On posting order in casual RP

[Radem]

I've noticed that most Lismore RPers tend to adhere to a pretty strict posting order even in casual scenes. It can certainly help keep things orderly; that said, I've noticed that when scenes start to get up to five or six people, you end up waiting 30-60 minutes between posts (depending on how many people say "oops, didn't realize it was my turn" per round), and end up having to write posts like:

Ninjadude nods to Smackypants and says "Yeah, I see where you're coming from." He waves at the new person arriving on the scene, and then looks curiously at the quiet girl who finally piped up into the conversation. "That's an interesting accent you have there." Ninja frowns at Pirate after Pirate mentions piracy, and says "You'd best not try that around here, or I will stab you in the back." He smiles when Ninjadudette shows off her new sword, reaching out for it with a quiet, "Mind if I have a look? I hope it was everything you wanted? Oh, and hello Fellaguy. Everything going well with your whatsits?"

I realize my bias is already showing, but honestly Lismore is the first place I've been that does this, even when there's no action going on. Most places, people are free to post whatever whenever, and have the courtesy to hold off if something they do or say is particularly important, or really needs a response. Carrying on half a conversation while trying to pin someone to a wall, for example, is kind of silly.

To be fair, I've seen it go the other way - I used to be on a MU* where there was one fellow who could type crazy WPM and would pose between every single pose of every single character. That got old too, and if I see that happening here, I will probably gently nudge them in an IM and suggest they slow down a bit.

Long story short, I'm curious what others think, but for me, I'm going to start posing at what I think is a fair speed based on the conversations and people involved. Folks are free to ask that I wait from time to time, or slow down. Feedback is fine. What's been happening though is I'm starting to try and avoid scenes with more than two or three people, and that's a bad mental association to draw. I want to be happy there are people around and there's activity happening, not have an urge to detach and log off because unwritten scene etiquette is frustrating the bejeezus out of me.

[Aryn Gentlepaw]

I am usually more inclined to a case by case posting opposed to a post order. Meaning, that when there are moe than 3 people, I prefer to post and reply to each of them in no particular posting order, so i can react faster to single persons within a group. If there are only 2 or 3 people, then yes, waiting for everyone to reply and react is probably the best way. But more than that and I would like to have a free form of posting (special circumstances like Radem described being the exception)

[Novaku]

I'm one for posting orders, even in casual RP's, it's easier to keep track with what is going on.

One reason why larger scenes take so much time is because people tend to post the moment that it is their turn, a smart move, that both Tenaar and myself have often told and use it ourselves, is to open a Notecard and pre-type your post. In a notecard you can easily adjust your next post accordingly to what is said in the room, nor do you have the risk of prematurely posting something.

[Ausar]

It is a double edged sword. I know how frustrating it can be when trivial chit chat seems to take (or often actually takes) hours of your playtime, simply because you have to wait ages so that you can nod your head agreeing that you indeed would like another cup of tea. 

But for people like me, who are really slow typers to start with and who look up some English terms in the dictionary on a regular basis or read a sentence out loud to their mate to see if the meaning isn't lost in translation, it can easily be overwhelming when people don't wait for you at all. I have experienced that in other sims. And yes, I did take Nova's approach of prewriting in another window. Still, on several occasions the conversation simply had progressed to a point where either the topic I was talking about was already put down again or the relevant points of my posting had been addressed by the others. That also usually forced me to do a lot of corrections/rewrites on my post, which only further delayed it, meaning I easily lost touch with the ongoing conversation and people stated to regard me as the 'quiet' guy.

Now, I am not saying that the posting order should be absolute. I don't mind the occasional quick one-liner to agree to a refill of your glass, to greet a newcomer to the scene or wave goodbyes to someone leaving. But when you actually want to contribute to something that is being discussed, I would very much like you to wait your turn so that all have a real possibility to bring themselves and their ideas into the conversation.


Additional thoughts:

• If you are talking in a group, please try to have the visuals reflect that. Lately I keep running into scenes where people are on two opposing ends of a large marketplace, yet still somehow chatting and perfectly understanding one another. It would be like shouting all over the place in real life. It also makes it hard to judge if there are already enough people in a given group so that you might want to join someone else in order to avoid a crowd.
• It is actually quite common IRL for large groups to break down into smaller groups while talking. The three warriors chatting about the latest arena game, while their wizard friend is rather poking the alchemist for some herb she needs for a ritual. We just need a better understanding as to how and when do break groups and when to merge them back together.
• Sometimes less is more. This is especially true with people taking a long time to post some inner monologue, thoughts about an ongoing issue or the reasoning behind their actions. With few exceptions I don't want to read what my character can't observe with his senses. It is dead weight, because I can't react to it and I have to ignore my knowledge about it when composing my next posting. Keep those things in mind to have your character talk about it at a later time and/or let it play out through body language and tone of voice.