Character Creation Checks.

[Darth Immortus]

They are the average member, that has gone above and beyond what is expected of the average member so that they might enlighten those who are still considered "average" to eventually attain the same status and level of understanding that they have.

Just semantics here. You call staff "average members", but then list a bunch of reasons why they are beyond average. Wat?

They're not here to judge and they're not here to regulate; they're here to teach.

Yes... yes they are.

Part of teaching also includes judgment and regulation when necessary. A teacher passes judgment every day on the job. "2+2 isn't 5, Johnny... pick up your pencil and try it again this way." These are standard procedures of law and order. Every board has them. I'm not sure where you came up with this idea that the staff are basically just board janitors who shouldn't be allowed to pass judgment or enforce rules, but it's completely out of touch with reality and the basic way in which literally every forum RPG like this operates.

The only reason they even need to judge at all is because we have proven time and time again that we are incapable of separating the value of a post from our personal lives, and end up disputing over a mere game.

But I thought the staff aren't here to judge us? Now it seems like you're saying it's necessary that they do.

It's almost as if it's a requisite component of a functioning community...

Anyways, what you're suggesting is bringing in politics to a game.

So if a company has a quality control department it's bringing "politics" into the workplace?

As I said before, it's a game, not a life simulator. This should be the antithesis of reality, and all to often, we forget just how surreal it is and apply realistic values to an otherwise virtually meaningless world designed purely for leisure. This is the very essence of roleplaying boards, in fact, and if one cannot find leisurely enjoyment in that game, then it truly has no value to them.

Earlier you also said that "the point of PBP roleplaying is to make your post and enjoy what you've written". I couldn't disagree with your analysis more, and I think you've failed to understand what exactly it is we do here. Your definition is missing one key point: you aren't alone. You are not writing by yourself. This is a game played with other people, and as such there are rules to ensure fairness and cohesiveness. To be blunt, the game is not all about you and your feels. This is a shared community, and we are sharing stories with each other, and as such there are standards and protocol which everyone is expected to live up to. This is a small society within a society. Membership within any community requires a certain degree of conformity. If you're here to simply enjoy your own posts in a judgment-free zone and have free reign over everything, then you shouldn't be here. You should be writing your own novel by yourself.

If I may be so crude, you're basically trying to imply that we cut the enjoyment from those you see as below your measure of standard because it impairs your own ability to enjoy the game. That means you're not playing to enjoy it, you're playing to succeed in a world where, ultimately success has no value.

Is this really what I'm doing?

I think you're reflecting your own perspective onto me. It's actually your argument that amounts to "muh feels above all". Ironically you've also passed judgment and dismissed what you perceive to be my way of enjoying the game (it isn't) because in your opinion, it's not the right kind of enjoyment. Oh, I see. But I thought it was all about enjoying what you've written and that's it?

In other words, everyone's opinions are equal, we're all here to have fun and enjoyment is relative... but make sure you're enjoying the game in a way that meets the approval of Nyxie. There's enough cognitive dissonance here to melt a brain.

 

[Nyxie]

In other words, everyone's opinions are equal, we're all here to have fun and enjoyment is relative... but make sure you're enjoying the game in a way that meets the approval of Nyxie. There's enough cognitive dissonance here to melt a brain.

There's enough condescension and hypocrisy in this line to last us a lifetime, and that's where I draw the line and withdraw from this thread/subject.

Glhf, enjoy SWRP.

 

[Watcher Three]

[member="Darth Immortus"]

Each person is going to write how they want to, and unless the other people involved seriously hate it, it's going to be accepted as what happens to their characters. Not even posts that are reported are necessarily out of line with what this RP we're having is about. Basically, saying that the writers are supposed to cater to each other's opinions is both true and untrue. If you, OOC, are a dick, nobody is going to write with you. If your character is a huge, rotten, bastard but is entertaining or at least good enough reading, somebody will write with you.

Most of this isn't necessarily directed at you, but the general gist of the thread sort of turned to, "How do I write to make people happy?"

If that's the question one asks when they start writing, then they're screwed unless they figure out how they want to write. If a normally good writer falls into that, hopefully they will manage to come out of that.

TL;DR: It's your writing. Do it how you like, everybody.

 

[Valiens Nantaris]

[member="Darth Immortus"]
So confident are you that your bios would be approved, hmm?

 

[Jsc]

[member="Valiens Nantaris"]
Remember that one time you approved a pony species sub? I thought that was funny.

*ps: I plan to twist that one against you for at least the next ten/twenty years*

 

[Valiens Nantaris]

[member="Jay Scott Clark"]
I don't regret it. It was a balanced submission which while a bit silly for my taste was not terrible.

 

[Condor]

[member="Valiens Nantaris"]

Yet genetically engineered wampas with the jumping power of a flea is too silly for you? I can't believe you! /s

 

[Kha'ro Ottosuki]

With an approval system, I would never be here. But is that a bad thing? Err, forget what I said! Err, um, lots of inexperienced roleplayers who became great writers who could easily write a 500 page book and act as their characters wouldn't exist!

Please forget my first comment, its one of the good things about an approval system!

 

[Valiens Nantaris]

[member="Condor"]
Yep. You got it in 1.

 

[Quietus]

From now on no Bio without a Haiku in it will be accepted.









(That was a joke.)

 

[Darth Immortus]

TL;DR: It's your writing. Do it how you like, everybody.

>Implying an approval process would force people to change their writing style

Do I need to buy you one of these?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qiw3vVy_eN8​

 

[Watcher Three]

[member="Darth Immortus"]

Woooooooow, who was jumping?

 

[Darth Immortus]

So confident are you that your bios would be approved, hmm?

I was hoping that with your sagely advice,I could get there.

 

[Valiens Nantaris]

[member="Darth Immortus"]
Sagely advice will only get you so far.

Bribes help too.

 

[Thraxis]

So, I have a strong feeling imma gonna regret posting in here, hoping more so that I will be ignored. I notice a lot of people who say that they will not be accepted into Chaos if their was a Bio approval system, I don't see that adding to the argument. It almost seems like you are admitting somethings wrong with your bio. Now, when I hear a Bio approval system, I imagine it would be to get rid of things that should not exist or make sense, their are Bio's that I am certain that I have read that are either cut straight from something they have seen on T.V or someone who has made a character who clearly is unfair to the community, though I suppose that would come under power gaming.

I don't believe in a standard of someones role play, I believe their should be a standard to the amount of BS that someone can have in their bio or just character in general. I don't believe their should be a standard for someones role-play, though without criticism how would one grow? If you were a child, sent to school and you were terrible at maths, and received no criticism, I can guarantee that you will never develop to be any good at maths.

 

[Fabula Caromed]

Let's look at this from a practical angle. If we ever (and we won't, but just for the sake of the point) made character/bio/whatever approval a thing, it would be the RPJs doing the approval. Our staff duty is to deal with IC matters - be they reports or conflicts or whatever. I, personally, would not have approved even a fraction of the characters running around this site. That means that the majority of people are being told "no, you can't do that."

This means less people. Whatever my opinion of them, those writers, those individuals, are no longer contributing to this board. It's very likely that they never would contribute, either. In denying them their first approval, most would leave. They're not interested in some place that won't accept them. So our population would be drastically reduced.

Say what you will about the quality of the writers left over, one thing that wouldn't be up for debate would be how elitist this system would make the members who got through feel, or how much power it would give the staffers to decide who even joins the board. Having fewer people experiencing what we've created doesn't make us greater. It makes us less.

We have never and will never approve characters, bios, or members. Everyone is accepted and allowed to write here. We are not "better" than anyone, no matter what their level of skill or the amount of nonsense they pile onto their bio page.

 

[Darth Immortus]

This means less people. Whatever my opinion of them, those writers, those individuals, are no longer contributing to this board. It's very likely that they never would contribute, either. In denying them their first approval, most would leave. They're not interested in some place that won't accept them. So our population would be drastically reduced.

Again, requiring bios to be approved doesn't necessarily have to become Soviet-style despotism. There are varying degrees of approval systems, ranging from incredibly basic and minimal effort to requiring full-scale novellas.

In my opinion, the ideal system would fall somewhere between those two polemics. It would be a basic approval system that ensures things like: the character does not possess abilities or items that are too powerful or non-canon, the character's bio conforms to the storyline of the board, and the character has the appropriate balance of strengths and weaknesses. Honestly, that's a relatively low bar. These standards are actually irrelevant to writing skill. If your bio can't conform to these pretty basic standards, then I say good riddance.

I question how many of you have actually roleplayed at sites with approval systems versus reflexively dismissed the idea as pure oppression. The fear that people would up and leave after getting their bio rejected is, in my experience, not substantiated in reality. It honestly depends on the person, but the average user experience would be submitting a bio and being told to make a few minor corrections. People aren't going to go "fuck it, I'm done with this place" and just abandon their bio over a minor issue or two, which are the vast majority of cases. Time preference dictates that they would take the five extra minutes and fix it, rather than abandon their work altogether.

 

[Asemir]

Tempted to say we should approve bios, and then make the supporters of that idea responsible. And if they fall behind schedule, we feather and tar them.

Ugh, approving bios. That's going to be an administrative nightmare.

 

[Darth Ferus]

This thread made me giggle out loud in a restaurant.

I'm, in my own opinion, a decent roleplayer. I'm not an elite, I'm not the one people always watch for what he does, but I get enjoyment from the people I do RP with.

I was on a site where you had to be -approved- to get on the site, then have your characters approved.

It had around 60 people. My best friend and the one who introduced me to RP was turned away, and he's a far better rper than I ever will be.

Nah to these approvals and elitism. People get better with practice. Can't get practice if you don't have a place to start.

 

[Captain Jordan]

I'm going to copy/paste what I said in the last thread that talked about this. Because, really, that one said all that needs to be said here, and so here's my pearls of wisdom from that time.

...approval systems alone don't make great characters or great writers. An approval system alone does not weed out the bad seeds. The approval system can bring just as much harm as it does good.

Above all, most of the time approval systems exist to preserve the status quo. They are not intended to welcome new players, nor to keep out bad ones, but merely to preserve the quality and characters that already exist.