I will soon be opening a subforum that is specifically for me to dive into a select RP and give in depth feedback on exactly what was right, what was wrong, and what I'd prefer to have been done differently to make it more appealing to me- the guy who makes the rules of what scores highest in XWF roleplays.

The way it will work is people will be able to submit ONE of their RPs to me for consideration per period (might be like every 2 weeks or a month) and I'll end up choosing an RP to get into detail about publically because I feel it's the most fitting for that period. I might choose an RP based on it being deserving of recommendations I think a lot of people would benefit from hearing, I might choose it based on who wrote the most matches for me lately, or I might choose it based on coin flips. Whichever RP I choose will get a very long thread basically going through the entire RP and letting the world know exactly what I thought at every stage of the RP, and showing you every single issue that I see as an error based on XWF RPing. What I label as an error won't be up for debate because, again, it's going by RP rules I create here. I'll also be giving basic writing advice and correcting/grading mistakes on a pure writing level, but those MAY be up for discussion since I'm not a teacher and definitely not perfect. All in all, I think this will help everyone benefit and become better XWF RPers as well as better writers and story tellers/trash talkers/etc...

Keep an eye out for this subforum in the next week or so, and that's where I'll be giving the specific instructions on how/when to submit the RP you want me to CONSIDER for this special section! As time goes by, I may authorize others here to be able to receive RPs and grade them, but for now I'm going to be the only one as we slowly move into a fed-wide understanding of what exactly should or shouldn't be done if you want the maximum scores possible out of your RPs.

I think giving some general overall rules would be very helpful. If you're going super in depth it stands to reason that you probably can't do this that often, so I think having a pinned thread or something with some standardized pointers that new people can see right off the bat would be hugely beneficial.

Also, just to be clear, going forward these newly reinforced standards aren't going to preclude different styles, right? Ie. match centric versus character development, comedy versus drama, etc. Assuming that, I think having a general set of rules is even more important because not all of the advice you give for one kind of writing style may be generalizable to all.

Also, to people on the fence about this, Shane does give good specific advice. We've had some talks that resulted in some changes for me for the better. But don't go into it expecting nothing but an ego stroking.

It will be more along the lines where if I see you doing this, that or the other... then I might tell you how it doesn't match up with the style you're going for because your character isn't described as this, that or the other on their profile or anything. A person wants us to receive their character as (whatever) but instead they're acting like something entirely different in how they react/trash talk/etc, and it's going to fail against a person who is refined enough in what they want their character to be and how they act out everything that character says/does in a perfectly matching way. Every style will always be welcome and I'm pretty good about being able to recognize if that person is executing any style they choose fairly well, or if they're blending things together that just don't make sense to blend together. And yes I do realize some characters are multi layered and won't always just be one particular style, but what I'll be pointing out are the times it's clearly done in error rather than to develop or reveal layers of the character for us. Huge difference there.

There will probably be the occasional RP that I review and I think is nearly perfect, and I spend the majority of my review explaining exactly why each section and each element is so perfect in my eyes. These reviews will go in all sorts of directions.

For those wondering what advice I gave Engy privately, it wasn't anything too major but I did point out how it's always better to NOT do quick back and forth exchanges between characters in your RP without having description and narration accompanying it to make sure A) we know EXACTLY who is talking (not just by having to memorize your colors) and B) we know what little reactions/expressions/etc are happening with the characters instead of leaving it all up to the reader's imagination. Don't just have 5+ lines of back and forth between your characters with NO narrative or description. It seems lazy and rushed, and will always fail in comparison to a writer who paints their scenes more fluidly and allows the reader to have an idea of what's being said. Engy has already taken on this advice in his more recent RPing since I said this, and if you go back and compare his characters' exchanges in his early work this week vs his recent work this week, you will all see a HUGE difference and know exactly what I'm talking about, how it seems more like a scene he painted rather than him dumping a script in our laps. Very nicely done. Finn is also very good at this, as are some others. It's one of those little things that matters if you expect to be going up against the best, and my review subforum will be a great place to pick up on a lot of tips that will collectively turn your RPs into a much better work of art along the way.