Has the "Casual" bar been lowered?

[Kush]

I don't want to seem like a haughty asshole, though I probably do, but after going on hiatus for quite some time on the Oldguild and returning to this "Newguild" so to speak, I have found the standards in Casual a lot different than I remember.

I joined in '10 and went on hiatus during spring of '13, and for the time I RP'd, I mainly skulked around Casual and averaged maybe 2-3 good sized paragraphs for each post. Free had the short one-liners, single paragraphs and the supersonic posting rate. Casual (for me) was where 2 paragraphs was the minimum and it moved at a comfortable, time manageable pace. Advanced had the insane amounts of exposition, and for me, just too much to read. Casual was a very balanced middle between the two, but it seems like it is different now. Here comes the elitist rant, but on this "Newguild", after perusing around the RP's in Casual, I have found that it seems a large amount of people are jumping from Free to Casual very early. It appears that Casual is no longer a balanced middle and is now more fast-paced and less-text.

This is all merely based off of speculation and observation, so I am unsure how correct this is, but it is how I feel. Thoughts? Critique?

[Kaga]

I feel like I should start out by saying that, at least on oldGuild, "two paragraphs minimum" was the Advanced standard, not Casual. Casual was "one paragraph minimum", and the member base sort of turned it into something different when people who didn't want to play in Advanced but still wrote at Advanced standards stayed in Casual. The site has no specific "requirements" for the sections now (not that they meant much on oldGuild, anyway), so the three sections really only represent what people collectively want them to represent.

In general, though, I've noticed people from Free and Advanced tend to cling more to Casual even when they would better fit in said other sections, and this is probably due to activity levels. Casual is by far the most active, and so people whose RPing preferences are sort of borderline will generally gravitate towards Casual so they can run and participate in RP's with higher activity levels. Even I'm sort of guilty of this. Personally I care little about the lengths of people's posts and will join a thread in any section so long as I like the idea. So, when I GM, I almost always place my RP's in Casual, just because they'll get the most attention there. *shrugs*

Though, following this logic, I'm sure there are a lot of other Casual RP's with standards closer to what you'd expect to find in Advanced. Due to this phenomenon, Casual has always been the section with the most variety. In Free, people generally expect very short posts, and they'll find a lot of those. In Advanced, people generally expect longer posts, and they'll get a lot of those, too. in Casual, who knows? You have some threads where standards are a bit lower, some threads where the standards are a bit higher, and some that really do reach the "middle ground" you're looking for. But, since there's so much going on in Casual, I'm sure you'll find a thread with standards to your liking before long.

Or, failing that, you could always make an RP and set your own standards about post lengths. The Free/Casual/Advanced division only really exists to group like-minded RPers together; there's nothing stopping you from setting your own standards that don't perfectly conform to the expectations in any one section, especially since said expectations are even more meaningless now than they ever were.

[Brovo]

Casual is about on par to what it was before. You've got rose tinted sun glasses on, my friend.

[Kestrel]

Brovo said
Casual is about on par to what it was before. You've got rose tinted sun glasses on, my friend.

Nostalgia is a bitch.

[Ellri]

We'd think this depends a lot on the type and theme of RPs. We've often found that on average (but with exceptions) the age of the RPers is relative to the section they post in. (younger in free, older in advanced). Themes that are of more common interest to those who are younger, will by that logic be more often seen in low-casual/free RPs.

Still, we'd agree with some of the above. The standards aren't different. There's just overpopulation in casual and lower populations in the others.

Of the three RPs we're in, one is (high-)advanced, one is technically casual (but consistently has advanced-length posts) and the third is casual with leanings towards longer posts (but not as long as the second). So you'll easily be able to find RPs with more than high enough post lengths for ya in casual.

[nuttyjigs]

Oh, so that's what happened. :U I feel similar, actually, but I haven't been around much at all yet and I feel it's too early to say for certain. ^ ^; One thing I can say right now for sure is that the Advanced section doesn't seem as insane as it used to be...But I don't see the change in Casual on the same level as you do. From what I've seen, maybe stuff is like, I don't know, half a paragraph shorter? But certainly not short enough to count as "Free" roleplaying. //shrug. Still up to a certain Casual standard. It's just the Advanced section that feels different to me.

[Ellri]

We would be surprised if those differences were not present every now and then on the old guild too. It just wasn't as visible there, because it was all more gradual. Its not as if the mods police RPs to make sure they're in the "right" section.

[Halo]

I don't think the average/mean level has changed much, but I do think that the overall range of quality encapsulated in "Casual" has increased a little bit. It's the area most people naturally gravitate towards, as has already been noted. And with a new site, and a lot of new members, there's been a huge influx into Casual - where everyone starts testing the waters - while the activity of Free and Advanced suffers. Over time, I think stronger Free/Advanced communities will establish themselves as people figure their level relative to others out and gravitate towards others of similar dedication/ability/whatever, and the boundaries will become clearer again as (comparative) activity picks up in Free/Advanced (not that they were ever that defined and clear in the first place.)

Of course, I'm not the best person to gauge the situation, as I've almost exclusively RP'd in "High-Casual" RPs at the top end of Casual (read: too scared/not enough time to go into Advanced). So I don't have the broadest view of such things.

EDIT: Sorry, didn't realise this was 3 weeks old.