Forums » RP Discussion » tense choice

In what little forum roleplaying I've done so far, I've noticed that past tense appears to be the accepted norm in posts. I'm fine with that, and have gone along with it since it seemed like a sort of unwritten rule, but writing in that tense when roleplaying feels unnatural to me; I often find myself going back after writing a post and editing all the verbs from present to past tense before submitting. I think this is because when I'm posting about a character's actions, I feel like I'm writing about something that's happening right now; as opposed to if I were to write a book or whatever, where it would feel more like I was recording events that had already occurred.

To get to the point: my question is, what is the etiquette here? If people are already roleplaying in past tense, is it rude to post something in the present tense? Or am I just fretting about a non-issue here?

I try to avoid OOC stuff in IC threads as much as possible to keep things moving, otherwise I would just ask in each individual thread. Also I thought it might be helpful to make a thread here in case any other newbies are wondering about the same thing.

Woohoo, my intro threat has inadvertently sparked an interesting discussion! \o/

My take on this subject is that it depends on two main factors: The purpose of the story, and the preferences of the player. For the former, stories that are intended more as collaborations (i.e., meant specifically to create something that resembles a book) tend to be in past-tense, while stories that are intended more to just be fun roleplays tend to lean towards present-tense because it is much easier and more natural. With regards to player preference, I would say that regardless of the stories purpose (roleplay vs collaboration), if all players involved prefer one tense over the other, that can be used to make the roleplay more comfortable, unless the purpose is more important, like if you prefer present tense but you intend to post the story as a short story some place.

So really, the best thing you can do is ask the other "players" before you start. Communicating prior to setting up a story is very important, and continues to be so as the story progresses for keeping authors on the same page.

I actually didn't see that thread until after I had posted this - really what brought it on was the new rp I just joined. You're still important though.

Thanks for the insight, I think I'll follow your advice and just ask my fellow players; it's a small group and they seem pretty easy-going, I doubt anybody will care to be honest.

Third-person past is kind of my default setting, whether it's a roleplay or a standalone story that I'm writing for. I have used third-person present before, and usually tend to try it when my roleplaying partner writes in that form, buuuuut I usually tend to slip back into past before too long.

I suppose it's probably because present tense just seems so awkward - it's hard to write a number of actions in a row, for example, without it sounding absolutely silly to me. This probably doesn't matter so much in Furcadia or other chat-type RPs (whether chat room or IM), so long as the posts are kept relatively short and the actions are presented in 'present time'. When people start posting in longer-form, though, as is typical on forums or through e-mail, past just seems to be more workable.

First-person posting just tends to weird me out - especially if you're writing about some more, ah, colourful subjects.

Morhe's right about communicating, though. I've met some people that absolutely refuse to roleplay in anything but one format, and expect their partners to keep to that format as well. I don't care too deeply about the subject, personally, so I'll write in something other than my preferred if my partner asks, but otherwise I'll let styles clash happily.

I typically fall into the third-person past tense category, sometimes I'll throw in a present tense on accident. I find it easier to write that way since with RP you are almost listing a series of actions you've done or will do and responding to the other characters list of actions they did. When char #1 throws a dish and then storms out of the house, I find it harder to respond in present tense to the dish throwing and also the storming out of the house, which is a past event in relation to the leaving the house. If that makes any sense at all. Most of my personal novels I write are in third person past, as well as a lot of the books I read. Just feels more natural for me.

My favorite format is past tense too, especially in paragraph style roleplay. Though in some places like LJ where the responses are pretty short, I'll use present tense!

When I read a book, however, I like it to be third person past tense. First person past tense is okay too, but I can't stand present-tense. It doesn't make sense to me. I have a bound story in my hand. It's already happened

I actually do both past and present tenses. On a daily basis. It's because I'm am member of more than one community, and in the first one, everything's done in past. But in the other, most everyone types in present; I emulate the tense of the person I'm RPing with. Which means I do do past in the present community as well, just because although present is the norm, there are some past...ers.

The frequent tense changing really screws me up, though.

Dang, huge response on this. Thanks to everybody who responded, it was really informative. I think as a general rule I'll keep it consistent with my fellow players.

Tense is negotiable for me, depending on the desires of the group, although my strong personal preference is for past tense.

I'm not ever okay with first person, though, because the actions aren't being performed by "me" nor are they being done to "you." They are characters separate from myself, and with any luck separate from yourself, too. Creatures of story. And they do plenty of things I would not personally endorse or engage in. Brains are sensitive to language and I find that no matter how "pro" a player is, OOC/IC boundaries are always that much mushier when writing is done in first person. And IC/OOC boundaries are ridiculously important to mental health and maintaining peaceful OOC ties.

Yeah I'm with you on first person; it just doesn't make any sense. The author is not the character. The end.