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Rune
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Do you like word counts? How many is too many words to expect someone to write? How many is too few? What do you feel is a good middle ground?

 

What's your best/worst experience with/without word counts?

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I like word counts, in that I like having a little number in the corner that tells me how long each post is. i think it's fun to compare word counts, and I think they can be used to foster a healthy sense of competition in an RP. I also refer to require minimum word counts in my RPs, because I'm not fond of one-liners. I want to be able to write 100 - 200 words in response, at least.

 

But also FUUUUUCK places like Gaia that are all "Advanced lit, 600+ words per post only".

Glub glub.

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150-250 is my preferred range of required but going over that is a ok. 

 

I'm with you on the ridiculous requirements, though. Sometimes I don't have to write a novel! Likewise, I'm not going to rp with someone that can only reply with 1 sentence. Part of the fun for me is reading and that kind of defeats the point.

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I kind of like having a word count so I know what I can expect. Mostly because I don't do rapid-fire, and most of the places I have written in that had no word count/very short posts as a standard were the same where people expected a reply right away. That's my experience. And also because I'm one of those annoying people who like getting a bit of a longer post to read and reply to.

 

As for what's reasonable, I would say anything between 100 and 300 is something I can do, with my ideal length (what I can more easily and frequently do) being at around 250.

 

If I start reading rules at a site and I see 'we like our members to be literate, so our minimum word count is 800', I'm out, because while yes, some people can write meaningful and involved posts that are that long, I find it personally hard to believe that every post needs to be that long and won't consist of a lot of fluff.

Shady McShaderson

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Oh man, so the Gaia Online community has sort of self-stratified into different "literacy levels" based on word count, here's what I remember off the top of my head:

  • Chat: When you use asterisks to denote actions, usually one-liners.
  • Semi-lit: Just a handful of sentences
  • Lazy-lit: Maybe 100 to 300 words?
  • Casual/lit-lit: Around 300 to 600, i think
  • Advanced-lit: 600+
  • Elite-lit: 1k+

Part of the reason I left Gaia, is that it felt like there was no middle ground - all threads were either "You must have several hundred words and fancy post layouts" or "throwback to AOL chatrooms".

Glub glub.

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I like knowing how many words I am writing. I don't like having standards about how many words I need to use in a post. My posts vary too much to abide by them, easily ranging between a few sentences and several paragraphs all in the scope of a single thread. 

 

I care far more for quality over quantity. If a post is a thousand words, but all of it is happening in a character's head, others can't reply to it well, same with the case if someone replies 'he nodded'  and calls that a post. As long as the post is readable, and gives the next person in the thread something to react to, that's all I hope for, both for my own and for my rp partners' posts.

Edited by Kazetatsu
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I am asking for at least three phrases as a minimum word count, because I hate one-liners with fiery passion and I hope in 3 phrases at least we receive something to work with. But from those three phrases up, anybody can write as much or as little as  they want. 

 

My own post count varies, even in the same thread, depending on the character and what happens in that moment in the thread. I can have posts from 120 to 850 words in the same thread. Usually I strive for a bit more than 3 phrases (at least 4-5), even when I am at a loss with some partners who don't advance anything. But I know that in the worst case I can have 3. And I think my lowest count posts were few, around 75 words.

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Guest Arantor

3 phrases gives you enough room for a haiku at least 😄

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I hate 'em. I don't care what other sites do, of course, and no judgment on people who DO enjoy them and need them. We all need and like different things.

 

For me, my shortest posts have been a single (1) word, and my longest posts have been in the 2K range. Needless to say, my posts vary GREATLY. xD Looking at my latest posts, I have posts that are 798, 7, 1100, 120, 65, 35, 380, and 13 words long. xD

 

I think all post  lengths have their place, and I don't really think about how much I'm writing but rather WHAT I'm writing. One of the best responses I got was "No." That's it. That was the post. And my own post had been fairly wordy, but it was HILARIOUS in context, because my character had been flirting hardcore with this chick and fluffing himself up and posturing, and she just shot him down with a single word. A longer post would have killed the effect. It was perfect.

 

I love it when conversations are one-liners. For me, it reads more like an actual book would. It keeps the quick pacing, and allows for more natural responses. I actually have a more difficult time responding to conversation style posts when there is a lot of padding and a lot of different conversation strings--I'd rather just keep that short and snappy. And when I write action scenes, they also tend to be shorter and snappier to keep that sense of urgency and quick pacing. Posts are also just naturally shorter for me when I've already described relevant details earlier. If my character is pissed off, I don't have to keep repeating that they're pissed off in every post--I'm gonna try to convey their mood through their words and actions. If they are still in the same room I described earlier, I don't need to keep describing it. If I said her arms were crossed a couple posts ago, we can assume they're still crossed until I write that she's moved. Stuff like that. I trust my partner doesn't need reminding about established details every single post. xD

 

I write longer posts for scenes that require more introspection or description. If I'm setting up the scene in some way, then yeah, it gets lengthier naturally. If the scene is super emotional, it tends to get wordier.

 

It also depends on the character I'm writing. Some of my characters introspect a lot, and have a lot of internal dialogue, so those characters get a lot more words. But some of my characters are more action, less thinking, so their posts are naturally shorter. Likewise, with some of my characters, I don't WANT you to know what they're thinking so I only write what they say and do, and not what they think. Those characters also lend themselves to shorter posts as a result.

 

I guess all that is just to say...I like not having to worry about meeting some word goal like I'm back in school. This is a hobby, and I want to tell my stories and write my characters how I feel is best. Word counts, for me, do not allow for the sort of flexibility and fluidity and focus on pacing that I enjoy. Instead, I end up feeling boxed in.

 

Of course getting ONLY one-liners would suck. Because again, variation is the key, and attention to context and tone is also important. So for me, getting ONLY meaty, multi-paragraph posts is also just as bothersome. Variation, variation, variation. Customize your responses to the scene at hand. That's the kind of stuff I love. ❤️

 

All this said, I totally used to be a long post writer back in the day. I wasn't "done" with a post until I'd written 1k. |: Man I don't miss those days. And reading old threads is so, so painful, because all I can think is "wow, this was a great thread, but I really want to rewrite it so it actually flows and doesn't read like a clusterfuck of stuff I don't care about."

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MANY MOONS AGO, I had a board word count of 100, but I held myself to a higher standard. A 300-word standard.

 

I was young then. Now I have no word counts in my life and it's SO MUCH MORE CHILL. 

    

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Every time I give no word count a go I get the person that can't write more than a sentence and it doesn't even acknowledge my character so I wonder up rping with myself. It's left a bad taste in my mouth and makes me leery.

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10 minutes ago, Rune said:

Every time I give no word count a go I get the person that can't write more than a sentence and it doesn't even acknowledge my character so I wonder up rping with myself. It's left a bad taste in my mouth and makes me leery.

Sounds like bad luck. D8

 

But also just bad writing. A good writer can make that sentence engaging. A bad writer...well. You'd still be RPing with yourself even if they wrote multiple paragraphs, I'm afraid. xD Been there, done that!

 

Seriously. I once did a thread with someone where they didn't acknowledge my character for almost an entire PAGE. And they were writing long posts. I made a game of it, and just kept playing my character by myself to see how long it would take them to interact with mine. >_> Because my first post left it VERY OPEN FOR INTERACTION. BALL WAS IN THEIR COURT. They dropped it. Hard.

Edited by Viscount Rhi-Rhi

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Oh, I've been there too. But I've found that a word count tends to keep most of those tires at bay. Or maybe CW is just good at not acknowledging them so they leave 

 

It's totally shit luck. But I can keep it's occurrence to a minimum by demanding words. 

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Honestly, and I have mixed emotions about this. I have somehow fostered a community that prefers 600+ words. We don't have a word count (we used too) but the people in my community all prefer 400-600+ words. It's been very interesting because I have some players that absolutely love 800-1000+ word counts and all of the fluff. I have mixed emotions because everywhere I go I see people claiming they hate that.

 

I have tried to appeal to all sides, but what happens more often then not is the players I have who just casually write 1000+ words like it's nothing scare people off. It's sad because a majority don't care if you match their word count. They just want to rp and have a good time like anyone else. 

 

Also note I don't mean that they don't try to lower their word count to make people more comfortable. Some do... And when other people see them post in other more adv-lit topics there is still discouragement.

Edited by Bezyle
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2 hours ago, Rune said:

Every time I give no word count a go I get the person that can't write more than a sentence and it doesn't even acknowledge my character so I wonder up rping with myself. It's left a bad taste in my mouth and makes me leery.

 

I think that you have just ended up playing with self absorbed players. There isn't a point in my short posts that my character(s) aren't interacting or progressing a plot in some way shape or form. I actually have personally had the exact opposite affect. The longer the word count the less my character is interacted with and the more that I'm making up for posturing and monologuing.

 

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I find every type and length of roleplay has it's place but it doesn't necessarily have it's place in every post. I do agree that a setup or a change over or a descriptor thread requires more information. Interaction, conversation, intimacy doesn't so much.

 

I think we all have our pace and what we expect though and I expect enough to continue posting and that can be from a ... to a thousand words. The middle ground isn't a thing to me.

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