From One on Ones To Tons and Tons |AKA, How Do I Group RP|

[DefinitelyNotGuns]

Hey all, Guns here.

So recently I have been coming back to the roleplay scene and there have been quite a few group postings that have caught my eye. I have never ever done a group roleplay. Alright, that's a lie, I maybe did them when I was on Neopets, you know, when roleplaying was a big thing on there 15 years ago.

Anyways, I have been looking at the group roleplays. Now when I am doing a one on one, there are less flashy posts. So far I haven't found many flashy texts, colored speech, and overall highly modified posts in the threads for one on ones that I have started with writing partners. However I go into some of the group roleplays and I am highly intimidated.

There are lots of pictures, colors of texts, and I find people posting links to specific locations for pictures, songs, etc. I guess it's something I am not used to (and keep in mind, I am not bashing it, just I am an outsider who wants to participate). It's not about a lack of time for writing, because I have the time for writing and want to put in the effort for that, just when I look at them... again... They make me want to run away?

Anyone have any tips for getting into group roleplays or how to ease yourself into them? Do you have to be all super high class flashy with your posts? I feel like it's such a silly question.

 

[Zeph]

Regarding flashy posts, in my opinion, not really. To me, it helps though, since you put more effort into the roleplay/post. (not saying you don't already put effort into what you do)

 

[Moogle-Girl]

Some people do big flashy posts and other people don't! It's okay if you don't want to. The most common bit of flashiness you might see is colored dialogue, where every character has their own text color and all their speech is written in that color. It helps visually distinguish everyone's posts, makes it easier to keep all the characters straight (especially early on in the RP), and lets you quickly pick out what your character will likely be replying to. Plus it just looks pretty!

 

[Greenie]

I'll admit, when I first came to Iwaku, I was terribly intimidated. I came from a site where you can't even embed pictures, or even justify the text, among other teeny things. Seeing so much coding taking place scared me, and it was what kept me from even joining many roleplays.

I finally decided, however, to just do things my own way, and it's worked so far. My character sheets look very plain Jane compared to many, but they're legible, proofread, and formatted right.

Do what you feel comfortable with, I say. Roleplaying should be something you do for fun, not something that stresses you out and intimidates you.