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Have you ever noticed...?; regarding RPing in general
Topic Started: Apr 4 2013, 02:17 PM (341 Views)
~Alkarii~
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I've heard a couple complaints regarding the way we've conducted ourselves in a couple roleplays. Don't worry, it's nothing particularly bad.

It's just, has anyone ever noticed that with a lot of posts ( I'm guilty of this, too), when one person's character is interacting with another person's character, there a frequent tendancy to repeat the entire interaction from the POV of the second person?

There's also a tendancy to create WAY too many subplots. I've created one, myself.

This seems to make some roleplays get confusing and then later just die off because everyone's lost interest.

And I think I know what the problem is:

Noone wants to be a side character.

Think about it. Go back and read Heroes 2. I cite that as an example because I've been reading it lately. Quite often, people would make these massive-ass posts, putting in a lot of backstory, creating subplots, and generally repeating interactions, and I'd be lying if I said I wouldn't have done the same.

So I've thought about it, and I think I've found the answer.

The person who starts the RP has some idea where they want it to go, so how about we let them have center stage? We also should do more joint posting. Yeah, it'll be more work, but does anyone actually like reading something three or four times when only two RPers are involved in a specific action? If a subplot is necessary, ask the person who started the RP if they mind. Also, let's not forget that the events of the subplot are supposed to help move the events of the main plot. What good is a subplot if all it accomplishes is having a couple characters miss something? To quote James N. Frey, "a story is a narrative of consequential events involving worthy human characters who change as a result of those events," so if it doesn't have any relevance to the story, let's just leave it out.

Now, before you chuck that big rock you just picked up, let me finish. We could try asking where the story is intended to go, and then we try getting the charcters to that point. We try to be a creative bunch, so I'm pretty sure that we can find a way to say where the story is going to go next without giving out spoilers.

Anyone else got any ideas?
Since my liver is larger than my heart, does that mean I'm designed to drink more and care less?
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~Emperor~
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Wait, some people actually noticed our little corner of the internet? Huh. :P Anyway, you bring up some good points that got me thinking, so my apologies if this ended up on the long side.

Heroes 2 might be a poorer example to look at because it had the largest amount of characters in any RP that we’ve ever had. That really amplified both the problem of repeated interactions and having too many subplots. And with regards to the interactions, I agree that sometimes it can be a bit tedious. Personally, I try to avoid repeating what someone else’s character has said exactly; instead I just try to get my character’s responses in cohesively, though sometimes you just can’t do that without some repetition.

This though, I think is more because of the nature of our role playing. In any interaction, dialogue or not, you always need to have your character respond to what’s happened, which usually results in some repeating of the event from their point of view. It just becomes worse with dialogue because it's so much more specific, and we don’t typically have our characters say just a few lines to each other per post. So, a detailed conversation can drag out over several posts when in the RP it only lasts a few minutes. Joint posts are definitely the solution for this, when you need that detailed dialogue to move on.

I think the problem of too many subplots popping up is less of a problem in the other RPs, though I have to admit I haven’t role played much outside of the random section. You’re spot on though, about the fact that nobody wants their character to be a side character. When that happens, sometimes it can seem like the character is unimportant entirely - which in some RPs with a stronger idea of their overall story, may very well be true. I don’t know, I haven’t actually been in an RP with a huge sense of where the story was going to go from the get go. Plus, part of what made Heroes 2 fun was that Beflexor actually worked to incorporate people’s subplots into the main story. (Though I suspect that’s because it wasn’t fleshed out way in advance of actual events. :P ) Anyway, I feel like a lot of the RPs here, or at least the ones I have participated in, don’t have such a rigid story that people’s subplots can quickly become irrelevant to the main story.

Speaking of that, Outer Gates is one RP that was designed to address some of these things. I’ve found the use of a word limit to be…interesting, and I think I may actually like it now. It forces me to reevaluate if a characterization or extra detail I've written down is really needed for what I want to do. Beflexor’s decision to give characters destinies also lets people easily have their own subplots, but it’s tied to the overall narrative through whatever she has in mind.

So I guess in summary, these are some good points you bring up, but I’m not sure how much of an issue they are in smaller RPs that don’t have oodles of characters like Heroes 2 did. Working with the RP creator is good step, but they should be open to people’s ideas as well - though not so much that the story gets hijacked.
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~Alkarii~
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Yeah, and something that was said in the Prod gave me an idea.

See, RPs in the fashion like what we have are more like novels in which the players control just a couple characters. Now, I can't tell you what method Beffy used for hers, but I used the methods Frey suggested. It's a hell of a lot easier to create a story when you plan it out.

That being said, planning an RP may not be exactly the same. The creator would have to allow room for variation, since the actions of other people's characters will affect what happens next. So the steplist for an RP may be more vague.

However, subplots will almost inevitably be created. Subplots are little stories inside the main story, and the best subplots are those which help move the plot along. Just like the main plot, they need characters which grow through conflict which reaches a conclusion. The events of the subplot, and probably more importantly the way in which they effect the characters, must in some way effect the subplot.

(Huh, and here I thought I sounded as if I was talking out of my ass.)

Now, here's my new idea: why not, when creating an RP, share the planned plot with one or two people (let's say two is enough) who will each carry a subplot. We then allow the players to decide what their character will do, i.e. the characters have to split up.

Oh, and... Heroes 2 is the only RP I haven't been in that I've ever actually bothered to read, but I'll definately have to read some others. Probably.
Edited by Alkarii, Apr 6 2013, 12:32 PM.
Since my liver is larger than my heart, does that mean I'm designed to drink more and care less?
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