Viewpoint RP veterans, what have you observed has changed over time in roleplays ?

[A Sparkling Zombie]

I don't think the question was derailing the thread.

Nah, you're good. I'm a mouthy brute. I won't shut up about lit/semi-lit without imposing the constraint, when the topic is about how the scene has evolved, not about why that particular nomenclature is or is not flawed. I was imposing it more for myself if not anyone else, lol.

 

[Darling_Canines]

WOOP I FORGOT TO ANSWER TO EVERYTHING KUFDHBQSKEUHFN SORRY. But yeah ZombZomb don't worry about deerailing the convo. What y'all were talking about is interesting and I'm super down to read your ramblings. That counts for all of you, please. Ramble and explain and over explain al you want. I can't speak for everyone else but in my case, I'm always going to find it interesting worth the time to ponder over !!!!

 

[Rayder]

The fandoms that are most popular tend to change over the years.

 

[Darling_Canines]

The fandoms that are most popular tend to change over the years.

That surprised me actually! I was thinking people in roleplay forums tend to stick to written works that they are super familiar with, to really explore the weird crevices and sides of an already written story and twist/spin it with their own takes. And that usually takes a while to develop! Even for finding people that you are compatible with would probably be easier with older fandoms right?

But on the other hand I can kind of understand the thrill of "the next shiny new thing" inciting people to want to explore newer stuff even if they aren't familiar with it.

 

[Rayder]

That surprised me actually! I was thinking people in roleplay forums tend to stick to written works that they are super familiar with, to really explore the weird crevices and sides of an already written story and twist/spin it with their own takes. And that usually takes a while to develop! Even for finding people that you are compatible with would probably be easier with older fandoms right?

But on the other hand I can kind of understand the thrill of "the next shiny new thing" inciting people to want to explore newer stuff even if they aren't familiar with it.

Not only that. Waves of new roleplayers arrive to the scene every few years with new fandoms that are valid for their generation.

 

[KAOS]

Oh good, I'm really glad you don't mind people discussing it because I did like touching upon that topic.

The use of language and class systems shouldn't ever be used to make people feel inferior. Either way around.
It shouldn't feel disrespectful seeking people who communicate at a level, frequency, abundance I do and sacrifice my own creative worth for fear of offending someone.

That just makes me sick to my stomach. The fact that the way language is used. The fact that someone can't say they are more well read or literate then you because that offends you personally. It truly baffles my mind.

Achievements are not used to make others feel inferior.

However, if you feel inferior. Perhaps you should work harder to get to a place you want to be or just stick to the roleplaying you enjoy. To complain about other people's way of roleplaying is rather futile.

It's language. People use it in different ways to be creative and communicate to people.
There is no vendetta with it. It's just is a class system. And it's free to do so I mean it's not like your paying for an experience here.

So, as you can tell. I just woke up from a nap. *rubs eyes*

 

[Caroline1539]

Even for finding people that you are compatible with would probably be easier with older fandoms right?

Absolutely not! I've got a handful of older fandoms I really enjoy digging into no matter when or why or how someone wants to explore them, but finding compatible partners is nearly impossible. And since no one wants to do crossovers, I'm out of luck until another blue moon passes by.

I will say, though, that it's much easier to make friends with niche and obscure fandoms, simply by virtue of you liking the same thing! So it's a double edged sword. Great friends, extremely low chance of finding said friends.

 

[davy]

I'm "literate" by any measure, but I'm also not a huge fan of the word as used for RP planning. Everyone involved can read just fine, and the vast majority can write as well as they talk if they really wanted to. No one is illiterate, and it feels kinda crappy to people who actually can't read much to borrow the word for a new meaning like that.

Not RP, but I made a few fast friends over A Tale of Two Cities as a teenager because so few people actually want to do fandom stuff about that book. Good to know that rare fandom friendships are still going strong

I wonder where the Neopets/Gaia pickup games for kids and teens happen these days. I'd guess probably social media and MMOs? I was only ever in a couple (90s/09s kid, parents afraid adults would sneak onto the forums and kidnap me so I was only brave enough if they went out and left the dial up on), I was completely unprepared when I joined "we're half-animal became we were experimented on" on Neopets and someone's having their character get shocked by an NPC scientist with a cattle prod. I think I was expecting if to be more like when some neighbor kids would say "let's play cats" or "let's play wolves".

I guess I LARPed and used miniatures without dice (beanie babies, plastic animals and barbies count, right?) way more than I did casual text RP.

Do friends still force OCs and favorite canons into settings they don't belong in so they can RP together without being in the same fandoms? I had some good times doing that.

 

[A Sparkling Zombie]

Oh good, I'm really glad you don't mind people discussing it because I did like touching upon that topic.

The use of language and class systems shouldn't ever be used to make people feel inferior. Either way around.
It shouldn't feel disrespectful seeking people who communicate at a level, frequency, abundance I do and sacrifice my own creative worth for fear of offending someone.

That just makes me sick to my stomach. The fact that the way language is used. The fact that someone can't say they are more well read or literate then you because that offends you personally. It truly baffles my mind.

Achievements are not used to make others feel inferior.

However, if you feel inferior. Perhaps you should work harder to get to a place you want to be or just stick to the roleplaying you enjoy. To complain about other people's way of roleplaying is rather futile.

It's language. People use it in different ways to be creative and communicate to people.
There is no vendetta with it. It's just is a class system. And it's free to do so I mean it's not like your paying for an experience here.

So, as you can tell. I just woke up from a nap. *rubs eyes*

To be clear, speaking only for myself, I don't care if someone has preferences. I care about how the "lit" nomenclature might be influencing those preferences, how it might be shaping someone's perceptions of other people who have different styles or preferences, and how it suggests this idea that writing the most words is the golden standard for roleplaying. Because the impression that I've always gotten is that the terms are really more about word count, that grammar and vocabulary are secondary requirements at best, particularly when someone is distinguishing themselves between lit and adv lit.

As I kind of mentioned before, I went from one forum that uses the nomenclature to one that does not. On the latter, at least when it comes to groups, there is rarely a mention of length requirements, except from GMs, like me at the time, who came from communities that did place emphasis on length and hadn't spent much time in that site's culture. Since having become more ingrained on that particular site, I...

• Improved more, because I could then focus on the actual quality of my writing, not on meeting an arbitrary minimum length.
• Learned to stop having a knee-jerk reaction, or assumptions about a player, when encountering a small post, and, again, instead learned that there can be great roleplayers who choose to write less.
• Stopped caring as much if people wrote more than me, since people were no longer being comparatively labeled based on the sizes of their output.
• Reduced my anxiety over whether I was giving someone a big enough post.
• Came to appreciate flexibility in post size when another partner can be on that same page, because 400 words aren't really needed when two people are just sitting and talking, or when there's a combat scene.

I've been doing play-by-post for nearly two decades. I've seen the sentiments in bullets 2-3 in other people, both from the forum I started on and here on this board.

And, like, I'm so tired of the notion that people who write less must be insecure or intimidated (a descriptor I've seen in another thread) of players who write more, or that they must be newbie. Yes, sometimes those things are true, but people might choose small posts because...

• They are more about the gaming aspect of roleplay and not about the writing aspect.
• They want to focus on details that are of direct value to the game; they are more plot- or action-oriented, not literature-oriented.
• They favor roleplays that move quickly. Short posts complement speed best.
• They may exercise a condensed style of writing over a more verbose one.

It is true that there can be just as much mud-slinging from shorter-post writers, and I feel like the "lit" classification system exacerbates the issue. Both camps are working within a system that assigns merit based on post size. How does that not tempt people into slinging mud? Lol. Also, how would you feel if you were a highly imaginative person, who writes well with good grammar, and your posts are dubbed as being beneath "literate" status because you only write a paragraph on average?

In general, I don't think a length-based classification is great. I think it emphasizes the wrong aspect of roleplaying. It prompts people to focus on quantity over quality. RPN's old scheme sounded wise, based on Nerdy's description. But if a length-based classification scheme had to be used, "short, medium, long" at least removes the connotations that someone must be better or lesser than someone else based on how much they write. It doesn't imply that someone is a more advanced roleplayer just because they choose to write several hundred words every post.

 

[KAOS]

Thank you for the quote and input

 

[A Sparkling Zombie]

Or if someone is set on having such a system, then maybe "literature" would be the better word over "literate"? The model still creates an echelon in which people will kick down or punch up at others, and it still makes it sound like one style of roleplaying is superior to another, but at least then the implications are more around artistry and less about an alleged level of competency/experience in the written language.

 

[Hyde.]

To avoid sounding like a cranky ol' person, I'm gonna name off some of the positives I've noticed.

I think Roleplaying as a whole has become more acceptable than it was when I was a kid. When I was younger, I had to repeatedly explain that the RP I partook in was not the NSFW kind, but that I just liked writing about people who had powers and went on journeys together. Nowadays, it seems like everyone and their mother has a D&D group, so it's much easier to explain. It also feels like Roleplayers as a whole are getting better at communicating, planning, and setting boundaries for themselves. Nobody warned me about Creepy McCreeps in the Roleplaying space when I was a bab, so I was taken advantage of more than once, but I see forums like these nowadays that not only seek out to protect Roleplayers, but also openly discuss these issues. I won't say that the hobby is completely safe, nothing really ever is, but it's getting safer, more acceptable, and more accepting, which I think is great.

 

[sukaithemoonlord774]

EDIT: Sorry Mods! It seems I've posted this in the wrong section at first. Thank you for moving it to the right place!

Greetings to you! Thank you for stopping by!
Last time I joined a roleplay community and actively did collaborative writing was in the 2010s and only decided to come back to it recently. And wow things have both very much changed...and also not at all? I haven't started rolelpaying with anyone on here yet, I have just been observing and lurking to understand the current linguo and such. And I thought that it would be fun to talk about how roleplaying online has evolved!

Here's what I've observed so far:

-First off holy shit did RP site rules change and become SO SAFE it's amazing! Back in the day wherever I went, every group roleplay I used to partake in always seemed to turn into an ERP, it might've been just a thing in the communities I was a part of but MAN is it refreshing to find so many cool ideas that only focus on the lore and have fully fleshed out characters that aren't just created with the intent of having them bone.

- Still about safety but people seem to be so much more open about their boundaries !!! Back then I used to only see someone say "No godmodding and no one liners" and that's all. It's so cool how people know exactly what they like and don't like in an RP partner, AND COMMUNICATE IT. Hell I'm so impressed by so many adult roleplayers openly state that they feel uncomfortable roleplaying with minors. Which is so godamn reassuring to see because man, roleplaying used to be like playing a weird game of russian roulette where if you were a kid and RPing with other kids it was so likely that you'd end up talking to some creepy ass people.

- Idk if again that is specific to the communities I used to be in but I miss people referring to character sheets as 'skellies' (short for character skeletons) and other cute names and abreviations for different parts of the RP setup. I was honestly expecting that to have evolved into some whacky terms, but I understand that using less niche language makes rolpelaying more accessible to everyone so I'm not critiquing or anything.

- It's heartwarming to see that theres so much more options out there to customize and 'beautify' an RP thread. Like what you can do with a little bit of coding on here is so godamn cool and I can't help but feel so happy for the writers that love curating aesthetics to go along with their writing. Back then I never came across a website or a place that could do more than allow you to add pictures, and even then it was so hard to size pics correctly you'd often cross a post with a very obnoxious signature at the end or way too tiny pictures you couldn't see jack shit of.

- While looking around this website I can tell when someone's been writing with one specific OC they've had FOREVER. And usually they've evolved and have been so very well fleshed out, but I can just SEE what they might've been in the past when that OC was probably just a knockoff Sasuke character written by an angsty teen with an overly used anime picture as a reference and it cracks me up but also kinda fills me with pride to see y'all sticking to your craft for so long. Kudos to y'all, stay determined.

-I'm so glad post signatures are still a thing. And that there are rules to discourage users from making them too flashy/obnoxious by using gifs or huge pics. But they still have that good old cheesy nature to them with quotes and funny shit. I'm so glad that's still a thing.

-Even after all this time, SCPs and creepypastas are still alive and thriving. I did not expect that lmao.

I think one good thing that I've noticed is that with the safety you mentioned that RP websites are healthier and easier for people to get into. As for one bad thing, I have to agree I've seen some other people's OC's (not on this website, mind you) that aren't that impressive. But, I also think we should give people with OC's more space to flesh them out. They might start as a Sasuke knockoff, but they have potential to become so much more. Just my two cents. Thanks for listening to this.

 

[ValidEmotions]

This might just be due to different websites:

When I first started in an RP community over 10 years ago, a majority of OCs were girls/women. To the point I felt I needed to constantly make male characters (which funnily led to the members of the website thinking I was male myself). Now, I regularly see a more 'balanced' rep of various genders. I think it alludes to the growth of the online writing community as a whole, and a growth in inclusion of different gender identities. ^^ It's lovely to see.

 

[KAOS]

This might just be due to different websites:

When I first started in an RP community over 10 years ago, a majority of OCs were girls/women. To the point I felt I needed to constantly make male characters (which funnily led to the members of the website thinking I was male myself). Now, I regularly see a more 'balanced' rep of various genders. I think it alludes to the growth of the online writing community as a whole, and a growth in inclusion of different gender identities. ^^ It's lovely to see.

I noticed this too !

 

[BuggaBoo]

And I thought that it would be fun to talk about how roleplaying online has evolved!

I been rping for like over a decade now. Some things I notice changed:

1) - badges and achievements. Like not really popular but I remember profiles with them listed in several sites including this one? Yeah I think RPN had them
2) - walls greetings and followers. This one used to be big back in the day where you'd lurk and love bomb your followers and friendlies walls with just pages of rando goodness lol. I think RPN used to have followers too.
3) - about page and noob greetings! I remember eeeeeerybody had their abouts filled esp with cravings, ships, fandoms, etc. And when you did your public forum greeting you'd list it there too lol. And like I remember mods used to greet bomb noobies too. Just crickets now lol
4) - mood boards and pics of all your charries clothes, accessories, playlist etc lol
5) - JUMP-INS! Aka 'Opens'. Put up an RP premise. No lore, no CS even. Anyone can join. Drop in, drop out no committments.
6) - Discord. Not popular before but like a mainstay now for lore and OOC
7) - HAREM! HAREM! yes there were harem rps but like I'm talking more like a term when all rpers are chicas and make female charries with only one dude to round out the RP roster. I loved it. Cuz lez-be-honest lol
8) - forcing RPers to use your effin coded CS for apps and having us break them and annoy you with asking for help to fix them lol. Don't miss that at all hell naw
9) - speaking of "skellies" yeah that went around and so did "apps|appies" as in application form to join. Basically a CS. I still say it sometimes too "Hi!! Can I drop an app?" lol
10) -posting orders. Kinda miss it but not really? Like it was nice to know when your turn was coming but sometimes when you the last in post order you kinda have the most to react to so double edge sword lol. But yeah not too popular

 

[nerdy tangents]

BuggaBoo RPN still has followers and badges.

You have to sign up to patreon to get the badges now but they are still a thing. I am pretty sure you also get a nifty change to your username color too.

Followers - if you follow someone it shows up on their profile. Just click their icon first button is (follow) then (ignore) then (start a conversation).

 

[KAOS]

Google Docs is an amazing place to organize roleplays and roleplay.
I was convinced I was the only person to do this but nope it's really catching on!
I love it when things are organized in a doc or like your roleplay experience is separated into organized chapters.
I've noticed some using notion as well. Which is equally as great for organization.
No tiny text or high contrast to fight with. I'm considering experimenting with notion

Some small observations I've noticed.

 

[yikespsychology]

I'm old—I don't remember the first place I RP'd, but it went from chatrooms (MSN, Yahoo, Aim) to forums and now seems to be going to chat (Discord).

Because the Yahoo chatrooms were active with RPers, the group RPs were really well done and actually went somewhere. However, I notice on forums (I'm not sure about this one) that they tend to die relatively quickly or don't start at all.

Back then, it wasn't always about the extra details. I was new to RP, but I remember a lot happening in just a few paragraphs. I love a good long post nowadays, but some of the quick back-and-forth replies and the plot to them really stuck with me!

Super detailed planning, too. I don't do a lot of detailed planning now unless I'm gushing with my partner over chat or something like that, but basically RP it in chat before writing up a post on it. It's not my favorite thing to do anymore, but planning is still fun, and gushing is extra fun. Lol.

 

[StrixDesmodus]

I've noticed the tried and true "generic" roleplays are mostly gone aside from the academy ones. Like, no more animal packs or herds, no more biopunk laboratories, no more broad-spectrum mythical creature rps.
This kind of makes me sad.


What I actually do like, though, is that I'm seeing phrases llike "literate rpers only" a lot less and instead people are actually articulating their length, style, and formatting preferences in ways that are non-judgemental and that I can actually understand.
Back when people used only one or two words to describe that kind of preference, it was often impossible to know what they meant, except for the choice individuals who used it as a method for bullying. The inconsistencies between different circles on what they mean by "semi-lit' still gives me pause.