RPG A few reminders - edited 24 Jan

[The Harlequin]

[font=gothic][color=indigo]I'm afraid people that I have to announce that overall, the quality of this forum is starting to slip. So, I'm going to re-emphasis the areas that need the most work, one last time, and then be a little less lenient.

First and foremost, post length and quality. This is an rpg forum. It is, when you get right down to it, a vehicle for collaborative story telling, albeitly placed under certain strictures and expectations. So when you write your three or so lines of text with no attempt at spelling or making it readable, all you are doing, besides contravening the rules, is ruining your own rpg. Without wanting to set an arbitrary length, anything less than a decent paragraph is definately spam. Any English students here (which should be most of us) will be able to tell you just how long that should be. As well, small things, like correctly spelling words, using punctuation (real punctuation, not internet styled half-***ed punctuation), separating different sections of text, the usual conventions of neat writing, they all add to readability, and basically the enjoyment factor of the rpg itself. And it's certainly not hard to do.

Secondly, post content. Particularly for the recruitment forum. If you intend to create an rpg, make absolutely certain it has a back story, a description of what the plot (the inital plot at least) is likely to turn out like, and the expectations of the people who sign up. Even if it's only something as simple as a sign-up form. The usual basically.


Leading on with that, I've noticed a trend in rpgs that use precreated characters, often from an anime or whatever else. These rpgs are invariably signed up to with "I'll be {Insert name here and superfluous exclamation marks here}. This, people, will stop. Immediately. If you sign up for an rpg like that, you can still post information about the character, or if you're too damn lazy to write stuff you already know out, then simply PM the creator of the rpg with your one line piece of ....literature, to dignify it.

Jumping back to the post content section I mentioned, and again focusing specifically on the Recruitment sub-forum.... Threads in that forum are for, rather obviously, recruiting people for a storyline. They are not for random conversations or questions. That kind of thing should be kept to PM. PMing the creator of the rpg is easier than posting something anyway, all things considered.

And for peace's sake, if someone posts a recruitment thread in the Adventure forum because they're new, let a mod handle it, and cut the holier-than-thou style "this doesn't go here" stuff out. Just press the report post button.

Okay, that's it for now, though this thread will most likely be edited multiple times, so check in periodically, though the title will probably change to reflect the additions.

Thank you for your assured co-operation, and rest assured in the knowledge that the chance of me getting medieval on you is directly proportional to your behaviour. Kind of like the way the stupider your actions are, the more people watch you... And if there's something you'd like to ask or discuss (other than banalities), then feel free to PM me.

[B]Edit:[/b]Now I may be getting cynical in my old age, but when I read an rpg where there are five consecutive one paragraph posts, all ending with "Sorry it's short, I have to go", I get a little suspicious. So from now on, that excuse doesn't cut it. The rpg will certainly not miss the post, since four lines of text cannot really contribute anything relevant to either storyline or character development. So if you don't have the extra five minutes needed to get a post up to acceptable length, don't write anything. And if anyone thinks they're going to be a little too impatient to wait for other people to have the time to write something decent, they're more than welcome to take it up with me.


-Insanely yours
The Harlequin.[/font][/color]