The Academy seemed like such a good idea. It was designed to help people who have no experience with RPing to get up to speed. Perhaps people were turned off by the concept that "grammar" was a big part of it? I'm not sure. While I have been known for being a grammar nazi in the past, I honestly don't care if the grammar is perfect. On the other hand, the basics are important:

  • Proper use of paragraphs - Refusing to use line breaks makes text hard to read, as it is hard to keep track of where you are.
  • Basic sentence structure - You don't have to write graduate-level sentences, but proper use of basic grammar is a must. It is hard to read a sentence that never ends or sentences with no punctuation. That is typically why we asked people to use something like MS Word. It's grammar check isn't stellar, but it will make your sentences readable without people pulling their hair out.
  • Proper use of quoting - This isn't as important as the other two, but definitely improves readability. If a different character starts speaking, that's a new paragraph!


Other than those, I won't rag on someone unless it is a competion that has grammar as a requirement. In such a case, furthur training would be provided.

Also, "casual writing" is vague. My idea of casual writing is knocking out a chapter every week in a book. Perhaps the other definition should be called Relaxed Rules RolePlay? Then we can have Strict Rules Roleplay. Then we can have an overview of what that means. If you are in a Strict Rules Roleplay, you cannot use astericks, must use proper punctuation/sentence structure/paragraph structure/etc. Just a thought.