Standards can be a difficult thing to pin down. Different places, as you've said, seem to uphold different values. There are RPs in the HPverse, which is pretty much the only place I RP in, which are canon based, which I think can be a difficult one to work with, simply because of the constraints of canon, and the way that people interpret characters in different ways, even when all the evidence you need is there.
I actually run an RP (Sonora Academy (geocities.com/sonora_academy), check it out if you like. We're taking applications at the moment) that takes as a rule that none of the 'modern day' happenings of the Harry Potter books occured. Harry doesn't exist, Snape doesn't exist, Voldemort, none of them. I actually think this is a better way to do things, as it means that you can have a fresh set of people wandering around in a fictional universe, obeying the same sort of rules (magic, wands, international statues about secrecy etc) without having to worry about keeping everything canon.
While not all the people RPing at the site are accomplished and polished at writing, spelling and the like, we do have standards about length of posts, not writing for others, and trying to keep characters realistic. The writers with problems with their spelling and grammar tend to improve as time goes on (with encouragement and aid from others around them) and I'm really proud of how a much better a good many of them have managed to get. I think that RPing, at a site that promotes good spelling and grammar as standards to aspire to, helps aspiring writers hone their skills.
As for bad ettiquette, Mary Sue type characters are high on my list there along with writers who ignore the rules and things they are told by the site staff as well as staff who abuse their position. Talking badly about one RPer to another... happens. Sometimes its necessary, to discuss what to do if you've got a problematic person around. General b*tching isn't really looked highly upon though, and neither is writing things above the site rating (don't even get me started on the first year student who somehow 'stumbled' upon a copy of a wizarding Karma Sutra in the school library a while back).
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timeasmymeasure
no subject
Date: 2006-10-20 02:09 pm (UTC)I actually run an RP (Sonora Academy (geocities.com/sonora_academy), check it out if you like. We're taking applications at the moment) that takes as a rule that none of the 'modern day' happenings of the Harry Potter books occured. Harry doesn't exist, Snape doesn't exist, Voldemort, none of them. I actually think this is a better way to do things, as it means that you can have a fresh set of people wandering around in a fictional universe, obeying the same sort of rules (magic, wands, international statues about secrecy etc) without having to worry about keeping everything canon.
While not all the people RPing at the site are accomplished and polished at writing, spelling and the like, we do have standards about length of posts, not writing for others, and trying to keep characters realistic. The writers with problems with their spelling and grammar tend to improve as time goes on (with encouragement and aid from others around them) and I'm really proud of how a much better a good many of them have managed to get. I think that RPing, at a site that promotes good spelling and grammar as standards to aspire to, helps aspiring writers hone their skills.
As for bad ettiquette, Mary Sue type characters are high on my list there along with writers who ignore the rules and things they are told by the site staff as well as staff who abuse their position. Talking badly about one RPer to another... happens. Sometimes its necessary, to discuss what to do if you've got a problematic person around. General b*tching isn't really looked highly upon though, and neither is writing things above the site rating (don't even get me started on the first year student who somehow 'stumbled' upon a copy of a wizarding Karma Sutra in the school library a while back).