litphoria

I would like to have nameable pages/tabs for the description area at the bottom of my character profiles. For instance, Description/Character Sheet/Setting, which can be switched between by clicking their names just above the profile's text area.

This would allow the information in a profile to be segmented to make it easier to read, and easier to find what you're looking for.

If I am understanding this correctly, something like the drop list on F-list where user input info can be optional to read and hidden behind the neat little titles?

Something like that, but instead of clicking to open so-called Collapse, it would be just tabs, like in browser, for example.

Would they be opened to custom names, or a mandatory set of items laid out by WA? My concern is things like 'how many tabs' and 'do they all show up all the time or only when named'. While I like the idea of having neatly organized fluffy bits, we probably need to answer all of those questions.

I would suppose it would introduce "Add tab" in profile editor where you specify name and then have it added. Amount would probably be limited, because I am not sure if trusting people with unlimited is the best idea. Can't imagine anybody needing more than 10 anyway, and that is a lot already.

There was a big discussion in the Main Chat about this. This idea actually delves into some rather complicated subjects that are very central to litphoria's vision, that will need to be discussed before an idea like this can be considered.

WA has a really neat idea that goes against how profile building traditionally works. Keep your profile fairly short and filled with fun story to read. A short profile is far less intimidating, and just showcasing your writing style may be the best way to quickly show someone whether they'd want to play with you or not.

Unfortunately, this proposed idea pushes toward making very big profiles that contain heavy "contractual" roleplay information, and otherwise "clinical explanations" about the character which aren't very fun to read, like we see on other RP sites. These subjects on profiles can be very intimidating, and some of us suspect may not actually be helpful for facilitating new roleplays.

I see two questions rising here:

• One: Do people agree that this idea could work? It hasn't really been tested yet. People don't build their profiles like this naturally - they're still accustomed to other sites. I think litphoria would need to shape behaviors through ideas like forcibly limiting the length of profile descriptions, or removing them entirely and making people's roleplays & stories more front and center. Even the tutorials could be used to explain that they should show off their stories to attract writing partners.
• Two: Is it actually important for people to share some of that information somehow? Can other systems be used for them instead, such as this suggestion and others like it?

Right so, I've been thinking about this for a bit, both in the creation of a new character, and in the context of this feedback. Here is one of the things that I considered; in books, how often do you see stat pages? Instead, a character is described through the narrative. On the other hand, I know that writing down, and heck even remembering, all of those specific characteristics (appearance, personality, etc) can be tedious as hell. I would like for some one, using text only, to get a good visual of my character without me having to tell them every time.

The concept of stat sheets, though, is somewhat outmoded in my opinion. Unless one is playing a 'stat' based game, in which a centralized (gm) figure requires those stats to be on hand, it seems much more fulfilling to allow them to be discovered either through play, or through some form of written prose. Far too often, when I have played on other sites, other players would mysteriously know things about my character, such as his favorite food to give him in a completely random gift. That was what came of a stat sheet.

Perhaps one can take their character and stick he or she into a random situation, taking the time to describe physical appearance, glimpses of personality, and maybe even a smattering of background. Most of those details, though, particularly anything that is not a physical appearance, should be encouraged to come out through play, instead. If one wants to learn why a character fears the dark, or why a character avoids sweets, perhaps they should ask or make observations through the course of play.

From my perspective, while I like how neat collapses can make a profile look, I would honestly rather see players working to lay out the important information in story format. From my understanding of the site, one of the core concepts is to inspire literature style writing. Maybe we can encourage players to write short stories about their characters, rather than lay things out in a stat sheet format?

Well... an RP could be written solo yes. It could thus take any form, from a generic back-story, to a Diary, to an newspaper article. Or a combination of these things as a collage of info on a character.

Then it disappears within your giant list of RPs, So it would need to be highlighted some how. Most easily done with a Markdown link from your description, probably.

Of course, then I would want some way to make an RP look differently to a degree. Like once you lock it down, it loses any irrelevant items at the top. Or a recent suggestion is to set an RP as a story, so then it would be displayed in a simpler style, without the Setting post, involved users, Interests section, etc.

Personally, I'm fine with collapses, but this proposal suggests tabs. With the current scheme of working on phones, the width of the page would not be very good for more than a few tabs, or so.

Unfortunately, this proposed idea pushes toward making very big profiles that contain heavy "contractual" roleplay information, and otherwise "clinical explanations" about the character which aren't very fun to read, like we see on other RP sites. These subjects on profiles can be very intimidating, and some of us suspect may not actually be helpful for facilitating new roleplays.

The whole problem with this kind of thinking is that whole feature is supposed to make it all lighter, not seem mandatory and overall avoid problems you list here. It doesn't encourage, and honestly, expecting people to suddenly stop developing characters is naive at best. Plus, if you think that forcing people into something they speak against is excused by some idealistic dreams of being community-changer... well, it will sooner kill any community than help it.

The concept of stat sheets, though, is somewhat outmoded in my opinion. Unless one is playing a 'stat' based game, in which a centralized (gm) figure requires those stats to be on hand, it seems much more fulfilling to allow them to be discovered either through play, or through some form of written prose. Far too often, when I have played on other sites, other players would mysteriously know things about my character, such as his favorite food to give him in a completely random gift. That was what came of a stat sheet.

Simplifying everything to a concept of stat sheet is picking one thing you don't like about the suggestion and basing whole argument on it is not entirely constructive discussion. We are talking about any kind of information that is relevant, and stat sheet is a tiny subset of possibilities. On a sidenote - there is a Game System trait that defines RPG system character was created for which immediately makes stat sheets have sense. Is just the fact that it is not filled.

Perhaps one can take their character and stick he or she into a random situation, taking the time to describe physical appearance, glimpses of personality, and maybe even a smattering of background. Most of those details, though, particularly anything that is not a physical appearance, should be encouraged to come out through play, instead. If one wants to learn why a character fears the dark, or why a character avoids sweets, perhaps they should ask or make observations through the course of play.

Having visual description be explicit can help people who get into roleplay - they can cherry pick visible details and incorporate them into the posts. We are supposedly in a site where people know how to write and how not to use information they shouldn't have, at least without properly constructed explanation. If we have it all shown through playing with somebody only, that is limiting the other player.
There is a lot of details that could be highly usable by another person but takes too much words to be a good story, and is not confidential enough to be like "not allowed to be know by anybody unless explicitly told ever".

From my perspective, while I like how neat collapses can make a profile look, I would honestly rather see players working to lay out the important information in story format. From my understanding of the site, one of the core concepts is to inspire literature style writing. Maybe we can encourage players to write short stories about their characters, rather than lay things out in a stat sheet format?

Look at my profile - can you imagine how long a competent story describing all of that would be, and how that, instead of a bit of text on profile, unread would be? I would rather have a few blocks of text like that neatly organised than sit and be 'encouraged' to pour hours and hours into writing stories just to show some information another character playing with mine can have in some way.

My positioned on this has softened with time. I still think it's valuable to encourage profiles to not be needlessly long, but the site has the potential to standardize interactions with very large or detailed profiles in a way other sites have not.

It's possible someone could keep the "default" tab short and clean and to the point, and then use additional tabs for more detailed information. This would, in effect, give us the best of both worlds. Linking to other profiles/versions or to RPs the character is involved in should be handled differently, though.

Giving users more control over their profile is generally a good thing. This will come eventually, but it's not a priority. Throw more points at it if you'd like to see it sooner.