Advanced Roleplay - Posting

[XecutionerRex]

I'm sure this question has been asked before, but I'm going to ask again: How often should a GM expect their players to post a week in an Advanced Roleplay?

According to an age census on the OldGuild most of the community's population are 17 - 25 years of age. Thus most of us have real life responsibilities, even over the course of the summer.

I also understand that in a very cramped schedule it may take two days to fit in making the post, reviewing it, and then finally submitting the writing.

If I were to be the GM of an Advanced roleplay, should I expect my players to be posting two to three times a week? Once a week? What about everything inbetween? If I wanted to state in the IC how often I expect them to post, what would be the most attractive agreement?

I understand that this can also be effected by the size and time put into the post, so on the side I'd also like to ask: How long are most of your posts, and how long does it take for you to finish them?

~ Rex

[Genkai]

Every story is different.

Some Adv RPs get great posts fairly frequently, which amazes me.

And some post just as great posts but at a slower pace, which is understandable.

Some players and plots need the fast pace while others don't. It depends on the point everyone is at in the RP, as well as personal free time.

Generally I ask for once post a week in the IC which I don't think is asking a lot in most cases where school or holidays aren't pressing matters. In this case, I also try to stress that the OOC be a bit more active. But again, each RP is different and should be viewed as such. If posts do take longer to appear, it's more reassuring to have the OOC active to explain delays or plot, but as a GM, you have every right to ask for more quick replies if you think things are moving too slowly, or to re-assess the plot and make it more engaging, if that's an issue with the players. Overall, I think healthy communication with players involved will set the pace for posts. Ask them about their posting habits and real life responsibilities so that you can adjust expectations accordingly.

Posting should feel like a hobby and not like a chore, if writers are happy, it tends to show in their writing.

But you're the GM and it's your job to make the RP enjoyable but also progress within reason. Each RP has its own sweet spot and it can change with the dynamics of the writers and characters.

In other words, just talk to your players and get a feel for what you think they can do and what you'd hope to have happen in the progression, as long as people talk and express ideas, things should progress naturally. Everyone should be happy and all that jazz.

[Pachamac]

It's entirely up to the GM. It could be daily posting, every 2-3 days, weekly, whatever.

The important thing a GM should do, and this goes for absolutely every GM and every single RP when they create it, is they should explicitly say what they expect the posting requirements to be. This allows everyone interested in the rp to be on the same page concerning this, and also makes sure any aspiring players for that rp understand and agree to commit to it. RPs that involve players who are happy to post more quickly then others, say once every two days, but who get bored/lose patience quickly thanks to players who only post once a week... it's not a good mix. Everyone should be able to know they're on the same page. It's better and healthier for the rp, it makes it more stable, and it brings more like minded players together, knowing what the expectations for the rp are.

If you don't have a particular posting structure in mind, make this the first thing you ask for feedback for from the players and get a group consensus on it. This is equally good because already it's getting people to talk, discuss, and come to an agreement upon something.

Personally in my rp, even though it's set in the casual section it basically runs at Advanced standards (2 paragraphs minimum, concise writing standards, focus on character development etc)- for the purposes of what I expect to achieve in my rp it's daily posting. However I'm not incredibly strict so as to always require that and I make allowances for players not to, particularly in cases of exams, sickness, holidays, and general breaks and offdays. Players are also encouraged to be communicative if they're unable to post for whatever reason. But otherwise daily posting is encouraged and expected in order to keep the rp going, to the pace I desire and help ensure the rp is remotely completable within a decade. Because I've stated this clearly and frequently enough, my players know what they're getting into when they join my rp, as well as understand the reasons for it and at the same time come to understand how it's a benefit and provides stability.

On the subject of length it depends on the scene and context within. I dislike gigantic reams of text that add little to the plot bar superfluous details, and honestly with a daily posting frequency it helps make sure posts aren't overly long because the reading time for that would be ridiculous. But again, it depends on what's occuring within the rp. My posts tend to be longer since I'm the GM and am controlling most of the characters and NPCs as well as setting up scenes etc, but even then I endeavour not to make them overly long. I'll just link a random page of my rp; you'll be able to see for yourself the lengths of players' posts and my own as well.

[Ellri]

Because advanced RPs generally involve much more complex posts than say, casual, the requirements one should have are also much more complex. As said by others above, it can be anything from very frequently to weekly or slower, all depending on the RP story. Some RPs, like one we're in, has very slow post rate because there's four active factions in it (at least), and those coordinate internally before they post. The OoC is active, as is the IRC, so its not dead even when many days go between IC posts from anyone.

In some Advanced RPs one can even go through a several-week dry spot only to have it return to full activity later. But that's generally proportional to length of posts. Longer posts = wider gaps between posts permissible without danger.

The best system we've found is to have some means of OoC activity even when IC is dry. We're personally quite fond of the IRC, as that allows more direct contact than the OoC tab, but we will also use that, as it allows records in a way that IRC does not (without someone posting logs, that is)

[nichinichisou]

Now, I'm mainly casual, but usually, I crank out a good, long post, trying to get in some character development, because my characters need that. Like, if its a hgh school RP; my character walks out an entirely different person, because of the influences. If she/he becomes comfy with drug addicts, she likely becomes a chain-smoker, etc.

In Advanced, however, since there's 4000+ characters almost every post, it might take a while to get out some posts, with some character development easily showing. So, if you expect posts every 30 mins, they're either going to be short...or a whole HP chapter, pretty much. With the amount of characters, there's going to be a lot of reading, so that will slow it down.

You should either expect the minimum, or the maximum. The middle takes a long time to get, and since most people post the middle, it might take a while. Simply because, you need to be much more descriptive, and so it will take much longer. Usually, there are amazing writers in Advanced, so there's going to be the maximum a lot, because they can get it down wonderfully.

If its going slow, the middle will start to show, and since people might get more lazy when it gets slow, or maybe they need to chat with their friends in the same scene, and try to get a response that is accurate to how their character is at the moment.

I mean, I don't mess with Advanced, so I don't know.

[Kestrel]

Basically, as others have said, it's up to the RP, but once every week is a good minimum for starting up. One problem with advanced... Or well a lot of RP's is that when someone stops posting or is very delayed, others will think the RP have died. So weekly, until mutual trust is formed, is a decent goal to strive for when you're starting up a game.

[Mirandae]

In a roleplay that I'm in we use non-linear, timeline-based posting that allows us to interact with one another and progress the story without having to wait for people or adhere to a specific posting order. While we are urged to post once a week, it's not a big deal if someone has other obligations that prevents them from doing so. Just putting this out there, might be a solution that could suit your needs!

This, of course, can make the posts quite extensive depending on how much you want to contribute and how many timelines that are currently active. But, we are urged to plan our posts whenever time allows it by writing notes in our phones, on a piece of paper, or whatever! For me, it facilitates the writing process as I already know exactly what I want to write!

Anyway, I hope that you find a solution that you're comfortable with!

[Rilla]

Usually I work on a one a week basis. I can't and don't want too post every day or several times a week.

its something I.do in all my RPs.

I also mention a two week.cycle. since I post once a week. if I.post twice without a single post from someone, they are out. unless guy have a good reason for not. posting.

sorry for any.mistakes. using a phone and not my iPod or.PC.

[XecutionerRex]

yea. I. can.tell.

Thank you all for your feedback! Prisk's response urges me to ask the rest of you; how do most of you manage that aspect of roleplay? Also, do you recommend or disreccomend posting order?

[Pachamac]

Posting order, as in one player posts first, then a certain player posts after them, and then another certain poster after that, tends to not work as well. This thread gives a lot of good reasons why.

[Kestrel]

When thinking about posting order, the reason people use it so they can point at one person to blame for slowing the entire game. However, do you want to exert this pressure? Do you think it's positive for the environment? Should an external motivator like that be the main reason they post? etc. Besides all it's negatives, posting order doesn't have any real positives I can see.

[Rilla]

I prefer no posting order, if it can be helped. I also encourage not tying your posts in to a specific person posting, because if they don't post, then you can't post, then it's a chain reaction of "Can't do without X". It's one of my biggest pet peeves to have someone say they can't post because of X not posting, when they can post. It comes off as "I don't want to post right now, so lemme blame this person". I'd rather you tell me you don't want to post.

But yeah, I see no real positives of a posting order. The only order I would have is Me, then the rest of the players, then Me. So on and so forth for the duration.

[Genkai]

I've been using a "round" system in my RPs for the past three or four years and it pretty much has no order of posting but ensures every player posts once and only once per round. So I would post and then everyone else in the RP would post at their leisure, once and only once. And after everyone has been accounted for, I start the round again so no one is left out. It does take more time but I was sick of people flaking or being left behind so this tends to ensure people are active and engaging one another so it doesn't become a fuckfest for two people or that someone ends up missing a big scene because of some personal issue offline. Sometimes a posting order can develop with this method but I don't encourage it because who needs that kind of pressure?

[Brovo]

Once a week seems to fine to me. If you don't have the time to sit down and type for 2-3 hours once a week you probably don't have the time to be spent wasted here anyway.