(Warning: Vulgarity Ahead)
A letter to the non Rping public:

Dear non-rping public

Fuck you for making me have to describe role playing as 'Dungeons and Dragons, sorta, but it's different'.

Fuck you for having to make me lie about not writing anything recently, because I'm ashamed of how you would react if I told you I just created an amazingly beautiful story with five other people online, because you don't consider role playing as real writing.

Fuck you for laughing at Larpers behind their back. They're trying to have fun, and it's hard to do that when people treat them like pedophiles.

Fuck you for making me hold my tongue when you make jokes about how Dungeons and Dragons are for those too afraid to go outside.

Fuck you for damning me if I do go outside to Rp, and damning me if I don't.

Fuck you and your fucking fantasy league tournament. That's just a really uninspired sports Rp.

Fuck you and your uninspired imagination content to live off of triple A videogames that claim to be 'immersive' and 'absolutely free-form' yet are just elaborate strings of 1's and 0's.

Fuck you for looking down upon those who want to experience something like Sid Meir or the Sims in a way far more complex than any computer can handle yet.

Fuck you for associating maturity with the stagnation of the mind.

Fuck you for looking down on me because I like to role play.

Fuck you for associating role-play with bizarre sex games. (Though, ladies, I am always willing to stretch my boundaries a little..)

So please stop treating Rping like it's some sort of depraved and contemptible habit. It's something that I love and cherish, and it's a lot of fun if you give it a chance.

Please stop making me feel ashamed of liking to role play.

(P.S: You are always welcome to try it out! I'm working on a really cool Rp that should be out in another month or so, and new ones are popping up all the time.)

Regards:
Sypher, Katerina Wythburn (x21), Rasmata, Arach Scultone, Johnathan Wilcox, Kal Windral, Mercury Quick, the Pyre Moth, and the sovereign nations of: Apium, The Rythalian Kingdom, the Kingdom of Zersal, the Empire of the World, and the countless of other characters and nations that I have role-played over the years.

So here's something I noticed...

People that create an interest check, seem legitimately interested in starting and generating a lil community... and then they stop reply to their own threads.

Positive side is that at least this time I didn't enter an OOC and make a character only to find the GM disappeared.

I hate it when people misunderstand what you're trying to say and make some big thing about it. They go on and on about how you were rude and such and such and you end up on apologizing cause you don't want to seem like some big asshole or something like that.

Fuck you for making me have to describe role playing as 'Dungeons and Dragons, sorta, but it's different'.

My flatmate once described Dungeons and Dragons to me as the most imaginative way of exploring a story he could think of.

That shit has rulebooks, man.

(Warning: Vulgarity Ahead)
A letter to the non Rping public:

Dear non-rping public

Fuck you for making me have to describe role playing as 'Dungeons and Dragons, sorta, but it's different'.

Fuck you for having to make me lie about not writing anything recently, because I'm ashamed of how you would react if I told you I just created an amazingly beautiful story with five other people online, because you don't consider role playing as real writing.

Fuck you for laughing at Larpers behind their back. They're trying to have fun, and it's hard to do that when people treat them like pedophiles.

Fuck you for making me hold my tongue when you make jokes about how Dungeons and Dragons are for those too afraid to go outside.

Fuck you for damning me if I do go outside to Rp, and damning me if I don't.

Fuck you and your fucking fantasy league tournament. That's just a really uninspired sports Rp.

Fuck you and your uninspired imagination content to live off of triple A videogames that claim to be 'immersive' and 'absolutely free-form' yet are just elaborate strings of 1's and 0's.

Fuck you for looking down upon those who want to experience something like Sid Meir or the Sims in a way far more complex than any computer can handle yet.

Fuck you for associating maturity with the stagnation of the mind.

Fuck you for looking down on me because I like to role play.

Fuck you for associating role-play with bizarre sex games. (Though, ladies, I am always willing to stretch my boundaries a little..)

So please stop treating Rping like it's some sort of depraved and contemptible habit. It's something that I love and cherish, and it's a lot of fun if you give it a chance.

Please stop making me feel ashamed of liking to role play.

(P.S: You are always welcome to try it out! I'm working on a really cool Rp that should be out in another month or so, and new ones are popping up all the time.)

Regards:
Sypher, Katerina Wythburn (x21), Rasmata, Arach Scultone, Johnathan Wilcox, Kal Windral, Mercury Quick, the Pyre Moth, and the sovereign nations of: Apium, The Rythalian Kingdom, the Kingdom of Zersal, the Empire of the World, and the countless of other characters and nations that I have role-played over the years.

But for real, I can understand why text-based roleplaying and LARPing are looked down upon in modern society. The terms evoke the image of some loser without a real life who turns to a hobby in order to experience it. Playing pretend over the internet has never really been socially acceptable (see World of Warcraft, other MMOs, AOL chat, etc.). Roleplaying never really was something that educated or high-class people participated in, simply due to the fact that people have a life which, to them, is a million times better than some childish personas they can manipulate.

Sure, there is a slim chance that it might be enjoyable for them, but I don't see roleplaying becoming mainstream, as it isn't as marketable as other hobbies. Look at other hobbies which were salvaged from either condemnation or obscurity: video games, nerdiness, zombies, the list goes on. I see one factor that all of these things share: marketability. People buy video games, people buy Walking Dead posters, people buy those trite figurines of random characters. Yet, people can't buy something they can make up. Roleplaying, at least in terms of live action or text, isn't as marketable as other hobbies, which is why it will remain as something petty and childish in the eyes of the public.

Don't blame the people, blame the system.

I get flame probably. I still saying.
Pictures. Why can't just describe character in writing? ^_______^

Hmm...this one is going to sound pretty bitchy. Like really bitchy. Like, bitchtastic ™.

But umm...like why is the "Advanced" quality of writing going down so much? Or rather, why is the requirement bar being set lower and lower? And no, not just length; I went into a whole tirade about length a few pages ago. I mean, like, overall quality.

What is this new "Low Advanced" shit that I'm seeing? High Casual. It's called High Casual. Like, I think I kind of liked it better when Advanced writers here were renowned for being snobbish, pretentious, bitches. My kind of people.

Stop trying to re-brand an existing sector of roleplay to make yourself sound better. I mean, this just relates back to the same effing people who correlate some minute, singular, talent with being an Advanced writer, when being Advanced constitutes an amalgamation of things. And I mean, you don't have to be a pro in every single one of these things, but god, just trying to utilize them is enough for me. But when you swagger on in here like you own the place with some bullshit, cockamamie, shallow writing, that very well still belongs in its little High Casual side of the world, well then, you have released my beast. Like mama. Do you not, maybe, realize that Advanced writers are able to muster up a certain something, something in their characters that causes them, to you know, be considered Advanced characters? Like, thoughtful actions, deeper conflicts, thoughtful characters, plots not convoluted by merely psychical activity. Not "he did this," "she did this," for five hundred pages. Not, "let me just respond to this other post and leave it at that." Not, "let me happily ignore the characters I don't like in favor of writing some repetitive shallow bullshit to that one person I've happened to connect with."

I do see that some people are doing this to garner more attention for their roleplays. I guess the motto is, if it won't work as a High Casual, maybe it'll work as a Low Advanced, and vice versa. And I'm sure that works, because I've seen it work.

And now, I'm not saying every High Casual roleplayer is some bullshit roleplayer. Some of them are pretty talented, and some of them, I think, could push themselves into Advanced if they tried. But, by inviting such a standard as Low Advanced, into a sector that, previously, was so rigid on quality, what you are inviting into said sector are writers who are, potentially, even lesser than High Casual.

Because, we all know High Casual roleplays still garner the attention of players who should be more aptly called, Casual roleplayers. We should also all know, that, as roleplays tend to do, in a myriad of applications there will always be those few roleplayers that shouldn't have applied. And it's up to the GM to weed them out, but if the GM chooses not to do so, then, what really can you do. So ultimately, even in an Advanced roleplays, you'll end up with High Casual roleplayers. And the cycle continues in all tiers...

I mean, on the other hand, by inviting writers with lower standards, you could, possibly, help them refine their standard of writing. Engaging with Advanced roleplayers, and even their peers, can push on the evolution of a little blooming writer. Turn a little toddling roleplayer into a big cantering adult. And then you'd have more Advanced roleplayers with revolutionary roleplay ideas, popping up out of nowhere, stupidly giving away original information that other writers could happily plagiarize and create into successful series, because let's face it, if big authors can plagiarize other big authors without repercussions, putting your ideas out here is really asking for it. But either way, new writers, yayyyy. So I guess there are two sides to the coin, as there usually is.

Since I just defeated my own argument, I'm not really sure why I'm here.

Of course, like I said, this is, ultimately, just bitchy. I could very well leave the little stinkers alone and let them do as they pleased. Not like they're hurting anyone. Well me, a little. Because, I mean, when I hop on into the Advanced section, I expect to see Advanced RPs with literate writers.

Oh well. Anyway I had to bitch about it. Just a little.

@Strawberry425 I can completely understand where you are coming from as the High Casual/Low Advance 'categories' help to create a grey area that really isn't needed and it does become difficult to weed out what is a true Casual or Advance roleplay. In comparison Free is very different to both Casual and Advanced as it has very little placed in it's structure and design along with speed posting and often 'Jump In' style of RPs (I could never see a 'Jump In' Advance working out well).

I think what makes this difficult is that people are trying to categorise a style of writing into a black and white scenario. It's like categorising music as Rock, or Electronica, but then when you get down to the nitty gritty there's sub genres and fusion genres which will mix various elements together thus making Industrial Rock, Jungle (Drum and Bass) and even Funk (A mixture with Soul, Jazz, and R&B).

What I do notice is that many Casual RPs should probably be moved towards the Advanced forum based on the general depth and length of the posts but people are too afraid to make their threads there as the Casual area has the most user activity out of the three tiers (12/34/9 viewers in Free/Casual/Advance). Adding to that, Advance does come across as an area that has no limitations to depth and length with some High Casual users possibly feeling afraid of accidentally getting into an RP that is beyond their capabilities or required to read posts that stretch on for several paragraphs.

No I don't think you're being bitchy. You're just being honest and it is a frustration that is perfectly understandable. There should be a bit more of a break between the two categories for people to understand the difference and this is one of the few communities that organises it's RPs this way rather than the typical "Fantasy, Sci-Fi, School" type of organisation which in my opinion is worse as both hinders creativity and confuses people about their skill level.

---

Branching off from this. I wondered if a thread check could work where after 10 or 15 IC posts if the character count is above a certain number (let's say 5,000, ie approx 900 words, for argument sake) it could suggest to the GM that the RP be migrated from the Casual to Advance where they check 'ok' to move it or 'no' to discard the message. It could be used as a bit of a teaching tool to help show the difference is requirement while also helping to populate the Advance section a bit more.

But umm...like why is the "Advanced" quality of writing going down so much? Or rather, why is the requirement bar being set lower and lower? And no, not just length; I went into a whole tirade about length a few pages ago. I mean, like, overall quality.

I've noticed this as well, but at this point I don't even remember what the old Advanced quality really was. I like to think my own roleplay(s) adhere to ye olde standard. Do they really, though? I don't know.

What I do notice is that many Casual RPs should probably be moved towards the Advanced forum based on the general depth and length of the posts but people are too afraid to make their threads there as the Casual area has the most user activity out of the three tiers (12/34/9 viewers in Free/Casual/Advance). Adding to that, Advance does come across as an area that has no limitations to depth and length with some High Casual users possibly feeling afraid of accidentally getting into an RP that is beyond their capabilities or required to read posts that stretch on for several paragraphs.

This is the part that sucks, and I think, a problem that has been going on in Guild for years. Things have definitely changed since Guild went down and came back up. One thing that has not changed is capable roleplayers being intimidated by the "Advanced" label. It's pretty suck ass. Before Guild went down, I had only just started RPing in Advanced. So I know exactly how those frightened RPers feel joining an Advanced RP. But, what I've noticed, is a lot of the people most scared to migrate to advanced are also talented and capable of doing so. They're just underestimating themselves.

ON the other hand, we now also, for some reason (and this is going to sound rude), have less capable roleplayers, who have too much confidence stuck up their buttholes to realize they're not exactly on par with the writing that Advanced standards indicate. So, they're clogging up all the space these shy writers could be taking up instead. This other group should be focused on improving their skill, not flaunting what they don't have.

Branching off from this. I wondered if a thread check could work where after 10 or 15 IC posts if the character count is above a certain number (let's say 5,000, ie approx 900 words, for argument sake) it could suggest to the GM that the RP be migrated from the Casual to Advance where they check 'ok' to move it or 'no' to discard the message. It could be used as a bit of a teaching tool to help show the difference is requirement while also helping to populate the Advance section a bit more.

I think this would be both a good and a bad idea. If depth was not such a crucial part to Advanced writing, I feel like this could truly work, and maybe, add some really fresh faces to the Advanced section. But since word count alone doesn't necessarily indicate any amount of literacy or deep writing, you might still end up with that roleplayer who's ego is inflated because he/she/whatever they prefer writes really long posts, as opposed to posts with meaning.

I've noticed this as well, but at this point I don't even remember what the old Advanced quality really was. I like to think my own roleplay(s) adhere to ye olde standard. Do they really, though? I don't know.

I remember Advanced writers as being scary, with big sticks up their asses, and I remember Advanced posts as being long, long, long, long, and sometimes with depth, and sometimes without. Either way, I feel like it was more stringent back then, even if not everyone in the section was an amazing writer. Also more elitist. Back then, three of four people used to be browsing the Advanced roleplaying section. Nowadays, at any given time, you can see up fourteen people on at the same time. I like it better this way though. More variety. It's just disappointing to see that with the good comes the bad, but I guess that's to be expected.

Either way, I've seen like, one of your RPs, which I think just recently, was the Elder Scrolls RP. I considered joining, by not only do I feel booked, I also never played any Elder Scrolls game 'cept for Skyrim. But, it looked like an Advanced Roleplay to me, I think

Either way, I've seen like, one of your RPs, which I think just recently, was the Elder Scrolls RP. I considered joining, by not only do I feel booked, I also never played any Elder Scrolls game 'cept for Skyrim. But, it looked like an Advanced Roleplay to me, I think

Yeah, that's the one. Glad you think it looks like an Advanced RP. I turned down a few applications and I like to think I was strict enough to maintain a good level of quality.

<Snipped quote by Sypherkhode822>

My flatmate once described Dungeons and Dragons to me as the most imaginative way of exploring a story he could think of.

That shit has rulebooks, man.

house rules dude, D&D has them lol

speaking of the different categories of role-plays. I would love to do free role-plays if there were more of them and people were more dedicated. What I like about Free rps is that they're more laid back and people don't complain as much in a sense. But I do mostly Casual because it gets the biggest crowds.

@Strawberry425 I think the real problem is that there's no real standard or guideline for advanced or casual. Only subjective guidelines. Personally, if I ran things, I'd split the site in two: a section for the people who make one liners, and a section the people who write paragraphs.

I'm fine with either section, but I tend to lean towards Advance due to my personal standards, and the fact that Advance isn't as crowded as other sections.

@Strawberry425 I think the real problem is that there's no real standard or guideline for advanced or casual. Only subjective guidelines. Personally, if I ran things, I'd split the site in two: a section for the people who make one liners, and a section the people who write paragraphs.

I think my big beef right now, to be more specific, is character and plot depth. I've never really been a big supporter of the length standard. Depth is what matters to me, and it's so very frustrating to see players who write without depth now joining Advanced in such high numbers. And sure, I'm sure some of them actually are totally willing to improve and learn and will probably make awesome, thoughtful, writers someday. But there's a whole other hoard of them that believe they've reached the pinnacle of perfection, and having to deal with those people is frustrating. Never mind the fact that these people will bring in, er, similar allies to help them in their quest to eliminate what I think is a critical part of Advanced roleplaying. I am just very frustrated with this right now....

---

On another note, I have another, more personal, rant, but this one goes in hiders.

@Strawberry425 On your personal rant, that's a huge pet peeve of mine, too. I just hate it when someone writes a character with a nonbinary sexuality, and tries to turn them into a god damn sexual tyrannosaurus. I also hate when sexuality is tacked onto a character because the writer finds it "hot" or it's one of their appeals. Whenever I write such characters, I always tend to make it one of their many traits, opposed to their primary trait, and tend to have them come at romance realistically/sensibly.

<Snipped quote by Mr Allen J>

I think my big beef right now, to be more specific, is character and plot depth. I've never really been a big supporter of the length standard. Depth is what matters to me, and it's so very frustrating to see players who write without depth now joining Advanced in such high numbers. And sure, I'm sure some of them actually are totally willing to improve and learn and will probably make awesome, thoughtful, writers someday. But there's a whole other hoard of them that believe they've reached the pinnacle of perfection, and having to deal with those people is frustrating. Never mind the fact that these people will bring in, er, similar allies to help them in their quest to eliminate what I think is a critical part of Advanced roleplaying. I am just very frustrated with this right now....

---

On another note, I have another, more personal, rant, but this one goes in hiders.

A very queer rant. [+]

As a bisexual woman, I'm sure I know what some people would call me. Like, I would probably get some pretty horrible names.

I like to RP bisexual women, heterosexual women, and heterosexual men. I feel like I can connect with all of those.

But I've seen people wield my sexuality in that really...cliche way. The sexually insatiable bisexual woman that's pining for attention from every sexually active character within the vicinity...I have seen that in copious amounts on tumblr, in movies, and even here on Guild. It's annoying and saddening, and its bothering me beyond anything, because whenever I see it...I don't even know what to do. How do you confront someone and say, "I know you're faking it because you're creating the exact definition of a bisexual cliche?" when they can just retort "Wow you're so presumptuous and elitist, how do you know I'm not bisexual?" And the answer is, I don't definitively know, but god, the cliche is a pretty fine indicator of you not being a bisexual.

And its so, so, so frustrating to write a bisexual character without feeling like someone is going to mischaracterize them as extra "slutty" and supermodel attractive, when really, I like modest characters in general, because I am not this big sexual thing. I'll make dumb pervy jokes, and I'll love those jokes, but I myself am not this hypersexual, insatiable being that can't keep her hands to herself, or has super seductive powers. I'm not a cheater. And to be frank, I'm very happy with who I am, and the way I live my life, and I know lots of other bi women live similar lives and feel similarly hurt by these poor portrayals of our community, and specifically, our women.

It's just really saddening to see writers of our generation, who are supposed to be some of the most progressive people in this world, write characters in a most shitty way and misrepresent my people so greatly.

My other rant is pertaining to general queer characters.

I'm glad to say I saw a Casual RP that revolved around queer characters, but disappointed to see that the GM said something relatively biphobic, even if his or her intentions were not so. The only thing is I believe this, just like the queer pushing agenda on tumblr, will only serve to solidify the idea that there are too many differences between queers themselves and queers and straights for them all get along.

And I'd be really happy if people did like I did and utilized their queer characters in regular roleplays with other straight characters. What I don't like is that there are a few instances where I've seen a homosexual person come in and create a gay or lesbian character that is borderline sexist. I find that to be disgusting, but like I said, I've only seen a few instances of that. Either way, it would be nice to see a more realistic mixing of sexualities, instead of these big dividers...

well at least you know how I feel when so many rpers make fathers look bad with their characters' back story. I'm a big father's rights activists and find some characters very anti father, but at the end of the day it's all fiction and most people use cliches in writing characters, like how many anti religion characters are made in the rp. People are going to write however they're going to write and it's up the DM to decide what's fine and what's not. Writing is a form of art and never should be censored or given specific morals.

I'm catholic and I don't like seeing christian stereotypes used to make religion bad, but I have to deal with it since I don't control how people feel and want to write.

@Weird Tales @Mr Allen J @Strawberry425
I'm a heterosexual male, however I play a fair few female characters. I do this because I find it more fun than trying to be that typical butch male character. Something I do however is make all my female characters lesbian, but I never really announce it.

Why? Well because it's a good way to fuck around with other players.

One example of this was an rp that I had with a few friends and one guy in particular think he's gods gift and always makes these over sexualised characters. So he created a female character and made her as slutty as could be and tried to hit on various males... So me with my character decide to go up to him and I hit on him instead.

Man, the drama I created in the OOC was fucken hilarious! He was actually uncomfortable with it and when I threatened to have my male character hit on his male character in another role play he pretty much broke down and cried.

@Weird Tales @Mr Allen J @Strawberry425
I'm a heterosexual male, however I play a fair few female characters. I do this because I find it more fun than trying to be that typical butch male character. Something I do however is make all my female characters lesbian, but I never really announce it.

Why? Well because it's a good way to fuck around with other players.

One example of this was an rp that I had with a few friends and one guy in particular think he's gods gift and always makes these over sexualised characters. So he created a female character and made her as slutty as could be and tried to hit on various males... So me with my character decide to go up to him and I hit on him instead.

Man, the drama I created in the OOC was fucken hilarious! He was actually uncomfortable with it and when I threatened to have my male character hit on his male character in another role play he pretty much broke down and cried.

I don't make sexual characters, not because of gender issues like social justice warriors scream and cry about, it's just not my thing, but I don't care if other people do it. I'll admit that I have been tempted to make my religious characters troll the atheist characters, but I reframe from doing that.

I understand your reasons, but it still is trolling man. Also the term butch is more used for lesbians. Macho is the proper term for a highly masculine man, which I tend to play a lot.

New B!tching:

Ellipses contain three dots. They do not contain more.

[...] is perfectly adequate to indicate a passage of time or pause. [.........] is not necessary.

@Strawberry425

In regards to your discussion on Advanced RPing -
I come to and fro from the guild every once in a while. As I've grown up (I joined back in 2009, or maybe earlier) my writing has improved considerably (Partially due to maturity, partially due to AP English). I used to struggle at writing at a casual level, but now writing as a character I can pull off advanced.

I think the issues are really as follows-

1. No one pays attention to the 18+ rules. I sure as hell didn't. Lots of people here are probably the good writer in their friend group, and get 100s on every English assignment. I never was. But there is simply no way a fourteen year old no matter how talented can write at what was considered the advanced level. At that age the chances you've been in an actually serious relationship are small, you feel like your the only one whos experiencing what's going on in your life, and you are most likely confused. It is really hard to roleplay well when you have NO life experience. While logically many fourteen year olds know this, they don't really believe or understand it. In some ways, the snobiness of the old guild kept this out.

2. Being able to roleplay at an advanced level does not mean you can GM at an advanced level. I've realized recently I can't, and I probably should train my GM abilities at a lower level where quick posting will let me get a lot of experience.

3. A lack of patience. Partially tied into point 1. Rps where people post about once a week have great quality. It gives people plenty of time for others to think about a response, write that response, and then sleep on it. When you come back the next day chances are you will fix the post up considerably and the quality will be much higher as a result. I really think this is the biggest difference between high-cas and advanced as categories. Length isn't what makes advanced, and you should have character development by high casual. What makes a post advanced is being willing to come back the next day an improve the quality.