Purple Prose Power

[Fredd]

So I was reading some of the threads and I've noticed a few comments regarding the roleplay quality of the game going down. And I have to agree.

It seems like the only people I see emoting are Nobles, and Manic Pixie Dream Girl pc's. And I find this odd. It used to be a meme that Arm is "Where the purple prose flows." We would drop long, adjective filled emotes because it was fun and expressive.

I get it, it can be tiring to come up with emotes, but it makes the game feel more...more.


So I'm going to issue a challenge, one I will be taking up myself. For the next month I am going to be trying to strengthen my emote game. And I would like to invite you all to join me.

[Mendel]

I love seeing command emotes with "say" and "tell". It helps bring me into the conversation, instead of feeling like I'm in a chat room.

[Usiku]

Command emotes are great! LOTS of commands can use them actually and I would encourage players to experiment and use them more.

Code Select Expand

hold torch (after struggling to light it in the wind)

draw sword (with a scowl directed at ~amos)

sit cushion (folding gently down to a kneel)

[Trevalyan]

You don't HAVE to make flowery declarations, even if you might want to. Describing your outwards mood, your clothing, the little flourishes you offer- all of that makes the game better. And when you stop being friendly or cheerful, you'd be surprised how many people might notice.

[IntuitiveApathy]

Emoting isn't the end all and be all of RP.  And because we're not all famous novelists and poets, hugely long flowery emotes shouldn't equate to a player being viewed as being the pinnacle of RP either.

I'm also a little puzzled as to the recent comments by both players and staff about the declining standard of RP - I've been back to the game for roughly 6 months now, and so far from the players I've encountered, the RP by and large has been just as good as I've seen it in past years.. but maybe I've just lucked out in encountering a certain subset of players only?

That said, there's always room to encourage everyone to try to be more descriptive in both your character's internal life and how they present and interact with the outside world - if you struggle with this, one suggestion is to think about your PC's senses - not just what they see (but how does light change and play off other things?), but also touch and sensation, smells and sounds of the world and your fellow PCs and V/NPCs.  Then play off those and show how your PC reacts and interacts with them - maybe they affect your characters mood and emotion too.  A little can go a long way - when your character sighs, does it shift the hem of their hood?  That's not going some world shattering RP obviously, but by thinking about even those sorts of little things as a start, it hopefully helps to immerse you as a player in the wider world more, does the same for your other fellow players too, and can lead to great things.

I want to suggest that giving a bit of life to virtual elements of the world is something I think players shouldn't be afraid of doing more of as well, so long as it's not wholly inappropriate (ie. so long as you're not "power" emoting for other entities making or presuming they would do things they wouldn't.)  A small example might be a virtual insect that's giving your character a bit of temporary irritation - how does your character react?  Maybe it might turn into a fun little scene with other PCs around?

To me, RP is playing out how your character inhabits the world in a consistent and sensible manner, including and especially how they interact with others and the world at large.  Emoting is a helpful tool that helps both you and your fellow players do just that.

[Riev]

Depends on who you share an RP scene with, and how they are feeling.

Sometimes, I am good about throwing off hemotes, and describing my physical position as I'm doing or saying things.

Other times, I just want to communicate very efficient. Yes. No. Nod. Faint shrug.



Flowery emotes aren't a pinnacle of RP, because a flowery emote can still be poweremoting or not actually describing a scene at all. I think MOST of us are doing what we can, but everyone seems to be in a rush these days, and not looking for a 30minute scene describing the perfect purple petoch.

[Fredd]

Depends on who you share an RP scene with, and how they are feeling.

Sometimes, I am good about throwing off hemotes, and describing my physical position as I'm doing or saying things.

Other times, I just want to communicate very efficient. Yes. No. Nod. Faint shrug.



Flowery emotes aren't a pinnacle of RP, because a flowery emote can still be poweremoting or not actually describing a scene at all. I think MOST of us are doing what we can, but everyone seems to be in a rush these days, and not looking for a 30minute scene describing the perfect purple petoch.

They certainly are not the pinnacle.

But I definately feel like it makes scenes feel much more interesting. They don't have to be long flowery emotes for this either.

But i get it. We don't always have the energy, or maybe the guy you're playing is VERY introverted. It's cool. No one should be shunned for this.

I just want to encourage more descriptive emotes is all

[papertiger]

I've only been here a few months and I've thought everyone's RP was great ♡ Totally sold.
You all are lovely writers. I try to adjust my style to match my rp partner but sometimes I still get a little nervous or have a slow typing day. And sometimes I just feel extra.

[Gentleboy]

Writing a lot does not mean that the writing is good.

Some moments should be short, others long.

Sometimes you catch people on a bad day or after a long scene.

Or people are still trying to get a feel for the character.

Or this is someone's first mud like Arm.

I think it's okay to expect goodness from others, but, we never know what's happening on the other side.

[Riev]

I think it's okay to expect goodness from others, but, we never know what's happening on the other side.

Unless its Max, then you can expect that its all trash. Lovable trash, like a raccoon.

[Lotion]

using [] can also help you be more fancy

mount beetle (raising up one leg to help pull &me over) [settling into the saddle with a slight wiggle]

[Fredd]

using [] can also help you be more fancy

mount beetle (raising up one leg to help pull &me over) [settling into the saddle with a slight wiggle]

I legit forgot about this, thanks lotion.

[Veselka]

My personal advice is to develop a style either for your PC or even yourself as a player.

I tend to find a descriptor for the PCs voice — it helps me hear it in my head, which then allows me to more clearly speak as them. Whether it's a deep graveled rasp, or a musical sing song.

I also think about my PCs personal tics — tucking hair behind an ear or touching their nose often, tapping ash or flicking ash from a spice tube, sucking their teeth while pondering a response.

I also think about their tells — when they are uncomfortable, do they cross and uncross their ankles? Fidgit? Stutter?

I amalgamate these things and repeat them as much as I can when those scenarios trigger them — I speak in the same voice, react the same way reflexively to stimuli, and unconsciously respond to subliminal stimuli. In this way I find I play the foundation of a believable character.

Beyond this, I tend to speak to the player through the emote, as some authors speak to the reader. I'll include things like "emote twitches his nose. Or was that a fly buzzing nearby and landing on it briefly?" Things that I find engage a reader and are more difficult to gloss over. I like engaging people behind the PC I am in a scene with rather than being more rote.

I'm sorry — I truly find it difficult to play around people whose emotes are too flowery and presumptive of my time as a PC. When it takes 5 minutes in between responses to drop paragraphs of description, I get very bored as a player. Everything has a time and place — god bless those that can spill out engaging paragraphs in emotes. And bless those with laconic talent.

[digitaleak]

Sometimes good roleplay isn't even about being descriptive, it's about sticking to a role and playing that out. Taking on a persona and offering that flavor to the world.

Tell player (folding ^me arms) Who the fuck are you? Only nobles of blank house are allowed though these gates.

Short, sweet, not super descriptive but I have no question about their role in the world.

[dumbstruck]

I feel like good roleplay is a combination of not only evocative description but consistent characterization, not just how prolific your emotes are. People can conflate that, and often do, but it's the first that is what people are looking for, I feel.

[Riev]

A suggestion I always have, and NEVER follow:

Come up with 4-5 'common responses' and alias them.

alias lie em scuffs the bottom of his boot on the floor
alies excited em @'s eyes widen and his lips slowly pull apart into a smile

Something like that. So when you're doing something that is a tell, you can just throw that out there.

tell templar Absolutely not, Lord Templar. Don't even know why you'd think I was around, at that time.;lie

[tiny rainbow]

One of the big problems that Armageddon has is there's a much lower general standard of roleplay at times compared to avenues with less "game" mechanics - it's utterly depressing when you meet a sponsored role, or some powerful character where they have:
- a minimum-length description
- using canned soul emotes
- single-sentence says, no command emotes even
- and no use of the emote command at all.

There's some people who are absolutely great, and then you get people who are have this bizarre kind of pride about putting in the minimum amount of effort possible and it's just a really awful culture that seems unique to the game, and I feel like the way people try to degrade and denigrate people who put the effort in is because they feel inadequate but also are unwilling to put the effort in to try be better, which is just awful.

I truly find it difficult to play around people who do stuff like 'em grunts', why would I spend time on someone who clearly doesn't care? Do you think people are more likely to spend effort on your character, if you don't? When it's only a few seconds between between responses and they don't even try to fill in any details, I get very bored. The ten minute rule is the general standard most places btw.

I absolutely love you people who write in detail and fully support you. <3

[Riev]

I truly find it difficult to play around people who do stuff like 'em grunts', why would I spend time on someone who clearly doesn't care? Do you think people are more likely to spend effort on your character, if you don't? When it's only a few seconds between between responses and they don't even try to fill in any details, I get very bored. The ten minute rule is the general standard most places btw.

Its a tough balance. I'm way more verbal than I am physical. I'm not always aware IRL what my body is doing, so translating it into Arm is a lot more effort. Conversely, I am a conversationalist. My roleplay is in my speech. Grinning, frowning, wrinkling my nose... thats as far as I get. Spending 3 minutes crafting an emote that talks about how I'm sitting for people I can't be sure give a shit becaue they're waiting out the darkness timer is daunting.

That said? I've met people where a 5 minute scene with them involves a dozen hemotes and I assume a bunch of feels and thinks as well, culminating into an "em peers at you, thoughtfully".

[tiny rainbow]

yeah totally fine when there's a genuine OOC reason for it, that's a good point It's just a bit terrible to see the same kinda sentiments repeated suggesting that people putting detail into their RP are somehow less when it's absolutely for most people the other way around, in terms of what people want to see in RP.

That's likely why Armageddon is having such a problem with filling city political roles etc because what SHOULD be the pinnacle often isn't, and people take that on face value and assume that's what is on offer in the RP here, and leave and save their best writing for elsewhere instead. People should do better if they want the game to thrive more, everyone needs to remember you're basically an ambassador when there is someone that is obviously new, and first impressions count.

[Kavrick]

I attempt to command emote every time I talk, but at the same time, the word count limit makes it hard to be truly expressive. I can either talk a lot, or animate a lot, never both without cutting it up into multiple posts, which is annoying to do

[Yelinak]

The true measure of "good RP," in the context of emotes, is this: are you portraying the things about your character that other people should be seeing? If your character is angry, afraid, pensive or whatever, are you actually putting this into words so that others have a chance to know it? If not, is there a reason that you aren't doing it, like your character has an impeccable poker face and is deliberately hiding their feelings, or is it just becase you don't bother?

Emotes don't need to be long and flowery, but the minimum expectation should be that players take the trouble to portray those of their characters' behaviors that others should notice and might have a reason to react to. You don't need to constantly write how you're breathing in and out, but if your character is seething with murderous hatred as you prepare to stand up and attack your nemesis at the bar, it's pretty unrealistic if your portrayal of your character is basically them sitting there doing nothing with no expression or any other behavior, then abruptly just leaps to their feet and attacks without any opportunity for anybody to have anticipated anything.

It's a lot like acting. Standing there with a vacant look on your face while monotonously reciting your lines is objectively bad acting unless that is specifically how the character behaves, and if that's the case, that fact should also be portrayed in writing. You shouldn't leave other players to wonder if your character really is completely expressionless or if it's you, the player, who's just too lazy to do any more than the barest minimum.

As tiny rainbow mentions, there's an odd culture on Armageddon where some players take pride in "brevity," which usually just means not emoting much or at all. I think it's more laziness and lack of respect for other players than it is any actual principle that these players hold to, but it sounds a lot better to claim to be pro-brevity and against "flowery emotes." This game has a lot of friction between players, and I feel like I've observed this in people's roleplaying efforts as well. 'That isn't one of my friends, so why should I bother to emote?'

A large part of this stems, I think, from the fact that the game's administration doesn't appear to value or acknowledge good writing. Good writing is held in no apparent regard by staff, and not really rewarded with things like karma or general goodwill. That's all down to time spent as clanlead, politeness in requests, not rocking the boat, responsible use of power, etc. It's like there's no real upstairs interest in good writing in this text-based storytelling game, which has always struck me as bizarre. Sanvean, being an author, acknowledged players who made an effort in writing and characterization; but she seemed to take that with her when she retired.

[dumbstruck]

The seeming surprise at the lack of there being a bullet point for taking vnpcs into account or roleplay on the karma scale was surprising. Leadership is on there.

But not roleplay.

That's a conscious design choice. Every day that it is that way, it is a conscious design choice.

[Yelinak]

The seeming surprise at the lack of there being a bullet point for taking vnpcs into account or roleplay on the karma scale was surprising. Leadership is on there.

But not roleplay.

That's a conscious design choice. Every day that it is that way, it is a conscious design choice.

vNPCs matter when they represent an excuse to punish you for your actions. They're an uncannily punitive lot, our virtual NPCs. If you ever do something slightly shady, they come out of the woodworks and all saw you do it. At the same time, you are not presented with the opportunity to wait until nobody is looking, so if you ever do anything dodgy in a place where it's possible for vNPCs to notice, you can be sure they will. You are not allowed the freedom to use your master stealth skills to loiter until an opportune moment. No, you're always caught. Yay.

If staff dislikes you enough, you're then made perma-wanted. Double-yay. Now your character concept is effectively over and it results in you quitting the game. Yay. Well done, then. Yay. Hurray. Who got anything out of this? Who gained? Is it just a case of downward-punching? Yes, I have a chip on my shoulder because this very thing happened to me. Perma-wanted from crimes nobody witnessed, and that was just the end, goodbye, go away, pesky player who tried to do something more than tavern-sitting. Yay. Enjoy your snoozefest. Haven't played since.

[IntuitiveApathy]

The seeming surprise at the lack of there being a bullet point for taking vnpcs into account or roleplay on the karma scale was surprising. Leadership is on there.

But not roleplay.

I think it's already in there though?  Maybe not spelled out specifically re: VNPCs but included in the broader roleplaying/taking the world into account requirement - from the Karma helpfile:

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Karma
(Account)

ArmageddonMUD operates a Karma system designed to open up the more complicated, powerful and RP challenging roles to players. Karma is simply a measure of trust that the staff members have in a given player's:

    Degree of maturity and responsibility as a role-player, as evidenced by playing roles realistically and acting responsibly with the code.
    Knowledge of the game world, and an appreciation of the way in which the various races, guilds, and so on, interact.
    Role-playing skill, as evidenced by role-playing in such a way as to show that they are really involved in the game world, and also enriching the game world for other players.

Staff base their decisions to award karma on a set of categories. Each category has a list of criteria which players need to meet in order to gain a karma point. No more than one karma point can be awarded in any one category area; one must pass six of the seven categories to get max karma.
Categories:

    Longevity
    Good communication
    Ability to roleplay
    Proven understanding of magick and its place in the game world
    Proven understanding of cultural and racial structures
    Contributes to the game
    Leadership

A large part of this stems, I think, from the fact that the game's administration doesn't appear to value or acknowledge good writing. Good writing is held in no apparent regard by staff, and not really rewarded with things like karma or general goodwill.

It's been pointed out that roleplay =/= good writing.  While I agree that good writing should be encouraged, I don't think it should be mandatory to either just play period or to earn trust to participate more in the game via gated roles (currently through karma, but whatever other future mechanism if that changes).  I'm not some amazing writer myself, but I certainly admire and try to take inspiration from those that are.  If staff came along and told me that they don't think my writing is good enough and then limited my options to play because of it, I would just stop playing altogether, and I suspect I wouldn't be the only one.

[Riev]

The seeming surprise at the lack of there being a bullet point for taking vnpcs into account or roleplay on the karma scale was surprising. Leadership is on there.

But not roleplay.

I think it's already in there though?  Maybe not spelled out specifically re: VNPCs but included in the broader roleplaying/taking the world into account requirement - from the Karma helpfile:

Even more pertinent is that I'm pretty sure it USED to be in there. Unfortunately, the way the help files are designed, I can't use the Wayback machine to see if I am correct. I'm pretty sure there were 8 criteria to meet to be 8 karma, and I think one of them was an understanding of the virtual environment.

If not, it should have been, because now there are only 6 criterion.