Quality vs Quantity in RP.

[Gale Whitfield]

I'd like your opinion on this, guys.

I haven't roleplayed in a long time. It's been about three years since I was on a Proboards site, where I was a mod.

Sometimes we had those new members who wanted to impress, so they made very long posts and were annoyed when the person they were in a thread with did not make their response the same length. The problem they had was that their post was full of so much fluff and when you broke it down, nothing was really happening. I think those long posts should be saved for an intense moment, a scene with a lot of action or a stressful scene where your character's thoughts are really frenzied.

I fall into the other category--my posts are normally short. I want to get to the point. My character does this, then says this to your character, and then makes this facial expression. Sometimes I'll go into their head a bit and explain how he feels about what's happening, but I don't really like doing that unless it's relevant.

I have to admit I'm quite intimidated by the length of the posts here, which is why I'm making this thread. I'm annoyed by the fluff I'm putting into my own posts so that I can bump up the size.

But does that really bother you all? Is there a minimum you expect from responses?

Or are you the type of person who doesn't care, and just appreciates there being something to respond to?

[Ilvyn Daleroth]

I don't really think it matters here as long as your post as longer than a few lines.

[♥ Nathan ♥]

As far as the site goes -- we purposely have no required word count. People should feel comfortable to write as much or as little as they'd like. RP is about enjoying yourself, not feeling bad because you can't fit enough filler in a post. Because you're right, when you think like that it all ends up as filler.

I prefer quality over quantity, and I hope most people here do, too. That said, I enjoy writing and I know my posts sometimes end up long (though Obi bears the brunt of this haha deal with it), but I'd never slight anyone for writing shorter posts in reply. Respond, give me something to work with, if that only takes you two paragraphs and we're both having fun, cool beans.

plz dont be intimidate kthnx.

[Gale Whitfield]

Ah, that's good. If I don't have to concern myself with length, I can probably shoot out ten posts a day, which is great. I've just never gotten over that one experience of mine years ago; I finally got to roleplay with someone I'd been idolizing for months, and she responded to my post by asking me to make it longer or she wasn't going to reply.r00d.

[Zephyr]

i freak out if my post is under 500 words

i don't know what it is. maybe it's coming from my years on IDS or something?

i'm getting better at not worrying about word count because i think i post well enough that it isn't a big deal, but this is often why i take so long to reply, i'm stressing over word count. >>

[carr]

PRETTY MUCH what Corg said.

While quality is the most important thing I do enjoy writing, and I try to make the most out of what I have just because I enjoy it. I usually try to match the length/preference of whoever I'm RPing with, though.

[Gale Whitfield]

Oh gosh. It can get so ridiculous on IDS. That reminds me that I have post to write for someone there. I'll be damned if I force out more than one page (on Word) though.

carr: Matching the person I'm roleplaying with is what I used to do. I might stop though because I personally think it's hurting the quality of what I write because I'm forcing myself.

[Spear]

as long as there's enough to respond to, i don't care how long replies are. i know i ramble and have lots of introspection in mine mostly but it's all fun who cares about word count we're playing gay werewolves it's like a party

[♥ Nathan ♥]

it's only funny because IDS is the place where I say fuck it and churn out 300 word posts?

I guess I never stress about length, I write what I write and it is how long it is. posts take me forever because I am slow, not because I write a ton, oops

[♔ Jericho ♔]

lol penumbra has never been about... word counts.

I write a lot because it helps me find my way to an action/thought suitable for my character and the situation. Verbal meandering, but I find it enjoyable.

AND WHATEVS CORG you take my novels, i take your novels. It's a fair trade.

The only thing I do dislike is as Vyn mentioned --

I once rped with someone who posted, each post along the lines of:

He opened the soda and took a sip. He smiled and said "Hi."

THE END.

As long as I have something to work with, I'm happy. One action, or one piece of leading dialogue can be enough-- but it needs to be something I can respond to without breaking my brain.

[Raining]

^ I was pretty much in the same situation as Obi. This was still in dA chats mind you but I still managed an easy flowing rp with that person.
BUT like everyone else already said. As long as there is something there I can reply with, its all good.

[Sabra]

As long as it's good and I've got something to base my reply off, you could give me two hundred words for all I care. I'm use to writing long posts though--not sure if they're always quality, but damned if I don't give people something to look at!

but mostly, yeah, what Carr said. I am self conscious about my writing so I try hard to match up to the other person's post lengths.

in the end it all comes down to that old adage 'it's not the size, it's what you do with it' haha