RP Safari - Pacing Styles
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I stopped hating on async when I started refusing to stay up way too late for any of you
hoescourtesans. -
THIS IS A NO JUDGMENT ZONE
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@Yam There isn’t a universal terminology of course, but just for context… In Ares the terms used in the scene dropdown are:
Your Term Ares Term Instant Not Used Standard/Live Traditional Async Distracted Novella Asynchronous I mention this not to be pedantic, but just to highlight that the same term (e.g., “Async”) can mean wildly different pacing styles to different people. (In Storium, their “Fast” pacing is on par with our Distracted, lol.)
In my experience, the distinction between Distracted and Async is that a Distracted scene is likely to get done in the span of a single day and Async usually takes much longer.
While I see Async (Ares definition) scenes as a necessary evil when schedules don’t align or a scene can’t be wrapped up neatly, I don’t actually like them much. One of the defining characteristics of MUs for me is the fact that the in-game time passes at a set rate compared to the RL time. Async RP screws with the continuity and often leads to scenes petering out / left hanging.
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@Faraday Makes sense. I didn’t include distracted because to me that’s just like “hey I want to angle for live/standard but I’m at work, you okay with delays longer than maybe 15 mins” but it ultimately finishes within a day. USUALLY. I was trying to keep it platform agnostic, although I realize we’re all a bunch of mushers and ares facilitates a new pace within this niche environment, even if this pace has existed in forums since forever.
Curious how many people resolve their workslow/distracted scenes within a day.
I see more async scenes than distracted, spanning weeks.
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‘async’ to me reads as ‘we are going into this expecting it will be ongoing for days, weeks, or even months’ and i just cannot
fr fr
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@Yam said in RP Safari - Pacing Styles:
Curious how many people resolve their workslow/distracted scenes within a day.
I haven’t been able to play for awhile, but previously? Almost always. Multi-day async scenes were limited to cases where our schedules couldn’t line up and something important needed to happen.
I find it interesting that the norm is so different in other online RP styles. In Storium, the multi-week async scenes are the norm, and people use Google Docs for the more rapid back-and-forths that are closer to MU distracted or shorter async ones.
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@hellfrog said in RP Safari - Pacing Styles:
‘async’ to me reads as ‘we are going into this expecting it will be ongoing for days, weeks, or even months’ and i just cannot
personally speaking, days, probably. weeks? a few times but not often. I don’t know that any one async scene I have been in has ever gone on for more than a month, it messes with continuity too much.
a scene that takes about a week became my new norm and I KNOW AND LOVE THAT IT IS HERESY
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@Wizz Yeah, I would say a week is the new norm
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I think I’ve always been a slower-ish poser. Whether because I used to smoke and would take quick breaks or because I was just typing so much - I donno. So even now, my live rp tends to be 7-10 minutes to pose.
Recently I’ve abandoned clients for the Ares portal and with that shift, have also become more of an async rp’er. I work a LOT and having a scene that I know can run a few days to fit my schedule is just awesome. No stress, no rush - I’m digging it. It’s rare that I have more than one scene going on though.
I still do live scenes on the weekends here and there, but async is kinda my new jam.
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@Yam said in RP Safari - Pacing Styles:
Curious how many people resolve their workslow/distracted scenes within a day.
Me, generally. Sometimes two if there’s a need to pause but I pick that pacing specifically so they won’t go on forever.
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Definitely standard/live.
I’ve tried to do async (Ares, forums, etc.) but have not had great success with those. Most often, the scenes don’t finish or they drag past the point of their natural lifespan; inevitably, I just feel dread and guilt about them lasting too long and that kills my desire to RP.
I need the slight pressure of time - and the tight focus on a single scenario - to wrap a scene, rather than let it shamble on into inconclusive perpetuity.
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Where are ya’ll playing that you’re finishing scenes in a day or less lol
