Experiences Increasingly demanding search threads

[unais]

lol /stares at thoughtless's username. Hmm. you really don't get it lol. there's really nothing to say when you're not even at step one xD

I think we might mean different things when we say application. As I'm really only talking about like those three questions I asked above so basically a form that asks

TimeZone
Availability To Roleplay
Ideas You Liked ( usually optional )
Taboos ( things you won't do )

And I'd put that form in the search thread and ask people when they first contacted me to answer those questions ( because surprisingly few people would fill the form out in the thread but if i pm'd it to them they'd usually answer quickly.

So it's less an application as in - here fill out these questions so i know you're good enough. And more a series of questions I'd ask you anyway right when you contacted me I just put them in the thread to jump start a conversation.

To go on w/ this whole convo, yep yep agreed generally. lol.

I don't super fault players for making application sheets in the idea that "maybe that's all they've seen and that's what they think they need to do". Buuuut at the same time if I have to fill in some stuff instead of talk, it speaks a little bit to the maturity of the player. That maybe even they're not really even willing to RP without an application. I don't really want that uphill battle to start a relationship, lol

This includes @weilan But speaking of bad requirements, the other thing that annoys me about requirements is required post formatting. Like. A picture and codin and everything in every post. I mean when it's not optional I mean /required/ to RP with everyone. If I really want this RP I'll figure it out but it's such an extraneous, uselessly extra thing that provides basically a time sink obstacle to me posting and writing so it makes me cry in frustration. It's like making me frost the cake before we've made a damn thing. I don't mind if other people enjoy it and want to do it. I just. Hate it so much when it's required of me and basically has kind of nothing to do with the RPing itself in a way. It's... a waste of my time. IM HERE TO WRITE AND RP NOT CODE AND NOT DESIGN.

And I'm a visual designer so about 90% of them look hideous to me and so it's like a double-hit of asking me to design some hack thing and then be content with looking at it all the time hnggh xD The original clean format of RPN is very beautiful imo. A couple of bolds and I'm good.

Spoiler: more boring shit about myself starting to talk about character sheets

btw i do hate long descriptive character sheets as well ahahahsHASHSADH personally finding a solid core of hate in my heart for "bio" and "personality" (emphatically if asked for completely dressed down and meandering essays so everything is known about the character... as opposed to short little enticing blurbs which I find are great extremely mini character "sheets") For one, it takes all the fun and mystery out of discovering the characters together. And thennn I find them really rote, basically useless, and at a lot times hindering to a character by fitting them into a set description, a set backstory; as weird as that might sound. Sometimes I need to change things around and I don't want a notepad really holding me back from doing that. It doesn't neceSSARILY keep you from changing things around but it's there. And I like this as smooth as possible~

It doesn't help that there was a time where I could make characters on a prompt and would have nothing but a couple ideas I wanted to do and have their physical description and past build itself out. That's fairly rare though.

I can see the INTENT of character sheets of course. The idea that the more you have ready to go and belt off about this character, the more you've developed and thought about this character and the better the character is. Unfortunately it doesn't really work out that way and tends to become a surface level summary of the character that I feel holds back a character to what's pre-established before anything has happened. Again, it seems to shift the focus of how the character functions as a whole to, pulling very SPECIFICALLY FROM GAIA MEMORY HERE, how much a character "likes eggs". instead of "is this character adding something to the story and interacting in a believable manner".

YEP I'M ALL THE THINGS. JUST GIVE ME A PROMPT, SOME CHARACTERS, A SAMPLE, AND I'M GOOD TO GO, READY TO RP IMMA SIMPLE LAD

Did I just start a completely innapropriate diatribe LOL I do actually feel like there's a connection to what's happening here though since it can all be kinda summarized down to: details vs big picture; perceived usefulness vs. actual usefulness

I think the big fat tl ; dr for everyone seems to be coming down to this: People wanna find good partners and think that picking at little details will net them good partners and good RPs. This, however, gets people to focus on inane details that don't matter, and it gets people to be more focused on these little useless things as evidence for RP... worthiness, as it's treated. xD Because it's easier that way. It's an easier, quantifiable measurement of "something", therefore people keep using it and wanting to use it. However, RPing actually comes down to a larger scale of your accumulated skills and interests at the time and your own interpersonal relationships to the actual people you're RPing with... VERSUS this idea of did this person find Waldo. But THAT as a measurement of RP skill you wanna play with is really difficult to quantify and measure. xD

 

[bingus44]

yeah I totally understand this, I like to just keep it relaxed. you interested in my rp? dope! can you type like a human being? great you're in! I don't get the "you must type 69 paragraphs per post or you aren't good enough for me" type of people. the ones that really get me is when people ask for a sample of your rp skill from an old rp WHAT! is this a job application? do you want my social security number aswell boss?

 

[Lyro]

I apply different standards to group roleplays and 1x1s. If I am looking for a partner, I don't like to create a very formal entry point, since it's very much a collaborative process and I want to encourage a feeling of parity between me and the applicant. Looking for keywords seems a bit childish to me, but I don't mind them so long as they're not too obnoxious, since I've had similar situations with applicants not reading the opening post in full. That being said, I can definitely understand asking for writing samples: if I want to start a roleplay with someone, I like some assurance of quality. Tone matters, though, which is why I usually go look through applicants' history to gauge their post quality instead of directly asking for evidence (assuming they are not a brand new player).

Conversely, if I am making a group roleplay, it will have a much more formal opening. Character sheets are a must for me, in order to get an idea of the player's motivations and writing skills. I also like to create very long and detailed openings in order to narrow the field of applicants to people who are willing to read long and detailed posts. This usually lets me avoid having to explicitly give people a minimum post length, since there's an understanding that every post should be fairly substantial.

In both scenarios, however, I agree that mandatory post BBCode is a turn-off, especially when I don't like the look of the code that has been provided. Mandatory faceclaims also annoy me, since I don't want to be constrained by what images I can find.

Ultimately, though, I don't really care if people have these extra steps for their interest checks. If the player is friendly and the roleplay is interesting, I can look past most of these issues.

 

[CastoffCaptain]

I think the big fat tl ; dr for everyone seems to be coming down to this: People wanna find good partners and think that picking at little details will net them good partners and good RPs. This, however, gets people to focus on inane details that don't matter, and it gets people to be more focused on these little useless things as evidence for RP... worthiness, as it's treated. xD ... xD

This.

 

[CastoffCaptain]

I apply different standards to group roleplays and 1x1s. If I am looking for a partner, I don't like to create a very formal entry point, since it's very much a collaborative process and I want to encourage a feeling of parity between me and the applicant. Looking for keywords seems a bit childish to me, but I don't mind them so long as they're not too obnoxious, since I've had similar situations with applicants not reading the opening post in full. That being said, I can definitely understand asking for writing samples: if I want to start a roleplay with someone, I like some assurance of quality. Tone matters, though, which is why I usually go look through applicants' history to gauge their post quality instead of directly asking for evidence (assuming they are not a brand new player).

Conversely, if I am making a group roleplay, it will have a much more formal opening. Character sheets are a must for me, in order to get an idea of the player's motivations and writing skills. I also like to create very long and detailed openings in order to narrow the field of applicants to people who are willing to read long and detailed posts. This usually lets me avoid having to explicitly give people a minimum post length, since there's an understanding that every post should be fairly substantial.

In both scenarios, however, I agree that mandatory post BBCode is a turn-off, especially when I don't like the look of the code that has been provided. Mandatory faceclaims also annoy me, since I don't want to be constrained by what images I can find.

Ultimately, though, I don't really care if people have these extra steps for their interest checks. If the player is friendly and the roleplay is interesting, I can look past most of these issues.

Again, I agree about samples being needed -- but I won't force someone to give 'em to me.
And about group RPs needing character sheets.
Yep.

And this is just a general, not a directed directly in your direction to you (ha).... Mandatory is the key word, though, that I'm getting at. Don't make me do things. Ask me. If you ask, I might just RP the very faceclaim you want me to. If you ask, I'll put a picture up with each post. If you ask me to read through the entire search thread, I will. Just don't make me-- as Unais said-- go off on a Where's Waldo search for some word.

 

[TheRockInception]

Good god I can't stand how 95% of search threads ask for 3+ paragraphs for post length
I left one awful forum as a refugee to another, then came here to find people with too many expectations