High Casual Rant

[Dion]

Without detailed standards in the OOC, you get a mixture of people who fall between those two spectrums and if the GM is the kind of person who takes anyone, you can have someone writing 4-5 beautiful paragraphs that account for all the other players to be replied with, "Mary walked over and said "OWO WHATS THIS""

@Dervish

free signature quote for anyone to use cc: Dervish

[skidcrow]

@Dervish If your roleplay has higher standards than the mixed bag of popular roleplays, then it has higher standards. I suppose labelling it as High Casual helps lazy people that don't want to click on a roleplay to actually learn what the expectations are, but saying it's requiring of its own subforum is taking it a little far. I agree with Inkarnate's previous point that Casual has become less of a subforum and more of just an audience. People stay there because it's what they know to do. To be honest, the more I think about it, the better of an idea abolishing the subforums becomes.

[Dervish]

@Mara And that's fair; you SHOULD read the entirety of the OOC post to find out if it's what you want, but let's face it, that goes out the window fast if the GM doesn't enforce the standards, which happens a lot.

[skidcrow]

@Mara And that's fair; you SHOULD read the entirety of the OOC post to find out if it's what you want, but let's face it, that goes out the window fast if the GM doesn't enforce the standards, which happens a lot.

@Dervish

I'll agree with you there. A lot of this High Casual business probably started due to the lack of enforcing the specific subforums' standards, too. There'll always be GMs that set some ground rules but barely follow them themselves, it's unfortunately to be expected when it comes to the hobby.

[mickilennial]

I don’t think abolishing the subforums outright will help much, at least not until the tag system is more functional and idk finished? In my honest opinion it would just remove one set of problems for a new set. One of my big problems on Iwaku (sans it being far less active on the group RP stage) is that it abolished the genre subforums and just kind of has “group roleplaying” and “1x1 roleplaying” which makes it really hard to find what you are looking for.

[Mixtape Ghost N]

#highcasualmasterrace

[Todd Howard]

To be honest, the more I think about it, the better of an idea abolishing the subforums becomes.

@Mara

[Dion]

this discussion is now literally negative IQ

good job @deadbeatwalking

[ayzrules]

this discussion is now literally negative IQ

good job @deadbeatwalking

@Odin

did u actually read it all bc i didnt

[Mixtape Ghost N]

this discussion is now literally negative IQ

good job @deadbeatwalking

@Odin

It was doomed from the start.

[Dion]

@ayzrules yes but only replied to the things that were said that weren't braindead

@Surtr Inc all things on RPG are

[PrinceAlexus]

Casual... Advanced... High casual, free...

See now everyone is acting like there is a defined, legal line that a judge said so. In real practice it all depends on interpretation and how people see the lines..

High casual to me, is not same to you, and someone else.

Your trying to force sqaure pegs into round holes...

[Mattchstick]

I think the whole thing is just perception. People consider themselves above the title "Free" because it sounds lazy, while "Advanced" sounds intimidating. People RP as a hobby, not a career, so "Casual" sounds more accommodating. But the description of Casual is "at least a paragraph or two, character development, and some depth. Grammar and spelling are encouraged. Generally one paragraph (a few sentences) per post." That sounds low-effort, which is discouraging for people who put a relative amount of work into their RP (enough depth and development for a stable role-play with a preference for two or three paragraphs per post). Hence the "high-casual" tag; people who want to write at a high standard, but are worried that they just don't measure up to the title "Advanced."

I've seen RPs in Advanced that have 10-15 paragraphs per post. I can't imagine writing that much over and over when I also have a job and obligations in real life, so I generally avoid it. But the Casual description says "generally one paragraph per post." So where do I go with my general two to five paragraphs?

I think a large problem, therefore, is the description of the sections. Instead of Free, Casual, and Advanced, they sound like Free, A Little Better than Free, and Advanced. There are many members here who write at an Advanced level and don't even realize it because the imaginary Advanced bar is so high.

I'm in a Casual RP and an Advanced RP, and I write at the same standard for about the same number of paragraphs (two to five) in each. And it fits just fine in both of them. But you wouldn't think that from the descriptions of the sections.

[mickilennial]

Way back when the site started there was no “Free Roleplay” there was only “Beginner’s Roleplay” alongside Casual and Advanced. There might be some kind of tone that has carried on over those days; an atmosphere of what section means what. What I find most interesting is back in the early years of the site, the advanced section didn’t look too different from high casual at all. Food for thought.

[Dion]

yeh but the section descriptions are not rules, they're guidelines to help (new) players find the right place for them

the fact that these are so outdated they carry more dust than weight at this point is just telling of how much those guidelines are worth atm

i'll reiterate - best solution is to abolish the sections and use the tag system (better yet, make tags say "2 PARAGRAPH MINIMUM" instead of "CASUAL" to set clearer standards).

the question deadbeat asked was does playing in high casual make you a coward?

yes it does because you're afraid of some imaginary bar you set for yourself before you're allowed to enter the paradise that is advanced writing (and i'll level with y'all, advanced writing really isn't all that good half the time).

EDIT: unless you are taking the sections as meaning 'dedication requirements' instead of 'quality requirements' in which case you're still a headass for using a ''high casual'' dedication requirement, making you more retarded and less of a coward. but you're still a headass

[Mattchstick]

The more I think about it, the more convinced I am that it's not cowardice. It's either insecurity or ignorance. I didn't dodge Advanced because I was afraid of doing a lot of work, I dodged it because I didn't want to commit to something I didn't think I could handle long-term. I'm good at writing 2-5 paragraphs. I enjoy it. I would not enjoy intentionally doubling or tripling that number to meet the "standard," which is misleading.

The problem is that we have perfectly good, talented, eager writers who just don't fit into the categories or their descriptions. They should probably be in Advanced.

[Lady Absinthia]

It's actually neither. Let us really look at this.

Roleplay here if you enjoy writing at least a paragraph or two, character development, and some depth. Grammar and spelling are encouraged. Generally one paragraph (a few sentences) per post. See individual GM for RP specific standards

Now some people focus on this part - Generally one paragraph (a few sentences) per post. - Okay, cool, 1 paragraph.

While others focus on this part - Roleplay here if you enjoy writing at least a paragraph or two - At least a paragraph or two. Meaning a minimal of that.

So you see the bigger issue isn't the Rpers but the description. If the description for Casual was changed to something along lines of - Roleplay here if you enjoy writing at least one paragraph and up to two per post. - That would remove the blurred lines between Casual and Advanced. Free would be under a paragraph, Casual would be 1 to 2, Advanced would be 3+. (Then again, what about those that write a saga for every post? Do we add a God section?) Now there would still be some crossover but not near as much. What is casual for one person is going to feel like advanced to another. So until there is a set clear and concise definition for this forum the lines will be blurred.

This so called issue is here because of the blurred lines but honestly, I believe it is a non issue and it just something else for people to bitch about. Change it, someone will find something else they don't like. Divide it up by how many paragraphs a person posts isn't good for some. Breaking it down by how often you post won't work for others. Do it by rule enforcement, others will roll their eyes. By genre, far too much cross over. Time frame, worlds, etc. There is no really good way, just a few okay ways and a crap ton of please don't ever do that ways.

Granted, what does this really matter in the end? Mahz has had the vacation banner up for over a month. So honestly until he can be around much more often to fix things that really matter, going on about this for the upteenth time isn't going to do a bit of good. Other than put Rpers at each others throats over something stupid. Then again, that is what the internet is all about.

Well that and porn. Sorry Kate.

~now has Avenue Q stuck in her head~

[Mao Mao]

I would agree that this site needs an update, but there is no one that can do it (don't dare tell me that Mahz can because that man is too busy with work to care about this site). And I think he doesn't trust the others to do it for him (since they could accidentally fuck up the site)

[mickilennial]

I suppose we are all stuck being the man screaming at the sky when it comes to this site.

[POOHEAD189]

Ok, I haven't read the entirety of the thread, but I am pretty certain most people here don't know what High Casual actually means, and they're thinking it's another word for advanced.

High Casual means that you want people to feel less pressured to post at advanced level and to still have the 'casual' roleplay feel, while at the same time you still have at least a few paragraphs and you attempt to post with alright grammar. I don't know why labeling something as 'high casual' has gained so much attention or made people think the site needs an update. It's just a roleplay label.