When people ask us "how are my posts," it's a difficult question to answer, because we're always worried that we might offend somebody with the response. The truth is that no matter how good a role player you are, there is always room for you to improve. We'll be posting a series of posts about how you can improve your role playing.
Today's topic is "Active vs. Passive Posting." Understanding this concept and applying it will improve any post that you make in any role playing group and it will make you a more desirable roleplay partner.
Good posts are always active, since active posts give your partner something to reply to.
It is a popular belief in role play that longer posts give the partner more to reply to. On the contrary, an active one-sentence post gives your partner more than 900 passive words. But what's an active post?
An active post creates an action, giving your partner some kind of story to reply to. Here is an example of an active post:
Drew's feet carried him along the path that bordered the woods, his eyes on his feet as he walked with Bryn beside him. For a long time they didn't talk, neither of them exchanging a word as he considered the circumstances and the reasons why they couldn't simply vanish into the woods. He was about to say something to Bryn, to point out that they were being impractical, when a rustling at the edge of the woods caught his attention. Surprised, he nudged her with his elbow. "You see that?"
In a single paragraph, this post has provided the role play partner with something to reply to. What is that in the woods? Now Bryn's player can reply to the post by seeing something, going to explore it, or pointing out that it was just a rabbit. One way or another, Bryn can reply to this post by doing something or saying something in direct response to the post and to Drew.
Using the same scenario (belonging to real characters at Birchwood Isle), this is a passive post.
Drew continued to walk along the path, his eyes fixed to the ground as he went. Lost in his own thoughts, he didn't speak aloud to Bryn. A bird flew overhead, and he raised his eyes to look at it, then sighed and continued to head back to their home at Second Chances. He wished that they could do more together, get out of the house more, and go into the woods together and never come back again, but that would be impossible. Both of them would get in trouble, but that wasn't the part that concerned him. He was much more concerned about whether or not they would be able to get enough food or supply their clothing.
Do you see how in the second example, Bryn might have difficulty replying except to make a post in which she shares her own thoughts about what she's doing?
Passive posts are an especially difficult problem for role players who place heavy emphasis on the length of a post. The longer a post is, the more likely it is to be filled with "filler," words that aren't required in order to make the author's point. Good role play posts focus instead on three things:
- Setting
- Action
- Dialog
Since setting need only be discussed in the opening of a thread, and it's unnecessary to repeatedly describe a character's attire, points two and three become the imperative parts of a post. Your focus, therefore, should always be on the action and dialog of your posts.
In other words, each post should ideally contain two cues for your partner: An "action" cue and a "line" cue (much like in theatre).
The action is something that your character has done or which has happened in the environment to which your partner may reply.
Drew reached out to grab Bryn's arm, pulling her back from the danger of the bear lurking at the edge of the woods.
The line is something your character says to your partner which indicates that it's their turn to speak.
"Watch out! Back away slowly, and be careful where you step!"
If you have questions about how this works, or would like to see more examples, please feel free to leave a comment, and I will supply some examples via our Tumblr page.
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