entrusted with the role of King of a Kingdom are actually allowed to hold executions, but this is obviously not something the regular citizen characters are allowed to do. Make it clear.
Again, you don't have to write down EVERY little thing they can do, but just giving them some ideas is fine. You can always add or remove options from the list as the need arises.

How To Go About Writing Plots

Write All the Plots!

Make An Outline

Always have notes.
It's nice that you wrote this awesome blurb on your home page about the site-wide plot, but you personally need to know all the ins and outs of the plot. You are, after all, the guiding, driving force of fate. You see the past, present, and future. You know everything that is going on, will go on, and how everyone will get there. It would be a good idea to write a basic outline. Stylize it just like you would an outline for a book. You know those fancy graphics showing how a book plot works?

Yah, that. Use that.
Make it as detailed or sparse as you want. Add and remove detail as need be.
Got an outline? Good.

Now, Throw It Away At the Drop of a Hat!

Not literally please. You worked so hard on it.
What I mean is, be ready for things to change the plot. This may be the interference of Major/Minor plot, the directions the characters take based on the material given, or just random happenstance.
You need to be flexible with it enough that you can adapt and absorb conflicts and resolutions that happen within the grand scheme of things.
BUT
Always remind yourself that you are the guiding force behind the actions. Sometimes members are too lax about what they do, or too passionate. Sometimes they run away with things.
You need to guide them back onto the main path. Sure, let them explore, create, and deviate. The world is a sandbox after all. But every now and again, remind them that "The enemy is still plotting to overthrow the government. How will x-character and x-character deal with that?"
Of course, you can always choose to just sit quietly and adapt to every little instance, allowing things to spiral into tension filled drama as the players desire.
Everything will have side effects, good or bad. Let your characters take risks and dish out consequences in return. If their actions demand swift and permanent action be taken, notify them, and dish it out. If room exists for reconciliation, then consider doing so.
NEVER hardball people. If there is no rule breaking or permanent destruction of the world (ie: people start resurrecting their characters where resurrection does not exist) then let them have fun in their sandbox. You are NOT writing a book, remember? You are merely the narrator of the world as it grows and unfolds.
So yes, sometimes you will have to throw your plot away at the drop of a hat. Always be willing to do so. Sometimes you write a plot and absolutely no one is interested in it. Fine. Throw it away. Maybe try it again later. This is why you must be a dynamic owner who constantly creates new material and stays updated on the events and dynamics of the characters and players.

Writing Major/Minor Plot Hooks

Major and Minor plots, as discussed above, are pieces of the overarching fiction that may or may not affect the Main Plot.
For the most part, these plots should be "adopatables", meaning your members can pick and choose themselves what they want to participate in, rather than be drafted in like Main Plot sometimes is. Especially considering that Major/Minor plot are only going to affect the individuals involved, they should be a lot more flexible when giving them out.
It would be a good idea to have a thread/page with a relatively decent sized list of these types of Plots as well as a space where a member can say "I want to run with plot x". Each plot should have its own hook. Something like this:

----"x Faction is going to go steal the treasure from the Caves of Wonder. You and two others have been assigned this dangerous task. Report to Captain Johnson for your mission."
----"Your character has stumbled upon a mysterious artifact. Whenever they hold it, the mystical runes give off an eerie blue light. Talk to me for details on starting this plot!"
---- "Your character notices that all the crows are dying. The nests are empty. Bodies litter the alleys and roofs. Is this a dark omen or maybe a result of a plague? Talk to me for details on starting this plot!"

Members should ALWAYS talk to you before starting a plot in general, but feel free to remind them.

As above, so below. Have a basic outline for your Major and Minor plots. Have notes. Include things like possible locations used, NPCs used, characters used, etc.
If you are involving other people's characters to give out the plot (ie: say x-character needs to report to their commanding officer to get the plot going, and the commanding officer is played by a member) then you need to make sure that the member who runs that character is fully in the loop, knows what to say, and knows what to do. Make sure that the character can be available to give out said plot. Coordinate with the members involved to avoid set backs. Communication is ALWAYS key.

IN SUMMARY...

Your site is NOT a book. Get people involved. Assume the role of a narrator relaying the events of a world, not an overarching author summarizing their novel to a passive audience.
The world is dynamic. Be flexible and adapt to changes.
Give your members things for their characters to do.
Communicate, communicate, communicate!