A post sequence idea

[Breaker]

Recently I've wondered if the standard I-post-you-post format is always the most beneficial. Certainly it works well most of the time, and is ideal for battles. But for quests of a certain epic nature, I've noticed... difficulties, recently.

For example, in my thread with Shadar, we've both recently been putting up posts that are in excess of 1000 words. In spite of this, I sometimes feel like I'm cutting my posts short. But 2000+ words just seems like too much. There needs to be a break to ease the reader's eyes so they can go to the bathroom, or get a snack, or recede from the perilous edge of their seat.

It seems to me that in the case of long threads where there's lots of backstory, a complex plot, and compelling characters, it would make sense to take one, two, three, or even more post turns rather than one-one-one all the time. This would allow for uninterupted flow of character development and action sequences, not to mention those long ass interaction scenes that sometimes pop up. If you think about a really good novel that is written from the third person perspective of multiple characters, the narrative is rarely (if ever) evenly distributed. There are times when one character will be the protagonist, and times when they take a backseat to others.

What do you think? I'm asking for opinions on this from all our members, as well as ideas from fellow judges. Would this work for you? Why or why not?

[Letho]

I agree with the basic idea. Going back and forth can sometimes screw up the flow, especially if the two writers aren't in tune with each other. However, in some of my quests, I use an entirely different approach. I allow my partner to bunny my character to the extent that he/she is allowed to write dialogue for my character as well as make him do certain things. This way, the flow is uninterrupted and, especially in dialogue-heavy parts, it allows for a more natural interaction between characters.

This has drawbacks, of course. The most obvious one would be that someone can't portray your character as well as you do, no matter how hard they try and consult with you. But I found that I'd rather sacrifice these small details in favor of a post that looks more like a chapter in a novel than just a fragment of the story. Another problem would be post length. Such posts tend to be 3+ pages in Word long, but I don't really see the issue with this. Most books you read have chapters longer than that, significantly longer even, so I don't see why judges should punish something like that. A story is a story, regardless of whether it's told in 10 long posts or 30 short ones.

However, it's not that I'm against your way either, Josh. In fact, I have no problem when someone who's in a quest with me wants to post two or three times in a row. It all boils down to what you're most comfortable with, I think.

[Breaker]

Makes sense... I've read some of your threads where you do that and it always seems to work well. However, it wouldn't work for a lot of my threads. I like to spend the first quarter/half of the thread individually building character storylines which then get twisted together partway through, rather than having the characters meet up in the first couple posts. It's in cases such as this (two of my current threads are still at this stage) that I've begun to realize multiple post turns might be a better idea. Probably should have clarified that before, haha.

[Taskmienster]

Yeah, there's a difference between bunnying action that your character is doing, and having to play the narrative part and explain a lot of what's going on from yours and your character's perspective. I like the idea of multiple posts by one person. As long as the other writer has no problem with it...

As a judge, I'd almost rather prefer to get the information in 2-3 posts back to back rather than have a fraction of it, go onto the next person and get a fraction of there's, change my line of thought to go back to finish the fraction that I started.. and so forth.

I like the idea. I don't see an issue for the judging, if anything it'd probably help the flow of the thread more... despite the fact that looking at a 2000+ word post automatically makes me fear that I'm going to lose interest halffway through the post. :p Just looking at the size worries me, but if it's for the flow and you can convey what you need to without pushing your partner and his storyline and perspective away... it'd be for the better.

[Yari Rafanas]

What's stopping anybody from doing this now? Assuming there's communication between players, this method can easily be adopted into any thread.

[oblueknighto]

I usually don't type up the stuff they did, only making a reaction to it or thinking about what he said. Sometimes I even ignore some text that my character wouldn't give a care about. It's really hard to make a long post when you don't know to what extent you can post things, so usually it's the person who makes the post who posts the longest, unless you are in a battle.

I think there is no need of a post that long because you could always post again after your partner has posted.

[Poison]

i like the idea myself. Though it is very different from what I'm accustomed to. And it would be nicer to have several shorter posts with all the necessary info, than 1 gigantic one, or to have the train of thought messed up with the other person's post.

[Breaker]

What's stopping anybody from doing this now? Assuming there's communication between players, this method can easily be adopted into any thread.

Quite right. Just wanted to see what other people thought, and share the idea.

[Shadar]

I'm all for anything that makes the flow of a thread better. We can see about applying some of that good stuff to our thread when I get back and you get healthy again.

I assume, since no one has mentioned this yet, that post count is NOT incorporated into the exp formula for quests, and hence one uber-long post will be no different from three normal posts. Or, it is included, and I'm a genius for being the first one to notice. (Long shot, I know.)

[Kerrigan Muldoon]

I assume, since no one has mentioned this yet, that post count is NOT incorporated into the exp formula for quests, and hence one uber-long post will be no different from three normal posts. Or, it is included, and I'm a genius for being the first one to notice. (Long shot, I know.)
When I noticed that post count wasn't incorporated in judging I was rather shocked. To me it makes no sense. Why not use a formula like this one: (number of words)*(factor [range: 0.1-1.0] of saying much with less words [maybe pacing?]) = X. When you have the normal result from the judging, let result X influence that. So when X is above average you gain up to say 15% extra points, when X is below average you loose up to 15% of your points.

Eh, does that make sense?


Anyhow, back on-topic. Like Yari Rafanas said you can agree with your writing partners to any order in posting you want.
I do like the idea. For quite some threads and occations this would be quite useful, but for the most I guess the normal post order works perfectly.

[Letho]

I assume, since no one has mentioned this yet, that post count is NOT incorporated into the exp formula for quests, and hence one uber-long post will be no different from three normal posts. Or, it is included, and I'm a genius for being the first one to notice. (Long shot, I know.)Your assumption is incorrect; the post count IS in fact incorporated in the EXP formula for quests. However, it is NOT incorporated in the formula for battles, mostly because battles generally rely on the level difference between participating characters and the score they achieve in the battle. But even then the post number/length is not ignored. You have to keep in mind that the judging staff has the power to use personal discretion in all judgments. This means that, when they deem it necessary, they can award additional EXP/GP on top of what the formula gives (for example, when the posts are longer than usual in a thread). Likewise, they can subtract from it.

[Shadar]

0_0 So, I really am a genius for noticing? Woot!

But, with judge's discretion, it is indeed a non-issue. So, general rule, do whatever you need to do to make it a better read.

[oblueknighto]

Then why am I not spamming the entire forum hoping that the staff does not notice the fact that I am spamming? No, I'm joking, I would never spam like that. This does bring up a question I would like to ask.

What about the evil members on the forum (impossible I know) who DO spam and make a lot of posts, how do you prevent them from getting more exp/gold compared to other people?

I'm actually really suspicious of the system of this forum now, it's kind of shifty not knowing how I can get exp now right?

[Letho]

What about the evil members on the forum (impossible I know) who DO spam and make a lot of posts, how do you prevent them from getting more exp/gold compared to other people?

I'm actually really suspicious of the system of this forum now, it's kind of shifty not knowing how I can get exp now right?If by spam you mean posting a bunch of short, one-liner, In Character posts and racking up a hundred of them or so in a thread before sending it for judgment, I can assure you that no advantage would be gained. Such a thread would score horribly low during the judgment, and because the score is the most important factor in the formula (followed by the character level and the number of posts), the EXP gained would be low as well. And on top of that, if somebody tries to pull that trick in such a manner, I'm pretty certain that judges would notice and dock EXP points accordingly if they suspect somebody is trying to play the system.

In short, the best way to boost your EXP is to improve your score.

[oblueknighto]

I mean, wouldn't somebody be able to post a few VERY short posts (one paragraph) around the RP somewhere then continue on with their own pace with the longer posts (few paragraphs). Doesn't this theoretically mean that somebody could just split their style to suit the way the forum gives exp/gold?

I mean, this could tell me that making short posts that are of high quality is a lot better than writing long posts of high quality. It just tells me the way to get around the system and leech off it.

I would never actually do that because I don't know how to make quality posts so I just make the posts long and full of content, no matter if it is not of the best quality. I still try. Well at least I think I do.

[Letho]

I mean, wouldn't somebody be able to post a few VERY short posts (one paragraph) around the RP somewhere then continue on with their own pace with the longer posts (few paragraphs). Doesn't this theoretically mean that somebody could just split their style to suit the way the forum gives exp/gold?

I mean, this could tell me that making short posts that are of high quality is a lot better than writing long posts of high quality. It just tells me the way to get around the system and leech off it.

I would never actually do that because I don't know how to make quality posts so I just make the posts long and full of content, no matter if it is not of the best quality. I still try. Well at least I think I do.In theory yes, more short posts would give you more EXP then fewer longer posts because post count in used in the formula and not word count. However, this is where judges' discretion comes into play. See, the formula gives the same amount of EXP for a, let's say, 20-post quest made of short posts and a 20-post quest made of long posts. But the number that the formula gives is seldom the exact sum that is granted in the end. If the judge sees that more effort was put into posts (like it's usually the case with longer posts), they can (and do) adjust the final amount. So in the end, the 20-post quest made of longer posts would generally get more EXP, unless the length is a result of endless, meaningless prattling that doesn't enrich the story in any way.

It's not a perfect system, we know that. But it's been working pretty well so far and it's seldom a good thing to fix something that's not broken. After all, we're not here because of the EXP/GP, right?

[Terror's Thrall]

After all, we're not here because of the EXP/GP, right?

Hmmmm... I mean, no of course not >.>

[oblueknighto]

Yea, of course I'm not here just because there is such a system employed here, right?