The Five Hundred Word Count

      As the members of the RPG forum I visited grew older, the need to maintain artistic integrity in the RPGs began to grow. The solution came in the form of having the ability to institute a word count on all forum based RPG posts. Much as I discussed in the previous post with sexual situations, having a word count has its own advantages and disadvantages. In the following post we will explore each, to help you make a thoughtful decision when it comes to instituting such a word count.
   
      As we have discussed before, RPGs are about the group continuing one large story, each post building on the narrative in the player's own unique way. However posts that are only a few sentences do not add much if anything to the overall narrative, and only serve to restrict or hold the other players back as they are forced to pick up the slack. To prevent this from happening, a word count can be established at the opening of the RPG, telling players that their posts must reach the proximity of a certain word limit or they can find themselves booted out of the RPG. On its face such a thing seems to be the perfect tool to push players to be valuable contributors to the story, but that does not mean the word count is without fault.

       One of the largest problems to crop up when using the word count is that it disproportionately hurts younger and newer players. There are those that may find such a large word limit a daunting task in post after post, or may wish to leave a small foot print to start off with in hopes of gaining confidence in their writing as they go on. The RPG creator must always be on the watch for new players who join, and may wish to waive the rule for some players for a time and gradually introduce a word count on them as the story goes along. Another problem that will undoubtedly crop up and may make the RPG completely unplayable is if the RPG denies godmodding but has a word count on it.  Godmodding is a term given to RPG players in which the player writes dialogue and actions for another character in their post.  One example of this would be to write a full conversation between two characters into one post. Not allowing this, while having a word count will have writers struggling to fill each post with material, while only having a sentence or two of dialogue in each post. For more detail on godmodding I will go more in depth into it, in the next post.

       Many experienced writers may find themselves comfortable using a word count of five hundred words or more, and in a forum of experienced writers very few problems should emerge. However all RPG creators and writers should be aware of who is playing, and how to possibly adjust the rules to provide a fun and entertaining experience for all.