Site Rating - Does it matter?

[Tired Old Soldiers 10]

I always go for 333 for my own sites, and I tend to prefer that rating for sites I join, but depending on the plot/community I might consider something with a lower rating. I do prefer 18+ sites though - I'm going to be 37 this year and while I have met some teens who are great writers and far more mature than some of the folks closer to my own age, I've also seen some pretty uncomfortable interactions with kids. Plus... I tend to curse like a sailor and have discussions that I... would rather not with underage folks around.

 

I also tend to have characters who I do much better with writing on an 'everything goes' site, even though most of my writing has little to no sexual content. 

Edited June 6, 2020 by Tired Old Soldiers

[DivineRabbit 64]

Well ours is 3-3-3, however its not over the top. We ask any typists that do write it to put warnings on title of thread. Sometimes its part of a story sometimes its not. I would say we have some but most are here for the story.

 

 

Me personally prefer fade to black unless it make sense in a story with two characters that have history. Joining a sight I prefer to have the ability to choose and know I can write it even if I dont. I love the climatic fade to black- its just a less visceral style. However there have been times I have went all detail in stories when it made sense for the two to have that moment.

[Brie 51]

On 5/17/2020 at 1:40 PM, graceomalley said:

This might not be a popular opinion but I actually prefer sites with a lower rating. If I wanted to write about sex and gore, I'd write a fanfiction. In all honesty, I see absolutely no appeal in writing mature content, and I'm 90% less likely to join a site that allows it simply because it's awkward to be the one face out of everyone who refuses to. 

Keep in mind while 3-3-3 boards allow those things, from my experience the vast majority of players don’t participate in them.
 

On my board, for example, we’ve been 3-3-3 since we were 3 months old and we’re into year 3 of existence. We’ve never had a smut thread or excessive 3 worthy gore. I’m not even sure we’ve had a 3 worthy swear fest yet. The option is simply there if anyone ever decides to 😉 

 

To the OP: 3-3-3 and 18+ at this point has vastly been created for adults for who only want to write with other adults because writing with minors makes them feel weird or awkward.  Not everyone needs that and I don’t see anything wrong with starting out and/or staying under a 3-3-3 rating.

Edited June 8, 2020 by Brie

[Lilythe 12]

For me, personally, I suppose it depends on what the site is.

 

If I'm participating in a site that has a lot of heavy lean into the romance aspect, well there's only so much you can do if you have to fade to black every time, so I may not enjoy it too much if I can't write smut and there's not a lot else to do with the characters in the world. However if it offers a lot of non-romantic plot intrigue and romances are more of a side-plot for characters, then I may not need it to have a 3 for sex. 

 

Profanity doesn't really hold much sway for me one way or the other. But because I'm a grown adult that swears, and I was taught to write how I speak, I may need lots of reminders on lower rating sites for profanity xD

 

As for violence... again, it really depends on where the plot focus is. If you're trying to do a medieval fantasy RP and I'm not really able to write out decent combat... what's the point?

 

I tend to prefer my 3-3-3's because I know that anything is fair game and there's no need to worry about my definition of a 2 versus their definition, etc. But I wouldn't completely turn down a site purely based on the rating they choose. I care far more about plot, writing style, community feeling, etc.

[Atypicalzero 12]

The lowest I have ever gone is 3/2/3. And I would probably never go lower. I can deal with ftb for the naughties. To be frank, I could care less about whether or not I get to write the whole bumping uglies bit out in detail. What I do care about is being able to go heavy on the language and heavy on the carnage because that's what I like to see. It's what I like to watch, read, and write. Bottom line, if there's a board that isn't going to let my character Kyle speak almost exclusively in profanity or let me write out the gory details of a fight, I will lose interest real quick.

[Platonic 1]

I never have had a reason to roleplay content that would be considered 3-3-3. I don't write smut and my gore and language never need to be that high. In most literature I read,  a 3-3-3 rating would not be needed and I don't necessarily believe a higher rating (the includence of graphic sex or detailed gore) always adds to the quality of a story.  It may come down to taste. From my experience on 3-3-3 sites, most users do not make use of mature threads anyway. So, I personally have never fully grasped the appeal of 3-3-3 sites while disregarding lower rated games. I do know there are some roleplayers who like to know they can write 3-3-3 and enjoy doing so. A 3-3-3 rating does give the freedom of not having to worry if what you wrote was "too far" or violated the rules and in that aspect I get the appeal. 

[Mayu 12]

Language and violence, I can easily work with anything between 1~3 on the scale. Sexual content, I prefer 1.

The ratings are mainly based on what I am looking for in RP and while I don't consider myself writing anything that would surpass a 2 in language and violence, I don't particularly care if others do. Graphic sexual content, on the other hand, I would rather be without.

[psychodrow 10]

I feel like everything imitates real life - or life imitates art, or vice versa. I am not sure I could play somewhere that wasn't rated 3-3-3 - not because I am a violent or explicit person by nature (although I certainly can roleplay anything) but simply because, like in real life, you have to use your own judgement, skepticism, and selective hearing/reading/seeing to control what goes into your own head.

[NyxDarklore 92]

Absolutely. Let me preface this by saying that it's a personal choice, though. I don't always write threads that are a Level 3 in any of the LSV categories, but one thing that is important to me is that I have the option to do so. I never know where most of my threads are going to end up (I say most, because there are some that are pre-planned to serve a purpose) and while there's definitely an idea in place and thoughts that go into it, the chances that my characters hit something out of left field is high, so having the option to go to a 3-3-3 rating in any given thread is important.