I honestly don't understand where the whole POST LENGTH = QUALITY argument stems from.
Sure, you might be capable of dabbling out a 10-paragraph post, but is all the detail contained within it absolutely necessary to further the roleplay? Do I really need to know how your eyes glint in the moonlight, how the wind tussles your pelt and every, single meticulous thought that runs through your mind? No. I simply need to know what your character's doing in relation to mine, nothing more. Detail's great, don't get me wrong-- but chat-based roleplay is entirely the wrong medium for it; it really muddles up the pace.
For example:
Saka bared her teeth and hissed at the lion, her aggression spurred by her tragic past.
There's plenty to reply to. She's hissing, she's aggressive, she's confronting you. She's left the motive for her anger ambiguous, allowing the lion to wonder why she's reacting in such a manner. Heck, she can even tell him afterwards, providing an opportunity for more roleplay!
Saka stood before the lion, eyes vacant as thoughts ran repeatedly through her head. She's never liked lions; one killed her parents during a simple hunting trip many, many years ago. She remembered how his eyes gleamed with malicious fervour, how his jagged teeth ran red with the blood of her mother... She remembered running away, the distant cries of her injured parents echoing forth from the burning forest..
She's just... Thinking. It's a long post, but it's by no means better than the first. It doesn't further the roleplay, nor does it provide anything for the lion to react to; he can't hear her thoughts. To him, she's just... Standing there. It's long, but pointless-- and has also ruined the surprise of her motive behind the aggression. It's certainly not bad, but... It doesn't really serve any purpose.
World of Warcraft has a similar style of roleplay (chat-based), except there you're actually ostracized for unnecessarily long posts; it just stagnates the roleplay and causes things to move at an unbearably slow pace. My roleplays there are rarely longer than a sentence and yet I've
never, ever been called illiterate-- or a bad roleplayer.
In terms of FeralHeart, those two/one-line roleplayers are actually
better suited to chat roleplay than those who write a multi-paragraph novel. Everyone can roleplay however they'd like, but keep in mind that '
quality, not quantity' applies to roleplay too. If you're bumping your post-length up with unnecessary detail to appear 'literate' to the closed-minded members of the community, don't. You're doing great!
TL;DR: Don't be judgmental over post length; a few short sentences is often more effective than a multi-paragraph ramble.
TL;DR: Don't be judgmental over post length.TL;DR: Don't be judgmental over post length.It's just my personal opinion! I honestly don't think anyone's a 'bad' roleplayer-- they're either inexperienced (extremely short posts), young, not english, inconsiderate buttwaffles (powerplayers, autohitters etc.) or... Well. Anything! People learn and improve with age- not everyone starts off as a roleplaying god. I do love writing
enormous posts with friends, but it's unfair to expect strangers to be at that level-- or even enjoy that format of roleplay. I'd happily roleplay with anyone whose post I can actually read!
/rant off