NationStates Jolt Archive

It's been on my mind since an RP based around one of the most important events to happen in my nation has been largely ignored. I've been wondering if it's because people generally think I'm a poor RPer. This isn't an ego boost thread, I just want to know what people really think.

Here's some examples,

http://forums.jolt.co.uk/showpost.php?p=9092045&postcount=1
http://forums.jolt.co.uk/showpost.php?p=9833978&postcount=1
http://forums.jolt.co.uk/showpost.php?p=8645306&postcount=1
http://forums.jolt.co.uk/showpost.php?p=8511362&postcount=1
http://forums.jolt.co.uk/showpost.php?p=9522899&postcount=2
http://forums.jolt.co.uk/showpost.php?p=9523690&postcount=10
http://forums.jolt.co.uk/showpost.php?p=9366332&postcount=1
http://forums.jolt.co.uk/showpost.php?p=9277814&postcount=9
http://forums.jolt.co.uk/showpost.php?p=8871071&postcount=1
http://forums.jolt.co.uk/showpost.php?p=8534353&postcount=1
http://forums.jolt.co.uk/showpost.php?p=8002648&postcount=1
http://forums.jolt.co.uk/showpost.php?p=7415718&postcount=1
http://forums.jolt.co.uk/showpost.php?p=6555325&postcount=1
http://forums.jolt.co.uk/showpost.php?p=6092063&postcount=13
http://forums.jolt.co.uk/showpost.php?p=5465520&postcount=1
http://forums.jolt.co.uk/showpost.php?p=5471005&postcount=13

I personally think you're one of the better writers on NS. I'm not FT, so I can't really RP with you, but as far as I can tell, you're a lot better than many, and it surprises me that you are ignored. It is a shame that character-based RP attracts so little interest.

You’re good. The thread are good, the plot behind your nation is good. Everything about you is good.

I really don't do FT and haven't done a FT roleplay in nearly a decade (!).

Having said that, just skimming through your first two examples suggests to me that people either: 1) don't RP with you because they don't want to deal with FT or 2) don't have much interest in character RPing. Your writing is certainly not a problem in my mind.

I enjoyed RP'ing with you, but my main issue is that I dont' like doing FT. I love doing character RP's but I just really am not terribly fond of FT stuff

Draconis, chalk it up to people not necessarily seeing them on the forums. All it takes are a few posts after yours and suddenly you are on second page. Does your region participate in your rps? That's one way to keep them going.

Well these days on NS, threads are on the front page for several hours now. The others in my region aren't the RPing type, most don't even venture onto the forums at all.

I am currently on a couple of your Rp's, and they are pretty good. I think some of your dialauge is pretty hokey, though.

F.Y.I.An online video game chat isn't neccesarily the best way to become a world-renowned storyteller anyway.

What makes you think I'm here to do that anyway?

The feature of your writing I most admire is your ability to stay in character while still having at least one explosion per page ... :D

I tend to get lost once the fighting starts; that's why I dropped out of your Prince's Coming of Age thread. Nothing to do with you individually, just too much shoot-'em-up.

In the current Academy of the Dark Arts thread, though, I think you're doing a very smooth job as thread starter: enjoying it with your own character, moving things along through minor characters and posting consistently -- you're the ideal host!

Anyway, the abilities NS writing demands are different from those needed by them there "world-renowned storytellers"; plotting, character development, etc, are all much less under your control. All you can do is get on the roller-coaster and hang in there for the ride, and I think you do that as well as anyone here -- and better than many.

1) don't RP with you because they don't want to deal with FT or 2) don't have much interest in character RPing.Stuff and nonsense.

Personally, skimming the linked threads don't do much for me. The writting isn't terrible, but it's nothing that particularly stands out to me. As someone who exclusively RP's character-base scenerios, and as someone who doesn't have a problem interacting with any tech level, your generalizations are overly broad.

... and as someone who doesn't have a problem interacting with any tech level ...

I've wondered about that, too: why players from differing techs say they can't RP together. For me, the tech is like the water in the goldfish bowl: it surrounds the fish, they couldn't do without it, but as long as it's working okay, why should they notice it?

If people find it really hard to suspend disbelief, then they can always make their character, for the purposes of just one RP, the great-great-grandchild (or great-great-grandparent) of one of their established characters.

My nation Findhorn is part of a region that the founder wants to keep more or less realistic and current. Okay, any spacefaring Findhornians who come home on holidays don't talk about their exploits, or only to similarly space-struck odd-bods. If they bring home aliens, well, they're visitors, it's not polite to make them feel different. If they're mutants, hey, these things happen in the best of families ...

Besides, there are some really good RPs possible in the clash-of-technologies field. Doesn't always have to be OMG! a Viking transported to the modern era!

There's also the one-new-tech-introduced theme. Like, what happens to Murder on the Orient Express if mobile phones exist and work then? What if a fantasy mage just has to Google 'shape shift' to find the right spell?

Dragging this back on-topic, I can't say I've noticed DN having any trouble adapting to whatever tech shows up, not even when he's being a blue-skinned Elvenlord. Proven competence, I'd think.

I've wondered about that, too: why players from differing techs say they can't RP together.Because people lean too heavily on tech, and use it to define themselves.

Tech is flavor. It's background stuff that is completely irrelevent to the story. My character Fusayoshi may have a whole ton of cyberware stuffed into him, but if I didn't mention it, nobody would notice. Josef has a cybernetic arm, but it wouldn't prevent him from interacting with someone from a sword-and-sorcery setting. Tech should flesh out what you're doing, not be the end goal of what you're doing.

The problem is when people substitute technology for writing ability. When their posts read like Star Trek Technical Manuals or when the majority of what they write is little more than lists of numbers. If all you do is wargaming, then you might have problems with differing tech levels, but only if neither side is creative enough to work around such gaps.

There's a lot worse than you. :)
You're a survivor here - 10K posts.

I've wondered about that, too: -snip-
My issue isn't that I won't do FT rp's, cause I have, and if I find one that sounds interesting I'll join it, my issue is that in general I dont' find them as enjoyable. I don't why, but I just don't. Thats my only issue.

Well, what I've seen of your RPs start out good (ie: the first post or two). However, nearly every post following the first few quickly turn into 1-2 line posts which isn't great rping. However, I would go as far as to say that you yourself are bad, its just a matter of keeping up the post quality throughout the RP. Again, this is just from what I've seen, which isn't all that much.