|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
 Posted: Tue Jul 05, 2005 9:26 am
Please excuse me for using the oldest pun in the book. I am, of course, speaking about the sizes of role playing posts.
Although thankfully I have not seen a lot of this going on here, there seem to be a good number of roleplayers on Gaia obsessed with pushing people into the catagories of illiterate, semi-literate, quasi-literate, literate, advanced, and whatever other titles exist. I don't care much for such ranks as that, but I've noticed that one of the criteria for being a literate RPer in some circles is to regularly deal out massive posts (four thick paragraphs or more) in games. Why? I don't see how that proves superiority in the craft of writing at all.
I tend to write two paragraphs per post in all of the games I play in, which include realistic, sci-fi, and fantasy themes. I go in, write what I need to, and try to get out without going off into tangents if I can help it. I do not describe at lengths what my character is wearing, or the details of the tree she is sitting under, or try to follow every single thought flying through their mind. It's not that I can't: it's just that there is more to being a compent writer than waxing on for a long time about more or less insignificant things in your posts.
I think, at least in role-playing, it's a matter of being compact and concise so that the people following up your post will have an easier time understanding what your character did without digging though paragraphs of prose. Other players are most interested in how your character reacts to the stimuli presented by the previous posts and in their next actions, and most digressions are not of interest to them, and can actually hurt a story if you are trying to pursue a tight, well-spun story. While I can't claim to be a master at short but sweet posting myself (just look at this post), I personally think that making good, small posts that get the job done are more valuable than good, lengthy ones, especially if the writer is good enough to include all of the nessicary details of the longer post in a compact little package.
So, do you have any opinions about post length and if it makes a post/writer particularly better or worse? And how long do your posts tend to be, and does underposting/overposting really bother you too much at all?
|
 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Tue Jul 05, 2005 10:24 am
I alwasy go by Quality not Quantity. You know someone can write eight paragraphs of something and it can still be crap to the core where as I can write two paragraphs that can blow peoples mind. I relaly hate those RPs where they ask you to atleast write 4 paragraphs per post, only because it really makes it just to long to do. With the reading then writing of your own people tend to skip over you or just plain ingore you.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Wed Jul 06, 2005 4:52 pm
That's an interesting question.
I think it depends on the RP. If you're RPing in a tight, fast moving RP with a definite plot, then you definately shouldn't ramble on and on about your character or the scenery -- because the most important thing in that kind of RP is the plot, not the prose.
But in a more free-form RP -- one without a set storyline, where you just make it up as you go -- it might be beneficial to ramble, at least a little. Especially if you're trying out a new character, it's helpful to their development to RP their thoughts, etc.
In my opinion, describing scenery that has no impact on the plot is entirely useless and rather boring. Even books written this way get long and drawn out, and lose the 'magic' of picturing the scene in your head if you have to read through ten paragraphs of drawl about how green the grass is before the character says something.
Quantity should not be the basis for 'good roleplaying'. domokun
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Thu Jul 07, 2005 3:53 pm
I agree with you. I used to be part of the EZBoard wolf roleplaying community, and there size always mattered. The longer your post was, the better. That unspoken rule resulted in some really gigantic posts, usually in small print, that could span anywhere from six to ten paragraphs, if not more. I always thought this was really stupid, because most of what they were writing was just fluff. It had no standing whatsoever on what had happened in the previous post and went into stuff like describing what color the grass was. Like you've pointed out, it got boring fast, and I found myself skimming or speed-reading most posts. I tried my best not to adhere to the trend, and when I started my own RPG (The Second World), I made sure to stress quality over quantity.
However, that's not to say that size doesn't matter to me. I hate one liner posts IF it's not a one-liner RPG. I prefer at least a paragraph, two is ideal. I just feel like so much creativity gets lost when you make short, quick fire posts. While you may get through the plot more quickly and keep your roleplaying partners interested and writing more frequently, there is something to be said for describing one's environment at least a little bit. So my personal standard has always been small quantity, lots of quality. And, of course, if you're a really good roleplayer, you can have large amounts of quantity and quality at the same time. =D
The only thing I disagree with you on are the labels like literate, semi-literate, etc. I think they're very useful for describing what kind of person you're looking for as a member in your RPG, and helps to let people know what's expected of them. Although when it comes to it, I prefer experienced over literate. You can be literate and still not have a bloody clue what you're doing.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Sun Jul 10, 2005 8:14 pm
I usually tend to make things like solos or introduction posts as long as possible without being redundant, to give those who care to read it/respond to it a good feeling for exactly where my character is and what they are doing. My reaction posts are considerably shorter, since you realistically wouldn't take a page's worth of thought or movement to repond to something unless you were giving a speech and knew they wouldn't interrupt.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Tue Jul 12, 2005 2:22 pm
[ Message temporarily off-line ]
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Tue Jul 12, 2005 9:45 pm
I personally believe in "literate" Rp's, but not overly so. For me, I like a RP to be at least one well written paragraph. As long as it's written good and I can work off it, I really don't care. See, I've seen GOOD long Rp's and I've seen some BAD long RP's, so yes, quality matters. What I can't stand are RP's like this: Quote: Mystique loved Europe with a passion, she had been hiding away here for awhile. Playing around as a countess, baroness, princess and even a Queen of a small country for a bit. But it was becoming boring so Mystique finally decided to turn her cell phone back on. ...It extemely short, it make so effing sence and it lack some MAJOR description issues. Come on...how is someone supposed to work off this? evil Anyway...enough with my ranting. Oh...for me, an typical Rp conisits of one or two fairly thick paragraphs. Sometimes shorter, but only if I'm in a rush or don't feel like breaking my neck for someone who isn't going to break their's for me.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Wed Jul 13, 2005 8:15 am
Quality over quantity for me. I think it's silly to specify exactly how long a post has to be to be suitable for the roleplay, because it will depend on many things:
1) A person's writing style - I know some writers/roleplayers who are extremely elaborate and descriptive, and others who manage to use an economy of words to express identical contexts just as skillfully in a post of half the size. I like to practise my writing skills while roleplaying so sometimes I experiment with stylistic effect, which may affect the size, but not usually the quality of the post itself unless I'm having a bad day. Likewise, if you use lots of flowery vocabulary, your post will probably be longer than someone who uses more colloquial, but still literate, language.
2) The character being roleplayed - Not every character needs Tolkien-style writing for their thoughts and feelings when they're being included in a post. Some characters are verbose, some are abrupt, with varying stages in between. If nothing much is happening in the post and it could be padded with thoughts and feelings of the character in question, then to go against your character's grain just to fill a certain post size is a horrible roleplaying crime.
3) The roleplaying situation - A longer post might be needed if the character is alone or many actions are needed in a single entry. If the character is engaged in conversation with another, you can only make the post so long because conversation typically requires at least two people XD Likewise, action scenes can be descriptive and lengthy - but you can't typically cover too much in a single post without fringing upon godmoding, or consuming an unconvincing amount of time between the other character's move and yours. If a great length of time is passing during your post, or a short length of time, that can affect post size, too.
4) The number of characters - If your character is interacting with an NPC, or you have two of your own characters interacting in the same post (not something I like much in a roleplay, I have to say), the post size might be longer. If you have just one, you've a more limited amount of options.
There are probably more, but those are all the main variables I can think of for now. I'd say it's really impossible to specify a minimum post size because of the variation, but as long as the post is coherent, covers sufficient detail to give other roleplayers something to interact with, and stays true to the character being roleplayed, it's going to be a quality post, regardless of whether it's two paragraphs or twenty.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Fri Jul 15, 2005 6:58 pm
For myself, i prefer longer posts, but that is because before I came to Gaia, I was in a message board run by a much older crowd(i.e., 30+, not teens>.>), and they enforced a much mroe detailed, lengthy post.
BUT, I myself slide people into two categories. THose are:
Not good - very easy to understand.
Good -Also very easy
Pretty much the way I determine is that it's ok to write one or two paragraphs a post, but if you can roleplay,and you and whoever you are with is good, most posts should be anywhere from 3-6 paragraphs easy in my opinion. ANd I mean paragraphs, not like 3 lines.
But again, this is just me, I prefer both Quality AND quantity.
>.>
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Fri Jul 15, 2005 9:23 pm
I enjoy quality way more than quantity but i feel that there needs to be quantity in order for it to have quality. I really hate one liners... i can sit here and make a long post about what i feel but my first sentence sums up all my feelings.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Sun Jul 17, 2005 1:14 pm
First post in a while, apology included.
Anyway, I think that it's a healthy mixture of both. We're not writing Shakespeare when we Rp - that takes up way too much time and adds pressure that eventually turns the actual act of Rping into a responsibility, rather than a fun-filled diversion. At the same time, kindly keep the one-liners under lock, key and careful supervision. You need to find a balance. Make sure you write everything important and don't leave anything out, while at the same time edit to see if everything you wrote is entirely necessary.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Tue Aug 02, 2005 9:56 pm
[ Message temporarily off-line ]
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Sat Aug 06, 2005 8:39 am
[ Message temporarily off-line ]
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Sat Aug 06, 2005 11:58 am
Three lines does sort of strike me as too little, but I think at some level it''s just about personal style. People can really overdo it, and then sometimes they can just do it...differently. I''d say I average about six to eight sentences per character, and since I almost always play multiple characters in my Rps, you have to multiply that by two or three. sweatdrop
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Wed Sep 21, 2005 4:51 pm
DO what's necessary. If you can fully describe what's happening without meandering in 3 lines, it's good. If you need 92 paragraphs to aptly tell what happened, fine. My posts range anywhere from 1-6 paragraphs, but almost always hit 2 or 3, because I find that I can get what I need done in that amount of space, typically speaking. The problem withs hort posts is that they often enough don't describe the necessary details- long posts describe the unnecessary ones.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Reply
