What is quality in roleplaying?

[DMZ]

Humour and powerful emotions are occasional at best for me, so is Advanced writing as far as I know. So I opted for something else, that being the combination of those three with actual story progression.

[Semi Sentience]

While it's true that quality in its truest sense is a matter of subjectivity, there are certain writers (even of this guild) who produce works that you must admire. You don't have to necessarily be fond of the context of that which they are writing, not of the genre they are writing it for, not even of the writer themselves; but a good, quality post conveys the author's intentions vividly and with a degree of observable clarity. Length is a dependent variable because often times a writer can fulfill the purpose of a post in just one brief occurrence or observation of a scene, and other times the purpose of a post was to describe that scene or event in great detail. If by the time you've finished reading a post and you have a perfect grasp of what the author was intending for that post, you've more than likely just experienced quality writing.

[Asuras]

Ultimately roleplaying is for one's own enjoyment, so if you're looking beyond yourself to pick out quality in other people's enjoyment... Well then.

[Dramatica]

For me, a good post is simply long enough. Sounds vague, I know, but what I mean is; a detailed post, but only details that matter. It also has to be inspiring and it needs to be easy for me to jump in; I really dislike posts that make it pretty much impossible to add something logical.
I also really admire it when a person is able to really nail emotions and feelings in a post. Countless times I've come across mediocre ways of expressing a characters emotions and I find it really difficult myself as well, but sometimes I read a post and it makes me feel what the character feel, you know? That is also something that increases a posts quality for me. The same goes for descriptions of the environment; you can make a long 'list' of what a room looks like, but it gets interesting when someone does that subtly; when as you read, you almost feel the room's atmosphere and such.
And last but not least; interesting twists. Although I hate it when someone's char flips from one personality to the other in the hope the other will like him/her more, I also don't like predictability; I like logical plottwists, I like it when someone surprises me in a way that does make sense.
That's about it, I think ^_^

[Brovo]

Quality = Enjoyment.

That's all there is to it, really. Be that enjoyment from a complex story, livid characters, or otherwise.

[Hellis]

Quality = Enjoyment.

That's all there is to it, really. Be that enjoyment from a complex story, livid characters, or otherwise.

^pretty much this.

[Verbande]

Alright, I suppose it's about time I sat down and wrote a few things....

Here's what I felt it necessary to say something about:

I don't know man. I mean I might be a rare breed, but I try to read as many posts as I can in a story to see where things are going. If I can work out meetings with other people and things of that sort. Quality isn't just attention grabbing. Some people are easily put off by a wall of text, but I often read that wall and can find some pretty good work.

I DO read all the posts, or at least make a note of the important details in them. But that's often the thing, I read these posts, and I don't feel anything special. Many times I've seen people praised for a 'good post' or for their writing ability, but when I read their stuff, I get nothing. Is it just that it doesn't suit my tastes? Am I a philistine that can't understand quality?

I know this sounds clichéd, but there's no such thing as "true" quality, different people value different things in writing, yadda yadda etc.

Ahem!

From my personal perspective, I'd say that quality writing, or rather, one of its signs, is writing you can and want to work with, because roleplaying is a collaborative effort. So, if a post invites me to interact with the characters or the environment in it and said invitation makes me think "Oooh, I -really- want to get in on that!", then I consider it a post of good quality. That's not all that different from what has already been written about loving the plot and such, but I believe even the most enthralling story loses a bit if it's some other player's baby that no one else is allowed to meddle with.

Perhaps this is the case. It's just that many a time someone has been said to be a 'good roleplayer' to me, and the only thing someone can say as to why is 'they can write well'. Mostly, they mean in terms of advanced level writing, structured paragraphs, good spelling and grammar, and lotsa words. But it often doesn't gel with me. Text walls often bore me, though some can capture my interest, more often than not I find them dreadfully dull. And so, I find it hard to reconcile with their justification of said person being 'good'. Once again, I suppose it must be something of personal taste....

Character development is a major thing in most roleplays if character development isn't there then the roleplay will simply die!

A lot of people say they want character development, but more often than not I find the players can't deliver. While I can't exactly say they can't manage it, often people are too inactive to make memorable moments, since everyone is bored stupid waiting for something to happen. And even then, some people can post enough to keep up a dialogue or other moment, but since their posts make people cringe, they often end up disliking it anyway. So wherein does the 'quality' lay? If you can write a textwall but find it hard to stick around long enough to make a real moment for your character, are you still putting out 'quality' work? And if you can have your character chat about but your posts are shorter than most and sometimes lack the flair of the advanced, what does that make you?

Ultimately roleplaying is for one's own enjoyment, so if you're looking beyond yourself to pick out quality in other people's enjoyment... Well then.

Tsk tsk, are you trying to insinuate something here, tricksy one? Well let me offer a rebuttal...

As I said above, it is in how other people crow of the 'quality' and 'skill' of other roleplayers and their posts that makes me wonder. I don't understand why others speak so highly of them and their posts when I get nothing personally from reading them. Apparently others are so inspired by them that they can talk them up to me and others, so I'm either missing something or it's all up to my personal opinion. But in that case, no one is truly a good roleplayer, and nothing is a good post, since it being up to individual taste entirely invalidates any factual definition of 'quality'....

If I haven't responded to something someone said, don't take it personally, but I just skimmed through and picked a few that spoke to me. Feel free to say more if you have a point to raise.

[SCU13A]

Quality to me is through true emotion, and if you can capture true emotion no matter your writing skill ... it will be quality.

[Clirkus]

I'd say a quality post doesn't have to be Advanced to be good. I quality post is, to me, one that sufficiently describes the situation the character is in, relates to other characters in some way--big or small--is written in an easily comprehendable way (I don't want to spend ten minutes trying to decipher what you're trying to say in three sentences), and moves the story forward in a way that other characters can react to or bound off of. If every post in every RP were like that, I bet there would be fewer dropouts and story deaths. Even though the above can be accomplished in a few sentences, the more you can write the more you give other players to think about and react to, but don't force it or you'll end up boring yourself and everyone else. Posts can be funny, and I think humor is important, but it shouldn't be expected in every post.
Personally, there is only one RP I've ever done that has moved me emotionally to tears, caused me to laugh out loud, and made me really angry and frustrated at times. That RP has been going on between me and a friend on another site for over two years and we have worked really hard to achieve that level of connection to the story and our characters. So if you want a really moving RP, one that really strikes a chord and eventually just becomes only naturaly to reply to, it takes time and patience and work, so don't expect to achieve it right away.
~Sincerely an experienced Roleplayer

[Nemaisare]

Everything that has been said ths far is something I agree with, it is a measure of the substance of a post, along with how each individual measures that substance, that makes it quality. It is being able to understand what is being said without difficulty, and it is enjoying what you are reading. It is also, if you wish to judge your own rping, something that you should not strain to write. If it comes out simply, don't fancy it up, if it comes out fancy, don't simplify it.