Details
- Last Login
- 12/03/2009 9:58 am
- Total Posts
- 31744
- Posts Per Day
- 18.05
- Member Since
- 02/08/2005
- Location
- South of Heaven
- Occupation
- Minor Misfortunes
- Gender
- Male
- Birthday
- 12/18
Wish List
About
Semblant Literate ManifestoDefined -
Semblant - n. 1. Show; appearance; figure; semblance.
Literate - n. 1. A person who can read and write.
Semblant Literate - n. 1. An individual that displays an ability similar to that of being able to read and write.
Mission Statement -
To break and destroy the absurd hierarchy of Semi-Literate, Literate, and Advanced Literate.
Who We Are -
We are writers and role players that feel that the quality of our actions does not rely strictly upon the level of detail. We do not believe that literacy has anything to do with font colour, size, nor whether or not you italicise, bold, underline, etc. your text.
We believe that role playing should be done on a competent level that ideas can be freely exchanged and understanding easily attained; and while this does require such notions as proper grammar and punctuation we do not feel the need to be perfect.
We believe that role playing is expressly for the purpose of entertainment and developing an individuals ability to write.
What This Means -
Literacy is not dependent upon competence of writing; it is the simple notion that one can read and write, nothing more, nothing less. Such distinctions as those that exist are meaningless and ultimately create an environment of elitism of the worse breed.
Under the current division of skill Semi-Literates are those that do not follow all the rules of grammar, forgetting to capitalise and use punctuation at times. Often times people feel the need to tie in an individuals number of words per post, more commonly referred by the number of sentences or paragraphs, into their skill level. Sometimes to the point were people automatically assume that a so called Semi-Literate can not write long posts, that instead they are bound by the so called "one liners" that many individuals harp on with no regards to the context of a post.
From there it's an easy step to look at the literate, a strong community of individuals who are competent in their grammar with the occasional mistake. They often times do not post for sheer length and instead focus upon conveying an idea in as many words as they deem needed for the task. This is the group where the Semblent Literates can most often trace their roots too; but there is a crucial difference. These Literates are silent and while skilled in their art do not attempt to break the pre-set standards of role playing.
The last and final group would be the self proclaimed Advanced Literates. These are people, who while not all are bad, foster and spread the idea that literacy is a matter of post length, that it does matter whether or not one uses size 9-10 font. Some even go so far as to make use of colours so garish to the eye so as to induce ones eyes to bleed profusely, this is a complication that is only worsened when the font size is taken into account and the rampant display of what can only be called Purple Prose.
Yes, Purple Prose, complex and wordy language meant to increase the level of detail; but is it needless? Is not detail something to be valued by a role player?
The answer is simple, there is a time and place when one needs to be detailed. Exposition is often times detailed, role play fighting is almost always filled to the over flow with minute details, even a sex scene can be written with such a great intensity of information; but do we need a paragraph, or more, detailing how a character tied their shoe? Detail is something to be used when it is appropriate, and the situation when it is most needed is during intimate and close interaction. Whether it be stabbing someone in the Kidney or the wild romp in a barn loft; both require greater detail because they need to clearly give a mental image of what is happening so the story can continue to flow.
So now with this concept in mind we must look at the Advance Literate and their near universal demanding of so many paragraphs per post and see that it is an arbitrary notion which they often times make into a rule instead of being what it should be, a request. A request that one takes the time and makes the effort to produce a post as detailed as it needs to be. The end product being a post that fits the situation without going beyond what is required, because when one becomes too verbose the writer often looses and bores their reader.
Now with all the afore mentioned stated the conclusion can be defined simply. Role playing is a literary pursuit to entertain and be entertained. No one likes to take part of a role play that they aren't having fun with. There is no reason for a role play to be exclusive based upon skill level, all who are interested in a scenario should be free to join in. Even if they do not match up to what others perform they should not be discouraged based upon their level of competence in grammar nor the lengths of their posts.
In the end it is all about having fun, in fact many role plays go so far as to include that simple statement within their rules. So why is their the persistence of insular division when clearly all we are doing is looking for some enjoyment? There is no reason and that is why the Semblant Literate is here. We are here to have fun without distinction between varying levels of grammar proficiency.
All in all, enjoy your role playing and take pride in being able to tell a story.
Friends
Viewing 12 of 26 friends
Offline
Offline
Offline
Offline
Offline
Offline
Offline
Offline
Offline![[ Cognitive Genome ]](http://a2.cdn.gaiaonline.com/gaia/members/ava/b5/34/276c284d534b5_96x96.png?t=1247536977_6.00_00 "[ Cognitive Genome ]")
Offline
Online
Offline
Journal
The Chaos That Be
Idle rambles of an idle mind.
Multimedia
Signature
You have dreamed too well, O wise archdreamer,
for you have drawn dream's gods away from the world of all men's vision to that which is wholly yours,...
Comments
Viewing 10 of 19 comments.