I first started out with the "Dialog: and *Action*" style, but gradually shifted to more novel expository writing. In general though, I match whatever style seems to be in more use or whatever style the creator of an RP wants used.

as for which is superior, it depends on the RP for me. If there are lots of characters and a bunch of really rapid posting, the Dialog method is better because it's faster so you don't get left behind while typing out a long post. For slower ones with only a few people or when there is something like a posting order and more detail is desired, the novel approach seems to be better.

He, so to say, opposite path from me.^^
Sorry for answering so late, I almost forgot about this... ^^ ()

Personally, I have done rather well mostly with paragraph style (but less lengthy ones) even with multiple partners, bu, then again, I never had any RP with more than three people via chat.

It's okay... Nice to get a reply though. ^_^

And yeah, I try to limit the length of any posts I make for an RP even in novel form. The longest ones I will make are when I'm describing something like the appearance of a character or setting. The actual action part of RPing can't be too long in a single post. Otherwise it seems like one person is simply dragging the others along.

Heh, yes, though, when does it start being too long and when is it too short?^^
For me, too long starts, regardless of actual text length, if I need ten minutes or more to write it up (unless it is a longer exposition which is needed at that length anyway).
Normally, I don't find it hard to fill up a paragraph though without doing more than do my part of the action.

So, for you, what is too long and what makes the optimum amount of description?^^

Well, one to two paragraphs of a few sentences each is generally optimum for me. That is enough to tell what your character has to say and describe what your character is doing. It also keeps people engaged since they can get a few replies to each other out in one sitting. The exception is when there is a great amount of exposition for setting a scene, describing a character, or something else that deserves greater detail.

Three is borderline and four is getting too much especially if the paragraphs are large blocks of text. In that case, sometimes two ends up being too much. Besides, that is when the action either starts to get smothered by extra words and reading or it's getting a bit far into controlling the other person unnecessarily.

Hmh, well, given that sentences are overall rather a bit shorter in English (I still often write longer ones though, some habits you just cannot drop easily... ^^ ()), I guess I can without doubt say I tend to write a good bit more usually, for me, the limit is usually more one of time than length though, anything but an introductory post taking nine minutes or even more is something I try to avoid at any cost, usually, 5 to seven minutes depending on the grade of detail and the length of the previous post is my optimum.

Mosstly, it is me going a bit overboard with descriptions which makes it gain all the extra length.

"Dialog" *action* is balls.

Its worst, most degenerate form is:

*sticks his thing in your anus* Oh yeah, you'll take it! YT

...if you're doing your job poorly enough such that your action's termination isn't obvious, then you're doing it wrong. Having to punctuate with "YT" for "your turn" is -evil-.

If you write in third person, and craft the paragraphs or pieces well, then they should flow naturally, and make for better immersion. I've run across a few people who work well with the dialog/action form, but the best dialog/*action* roleplayer compares directly with only a mid-level paragraph user.

Are there cruddy paragraph users? Yes, there are. Overwhelmingly, though, the ease of access of IM as a means to roleplay means that there's no barrier to entry for illiterate people who can't follow instructions. MUCKing used to be great as a hurdle that way.

Of course, all that being said? dialogue/*action* is almost invariably faster, quicker to set up, and easier to dive immediately into... but if you're going to spend your time doing something like an RP setup, be it erotic or non-erotic, shouldn't you make it worthwhile for yourself and the other participants?

If you're not willing to do it well, you should be doing something else well instead.

Hehe, okay, you did point out the bad side of thise style, which is, well, cheap, short chat with cheaply written action.^^
I have to say, if people are that unmotivated to give you more than this, I usually, well, okay, I don't necessarily quit, but usually I wish I would... ^^ ()

I'd even say I share your opinion that even good dialogue + action falls short of full paragraphs in everything but speed and directness of interaction.

I wouldn't go to the extreme to call it a total lack of effort, but it surely often makes things a lot easier if people take their time to fully describe things.^^

All of the RPs were I felt clueless about something and thus had trouble getting fully into it were dialogue style RPs so far ... plus one RP where the language barrier gave my partner trouble.^^ ()

Then again, I would love to hear someone's opinion who really supports dialogue style as a contrast...

I think that over time there might be a change. As we get more inured to sound-bite style, stream of consciousness, smaller-scale writing, dialog roleplay might evolve in such a way that makes it cooler, or more compelling. I do think that there's the potential to turn it into a really cool genre.

For now, since we're taught to read, and taught to write very "narratively", though, I think that we're more comfortable with the booklike immersion of the older style.

And I hear you on language. :) English is an extremely unfair language to force non-natives to use. It's got an INCREDIBLE wordstock and lots of versatility... it's like Photoshop of words, with thousands upon thousands of plugins. I'd like to see more language diversity though.. and more cross-pollination of these communities. I'd be happy to use the Paint Tool Sai of languages, whatever it is, instead, if it meant there could be better cross-fandom collaboration. :)

Would be fun to practice my Spanish, Italian, Russian, or Esperanto if someone was game.

Hmh, sound-bite?
I fear, you may have lost me there a bit?^^ ()

Okay, I know I just didn't do anything to give validity to this claim, but I actually think English is still a rather simple, if perhaps unstructuredlanguage. I mean, I can only speak from my own experiences learning it, but compared to some other languages, I found English pretty easy...^^
Admittedly, it gets problematic though if you have two people who aren't native speakers trying to communicate, that was were my trouble was seated.

I have to say though, I am pretty impressed at your lingual diversity.^^
After all, so far, not too many of my English speaking net friends have given me much reason to break with the prejudice concerning Englishmen / Americans and the study of foreign languages... ^^ ()

Sound bite is a weird American idiom for distilling whole trains of thoughts into small, easily understood, but somewhat trivial statements that make for good television commercials. Political commercials, in particular, are bad about condensing complex issues into a "sound bite". Instant messaging can be like that, as well, which is one of the reasons that they can be misunderstood more easily than verbal communication.

I think your claim is pretty valid, too; English's lack of structure makes it pretty easy to abuse, but also pretty easy to do creative things with. I like to talk to non-native speakers, because I love to hear how their language patterns come across in English. That sounds like where your issue was coming from too: Asian grammar patterns, and say, Eastern European patterns will be very different. I'd think that with your native German you'd have a big advantage over most.. most of the things in English that are stupid come from well-intentioned Englishmen trying to Latinise our grammar... but if you think about it from a Germanic language point of view, English is great.

My lingual diversity is nothing to shout about, though I thank you for the compliment. It's MUCH harder to learn foreign languages here because the way we teach it is so substandard. My grandmother spoke German-only, and I spoke it just as well until my teens, after she'd been dead a few years.. but I lost it from lack of practise. During that time, I studied Spanish for six years... and the teachers I had never moved us to using preterite or other tenses. They would start all over, every year. I don't think my example is all that different from most. The reason I learned the Esperanto stuff was to give myself confidence. I figured if I rolled with something easy and very regular, I could get my language learning brain cells in better shape, and apply them to "real" languages. It was my bridge to starting the Italian... but again.. I need to find folks to practice with. I should stop bucking the trend and try my hand at Japanese since it's the furry flavor of the moment.

Hmh, okay, I think I rather want to avoid sound bite like RP from that description.^.~
I always try to give a messenger the same amount of detail which would go into a phone conversation (hey, it is pretty much like that anyway, or?^^), so sometimes, the extremely reduced style of writing in a chat puts me into a bit of trouble... ^^ ()
Heh, I guess, for me electronical communication is, overall, still pretty much a digitalized version of its non electronic predecessors, I don't much like the today standard of extreme brevity many people adapt.

Hmh, you love to hear our language patterns coming acorss in English you say...
I cannot help thinking that this sounds a little sadistic...^^
Well, to be fair, English is more or less easy for most people within the Indo European language group. There is more overlap with languages like Danish or Dutch, a bit less with German and loads of loan words from Latin which are easy for people speaking Romanic languages.
When you go to more isolated languages like the Finnish or Hungarian, or straight to East Asia, the ease of learning English ends of course...
I just have to think of all the Japanese guys here for example who have great trouble with English.. ^^ ()

Hmh, well, if you ever want to fresh up your German, feel free to ask me.^^
I always planned to pick up on my Italian (I only learned a bit during my middle school time... ^^ ()) or start Spanish once I have reached a firmer ground with Japanese as well... ^^ ()
Italian and Russian are both languages I know a few bits of still but am hardly sufficently capable of speaking to get any real conversation or stuff like that going...
Yes, so, even when counting every language I know bits of, you still seem to be better of than me.^^

When you try japanese, well, good luck, but be warned, it is pretty hard for English speakers (and Gemrans^^) since the whole structure is very foreign to our lingual concepts and, loanwords aside, there isn't really a bridge to connect words from one language to the other. Much unlike German and English, which have loads of words that are very much alike, both in their pronounciation and more importantly even their use. In Japanese, you will have to be careful however not to make n incorrect jump from one meaning of a word to the other, meanings are grouped entirely different and soemtimes in a pattern that, to us, seems very strange.^^