Dion

Mahz's Dev Journal

The question is whether we want criteria to be enforced at all. I personally prefer not, and letting people use their common sense as a guiding tool. But that would be easier if the current descriptors weren't so vague. As mentioned before, a single RP can apparently fit criteria for all the sections (allegedly because I honestly doubt it can) and thus that signals that the descriptions are poor.

Other than that I agree with Nexerus, if your free RP is being told it's free, then that's that. I also don't really believe in the advanced elitism but that was brought up to me by many others so I decided to include it in my suggestion, but it doesn't really affect anything other than relating back to the thread where it came up a few times.

@Odin

I am very well aware of Myriad Reality—in fact, it's almost as if the suggestion was written with that in mind. However, you seem to be a part of a collection of people that dislike it for its ARG-esque style (or at least its location on this site). While the Free category does state "involving one-liners, few-liners, speed-posting," it also states "and for anyone who doesn't want to have to worry about standards." This line attracts a great deal of low-effort posters, and (at least for Myriad Reality), the standards are very high—they happen to turn away many individuals who do not meet them. Casual, on the other hand, mentions "enjoy writing at least a paragraph or two, character development, and some depth." While speed posting does not match the first qualification, it does match the latter two, considering character development is mostly performed irrespective of post length, as well as depth. "Grammar and spelling are encouraged" implies that it is of significantly less consequence in Free. So for that one in particular, it aligns more with Casual (or Advanced, if you want to chase that rabbit trail) in every qualification other than post length.
The main point of this being that if you want to change the qualifications for each subforum to post length, feel free to lobby all you want for it, but I don't believe that it is correct to use roleplays that match a majority of the current descriptors as evidence that there is an inherent problem with the system. Though I would like to point out that at the end of the day, it is Mahz, not the users, who decides what is interpreted as what on his site.

@Etcetera

Myriad Reality was what kickstarted me to make the suggestion in an informal way before I got told to write them up and they'd take a look at it (which they have, by now). And before you say it, this isn't me going after them, this is more so me being really confused about it being in casual, and about the GM's wanting to move it into advanced. It doesn't click in my head.

I also think that as long as these people are having fun we shouldn't be judging them for the content of their RP, after all it is not unreasonable to think that they might just have a lot of free time and a desire to go back and forth rapidly. I'm not saying anything about the quality of the RP - just about what is actually in it and why I believed it was better suited for a different section, or for a rework of the descriptions entirely.

the standards are very high

This, however, is about as subjective as it gets and I happen to disagree. Very strongly so, actually.

"Grammar and spelling are encouraged" implies that it is of significantly less consequence in Free. So for that one in particular, it aligns more with Casual

Again, I happen to disagree. But I don't really want to discuss that specific RP. This isn't a witch hunt nor a public shaming and it shouldn't be made into one. They're just an example of something that very clearly doesn't match the criteria set out arbitrarily.

Though I would like to point out that at the end of the day, it is Mahz, not the users, who decides what is interpreted as what on his site.

Simply said untrue, perhaps he decides whether or not he implements it, but we as users decide what goes where.

If we did not, we would not have an influx of free and advanced RP's in casual, would we?

Mahz's Dev Journal

<Snipped quote by Odin>

However, this entirely seems to be situated on your interpretation of what the different subforums "should" be, not what the definitions of them are. I don't mean to sound nitpicky, but based on the current guidelines, a lot of RPs that seem to irk you due to their placement actually do belong in the category in which they reside, simply because RPG currently defines the terms differently. If you wish to petition to change what each subforum is for, that's perfectly legitimate, but the complaint doesn't lie in the idea that some RPs are implicitly "breaking the rules," so to speak.

@Etcetera

Have you ever heard of Myriad Reality? Outside of some outstanding issues with it's ruleset, lol, the RP was a free roleplay that was asked to be moved to advance and placed in casual in order to not upset the RPers, despite the RP clearly being free in nature. I'm talking rapid-fire, new post every minute one liners that was consistently at the top of the forum because there was just so much posts in it. That RP has 110.000 posts momentarily, all of which are one liners.

Now, correct me if I am wrong, but that doesn't belong in casual no matter whether you handle my standards or the current ones.

Changing the definitions would just give us more reasons to move them to the correct location - namely fast roleplay - because skill is no longer part of the equation (and theoretically neither is post length, because I'd consider a slow RP that is filled with one liners but where people reply slowly to be better suited for 'roleplay' or 'dedicated roleplay').

The current descriptors for the forums leave a lot to the imagination with a result that free and advanced RP's are up/downgraded (not really, but you get what I mean) to casual because that's just where the people are. That's why I'd advise not to have subforums, but 1 big forum where you can set tags for it. But currently, anything can fit inside of casual (or free, or advanced) and that bothers me personally for a multitude of reasons.

You are free, of course, to suggest suggestions. But I don't believe the current descriptions are remotely accurate for what they are supposed to represent and it is us, the community, that decides what goes where in practicality. Therefore, it should be us, the community, that decides what the best titles and descriptions are.

In regards to dropping roleplays and user attractiveness

People tend to avoid even considering the idea of something being their fault or something being due to their flaws at all costs.

@Ophidian

Look, I know I'M never wrong, but that's because I am a God. As for others, you are absolutely correct.

I just want to reiterate, I'm never wrong.

Mahz's Dev Journal

@Odin

I recommend changing the names, however. A fast-paced RP may still be comprised of extremely dedicated RPers, while an RP of people who flake off in two days can still be in the "Dedicated" section due to long post length.

@Etcetera

Then that problem falls on the shoulder of the players and GM, as it should. I see your point but there is no reasonable fix to this.

If RPG is changing the implementation and wants to rid itself of this perception of tiers, it needs to label the categories in ways that do not directly have to do with each other instead of creating systems that may or may not imply superiority to some people (e.g. "slow, medium, or fast"). Right now, the system is set up in terms of depth, where Free is for shallow RPs lacking a complicated storyline, whereas Advanced maxes that out while also implying a set of long posts. Casual falls somewhere in between. If you want to change that system, I recommend a very well-defined set of intentions for each category with no obvious hierarchy in place.

@Etcetera

The point isn't about tiers - tiers will always exist. It's about creating more clear guidelines for what goes where to avoid having advanced RP and free RP in the casual section and having casual in advanced, etc.

If it were up to me personally I'd remove the subforums all together and just have 1 'roleplay' forum, and then just let GM's put their wishes in the thread and/or title. It's not like we have 20.000 RP's being made that warrants tonnes of sub forums.

Mahz's Dev Journal

@Lady Amalthea Just a matter of implementation, at this point, as the suggestion is at least several months old now. I suppose the moderators and admins have all been too busy. I think that's also why you didn't get a reply to your own suggestion and/or question. :)

Mahz's Dev Journal

Is there a way that in forum areas for Rp is could display IC post total instead of "all post total" or to break it down. It can be rather misleading when skimming for rps to join and such to see an Rp with a thousand posts only to click on it and find that 90% of that is ooc spam and not actually anything to do with Rp.

@Lady Amalthea

Not really opposed to this but there are still outliers that would circumvent this by nature of being in the wrong forum, ergo there are certain casual RP's that have thousands of IC posts by nature of being a free RP being posted in the casual section. Perhaps your solution would fix some issues but I think that a way to fix this all together would be to change the forum descriptions to be more clear cut and less open to individual insights on what is what.

I suggested that before and it was (generally) seen as good, and only a few people said they didn't like it, with the critique being limited to 'I don't think it's necessary' to which I'd say that it's better than doing nothing.

my suggestion

I think that this would help better set apart the roleplays - 20 posts can move the story forward hard enough in an advanced RP to where I wouldn't be able to join up with it anymore, where as in free RP, 20 posts is like 2 minutes of reading. That way, you run less into the issue of clicking things that end up not to be of your liking because of the post count. Unless I misunderstood your point?

Naruto: Revival

@Project you're not missing out on much?

In regards to dropping roleplays and user attractiveness

No, not physical attractiveness, although in my case that ties into this all, of course.

I see a lot of messages that say 'oh, my partners always drop me, I reply once and then never get a reply back' and this got me to thinking because it also seems to be the case that most of the times it's the same few people who are complaining that the entire world and their mother drops them in RP's whether it be 1x1 or group RP.

Alright, I can understand that sentiment, and I can see why it'd be annoying (although I am more of the opinion that if someone drops the RP, that means less work for you and less wasted effort, because they would've otherwise dropped it later rather than sooner which would be even more of a loss of roleplay potential). But something I can't understand is that, if you get dropped by everyone you try to RP with (as the claims go) then perhaps the problem is not with everyone else, maybe it's you?

Why do people seem to lack the most basic form of introspection? If everyone you RP with ends up dropping you there must be a reason for this, no? Perhaps, and bear with me here, it's because you're bloody insufferable, and annoying to boot? I'm not really going after someone specific here but we've all met these people so I'm sure most of you can relate.

What is it about roleplaying that seems to attract the most braindead of people who can't connect the dots at times?

Naruto: Revival

hi

Naruto: Revival

Yin & Yang

@Savato @Pirouette @BladeSS4 @GlitchyBugger

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When the hokage clones had returned to their position, there was time for the team of shinobi to discuss - which was exactly what happened. But it would not take long before the ice kunoichi marched out again - this time without spreading her tags everywhere. The clones did not react, except for when one of the two Iwagakure shinobi almost attacked. Their bodies would tense up and prepare to deflect and defend, but when the other shinobi calmed her, the clones once again returned to their standard posture. Hime was allowed to walk right past, and grab the scroll if she'd wanted to.

Once they'd retrieved the scroll, the clones would disappear again, and manifest in the strange black and white chakra, and began circling each other again to form the yin-yang symbol. Bright lights would light the room, but only shortly, as the lights flashed very brightly, nearly blinding the shinobi in the room. When they had recovered from the bright flash, they'd find themselves on the edges of the Forest of Death.

“Congratulations. You have obtained the scroll - but be aware, this was only the initial part of the test. This test was meant to separate the synergized teams from the non-synergized. The tests were meant to be completed by people of all skill levels if they worked together and understood the challenges. See this not as a measure of strength but a measure of leadership. Good luck in your test. Proctor Yamanaka out.”

Well, with the reveal of his surname, at least the finer details of the test were clear now - what, you didn't expect it to be a spirit or ghost that was throwing their voice, did you?