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[CycleGreen]

Here's something I've been struggling with. I like to write paragraphs, but a lot of people don't like paragraphs. But it's very hard to have a developed character do things when you only write in a few lines. So, here's my question: How much effort is reasonably expected to be put into the Summit? I don't want to mess the channel up with intense paragraphing but when I feel like i'm doing small emotes i'm being lazy. I mainly treat the Summit as a place to hook up in private with Roleplayers i'm interested in and I feel like paragraphing is a good way to signal what I'm into.

Do you get annoyed when you see paragraphs? Or do you just kind of ignore it?

[Lasairiona]

It's a fair enough question. I don't see the Summit or the underSummit as places to really get into detailed description. Most descriptive RP, to my knowledge, takes place in private circles. I, personally, don't want to put forth effort if I don't get the effort in return, if that makes sense?

I feel that succinct RP is an art, something really pushed by the former word limit in the client's chat. I don't like rambling paragraphs because they are hard to read in-game, not because I don't appreciate descriptions. I also find that paragraphs in things like larger event type RPs, like the kind I host in L'Amore, can be disruptive to the flow while people are trying to follow the action and conversation.

I hope this explains things a bit better than our conversation in OOC a few weeks ago.

[Mizhara]

Consider the medium. It's for all intents and purposes the capsuleer version of IRC, allowing for a few varieties of presentation like pure text, audio, audio/visual virtualized (my preferred option, it's so weird to me so many capsuleers almost never are in the pod), audio/video webcam style etc. Each user can also decide how to parse the feed, so they can have their systems convert it all "down" to whatever choice they feel appropriate.

Out of Character, consider the actual mechanics of it. It IS a damn IRC channel with severe limitations.

To me, this together means that 'descriptive' stuff should be kept to a minimum, to avoid pointless flooding and instead be used only when it adds significantly to the context and subject involved. To keep it somewhat rich, establish certain things elsewhere. Character descriptions and visualizations elsewhere will give other users a lot of baseline to work from, allowing you to just do minor things that doesn't flood/interrupt. Smirks, crooked smiles, twinkle in the eyes etc etc are all more than sufficient 'flavor' for a lot of things, if the rest of the characters visualization is already established. It doesn't add to the RP to describe the intricacies of the uniform of the day, or that the character is sitting at a desk or whatever, unless it's very relevant to the subject at hand, and has some kind of interesting hook to it. Another option is to keep it simple just to add a tiny bit of flavor and variety to break up the pure text. A small mention of a steaming mug of whatever (I overuse this, admittedly) might add a little bit of mental imagery for others to latch on to, and can be an emotive tool through the conversation. Hiding a smirk behind a sip, or raising an eyebrow above the rim of the mug during a sip, or just folding ones hands around a mug while thinking, etc etc can be very short emotes that doesn't add flood, but might add a little touch of "this is a character, not lines of text on a screen". Just intersperse it into the flow sparingly. If it's in every damn line, it just floods pointlessly.

The ultimate sin is breaking out the fucking thesaurus, or getting overly into the minutiae of mundane bullshit. I genuinely loathe the kind of emoting that takes eighteen lines of 'effervescent strands of hair' and endless descriptors of 'elegant but firm and precise movement' and so on for dropping a freakin' sugar cube in tea or some shit. Especially when it is purely masturbatory and got fuck all to do with the rest of the channel.

Now, if there is nothing of substance going on in the channel, then it's a different matter entirely. Fuck it, go nuts. Just try to make it somewhat interesting. This is when you can freeform all kinds of nonsense and maybe get something going that spurs activity and content.

In the end, I'll just repeat the beginning: Keep the medium in mind, both the IC and OOC one. It's a chat channel. It can be enriched by sporadic additions of minor flavor, but in the end utilizing it within its mechanical limitations will provide the best, richest and most effective user experience for everyone.

We have so many other tools at our disposal that can be used for 'support', and that's often where the 'effort' comes in. Write some fiction about your character that adds details which'll paint the picture behind the text in the channel, for those that read it. Have a character description somewhere (char bio, or linked in char bio is a good choice), that adds details to the character portraits users default to visualizing. If you've got character art, link it there.

And remember, if the visual representation of the character is the most interesting part of it, you dun fucked up. A force of personality and what they say and do is vastly more interesting than what they look like and how they do it.

[Utari Onzo]

The minimum required effort is to be coherent and for people to understand what you are trying to convey. Long exposition to help with immersion and paragraphs of detail are great if trying to detail a specific dance, or the preperation of a meal or drink of significant cultural import to the audience et al. However, if you find you’re injecting filler simply to pad out your character leaning back and taking a simple swig of bog standard booze you may find you turn people off of your style. There’s a limit to the amount of information people can take in and process, especially in busier more casual environments.

That is not to say it’s doing it wrong at all, just that even book authors have to balance the need to be descriptive to convey what’s going against avoiding the real trap of yammering on for the sake of thickening the pages. Consider what you’re trying to project with each post about your character and their emotions, while also respecting that the public channels are not just for you but others who are trying to keep up with the conversation as well.

May also want to consider toning down some of the other antics from what I’ve noted and had to moderate on, that coupled with wordy posts comes off less “complex and broken character piloted by a talented writer” and more “attention seeker” to some folks.

[Lasairiona]

even book authors have to balance the need to be descriptive to convey what’s going against avoiding the real trap of yammering on for the sake of thickening the pages.

I can entirely agree and relate to this. I don't like unnecessary words.

[Nissui]

My meatspace conversations are not me performing long monologues to a captive audience, they're interactive with a lot of verbal and non-verbal cues, peppered with interjections that can steer the talk in unexpected ways. This is why I prefer to avoid paragraph style RP in any game. It's much better suited to forums and private mails.

[Mizhara]

My meatspace conversations are not me performing long monologues to a captive audience, they're interactive with a lot of verbal and non-verbal cues, peppered with interjections that can steer the talk in unexpected ways. This is why I prefer to avoid paragraph style RP in any game. It's much better suited to forums and private mails.

While true in meatspace, you also have to keep in mind RP is somewhat about escapism and sometimes - far from always - there's room for the more... movie-like experience. Some of the best moments in movies are the monologues, and sometimes in meat-space too you need to go more in-depth in things, or descriptive in your speech.

It's about finding when and where, and whether the subject demands it.

[CycleGreen]

Makes sense. Thanks for the input guys, I'll keep this all in mind. Good discussion so far.

[Nissui]

Some of the best moments in movies are the monologues, and sometimes in meat-space too you need to go more in-depth in things, or descriptive in your speech.

I can imagine being frustrated if I was one of the SeyCon presenters, stuck  typing 1.5 sentences at a time as I try to describe the datadive into the corrupted trinary relics. Much respect to Trii, Ibrahim, et al.

[Ioannis_Sepphiros]

Here's something I've been struggling with. I like to write paragraphs, but a lot of people don't like paragraphs. But it's very hard to have a developed character do things when you only write in a few lines. So, here's my question: How much effort is reasonably expected to be put into the Summit? I don't want to mess the channel up with intense paragraphing but when I feel like i'm doing small emotes i'm being lazy. I mainly treat the Summit as a place to hook up in private with Roleplayers i'm interested in and I feel like paragraphing is a good way to signal what I'm into.

Do you get annoyed when you see paragraphs? Or do you just kind of ignore it?

I  paragraphs...and lots of effort!