Forums » Smalltalk » How do you tend to reply to your RPs?

Just a curious question really.

For me personally, it varies a lot depending on mood and how tired/motivated I feel. Sometimes I just instantly know what to write and on other times it takes me half a day to ponder on how exactly I want to have things pan out, thinking multiple responses ahead only to feel almost empty inside when I realize that it will take so long before things might end up there.
Like, I know RP is all about fantasy and exploration but sometimes if my mind gets out of hand on the imagination part, I just feel almost... bored... if I have to go back to the point where my mind started drifting. This is not always the case but I it happens... it takes me at least half a day to get back into the groove. I know it sounds weird but now that I am kind of clear on how I tick, I am curious about how my fellow roleplayers experience their replies.

Are you eager and downright fanatic to get what you imagine across or have a cool, collected attitude once push comes to shove and your fingers are on that keyboard?
Any tips or tricks for block or other issues you want to share?

Please go ahead~

For me it varies. Some days I am full of inspiration, and some days I can't get up the emotional energy to think as the character. For me it's definitely work, but it's also play at the same time. But the way I know it's work is that if I do several long replies in one day, at some point, I feel spent, and don't want to do another one. This doesn't apply to OOC chatting, though, which, stamina-wise I could probably do for 16 hours a day, if it weren't for real life.

My replies usually happen within 2-3 days on average, but there are some RPs that I reply to more frequently, and some less, like once every few weeks. It depends on how thinking intensive the RP is. Some just flow, and some I have to think about more.

It depends with who , when I write a long starter and the person comes with 4 sentences or less then I also send something like that

I just can’t stand it when I try my best to write a message and someone else seems not to care a lot about he/she message

And when it’s early in the morning then my replies are short but I try my best to make it intressting .

Also language I am dutch so sometimes it’s hard for me to write a long detailed English message

I personally divide my RPs into three groups:

Everyday Replies - I will post at least once a day.

Twice a Week Replies - I will post at least once two days out of the week.

Once a Week Replies. I will post at least once one day out of the week.

I try to stick to this schedule of doing the bare minimum depending on where an RP is placed; but it also depends on the frequency the other person posts and how interested I am in the RP that specific day. With a lot of my 'everyday reply' I'll post several times a day if the other person also does and if I'm super into it. I'm not always super into bit that day, but more often than not if someone is in my 'everyday' section and posts fairly quickly multiple times a day, then that is also what they receive.

For the twice weekly its similar. Most of the people in my twice weekly are RPs that I've decided I just can't really handle posting to everyday and want to put special focus on when I do reply, so I only post to the RP two days out of the week, usually based on the other person and I's schedule. I have some people who get and give only two posts a week, and I have people who get and give several posts two days out of the week.

My once a week people, generally are people who do only post once a week minimum most of the time and therefore I can reply only once a week. I also have people who only post every couple weeks in this section for the heck of it.

None of the sections are based on an RP being better than the other. It's usually all sectioned out based on my schedule, their schedule and how much focus I need to put into the rp. Some I can toss out paragraphs and paragraphs fairly easily every day, but others I just need a few days before sending a post because the character or the plot requires more time for whatever reason.

I definitely miss my schedules some weeks. Some weeks I just need a little break, or I'm struggling with muse; if it's been longer than a week I usually force myself to get the words out and usually after a paragraph I'm already feeling into it; another thing I do when I am feeling a bit blocked from replying to rp is create a playlist for the character I'm writing, and for couple if it's a romance (which all mine are.)


Note: I have gotten a lot better at replying in the last 8 months thanks to my layout and the fact I got out of an abusive relationship which made it hard to do just about anything. I feel bad though for when I kinda dropped off the face of the earth I haven't had the nerve to message a lot of people since it's been so long, most people blocked me. 😫 but yeahhh.

Well due to my work week I tend to reply to last replied to. Like say someone replied to me yesterday I go by that order. But I have limited time in the morning before work during the work week and then I try to reply as much as I can before falling asleep after work. On the weekends I tend to go all out unless I have something I need to do.

Also I tend to reply to those that are trying to do an effort in story making. If its just like...Meh...You'll get a Meh response from me. I need something to work with pretty much so those that actually seem like their trying sometimes take priority over responses.

So yeah my system...Its odd but it works

They did? Strange. Still waiting for another round, though.

I don't usually join super literate RPs, so my post length varies depending on the other person's post and what's going on in the story. I usually try to match the length of the other post unless I feel like writing more or have something else to say in the story. I...also tend to randomly bring in new characters in more relaxed roleplays, mostly because I just want to play as someone else for a change or give the story a little twist. I reply every day I'm on though, which is usually daily unless there were no responses/activity yet.

I have a habit of replying as if I am writing a book. I think it might irritate some people to have so much narrated and so many internal processes written out but I like the flavor it adds to an rp

It depends on the rp. I have one atm I admit, I have to psyche myself into replying because their style is far more verbose than mine and I feel like I have to "keep up", so I have to get really into the mood to write a long reply, which can take me most of a day to get into the zone for lol.

With a few of the more active ones though often i'm impatient for a reply, any reply because omg I want to get to the next thing and I have to remind myself to slow down, type properly, write a full response and not rush.

My general reply lengths vary depending on what I have to work with and what my partner manages. I try usually to kinda.. match them in terms of style. So if they write a lot of introspection and loads of internal monologue I assume that's what they like to read, so i'll do the same. Sometimes I get people who write very little so I don't feel too guilty sending them one or two lines back while other people give me a whole page and it'd just be rude not to at least try to write more.
On average though, I think I manage about 2 paragraphs per reply most of the time?

I reply daily, but it may only be 1 reply depending on time zones, motivation and how busy I am but the first thing I do when I wake up in the morning is check my computer, and therefore check rpr hahaha. I check it multiple times throughout the day and yes, when i'm eagerly awaiting a specific rp reply I WILL compulsively refresh if I know the person is online. I can't HELP IT! I get all in the zone and I wanna keep going!

Sometimes I don't know what to reply so i'll go away for a bit, do other things and come back fresh. Most of the time though, I can knock out a reply pretty quickly, I tend to start replying as soon as i've read the post and I read very very fast. I sort of.. cut my rp teeth in a chatroom with a good dozen other people so frantic fast replies were neccisary to keep up, and as a result I type very fast, think pretty fast and reply rapidly.

Sometimes though, i'm just not in the mood for that story right now. You know like sometimes you don't want to watch a particular show even though you like it? Sometimes I read a reply and i'm just "eugh, I can't be bothered with this character/story right now. I'll come back later" and i'll leave it a few hours, but I start feeling bad if I don't get a reply out within a day. Yes, that means sometimes it'll be a real "it'll do" reply but sometimes I think you have to just soldier through. not every reply has to be perfect after all, it just has to keep things GOING and i'd rather get "it'll do" replies than nothing at all. No replies kill an rp far far quicker than "it'll do" replies.

I don't know how much I could handle rping with someone who only posted weekly. I find with rp I kinda... get into the character and the story and dropping out of it with long hiatuses makes it difficult for me to get back into it again.
I do have an ongoing rp where we reply sometimes once a MONTH because we just kinda get distracted though, but yeah, I do find I suffer from "what were we doing? Where were we?" and have to go read back quite a bit to remember.
That's a real problem with slow rps, you forget a lot as time goes by.
So i prefer daily posters and post daily myself.

I'm always disappointed if I wake up in the morning and have no new messages ahahaha.

As you can probably tell, ooc i'm ridiculously verbose so yeah... I post a lot. Not neccisarily in one reply, but just in general.

I like how your first kudo describes you as patient. It just makes your reply so wholesome

Every RP is different, so my replies to each RP is different. A lot depends on the depth of connection I get with my co-writers, whicl are as different as individuals. Some my replies come quick and easy, and may be shorter and able to be banged out on a phone, where others are more novella and need some free time to get in the zone (as purple monkfish said).

i'va also been in some RPs where my conenction with my co-writer is a bit tenacious, and I worry that my posts will either be too long and verbose o not long enlogh leaving them asking for more. It's a tough call to say how I tend to reply to RPs. It's kind of like asking how long is a piece of string.

lol! Wholesome, never a word I thought i'd hear related to myself ahahahaha.

I've been contemplating on how exactly I should answer this, and really thinking about HOW I tend to reply.

I generally reply to threads based on my inspiration for them, how much my interest is on that particular character, and if I feel like writing that character. I get in to "moods" or "feelings" of one character or another, and sometimes it inhibits my ability to write certain characters at all.

So, my replies tend to come by pure motivation for the story first, and second as I'm feeling that particular character.

I have friends who have entire systems on how to RP, so I'm also answering this in hopes that Kamizombie will go in to detail about how he actually handles his replies. He's got a LOT of roleplays, so he has a rather organized method for getting to people in a timely manner.

I mostly base it on when I feel up to it, although sometimes I can kickstart my brain if I actually open and read the last couple posts again. I make an attempt to reply to older things first, but it doesn't always work out that way, especially since I try to post-match, so some of my RPs require more time and focus than others. The exception is a friend I've played with enough that I can usually think of a response to him pretty much immediately, and we're okay with occasionally sending each other garbage posts to keep things moving along.

I keep things I still need to respond to in my inbox marked as unread, to keep them on top and visually different. When something's been there a few weeks, I start getting anxious about how long it's taking me in between forgetting what's there, and I may or may not let my partner know I'm still there. After a couple months, if I've heard nothing back, sometimes I'll just stuff it away in what's basically an "incomplete rp" folder, sometimes I'll properly call it off, and sometimes I'll just keep telling myself I'll get to it. After a week or more, I tend to apologize for the delay when I do reply. After a couple weeks, I'll usually ask if they still want to continue either before I focus on a response at last or, I think more commonly, with a response at last.

When I first started on this site, oh man, I was responding to every rp every night, often multiple times a day. I was so excited! But the longer I'm here, the more long term rps I get going, (the higher the standards I hold my writing too as well) the more slowly I'm forced to rp. I'd love to still be able to respond every day all day, but my husband pointed out just how much time I was spending on the site trying to do that. He wasn't pleased. He also wasn't wrong. So these days it's every couple days as real life responsibilities allow, making sure I get to those who have been waiting longest first unless inspiration strikes. It makes me sad sometimes that I can't get to all my wonderful stories asap everyday, but that's the balance that has to be struck. *shrugs*

As for the type of responses I offer...I seem to have a habit of matching post for post almost unconsciously. Sometimes less, sometimes more but a lot of times it's uncanny how I'll finish and look up and I've got the exact same amount of paragraphs written and I'm just like...how is it that I had exactly the same amount to say? Of course, sometimes I'll start typing and then holy heck when did I have time to write this novel?!

I tend to reply to my rp's when I have energy and inspiration. Usually, since I have multiple characters, having an ear worm helps work me up to having the energy and inspiration for a particular character as well. Albeit, whatever the circumstance, I take anywhere from one day to two weeks to reply. But that's also because the 'life outside of roleplay' thing. Jobs, taking care of the house, the usual errands and world building for my rp group.

Either way, I love the whole process of reading the other writer's reply, going through it as I write up mine, putting my replies through wordcounter.net to make certain that I'm not overly repeating words (because I personally hate that), correcting spelling and then getting the reaction. It's a wonderful creative process and I'm so glad to be able to take part.

In the same pattern every time, nearly every day. Used to be every day, but I got drained of replying every single day.

Oldest reply
Oldest reply
Reply I want to do
Oldest reply
Oldest Reply
Reply I want to do
Starter
My Request Log (A log in my Discord group)
My Request Log
Group reply
Discord Group reply

Repeat infinity. Typically 6 replies a day output, and I am never done.

I usually have two or three choice Rp's that I will drop everything to reply to. This may change according to inspiration.

Otherwise, I reply as I feel like it. However I have this unspoken rule not to post 4 replies in a row to any one RP before replying to all of mine at least once.

...welp, now it's a spoken rule.

I tend to over all reply rather quickly? However there are a couple of factors that kind of hinder or accelerate my will to post to a roleplay. Such as whether or not my depression/anxiety is chokeholding me that day or not to my own inspiration and how closely I am invested in to an rp (making acquaintances vs. compounding on a juicy friendship/relationship).