Viewpoint Do you guys use or formats, or codes when you RP? Or do you just not care?

[monxmiracle]

So for me personally I like things to look visually pleasing. Although I know it doesn’t matter in the end for me, I just find that from my past experiences generally, using a format does help. Particularly in groups, and in 1x1. Cause I usually do simple formats where it’s like the example below. A header, with the character name, underneath location, and any mentions. And then text in center and italics. I don’t know why but it’s always been a habit for me at least to center all the text, when it’s not justified or centered, I get extremely bothered. Plus, from what my partner told me, for them at least having the text centered and italics makes it easier to read. Which is why I do it. But I was wondering do any of you out there do the same thing? Or no. Also, in regards to codes, I do know it is possible to reuse and recycle codes, to use them as reply templates. Which would probably be a hassle, but do any of you actually go all out and do that? Or do you just stick to the basics, or better yet not format at all? Kinda curious.​

Example Format ​

​

Character Name or Title​

​

​

insert location​

​

@/M; mentions or interactions

Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam, quis nostrud exercitation ullamco laboris nisi ut aliquip ex ea commodo consequat. Duis aute irure dolor in reprehenderit in voluptate velit esse cillum dolore eu fugiat nulla pariatur. Excepteur sint occaecat cupidatat non proident, sunt in culpa qui officia deserunt mollit anim id est laborum.​

 

[rae2nerdy]

Can’t stand centered text myself but I think that might be due to reading on Mobile and not liking the way it appears on screen.

As to formatting I usually just put character name and then justified text. But I do 1x1 where it’s two players and two characters. So it’s pretty obvious whose posting without the need to get fancy.

 

[ashwynne]

I like being able to read my roleplays as I would a book, so I find headers/images/excessive coding to be distracting and disrupt my reading flow more than anything else. Most I'll do is choose a different font (Georgia or Times New Roman if I'm not using the default) and include a small mentions/tag section if it's in a group RP.

Interesting that people have said they find centered text easier to read, I've always found it more distracting than helpful myself! I also reserve italics for character thoughts, so that's another difference I can see between us based on your example.

Now, all that said... if my partner/group are all fans of coding/formatting in a certain way then I'll usually do the same. For me the important thing aesthetically is for everything to "match" (at least mostly) which is probably why I find threads with everyone using different codes to be jarring. My preference is to keep things basic or entirely uncoded, but it's certainly not a deal breaker.

 

[Onmyoji]

I don't use formatting much, except for bold/italics to emphasize something occasionally. Well, of course, I use headers and paragraphs where appropriate.
Very rarely I use colors and it's mostly if rp partner likes to do that so I adjust to their style to make the writing more consistent-looking.

I don't think anything more is necessary tbh, you don't see a variety of font sizes and colors in a book lol

And also, I'm often reading on mobile so excessive formatting can make the text hard to read and in some cases even impossible if BBCode is used for fancy formatting without considering mobile, when a text simply won't fit on the screen.

 

[Crayons]

I don't tend to use formatting, because like Ashwynne, I like the content of the words of the RP to be the focal point for the reader, not design aesthetics. I don't mind if other people do, as long as its not excessive, and I will if I am requested to do so by the GMs. A header with the character name is often useful for sure, especially when re-reading a long section of RP. I find it extremely baffling that someone finds italics easier to read, and I would suggest that this is a rarity. There's a reason why plain text looks the way it does, and that's to do with legibility.

 

[Idea]

Personally, I'm a big fan of coding. I love how things look, the kind of effects that possible to achieve even with just the tip of the iceberg that I've managed to scratch, all of that. I pretty much make a new CS code for each character, and try to add a bit of theme for the character and roleplay for the code (for instance, in one of the designs I take most pride on, I created an effect where the character sheet of this ghost character is semi-transperant until you hover over it). I combine code with tools from outside the site as well, such as image editing and the like, to help get those effects I love so much. I also add coding even as I roleplay.

I also quite enjoy seeing these interesting codes others pull off sometimes, and they can get me to read further into a roleplay that I otherwise might have dismissed. If I had to call a reason (other than liking to look at it, and thus being more inclined to spend my time reading there), that would be because I know these different codes can be a lot of hard work. As a heavily detailed roleplayer, I frequently see content I love being squimmed over when is considered "unecessary", as if the lack of strict necessity for it made it bad to include. I like it when the people I am considering working with take the innitiative in showing they are willing to walk the extra mile (then often get disappointed when I see the credit at the bottom and realize they didn't actually do the code... still, kudos to them for giving credit of course).

In short, I code because I love code, I love creating it and I love looking at it. I don't demand that my partners code, however, nor my players if I'm a GM. My personal enjoyment of code may drive me to do it, but I don't think it's the sort of thing that should be demanded of other people, unless the code has some mechanic that is important to the roleplay. I also make sure to create at least a semi-coded version (with only the most basic code to ensure it can be easily be read by anyone), and on occasion a phone version as well (those take a whole lot more work to make, as editing complex code on phone is an absolute nightmare).

 

[Ayama]

I also like things to be both pretty and uniform throughout the character sheet and the body of the RP. At the least a header with a small image, character location and who else their character is around. And I believe in coloring and bolding/italicizing thoughts and speech for clarity.
Also, when text is centered or flowing around large images, it really throws me off. The small coded posts are also a little strange for me, since I view them on a laptop and think a post should fill the screen. So yeah, not too big, not too small, not too plain, not too fancy- juuuuust right ;P

 

[Tove]

I don't care for the coding and what not. I'm just looking to post not concern myself with having fancy graphics all the time besides I'm on mobile.

 

[Araellion]

The only coding I do is italics, bold and pictures if necessary. Being on mobile makes it a tad harder, but mostly I just find fancy graphics annoying. If there is a thread with a huge amount of fancy graphics I'll probably click away. Being on mobile makes it hard to read for one thing.

 

[BackSet]

I don't care all that much for fancy coding, mostly because I'm terrible at it. Other's can do it and it's cool when they do and I love seeing the cool bbcode they do (unless it's illegible or has a bunch of hidden tabs I can't click due to being on an ipad) but I don't use bbcode myself. The one exception to this rule is if I have multiple characters in the same post, in which case I use tabs for each character to keep from cluttering up things and making the post run too long.

When it comes to formatting it's usually simple for me.

I have this at the top:

Date:
Time:
Location:
Music Box:
​

Date, Time, and Location are easy to understand but Music Box needs a bit of explanation, I guess. I just put a link to a video featuring music (usually game music because I'm such a nerd) that I think ks appropriate to the situation along with an appropriate name.

Additionally, I usually put speech in colored text to indicate who's speaking. For thoughts I use a lighter version of the color that I use for speech and put the thought in parenthises Ace Attorney style.

 

[ListlessEvie]

Sometimes I'll use code for a CS, but I usually don't go much further than a white box or a quick imagefloat. Everything else is just too much.

 

[Cassie Lang]

I use basic, simple coding for headers and character sheets for the most part. I also use hex codes for dialogue and thoughts, with the latter being italicized to show distinction. Other than that, I don't really use code all that much. Honestly, excessive coding makes me want to cry. Yeah, your post looks aesthetic as fuck, but you can't read anything when it is shoved into tiny boxes that people seem to love here on this forum.

 

[Nano]

Not exactly coding, but having your character's name at the top is always a plus for me. I admittedly have goldfish memory, so I will definitely forget a character's last name if it isn't mentioned very often. ;;;

I tend to code or reuse codes for a lot of my CSs and IC posts, whether it be something fancy or just using a simple header and justified body text (I hate centered body text to death unforch). Likewise, I think coding is fine as long as you aren't inconveniencing anyone. Microscopic font sizes and those scrollboxes with a 250px height honestly discourage me from reading it due to how annoying and difficult it is to read and scroll through. I'm also not a very patient person, so if it takes 10 seconds to load a tab, I'm probably going to give up and just hit that reply button to see the text. Things that aren't mobile friendly...well, it's fine as long as they put the plain text in a spoiler for the sake of us peeps who like to read on mobile from time to time or those who access this site on mobile devices only.

 

[Jannah]

I do not, because effort. Plus I can't code for shit. I know there's premade codes, but searching for them requires effort. I just want to write my damn RP replies.

 

[Lorsh]

I use fonts and sometimes center text. I find using tabs very useful for roleplays where you need to keep track of inventories/stats.

I'm using text blocks in one of my current roleplays but probably won't next time since they aren't very customizable.

 

[BackSet]

If I have two character points of views in one post I usually use tabs to conserve space.

 

[Lexiseeksrp]

I don't use any. On my cellphone 90% of the time it wont even let me use the basic bold/italic/underline/color (ect) options. It's almost always grayed out. I like to use bullet points for lists.

 

[Tove]

I don't use any. On my cellphone 90% of the time it wont even let me use the basic bold/italic/underline/color (ect) options. It's almost always grayed out. I like to use bullet points for lists.

The cell phone struggle is real, I feel your pain.

 

[Jannah]

The cell phone struggle is real, I feel your pain.

I don't use any. On my cellphone 90% of the time it wont even let me use the basic bold/italic/underline/color (ect) options. It's almost always grayed out. I like to use bullet points for lists.

I frequently post from my phone and it seems to work fine for me. Do you have an older phone?

 

[Lexiseeksrp]

I frequently post from my phone and it seems to work fine for me. Do you have an older phone?

It's not super old. Sometimes it will show the options but most of the time it does not. Maybe it lets me use it when I reply to threads but not in messages. I'll try to message someone and see.

 

[Tove]

I frequently post from my phone and it seems to work fine for me. Do you have an older phone?

Mine is not old either but every cell phone is different what works for some fine won't be the same for others case in point what Lexiseeksrp mentioned. That's crazy but not unheard of.

 

[deer]

I don't use any. On my cellphone 90% of the time it wont even let me use the basic bold/italic/underline/color (ect) options. It's almost always grayed out. I like to use bullet points for lists.

Ah! Is your toolbar grayed out like this?


If it is, it’s because currently you’re in BBcode Editor. In the BBcode editor, you’ll have to manually code/write out the tags for bolding, italicising, and underlining words. This also includes changing colours and using the bullets.

When I’m on my phone sometimes my fingers touch/tap the “gear” button and my editor changes.

If you click the “gear”, it’ll bring you back to Rich Text Editor which has the auto toolbar so just clicking those buttons gives you what you need.

 

[Lexiseeksrp]

Ah! Is your toolbar grayed out like this?
View attachment 658692

If it is, it’s because currently you’re in BBcode Editor. In the BBcode editor, you’ll have to manually code/write out the tags for bolding, italicising, and underlining words. This also includes changing colours and using the bullets.

When I’m on my phone sometimes my fingers touch/tap the “gear” button and my editor changes.

If you click the “gear”, it’ll bring you back to Rich Text Editor which has the auto toolbar so just clicking those buttons gives you what you need.

View attachment 658693

Ohh good thinking, that might be it! Maybe I am pressing the gear by accident a bunch. (I do find it hard to scroll via phone.)
- Thank you!