Amy_de_l-ABC
Member
So here's the thing.
This is a forum, obviously. And most RP here is forum-style. But the difficulty is...I prefer chat RP.
Okay, so before I'm chased by angry torch- and pitchfork-wielding mobs, let me explain/go on a little lecture/digression/argument.
I don't mean necessarily the style of chat, with the *starred actions* and such. Though I am perfectly happy to play in that style, if people want to. But my favorite style is novel style, either past or present tense (they both have their advantages).
Henry breathes out in shock, and as the little whoosh of air passes his lips, he immediately regrets it. "Is--is that so?" he murmurs, a little absently, knowing he's messed up and waiting for the silent reprimand from his sister.
That is a typical to short-ish reply from me, though, to be honest, my replies vary in length. The more emotional the RP gets, the more I tend to write. And if things are just average, or if they're going along the same way they have been for a while (if my character has been smiling gently and encouraging the other person to keep venting their woes for the past 3 replies, for example), sometimes I even fall back on the dreaded one-liner:
She nods sympathetically and remains silent, waiting to see if there's more.
I can be reasonably flexible with style. The problem is that forum RP drives me ABSOLUTELY BONKERS. The oft-seen "I should be able to reply at least once every day or every other day"...ugh. Insert dramatic shudder here. And the assumption that the more detail you have, the better you write kind of rankles, too. Do I sound like a bad writer? Maybe I do...but I hope not. I may be nothing special, but I like to think I'm at least reasonably good, average-ish, despite my lack of post length.
Mostly, though, I just get impatient. I feel like the story can't possibly go much of anywhere if we only reply once or twice a day, even if the posts are the most detailed ones possible. Unless the characters are not in one another's presence, every little thing they do can affect what the other one does. If A talks about their grandmother's death and starts to cry, B can do any number of things. Maybe they're most likely to sit and listen patiently. But what if, for some reason that A's player doesn't know, B suddenly decides to run away with their fingers in their ears? Or what if they are harboring secret feelings for A, and, instead of just listening, they actually pull A into a hug and let them cry on their shoulder? But then, what if A feels like they don't deserve comfort, and pulls back? Then that will affect what B does, and so on and so forth. And that's not even touching on the conversation topic. RP, like interactions in life, is made up of a multitude of tiny choices, and every single one affects what the other person does, and they all overlap. So with RP, the longer the reply you're writing, the better you have to know the other character, to be sure they won't make a choice that will change the whole situation. And it seems to me that that surety takes away some of the point of role playing with another person, rather than just writing a story yourself. Part of the fun of RP is never knowing what the other person will do next, whether that's in a "the future is completely unknown and this story could go anywhere" kind of way, or "we know that event X is going to happen, and the question is, how will our characters' choices make us get to it?" way, or anywhere in between. Now, obviously we can't simulate the multitude of overlapping choices and cause and effect exactly in writing. But a dozen short replies can allow the course of an interaction to change depending on the characters' actions without either invalidating parts of previous replies or godmodding, which I feel like are inevitable to some degree with long replies. And what's more, I have a hard time if I have to get in character again every time I write a reply. Much easier--and less frustrating--to get IC and stay that way for a couple hours.
With this in mind--and, admittedly, with my own impatient nature in mind as well (yes, I'm a millennial. I apologize)--I much prefer a couple of hours of slightly shorter, consistent back-and-forthing, or even a slightly shorter reply every one to three hours, if players find it difficult to be both available at once, rather than one or two super detailed replies every other day (or every day if you're lucky). I think the story can take more shape in less time and less writing if it's allowed to change in what I see as a more realistic manner, based on the millions of tiny choices each character makes. This is also harder to do the bigger the group. But especially with 1x1 RP, I'd take this way of playing any day.
This doesn't mean that I'm totally fine with having one-liners thrown at me all the time, either. Having a constant stream of He smiled and "No way!" she said irritates me to some degree, if not as much as the average RPer. But I do think that a lot can be done with word choice as well. "No way!" she gasped is a lot different from "No way!" she scoffed. And "No way!" she complained, with an annoyed huff can say quite a lot, for such a short reply. There's also the matter of action versus speech. I had a character who, for a while, wouldn't speak due to a traumatic event in her life. While my style with her often focuses more on what she says, with a little action thrown in (She sighed, biting her lip in hesitation. "I...perhaps you would be happier if we were to leave, then? I am not at all certain we ought to...but if you wish for it, I think they will very likely understand," she replied at last.), I knew that when she wouldn't talk, I couldn't just resort to an action or two. So I made sure to give the other player more of the thoughts behind the actions, so they would have something to work with. (She nodded, her cheek coming to rest on his shoulder as she tried hard to keep the tears in, hoping he wouldn't pull back. This was too much. It was all too much, and everything was wrong, and she didn't know what to do. He was her only lifeline to a world that hadn't shattered, or perhaps he was what held the broken pieces of the world together. Either way, she knew that if she let go of him, or if he let go of her, something dreadful would happen, and nothing would ever be the same again.)
And sure, I could include that level of detail in my posts even when the character does speak. But that is also a very emotional moment, and it matters more to me as a player to know exactly what she's thinking than if she were just in any normal situation. Not to mention that some characters say what they're thinking, and some show it through their actions, and in cases like these, it feels repetitive to me to write their thoughts out. Even if I have a character who's hiding their true feelings, sometimes I keep repetition out by doing something like this:
"Oh, no! My parents...well, I think they might wish me to marry him, if only so that I will be off their hands." Well, they /might/. But that's not exactly likely. Still, he doesn't need to know that.
This is not to say that lengthy, detailed replies are bad--really, that's too strong a word. I suppose it all depends on what you want out of the RP. Maybe you want to stretch events out to the maximum by being as slow as possible real-time. Goodness knows that stretching the story is an advantage. But I have a hard time with the number of people out there who will only accept "literate" role play--"three paragraphs minimum" is a phrase I hear far too often for my liking. To be honest, I don't object to terminology very often, but that "literate RP"...that does bother me a little. As if, if you don't play in detailed, multi-paragraph style, you are illiterate. (I assume I have the definition of that term right. That's how it seems to be used when I see it. But feel free to correct me if I'm wrong!)
Regardless of terminology, though, I think maybe we should consider how we play a little more. Maybe those who want high detail and word count might consider occasionally bending, if the other player is a good writer. And maybe if our replies were shorter, we would get further with a story sooner, instead of having to wait on a cliffhanger with our characters having only performed one or two actions, or said one or two things, per RL day. After all, think of a conversation you've had in the past day or two, whether that be chatting about everything and nothing with a friend or loved one, a short encounter with your boss or teacher, or an angry, emotion-charged argument with someone you dislike. How many individual actions and replies were in that encounter? Now add the number of actions and replies in every interaction you had that day. I bet it's up in the hundreds, right? If you took even one semi-long conversation and broke it up into even one long, detailed RP reply per day...how many days would it take for you to play out that conversation?
The answer, for me, is almost always "Too many."
...so. With that in mind...where and how can I find people who are willing to do things more in the style of chat? I mean, I don't really mind how long the other person's replies are, as long as they don't expect me to write the super detailed ones every time (or maybe even most of the time). Mainly, what I want is that--that not expecting me to write huge, detailed replies--and a willingness not necessarily to take more time on it overall, but to structure that time differently. And chat RP, I've found, fills that. The problem is that I haven't had much luck finding chat RP, and I feel like people will judge if I ask for it. And I guess I also don't really want to put out a call for RP in general because I may be likely to get a bunch of replies from people who are...less capable of good writing. Lack of reply length may not always mean the writer isn't as good, but I think it does mean that more often than some things. And I mean...it would be nice to have partners who are reasonably literate and mature RPers without demanding long and detailed replies...but I'll take what I can get, I guess, so if that is the only way to do it... *shrugs* Still, I'm hoping for another way.
So yeah, if anyone knows how or where I can find others who may think similarly...let me know?
This is a forum, obviously. And most RP here is forum-style. But the difficulty is...I prefer chat RP.
Okay, so before I'm chased by angry torch- and pitchfork-wielding mobs, let me explain/go on a little lecture/digression/argument.
I don't mean necessarily the style of chat, with the *starred actions* and such. Though I am perfectly happy to play in that style, if people want to. But my favorite style is novel style, either past or present tense (they both have their advantages).
Henry breathes out in shock, and as the little whoosh of air passes his lips, he immediately regrets it. "Is--is that so?" he murmurs, a little absently, knowing he's messed up and waiting for the silent reprimand from his sister.
That is a typical to short-ish reply from me, though, to be honest, my replies vary in length. The more emotional the RP gets, the more I tend to write. And if things are just average, or if they're going along the same way they have been for a while (if my character has been smiling gently and encouraging the other person to keep venting their woes for the past 3 replies, for example), sometimes I even fall back on the dreaded one-liner:
She nods sympathetically and remains silent, waiting to see if there's more.
I can be reasonably flexible with style. The problem is that forum RP drives me ABSOLUTELY BONKERS. The oft-seen "I should be able to reply at least once every day or every other day"...ugh. Insert dramatic shudder here. And the assumption that the more detail you have, the better you write kind of rankles, too. Do I sound like a bad writer? Maybe I do...but I hope not. I may be nothing special, but I like to think I'm at least reasonably good, average-ish, despite my lack of post length.
Mostly, though, I just get impatient. I feel like the story can't possibly go much of anywhere if we only reply once or twice a day, even if the posts are the most detailed ones possible. Unless the characters are not in one another's presence, every little thing they do can affect what the other one does. If A talks about their grandmother's death and starts to cry, B can do any number of things. Maybe they're most likely to sit and listen patiently. But what if, for some reason that A's player doesn't know, B suddenly decides to run away with their fingers in their ears? Or what if they are harboring secret feelings for A, and, instead of just listening, they actually pull A into a hug and let them cry on their shoulder? But then, what if A feels like they don't deserve comfort, and pulls back? Then that will affect what B does, and so on and so forth. And that's not even touching on the conversation topic. RP, like interactions in life, is made up of a multitude of tiny choices, and every single one affects what the other person does, and they all overlap. So with RP, the longer the reply you're writing, the better you have to know the other character, to be sure they won't make a choice that will change the whole situation. And it seems to me that that surety takes away some of the point of role playing with another person, rather than just writing a story yourself. Part of the fun of RP is never knowing what the other person will do next, whether that's in a "the future is completely unknown and this story could go anywhere" kind of way, or "we know that event X is going to happen, and the question is, how will our characters' choices make us get to it?" way, or anywhere in between. Now, obviously we can't simulate the multitude of overlapping choices and cause and effect exactly in writing. But a dozen short replies can allow the course of an interaction to change depending on the characters' actions without either invalidating parts of previous replies or godmodding, which I feel like are inevitable to some degree with long replies. And what's more, I have a hard time if I have to get in character again every time I write a reply. Much easier--and less frustrating--to get IC and stay that way for a couple hours.
With this in mind--and, admittedly, with my own impatient nature in mind as well (yes, I'm a millennial. I apologize)--I much prefer a couple of hours of slightly shorter, consistent back-and-forthing, or even a slightly shorter reply every one to three hours, if players find it difficult to be both available at once, rather than one or two super detailed replies every other day (or every day if you're lucky). I think the story can take more shape in less time and less writing if it's allowed to change in what I see as a more realistic manner, based on the millions of tiny choices each character makes. This is also harder to do the bigger the group. But especially with 1x1 RP, I'd take this way of playing any day.
This doesn't mean that I'm totally fine with having one-liners thrown at me all the time, either. Having a constant stream of He smiled and "No way!" she said irritates me to some degree, if not as much as the average RPer. But I do think that a lot can be done with word choice as well. "No way!" she gasped is a lot different from "No way!" she scoffed. And "No way!" she complained, with an annoyed huff can say quite a lot, for such a short reply. There's also the matter of action versus speech. I had a character who, for a while, wouldn't speak due to a traumatic event in her life. While my style with her often focuses more on what she says, with a little action thrown in (She sighed, biting her lip in hesitation. "I...perhaps you would be happier if we were to leave, then? I am not at all certain we ought to...but if you wish for it, I think they will very likely understand," she replied at last.), I knew that when she wouldn't talk, I couldn't just resort to an action or two. So I made sure to give the other player more of the thoughts behind the actions, so they would have something to work with. (She nodded, her cheek coming to rest on his shoulder as she tried hard to keep the tears in, hoping he wouldn't pull back. This was too much. It was all too much, and everything was wrong, and she didn't know what to do. He was her only lifeline to a world that hadn't shattered, or perhaps he was what held the broken pieces of the world together. Either way, she knew that if she let go of him, or if he let go of her, something dreadful would happen, and nothing would ever be the same again.)
And sure, I could include that level of detail in my posts even when the character does speak. But that is also a very emotional moment, and it matters more to me as a player to know exactly what she's thinking than if she were just in any normal situation. Not to mention that some characters say what they're thinking, and some show it through their actions, and in cases like these, it feels repetitive to me to write their thoughts out. Even if I have a character who's hiding their true feelings, sometimes I keep repetition out by doing something like this:
"Oh, no! My parents...well, I think they might wish me to marry him, if only so that I will be off their hands." Well, they /might/. But that's not exactly likely. Still, he doesn't need to know that.
This is not to say that lengthy, detailed replies are bad--really, that's too strong a word. I suppose it all depends on what you want out of the RP. Maybe you want to stretch events out to the maximum by being as slow as possible real-time. Goodness knows that stretching the story is an advantage. But I have a hard time with the number of people out there who will only accept "literate" role play--"three paragraphs minimum" is a phrase I hear far too often for my liking. To be honest, I don't object to terminology very often, but that "literate RP"...that does bother me a little. As if, if you don't play in detailed, multi-paragraph style, you are illiterate. (I assume I have the definition of that term right. That's how it seems to be used when I see it. But feel free to correct me if I'm wrong!)
Regardless of terminology, though, I think maybe we should consider how we play a little more. Maybe those who want high detail and word count might consider occasionally bending, if the other player is a good writer. And maybe if our replies were shorter, we would get further with a story sooner, instead of having to wait on a cliffhanger with our characters having only performed one or two actions, or said one or two things, per RL day. After all, think of a conversation you've had in the past day or two, whether that be chatting about everything and nothing with a friend or loved one, a short encounter with your boss or teacher, or an angry, emotion-charged argument with someone you dislike. How many individual actions and replies were in that encounter? Now add the number of actions and replies in every interaction you had that day. I bet it's up in the hundreds, right? If you took even one semi-long conversation and broke it up into even one long, detailed RP reply per day...how many days would it take for you to play out that conversation?
The answer, for me, is almost always "Too many."
...so. With that in mind...where and how can I find people who are willing to do things more in the style of chat? I mean, I don't really mind how long the other person's replies are, as long as they don't expect me to write the super detailed ones every time (or maybe even most of the time). Mainly, what I want is that--that not expecting me to write huge, detailed replies--and a willingness not necessarily to take more time on it overall, but to structure that time differently. And chat RP, I've found, fills that. The problem is that I haven't had much luck finding chat RP, and I feel like people will judge if I ask for it. And I guess I also don't really want to put out a call for RP in general because I may be likely to get a bunch of replies from people who are...less capable of good writing. Lack of reply length may not always mean the writer isn't as good, but I think it does mean that more often than some things. And I mean...it would be nice to have partners who are reasonably literate and mature RPers without demanding long and detailed replies...but I'll take what I can get, I guess, so if that is the only way to do it... *shrugs* Still, I'm hoping for another way.
So yeah, if anyone knows how or where I can find others who may think similarly...let me know?
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Yeah...and I mean, I don't know, maybe I'm feeling more disdain than is there. I do tend to be a little sensitive sometimes, and I don't want to be unfair to people here by assuming that. (I also posted when I was tired...maybe I should've waited.) I just worry about being perceived as a bad writer or whatever, I guess. And even if people don't look down on those who do shorter replies, they do at least--I don't know, almost every time I've tried to find an RP--and it should be noted that I skew heavily towards one-on-one, and fandom stuff, but I did search for Regency Period recently, and same deal--almost every time I've tried to find an RP in the "Looking for Partners," it's had a note that says "literate only" or "must write at least 2-3 paragraphs" or something along those lines. So if there's not as much disdain as I may think, at least there is a lot of demand for that kind of RP.
That's one of the reasons I'm trying not to ask for more time from people. But I'm hoping that somewhere there are people who are willing to structure their RP time differently 
Haha. If everyone has that kind of schedule, I see the problem! I mean, I guess I kinda assumed most people don't, but maybe I was wrong? Anyone else wanna input? Haha.
