why do some many people I have come across believe that bigger and longer posts are better and that constantly making large paragraph posts in a Role Play makes you a better role player? I know it's an option whether you like long post role plays or short ones thats fine I just don't quite get why some many people I've met ever the ones who like small posting think that long posters are better role players do to that fact. (( I am not for or against long post role plays I am simply confused as to why long posts are consider superior to shorts by a large number of people I've met ))
and maybe I am wrong tho I would still love to hear your thoughts on the subject and have a good debate.
and maybe I am wrong tho I would still love to hear your thoughts on the subject and have a good debate.
The idea is that if someone is making a longer post, they're making a more complete scene with more to respond to. It gives the sense of a more full story that one can delve into more deeply. Short posts can also be hard to respond to at times, especially for those who feel it's somehow a crime to post something short (as is often the case for me; and pretty much always apologize when I make a short post).
I don't like just getting short response after short response. I like having an idea how the character feels, what they're thinking, hints at why they say or do certain things, understanding of HOW they say or do those things (are they whispering? is it to keep quiet or are they trying to be creepy about it? what body language are they using?), etc. But, I fully understand that sometimes, there's just not that much to say without repeating a bunch that's already been established, and I also favor concise posts.
So yeah, I usually prefer more (useful) content, but I certainly won't flip out about short posts.
I don't like just getting short response after short response. I like having an idea how the character feels, what they're thinking, hints at why they say or do certain things, understanding of HOW they say or do those things (are they whispering? is it to keep quiet or are they trying to be creepy about it? what body language are they using?), etc. But, I fully understand that sometimes, there's just not that much to say without repeating a bunch that's already been established, and I also favor concise posts.
So yeah, I usually prefer more (useful) content, but I certainly won't flip out about short posts.
I don't need long posts, but I also don't like constantly short replies at the beginning. The way I see it for myself is that at the beginning I want to world build with my partner and get to know the character and places around them. I want to know the NPC's.
On the other hand, dialogue with six full paragraphs is total crap to me. Even worse are RP's where they don't want to hear what a character is thinking. I haven't been a part of one of those myself, but one of my friends was in an RP that required 3+ paragraphs of "decent" length for each post. If you can't get into a characters head and all they need to do is answer a question, how the floop do you do that?
Most of my RP partners are okay with whatever is needed and don't put limits on just how many words you need to do.
On the other hand, dialogue with six full paragraphs is total crap to me. Even worse are RP's where they don't want to hear what a character is thinking. I haven't been a part of one of those myself, but one of my friends was in an RP that required 3+ paragraphs of "decent" length for each post. If you can't get into a characters head and all they need to do is answer a question, how the floop do you do that?
Most of my RP partners are okay with whatever is needed and don't put limits on just how many words you need to do.
In my experience from the last 15 years or so, one-liners are indicative for poor roleplay skills. Perhaps I just never met the right ones, but it always felt like writing short posts was an excuse not to put any effort into it for a lot of folks. I was constantly battered with text speak, not even a normal proper sentence. Just a bunch of garbled text that was supposed to have a meaning but it got entirely lost. No effort into proof-reading just 10 words - I guess correcting typos in such a short post is pointless?
In general, writing at least one paragraph with a couple of sentences is related to higher quality roleplay based on what I've experienced. People tend to write properly, make less errors and construct sentences that are readable. Of course it has its own pitfalls - describing Johnny's distress in a 3 paragraph essay without actually doing anything isn't what I consider quality either, but it does beat a post I can't even read. And if Johnny's player corrected 5 typos, they're doing a heck of a lot more than those one-liner RPers who obviously thought I wasn't worth proofreading for.
So yep, I'm biased to bigger/more. But only because I've had miserable experiences with the short versions.
That said, I personally prefer a combination. 'As much as necessary' works for me. That means sometimes my roleplays only have 1 or 2 sentences, but sometimes also 1 or 2 paragraphs. Whatever works for the situation works for me.
In general, writing at least one paragraph with a couple of sentences is related to higher quality roleplay based on what I've experienced. People tend to write properly, make less errors and construct sentences that are readable. Of course it has its own pitfalls - describing Johnny's distress in a 3 paragraph essay without actually doing anything isn't what I consider quality either, but it does beat a post I can't even read. And if Johnny's player corrected 5 typos, they're doing a heck of a lot more than those one-liner RPers who obviously thought I wasn't worth proofreading for.
So yep, I'm biased to bigger/more. But only because I've had miserable experiences with the short versions.
That said, I personally prefer a combination. 'As much as necessary' works for me. That means sometimes my roleplays only have 1 or 2 sentences, but sometimes also 1 or 2 paragraphs. Whatever works for the situation works for me.
My two cents:
Being able to write a lot is a skill that is built up through practice. It is very hard for someone who has little practice with writing to write long posts. Therefore, by requiring a long minimum length on posts, you are skewing the results toward people who have a fair amount of practice with writing. Because they have been at it awhile, and have built up the stamina to write long-form, they are more likely to have built up other writing related skills (such as spelling, punctuation, use of metaphor.) Therefore, you weed out a lot of people who are not willing to put the effort into their craft.
That said, when this is used so often as the bar for detecting "good" RPers from "bad", it puts an undue emphasis on length and promotes practicing certain bad habits, like rambling, repeating oneself, or not even knowing the point one is trying to make.
It also does not promote the practicing of certain other good habits. For instance, length does not mean that you are being clear. Length does not mean that you are thinking about whether the other person is having fun and has something to respond to or whether you're just going on about how pretty your character is. It doesn't prevent those things, to be sure, but it doesn't promote them. And those types of skills are vastly more important to me than length.
I like well-written responses of any length.
I am personally turned off by people requiring minimum lengths, as I always feel the appropriate length is "as long as you need it to be to include all necessary information AND NO LONGER." This may include actions, inflections, sensory information, scene descriptions, or it might just be the word "Yes!" with quotations around it. Typically a well-written post includes something for me to play off of, even if it's short. That's just part of well-written, when it comes to writing for RP.
I abhor filler such as repetitive descriptions of how pretty a character is, or worse (to me) RP that includes anything about what a character is thinking or flashbacks to their past. If my character couldn't know, I absolutely do not want it just told to me. I want to discover it through interactions and clues the way I would have to with a real person, or not know it at all. I feel completely robbed anytime an aside tells me about a character's past -- it means I can't work it out on my own. It means I can be accused of cheating if my character acts on that information, because even if I previously worked it out from clues, they can point out that they told me but didn't tell my character so my having worked it out is suspect. I realize that some people very much like to RP with flashbacks included in the writing the other characters can't see. To me, it is better suited to novelas and sometimes go so far as to feel that someone including it in RP is being enormously rude, or perhaps even manipulative of game balance. How long a person's posts are don't tell me if they're going to put me into this position. How long a person's posts are doesn't tell me if they have cultivated the skill of working out what their own point is, or if they're just throwing everything on the page and then making ME do the work of figuring out what their point was, so I feel it's a very poor method of sorting who I want to play with.
But as sorting methods go, it does have a few benefits. It is extremely simple. It skews your results toward people with more practice. It is also very easy to measure and self-assess -- you might care more about spelling than about length, but poor spellers often think they are excellent spellers (they don't know the correct spellings so they can't see when they make the wrong ones). You might care more about fairness, but selfish people will see fairness differently than others. But pretty much everyone can look at their own writing and correctly evaluate the length of it, so you're not put into the position of being the bad guy and saying "You aren't a good enough writer." They can assess length on their own and then not make you say it.
So perhaps for some it's fine for a first round of elimination when trying to detect how "serious" a potential new partner is about the craft of writing for RP. Especially if you personally like long-form posts.
As far as privileging it as a sign of status? Balderdash, pay no attention.
Being able to write a lot is a skill that is built up through practice. It is very hard for someone who has little practice with writing to write long posts. Therefore, by requiring a long minimum length on posts, you are skewing the results toward people who have a fair amount of practice with writing. Because they have been at it awhile, and have built up the stamina to write long-form, they are more likely to have built up other writing related skills (such as spelling, punctuation, use of metaphor.) Therefore, you weed out a lot of people who are not willing to put the effort into their craft.
That said, when this is used so often as the bar for detecting "good" RPers from "bad", it puts an undue emphasis on length and promotes practicing certain bad habits, like rambling, repeating oneself, or not even knowing the point one is trying to make.
It also does not promote the practicing of certain other good habits. For instance, length does not mean that you are being clear. Length does not mean that you are thinking about whether the other person is having fun and has something to respond to or whether you're just going on about how pretty your character is. It doesn't prevent those things, to be sure, but it doesn't promote them. And those types of skills are vastly more important to me than length.
I like well-written responses of any length.
I am personally turned off by people requiring minimum lengths, as I always feel the appropriate length is "as long as you need it to be to include all necessary information AND NO LONGER." This may include actions, inflections, sensory information, scene descriptions, or it might just be the word "Yes!" with quotations around it. Typically a well-written post includes something for me to play off of, even if it's short. That's just part of well-written, when it comes to writing for RP.
I abhor filler such as repetitive descriptions of how pretty a character is, or worse (to me) RP that includes anything about what a character is thinking or flashbacks to their past. If my character couldn't know, I absolutely do not want it just told to me. I want to discover it through interactions and clues the way I would have to with a real person, or not know it at all. I feel completely robbed anytime an aside tells me about a character's past -- it means I can't work it out on my own. It means I can be accused of cheating if my character acts on that information, because even if I previously worked it out from clues, they can point out that they told me but didn't tell my character so my having worked it out is suspect. I realize that some people very much like to RP with flashbacks included in the writing the other characters can't see. To me, it is better suited to novelas and sometimes go so far as to feel that someone including it in RP is being enormously rude, or perhaps even manipulative of game balance. How long a person's posts are don't tell me if they're going to put me into this position. How long a person's posts are doesn't tell me if they have cultivated the skill of working out what their own point is, or if they're just throwing everything on the page and then making ME do the work of figuring out what their point was, so I feel it's a very poor method of sorting who I want to play with.
But as sorting methods go, it does have a few benefits. It is extremely simple. It skews your results toward people with more practice. It is also very easy to measure and self-assess -- you might care more about spelling than about length, but poor spellers often think they are excellent spellers (they don't know the correct spellings so they can't see when they make the wrong ones). You might care more about fairness, but selfish people will see fairness differently than others. But pretty much everyone can look at their own writing and correctly evaluate the length of it, so you're not put into the position of being the bad guy and saying "You aren't a good enough writer." They can assess length on their own and then not make you say it.
So perhaps for some it's fine for a first round of elimination when trying to detect how "serious" a potential new partner is about the craft of writing for RP. Especially if you personally like long-form posts.
As far as privileging it as a sign of status? Balderdash, pay no attention.
As long as you can make a clear picture then I think short replies are fine. I honestly think it takes a pretty good writer to be able to explain a scene it a few simple, but captivating words, and still have the reader enjoying the story and understanding it. I have at least one friend who rp with and don't even use sentances or " " marks when a character talks.
Its usually something like this:
Character: Hi, character looks aroud at a small restaurant and notices other character.
Its more of a weird script set up but it can get more complex. I'm not too sure why people prefer paragraphs other than it may make it easier to come up with a reply. There are a few cons I can think of for this, just like there are a few cons for short sentences. Overall its probably best to rp the way you like, otherwise it takes the fun out it. And thats what rp is for right? Having fun!
X3
Its usually something like this:
Character: Hi, character looks aroud at a small restaurant and notices other character.
Its more of a weird script set up but it can get more complex. I'm not too sure why people prefer paragraphs other than it may make it easier to come up with a reply. There are a few cons I can think of for this, just like there are a few cons for short sentences. Overall its probably best to rp the way you like, otherwise it takes the fun out it. And thats what rp is for right? Having fun!
X3
I tend to write paragraphs, all the minimum post requirements, and training with multi-para fighters that RP as Goku and know his every action/move/phrase/motion has gotten me really used to that. However, if I just can't get my usual 5-6 sentances out I will easily post 2-3 sentances. I would say you should practice writing paragraphs when you can. But even if there is a minimum post limit don't be afraid to make a one liner if thats all you can come up with.
I agree with everyone else who has applied for the most part. I detail my characters thoughts and emotions too much probably, sense I dont RP with any mind readers usually. But, it lets the other player know where im coming from. Idk, I need to work on being more descriptive without talking about stuff others characters will probably never know.
I agree with everyone else who has applied for the most part. I detail my characters thoughts and emotions too much probably, sense I dont RP with any mind readers usually. But, it lets the other player know where im coming from. Idk, I need to work on being more descriptive without talking about stuff others characters will probably never know.
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