Long or Short? Application Process!
-
@Pavel said in Long or Short? Application Process!:
Which isn’t something I deal with at work RL at all.
If I had a dollar for every required piece of documentation that didn’t actually help me at my job, I’d have retired to a nice estate a decade ago.
-
Gonna need some definitions of ‘long’ and ‘short.’
I think players should be able to get out of CG fairly quickly, within a day or two if they actually fill in their bit and it makes thematic sense, and I think pre-genned quick-start characters should generally be available. I also think there’s value in mocking up a BG to weed out major thematic misunderstandings or obvious issues, even if it’s not otherwise any guarantee of ‘quality.’
-
I liked the comic game apps that everybody wrote like Official Handbook entries but I know I’m like the only person who did; they didn’t at all make a difference in the quality of who got approved, and they scared off anybody who wasn’t super hardcore
-
Another factor to consider that I just remembered is that if a player is applying for a role that is of considerable IC power or will have a significant immediate impact on the current plots in the game, a lot of staff (rightly) require a more detailed and lengthy application (and sometimes an interview) to approve the character.
-
At the risk of sounding like I’m victim blaming, we also have to be willing to take “yes” for an answer. If staff explicitly say something like “If your background is more then N words, you’re probably going into more detail than we really need,” and I proceed to write a background that’s 5N words in length … that’s not something staff can fix.
-
Honestly, these days, as far as backgrounds or mechanical explanatory notes or whatever other stuff a game might want… just give me a questionnaire.
-
This post is deleted! -
@Autumn said in Long or Short? Application Process!:
At the risk of sounding like I’m victim blaming, we also have to be willing to take “yes” for an answer. If staff explicitly say something like “If your background is more then N words, you’re probably going into more detail than we really need,” and I proceed to write a background that’s 5N words in length … that’s not something staff can fix.
idk who the victim being blamed in here is — players being blamed for writing more BG than they need? but anyways yeah this is very true and frustrating when it happens. when a game has a maximum word count for BGs, it means that they literally do not need that level of detail and aren’t interested in reading it. i’ve definitely been a part of sending back apps that went over the cap.
-
If I have to apply, I’m already gone.
-
i don’t play games to do homework and, while i have held my nose a few times, it’s not been an experience I’ve found pleasant. A short bit indicating understanding of a roster or theme is one thing, but my characters bloom into life as I play them. Writing a massive backstory that will be retconned into who my character actually ends up being is a waste of time for everyone involved.
