Membership Word count

[Arceus 1,082]

The thing, I think, is that a lot of people can hit that 600+ word count. Many don't mind hitting it, either, and often do. The problem lies in being expected to on a consistent, invariable basis. Yes, I can hit your word count, my longest post was 3,336 words long, but I don't want you expecting me to do it. That's pressure. That's, what if I'm having an off day and hit ten words less? That's maybe I really don't need 500 words for this, maybe I only need 300, and there's no sense floofing it up to 500 because it's dumb, basically. I even steer away from 100 counts despite never having gone under 100, because... yep, pressure, expectation. A lot of role-players have some form of anxiety, and expectation just makes it worse. Even if we know you won't flip your lid over hitting ten words less, look, some admins do, and that fear and internal panic will always be there. Because you won't, but what if you did.

 

I will not, will not, join a site with a word count. Yeah, I regularly hit over a thousand words, but I'm not going to join a site that expects me to. I want the freedom to write less or more as I need. I attract like-minded people to me.

 

So those of us that foster communities that prefer 4-600 word posts on no word count rule aren't doing anything magical or mysterious, we're just letting them jive how they want, and if it happens the players already on it jive to the beat of 4-600 words, you'll attract other players that also do, regardless of what your word count rule says or doesn't say.

[Rhindeer 217]

^^^ All of that!

 

I can write 1k a post if I want to. I used to all the time. It's not a matter of ability to write a certain amount of words--I was an English Major, I can bullshit my way through any amount of words. xD

 

I don't like the pressure, and I also don't like the expectation. I want to be allowed variation, and to let my posts flow naturally as the context and pacing and story takes me, whether that's just one word or a thousand.

[gelly 32]

Word counts are dealbreakers for me. I won't even join a site that have 'we don't have any official word counts, but we do expect members to...' type rules. I write what I want to write and I'm quite happy to let my partner do the same. I've written a thousand word post and have had a partner respond with two short paragraphs --- it didn't bother me. I don't care. As long as the plot is being moved forward, I'm a happy camper. Some of my best roleplaying memories come from sites where one-liners was not only accepted, it was the norm. And I loved it and I'm always trying to recapture that magic to no avail 😧

 

So yeah, I don't care how 'small' a word count seems, it's a no-go for me, dawg.

 

My horror story is when I started forum roleplaying, I joined this Harry Potter rp on Proboards and their expectation was over 1,000 words. And I went along with it. And was miserable the entire time. Because the staff actually, like... was ON people if they fell below 1,000. And I'm this nervous teenager who came home from writing all day and dealing with exhausted teachers to submit another 1,000 word addition to my dissertation on this HP site. I only lasted a month lmao. Worst. Month. Ever.

[Kit the Human 759]

Well technically I run sites with a word count. Since I don't let people use a picture or video as a reply. 😄 I think it was @SithLordOfSnark who got me to that realisation....

 

Jokes aside.

 

As much as I love to write, I don't love padding my posts. So I don't join sites with a minimum word count and like @perry the platypus I won't join a site that adds "but we expect our members to..."

 

That said, I'm not as frothy at the mouth as I used to be over admins making word counts. If it effectively creates the kind of community that they want, more power to them!

[StormWolfe 557]

We do not have a numerical word count. All that we ask is that each reply be substantive enough to move the scene forward and, if there is a writing partner, allow them room for a response. If one sentence does that, then one sentence is all that is needed. I find it incredibly silly to require someone to write 300 + words to just have their character answer the door and say "Come in".

 

Our sites also encourages collaborative posts (joint posts). Someone starts the scene, their writing partner replies to bring their character into the scene, the next reply (if it is highly focused on dialog or direct interaction) is then written in the next post. Each writer edits their response directly into that post. Dialog flows more smoothly and there are not dozens of one or two sentence posts.

 

Of course, we also do not concern ourselves with post counts and what not. If someone wants to write, they will write. If not, no harm, no foul!

[River 57]

I prefer a more general measure of post length to the strict word count. In my experience, two paragraphs is always enough to give insight into the other character's emotions and to move the scene forward. Those two paragraphs can make a post anywhere from 150 to 500 words. Of course, more paragraphs can work as well, but two is a golden minimum for me.

 

I was on a site once that had a hard 300-word minimum, which led to a decent amount of padding in threads where little happened in each turn. Over time, as productivity wore down, so did the word count, down to 250 to 200 to 100. This site also had a 300-word minimum in the personality section of the app, which I always found to be a tall order given that my characters' personalities are liable to change after their first few threads.

 

I've also found that, while I never set out to do so, I subconsciously match the length of my partner's posts, so I end up hitting between 200-1,000 words. My longest post ever was in the realm of 1,600 and looking back was probably a lot of fluff that could be cut.

[Huskerdust 625]

I just say no to word counts. Haha! 

[kjSage 81]

I personally run my sites with a 150wc minimum for posts. It gives the other person something substantive to respond to, and tbh I never understood how people could respond to a one-liner. I know I sure as hell can't. I've never managed to last more than a couple of months on sites that were mostly one-liners. My own posts tend to fall anywhere from 200-2k words. I've done threads where all people involved hit 3k words per posts and it was glorious. Obviously not all of my posts will go that far (most don't actually) but there are just some characters of mine that I -love- to write and can't seem to stop, and it's okay because there actually isn't padding in those.

 

Now for applications, I like my 200-word minimums on appearance/personality/history. Especially for appearance, as someone who is visually impaired I -need- to know what I'm trying to visualize in my head, and oftentimes a good piece of text does that so much better even without an added picture. (Pictures do help, but only if there's text to go along with it.) For personality, it is entirely reasonable to have a good base set for your character and then continue to develop them throughout the RP, but I need that 200 words there as a just that, a base. History I feel like can be a bit trickier, and for characters born on-site I don't even require it. But it's good to have milestones and important events down. I don't expect everyone to write a novel (My board actually has the character limit doubled. And I hit that doubled limit on my poor Mercy. I can't even edit her through the normal UCP because it literally is a character away from that limit. It comes out to over 30 pages in google docs and I banged that out over two days, but I certainly don't expect anyone else to be that unreasonable and make that fairly clear. Seriously, just... Don't do that to yourself.)

[Prophetess 137]

As for my site, the most basic rule is just give enough that whom you're writing with has enough to go on. I don't like word counts myself as it can be nerve wracking trying to know how many. It can feel like college and trying to get a thesis done just in time. I personally don't care if they are long or short, as long as there's something there for me to go off of. If there's nothing there what's the point? I've seen short posts done really well just where they needed to be and long wordy ones as well. It's those speed postings that get me. There's nothing there usually to work with. I stay between 300-400 myself, but have been known to go over. 

 

For the record, those that want like 600+ can be just insane. I lose sight of the post because I have to find enough filler and fluff to fill in the holes. So not me.

[Dragon 673]

My signature picture pretty well sums up my thoughts about word counts. 

 

Any jackass can word vomit. It takes far more skill to get a grand point across using as few words as possible - that's why poetry is the most timelessly valued form of writing, because it is using the fewest words in the best order to achieve an intense emotional response from the reader. 

[jenneral_jennson 154]

There's nothing wrong with asking for a word count. There's nothing wrong with not asking for a word count. There's nothing wrong with someone who writes 2-300 words and there nothing wrong with someone who writes 1k-4k words a post. I do expect more than a single word or a "reply" of just punctuation. I will not, will not, write with anyone who replies with a single word or "....". Communication is a hell of a lot more than saying a single word or not saying a single word. Body language, facial expressions (no matter how blank you think your face is, it's not), outside sources. All of these things play a part in communication and should be conveyed in a post in my opinion or all of that "emotional" response is lost.  

 

I hate these discussions because i always get the sense that people who don't agree with or like word counts see people who don't care  about word counts or need something more than a word or punctuation as lesser. Or they're doing something wrong and are spoken to with quite a condescending tone. It's pretty obnoxious. It's like those quantity = advanced/quality discussions in tone.  

[Morrigan 1,826]

I actually disagree @jenneral_jennson I think both sides have valid points and valid reasons why they do or do not like their version of roleplaying.

 

I, for example, don't like word counts. There are many reasons but I like to progress plot faster than wasting an hour on a post because I need to reach a certain word count, I have been burned on many sites I've been on by expressing certain things, whether this is body language (as not all body language means the same thing to all people) or thoughts, re:metagaming.

 

We all have our way to play.

 

I think our general consensus here is that word counts, just knowing there is a number, can feel stifling and eventually as muse killer. Does that mean that everyone is like me and a one line queen? No. But it also means that putting creativity into a box and saying this is the only way you are creative or good is good either.

 

Neither way is right or wrong, but there is also a preference. You choose the way you roleplay and you choose the sites you roleplay on. I was recently interested in a site and couldn't join because of the word count alone. I don't have time for that. I'll never get anywhere plot wise and eventually would burn out and ghost. That's not because I'm uninspired or I can't reach a word count but I burn out when things don't progress and because things don't progress unless I'm constantly posting. Worrying about how many words I may or may not have written shuts that progression down for me. I feel like I'm in school and writing an essay "you must have a beginning, a middle and an end". I didn't like to do it in school what is going to make me like it more in my hobby?

[ChrisOwl 59]

I likely wouldn't join a site with a word count! I don't like having someone tell me how long or how short it has to be... I write differently with different people, it depends how we mesh. One of my current writing partners, we tend to have posts that are 1500-2000+ word posts, add lots of fluff because it's fun, and a good portion of the post are flashbacks because we've developed this fun little game of developing our characters 7000 year history together... which basically includes flashbacks where we GM the other person's character and what happened... like sticking a fanfiction of our characters within the actual post of what they are doing in the moment. This style would be confusing as heck and breaking the GM rules to some of the other people I write with lol, but it's how me and this other person mesh.... this person usually gets a post from me every few days.

Other people I'll write 75-300 words. Just depends on who I am writing with and I like short posts as much as long ones! Just depends on the dynamic. Short posts can get multiple replies in a day if that is how they want to write! We have some people on my site who write 1-3 sentences and if that's what they and their partners want to do I really don't care, it's all for fun, and I want people to have fun writing what they like to write, how they want to do it. Not everything goes for everyone.

What is most important to me is something to.... respond to. Not just the person replying to what I said and leaving it there. This can be done in few words or many words but give me something to go with and I give them something to go with and we both pull the thread along. I do not mind leading threads either, but not EVERY thread, so I tend to not go back and write with people again if I am continually the one making the thead plot and having them just respond to mine, whether that person writes 100 words or 1000 words.

[Rune 1,099]

9 hours ago, Dragon said:

My signature picture pretty well sums up my thoughts about word counts. 

 

Any jackass can word vomit. It takes far more skill to get a grand point across using as few words as possible - that's why poetry is the most timelessly valued form of writing, because it is using the fewest words in the best order to achieve an intense emotional response from the reader. 

Likewise, any jackass can reply "..." and call it a day. No need to bring name-calling into the conversation. 

 

We aren't writing poetry, we're writing stories. (Though, I would love to see an entire thread written in a single style of poetry. But most of my characters would be snarky and demand they speak only in haikus.)

 

Like I said previously, I'm here to read as much as I am to write. I want to know what your character is thinking, feeling and doing. Someone throwing a sentence at me doesn't give me that. I don't need them to give me 10000 words, but I do want them to paint a picture and help me set the scene. And more often than not, you do that with more words, not less. I'm not trying to write a script or screenplay. 

 

Everyone has their own thing, and sites have been successful with both word counts and no word counts. I don't care what others prefer to RP with, but knowing what you prefer is a good place to be so that you don't waste anyone's time, including your own, in fumbling with trying to hunt partners down that suit what you write. By putting a word count you are ensuring that the partners you pair with on board will, at least, reach your bare minimum of length so that you know what you are getting into, even if it doesn't qualify as the quality you are used to. 

 

Edit: Epics are poems and aren't short at all. 

[CovertSphinx 710]

On 8/4/2018 at 4:14 PM, SithLordOfSnark said:

 

I'm still going to run a site one day where image replies are the norm. LOL

It'll be like the Emoticon movie, but way better. Call it:  Fate/ MEMELORDZ 

 

 

I like to read what people write. 
I like to really examine my character's perspective (mostly) when I think of a post. 
But, there's only so many times I can reference similar body positioning or colors/outfits/setting without getting redundant.
So I fall in the basket of: No Word Count Minimums.
Lacking a word count in no way means that one-liners or single entries are going to be my "norm", or the "norm" of the site. 

But it also means I have the option to do so without feeling bad about myself (or guilty/failure as an RPer) where I find necessary. 

I like not having a deadline of words to make. 

Enforced Word Count Rules gives me flashbacks to timed essays in middle/highschool.
No counts lets me feel relaxed.

It's just the way I am.