The Realism and Literacy Spectrum

[yourlocalcrow]

Mods, if this is the wrong place, feel free to move it.

Today, I thought I'd cover a bit of a blurry topic: What's realistic and what's literate?
"Well, duh. It's when your character is realistic looking and you use proper grammer."
Excuse me, I'm defining the terms, random interrupter. This thread is meant to help groups classify themselves. Take this with a grain of salt, however, as these are just my rules of thumb. You may classify your group however you wish, this is just to help.

For my examples, I'll be using the three most common roleplay genres: Warrior cat, lion pride, and wolf pack.

Let's start, shall we?

Hyperrealistic
This means that every detail is taken into account. Your character's colours, sizing, and behaviour.
The group is most likely tries to be as close to the real thing as possible.

Wolf pack: There's only three real ranks: alpha male, alpha female, and everyone else. Anyone pups beside's the alphas' are killed. Realistic design. (Mostly grays, with some tawny back markings, though off-blacks and off-whites aren't uncommon.) No manes whatsoever.

Lion pride: There are only one or two males, and they mate with all of the females. Loners are rarely welcomed, and can sometimes be killed. Only tawny designs, with a rare few off-whites. Golden brown to off-black manes.

Warrior cats: Unless you are a former kittypet or half-tame, no items. Only realistic markings. No manes. Warrior code harshly enforced. Only realistic names. Capitalizations of the names heavily policed.


Realistic
This means that the group isn't as strict on character designs. As long as your design isn't ridiculous, you should be good to go.

Wolf pack: Most realistic colours accepted. Ranking varies, though consistent with a male and female alpha being at the top. Most ranks can have pups.

Lion pride: Most tawny to desaturated designs accepted. Ranking usually has a King/Queen at the top, with any other slew of ranks below, though Lord/Lady, Duke/Duchess, and Prince/Princess aren't uncommon. No limit to amounts of males in the pride.

Warrior cats: Realistic items accepted. Strictness on markings varies. More freedom in the naming department, though it still can't have anything the cats don't know of in it. Capitalizations of the names may be heavily policed.


Semi-realistic
This means that the realism is quite loose, though you still can't have any neons.

Wolf pack: Almost any design accepted. Strictness on unrealistic colours varies, though a good rule of thumb is that if the colour is just an accent, you should be good. Check with the recruiter, though. Similar ranking to realistic groups.

Lion pride: Most designs aside from neons accepted. Similar ranking to realistic groups.

Warrior cats: A bit more freedom for items, and name capitalization may not be as policed.


Unrealistic
Oh, boy! This is where things get fun.

Wolf pack: No design limits. Ranking may be wonky.

Lion pride: No design limits. Again, ranking may be wonky.

Warrior cats: Does an unrealistic Warrior cat roleplay even exist?

Wolf-speak
This means that they use either unnecessary or inaccurate words in roleplay.
For example: The fyxe's globes examined the terra around her, taking in all the abnormal animation bustling on encompassing her.

A typical wolf-speak post is upwards of 2-3 messages.

Literate
This means that proper grammar and descriptive language is used.
For example: The she-wolf curled her lip up in a snarl, baring her yellowed teeth to the intruder. "How dare you think you can steal from this pack?" she growled, muscles tense as she readied to pounce.

A typical literate post is upwards of 1-3 messages.

Semi-literate
This is a combination of illiterate and literate. Proper grammar is used, though actions are in *'s, -'s, or --'s. Dialog may or may not be in ""'s.
For example: *The she-wolf stalked towards the doe, body low to the ground.* "Okay," *she whispered to her companion* "I'll startle it, and you chase it."

A typical semi-literate post is 1-2 messages.

Illiterate
This is where the laws of grammar do not apply. Dialog and actions may or may not be differentiated. No description whatsoever.
For example: *pounces on intruder yelling* You don't belong here!

A typical illiterate post is 1 message.

Something not clear to you? Feel free to ask questions! I'd be happy to clarify things for you.

[Kynvuu]

Thanks for making and sharing this with us, Imm sure it will definitely come in handy! c: