Post by Rolo on Apr 4, 2010 11:36:30 GMT -5
I prefered list intros in neopets rps.
Why?
It's a pretty simple reason. Paragraph intros drove me round the bend, especially in 'literate' rps. Often, rpers used to spend several posts typing up long, purple prose-filled introductions, filled with information definitely not needed for the rp and simply 'dropping' personality traits or appearance traits into the writing in an awkward way.
"She sat, curled up on a dark rock, with her white pelt glowing in the sunlight and her bright green eyes taking in the surrounding."
You end up reading introductions that tell you exactly what they would in a list, except in a longer and less direct way. This and you have to sometimes spend 10 minutes waiting for 3 people with sometimes up to 5 posts (EACH) filled with writing to finish typing and then wait another 5 while everyone reads everyone elses. Although paragraph intros are 'pretty, eloquent and 'literate' sounding and they're fabulous when looked at on a 'case-by-case' business, in the end they only serve to slow down the thread and they are disadvantageous for the Board as a whole. They slow down proceedings, force you to wait and, at the end of this all, mean there is a longer time before people can start interacting with one another, which is the most important thing about rping.
Oh, and that's just reading them. Writing them can be just as irritating, especially since neopets brought in that 'You must wait ___ seconds before posting.' Although one might suggest they're fun to write, often they're more frustrating than anything else. There's the trying to type fast enough to start rp, trying to find an interesting way of introducing your character and, perhaps worst of all, the knowledge that you'll have to post things 'half-done' before you can start on the second half (because I am probably in the majority who typed immediately onto neo, not Word, but the minority who created unique intros each time). By the end of typing paragraph intros, I usually felt as if my blood pressure had raised considerably.
So, what was my solution? List intros enable everyone to see the basic traits about your character quickly, so you can get to actual rp. No, I'm not suggesting List intros are apt by themselves, or that they cover all bases, because trying to sum up personality or history in a few words is not only difficult, it's stupid, but neither a short set of generalised characteristics or an overview of a cat's past is needed for rping. You're gonna find them out shortly anyway, and unless you're rping for 3 hours, history isn't gonna effect anything about the rp anyway.
But yeah, a list intro isn't enough by itself. To establish where the character is, I would then suggest an 'entrance post' which simply suggests where a character is and what they were doing, which can be done in a single post, before they react to or interact with another character. However, this shouldn't be a mechanical thing, it should be a simple, natural thing to do, which writers should do automatically.
/rant
Good article ;P I hope you can distill my rant into some more useful points... if not, I hope you enjoyed reading it.
Why?
It's a pretty simple reason. Paragraph intros drove me round the bend, especially in 'literate' rps. Often, rpers used to spend several posts typing up long, purple prose-filled introductions, filled with information definitely not needed for the rp and simply 'dropping' personality traits or appearance traits into the writing in an awkward way.
"She sat, curled up on a dark rock, with her white pelt glowing in the sunlight and her bright green eyes taking in the surrounding."
You end up reading introductions that tell you exactly what they would in a list, except in a longer and less direct way. This and you have to sometimes spend 10 minutes waiting for 3 people with sometimes up to 5 posts (EACH) filled with writing to finish typing and then wait another 5 while everyone reads everyone elses. Although paragraph intros are 'pretty, eloquent and 'literate' sounding and they're fabulous when looked at on a 'case-by-case' business, in the end they only serve to slow down the thread and they are disadvantageous for the Board as a whole. They slow down proceedings, force you to wait and, at the end of this all, mean there is a longer time before people can start interacting with one another, which is the most important thing about rping.
Oh, and that's just reading them. Writing them can be just as irritating, especially since neopets brought in that 'You must wait ___ seconds before posting.' Although one might suggest they're fun to write, often they're more frustrating than anything else. There's the trying to type fast enough to start rp, trying to find an interesting way of introducing your character and, perhaps worst of all, the knowledge that you'll have to post things 'half-done' before you can start on the second half (because I am probably in the majority who typed immediately onto neo, not Word, but the minority who created unique intros each time). By the end of typing paragraph intros, I usually felt as if my blood pressure had raised considerably.
So, what was my solution? List intros enable everyone to see the basic traits about your character quickly, so you can get to actual rp. No, I'm not suggesting List intros are apt by themselves, or that they cover all bases, because trying to sum up personality or history in a few words is not only difficult, it's stupid, but neither a short set of generalised characteristics or an overview of a cat's past is needed for rping. You're gonna find them out shortly anyway, and unless you're rping for 3 hours, history isn't gonna effect anything about the rp anyway.
But yeah, a list intro isn't enough by itself. To establish where the character is, I would then suggest an 'entrance post' which simply suggests where a character is and what they were doing, which can be done in a single post, before they react to or interact with another character. However, this shouldn't be a mechanical thing, it should be a simple, natural thing to do, which writers should do automatically.
/rant
Good article ;P I hope you can distill my rant into some more useful points... if not, I hope you enjoyed reading it.
