Why I hate the term “literate roleplayer”.

[Yiyel]

If I see "Literate only" on a RP, I investigate. If the guy enforces HUGE posts with fancy words, I'm out, I don't need no snob RP. But if the only cases of enforcement was for good grammar and spelling, I'm in. Depends on how strictly it's enforced.

That's why I like Iwaku's new tags - they allow seeing this at first glance.

 

[The Mood is Write]

When you see phrases like "literate roleplayers only" how does it make YOU feel? Does it make you feel confident that the quality of posts on the site will be high? Or does it make you feel insecure and wary about your own posting skill?

When I see that, I think back to my days on Gaia, when it seemed everyone knew the meaning but me. I felt excluded and the only thing I heard about how to become 'literate' is that I had to type huge posts with huge paragraphs and have pretty pictures and bbcode for each post.

I grabbed a term called 'semi-lit' and used it because I didn't meet those requirements. I just wanted to write as much as I could write at a time and not do fancy formatting, and just do my best, but when I used the term 'semi-literate' people ignored me for not being good enough.

By the terms as I know them now, I'm probably still semilit because I don't constantly throw huge replies, and I only decorate my first post, and then it's just a picture and a link to a profile for future reference. I don't have the energy to do 'literate' posts.

What are some ways YOU would better explain to potential players what you're seeking for your roleplays?

Well, before Iwaku, I just wrote out each of my preferences: writing at a high school level or better, readable punctuation and capitalization, careful use of tense and person (past and third, respectively), and the list went on. Thanks to Iwaku's skill tiers, I just started linking people and describing where I sat, and then listing a few of my quirks ('would' abuse, mainly).

Beyond that, I also ASK them outright what they expect from me and the roleplay. This one's saved a lot of time and heartache from having yet another abandoned RP within a week.

 

[Kagayours]

This thread is literally four years old. We could send this thread off to kindergarten this fall.

 

[The Mood is Write]

This thread is literally four years old. We could send this thread off to kindergarten this fall.

... shhhh, you saw nothing.

 

[Brovo]

Oh, we're necroing this thread again? Don't mind me then. Just going to repeat myself.

Vague description insufficient. Unless it gets further extrapolated within thread, which would imply redundancy. If anything, it displays the person wielding language incorrectly and presuming others to understand their intentions through some kind of profound, universal standard/clairvoyance.

Which would imply that the person has no clue what they're asking for, I find this is usually the case. Not necessarily malicious as they simply do not know better.

 

[Diana]

Four years old and still relevant. 8D

 

[Delusional IIV Idol]

When you see phrases like "literate roleplayers only" how does it make YOU feel?

I feel like if I don't act my age or I'm not literate enough people will just drop out of the roleplay and then others will notice. I was currently on a site where the terms literate, advance literate and even semi literate were the only thing you were to hear in the roleplay forum. So if i would walk in and say I do "3 paragraphs per post" i would automatically be knocked back as a semi literate and that my grammar was terrible, so that's the reason I don't post enough. I don't understand and coming onto this site where the standards are totally different, I feel like people notice me more foor my post size then what I can do. I mirror posts it's not something special.

Does it make you feel confident that the quality of posts on the site will be high?

No I feel like people are just bullshiting with how much they post. Some people say "I post more then 4 paragraph so I want someone who is under the same literate category and if not, fuck off" and then when you do find someone they barely post a paragraph and your like WTF. I don't expect people to post 2 paragraphs all the time, or they jumble sentences together because they think that makes a person literate.

And when a roleplayer is not "literate" enough for you? Do you turn them away? Do you say, "I'm sorry but you're too stupid to play with me."?

This is a huge are you fucking kidding me kind of thing for me, So what if I don't post three paragraphs every post. I want my posts to look nice, and if that means I don't jumble my sentences together every single time, then so be it. I'll post as much as i needs to

• get the plot moving along
• so my partner understands
• describing my character (if we are not using pictures)

but other then that I won't get over the top.

Or does it make you feel insecure and wary about your own posting skill?

I think I already mentioned this, but I mirror posts so if I don't know if being "literate" counts as what I do. I've been through a situation where I had mirrored someone who posted 4 paragraphs and they said you're not literate enough and left. WHAT THE FUCK

What are some ways YOU would better explain to potential players what you're seeking for your roleplays?

I would explain as clear as calm as possible that I want someone who can post as much a paragraph to three paragraphs with proper grammar that way people won't have to know which literacy I mean

oh dear I didn't realize I posted that much thank you so much for the questions @Diana ~senpai

 

[Delusional IIV Idol]

Gaia

oh look another user, who was on that site, didn't the literate terms bug you?

 

[The Mood is Write]

oh look another user, who was on that site, didn't the literate terms bug you?

It did, but I thought that 'literate' terms were the best scale people could think of at the time.

 

[Delusional IIV Idol]

It did, but I thought that 'literate' terms were the best scale people could think of at the time.

True.