Ruby

RP Rules & Preferences - What do we look for nowadays?

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@Sugar and Spite

Short and to the point: I love BBcode. I think it's rad. It makes threads look incredible. But sometimes I'll find an interesting group role-play, but there are numerous "hurdles" to overcome to participate. Character sheets, a good stream of locations needing inline images to support your character, and oodles of background information/rulesets needed. e.g. "To post, you need to frame your replies in the style of the thread." ... It ends up becoming more of an exercise in aesthetics than writing. It intimidates me and puts me off. One reply shouldn't take 3 hours to format/proof. But maybe that's because I'm used to IMs/writing on online games (such as Gaia/WoW/DnD) where the replies are instantaneous!

tl:dr: Too much BBcode can be intimidating.

@Deadline

I've told people before, "You want my post to have a header? Give me the header. I'll edit the post after I post it, and add the header. Anything more than a header? I'll send you my posts, you add the bbcode, and send it back to me to post."

Which they didn't like, can you imagine?

The nerve of some people.

(Yes, tongue-in-cheek.)

RP Rules & Preferences - What do we look for nowadays?

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I can respect that, and I appreciate you taking the time to respond. Do you think that the GM giving resources to help find faceclaims when requiring RL FCs would be beneficial to you, or people who have the same train of thought? Not asking that to try and persuade, but just genuine curiosity.

@IAmTheIsland I agree that deadlines can be a double edged sword kinda thing. If one were to just let life direct the pace of an RP, what are your thoughts on going in that direction? I imagine it can be difficult to trust people will return or to keep plots going (especially in sandbox style) if people are disappearing for months unless you are writing with people you know well - which makes us end up in the `clique hole`. I also agree that I myself would like more feedback on why sheets are being denied. I try to give feedback k as a GM when I deny a sheet, but I feel most others refrain because it can - more often than not - be seen as offensive.

@Qia Case by case for character caps is something that I can and do vibe with. That being said, it can sometimes look like you aren't holding peopke to the same standards and rub others the wrong way because you're 'letting someone break the rules.' Have you seen something similar and/or do you have any thoughts on navigating that? As someone who's been on the site for 10+ years, there are certain writers that I know and am more willing to be a bit more lenient with, but I never want someone to feel like they are being treated different, simply because I do not know them. I can also attest to your thoughts on a praise system; I've seen them do both good and bad. Kinda feel like a well rounded praise system starts with the GM team - you cannot raise this writer, and not the next. Even if it's something like `great post!`, I feel like it is important to acknowledge everyone, and if the GM doesn't set that standard than others will be way less likely to follow.

@Ruby Haven't heard anyone compare RP hunting to relationships, but I can say that I wholeheartedly agree with that analogy. One of my biggest pet peeves lately has been feeling like I'm putting in a shit ton of effort, and getting.... way less than what I put in. Which I know you can't expect everyone to be you and all that jazz, but it does bum me when I'm excited as hell and that isn't being reciprocated. Not sure if I've articulated that point like I want, but don't want to ramble.

I've always heard that SoL can be intimidating, though as someone who's mostly done SoL for nearly half my life, I've been fortunate enough to not have that experience. Is there anything particular that is keeping you from joining SoL specifically, and if so, how would you like to see GMs approach those things?

@Deadline When you say formatting flair, are you more referring to cells, scroll bars and intense coding like that - or just any and all BBcode a turn off for you? As someone who likes to make things pretty, I can agree that it can be a lot of unwanted, added pressure to make an aesthetic post every time, but I've always been curious where people draw the line on aesthetics.

@Azure Bubbles I myself have fallen into the slump where I don't feel like posting for a bit. What is a good deadline length that allows for downtime, but also keeps the RP moving somewhat consistently in your opinion? On the topic of OOC discussion, do you think OOC works better on site, or through a discord? I know people mostly use Discord now, but I've found that it can backfire sometimes.

@Sugar and Spite

I DID join one for Angie, and gave her a romantic interest fella she quite liked, if memory serves.

But she literally helped me find a face claim (big deal for me), and told me where my character would fit (big deal for me).

That's all I needed. I'm a good enough writer, just tell me what I'm doing, get me settled, and then let me go.

I was gonna bug Tundy to join his, I think he said he'd help me out in those areas, and then life walloped the poor boy. :(

An old status of mine still on my profile:

"I get tired of carrying narrative weight. It burns me out faster than anything in RP."

This began when I was still just GMing. And then I became known as a GM, as a content generator, as someone who pushed narrative, who made things happen IC, who plotted, and planned.

And people around me just kinda...let me do that. All that time. Until it felt like work, not joy, and after that...yeah. Then you get sensitive to it. Then all you want is a partner that's a safe space, personally, and a full partner, IC.

"the ghosts, the walls, the dreams"

I'll post some clips here, because why not?

Val moved to sit, locking gazes with the woman from before, and for those two slow beats of her heart, Val let every raw and explosive emotion and instinct she felt toward the woman flood into her bright brown eyes, smoldering in the carefully curated lighting of Butterworth’s. Breath, hands, nails, hints of teeth, the sound of sharp gasps and sharper screams.

A single beat, and it was sales projections vs. stock projections, it was Thom asking her to get involved with Sales at one of their new projects. “I’m not Sales, I’m not Finance.”

Valentina Maria Moreno-Penaloza post excerpt

RP Rules & Preferences - What do we look for nowadays?

It's no big surprise that the role-playing scene has shifted drastically in the last few years. People have more real life responsibilities, AI can make finding a face-claim difficult, etc.

The purpose of this thread is honestly just to gather feedback from the RPG community on what rules and guidelines people like to see when they consider joining a roleplay now.

For example - do we prefer posting deadlines? Do we still prefer real life faceclaims? How many characters do we enjoy handling per RP? What genres are more popular now? As GMs, how are we going about making sure writers stay interested and engaged without coming across as overbearing or annoying?

I just want to hear what makes you interested in a Roleplay (outside of engaging plots) and what makes you go "oh, nuh-uh"?

@Sugar and Spite

Honestly, some 15 years into this, it becomes more of a relationship game. (Platonic, geniuses.) If anything doesn't click or feel right, I'm not committing. At my writing level, there's too much craft and revision instincts that kick in and don't turn off to waste that on someone/a group that doesn't work for me, for whatever reason.

Anything petty or toxic? I'm gone. You know who you are.

Secondly to that is everything else.

Heroes are popular but reductive. SoL has always been popular (although apparently I've too much social anxiety these days to try one). Fandom has always been popular. Fantasy waxes and wanes. Horror, urban Fantasy, sci fi, more niche so good RPs that last six months can be difficult to find.

I find myself role-playing with a graphical maestro at the moment. I'm not an image/graphics person. I'm a writer that can't draw a stick figure, and the only image editing I'm capable of is resizing.

They intimidate me as much as having to pick a FC for a SoL game. (If you think I know the name of a celebrity under the age of 25, ANY celebrity, I will disappoint you.)

They don't care, though, whether I pick AI or real life or art or comic scans or...whatever. It takes the pressure off, and if I can point to one thing:

Things that take the pressure off? Key.

Whether that's social pressure, character sheet pressure (I truly loathe them at this point and will often not join a RP that requires any CS of any effort), or narrative pressure, or anything else. Make my life easier. I will do the same for you.

GMing...it's just trust. Yes on humane deadlines. (I have a life. It's not uncommon for a week to go by where I thought I'd have time to write that, but I didn't. Or something is blocking the emotional engine behind generation. Whatever the case.)

People that stick around. People that can push narrative. People that make room for you IC. Don't ask me into a game and then it's just you and two people writing amongst yourselves. I'm not here to be your audience, alone, no one is.

The rest is a matter of play it by ear's.

Apologies for the rambling nature.

What Are You Listening To?

Looking for an off chance.

Closing availability.

Where In The World?

Not really feeling a desire to GM, after all. Apologies!

"the ghosts, the walls, the dreams"

the final entry...for now

coming soon