Afternoon/Evening/Morning, floofs~
Although it's been a while since I've made my own little discussion, here, I wanted to see what your opinions are on a roleplay trend I've noticed as of late.
Let's say you're sitting there, roleplaying with your pride, pack, Clan, etc., and majority of those around you prefer paragraph-style roleplay (you can also call this "literate," though this can be the case for any RP styles).
Someone (we'll call her Ellie) makes their post, and it goes a little something like this:
<Ellie> Sleepy-eyed and still warm from her nap, the little wolf pup gave a toothy yawn as the pack around her started to stir. She blinked, looking up at the sky-- it was just now becoming light. -s-
Not a bad RP post, right? Kinda cute, descriptive, and just another waking-up sort of post.
However, did you notice what I added at the end of it?
Yes, the dreaded "-s-" for short-posts! OH NO!
But wait; Ellie's post wasn't all that short, nor was it non-descriptive or lazy by any means... So why would she apologize for it being a "short-post?"
This brings me to my point.
From what I've seen as of late, many roleplayers seem to be under the notion that they must have a RP post that is several paragraphs long for it to truly be adequate. It must be like writing a book, and if they don't have an obscene amount of detail worthy of the literary classics of the 20th century, they surely must be an inadequate, lazy, or just all-around inexperienced roleplayer.
If their post doesn't meet these high-brow expectations, they must apologize at the end of it by saying,
"-s-"
"Sorry, short-post."
"sssssssssssss short short short!"
"Ah, such a short post, I'm sorry! I just can't think of anything right now.. Don't be mad. ;-;"
I find this little misconception quite silly, to be honest.
Though I may not roleplay as much as I used to, I will say that as a seasoned RPer who once ran a wolf RP, which was full to the brim with paragraph-style RPers, I never once got after anyone, or thought less of them if they had only one paragraph, or even one sentence in their post.
Why is this, though? Don't you have make a 198273821+ paragraph long post to be considered "literate?"
The answer, in my opinion, is a no.
The reason behind this can be summed up in one word: Conciseness.
Concise - Adjective; Expressing much in few[er] words; Clear and succinct (Source) (http://www.thefreedictionary.com/concise)
While detail can bring a lot to the table, and be quite stimulating for roleplay, there is nothing wrong with a concise roleplay post, especially when things are getting fast-paced, and you don't necessarily want everyone to spend 5+ minutes on their post.
I have the patience for this, and I enjoy reading longer posts, but being concise and straight-forward at times is nothing to be ashamed of when roleplaying.
So throw those little "-s-" things away; roleplay the way you're comfortable. It is meant to be fun, right? The angst against short-posts is only a misconception in my eyes, and I feel that so long as you're mindful of what's going on in the RP, and take the time to acknowledge others when necessary, making a concise post is nothing to be ashamed of.
So, how do you guys feel about "short-posts" in paragraph-style RP?
Short posts don't bother me at all, but those really short posts that aren't descriptive in any way make me shake my head a bit. OreoHeroz stated this a bit clearly. Let's say we have: "The cream wolf gently stretched out her front legs and trotted out into the clearing, perking her triangular ears up and sitting down onto the cold, dew-covered grass." This post might be short, but it's still pretty descriptive and nice to read, but: "The wolf sat down." We don't get anything from it. Yes, it did sit down, but what did it do before? Why did it sit down etc.
I get this also, especially when I use to join a RP group. Let me explain:
I once was roleplaying with a friend, and suddenly, a large pack of wolves surrounded us and put their 'smirk' emotes on. They continued to RP about, how if we don't leave their territory, they'll kill us, and how we are invading their space. But let me get to the point. They RP killed my friend and kept me alive because of my 'good' RP skills and how I was a good 'fighter'. (First they were using a 'language' known on FH called wolfspeak) And right when I made my first RP post:
Me: -Spends a lot of time to write a good RP paragraph-
Pack leader: No post cutting or short posts.
Number one, my post wasn't short, it went on to two whole posts. Secondly, someone posted RIGHT before me, we probably clicked enter at the same time. AND, do you want me to right a novel on my charrie sitting down? Yeah, I must agree, if you're in a battle or something, then you probably should write a nice paragraph, but if it's night and we are all resting, what am I suppose to say? Also, when I hold an RP, I don't mind if someone's charrie writes like 5 words. As long as it sums up everything they're doing.
Concise - Adjective; Expressing much in few[er] words; Clear and succinct (Source) (http://www.thefreedictionary.com/concise)
While detail can bring a lot to the table, and be quite stimulating for roleplay, there is nothing wrong with a concise roleplay post, especially when things are getting fast-paced, and you don't necessarily want everyone to spend 5+ minutes on their post.
Exactly. Heh, sorry if I went a bit off topic there, I just wanted to state what I think about short posts and 'post cutting'.
I always wondered why my friends would get upset when they posted short posts. I'm just like, "Woah, chill out o-o". It's not like we're all english teachers that are going to scold you if you aren't descriptive or whatever. I hate it when I Rp and make like a 4 sentence post, and everyone else is like "Be more literate!". I'm being as literate as I can! Just not as literate as you are.
On the other hand, you could TECHNICALLY be in a roleplay where you only typed like 4 words per post, but I'm pretty sure most of us don't do that.
*Sleeps*
*Watches loner*
*Perks ears and wakes up*
*Runs*
(I totally would though, just for the heck of it.)
So I kind of understand what everyone is talking about...long comments @_@".