Opening posts

[HeySeuss]

I noticed something in a recent RP; a shorter opening post is less discouraging to people.

I usually write long opening posts, because I feel that I need to establish the setting, explain the sequence of events that bring the characters to the current situation. I provide a lot of background. It might well be too much background. I went from an intro of 3,000+ words to something under a thousand, about five paragraphs, and got instantaneous reaction and a lot more responsiveness. It was a deliberate experiment. I had a big RP with lots of moving parts to start, and I chose to consciously cut down the intro to five paragraphs and leave it there. I was thinking perhaps that would help things, and it seemed to. Within one day of posting it, I had multiple responses, whereas sometimes on previous RP's, I'd watch it all wither and die for want of posts from most of the players.

I'm sure there's a lot of reasons why this is, but I think it boils down to people feeling less pressure to post five or so paragraphs rather than, in their mind, match a very long intro, despite the protestations on the part of the original poster that state that it's perfectly okay to write less. People want to match the mark.

Has anyone else noticed this? Sound off. :)

[Landaus Five-One]

Shorter posts are a good thing and sometimes a bad thing. Though longer starter posts usually make some people go in disgust and leave the role play, though once I had so many fan characters I was controlling it was slightly 'insane' in terms, mainly 41 characters. Though it didn't help the forum I usually role play on doesn't really have a lot of people on it anyway.

Though I haven't really posted on this forum, in terms of role plays but I did post two profiles on it. lol

[VATROU]

Personally if you're going to have a longer OP. Break things like world history or background information into spoilers and leave the main attention grabbers, I.E Immediate plot and setting for RPers to view. That way it feels less intimidating yet still informational. But that's just my opinion.

[Rina]

Personally I love long meaningful posts, especially in the first post. I enjoy being able to read more about the what is to take place and what the general feel of the roleplay is going to be like because you can't always get that in the OOC. Sure, if it's line after line of utter crap that is a no-go for me but I like reading more about the background and having things established within the OP so that when I start to write out my post I know what I am doing.

However I have a feeling that I am not in the majority here. Long posts can make people uneasy especially if they think they have to reciprocate the post with something equally as long. Not only that, a post that is more dense and longer is going to take more time to read and process the post to figure what all is happening and what exactly the OP is trying to portray. One thing that I've seen that helps with this is gradually introduce more information so that if the roleplay is capable of doing so, have the background information span over the first few posts so that they roleplayers can have manageable post size to digest instead of some monstrous sized post slapping them in the face when they check and see the first post.

[Keyguyperson]

All that I ask in an opening post is that is explains the roleplay sufficiently, although I definitely like to see a big opening posts with heaps of exposition, it lets you know that the GM really likes the roleplay.

[Crimson Flame]

I've also done shorter roleplays with < 500 words, sometimes even < 200 words on messengers and stuff though and, eh, that's never been a problem either. Although I _have _sometimes purposefully cut posts shorter if they go on for too long and others post shorter ones - precisely to avoid people crying over "not being able to match". Which is a stupid concept anyway; you write for as long as you feel like you have something to say and then stop. Done. Easy.

Jester Acharis

It isn't so much about not being able to catch up. It's just if (for example) everyone else is writing 1000 or more words regularly, and I'm only doing the bare minimum regularly, it makes it look like I'm not putting in as much effort as everyone else. >_> Even though that may not be true, and I just don't feel the need to restate everything everyone else before me has already said.

[AlteredTundra]

As far as opening posts are concerned, it depends for me. I mean, depending on how I'm feeling, I can either do a long-ass opener that comes to over 3 pages in word or I feel lazy and get right to the point with a 1-2 page post. As for responses of said long or short openers, I really haven't had much experience with that. Most of the games I've been apart of have have both kinds of openers and the response was the same for both.

[Jester Acharis]

I've also done shorter roleplays with < 500 words, sometimes even < 200 words on messengers and stuff though and, eh, that's never been a problem either. Although I _have _sometimes purposefully cut posts shorter if they go on for too long and others post shorter ones - precisely to avoid people crying over "not being able to match". Which is a stupid concept anyway; you write for as long as you feel like you have something to say and then stop. Done. Easy.

Jester Acharis

It isn't so much about not being able to catch up. It's just if (for example) everyone else is writing 1000 or more words regularly, and I'm only doing the bare minimum regularly, it makes it look like I'm not putting in as much effort as everyone else. >_> Even though that may not be true, and I just don't feel the need to restate everything everyone else before me has already said.

Crimson Flame

Wait, what? I never mentioned anything about being able to catch up, where'd you get that? I was talking about "matching", aka, matching others' post length. And if anything, your example is exactly the kind of mentality I was talking about. Which I still don't get, btw. I dunno, maybe it's just me, but I think it's easy to see who has put effort into a post and who hasn't, length be damned. I'd rather have a shorter post that makes sense as a response to what I write, than a long one that's long only because it's been padded to reach whatever length the poster thinks is the norm. I've been in rps where people did that, and reading through posts where the author describes a mailbox for three paragraphs to be able to write posts as long as everyone else was painful. (And yes, that's an actual example.) And yeah, I'm not talking about replying to 1000 word posts with one-liners without any response hooks here, obviously.

[gorgenmast]

I think you'll find that shorter openings on the order of 1k words are more successful because nobody wants to read of wall of text that they're not invested in. You can't just dump a boatload of prose on someone and expect them to read it just 'cause. Interest has to be husbanded. When you've got them hooked, then you can ramp up the word count.

[Kidd]

It can just straight up be laziness: "I don't want to have to read all that." I'm guilty of this sometimes. Though, I agree, it's also the fear of "Shit, what if I can't write that much to match?" And I mean, regardless, it depends on the RP and the people and there are a lot of factors here to consider. Basically, long intros are sometimes better and shorter intros are sometimes better. Just gotta take it case by case, I think.

[HeySeuss]

I think you'll find that shorter openings on the order of 1k words are more successful because nobody wants to read of wall of text that they're not invested in. You can't just dump a boatload of prose on someone and expect them to read it just 'cause. Interest has to be husbanded. When you've got them hooked, then you can ramp up the word count.

gorgenmast

Well, I feel like the proof is in the pudding here. I've labored to keep the opening posts shorter and have had better luck with it. I can't always keep it way down, but I try my best to abbreviate it as much as possible.

It can just straight up be laziness: "I don't want to have to read all that." I'm guilty of this sometimes. Though, I agree, it's also the fear of "Shit, what if I can't write that much to match?" And I mean, regardless, it depends on the RP and the people and there are a lot of factors here to consider. Basically, long intros are sometimes better and shorter intros are sometimes better. Just gotta take it case by case, I think.

Kidd

Well, except that I've used longer intros for a long time. As indicated, the evidence from my small experiment seems to have borne fruit and others have made interesting suggestions like "put stuff in hiders" which, honestly, I've tried. I've attempted summaries of the action and other gimmicks and they don't seem to work as well as "shorten the intro."

[Blackbeard]

I haven't read any of the other posts yet so forgive any repetition that might occur. I just wanted to add my two cents. I agree completely. Shorter opening posts do seem to encourage players to post more quickly and easily. Speaking from my own personal tastes, I'm not to keen on reading a wall of text, however detailed and well written. It's something I wish I could cope with but I just seem to...turn of a little? It becomes much more of a task than a pastime. Shorter opening posts give people a nice guided entrance to an RP, they let them get straight into it. They can read it quickly which will spark ideas for them that they can immediately begin to form a post around. I've been there, at both ends. A short opening post I can shoot through, I can begin my response immediately and as you say, there is less pressure to match it for size and intricacy. On the other hand I've been in those RP's where you love the concept, you make your character and your really happy, you think it's going to be fun. You come to read the opening post and it's like you have to dissect it. You have to really concentrate and soak in everything it's trying to tell you, and whilst I might enjoy it, it just gets tedious unless you are seriously wrapped up in the RP. You have to give people an easy berth into it, once they are hooked you can start to expand on things, get a little more thorough. This is my personal preference at least, something which I'm not really happy about, but it just seems to be the way I respond to things. I absolutely love the concise 3-4 paragraph posts that give you something meaty to sink your teeth into, with one liners I just give up. There isn't any meat on the bone (to continue this poor analogy). With large text-walls? I just turn off a little. Frankly, I don't like the amount of effort I have to put in to try and get myself hooked. If that makes sense? when someone creates an RP they are already swimming in the ideas, they are immersed in what they are trying to create. Other people will think 'Hey that's a cool idea' and join in but they aren't yet to the same level as the GM. When massive walls of text are presented it's almost like I say to myself 'This is a cool idea but...I can't be arsed with that' Which is a shame, I think that's why I'm not a very good writer and it shows my inexperience. That's my opinion any way. Ironically this came out a lot longer than I intended XD

[Crimson Flame]

I've also done shorter roleplays with < 500 words, sometimes even < 200 words on messengers and stuff though and, eh, that's never been a problem either. Although I _have _sometimes purposefully cut posts shorter if they go on for too long and others post shorter ones - precisely to avoid people crying over "not being able to match". Which is a stupid concept anyway; you write for as long as you feel like you have something to say and then stop. Done. Easy.

Jester Acharis

It isn't so much about not being able to catch up. It's just if (for example) everyone else is writing 1000 or more words regularly, and I'm only doing the bare minimum regularly, it makes it look like I'm not putting in as much effort as everyone else. >_> Even though that may not be true, and I just don't feel the need to restate everything everyone else before me has already said.

Crimson Flame

Wait, what? I never mentioned anything about being able to catch up, where'd you get that? I was talking about "matching", aka, matching others' post length. And if anything, your example is exactly the kind of mentality I was talking about. Which I still don't get, btw. I dunno, maybe it's just me, but I think it's easy to see who has put effort into a post and who hasn't, length be damned. I'd rather have a shorter post that makes sense as a response to what I write, than a long one that's long only because it's been padded to reach whatever length the poster thinks is the norm. I've been in rps where people did that, and reading through posts where the author describes a mailbox for three paragraphs to be able to write posts as long as everyone else was painful. (And yes, that's an actual example.) And yeah, I'm not talking about replying to 1000 word posts with one-liners without any response hooks here, obviously.

Jester Acharis

I read something about catching up somewhere... Well, I don't want people to think I'm lazy or anything. Not that I care what a bunch of random people on the internet think, but I have to RP with these people. xD People still associate the length of something written with how much effort was put into it. Blame schools for insisting on having a minimum word count for papers and whatnot. >_> *shrugs*