Things I am Finding Out

[Direct Timing]

I am currently in two different role-plays where I responded to posts for people looking to role-play.


My post length is much longer, and more in depth, such as details of a scene (environment etc) or character traits and background story. The other people involved are posting two or three sentence paragraphs and not adding any depth or helping to further the plot along, I feel like I am carrying the load here.


I am not saying that I am amazing by any means, but once I delved into this site I went all in and made a strong commitment to have a great story with whoever I was role-playing with but I am not going to write the whole story myself.


Getting a two or three sentence reply actually just turns me off to even want to continue role-playing with these people and I am going to be writing them a very cordial message letting them know why I am stopping my role-play with them. I don't want to hurt people's feelings, but I do want them to know that I am stopping, and not leave them hanging. 


I know I am not the only one who has run into this. Please share with me your methods for getting quality role-players.


Thank you,


J.

 

[Umbrie]

i would be fine with 2 or 3 sentences if those 2 or 3 sentences actually contained content. i just don't want to see a 15 paragraph wall of text where 12 of those paragraphs were dedicated to redundant details about a character's appearance, and 3 of them are dedicated to covering a small frame of action that could easily be covered in 2 or 3 lines. while i like having content to work with, i don't like seeing roleplayers rape the thesaurus trying to make their posts pretty. a lesson i have been trying to learn and failing at, that i recommend, is learning to trim the fat and go straight to the meat, extremely long posts are easy to misread and are easily capable of intimidation. this is where flexible post lengths come in. i recommend reducing post length by a large margin while trying to communicate the details you feel are essential.


it is like homebrewing a Race for Dungeons and Dragons. does that race really need all those different abilities? or can you trim it down to the essentials? Fey for example, are loaded with powers, but rarely have high stats. and the fey that do have high stats tend to be the ones with extremely limited powers. sure, a Lycanthrope or Skinwalker can be badass in combat, but their powerset is extremely limited in scope, at the same time, a Pixie doesn't have very high stats, but is nickle and dimed with irksome magical powers.


on Sites Like Gaia and Aniroleplay, roleplayers hid their godmods behind huge walls of text containing mountains of redundant details that was intended make others oblivious to the fact their characters were godmodding by concealing it behind mountains of technobabble to make themselves sound logical.

 

[Doc Taylor]

In all honesty, join a detailed rp or start one. People who like detail tend to attract others who appreciate it. A lot of time people will be putting the amount of detail they expect in their interest check, but if they don't go by how detailed their starter is. If they're giving you one or two lines to frame their story, they probably won't be sending out detailed paragraphs. Usually a person's writing ability comes out in their interest check. I would make judgement calls on that if I were you, but hey, that's just my opinion on the subject. 


@JonathanRegal

 

[TPBx]

 Usually a person's writing ability comes out in their interest check. I would make judgement calls on that if I were you, but hey, that's just my opinion on the subject. 


@JonathanRegal

Hey man, If I put out an interest check, its usually just going to be precise and straight to the point On the other hand, in an RP I'm dedicated to, I can easily write an average 2 or 3 paragraphs per post. So my interest check post and RP posts will have a large disparity in length and detail. I wouldn't judge based post length on interest check but moreso by stalking their post history.


Note: This is based off the experience of like 2 or 3 interest checks. All of which were fandoms with their pre-established settings and history. So that's a factor that comes into play. 

 

[TPBx]

i would be fine with 2 or 3 sentences if those 2 or 3 sentences actually contained content. i just don't want to see a 15 paragraph wall of text where 12 of those paragraphs were dedicated to redundant details about a character's appearance, and 3 of them are dedicated to covering a small frame of action that could easily be covered in 2 or 3 lines. while i like having content to work with, i don't like seeing roleplayers rape the thesaurus trying to make their posts pretty. a lesson i have been trying to learn and failing at, that i recommend, is learning to trim the fat and go straight to the meat, extremely long posts are easy to misread and are easily capable of intimidation. this is where flexible post lengths come in. i recommend reducing post length by a large margin while trying to communicate the details you feel are essential.


it is like homebrewing a Race for Dungeons and Dragons. does that race really need all those different abilities? or can you trim it down to the essentials? Fey for example, are loaded with powers, but rarely have high stats. and the fey that do have high stats tend to be the ones with extremely limited powers. sure, a Lycanthrope or Skinwalker can be badass in combat, but their powerset is extremely limited in scope, at the same time, a Pixie doesn't have very high stats, but is nickle and dimed with irksome magical powers.


on Sites Like Gaia and Aniroleplay, roleplayers hid their godmods behind huge walls of text containing mountains of redundant details that was intended make others oblivious to the fact their characters were godmodding by concealing it behind mountains of technobabble to make themselves sound logical.

Yeah, I feel ya. I was RPing on the Fanfiction.net forums, and we were doing this one Gundam Build Fighters RP. The Admin let this one guy through when he listed  a buttload of weapons, never miss targetting systems, and a built in FTL speed mode. However in really small print, so to speak, he stated that his mech's weakness would be a prolonged fight, since his joints and power supply couldn't possibly handle the stress of maintaining everything for that long. Then when we started RP'ing he somehow magically fixed that weakness behind a wall of text and became instant god powered without even trying. The Admin let it slide and it pissed everyone off. This was all because he never bothered to read the guy's 10 paragraph posts.

 

[Fable]

i would be fine with 2 or 3 sentences if those 2 or 3 sentences actually contained content. i just don't want to see a 15 paragraph wall of text where 12 of those paragraphs were dedicated to redundant details about a character's appearance, and 3 of them are dedicated to covering a small frame of action that could easily be covered in 2 or 3 lines. while i like having content to work with, i don't like seeing roleplayers rape the thesaurus trying to make their posts pretty. a lesson i have been trying to learn and failing at, that i recommend, is learning to trim the fat and go straight to the meat, extremely long posts are easy to misread and are easily capable of intimidation. this is where flexible post lengths come in. i recommend reducing post length by a large margin while trying to communicate the details you feel are essential.

I feel the same way.  Some of my posts are extremely long (first posts usually) because I am creating a setting and sometimes world building for my partner to build off of.  I don't mind reading some detail, but when people get to the point of writing like the unabridged version of The Princess Bride it gets dull real quick.  


@JonathanRegal There isn't really a set way or guidelines to get quality RPers.  If you write it, they will come (joke intended).  I would state in your interest checks what your RP preferences are.  If you are looking for extremely detail posts, clarify that.  Also, over the years of RPing, I've found that there will usually be one person who develops the story more than the other.  Usually the person who writes the initial plot ends up with that, but there is the rare occasion where the load is shared.  There is a possible reason for this though; those who write the plot sort of have a vision for the general path it should take, otherwise it would become aimless.  If your plot has an antagonist, you need to work your way to that character and the person to best guide that is the person who created the plot/world.  Now if there is no discussion at all or questions regarding RP direction, that's when I'd just drop and move on from that RP personally.


That could be something else to add into your preferences for a partner search; shared plot development.  You will eventually find someone willing to work with you and similar preferences.  Also, it's more polite to end an RP you are unhappy with than allowing yourself to become bitter or resentful over it when you always have the choice to end it.  There is that chance you'll get some backlash over quitting an RP, but it's better than forcing yourself to continue or just dropping it without a word.

 

[ApfelSeine]

A lot of the time, players will specify in the rules of their roleplay or in their interest check what type of post length they would prefer. As someone who flits between more casual roleplays to more intensive/detailed ones, I do not usually pay much attention. I do know that if you see the word "detailed" mentioned, that roleplayer is likely looking for someone who posts at least three paragraphs if not more in each response. (This is residual from when there used to be tags indicating whether players were looking for something simple with short posts, casual with a mix, or detailed with long posts. That wasn't exactly what the tags were supposed to indicate, but that was generally how they were used.)


I have found a vast number of players on this site who enjoy utilizing longer posts (and I generally include myself in that category even though I can go either way depending on what other players are doing in a given roleplay). If you spend a fair amount of time looking, you are bound to find a few who like that style of roleplay. Once you find these players, it is worth looking at the people who follow them, since oftentimes they will share a similar style. This is not a guarantee of course since many people make friends outside of roleplay contexts, but it is worth a look. I wish you luck on your search! Keep at it and you're bound to find players who share your interests and style.

 

[Direct Timing]

I just wanted to thank everyone for their support and input. It has helped me a great deal and I have a better understanding of what it is I need to do when getting into role-plays.


J.

 

[MechanicalHeart]

I find that detailed writing styles sometimes also tend to "react" to events in the story, rather than adding onto said story.  Leaving me (1x1) or others (groups) to further advance the plotlines.