((OOC - Discussion tiems!))

[sharpestscalpel]

((OOC - So, this mirror game is an off-shoot of the very first online RP in which I've been involved. I've done a lot of table-top, some LARP, and some single-player computer-based RPG but using LJ this way kind of fascinates me. And I was thinking about that and thinking about the things that I love and the things that have been driving me crazy and I started to wonder:

What does your ideal online RP look like?

I'm posting this here because I'm interested in the thoughts of other players but also, if anyone wants to speak on it, the thoughts of readers. It's such an interesting performative way of playing and I'm pondering the back-end portion of it, the meta of it, the tendency of myself to forget that other people can read any of this, that sort of thing. Let's assume that all discussion is out of character - if, you know, there actually IS discussion and not just me rambling along in my little corner here.

To me, the best RP is a form of collaborative story telling. It becomes a tapestry of lots of different stories that all touch on and influence each other. I feel like there are some barriers to that in this format (LJ) - but that in other ways this format is ideal for games that result in a collaborative narrative.

And now we've started Twittering and I'm kind of in love with the idea of a game that works across social networking platforms. But the drawback is that then you have to put in the work to make it happen across social networking platforms and readers have a hard time following everything. I used to play a table-top game that involved a lot of websites and internets research, though, and it was phenomenally fascinating. I'm not sure where the trade-off is for that.

Anybody? Bueller?))

Comments

[loyalty-ever.livejournal.com]

I used to do this by message board, and did a little tabletop RP with close friends--Shadowrun, with what we called "Matrix Rules", driven mostly by the characters and the lulz and NOT the, y'know, actual rules.

I do sometimes forget that we have a wider audience than each other, but I'm usually at least sort of aware of the last six posts on my f-list/can pick out large general happenings that form a kind of arc. I can't quote anything, and I don't read everything.

Back up, flip it and reverse it: I don't read every. Single. Post. I don't. I don't have time! *die*. But if other players mention something to me, I make it my business to learn what's going on and try and stay involved, insofar as I can actually do something about whatever it is.

I find SWC somewhat helpful in this regard.

Twitter is really just something for me to do while I have nothing to do, in a way that doesn't hurt other people's play. I don't think I'd be part of an ongoing, super-active Twitter-based game. It's too damn 'loud', like Skype (asdhfjdhs *HIVES*) or a packed chatroom. I can't function that way. It's not like it's wrong or lame or something, but it melts my neurons and is otherwise not a fun time.

[sharpestscalpel.livejournal.com]

I check the @replies when I sign in as a character and just reply based on that most of the time. I don't have time to sit on Twitter and play in real time, ALAS. I can see how it would get really overwhelming really quickly.

I don't think anyone reads EVERYTHING - and I don't think people are obligated to. That's one of the nice things about playing in this format - I don't have to try to stay awake at 2am when someone else is rolling die after die in a complicated arc when I'm exhausted. I can just hit refresh in the morning and see how that worked out.

Eeee, Shadowrun!

[lt-moreau.livejournal.com]

I read everything, except when LJ forgets to notify me that someone has posted. It didn't tell me about Spock's pon farr post; I didn't know about it until Kirk linked it. I track players and posts and just read everything in my email, but sometimes for whatever reason it doesn't email me.

[sharpestscalpel.livejournal.com]

If I tried to read it all in email, I think I'd explode. *laugh* I get a LOT of email everyday so I know stuff would get lost. I only track threads I am in that are in other players' journals where there are more than two people participating because otherwise I would throw my phone (where I check most of my email) out the window. And I really really really like LJ's threaded comments so I tend to want to read in chunks like that anyway instead of piecemeal.

[lt-moreau.livejournal.com]

The thread thing is nice, but Gmail tends to thread the emails about a single thread anyway, so it's not a big deal. If I were using any other email client, LJ would probably be preferable, but Gmail is just incidentally really good for it.

[dctr-mccoy.livejournal.com]

I read 'almost' everything but only because of gmail's ability to keep the threads together. when that goes wonky my cries can be heard for miles and miles.

[behnd-blueyes.livejournal.com]

I hear you on that last bit, if slightly less destructive to me. But I find it difficult to deal with. I don't like noisy rooms or talking on the phone to begin with, so, yeah. It's just not my space.