rpanons | Everything is under control

Everything is under control

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Concerns?

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

I was actually thinking of apping here at one point, but a new application rule just caught my attention:

"Some edits have been made to the Application Page to reflect the fact that we are going to be more strict on word limits. Note that there has also been a word limit added to the previous game section. We realize it can be hard to say everything you want to say about your character and their world in under 1k words, but having to read apps that half again or twice as long as others really slows things down. So from now on, apps that go over word limits will be sent a revision request without being read." - http://thusia-ooc.dreamwidth.org/29055.html

Apparently, their application has a limit in the personality section to a 1k word limit. OCs get 1500 words. Sorry, but how does that even make sense? I can understand a word limit, I can, but 1K isn't even that long. I write 3 times that much for my muses (even more sometimes), and this is just being lazy and inconsiderate of how much love people put into this process. So it "slows things down" a little. That's what comes with modding a game. It takes a while, but it's worth the effort. You're literally putting no effort into what you're doing if it ~takes too long~. Mods, you should seriously reconsider your application 'adjustment'. You can't narrow down one character (especially based on how complicated a character they are) to 1K if you want to do a good job.

tl;dr : 1K word limit on applications are ridiculous, why are you being so lazy? do you want to have bad applications submitted?

It's not like they had much of an apping process before. They have let in apps that show a lack of understanding of spelling, grammar, and punctuation in addition to lack of understanding about the characters.....

Lei is also really passive aggressive and makes players uncomfortable. She is cliquish and seems to loathe doing mod things, unless it involves uses her status to help her friends

You can absolutely do a good job on explaining a character, however complicated, in under 1K! The apper may have to work a little harder to be concise, sure, and you may not be able to fit in every last detail about them, but at the same time, the mods honestly don't need to know every last detail for it to be accurate and comprehensive. Given the number of applications that Thusia receives, presumably, I think it's quire reasonable for the mods to enforce their restriction like this, and it's unfair entitlement to call them lazy.

That's fine, but I've seen some of the apps let in, and the grammar in more than just one application is pretty bad. Maybe calling them lazy wasn't the best argument, but you should take into consideration that mods should be attentive to grammar mistakes. A shortening of the application seems unjust besides the basic statement of "takes too much time". If it takes too much time to go over something that matters in the whole process, then stand down from your mod duties and have someone else take your place. It's not fair to players who do have a good grasp of grammar. What's the point of having that kind of basic rule, when you're going to let in people with spelling errors and sentences that don't really make sense in anyway?

I can't and won't argue that at all! I just do think it's totally possible to write applications under 1K that hit all the points you need them to, which is an unrelated argument to the rest of it.

I know you likely didn't mean it for those cases, but as one of the ESL players in the game this makes me a terrible mix of self-conscious and hilariously butthurt.

Wow. You can't get across an understanding of a character in 1k words, and you think a handful of grammar mistakes in an otherwise perfectly viable app that proves someone can play the character is reason to waste the apper and mods' time with an unnecessary "fix all your grammar mistakes and resubmit" step, when both parties know that if that's the only problem, they're clearly going to be accepted? Instead of calling someone else lazy for not reading an extensive essay and taking a red pen to comma misuse in a non-educational forum, you should consider that it is actually a hell of a skill to be able to edit your freakin' writing. A well-edited short piece can express way more understanding than a bunch of ridiculous unnecessary filler, and word count is not proportional to understanding or ability, whatsoever. 5k words is not necessary to demonstrate ability to play. That's a short story. And I personally have never been interested in writing a thesis to get into an RP.

If you don't think RPs that demand 5k are ridiculous, because it's a challenge, then you shouldn't think an RP that demands 1k is ridiculous. Because it's a challenge.

Also, it is pretty silly to claim a moderator group that takes ESL players into account, and is thus more flexible and welcoming towards its potential playerbase, is uncaring towards the efforts their players put in. And you said this in the same breath as saying it "just isn't fair to the players with good grammar," and called it "unjust" to mix in the rabble who might misuse a semicolon. Just... gosh.

Speaking as someone that has had a concise app rejected from another game for being too short, on that basis alone, I do appreciate that Thusia favors a concise understanding of a character vs. bloated repetition.

The idea that 5k+ words on rehashing character history = quality in the app world grinds my gears.

Welp. I'm fucked.

Sorry Thusia you lose my interest. You looked good too.

I concur with the moderator being a bit off as well, I've seen and heard things that were ridiculous.

To be honest this makes me deliriously happy. I hate writing TLDR apps, and coming off of CFUD where apps were to the point and to the point, this makes the game far more attractive.

I also hate TLDR apps and feel that short, to-the-point summaries of character personalities are infinitely more useful and easier to read than 1500+ word manifestos about how my character likes peanut butter sandwiches but only when they're cut diagonally and the crusts are removed.

Can I go on for longer? Sure. Do I imagine that anyone, including myself, cares? No.

I understand your frustration anon, and being one of those people who usually writes a lot in personality sections, I feel you. But I also think that quality > quantity, so it's a matter to do just that and being able to nail down the most important parts of a character within that limit. I also think that considering the amount of applications thusia gets weekly, it's perfectly reasonable for the mods to want to speed things up a bit and this is a solution.

It is perfectly doable to do a good job while using just 1000 words.

holy shit. i LOVE that. if i get back in to modding i'll probably do something like this.

The fuck? This is a pretty good change in my opinion. I literally see nothing wrong with this. I've seen long apps from majorly bad players, and short apps from great players. Like the anon further up said, consider this a challenge as a writer to jam more quality in a smaller quantity.

have you ever written an academic paper jw

professors set page/word maximums all the time and they get paid for reading tl;dr.

wow. what is tone?

didn't mean to come off so jackassy there. just meant that after having to curb my tl;dr in actual essays enough times, this is pretty familiar territory

Less is more, anon. Quality is vastly more important than quantity, and I hope you would be able to sufficiently describe your character in 1k words. Tl;dr is something you should be trying to avoid, as a writer.

IDK, there are some characters who are so complicated in their canon, it's hard to be concise even in 1K words and actually back everything up.

I think it can be difficult to do it, but usually more as a result of not knowing where to focus. When you know all about a canon and it is all important within the context of the canon, it can be hard to step back and see what is simply important for someone to understand the character (and know that you understand it too).

What I find helps me with shortening an app is to think "How would I describe this character to a friend?" When you want to tell someone about your character one-on-one, you probably aren't going to drop several hundred words on them out of the blue. You simplify! Often heavily, and with a reliance on the fact that really, no matter how much of a unique special snowflake your character is, they are still just a conglomeration of character aspects everyone has seen somewhere else.

As complex as characters and canons get, there is generally a very simple parallel that can explain the situation quickly and easily, leaving you with more room to talk about more specific character traits. And talking about the very typical but very deep and important character aspect of "My character responded to the murder of his parents with X but hides it with Y and the result is Z" is really more important to showing character understanding than "My character's died because of this complicated plot full of these canon specific elements".

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

Everything is under control

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