Long vs Short posts?

Discussion in 'Role Play Discussion' started by Sara, Jan 29, 2014.

  1. Sara Tea Drinker

    Joined:
    Aug 16, 2006
    Gender:
    Female
    Location:
    Wherever the wind takes me.
    340
    Disclaimer: I haven't joined a rp here, and before you barrage me with requests, I am very picky in what I join. I usually make my own and if I do join, I don't usually stay long. This is from other forums, so I don't know if it applies here.

    Mostly I've seen this at Gaia, which I run two rp's at right now. Where the rules go into the normal: Nothing beyond hugging and kissing, no godmodding, etc... But a lot more often recently I've seen a lot of threads requiring at least a paragraph per post. One of the reasons I don't join anymore and some members get angry at me.

    I have word recall problems, meaning I can only type a certain amount of words per post that comes to my mind. It can be a sentence to three paragraphs or more depending on what I think. The problem is, if I try to force myself to think more than that, it drives me insane quickly, it's like for me to type up a 1000 words exactly and I have only 800 words on the subject, or 3000. Hence the reason I don't join rp's as much anymore.

    The defense to this from my reading is that members need a long post to reply in kind with a long post. Which I understand, but it's not something I can do.

    So I'm curious, does it matter how long a post is? Should it matter?
     
  2. Arch Mana Knight

    Joined:
    Oct 5, 2007
    Gender:
    Male
    Location:
    Anywhere
    2,430
    Good question. I've been RPing around here longer than everyone most people so...

    Years ago the only people who were really any good at writing/RPing made longer posts than others. Short posts often had little of value in an RP and could be easily skipped over because, again, it wasn't important. Making a longer post usually means painting a picture with your words to make the RP immersive. Short posts just don't have that kind of quality but they do allow for quicker interaction between characters.

    Sometimes you don't need more than five lines to respond to another RPer because you're really just adding useless fluff, which I see all the time, and when you're reading a long post it can be easy to miss or forget the message that the RPer is trying to convey.

    All that being said, long posts are requested by more advanced RPers because we don't want to end up going back to the dark ages where nearly all posts were one-liners and we were taken less seriously than the Spamzone.
     
  3. Sara Tea Drinker

    Joined:
    Aug 16, 2006
    Gender:
    Female
    Location:
    Wherever the wind takes me.
    340
    The thing is, though...

    I have rp'd for about ten years now. I took a few years off when my first rp of about 3 years died...

    I am a short poster, granted, I make long posts when needed. I can make three paragraphs or a sentence, depending on what needs to be said, but my posts usually end up a few sentences, but they are relevant and continue the storyline, unless it's a light and fluffy moment (ie: my characters in my recent rp's have relationships, so there's dating scenes that build the relationship between the two.) I also have two people, totally different style of posting. One very long, one very short, about the same length as mine, sometimes shorter even, who bring the storyline along as much equally.

    So I understand where you're coming from, but long posts don't always equal not spam. Some of my best posts were not an equal length, I actually believe more in the build up with the short posts and the slow development than a long post where there seems a need to describe everything in a single scene. Not that I am saying you do so.
     
  4. jackdaniel0 Twilight Town Denizen

    Joined:
    Jun 9, 2011
    Gender:
    Male
    Location:
    Deep within my brain
    133
    238
    Everything matters. Except energy, of coursehhhHHA
    This is a common question, but there's also a common answer that goes along the lines of Quality over Quantity(And I go along with it)
    That, and the fact that it really just depends on the roleplayers.

    Length should really matter when you're typing a response to something that's certain lines long. Say, a 3-line response to a 3-line post would be fine. A oneliner wouldn't be very good at all, even if you did manage to cram a few good details in there. And the person you're replying to might not be very happy, either.

    Putting detail, character emotion, action, etc. in to your response puts more than just length;It puts quality, and that's something that I feel is what shows your skills in roleplaying. That's also why some put rules about how many lines there should be; They expect quality, and there's bound to be some in the limit of lines they put.

    Again, it depends on the roleplayers, but does the length of a post matter? It can. Should it matter? No, it's the quality that should matter.
     
  5. cstar stay away from my waifu

    Joined:
    Dec 19, 2008
    Gender:
    Female
    3,252
    To be totally honest, I feel length for posts depends on the type of rp it is and what the situation is.

    I personally prefer to write around 3 paragraphs for a post, and I feel I can get my points across that way in a clear way. This generally includes a dialogue reply, my character's thoughts, the settings, the character's actions. I feel everything gets put together the best this way.

    But, if I were roleplaying a conversation with somebody, this is usually when I slip into the 2 paragraphs or less mode. I don't feel the need to repeat details and I just want the conversations and interactions to continue on without getting too redundant. Granted, most of my roleplaying is redundant but still...

    If it is a fight, it is usually even worse than conversations, I usually pull one liners when I get into battle territory. At least when it is a fight against another roleplayer and not an non-playable character or something.

    In the end, it does usually come down to personal preference. If your rping is a short and concise style, go ahead and do that, but I prefer to have my style be a little lengthy, but not too lengthy.
     
  6. Sessamaru Traverse Town Homebody

    Joined:
    May 12, 2008
    Location:
    Beyond the Trivial Aspects of Spacetime
    24
    171
    It doesn't matter if the post is long or short. Like jackdaniel mentioned, it's more like quality over quantity. We prefer to have at least a paragraph (3-4 sentences, really); but more or less depends on the matter of if you can do it and if you want to paint a picture. I'm kinda moderate, making a post between a paragraph to two; however I am prone to making larger posts if I see an opportunity to do so and give it a reason... mostly to give everything substance. When it comes to battle-themed posts, I mostly feel the need to bring in a philosophical argument, along with detailing what I am doing precisely (along with my position) and a potential counter-attack. However, when it comes to starting... well, not much for me to do except make a short paragraph. I used to make BIG WALL-O'-TEXTs, but that was back in the day when I was more poetic with what I did... regardless, quality shines brighter. So long as you get your point across and paint a decent picture, even if it's a stick figure equivalent, it doesn't matter to us. We just like to have fun and cause mischief. Or, at least, I do.
     
  7. Dinny I am Anime ( ⚈้̤͡ ◡ ⚈้̤͡ )

    Joined:
    Jun 16, 2007
    Gender:
    Female
    Location:
    Gotham City
    1,366
    I honestly don't think it should matter like, again: quality over quantity. If you can get the message you want to get across in just a couple sentences then why not? But if you need a couple paragraphs then by all means, go ahead! It's all about preference as well like I personally am a very wordy person because I am a huge sucker for imagery and I like (or rather I like to think that lol) to entice the senses of the reader through my writing and feed images into the imagination. For me, that takes a couple paragraphs to achieve but for someone else it could only take one or a couple short sentences and that's okay!
     
  8. Shuhbooty moon child

    Joined:
    Mar 12, 2007
    Gender:
    Female
    Location:
    Arizona
    463
    Im kinda in that same boat. Sometimes I'll have a damn book for a reply but then I'll only have about 2-3 maybe 5 sentences as a response. To me and everyone else it should matter either way as long as your having fun.

    Preeetttyy much this summed up. c:
     
  9. Sara Tea Drinker

    Joined:
    Aug 16, 2006
    Gender:
    Female
    Location:
    Wherever the wind takes me.
    340
    Oh dear God... I remember someone who I rp'd with in one of my group ones who insisted on three paragraphs per fighting post. When everyone else was waiting for him to post. He got annoyed very quickly when I asked him why it was taking him so long when the rest of the battle was flying along which happens in my rp's.

    I honestly don't mind doing long posts, if it adds to the scene, yes, but I also add my short posts with as much detail as possible about how the person feels. I like subtle, like one scene I was doing in a rp when a leader lost a massive battle and not only nearly killed his girlfriend who lost her arm during the fight, but got a kid captured, he just sat in a chair, waiting for his girlfriend, bleeding with his head in his hands and cried. Just in a few sentences. That moment always stuck with me, but also the moment when in a few paragraphs post someone died who was a loved character. So yeah, I agree with quality over quantity.