Criticizing Others Roleplay Style: How Far is Too Far?

[BuioUmbra]

Hmm i nearly didn't pass a rp sample when i typed two lines, they said i didn't type enough and i didn't put in enough detail. Really i don't mind who i rp with as long as they don't swear all the time and i can understand them. Judging people is just.. i don't know the right word for it maybe unfair would work? Everyone has their own unique style of rping. I'm not even sure what level of literacy i'm at, i'm still in primary school.  

[Nemena]

It's really bizarre how cruel people can be to those they consider illiterate- especially since they're often younger players. Some constructive, polite criticism can be helpful, but being outright abusive is most certainly a no-no. If the 'illterates' enjoy roleplay, good for them! I'll respond in paragraph format to whatever's thrown at me when I'm publicly roleplaying, regardless of whether they're capable of writing a cohesive sentence. I most certainly prefer literate roleplay- but would reply if approached by someone 'illiterate', as much as I struggle to understand chat-speak. We're all humans behind the keyboard; there's simply no need to be overly critical and harsh to anyone. If anything, the one being cruel is the one I add to my block-list, not the apparent illiterate; I often pop to the latter's defence when I catch such shenanigans in the chat.

For my own group, while we do soley accept those who write in paragraphs (regardless of whether they use -'s or *'s: it's the content that matters), we aren't rude to those who we simply can't accept (usually single lines of chat-speak- typos are managable!). Even then, we always leave an invitation open if they wish to improve, and willingly offer advice if they ask for it. It's not really a case of  ridiculing; it's more-so that it just wouldn't work with an ocean of fluent paragraphs being interrupted by a singe "hi im in heat an1 want 2 mate???". There's plenty of other groups that'd accept them and offer the type of roleplay they're seeking!

Edit: Funnily enough, I just left one of my main character's groups moments ago for being harsh about an illiterate's roleplaying ability. ;_;

[RisingLife]

Looking at all these replies it reminds me just like the real world, where there is always those people who do not let things go. The girl who always gives you that look for crushing on her boyfriend, or that guy who always closes your locker on 'accident' because you are a nerd. That group of friends who always giggles when you walk by because of what you are wearing or the paper thrown at your head for answering the wrong questions. I realize I might be overly dramatic with my comparisons but that is what all these stories remind me of.

The other person would do it a different way. I'm thinking, "So what if my friend's style is different from yours? You can still read it, can't you?" She kept going on, and on, and on, about how her RP style was wrong, so I finally said, "If you don't like it, you don't have to RP with us." She got angry and said, "FINE! You guys are idiots! I'm going to find a mapped RP where people really know how to RP!" and then she left the group. Good ridance.    

This is the girl angry at you for crushing on her boyfriend. A small Leicester of nothing, and it gets blown out of proportion because THAT girl is a drama queen. So what if your friend uses "-"? So what if YOU don't do it that way? This is a free, open game were creativity can flow and people SHOULD accept each others differences.

Me: The she-wolf slowly put her headdown on the cold muddy ground. She sighed, her sides heaving.
RP owner: Excuse me! She-wolf doesn't have a hiefin and our ground isn't muddy! Its grassy! You are out of here stupid!
Everyone else was cheering for the RP owner...

This is the guy always shutting your locker because your a nerd. They don't care about your personality and they don't care a out your feelings. One bad move and your labled and tossed away. JUST because a person makes ONE mistake does NOT give you the right to label them and ruin their self-esteem. And even if you are not the one breaking them down and calling them names, it is still not right for you to cheer or agree. You cannot judge someone on one action, but rather than their actions in a whole.

The people who run around correcting and criticizing other peoples' grammar are real snobs. I don't know who elected these select individuals as Grammar Gods but the discrimination better come to an end.

Now these are the girls who giggle when you walk by because of what you wear. They think of themselves as perfect, flawless grammer and just FH's gift upon us. So much so that they think they have a RIGHT to correct us or laugh. Not thinking about your feelings at all, they tear you down and point out every wrong thing about you and just leave. This is HORRIBLE and WRONG and no one has the right to do that.

Hmm i nearly didn't pass a rp sample when i typed two lines, they said i didn't type enough and i didn't put in enough detail.

When I join a group I always ask if an RP Sample is required. Most of the time I'm rejected because I forget the ' in don't or something like that.

Someone misses some punctuation, or some capitalization, and they get their butts chewed off by their group, who then mention it in General. Then General becomes a big lecturing ground for other little things involving grammer [/color]

And here are the people throwing things at the back of your head for answering a question wrong. They take the advantage to hit you while your weak, magnifying your mess up into a crime. Its the little things they see and do not forgive, and its the little things that they base you off of. It sickens me to think people do that.

All of these replies have gone way too far into peoples feelings and what is accepted to be civil. If I ever RP with someone not too literate, ill give them, if they accept, CONSTRUCTIVE criticism on how the could fix it. I don't embarrass them or yell at them I try to help. Any. Beyond that I consider too far and harsh. Also if I do see anyone being harsh, you can bet on you pantyhoes ill be right there defending the person being attacked

That is all.

[CloudFish]

this is one of the reasons i think feral heart comes across as such a hostile environment, simply because of the community given definitions of literate and illiterate that have sprung up amongst the users themselves and become a battleground for people to judge someone so loosely.

it applies to both roleplay, and not, people automatically assume the worst of you if you aren't typing like you would for a paper back in school. the truth is that a persons capability or mental know how can not be measured by simply viewing how they were to type, or even their knowledge of the game.

so often i've seen brand new members being trashed and put down because of their means of typing. its saddening, especially when they're trying their hardest to be included.

the way general chat hops all over someone who misspells a word is sickening, in a way that its sad to think people feel so highly of themselves that they have to convert everyone to that of a perfect well spoken individual.

while i can understand roleplays wanting to have the feral heart definition of a "literate" member, which for the record, is quite different from what was provided for us by the OTP, i don't understand the hostility some of them show to users when they don't meet those standards.

as someone who advertises for a "literate" roleplay, i hate having to say not to people. especially when i know theyre trying. more often then not, i accept them regardless of their total grasp on punctuation and capitalization, because as i see it, they can only get better. if they have the drive to story tell through their words and their words are understandable, why not let them join? unless i plan on quoting them directly from the game, or screenshotting to post somewhere, i hardly see the reason for them not to capitalize that first sentence. maybe they're too lazy, maybe they're too tired, who's to say or know.

this often is frowned upon by certain members, but in the way i see it, its much better than to simply call them stupid and brush them off with the wave of your hand.

[DimensionGal]

I don't mean to toot my own horn, but this rp guide I made has been floating around the FH community for a while now. I slightly touch on the topic of literacy, but I don't think it's exactly fair to call-out people who want literate rps.

As far as literacy is concerned, I have participated in almost every literacy level of rp known on FH; however I am probably going to be bias towards "literate groups" because it's an issue of communication. On the surface it looks like people aren't going to want to rp with somebody they can barely understand... But for me, it's avoiding someone who godmods. Yes, godmods. You know, that kind of player where their character is FREAKING PAWFECT and has thuper thpeshul awethum powahzz?1!! I find a lot of people want to go to literate rps because that's a huge drop-off rate in mate-beggars and godmods.

Using what's said in the title, there's a difference between criticizing Style and Literacy. Literacy is above. Style is things like Scripting or Paragraphs or Liners. Scripting can be just as literate as Paragraphs, and sometimes One-liners contain a hell of a lot more than a flowery multi-post.

[SoulRevenge]

As Soren mentioned, how far 'too far' is up to the user that's apparantly getting chewed out by others.


I'll admit-- sometimes I'm guilty or pointing out 'u's and fixing the slightest typo (The slightest typo things happen extremely often when I'm around friends- usually it's when we're joking about 8eing 'Grammar Nazis' though, so I don't really count it, derp ouo).

So, I'm most defiantly /not/ perfectly clean when it comes to this.

8ut I don't do it /constantly/.

And as Flo8 has also mentioned, praticly all of us start out illiterate at one point- and I tend to point this out, when another user is 8asicly murdering someone else 8ecause they have a rather different way of typing-- this includes times when people use
'quirks'
 (Mostly Homestucks that aren't arrogant fools and most defiantly don't deserve this chew-out in this case---)
and may8e add stuff to their words that aren't precisely neccesary nor make all that sense
(Mostly speaking of people that have the tendacy of adding words exp: 'Yarp!" to the end of their sentences as some sort of closing. And Yes, I /have/ seen people 8la88er a8out this, 8elieveitornot)

It's like when someone chews another person out for doing something that 'they just did'-- Sure, he/she might of not just done it, 8ut they were 'guilty' of 8eing the 'oh-so-looked-down-upon' 'illiterate' at one time.

And I'm reffering to 'OOC Chat' in here- 8ecause, 8elieve or not, some people rage on others when they aren't even roleplaying.



Now, regarding roleplay.


The same thing is of issue as what was stated a8ove- 8ut 'literates' have reasons for wishing to roleplay with only other 'literates'.

Now, I'm too lazy to just re-word it (I'd pro8aly just explain it worse anyway), So read Kerrigan's post a8ove this---




Good, yourdonereading /Shotdead.




Now, since you read it--, don't think of literates as '8ad and simply rude' 8ecause, all of them aren't, and alot of them have a reason for not roleplaying with 'illiterates' that /does not/ make them 8ad and rude (As said in Kerrigan's Post). 8ecause they aren't~ Infact, quite a8it of them can 8e a8out the same as illiterates. Illiterates aren't always disrespectul, 8ad and rude either. Alot of them aren't.

[WarriorMoo]

I don't mean to toot my own horn, but this rp guide I made has been floating around the FH community for a while now. I slightly touch on the topic of literacy, but I don't think it's exactly fair to call-out people who want literate rps.

As far as literacy is concerned, I have participated in almost every literacy level of rp known on FH; however I am probably going to be bias towards "literate groups" because it's an issue of communication. On the surface it looks like people aren't going to want to rp with somebody they can barely understand... But for me, it's avoiding someone who godmods. Yes, godmods. You know, that kind of player where their character is FREAKING PAWFECT and has thuper thpeshul awethum powahzz?1!! I find a lot of people want to go to literate rps because that's a huge drop-off rate in mate-beggars and godmods.

Using what's said in the title, there's a difference between criticizing Style and Literacy. Literacy is above. Style is things like Scripting or Paragraphs or Liners. Scripting can be just as literate as Paragraphs, and sometimes One-liners contain a hell of a lot more than a flowery multi-post.

Have a cookie, Kerri.
These days, I rarely visit the public maps to roleplay.
Mainly because I just roleplay with friends.

And in all honesty, no, I don't really prefer to roleplay with newer members. In the rare case that I do, I usually ignore grammar mistakes, (I make them all the time, dang it.) but rather give them tips to improve.
However, the vibe I'm getting from a lot of posts is that it seems that "literate" roleplayers are all the bad guys here.
Well first off, calling literates bad guys is just the same as calling illiterates savages. It's just as wrong. We're equal here. Some people just don't realize it, whatever they might be.

Anyways, Most of us, if not all of us, are guilty of making mistakes, both major and minor, as we roleplay.
Of course, it's good to point out mistakes from time to time, not harshly but in a kind, appropriate manner.
Otherwise, those who want to improve won't improve.
But if someone is happy with how they roleplay, then the other roleplayer should respect that, whether it's a single line or a whole paragraph.

[HavenUnderEarth]

OMFG, you guys. You have no idea how much I've seen this in the past few weeks.
I'm a Bonfire resident, born and raised. I try to do my best to be nice to everyone, even the illiterates. I can't say the same for some of my friends/RP partners.
I really, really hate when my friends get pissed at an illiterate cause they RP attacked(without powerplaying, mind you) or approached, but then a literate comes up and does the same thing and they don't get upset at all. It used to really shock me that the friends that were /so near and dear to my heart/, the friends I've known personally for over a year, did this, but now, it just really dissapoints me.
Like, for example, I was hanging out with my friend earlier today. She(won't say her name, sorry dudes)was on her stallion, which wasn't really a horse---part of a science experiment to wipe out predators and he was really just a robotic bomb or something. Original characters, yee.
So, this tiger comes up and pushes him, not really attacks. Just rams into, like starting an attack to see if they'll respond.
She got /so/ pissed and ranted how her character would 'have already blown his leg off' and would be no use to eat and she was going on and on about how the guy was a robot and this poor tiger wasn't upset. He was like 'ooh, you're a robot? That's so cool! i wish i came up with that!' And she got even more pissed at his compliment and said something about Portal and I was just staring at her like '...calm down, dude, he's complimenting you'
I then apologised to the tiger for her bad behavior. I've had to apologise for my friends a lot lately.
It really crushes me when I see literates, who are /supposed to know better/, doing this to the newbies/illiterates. Like somebody said before, you have no idea why they're not 'uber-literate' like you, so you have /no right at all/ to be so cruel to them!
I used to do this, too, and it really ashames me that I did. But at least I learned and stopped doing this, unlike some others.
I mean, it's not all the literates I know that are like this. Some of my closer friends are /really nice/ to everyone. It makes me feel all warm inside when I see them doing good. :3
I'm glad you guys brought up the topic. I haven't had a good rant in a while. ;3

[Dragonite]

[shootmedown]

I totally agree. Sometimes, I see a lion/wolf using -'s and making some typos in Flourite. When he/she goes to a pride/pack, they ask or a sample. They put the sample in Local, and I can see a few typos and -'s. They decline the sample and send them away, saying they're just not literate enough and they never will be. When I see that happen, I invite them into my pride/pack and say to ignore them. It's just rude to say somebody isn't literate when they gave it their best shot. It's really not that kind and mannered, but it CAN make sense. I'm not supporting it, but sometimes people just feel uncomfortable around illiterate roleplayers, sometimes it happens to me, sadly.