Lately, there has been a great deal of discussion about stories in the streets. I'd like to make a few observations and clarifications that I feel are important.

1) In the broadest sense, roleplaying IS storytelling. It's creating a character and navigating them through a plot with other characters. There's nothing bad about storytelling- it's what we're here for. But only a particular SORT of storytelling.

2) There is, however, an important distinction between roleplaying and general storytelling. Roleplaying, specifically, means that you are becoming a character in a story- that you are using your writing and actions to inhabit the life of your character, while giving the opportunity for interaction with other people.

3) Unfortunately, there is an increasing influx of stories that violate either one of both of these qualifications. With the former, you have people that are actually writing stories. They come out in the middle of the street, say "here's a story!", and just throw it out there complete with "to be continued"'s. This is not playing the role of someone involved in organized crime. If you were, you would have walked out to the streets and robbed something. Or shot something. As Noah-Levenstein mentioned elsewhere, if you're in character you should focus on what is actually happening with your character. So if you want to write a story about how you and a friend try to kill someone, it should have something important to do with your actual character or actual events (and, of course, it should not contradict "reality"). If it's just a random mafia story you wrote, you're obviously free to put it out there... but it should be in the OOC forum.

Also, a key aspect of roleplay is that more than one person can/should be involved. Admittedly, this is something that I have been struggling with. With this account, I've written several things that have amounted to single-person roleplays. The key, though, is that someone should be able to respond to what you wrote while they remain in character. For example, Kates had one job in the streets where she ended up having to toss someone over a balcony. Several people responded "great story!", which always makes me want to slam my head into my computer (I truly appreciate the thought... but if you saw a woman in the mafia kill someone would you run up to her and say "Great story!"? Why break character like that?). One person, a Mr. Deuce_Bigalo, instead responded in character as he was walking along when the man Kates threw off the building landed at his feet. He then hid in the shadows as Kates ran past him and reflected on her skill. That is an in character response that also managed to be a compliment. If no one can do that to your story, it shouldn't be in the streets.

4) If someone were to call me a great storyteller OOC, I would be honored. If someone were to call me a great storyteller IC, I would stare at them and call the loony bin. Admittedly, I've been in-character to the extreme for this account... but staying in character is essential for interactions in the streets. When you have a "story" that destroys this, it ends up doing more harm than good, regardless of how well written it is.

Excellent post, I don't really have anything to add that I haven't already said elsewhere.

I really do hate to come across as elitist in the slightest; but the startling lack of diffrentiation between OOC and IC is a real issue I feel. I'm glad it's getting the airtime it deserves!