Frequency and Substance
There are no hard and fast rules as to when and what you should post (other than within the rules of RPOL itself). My hope is that your interest in the game keeps you posting as often as possible, but I also realize that this is a leisurely past-time and real life is number one in all ways. Sometimes it is necessary to take a week off (vacations are no place to be typing away madly at a phone, tablet, etc.) or longer – say a few months until life calms back down. My only request is that if you need to miss significant time – and it’s no one’s business what’s going on unless you choose to make it so – and need a break from the game, give me a heads up at least if not those others we’re playing with. This allows for us to gracefully (and in some cases dramatically) exit the character from the plot. This could be a permanent exit or a temporary exit while you get life to calm its ugly self down. This goes a long way for the experience and enjoyment (or E&E) of everyone involved, including yourself.
My frequency goal is to post at least once per day to the thread that contains the main plot and as often as I can to any threads that offer characters their own subplots. Naturally my job is to keep the entire story moving and sometimes I fail at it just like any other human being. I hope your frequency goal is similar, but some days there are no actions or words your character needs to say. Maybe the OOC thread is all you do just to say hi and talk about RL stuff, and I’ll count that as a win.
Substance is important and should be addressed a little. A lot can be said with a little, but sometimes you need to say more and that is great. My high school English teacher had a saying and I’ll share it with you here “Essays should be like a woman’s skirt: long enough to cover the subject but short enough to draw attention”. Take from that what you will.
Player Oversight
Sometimes we get in a hurry to read a post or two and we miss something important or that some other character was speaking to ours. There is certainly a place in the game for ignoring another person’s character, as it is in RL. However, if your character is purposefully ignoring another or you feel that you are being ignored, address it in the OOC thread or a PM to that player before reacting unfavorably in character. Everyone makes mistakes and I would hate for the medium we are playing in to be the cause of some animosity between characters in game.