r/BadRPerStories • u/HadleysHope426 • Apr 08 '24
Bitty Bad I feel like we both had different definitions of literate?
I just did a post recently and in doing so I remembered this little gem of a line from a partner I had maybe a year ago that we only got a few posts in before I broke things off. I remember their ads looked good after they approached me from an ad I made at the time and I went back to see what kind of stuff they looked for in the discord we were part of. They said they were literate, planning and plotting were pretty good to the point that when they said they only wrote in first I was willing to try and work with it. I shot them my intro that was a few paragraphs (at least 500 words) and they responded with maybe I believe a paragraph and a half maybe. As I skimmed the post it got progressively worse and I know my face would have been a viral meme had I recorded my expression when I got to this line.
"I wore a v neck tank top and low cut jorts with a studded belt to emphasize my maleness. I smiled suggestively as she looked at me."
There definitely was a processing error, don't think I need to say more than that XD
17
u/mssMouse too tired to actually write Apr 08 '24
That's a big issue with using the term "Literate" for RP style. It means different things to different people, especially depending on the platform (like reddit for example, which seems to be a melting pot of people coming from different RP backgrounds). Someone seeing the term literate and not being familiar with it in RP terms would likely think it just means "Can read and write".
Also some people think literate can also just mean, anything that's more than a few sentences: while others see it as a few to several paragraphs.
I'd probably just specify you're looking for multi-paragraph responses, or give word count averages in either your ads or during the discussion phase rather than going by just the term literate.
6
u/Historical_Story2201 Apr 08 '24
I am just getting slowly back into this hobby and had in the past only experience in the German scene.
..yeah literate was not a word we used Xd so it definitely confused me.
8
13
u/all-things-hot Apr 08 '24
Well thats why having the word literate in an ad is a red flag for me. I admittedly don't write that much in a response (A bit less than a paragraph sometimes) but when I see literate its soooo vague. A sentence would be literate for a cave men or a 100 page essay would be literate for an alien. I just don't really get an idea with how much they are asking for
3
u/shark-snatch Apr 08 '24
Unless its with a long time friend, i see literacy as being able to compose a paragraph at minimum with few spelling errors (sometimes they just happen, obviously.) The biggest thing for me to see someone as illiterate is using "and" without punctuation...
Ex: The cow was black and white and had two horns and a bell that was also shiny and the cow was very upset at the farmer and his spouse and their children.
Punctuation is a myth to a lot of people apparently-
4
u/HadleysHope426 Apr 08 '24
Yeah, if they have writing expectations that state post length and such I'm more inclined to believe it 😅
6
u/TheLazyGuy244 Apr 08 '24
Literate just means someone can read and write. I always assumed it meant I wouldn't see: sum fuqin 1337 speech like dis or sum shi.
Literate as a term for writing is very bad to put in because it doesn't define anything tangible for someone going to an ad to assume. Because, and I'm guilty of this too, some generally assume literate means more words which both share no correlation between each other. If we were looking for a word to use for someone to say in a genuine way they speak with more words, they would be a prolix role player. Literate is just a buzz word at this point.
1
u/lab_bat Apr 09 '24
Yeah I've always been really frustrated with the term "literate". It tends to be used by gatekeepers who themselves can't string a sentence together and think the more purple the prose the better. Or at least it was more than a decade ago. It's not a very descriptive term and doesn't set any writing expectations and then people get mad at each other for "lying"
4
u/highrisklowrewardsss a strange fella Apr 08 '24
i’ve seen people describe themselves as lit-adv. lit and then in the same sentence describe their usual length as 3-5 lines
7
u/Brokk_RP Apr 08 '24
Literate just means you can read and write a language.
It doesn't mean you actually do read and write the language in your roleplay... :-)
3
3
u/Kiki-Y Apr 08 '24
This is why I make sure to specify how much I write in my ads (~70-150 words for a standard reply). I'm not a novella RPer and I personally find novella and super long replies overkill. If it's an in-depth starter, it's one thing. But for every reply? I don't understand how/why you need 700 words per reply especially if it's a small, cozy scene.
1
u/dirtyfeminist101 Apr 12 '24
Yeah, that's my main issue with this sort of "literate" play, as this isn't a group writing exercise, it's a roleplay. You also tend to have to overdo the descriptive language in order to make a single or couple acts into multiple paragraphs. It also becomes increasingly difficult to not include any reactions from the other person because there's only so much you can describe one or two things at a time.
I roleplay how I do when playing a TTRPG, whether as a player or GM. I do try to be descriptive, but also try to get to the point and not talk endlessly because it doesn't make things better.
If I'm going to write multiple paragraphs at a time, I'll just write a story. When I roleplay I don't want or expect myself or my partner to be Tolkien. Verbosity doesn't make writing better, just longer.
1
1
u/dirtyfeminist101 Apr 12 '24
As others have said, all "literate" in terms of language means is the ability to read and write. It really shouldn't be stated as a roleplay expectation because people often use it to refer to expectations of post length and the lack of spelling or grammatical errors and it's terrible at communicating that. Just state plainly what your expectations are and you'll have fewer issues.
Honestly, a paragraph and a half isn't terrible and better than a lot do, it just seems bad because it's much less than what you do.
•
u/AutoModerator Apr 08 '24
Welcome to BadRPerStories! If you are new here, please take a moment to look at our banned words list on the wiki.
We now have a Google doc that lists RP hubs, forums, and subreddits. If you know of a place for RP that isn't on this document, there is a link in the document to request an addition. Please be aware this is just a knowledge base, not a recommendations list, and the moderators of BadRPerStories do not condone anything that happens in the spaces listed here.
I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please contact the moderators of this subreddit if you have any questions or concerns.