[quote=Mahz]
Blackfire, Hyzhenhok, and I bluffed hard when we wrote the "standards" for Casual and Advanced.We knew we would never enforce them because that's a full-time job. But by using words like "moderated" and "strict", we decided to err on the side of scaring users away and created a mental barrier. Somehow the barrier still stands and Advanced is what it is."High Casual" emerged from users and is just a way of expressing a similar thing but within the Casual subforum -- the largest roleplaying block by design -- and with less of a barrier.The main goal of the entire Free/Casual/Advanced strata was to give a dedicated subforum to the people on the edges of the bell curve (Free and Advanced). Any further subdivision of Casual would have to be entirely user-driven and organic. Hence, High Casual.In the end, the distinctions are far more successful and have lasted far longer than we thought they would. After all, they were never actually moderated.
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They were *self* moderated Mahz. User moderated, rather than staff moderated. And, psychologically speaking, people bind themselves to what they perceive are rules expected to be followed. I could totaly use the rpguild for the subject of a term paper xD 

I use high casual in some of my own rps when I want to draw in that crowd too scared to jump to advanced. They are more than capable, but they fear the jump. , I post my ooc/ic in casual, and ask for the upper limits of casual. My latest one I made sliding scale, allowing rpers to post from high casual to advanced--2 paragraphs minimum (well written) and if they want to, they can post more. I just see so many afraid to hop to advanced, when they are far beyond capable. I think high casual is a nice compromise between casual and advanced.

When I say high casual, my own expectations are no less than 2 decently written paragraphs and also that the rp will delve into more than just action--it will have alot of character development and a focus on plot instead of "omfg we have to kill things!" It's as much about character interactions/relationships as it is about the action going on.