Oh, and if they ask why I'm ignoring them, I'll inform them it's because they ignored me.

How can someone make a mistake in a statement of age? Simply cut & paste the original phrase and replace the XXX with your name, age, etc. as requested.

The age statement HAS to be correct in the first communication with the GM to access an adult game. This is not the GM rules, it is a RPOL rule.

I also agree with Steelsmiter. Why should the GM be responsible for making sure that the applicant actually bothers to read the RTJ information if it is clear in an open thread in the game. If you are interested in the game, read the content and then apply properly. If the GM wants a writing sample then provide one, or anything else asked for. If you don't want to do it then don't apply. If you do and he doesn't respond then forget him ,move on to the next game and never apply to his games again.

Sure a nice polite and helpful reply to an RTJ is welcome, but if you can't be bothered to RTJ properly then why should the GM bother to reply. There is a big difference between 'sorry you didn't make the cut as I had 20 great RTJs for 6 PC slots' and 'sorry you are rejected as you didn't bother to even send it half the information I asked for'.

What you might have missed is that he's asking for more than the site requires. So someone could post an RPOL acceptable age statement and he'd ignore them.

I have two quotes within my standard requirements that clear that up. I've found that liars tend to slip up with bad math. There is literally no reason any individual can come up with for including a partial birthdate and age. I've had someone claim the risk of identity theft, and as far as I'm concerned, if you want to claim that as a reason, I'll be sure to PM you where you can stick your RTJ, because that reflects a lack of trust in me, and that's immediate cause for a banhammer.


And you did miss that the site asks that RTJs stay the same as the GM requested.


This message was last edited by the user at 06:23, Mon 14 July 2014.

a type-o I would imagine or they just paraphrased it.

The sight don't require a word for word, letter by letter response (don't think because I seen a LOT of different age statements from GMs), but a lot prefer it to be safe.

And you will find older people get there age wrong some times, a lot really. Because they don't keep track of it.... they don't want to, a lot of them it bothers them. Heck I'm in my early 30's and I don't like to keep track of my age and time in general... >.>

So getting your birth-date right and age wrong is VERY common

I used to be bothered about giving both my age and DOB in an RTJ, but I'm ok with it now.  Some GMs ask for both an age and year of birth just so they're covered in case a minor gets into an Adult game, which is one of the most serious violations on RPOL.

Also, if a GM posts requirements that you're not happy about, like an age statement for a Mature game, just don't RTJ to that game.  In the same way, if a GM makes a game Adult, and you don't like to give age information out online, then don't quibble with the GM about changing the rating.  There are more than enough non-adult games and games that only require an age and the statement that you can view adult material in your place of residence.  Some GMs are just extra careful, and that's ok.

Just a general rule of thumb:  if you're asked to provide an age and a DOB, make sure they match.  The reason behind age statements is to keep minors out of games, and if a player can't remember his or her age, that's a red flag.  =)
This message was last edited by the user at 06:25, Mon 14 July 2014.

I'll just go ahead and ignore this bit because I added the FAQ quote to my last post, probably after you responded. The FAQ post is certainly relevant to this issue.


People who do that are not people I want in my games.

Totally ninja'd you :D

In reply to elecgraystone (msg # 48):

Not missed at all. If the GM has asked for something in the RTJ then you should comply and provide it. If you don't want to then don't apply in the first place. The GM owns the game and so can set the rules, as long as they don't contravene RPOL rules. You, as a potential player, are free to ignore the game and find another one.



Exactly! Warning bells going off. If it is a genuine error then tough! Get it right first time...

Mad Mick: LOL I can't remember my age because it just never comes up in my life. It's a big deal when your young but now that I'm older it isn't something worth the time to keep track of it. Now my DOB I can rattle off without an issue. If someone quickly remembers their age it's actually a red flag that they are young not old. :P

steelsmiter: You can find someone with a first name and a DOB. Is it really unreasonable to not totally trust someone you just met on a website with your address? Myself, I couldn't care less because if someone is motivated enough they can track you down one way or the other but I can understand not wanting to easier.

Jarodemo: Yes it's totally up to the GM, I understand that. I also understand the other side too. It's the ignore part that bugs me. Myself, if I had an issue with a game I'd just ask instead of sending a RTJ after modifying it. But it sounds like he'd ignore that too.

I am not saying they can't remember there own age, that's just stupid. I'm saying they don't keep up with there age, it's all blurred together and they don't realize there birthday has passed or forget it's a new year.... simply slips there mind at the time because they prefer not to think about it. You would be amazed how much the brain can fool itself. Particularly about things it don't like and things it is use to seeing. We have built in defenses that our minds push things out that bother us. As for the other, well your brain can only handle so much at once... and it takes in a grate many times what it can actually handle, so anything redundant is ignored and assumed to be the same.

Anyway people make mistakes, ignoring them because they do is rather Juvenal. You made a rather blatant mistake in the interpretation of what i said that is even cleared up in the quote you made. If you don't tell people they have made a mistake they can't correct them and they won't improve anywhere near as much as if you would.

You are basically saying... I hate this, so I ignore it and pretend it isn't there rather than do anything about it.

Or least that's MY interpretation, which while may be somewhat true can't be enterly correct. People can't even be enterly accurate about there own views on things... so how can anyone else be.  Heck people are often more wrong about themselves than other people are about them. lol

No Azraile, I don't remember my age most times. I don't really celebrate birthdays and my family isn't around so it never comes up. I use an age calculator online if I need to make sure what it is. It just isn't important to me.

Actually the ease that an age calculator can be found makes requiring DOB as a check pretty dubious. I guess it'll filter out the young AND stupid though...

In reply to elecgraystone (msg # 55):

YES!!!   lol

Age never ever comes up, DOB.... anytime you talk to anyone that wants to confirm anything x.x to the point your rattling it of like a zombie trance even before they ask it.

And age checks are easier to get right than wrong, if they get it wrong it was a mistake....   anyone can just make up a date.   Half the time I go to a sight I just put like 1/1/19xx something a long time ago....  random crap because no one cares and it's just faster than entering anything accurate.  When it matters like some place like this I give accurate information, but just stuff with age blocks there just so they can't be sued?  eh... they don't really care and nether do I.

But here people can do the same thing and unless it's something questionable like 1/1/1991 you have no way of knowing.

So in all honesty I would be more trusting of someone who got there age check wrong the first time. It means it was a simple mistake. A person trying to fake one would put to much care into getting it right.

Eh but I over think things.... lol

EDIT

VERY true....

But it's required by law, and they have to take it very very very very seriously. As do the GMs if they want to run an adult game.

So you live with the means you have.

If everyone dose there part, the GMs and the site is free of responsibility if a kid lies. As long as they do everything possible to weed them out.
This message was last edited by the user at 07:00, Mon 14 July 2014.

At the end of the day, how a GM responds, or doesn't respond, to any RtJ is entirely up to them.  Nobody has any right to tell them that the method they've found works best for them is wrong, any more than they have the right to tell anybody else that their method is wrong.

As for my views on the original post:

But that's the only information I have to go on.  If I have six places, and ten RtJ's, then I'm going to favour the six that look best straight off the bat.

Same here.  Usually have more RtJs than places, so tend to favour the most promising character concepts.  Since I usually give some idea of setting and/or acceptable characters, there really is no excuse for that elf ninja-space marine RtJ in my game set in Renaissance Florence, so if you sent that one in, then clearly you didn't read all that stuff I spent hours/days/weeks working on.  Bye.

Totally agree with this - there's no excuse for rudeness.  Never ignored an RtJ personally.

Sorry, but if the spelling and grammar are so bad in the RtJ that I can't actually understand what the person is trying to say (spelling I can usually handle, thanks to being a keen follower of LOL Cats, but using completely different words is another matter) then it's getting rejected immediately while I move on to read the RtJ's that I can actually understand.  If they can't create a legible RtJ, then I'm not going to give myself a headache trying to understand game posts written in the same "style".  While it's not the only thing I consider important, it is way up there with a lot of other stuff (but not as high as reading the RtJ information and proposing a character suitable for the game).

Have always given some information, not necessarily on the setting (because sometimes it's nice to surprise the players - no sense telling them that the game entitled "Happy Smiling Summer Camp Adventures!" is actually a deeply disturbing Lovecraftian horror story -  much better to let them discover that when the Whatelys are dragging them out of their bunks for the human sacrifice), but I will at least explain the sort of characters I will accept.  Which doesn't stop the occasional elf ninja-space marine showing up, but then I feel no guilt for rejecting them without a second chance.

Actually, no.  A surprisingly large number of them really are people just making stuff up off the top of their head (also known as: "lying about their age"), and admitting to it when asked.
This message was last edited by the user at 07:15, Mon 14 July 2014.

Depends whether you want to play my game.


That's wrong. Or at least for anyone with any level of attention to detail who can look over their RTJ, Look over my requirements, and connect dots. If someone doesn't have that level of attention to detail, I don't want them in my game.


You started a thread about things you hate. I said fine, here's the things I hate that you're doing. If you can't take it as the creator of the thread you shouldn't create the thread. I'll go ahead and say that yes indeed, your interpretation is entirely correct,
This message was last edited by the user at 07:08, Mon 14 July 2014.

In reply to Azraile (msg # 58):

You misunderstood. I'm saying age + DOB should only filter out the "young AND stupid". I totally understand they have to ask for it, just questioning the ability to determine a lie by comparing age + DOB.

Well I guess I won't play in your games, though if you at least respond and let me know that was your problem with my RTJ, then I could save us both trouble in the future by pretending your games don't exist. (cause I refuse to state my DOB on the internet in any form. I bank in person to avoid it even.)



You are assuming that what requirements you wrote mean the same thing to everyone else. There are plenty of times that the author of a sentence and the reader of a sentence have wildly different ideas of what that sentence means. In fact I'm in college right now and take all my essay questions and speak to a teacher to answer them, because my attempts at writing an answer always end up inadequate.

So while major things can be reasonably expected to not occur if the requirements are read (such as not submitting an elf when the game is humans only) there are still plenty of cases where the person could easily have thought you meant something else when they read the requirements.

Generally I find the best test to discover if someone read your requirements is to ask for a special text color for the RTJ. That is easy, simple, and even if they don't get the idea perfect, it will still be noticeable that they read that requirement and attempted to follow it.

I also get bugged when the RTJ is ignored, but I will either PM again to ask if I will get a response or forget it and move on. No sense getting stressed about it! :)

I try to do that but it irks me as I see the game sitting in my 'games I peruse'. I'd just like a short reply to let me know I can dump it off my list.

WOW.... really?  That's a huge supprize to me, kinda goes agenst common sense. You would think if they are trying to fake an age they would go through the trouble of making sure it's actually correct.


As for only being able to go off the RTJ.  Well I can't agree for that on one reason. It's lazy.  If you don't like the character how hard is it to tell them that, maybe explain why.  If don't have enough to judge them on in an RTJ other than there char, talk to them......  Just going, I hate your char... you suck, go away.  That's not a good way to handle a RTJ and that's what I am talking about.

Not that I've ever seen something quite like that, but I have ran into rather the same thing. I sent an RTJ that was NOTHING but a character, and they said I don't think YOU will fit into this game. That makes no sense, so I asked them what was wrong about the char and what kinda chars they were looking for. They just insisted they never answered and just ignored any contact after that.  There was nothing there to judge me on, save a char they didn't like.... one that I said was kinda out there and I wasn't sure on, but was something I wanted to try.


Not being able to understand some one is understandable, but what I am talking about is people who are just griping because you forget to punctuate a sentence or something isn't capitalized. Maybe 1/100th of your words are misspelled. The people that won't let you in unless every conversation, every transcript, every... everything with them, even totally informal, would get an A in a collage English class.

There is a RIDICULOUSLY number of people like this.  x.x  A lot of them see dyslexia and the like as just an excuse for the person to be lazy and that they are just marked that because they never tried.   Generally it's people who took a lot of collage English, ESPECIALLY English majors. As a heavy RPer and some one with a sever language disorder, I have dealt with it a long long long long time, and I am STILL supprized just how many people are a jerk about this... and ALL of them think it makes them better than you, and that you are stupid. Even when you explain something like n-dementinal sciences, how scientists are making things exists in two places at the same time on the macro scale and why that's a big deal, and memenomic theory to them and blow there mind.  They will just be speechless for a moment..... and then correct your spelling and grammar errors and laugh at you.

I know generally these are people you want to have nothing to do with, but some times they are a part of a very interesting setting or with people you like.

Not at all, it's practical.  If I have six places in the game, six good RtJ's, and one RtJ with a character that is never going to fit, then should I hold up the game on the off-chance that the player might eventually come up with a character who fits better?  Then tell one of the players who already created a good character that I'm not accepting them?

Or do I tell the player to create a new character, and then reject him anyway because his better character is still not as interesting as the other six?

Better, from my point of view, to run with the good characters I already have and tell the other player, "Sorry, game is full."

I have no problem letting people with dyslexia into a game, my own spelling isn't always perfect, but I do need to see that they are capable of producing a readable post, and are prepared to make that effort.

I'm not assuming anything of anyone, I'm simply stating that if:

"As an adult game requests to join must include:
I <username> I am xx years old, born xx/xx/xxxx and it is legal for me to view adult materials in my current residence."

means anything other than:

"As an adult game requests to join must include:
I <username> I am xx years old, born xx/xx/xxxx and it is legal for me to view adult materials in my current residence."

I don't want that person in my game. I will go so far as to ignore any RTJ that fails to include it. That's all.

Keep in mind that it's not just a grammar issue.  Sometimes the writing style of someone just doesn't mesh with what a GM is looking for.  Some RPers love purple prose, verbose descriptions, detailed descriptions of what's going through someone's mind in a second of combat.  I'm not really into that.  Also, if someone submits an entire wall of text, say 500 words in one paragraph, I'm not really going to be that enthusiastic about playing with that person unless the writing's compelling and interesting.

If writing really is an issue with a GM, I'd recommend checking out a good college English text book.  Look at guidelines for description and narration, or how to write dialog.  Strunk and White's Elements of Style is one place to start.  For instance, here's #16:  Use definite, specific, concrete language.

Compare "He showed satisfaction as he took possession of his well-earned reward" with "He grinned as he pocketed the coin."  The former is vague (Showed satisfaction?  Took possession?  Well-earned reward?), while the latter is clear and specific.  That's what I'm looking for in a game, whether I'm the GM or a player.  If I'm going to be playing with someone long-term, I want to be able to enjoy what they're writing and how they're writing.  A writer needn't be amazing, and we all have stories to tell.  We can learn things like how to be specific.

Other useful guidelines from Strunk & White include "Omit needless words," "Write with nouns and verbs" (not adjectives and adverbs), and "Do not overwrite."  The bits on style are quite good.  Anyway, that's just one example of guidelines.  Here's another guide to writing that takes material from a couple of different sources, including Strunk & White:  http://joshuasowin.com/archive...ide-to-writing-well/

A GM I play with looks for people who could make a C in a college writing class.  I think that's pretty reasonable, and if a particular player has trouble with that, there are plenty of games where the GMs aren't as picky.  RPOL doesn't categorize games based on the writing level of the players, and many GMs aren't really worried about it.  You can get a good feel for what the GM wants by checking out his or her games, and frequently, the GM will spell out exactly what they're looking for ("no lengthy posts," "2-3 paragraphs", "no one-liners").  Many times it's just a matter of matching up one's RP style with a compatible GM.  The main thing is to have fun, and to find other players that share the qualities you're looking for.  We have a large userbase here on RPOL, and there's a little something for everyone.  =)

Your not getting what I am saying.

I am talking about not giving people chances based off things.

I am not talking about sitting there and holding there hand and guiding them through making a char, no one expects a GM to do that unless they want to.

I am saying if they give you something you don't like, tell them you don't like it and why, that's it. If they go through the trouble of presenting you with something else, then look at it... they went through the trouble, it's the least you can do is see if you like the changes.

If you are telling some one what you don't want want and they keep showing you that again and again, don't bother with it!!! I don't expect anyone to do that!

But if they are showing progress and there is room for more in your game, and it is looking like they might work out, give the person a chance.



You don't even have to go that far.  Least give some one a second chance, talk to them, misunderstandings are a common thing over text mediums. Heck over any medium.

"One strike, your out" policy is what I don't agree with here.

That and the spelling thing....  seriously people.... some people can't help it, and some people who are not doing well, that is them having worked there butt off for years to get there.  Hard to imagine, I know, but it is! I use to be way way way worse.  I would say I have made a good 3~500%+ improvement over a decade, that is not something many people could say... unless you know they just started at something.

So just think.... take away spell check (I have to check about 5~10 words a paragraph depending on size) and make my spelling and grammar 3~5 times worse.

o.o

Yah I've worked hard on it. So do other people with the same problems.

Azraile, you have to understand that it's the GM's game. If something in your post turns them off they don't need another reason to give it a pass. That really isn't a bad thing. I find games with nitpicky rules and RTJ's are the less likely to be a good fit for me. For instance, I see "must post in this tense" and I'm gone.

I don't even mind the "One strike, your out". If that's the way they want to be, that's fine. Again, I most likely wasn't a good fit. I just think a simple reply isn't too much to ask.