Advanced level writing
Something with powerful emotion in it
Humor! Has to have humor!
Something else!?!?
Quality, as others have said, mainly comes down to personal enjoyment out of a story. While it doesn't have to be High-Casual or Advanced length, it does help in some regard to develop characters and the plot. A lot of the times, I simply can't set up who my character is and incorporate meaningful interactions with all other relevant players (relevant players meaning those who have a character in the same scene as my own) if I don't write at least a few paragraphs in general. Of course, there are times where you need to have short filler posts so you can keep things moving and to continue a scene that doesn't require length by any means. Length's mostly about judgement.
I think for there to be emotional investment, that's something that requires the same group of people in the same RP that's been going on for months, if not years. After all, nobody would care about Frodo and Sam being willing to sacrifice their lives by throwing the Ring into Mount Doom if Lord of the Rings was a short novella, it took a long journey to get to know these characters and the trials they endured to give things context. It's like anything else with a trilogy or series, it's events and deaths that happen near the end that feel the most tragic and meaningful, simply because you've been invested for so long and in a way, those characters have become a part of your life for as long as you're reading that book or playing that game.
One of the major things that it comes down to too is the quality of players you have with you in the RPs that you really build a sense of friendship and familiarity, who work hard at making believable characters and the plot becomes more about storytelling than action. Sometimes, they really catch you off guard with something that's actually profound and sticks with you. I'd had some surprising comments about a few of my posts that people mentioned that they actually felt something for my character's actions, or relationships they've developed, or just group dynamics in general. I've been genuinely touched by other people's characters and posts because after quite some time having interacted with that character and the person's writing ability, it felt genuine and appropriate. It's really something when it happens.
So, when it comes down to it, having a fairly solid writing ability does help a lot and being able to pace the posts. Sometimes, things take time to build but the payoff is incredible, and that may take several posts or even weeks to do properly. In a way, it's like finally getting that special weapon or power-up in a video game that is satisfying because you had to work towards it. If you always had it right off the get go or very early, it robs it of a lot of satisfaction. Half of the fun is earning it. Likewise, with RPs, if somebody drops a drama bomb really early in the story before everyone's had a chance to really work in their own characters, it kind of robs the emotional value behind it. I mean, we've all seen people have pre-packaged trauma or whatever in their character's back story that seems to be there to give their characters taped-on depth, or a drama card to play later (raise your hand if you've seen the 'I was raped' or 'My parents are dead' back stories a few too many times). Almost everybody makes a character with some kind of background that has a lot of fuel for emotional turmoil, and most of the time, it can be used well. It's just a bit uncanny that it's rare to see a character sheet that you see somebody who had a perfectly normal upbringing and nothing traumatic happen in their mature years. And don't worry; I'm not criticizing anybody, it applies to almost all of my characters, too. :P
Basically, my advice is if you really want to feel something with a story, stay with it and try to become invested in what's going on. It helps if you're with people you like to role play with and know can stay dedicated to a story and put emphasis on character development. I doubt many people could read over another person's RP and really feel anything, because simply put nobody puts the same weight to a role playing post as a published novel, almost like the characters aren't as 'real', per say. If you're able to feel connected to the plot and the characters, and everyone remains enthusiastic for keeping things going, then I'd say that's quality. It's when you no longer feel that the characters and story are disposable and prone to crashing and burning in the near future and you have emotional connections to them. You just need to have people who are just as committed as you are.
A special thanks to Vanquished for the sig!
And another special thanks to Tick for the avatar!
Roleplays I GM
The Elder Scrolls: Vengeance of the Deep (Co-GMing with O|NoSoul)
I never had a lot of standards with my games, my biggest thing was that everyone have fun and cooperate. It wasn't until I moved away from D&D that I finally managed to get that. Most of my D&D players just couldn't cooperate and because of that I hate D&D, well that and the fact I always had to be DM.
=
As long as my players are having fun, then it's a good session. (this isn't counting forum RP, I very rarely do that, and don't really enjoy it)
CRG at VOP
Writer and creator of "Tales, From Space"
I agreed with your post, Dervish. For me it's totally about having an emotional investment in the story and the relationships between characters. Roleplaying can be a very selfish habit; sometimes the authors only care about their characters being considered attractive, or they want to be the most badass, or the most "emo". But when characters form bonds that make perfect sense after you factor in their bios and the story, bonds from actual, believable chemistry, that's when I feel like a roleplay has something special. Put that selfishness into making sure your character has an arc that has them grow. Make them be more than just their past, give them a future.
And now, a little anecdote: The first time I ever roleplayed was in my high school Anime Club (about 5 years ago). My character had a crush on my IRL friend's character, and we ended up writing a scene where she begged him not to leave, and I was actually shaking afterward, as if I were actually doing the begging myself. I haven't felt that way about a roleplay since then, and even though it was amateurish and silly at times, that one stuck with me just because of the feeling I had in that moment.
The first fact that should be stated is that Quantity and Quality exist independently of each other, it's possible to have short, high-quality posts and also possible to see large amounts of crappy writing.
For me what defines a quality post can be split into these attributes:
1) Flow - for me this is the most important factor of quality as the post has to move seamlessly from word to word, sentence to sentence in order to be truly considered quality posting. If a post doesn't flow how can it be considered a good read? If it's disjointed and jerky in transition where the reader is thrown around like a rag doll then it destabilizes the reader and often causes them to stop enjoying it and in some cases stop reading it. Coincidentally it's also a part of writing that I struggle with quite consistently as I can try to jump and move around a bit too much.
2) Image Portrayal - this is how well a post is written in that whether it creates an image in the reader's head that cannot be mistaken or confused. This could also be considered clarity of imagery but it is important to note that 1000 words aren't required to detail the scenery, not every blade of grass needs to be described nor every leaf on the tree. In my opinion the best way to do is to pick out the few key things that will stand out in your post/series of posts and give them a specific description with a general description for the rest. You also don't need to cover every sense, only the one that you'd see a character in that situation picking up most, i.e. the stench of rotting vegetables would be the dominant sensory description.
3) Control of Pace - this is the pace at which a story moves and in my opinion in order to be of the highest quality then it should constantly be changing to suit the occurring event, for example during an action scene the reader should be rocketing along the story, feeling the tension and movement of the moment whilst in softer, gentler scenes such as conversations then it should be slower, allowing more events to happen in the words you use but it is important not to go too slow that they start to fall asleep, unless you're writing a guide on how to fall asleep.
4) Vocabulary - one of the smaller inputs to the quality of a post is the words that are used. Note a quality post can exist without a high vocabulary, you don't need to know every word in the dictionary in order to be a cracking writer. Using the occasional fancy word not only adds credibility to your writing as the reader perceives a greater level of intelligence it also challenges your reader and makes him think towards what it means and gives them a little interest kick. Vocabulary can be derogatory when used too much, simply throwing in big words for the sake of it can reduce the quality of the post as it damages the flow of words through the head, sometimes the simplest word is the best solution.
A post is all about grabbing the attention of your reader and maintaining their interest through the entire posts. I want posts I read to be a roller coaster, I want to be taken on a ride by your writing, jumping from the highs to the lows no matter how mediocre the scene. In my mind the greatest writer isn't the one with the best story, it's the one who can turn any scene into a story. A final note that I have seen is about action posts, whilst many people see this as an easy way to create a riveting scene it is quite often done poorly (even by myself I'll admit) and can leave the reader let down as let's face it; we all look forward to the action scene. A writer who I'd really suggest taking a look at for their action scenes is Matthew Reilly, he made the decision to write books for people who don't read books, as such they're of a considerable pace and is the best writer I know at setting a fast pace in a scene and continuously cranking it up for every action scene.
Whilst I don't mention much about emotional attachment (Dervish did a good job of that), it still ranks as an important part of a post which is designed to have an emotional reaction. Just remember not every post you write has to have emotional building in it nor does it have to posses comedy, action or romance.
Last edited by Kangaroo; 12-08-2012 at 07:30 AM.
Ah well. I suppose I'll do a long response instead of my one line response I did earlier.
To Clarify: I've had a role play going on for over two and a half years now. Quality in the posts started low, and then grew to become significantly better. I'll try to explain every element that has made the difference between golden posts that everyone still remembers clearly after over a year or two, and posts that fell flat and were forgotten in no time.
#1: The most important element is interaction. Action + Reaction = Interaction. It directly acknowledges other people and is the bread and butter of role playing that tends to be the main element which separates it from literature. As Kangaroo said above, a good post can be short, a bad post can be long. Essentially speaking a bad post is when it doesn't do anything at all. If Character A drones on and on and on about the weather or their personal past which nobody knows about and thus cannot relate to or even react towards... You've got a terrible post. Because it adds nothing to the story. It doesn't give anything for other people to work with.
#2: Flow & Pacing. Pretty well the same in role playing in that the flow will always change to fit the pacing, otherwise it reads in an incredible painful, incredible weird way that doesn't even feel natural to write. Simply: If the story goes too fast, it doesn't give enough time to allow twists and surprises to sink in. If it goes too slow, things become lethargic and boring and you risk killing the RP.
#3: Collaborative posts. I don't see these used nearly often enough. They can speed up damn well anything and help alleviate writer's block. A collaborative post is when two or more people (though I don't recommend more than three) write quick back and forth snippets to each other through PM's or IM's (IM's are faster). One person then takes the combined snippets and posts it.
This is part of quality in that instead of dragging on a conversation in a disjointed way for three weeks, you can burn through an entire conversation in an organic way in a single post. That, is quality right there. So long as collaborative posts don't always exclude certain characters/players. If that occurs you create cliques inside the role play and that tends to kill things all by itself.
#4: Referencing previous events that actually occurred in the role play. Just little things like "and she watched the life fade from his eyes, and it quietly reminded her of Marcus when he slid down the prison bars, a sword in his gut, the same look in his eyes..." Because now a person has not only referenced another character who died which helps bring a sense of time and consistency, but it REWARDS PLAYERS WHO ACTUALLY DO THINGS BY BEING REMEMBERED!Plus it leads to cheap and easy character developments. And some pretty awesome interactions.
Plus, lets all be honest.
It feels fucking great when players remember your character because they genuinely liked him or her.
Emotional attachment is something I'm not touching due to each person treating entertainment and emotional attachments in different ways. I'm not a psychologist, nor a biologist, just a mere writer who happens to run WOTM and who has run an RP as a GM for over two and a half years. So take it from me when I say this: DO NOT use emotional attachment as a qualifier for quality. Otherwise, even Twilight can be considered quality entertainment where it is simply just tripe.
Last edited by Brovo; 12-08-2012 at 06:44 PM.
Feeling too lazy to read through the thread, so just throwing my thoughts in blindly:Originally Posted by Verbande
To me, roleplay "quality" is defined as paying attention to the people you are involved with in the RP. I don't care about post length, spelling, grammar, etc. in the pure regard of "quality". That all falls under literary skills and preferences. I do not see people who play in the "Free Section" as people who play at a lower quality, I see them as people who prefer shorter posts, and faster paced games. Whatever, I enjoy longer, more detailed posts.
But Quality. Quality affects everyone regardless of the level of detail you put into your posting. If you are playing with a group of people, and you say your character has say, just walked into a room. Then someone who writes that their character is in another room, greets your character even though they shouldn't even be able to see your character? When someone introduces an element to the game, and you are oblivious of it? When you begin making your character "more" than their CS sheet just cause someone else is proving more powerful? When someone's character knows something they couldn't possibly have known? These, to me, are examples of low quality roleplay. These jar the effect of immersion due to the glaring shifts of "game reality" to try and compensate for them at best. At worst, they can create bouts of out of character arguments as someone tries to defend their claims vs the person saying shit doesn't work that way. These are things that can affect any style of roleplay, and that is why, to me, they are what quality means. These issues will affect anyone playing in free, to advanced; nation games to 1x1.
I am also to lazy to read the entire thread, but i'll put in my two cents.
For me there are a few elements that are necessary for a good Rp.
First, the participants need to have decent writing abilities. I don't ask for advanced level writing, though it is nice, but at the very least i expect that a participant in an Rp is able to clearly communicate their thoughts. It doesn't matter if you have an amazing character, if i cant understand your posts i will not enjoy the Rp.
Second, participants need to communicate in the OOC, work together, and listen to the Gm. If you have half a dozen people pulling in half a dozen directions all you get is a mess. If you want to have a good experience you need to work together with the other players. An addendum to this is don't be that dick who ruins it for everyone else by grandstanding and god modding.
Third, a good Rp needs a well defined setting. In my opinion the first step for any Rp is to develop the world. Before you start in on characters and plot you need to understand the mechanics that will be in play. Set some ground rules, it cuts down on arguments latter on if you go into the game with a clear understanding of how things are to be done.
There are other things which i think should be present in a quality Rp, but those three are the bare minimum in my opinion.
I'd say both quality and emotion are the most important. This obviously goes beyond simple mechanical things such as spelling and grammar. There also needs to be emotion and/or character development. I generally care very little about post length as long as either of the previously mentioned traits are included.
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