Tachyglossus
Member
Many of my peeves have already been mentioned. Joining a little later, it would be rather cumbersome to quote all instances. Or even repeat most of them. But I am going to be the unpopular person and say I don't like minimum word requirement.
Some say they don't like one-liners.
That's fine.
But sometimes a brief post is necessary. Even more poignant. I could do without padding in a pose just to meet a requirement, where a lot of extra description or introspection is there but not actually adding anything to the scene. Worse still, an entire pose of introspection that offers NOTHING for other players to respond to. We are not mind readers.
That isn't to say I don' like a look into the mind of the character. The narrative voice and a few clues to the character's thoughts or feelings invites us to become more invested in those characters. But please give people something to respond to.
Another is taking too many actions per turn. And I don't just mean too many combat actions. Long speeches when it's supposed to just be a conversation (natural conversation flow is so hard to emulate!), non-violent physical contact with the other characters, doing various tasks... don't do too much in one pose. Especially if the other person's player may do something in response to ONE of those tasks, which may have altered the other tasks YOUR character did in that pose. I would love to give an example, but as it is, I realised I have to uproot myself from this laptop and go deal with a matter. If interested, I may give some examples in a follow up post, or make a google doc or something explaining this further.
EDIT: Okay, decided to add more to this.
How the smallest interaction could throw a scene into a completely different direction if you let it. Please do NOT take these examples as being a good sample of my role play style or capabilities. I was grimacing a little typing it, but I didn’t want to agonize over this.
Lucien grinned upon being introduced to his partner’s sister. He took her extended hand and, rather than shake it, brought it to his face and kissed it gently. “Charmed,” he purrs softly, placing his hand over hers a moment before releasing it. Grinning smoothly, he goes on to add, “Old Clarkie here told me all about you - and by that I mean he didn’t even mention he HAD a sister. But now I can see why - he must be a very protective older brother.” Seeing a server passing by with a tray, he snaps his fingers to summon them over, grabbing two flutes of champagne, offering one to Clarisse.
Now, here we have several things Clarisse could have responded to that may have changed a many of Lucien’s later actions within this single pose.
For example, if Clarisse had withdrawn her hand or slapped Lucien, I doubt he would be saying ‘charmed’ or offering her champagne. And let us not forget Clark, the older brother, may have loomed or grumbled or elbowed Lucien, or even requested they have a ‘chat’ elsewhere before Lucien could get the attention of a server. Although it would make the post short, it really should have ended with bringing the hand close to his face, and let the other players decide whether to proceed. Oh no, but then THEIR posts are going to be short too! Goodness gracious! Well too bad. I like flow over word count.
Lucien grinned upon being introduced to his business partner’s sister. He took her offered hand, but rather than shake it as was likely the expectation, he gently tugged it closer towards his face with the intention of laying a brief kiss upon it.
Sure. Yes. It is short. But it offers more flexibility for the other players in their responses and generally helps maintain a certain flow. I’m not saying you need OOC consent for every little action, but don’t always assume even an innocuous gesture will be received a certain way.
Of course, Clarisse can still slap Lucien in her next pose. Clark can still clear his throat and glare. But imagine the scene as if it were in a movie, where that slap and glare happen only after everything in Lucien’s pose happens. You might think they were negatively responding to the champagne instead, which is possible, but very silly.
Or Clarisse can put in her pose that she interrupts Lucien with a slap before he can speak a word. But then maybe if a pose order wasn’t established (this more the case with chat-style than forum style play) and Clark was also writing his response and he responds to Lucien’s comment about being an overprotective brother - and the posts arrive within seconds of each other, you have some continuity issues! Well, pose order can fix that. Even so…
You don’t need to prove anything with word count.
Some say they don't like one-liners.
That's fine.
But sometimes a brief post is necessary. Even more poignant. I could do without padding in a pose just to meet a requirement, where a lot of extra description or introspection is there but not actually adding anything to the scene. Worse still, an entire pose of introspection that offers NOTHING for other players to respond to. We are not mind readers.
That isn't to say I don' like a look into the mind of the character. The narrative voice and a few clues to the character's thoughts or feelings invites us to become more invested in those characters. But please give people something to respond to.
Another is taking too many actions per turn. And I don't just mean too many combat actions. Long speeches when it's supposed to just be a conversation (natural conversation flow is so hard to emulate!), non-violent physical contact with the other characters, doing various tasks... don't do too much in one pose. Especially if the other person's player may do something in response to ONE of those tasks, which may have altered the other tasks YOUR character did in that pose. I would love to give an example, but as it is, I realised I have to uproot myself from this laptop and go deal with a matter. If interested, I may give some examples in a follow up post, or make a google doc or something explaining this further.
EDIT: Okay, decided to add more to this.
How the smallest interaction could throw a scene into a completely different direction if you let it. Please do NOT take these examples as being a good sample of my role play style or capabilities. I was grimacing a little typing it, but I didn’t want to agonize over this.
Lucien grinned upon being introduced to his partner’s sister. He took her extended hand and, rather than shake it, brought it to his face and kissed it gently. “Charmed,” he purrs softly, placing his hand over hers a moment before releasing it. Grinning smoothly, he goes on to add, “Old Clarkie here told me all about you - and by that I mean he didn’t even mention he HAD a sister. But now I can see why - he must be a very protective older brother.” Seeing a server passing by with a tray, he snaps his fingers to summon them over, grabbing two flutes of champagne, offering one to Clarisse.
Now, here we have several things Clarisse could have responded to that may have changed a many of Lucien’s later actions within this single pose.
For example, if Clarisse had withdrawn her hand or slapped Lucien, I doubt he would be saying ‘charmed’ or offering her champagne. And let us not forget Clark, the older brother, may have loomed or grumbled or elbowed Lucien, or even requested they have a ‘chat’ elsewhere before Lucien could get the attention of a server. Although it would make the post short, it really should have ended with bringing the hand close to his face, and let the other players decide whether to proceed. Oh no, but then THEIR posts are going to be short too! Goodness gracious! Well too bad. I like flow over word count.
Lucien grinned upon being introduced to his business partner’s sister. He took her offered hand, but rather than shake it as was likely the expectation, he gently tugged it closer towards his face with the intention of laying a brief kiss upon it.
Sure. Yes. It is short. But it offers more flexibility for the other players in their responses and generally helps maintain a certain flow. I’m not saying you need OOC consent for every little action, but don’t always assume even an innocuous gesture will be received a certain way.
Of course, Clarisse can still slap Lucien in her next pose. Clark can still clear his throat and glare. But imagine the scene as if it were in a movie, where that slap and glare happen only after everything in Lucien’s pose happens. You might think they were negatively responding to the champagne instead, which is possible, but very silly.
Or Clarisse can put in her pose that she interrupts Lucien with a slap before he can speak a word. But then maybe if a pose order wasn’t established (this more the case with chat-style than forum style play) and Clark was also writing his response and he responds to Lucien’s comment about being an overprotective brother - and the posts arrive within seconds of each other, you have some continuity issues! Well, pose order can fix that. Even so…
You don’t need to prove anything with word count.
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