Christoph
03-07-12, 03:02 PM
We are excited to unveil a revised rubric designed to make things clearer and more balanced and comprehensive. The first two weeks or so will be essentially a transitional and testing period as our judges get a handle on it, after which will, barring any unforeseen complications, officially update the old rubric. Important note -- Any threads submitted before this announcement will by default be judged using the old rubric. If you have already submitted and wish to have your thread judged using the revised rubric, you may message an admin to request it. If anyone has any other questions or comments, please message Atzar or me. With all that out of the way, here is the revised rubric:
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The Rubric
The Rubric consists of a set of carefully selected and defined categories and is designed to gauge a thread’s overall level of quality. These categories are split into three groups: “Story”, which contains the Pacing, Setting, and Storytelling categories, “Character”, which contains the Persona, Action, and Communication categories, and “Prose”, which contains Technique, Mechanics, and Clarity. There is also a ten-point “Wildcard” slot.
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Plot: In general, a good score in the Plot categories will require three things. First, the story will need to be well placed in time and location. Second, it will need to proceed with sufficient development to interest the reader without boring him or her at the same time. Finally, it should strive to be original, creative, and authentic.
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Storytelling (10 Points)
The Storytelling score is influenced by exactly that, the telling of the story. Does the writer situate the thread within a broader sheath of the characters’ lives and personalities so that it fits nicely in place, or does the thread seem to be a random spot of light in a sea of vagueness? Does the writer weave a creative and compelling tale with twists and turns, or a predictable linear plot? A good Storytelling score does not require a massive, epic storyline or a convoluted history or introduction. Instead, success here comes from looking at the big picture and considering the questions of “Why is the story taking place?”, “How does the story unfold?”, and “Why is it important?”
A note: A reader shouldn’t need to read a character's profile to understand the story, or to get the basic information required to understand the things going on. The same applies to the Characterization category further down.
Here is the point breakdown:
9-10: Masterful – Your ability to conceive and deliver a compelling story was masterful. Everything that occurred fit into a web of storytelling genius.
7-8: Solid – You clearly know how to tell a story. Though you may have lacked the skillful yarn to earn a nine or ten, you managed to give the battle real significance.
5-6: Average – Clear effort was made to tell a good story. It wasn’t great, nor was it bad.
3-4: Below Average – Some traces of an actual story were present, but little was explained coherently. The thread lacked any meaning or place in a larger storyline.
1-2: Poor – You probably failed explain why your character's presence or why it was important. Your writing gave no meaning to the events that transpired or any wider sense of scope regarding your character’s past existence or potential future. Events seemed to transpire at random and probably made little or no sense.
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Setting (10 Points)
Every story has a setting, and the world of Althanas offers many unique realms to explore. This category encompasses all aspects of setting, both in how faithfully and compellingly the writer portrays the chosen Region and how effectively they describe and interact with local environments therein. To score high in Setting, a writer will need to go beyond merely acting in front of a painted backdrop. Setting is not just to look at; it exists to be experienced by the characters, and through them, the readers. For instance, of you describe a chair, is it merely mentioned or does your character sit in it, or pick it up to smash in an enemy’s face? Is it hot or cold, sunny or rainy, and are the effects of it upon the character described? In short, a good setting not only describes the place; it also makes use of features and objects within that place. Remember, setting is not a canvas but a world. Here is the point breakdown:
9-10: Masterful – The setting never vanished and its effects were vividly described where appropriate. Not only did your character use elements of the setting, the setting sometimes “used” the character. The environment had a clear, but appropriate impact on the story. In short, the reader felt completely immersed in the environment, as if actually there.
7 - 8: Solid
5 - 6: Average - Usually, a score of five or six comes from players who do a decent job of describing the setting, but fall short in terms of really using and immersing the reader in it. Perhaps you did a little of both, but didn’t follow through with the level of quality needed to score higher. Usually, though, it means you’re heading in the right direction.
3 – 4: Below Average
1-2: Poor - Either it seemed like your characters acted in a void, or you described the setting but completely, unrealistically ignored its logical effects on your characters. Perhaps you wrote as though you were in an entirely different place, such as a desert when you set your story in a tropical jungle region or a city. Needless to say, something went terribly wrong, and other categories (such as Action and/or Clarity) will likely suffer as well.
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Pacing (10 Points)
In simple terms, Pacing gauges thread’s flow and overall way in which the story unfolds. Not to be confused with Storytelling, Pacing focuses less on the intricacy of the plot and more on appropriate narrative emphasis and how it lines up with the author’s apparent intent. Not all scenes (or stories on the whole) need to move at the same speed. For instance, an intense, visceral combat between two enemies would rely on choppy, quick pacing compared to a more gentle and contemplative surreal romance. Think of Pacing as tension, building in some scenes and releasing in others. Good pacing often keeps a reader guessing, glued to his chair, and transitions smoothly and effectively from one part of the story to the next. In other words, the thread’s story must keep a reader reading, but must also serve the intent of the story. Here's the breakdown:
9-10: Masterful – Your posts fit the story’s pacing like a glove, and flawlessly matched each scene’s mood. The reader was left at the edge of his/her chair the entire time as you wove your story with twists and turns. Whether flowing like sweet music or a brutal raging river, your posts moved the story along wonderfully every time.
7-8: Solid
5-6: Average – Once again, we can define this as the “lack of bad”. In this case, an average score typically comes from writing posts that don’t fall into the typical traps of PBP writing that cause the story stall out, stagnate, or repeat itself. However, it likely failed to truly keep the reader engaged, usually either by dragging on a bit too much in bad places, rushing by crucial scenes too quickly, or causing an ending that was too abrupt.
3-4: Below Average
1-2: Poor – The only way to score this terribly in pacing is to take one of two extremes (or some twisted combination of both that defies the laws of nature). Either you did everything in your power to bring the story to an abrupt end and subvert any sort of plot development, or your posts were so painfully long-winded and off-topic that the reader forgot what the point of the thread. Or perhaps your posts constantly added nothing to the story, and/or gave your partners very, very little to work with.
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CHARACTER: Keep one important factor in mind in gauging the Character scores. Do the thoughts, words, and actions of your character exhibit who they really are realistically and compellingly? Making a character think, speak, and act in a way contrary to their nature without any explanation and justification will hurt your scores in the following categories. Above all, a character should be believable, or at least intentionally and compellingly unbelievable. Does it make sense for an illiterate barbarian to talk his way out of a mess? Not usually. Does it make sense for a dull-witted person to come up with a brilliant plan for ambushing the enemy? No. Does it make sense for a first-time lover to comprehend the depth of his emotions? Probably not. These aren’t categories for being clever or smart. Sometimes, a stupid or illogical response from a character to a situation can serve a better purpose than an intelligent one.
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Communication (10)
Communication and dialogue must be sensible and believable between characters. A warrior in the midst of a battle should not USUALLY break off the fight for a long-winded speech. A poorly educated man would not typically be able to converse with an extensive vocabulary. A quiet, withdrawn person might not speak much at all. A dullard might not do much speaking OR thinking. On the other hand, a particularly flamboyant, arrogant, or witty character might indeed decide to pull away in order to deliver a speech he or she thought of on the fly. A poorly educated human might, in a moment of crisis, say a few words that, though short and unadorned, are elegant in their simplicity. A quiet person might do the same thing, or a dullard might assert their dignity with a few protesting, angry, halting words. The question with communication is not "How much talking was there?” Nor is it “How many cool lines were delivered?” Instead, the question is this: does the communication properly represent the character?
As a precision, Communication is not merely the explicit conveying of information between characters through words: it includes all methods, means, and contents of communication used by the characters, and how relevant these methods are to them. For example, a mute character might communicate his intentions through sign language, or by pointing objects relevant to the understanding of his message. Internal monologues and general introspection are also included in Communication, but can bleed over into Persona as well. The breakdown:
9-10: Masterful – Your characters’ speech and communication was used as an astounding engine for character insight and development, and perhaps even played an important part in the story. The communication felt truly real and served a purpose. The reader could really hear the character’s voice, so to speak.
7-8: Solid
5-6: Average – Either nothing particularly out of the ordinary for better or worse, or some great moments mixed with some not-so great moments. Perhaps it served a solid purpose in the story and made sense, but lacked any kind of originality. Maybe did not serve a strong purpose.
3-4: Below Average
1-2: Poor – Nonsensical, pointlessly inconsistent, completely clashing with the character speaking, blatantly stolen from other sources, and/or just plain annoying or mind-numbingly boring to read.
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Action (10 Points)
Action can be explained in virtually the same way as communication; it’s not about “cool” actions, but ones that realistically fit the character’s personality and abilities. That was important, and deserves rephrasing: good actions must make sense for the character’s personality and contain enough realism for a reader to believe.
Consider The Lord of the Rings. The Witch-King of Angmar was slain because he had ignored Merry, allowing the hobbit to creep up from behind and stab him in the heel at an opportune moment. This scenario fits both of these characters -- the Witch-King, in his immense power and arrogance, would not have paid the lowly halfling any notice. Though Merry cannot fight skillfully with a sword, do amazing back flips, or cast magic spells like other characters, he can crawl quietly and wait for a chance to strike. His action made sense for both his personality (as did the Witch-King's actions, for that matter) and limitations and the situation at hand.
Keep in mind that action is not limited to fighting! For example, a character might have a favorite book. A player could begin a thread with her reading it for a third time. Characters secretly in love might unconsciously sit closer to one another and shoot each other shy glances. Strong Action makes the characters feel alive, rather than a couple people standing rigidly in a room talking at each other until it comes time to swing a sword or cast a spell.
In battle and combat, strategy is an important part of the Action score. However, it is far more important that the strategies fit the character. IE: strategically savvy ‘chess master’ type might brew an ingenious plot, while remaining unable or unwilling to adapt to a changing and chaotic scenario, and a brash or lazy character might decide to forgo planning and just think up tactics on the fly. Alternatively, an unintelligent character might not plan at all and could merely be prone to doing whatever makes the most noise. Just like communication, action is not defined by how cool a maneuver is or how intelligently the character planned and executed it. Rather, action is scored based on whether or not a character does what fits with his/her personality and abilities and the situation. The point breakdown follows:
9-10: Masterful – The actions in your posts not only portrayed your character, it helped define your character’s personality. Your character reacted to different situations in a realistic way and displayed their limitations fairly and realistically. Your use of action kept the reader engaged and helped move the plot. Etc.
7-8: Solid
5-6: Average -- For the most part, you used character actions to give scenes more life, but not enough to score higher. You kept a sense of realism and worked within your character's abilities, but perhaps stretched believability at times.
3-4: Below Average
1-2: Poor– The actions you described made no sense and chronically annoyed the reader. Powergaming more than likely ran rampant to the clear and severe detriment of the thread. Perhaps you went far beyond the limitations of your character or generally ignored realism.
Persona (10 Points)
Persona refers to how well you depict your character’s emotions, thoughts, and ‘inner selves’ in relation to their personality. Emotions can be one of the trickiest things to write about -- either one doesn't portray them enough or one does a bit too much. Characters, save certain notable exceptions, do have emotions. They feel pain, they feel love, hate, anger, confusion. A few pointers can help with this category. First, the characters should feel emotion, but not always know what to do with it. Most people feel emotion, but they often struggle with knowing the precise emotion they are having or determining how to act on the emotion. Whether a player portrays this conflict or not should determine the score. Second, is the emotion believable? Absent a specific reason, emotion should not be overblown.
Keep this in mind, however: these classic guidelines can be suspended if the emotion depicted is well done in relation to personality. For instance, a character might be a warrior, used to pain -- used to not reacting with tears or cries if a dagger pierces them. Or they might have tried to harden their heart to love, or ignore feelings of hate because they think hate is a bad thing to feel. Or a character might be the clingy type, ignoring subtle emotions in favor of seeking that clear feeling of "I love her so much" that may characterize an adolescent boy. Or the character might merely be expressing emotions of an overblown nature as a way to mask their underlying uncertainty and fear. Perhaps the character is an entirely alien being with inhuman emotions and ways of thinking, or something artificial with no feelings at all. Persona is one of the hardest areas to judge; however, in a sense, it is like what Supreme Court Justice Potter Stewart said about obscenity: "I shall not attempt to define the kinds of material I understand to be pornography, but I know it when I see it."
9-10: Masterful– Your portrayal of your character’s emotions was exceptionally realistic and absolutely fit with your character’s personality. Every piece of introspection let the reader could delve deeper into your character’s psyche. Whether you meant for your character’s mindset to be humanely relatable or chaotically confusing does not matter, because you successfully conveyed your intent. You did not merely strike a chord, but strummed a most poignant (or frighteningly cold or dissonant, etc.) song in the reader’s heart. This does not mean dumping your character’s personality onto the reader as quickly as possible, because properly paced characterization often creates a stronger overall effect.
7-8: Solid
5-6: Average – While you mostly managed to accurately convey the emotions of your character (or lack thereof), some passages felt excessive, forced, lacking, or generally hard to believe. Perhaps some parts fell flat, or were written too awkwardly for the reader to try and understand better. Maybe you tried to give away too much too soon, and it felt forced.
3-4: Below Average
1-2: Poor – The way you demonstrate your character’s emotions or lack of emotions was painfully clichéd on one side, utterly absent on the other, and had about as much depth as the plastic, dollar-store fish tank you bought for your goldfish cracker.
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Prose : To use a metaphor, the prose is the bones, sinew, and skin of a thread’s “body.” Mechanics specifically refers to the basic building blocks of language – the bones. Technique ties things together, using different methods of stylistic devices to make the mechanics transcend the mere words on the page – sinew. And clarity is the public face of it all, what people see…the part of a body that people immediately interact with and try to understand – the skin.
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Mechanics (10 Points)
This seems obvious at first glance. Did you properly place commas? Are your sentences actual sentences, and not fragments? Do you spell words properly? In other words: do you follow the basic rules of English? This also covers finer areas of linguistics, such as a sentence’s accented rhythm (look it up), passive language, weak verbs, and so forth. These rules can be broken without detriment, provided they are broken intentionally to serve a specific stylist purpose. And, as always, the judge will determine whether a broken mechanic actually serves the purpose of enhancing the style. Here's the breakdown:
9-10: Masterful – Not only were your posts free of typos and bad sentences, but your writing took more subtle aspects of the English language into account, such as building flowing sentences based on the way certain words are accented in their pronunciation, using strong verbs, and avoiding passive language. You also likely displayed an extensive, but prudently used vocabulary. It’s not about using a thesaurus to find the biggest words; to reach this pinnacle of English mastery; you must use the most fitting words for a given situation, both in its definition and pronunciation. In short, you went beyond flawless. (Note that should you meet all the other criteria, one or two typos won’t necessarily preclude you from scoring ten points here.)
7-8: Above Average – Best described as "a lack of bad", you will land in this range if your writing is largely free of errors. Your prose has a good cadence to it, but probably doesn't flow quite well enough to warrant a nine or ten.
5-6: Average – You might have a few typos or bad sentences here and there, usually things that a good proofreading could have picked up. Alternatively, you might have avoided errors for the most part, but overused weak verbs and passive voice.
3-4: Below Average – You probably didn’t put enough effort into revising if you score within this range. You made quite a few typos or grammatical errors, most of which could have been fixed with a spellchecker. Your overall sentence structure probably held a bit to be desired.
1-2: Poor – Sweet Baby Jesus, use Microsoft Word or an online spellchecker. There is no excuse for this level of poor grammar and spelling. Your sentence structure was sloppy and the whole thing was likely a chore to read. Fear not, though. Mechanics is the easiest thing to learn, and if you ever do score this low, we will be happy to help you out.
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Clarity (10 Points) ~ Basically, this refers to whether or not your posts make any sense. Can the reader comprehend what is going on? Do sentences clearly describe events and logically follow one another?
Clarity, in the purest sense, asks this: do you say what you need to say understandably and clearly? Naturally, just about every other category can affect Clarity in some way or another, such as poor mechanics making writing illegible or actions that were difficult to follow. However, don’t fall under the impression that all confusion will hurt your score here, so long as it is used intentionally as a literary or plot device, such as a dose of mystery or surrealist elements.
9-10: Masterful – Not only were all of the meanings and messages in your writing conveyed to the reader successfully, but there was nothing missing in the prior information the reader needed to understand your story. When you refer to characters and NPCs that the reader should not have any knowledge of, you take the time to describe them, to explain a bit of their past (if necessary) and their incidence in the story you are writing. The same goes for original races, creatures, weapons and the like. Basically, you have not once left the reader in the dark unless it had been your full intention to do so.
7-8: Solid
5-6: Average – While your writing was generally understandable, the reader sometimes felt inconsistencies and missing spots in the provided information. The wording of the sentences perhaps stumped the reader sometimes, forcing him/her to reread a number of times to figure out exactly what you were trying to say.
3-4: Below Average
1-2: Poor – Shoehorns administer copious degrees of helicopter intercourse. Narm! NARM! NUMAAAARRRRM!
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Technique (10 Points)
This refers to special literary devices, such as foreshadowing, metaphors, allusion, symbolism, or other "advanced" forms of writing. This tends to be judged in a few ways at once, often interacting with the other categories. For example, devices such as foreshadowing can be used to build tension to help Pacing, or metaphors and personification can help to flesh out the setting. However, Technique also be applies to how well a special device was used. For example, was the foreshadowing effective in creating tension? Also, oftentimes a great writing style contains many subtle layers rather than shoving it in the reader's face. Given the nature of this category, it tends to be subjective, as one person could dislike a style that another loves. Judges, however, are asked to do their best to remain objective and gauge whether or not the literary objectives of the writing were met, regardless of their personal preferences.
9-10: Masterful – Contrary to common belief, it doesn’t take Homer’s eloquence, vocabulary or general Greekiness to have mastery over your personal writing style. In fact, sometimes, having the above is frowned upon by your contemporary peers. Your writing is rich with well-placed rhetorical devices -without- containing an overabundance of them (which tends to cheapen their effect). The flow of your writing is impeccable, and not a moment does the reader feel bogged down or jarred by your writing; instead, they are drawn deeper into it, and urged on to read until the climactic end. Simply put, your writing has an undeniable flair that distinguishes you from the masses, but it never feels like you’re just showing off.
7-8: Solid
5-6: Average – You are comfortable with your style, and know well enough to give it a more oomph where you deem it necessary. However, some of your literary devices either do not come across the way you intended to or completely backfire. Some passages of your writing could do better with more, while others seem a bit excessive. The flow of your writing, though clear and usually fluid, can at times feel tedious.
3-4: Below Average
1-2: Poor – You think ‘simile’ is smile misspelled. You believe a ‘metaphor’ has something to do with robotics. The word ‘analogy’ makes you giggle. If you did use any advanced techniques at all, they were likely poorly executed, to the detriment of the writing.
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Wildcard (10 Points)
This takes into account any facet of writing that does not fall under the description of another category. It’s the category that allows the judges to be a little subjective and award aspects of your writing that they liked that fell outside of the regular rubric. Most notably, this is where a judge can score creativity, as well as how the entire story came together as a sum of all the other categories and how well it meshed with and contributed to Althanas canon.
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The Rubric
The Rubric consists of a set of carefully selected and defined categories and is designed to gauge a thread’s overall level of quality. These categories are split into three groups: “Story”, which contains the Pacing, Setting, and Storytelling categories, “Character”, which contains the Persona, Action, and Communication categories, and “Prose”, which contains Technique, Mechanics, and Clarity. There is also a ten-point “Wildcard” slot.
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Plot: In general, a good score in the Plot categories will require three things. First, the story will need to be well placed in time and location. Second, it will need to proceed with sufficient development to interest the reader without boring him or her at the same time. Finally, it should strive to be original, creative, and authentic.
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Storytelling (10 Points)
The Storytelling score is influenced by exactly that, the telling of the story. Does the writer situate the thread within a broader sheath of the characters’ lives and personalities so that it fits nicely in place, or does the thread seem to be a random spot of light in a sea of vagueness? Does the writer weave a creative and compelling tale with twists and turns, or a predictable linear plot? A good Storytelling score does not require a massive, epic storyline or a convoluted history or introduction. Instead, success here comes from looking at the big picture and considering the questions of “Why is the story taking place?”, “How does the story unfold?”, and “Why is it important?”
A note: A reader shouldn’t need to read a character's profile to understand the story, or to get the basic information required to understand the things going on. The same applies to the Characterization category further down.
Here is the point breakdown:
9-10: Masterful – Your ability to conceive and deliver a compelling story was masterful. Everything that occurred fit into a web of storytelling genius.
7-8: Solid – You clearly know how to tell a story. Though you may have lacked the skillful yarn to earn a nine or ten, you managed to give the battle real significance.
5-6: Average – Clear effort was made to tell a good story. It wasn’t great, nor was it bad.
3-4: Below Average – Some traces of an actual story were present, but little was explained coherently. The thread lacked any meaning or place in a larger storyline.
1-2: Poor – You probably failed explain why your character's presence or why it was important. Your writing gave no meaning to the events that transpired or any wider sense of scope regarding your character’s past existence or potential future. Events seemed to transpire at random and probably made little or no sense.
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Setting (10 Points)
Every story has a setting, and the world of Althanas offers many unique realms to explore. This category encompasses all aspects of setting, both in how faithfully and compellingly the writer portrays the chosen Region and how effectively they describe and interact with local environments therein. To score high in Setting, a writer will need to go beyond merely acting in front of a painted backdrop. Setting is not just to look at; it exists to be experienced by the characters, and through them, the readers. For instance, of you describe a chair, is it merely mentioned or does your character sit in it, or pick it up to smash in an enemy’s face? Is it hot or cold, sunny or rainy, and are the effects of it upon the character described? In short, a good setting not only describes the place; it also makes use of features and objects within that place. Remember, setting is not a canvas but a world. Here is the point breakdown:
9-10: Masterful – The setting never vanished and its effects were vividly described where appropriate. Not only did your character use elements of the setting, the setting sometimes “used” the character. The environment had a clear, but appropriate impact on the story. In short, the reader felt completely immersed in the environment, as if actually there.
7 - 8: Solid
5 - 6: Average - Usually, a score of five or six comes from players who do a decent job of describing the setting, but fall short in terms of really using and immersing the reader in it. Perhaps you did a little of both, but didn’t follow through with the level of quality needed to score higher. Usually, though, it means you’re heading in the right direction.
3 – 4: Below Average
1-2: Poor - Either it seemed like your characters acted in a void, or you described the setting but completely, unrealistically ignored its logical effects on your characters. Perhaps you wrote as though you were in an entirely different place, such as a desert when you set your story in a tropical jungle region or a city. Needless to say, something went terribly wrong, and other categories (such as Action and/or Clarity) will likely suffer as well.
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Pacing (10 Points)
In simple terms, Pacing gauges thread’s flow and overall way in which the story unfolds. Not to be confused with Storytelling, Pacing focuses less on the intricacy of the plot and more on appropriate narrative emphasis and how it lines up with the author’s apparent intent. Not all scenes (or stories on the whole) need to move at the same speed. For instance, an intense, visceral combat between two enemies would rely on choppy, quick pacing compared to a more gentle and contemplative surreal romance. Think of Pacing as tension, building in some scenes and releasing in others. Good pacing often keeps a reader guessing, glued to his chair, and transitions smoothly and effectively from one part of the story to the next. In other words, the thread’s story must keep a reader reading, but must also serve the intent of the story. Here's the breakdown:
9-10: Masterful – Your posts fit the story’s pacing like a glove, and flawlessly matched each scene’s mood. The reader was left at the edge of his/her chair the entire time as you wove your story with twists and turns. Whether flowing like sweet music or a brutal raging river, your posts moved the story along wonderfully every time.
7-8: Solid
5-6: Average – Once again, we can define this as the “lack of bad”. In this case, an average score typically comes from writing posts that don’t fall into the typical traps of PBP writing that cause the story stall out, stagnate, or repeat itself. However, it likely failed to truly keep the reader engaged, usually either by dragging on a bit too much in bad places, rushing by crucial scenes too quickly, or causing an ending that was too abrupt.
3-4: Below Average
1-2: Poor – The only way to score this terribly in pacing is to take one of two extremes (or some twisted combination of both that defies the laws of nature). Either you did everything in your power to bring the story to an abrupt end and subvert any sort of plot development, or your posts were so painfully long-winded and off-topic that the reader forgot what the point of the thread. Or perhaps your posts constantly added nothing to the story, and/or gave your partners very, very little to work with.
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CHARACTER: Keep one important factor in mind in gauging the Character scores. Do the thoughts, words, and actions of your character exhibit who they really are realistically and compellingly? Making a character think, speak, and act in a way contrary to their nature without any explanation and justification will hurt your scores in the following categories. Above all, a character should be believable, or at least intentionally and compellingly unbelievable. Does it make sense for an illiterate barbarian to talk his way out of a mess? Not usually. Does it make sense for a dull-witted person to come up with a brilliant plan for ambushing the enemy? No. Does it make sense for a first-time lover to comprehend the depth of his emotions? Probably not. These aren’t categories for being clever or smart. Sometimes, a stupid or illogical response from a character to a situation can serve a better purpose than an intelligent one.
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Communication (10)
Communication and dialogue must be sensible and believable between characters. A warrior in the midst of a battle should not USUALLY break off the fight for a long-winded speech. A poorly educated man would not typically be able to converse with an extensive vocabulary. A quiet, withdrawn person might not speak much at all. A dullard might not do much speaking OR thinking. On the other hand, a particularly flamboyant, arrogant, or witty character might indeed decide to pull away in order to deliver a speech he or she thought of on the fly. A poorly educated human might, in a moment of crisis, say a few words that, though short and unadorned, are elegant in their simplicity. A quiet person might do the same thing, or a dullard might assert their dignity with a few protesting, angry, halting words. The question with communication is not "How much talking was there?” Nor is it “How many cool lines were delivered?” Instead, the question is this: does the communication properly represent the character?
As a precision, Communication is not merely the explicit conveying of information between characters through words: it includes all methods, means, and contents of communication used by the characters, and how relevant these methods are to them. For example, a mute character might communicate his intentions through sign language, or by pointing objects relevant to the understanding of his message. Internal monologues and general introspection are also included in Communication, but can bleed over into Persona as well. The breakdown:
9-10: Masterful – Your characters’ speech and communication was used as an astounding engine for character insight and development, and perhaps even played an important part in the story. The communication felt truly real and served a purpose. The reader could really hear the character’s voice, so to speak.
7-8: Solid
5-6: Average – Either nothing particularly out of the ordinary for better or worse, or some great moments mixed with some not-so great moments. Perhaps it served a solid purpose in the story and made sense, but lacked any kind of originality. Maybe did not serve a strong purpose.
3-4: Below Average
1-2: Poor – Nonsensical, pointlessly inconsistent, completely clashing with the character speaking, blatantly stolen from other sources, and/or just plain annoying or mind-numbingly boring to read.
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Action (10 Points)
Action can be explained in virtually the same way as communication; it’s not about “cool” actions, but ones that realistically fit the character’s personality and abilities. That was important, and deserves rephrasing: good actions must make sense for the character’s personality and contain enough realism for a reader to believe.
Consider The Lord of the Rings. The Witch-King of Angmar was slain because he had ignored Merry, allowing the hobbit to creep up from behind and stab him in the heel at an opportune moment. This scenario fits both of these characters -- the Witch-King, in his immense power and arrogance, would not have paid the lowly halfling any notice. Though Merry cannot fight skillfully with a sword, do amazing back flips, or cast magic spells like other characters, he can crawl quietly and wait for a chance to strike. His action made sense for both his personality (as did the Witch-King's actions, for that matter) and limitations and the situation at hand.
Keep in mind that action is not limited to fighting! For example, a character might have a favorite book. A player could begin a thread with her reading it for a third time. Characters secretly in love might unconsciously sit closer to one another and shoot each other shy glances. Strong Action makes the characters feel alive, rather than a couple people standing rigidly in a room talking at each other until it comes time to swing a sword or cast a spell.
In battle and combat, strategy is an important part of the Action score. However, it is far more important that the strategies fit the character. IE: strategically savvy ‘chess master’ type might brew an ingenious plot, while remaining unable or unwilling to adapt to a changing and chaotic scenario, and a brash or lazy character might decide to forgo planning and just think up tactics on the fly. Alternatively, an unintelligent character might not plan at all and could merely be prone to doing whatever makes the most noise. Just like communication, action is not defined by how cool a maneuver is or how intelligently the character planned and executed it. Rather, action is scored based on whether or not a character does what fits with his/her personality and abilities and the situation. The point breakdown follows:
9-10: Masterful – The actions in your posts not only portrayed your character, it helped define your character’s personality. Your character reacted to different situations in a realistic way and displayed their limitations fairly and realistically. Your use of action kept the reader engaged and helped move the plot. Etc.
7-8: Solid
5-6: Average -- For the most part, you used character actions to give scenes more life, but not enough to score higher. You kept a sense of realism and worked within your character's abilities, but perhaps stretched believability at times.
3-4: Below Average
1-2: Poor– The actions you described made no sense and chronically annoyed the reader. Powergaming more than likely ran rampant to the clear and severe detriment of the thread. Perhaps you went far beyond the limitations of your character or generally ignored realism.
Persona (10 Points)
Persona refers to how well you depict your character’s emotions, thoughts, and ‘inner selves’ in relation to their personality. Emotions can be one of the trickiest things to write about -- either one doesn't portray them enough or one does a bit too much. Characters, save certain notable exceptions, do have emotions. They feel pain, they feel love, hate, anger, confusion. A few pointers can help with this category. First, the characters should feel emotion, but not always know what to do with it. Most people feel emotion, but they often struggle with knowing the precise emotion they are having or determining how to act on the emotion. Whether a player portrays this conflict or not should determine the score. Second, is the emotion believable? Absent a specific reason, emotion should not be overblown.
Keep this in mind, however: these classic guidelines can be suspended if the emotion depicted is well done in relation to personality. For instance, a character might be a warrior, used to pain -- used to not reacting with tears or cries if a dagger pierces them. Or they might have tried to harden their heart to love, or ignore feelings of hate because they think hate is a bad thing to feel. Or a character might be the clingy type, ignoring subtle emotions in favor of seeking that clear feeling of "I love her so much" that may characterize an adolescent boy. Or the character might merely be expressing emotions of an overblown nature as a way to mask their underlying uncertainty and fear. Perhaps the character is an entirely alien being with inhuman emotions and ways of thinking, or something artificial with no feelings at all. Persona is one of the hardest areas to judge; however, in a sense, it is like what Supreme Court Justice Potter Stewart said about obscenity: "I shall not attempt to define the kinds of material I understand to be pornography, but I know it when I see it."
9-10: Masterful– Your portrayal of your character’s emotions was exceptionally realistic and absolutely fit with your character’s personality. Every piece of introspection let the reader could delve deeper into your character’s psyche. Whether you meant for your character’s mindset to be humanely relatable or chaotically confusing does not matter, because you successfully conveyed your intent. You did not merely strike a chord, but strummed a most poignant (or frighteningly cold or dissonant, etc.) song in the reader’s heart. This does not mean dumping your character’s personality onto the reader as quickly as possible, because properly paced characterization often creates a stronger overall effect.
7-8: Solid
5-6: Average – While you mostly managed to accurately convey the emotions of your character (or lack thereof), some passages felt excessive, forced, lacking, or generally hard to believe. Perhaps some parts fell flat, or were written too awkwardly for the reader to try and understand better. Maybe you tried to give away too much too soon, and it felt forced.
3-4: Below Average
1-2: Poor – The way you demonstrate your character’s emotions or lack of emotions was painfully clichéd on one side, utterly absent on the other, and had about as much depth as the plastic, dollar-store fish tank you bought for your goldfish cracker.
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Prose : To use a metaphor, the prose is the bones, sinew, and skin of a thread’s “body.” Mechanics specifically refers to the basic building blocks of language – the bones. Technique ties things together, using different methods of stylistic devices to make the mechanics transcend the mere words on the page – sinew. And clarity is the public face of it all, what people see…the part of a body that people immediately interact with and try to understand – the skin.
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Mechanics (10 Points)
This seems obvious at first glance. Did you properly place commas? Are your sentences actual sentences, and not fragments? Do you spell words properly? In other words: do you follow the basic rules of English? This also covers finer areas of linguistics, such as a sentence’s accented rhythm (look it up), passive language, weak verbs, and so forth. These rules can be broken without detriment, provided they are broken intentionally to serve a specific stylist purpose. And, as always, the judge will determine whether a broken mechanic actually serves the purpose of enhancing the style. Here's the breakdown:
9-10: Masterful – Not only were your posts free of typos and bad sentences, but your writing took more subtle aspects of the English language into account, such as building flowing sentences based on the way certain words are accented in their pronunciation, using strong verbs, and avoiding passive language. You also likely displayed an extensive, but prudently used vocabulary. It’s not about using a thesaurus to find the biggest words; to reach this pinnacle of English mastery; you must use the most fitting words for a given situation, both in its definition and pronunciation. In short, you went beyond flawless. (Note that should you meet all the other criteria, one or two typos won’t necessarily preclude you from scoring ten points here.)
7-8: Above Average – Best described as "a lack of bad", you will land in this range if your writing is largely free of errors. Your prose has a good cadence to it, but probably doesn't flow quite well enough to warrant a nine or ten.
5-6: Average – You might have a few typos or bad sentences here and there, usually things that a good proofreading could have picked up. Alternatively, you might have avoided errors for the most part, but overused weak verbs and passive voice.
3-4: Below Average – You probably didn’t put enough effort into revising if you score within this range. You made quite a few typos or grammatical errors, most of which could have been fixed with a spellchecker. Your overall sentence structure probably held a bit to be desired.
1-2: Poor – Sweet Baby Jesus, use Microsoft Word or an online spellchecker. There is no excuse for this level of poor grammar and spelling. Your sentence structure was sloppy and the whole thing was likely a chore to read. Fear not, though. Mechanics is the easiest thing to learn, and if you ever do score this low, we will be happy to help you out.
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Clarity (10 Points) ~ Basically, this refers to whether or not your posts make any sense. Can the reader comprehend what is going on? Do sentences clearly describe events and logically follow one another?
Clarity, in the purest sense, asks this: do you say what you need to say understandably and clearly? Naturally, just about every other category can affect Clarity in some way or another, such as poor mechanics making writing illegible or actions that were difficult to follow. However, don’t fall under the impression that all confusion will hurt your score here, so long as it is used intentionally as a literary or plot device, such as a dose of mystery or surrealist elements.
9-10: Masterful – Not only were all of the meanings and messages in your writing conveyed to the reader successfully, but there was nothing missing in the prior information the reader needed to understand your story. When you refer to characters and NPCs that the reader should not have any knowledge of, you take the time to describe them, to explain a bit of their past (if necessary) and their incidence in the story you are writing. The same goes for original races, creatures, weapons and the like. Basically, you have not once left the reader in the dark unless it had been your full intention to do so.
7-8: Solid
5-6: Average – While your writing was generally understandable, the reader sometimes felt inconsistencies and missing spots in the provided information. The wording of the sentences perhaps stumped the reader sometimes, forcing him/her to reread a number of times to figure out exactly what you were trying to say.
3-4: Below Average
1-2: Poor – Shoehorns administer copious degrees of helicopter intercourse. Narm! NARM! NUMAAAARRRRM!
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Technique (10 Points)
This refers to special literary devices, such as foreshadowing, metaphors, allusion, symbolism, or other "advanced" forms of writing. This tends to be judged in a few ways at once, often interacting with the other categories. For example, devices such as foreshadowing can be used to build tension to help Pacing, or metaphors and personification can help to flesh out the setting. However, Technique also be applies to how well a special device was used. For example, was the foreshadowing effective in creating tension? Also, oftentimes a great writing style contains many subtle layers rather than shoving it in the reader's face. Given the nature of this category, it tends to be subjective, as one person could dislike a style that another loves. Judges, however, are asked to do their best to remain objective and gauge whether or not the literary objectives of the writing were met, regardless of their personal preferences.
9-10: Masterful – Contrary to common belief, it doesn’t take Homer’s eloquence, vocabulary or general Greekiness to have mastery over your personal writing style. In fact, sometimes, having the above is frowned upon by your contemporary peers. Your writing is rich with well-placed rhetorical devices -without- containing an overabundance of them (which tends to cheapen their effect). The flow of your writing is impeccable, and not a moment does the reader feel bogged down or jarred by your writing; instead, they are drawn deeper into it, and urged on to read until the climactic end. Simply put, your writing has an undeniable flair that distinguishes you from the masses, but it never feels like you’re just showing off.
7-8: Solid
5-6: Average – You are comfortable with your style, and know well enough to give it a more oomph where you deem it necessary. However, some of your literary devices either do not come across the way you intended to or completely backfire. Some passages of your writing could do better with more, while others seem a bit excessive. The flow of your writing, though clear and usually fluid, can at times feel tedious.
3-4: Below Average
1-2: Poor – You think ‘simile’ is smile misspelled. You believe a ‘metaphor’ has something to do with robotics. The word ‘analogy’ makes you giggle. If you did use any advanced techniques at all, they were likely poorly executed, to the detriment of the writing.
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Wildcard (10 Points)
This takes into account any facet of writing that does not fall under the description of another category. It’s the category that allows the judges to be a little subjective and award aspects of your writing that they liked that fell outside of the regular rubric. Most notably, this is where a judge can score creativity, as well as how the entire story came together as a sum of all the other categories and how well it meshed with and contributed to Althanas canon.