I agree fully with Louis here, sandboxing and casual; with the difference that we (not the people... - the Rezzonico family) work with a historically accurate framework and take personal liberties in the details.
Over the years I think I have tried most forms of roleplay in SL, but the combination above works best for me. Something to do and you can step in and out without much trouble, picking it up as you go along. It is the most relaxed way and ideal for a daily roleplay setting.
Perhaps it is also best described as the least antagonizing for me, although that would imply that I hate roleplay. I do not - otherwise I wouldn't have lasted for so long. At the risk of sounding like old Cato: The courts were often an aggravating trial of endurance for me with the all-or-nothing-at-all-system. Either full blown event mode, where you need to keep up in a crowd, as well as plow your way through lag quicksand. Often with a scripted roleplay that nearly always failed, not only because of said lag and the subsequent recurrent crashes making key players just giving up halfway. I think we could have done a lot about it by setting limits to apparel, but everyone just liked it a little too much to walk around bedecked in prims and scripts. By the other end, the nothing-at-all, I mean the empty sims - no one around to do a regular rp that would actually develop a character and show some imagination or group bonding. It made it virtually impossible (no pun intended) to actually build up something. And what was going around often didn't surpass the style of copying films and even sitcoms. Although I can most certainly appreciate a good laugh, it does get old quickly when some duchesse repeats the same silly characteristics and quotes by the Comtesse de Vache [Let Them Eat Cake, French & Saunders] time and again; especially when that same person is a highly entitled twit with little clue about actual history - but that as a side note. *Cato exit*
Places with a casual, more daily roleplay, like we currently have in the majority are welcoming and therefore far less scary to new people. They can join in easily. The only down side may be that it does require more perseverance to actually make it work, because of a lack of strict structure. Still, when you do get settled in it is a far more enjoyable way of roleplay for most people. I do think we could do more in regards to settling more ongoing daily roleplay, as mostly we do tend to just mind our own business and interact only actively with friends and neighbours.
Para-rp is just not for me. I either get bored waiting, or I come across a self-centered novel writer that reminds me why I do not care for it. My own sister, however, tries to interest me for GoT every now and then. She's really good at it and swears by the structure. She has good arguments, like the posting order that creates clarity and gives time for each player to think over everything instead of jumping to the next line. But I just do not care for the endless emoting and descriptions of the weather and fluttering dusty fluff in the corner of the room.
My main anecdote for rejecting it is that some years ago I was rp'ing in such a place and I got entangled in a scene with some guy who literally took his turns (and for well over an hour) not interacting but just contemplating the glass of wine in front of him. In the end I made by exit by standing up, taking his glass, emptying his glass, and throwing the glass into the fireplace with the words: 'Here, let me help you, you clearly have trouble with it.' I know it was bad form, but ever since then I steered away from para as much as I could.
PS: There's also the problem that everyone wants to be on the top of the food chain and no one wants to be a peasant (because why would you want to be treated like dirt on a daily basis) - hm... Gor?
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Abbondio Rezzonico
Banker, Merchant & Vintner
@ Rocca Sorrentina
updated by @abbondio-rezzonico: 06 May 2019 06:09:31PM