Many people, myself included, enjoy writing stories in the streets. Mine are usually essentially presented as a one-person roleplay, as the majority of stories are. Now for the record, I prefer a good roleplay with multiple people, so one can "roleplay" in the truest sense of the word. But stories written by a single author are nonetheless prevalent and useful- and they have an issue that may need to be addressed.

The most common response to these stories, other than total silence on behalf of the masses, is "good read" or something of that ilk. Which would make sense if the thread began " Sitting on a park bench, Kates sketched out an outline of her recent adventures. As she caught sight of several other men and women in the business, she waved them over and tilted the page at them, allowing them to glance at what she kept hidden from the passerby. " In that case "good read" would make perfect sense... but I don't know too many mafiosi who moonlight as writers. Although if so, I'd probably wind up in that group.

Anyways, my point is this. If I roleplay a job in which I steal a car and drive it through the streets, or kill some guy, or make a million playing blackjack... it's hardly in character for someone to come up to me and say "nice read". In fact, it's either an instance of someone totally breaking character or evidence that your characters is nuts. I'd like to see some sort of consistency develop on this issue, and I think perhaps the community would benefit from it so I've given the matter some pondering.

So let's say you've got a story you'd like to throw out into your streets. It's allowed you to get deeper into your character and adds some development, as well as being (hopefully) entertaining. What do you do as a writer/reader to make sure that your story and responses will stay in character?

Option 1: Role play the events of the story

Pretty simple. " Kates chokes a prostitute. Kates sneaks into hotel. Kates kills a dude. Kates flees to the streets. ". Now you obviously WOULDN'T reply "nice read" here. Staying in character, perhaps you would comment on the content of the story, or the events. Perhaps you could even (le gasp!) continue the story, engaging the writer in a roleplay and continuing in a similar/different direction. Deuce_Bigalo, for one, had an excellent example of this after my latest story in which he witnessed the conclusion and commented to himself about what he saw. If you'd like to say "I really liked reading your story!" and lacked the inclination to translate this sentiment into an in character action then mobmail or IRC is a perfectly acceptable way to do so.

Option 2: Invent circumstances in which your story is actually written out

I mentioned this before and, while I believe it is my least favorite option, it does still exist. You could include a short introduction in which you explain why this story is being written out and why everyone in the streets is seeing it. Perhaps you're writing something up to mail to a friend and want advice from someone else in the business on whether it's clear/funny/exciting, or you're using a ghostwriter to publish your adventures and make a million dollars and you'd like to see how people like it. Whatever. You provide some sort of rationale as to why someone on the streets has read this story. Now in this situation, as I said, it would be one of the few situations in which it would be appropriate to say "nice read", since it lets you do so without breaking character.

Option 3: Directly tell your story

If you have a story to tell, why not try to use the first person point of view and actually tell it? Describe your character in a bar/on the side of the street/wherever, as they discreetly call a group of people from our line of work over and relate their latest adventures. Something along the lines of Kates, relaxing in a corner of the neighborhood bar with you, suddenly laughs. "That reminds me of this story- so there I was, with the water rising up to my eyes, strapped into the stolen car..." . Again, you wouldn't reply "nice read" without looking like a loony, but you could certainly say how it was a good story, or well told, as well as comment on any content that the writer mentioned. This doesn't work if you're intent on using the third person point of view, unless your character is a weirdo who usually refers to themselves in that fashion (GRHS TheCaptain), but it's easy to put a short introductory frame around any story that you're directly telling using "I".

Mind you, I'm certainly not trying to say "don't compliment writers on their work". 99% of writers enjoy being complimented. Mobmail and IRC, as I said, are perfectly acceptable methods of communicating praise. I only seek to keep the streets in character, as they belong. So do these ideas work? I know people can come up with edits or new ideas superior to these- what solutions do you have for this problem? I'd considered modifying this topic for the streets, but it makes the most sense to do here in OOC to allow for a full discussion.

I can see what you're saying with pretty much every point you've made. The idea of someone responding to something audible with 'nice read' is obviously ludicrous and the suggestions you've posted would probably limit either the amount of people putting 'good read' or it from sounding as stupid as it does at the moment.

Personally I would prefer not to see these stories in the streets at all. I say this because they have always seemed out of place and at juxtaposition to what we create and imagine the streets to be. Maybe this is me being out of date with what it is perceived to be now, but to me at least, it was always a place for news, information and live entertainment. What I mean by live entertainment, before anyone says these stories fit match this criteria, is people actually performing in the streets, interacting with passersby or crowds, rather than retelling past exploits.

I'm not saying don't regale people with your stories, but perhaps they would best be shared over a beverage in any fine establishment in the business district, because to me the idea of someone randomly stopping in the streets and launching into a description of the weather some time previously is as strange as someone responding with "nice read" when they are finished.

~T~

I understand your point, Tallien, but I don't believe the streets aren't just a place for news, information, and live entertainment. Surely the act of roleplay belongs there as well. To be honest, I don't think there should be any definition of what "belongs" in the street, as long as you're in character and it makes sense. If you believe that roleplays should not exist in the streets, I suppose that's a whole separate discussion. I just believe that, if someone has a story to tell, they should be able to do so (and have people reply to it) while staying totally in character without this "nice read" nonsense.

It depends what we're treating as roleplay. Roleplay to me is roleplaying your character.

Roleplay stories are something else entirely. I don't particularly have an issue with a roleplay story that requires interaction and participants from off the streets, but the telling of a story in full by one person, to me at least, doesn't belong in the streets. 

~T~

As I mentioned before, roleplays involving multiple people are certainly superior. But if one writes an extended passage in which they are playing the role of their character, I don't believe it should be disregarded. I don't see an issue with an extended roleplay written by a single author as long as other men and women can respond to it in character. It's the last part that I believe turns something from a good, if somewhat antisocial, roleplay activity into a story that breaks the fourth wall and encourages others to break character by saying things like "nice read".

It's been a per peeve of mine as well, Kates. Why break character to throw in a comment that essentially adds nothing of value whatsoever to the preceding story? You are right, there is a time and a place for everything. Someone throwing a "nice read" in a well crafted roleplay diminishes all that came before it. It's not that hard to either add something of merit, an acknowledgement staying in character, or to just refrain from posting it at all and mailing the author your gratitude.

I don't know if I am sat in the majority, the minority, or squarely in the middle of the community but I enjoy a good roleplay. It's difficult to pull off with a group, and when you see it all come together it gives one a sense of how talented and creative the people that call this place home truly are.

You've said it all better than I could ever attempt here. Now lets wait for the cheeky "nice read" comment in 5-4-3-2-

I was going to make a thread about this, but it is all covered here.

Please consider what you're saying before you open your mouth. If someone is telling a story or are actually participating in the events they are describing, how can you say 'good read' or 'well written'. It effectively ruins the entire thread and this is coming from me, someone who in this same thread admits to not liking stories in the Streets.

It really is annoying and makes you look incredibly stupid.

Oh and "nice read" for the late Judge. RIP.

Grin.

~T~

There was a question in there but apparently I decided not to put the old ? in. If someone is telling a story or are actually participating in the events they are describing, how can you say 'good read' or 'well written'?

~T~

Can't believe you forgot the ?

A wise man once told me, "Please consider what you're saying before you open your mouth."

You could do worse than listen to him Tallien.

Turns and runs like the wind!

Nice read.

~T~

Either way, to be honest, its really not the reading that you want to compliment, its the writing!

In that case.

Nicely put!

Well Told

AWSOME STORY.... have the next round of beer on me.

etc. etc.

great response

~Grin~

Theres nothing I hate more than reading a story in the streets thats followed up by, ZOMG GREAT STORY, YOU"RE THE BESTEST!~!!

unless its an open RP that encourages people to interact, use that wonderful mobmail feature to compliment the writer, if you feel the need to do so.

Tallien: "Personally I would prefer not to see these stories in the streets at all. I say this because they have always seemed out of place and at juxtaposition to what we create and imagine the streets to be."

I don't agree. A "role-play story" is still a role-play. It's just a role-play with only one apparent PC (the other characters being NPCs). Other PCs can involve themselves by either assuming the role of a previously-assumed NPC, or by having witnessed the events or joined at its (original) conclusion.

Kates: "unless your character is a weirdo who usually refers to themselves in that fashion (GRHS TheCaptain)"

Ahem. Awesome almost always refers to himself in the third-person, and he clearly is no weirdo. He's awesome, obviously.

Perhaps we should consider a closed roleplay/story forum or something?

What Kates is saying is right though, however when you let people in on your roleplay (that I noticed) is that sometimes it can ruin the preceding story/roleplay. A good example would be kates "labour day" roleplay. It was going pretty well up until the point that a whole heap of other people decided to join in and overrun the original story, going so far as to keep it bumped and continuing days after, even when Kates had already gone on to start a new roleplay.

And in no way did I mean to offend you Kates, your roleplaying skills are great. <3

Just wanted to add that for newer members - to get practice and confidence in correct role play techniques and also formatting fonts and the stories so it translates well, make use of back alley forum and get someone more experienced to take a look over it for you. Do this before you launch yourself into the streets! :)

Hello everybody , I would like to meet some good person which can help me a little with ranking up :) , if any1 have some time for me it would be lovely to send me a MSG ^_^

This is still an issue. Basic solutions to the problem of making an OOC reply to a roleplay are available. Come on, people.

One of the reasons I think this is still an issue, and I don't mean any offence to any of the CLs that exercise this practice, is Crew Requirements stating that an individual needs to make X amount of street speeches in order to get their button. I understand the logic, in that you want your people to be active in the streets and maintain the integrity of a game that is meant to be an RP-style game. But what I find happening is people stuck in these circumstances take to the streets and go down ever thread on the first page and write shit like "Nice read. Looking foreard to the next one" just to get their post count up.

For me personally, my bloodline has always enjoyed posting in the streets, whether it be telling a story I think people will find amusing or contributing to a discussion. Only once was I in a crew where street posting was a erequirement, and asked to be killed shortly afterwards, the post requirement being a main reason why. What ends up happening is you get a lot of people speaking in the streets that really don't have anything to say.

So at the risk of changing the subject completely, and perhaps this should be a separate thread in the OOC, should street posts be required in crews? Or maybe just strongly encouraged? I think that lifting street post requirements would eliminate a lot of the crap in the streets, specifically the "nice reads" and such.

Sorry for my atrocious spelling ^ ^ ^

It is not easy role-playing a mountain amusement park ride, but someone has to do it.