(09-21-2015, 09:49 AM)Gegenji Wrote: I'm still of the mind that folks shouldn't have to worry overmuch about the tense as long as the base concept gets across. RP is, in my mind, supposed to be fun and interactive and enjoyable for all those involved. If you get too wound up on the minor details like proper tense usage and punctuation and all that, then I feel that detracts from the enjoyment.
If someone wants to imply an unknown by using a future tense, is that really such a bad thing? Is anyone's RP really stymied by someone saying that they would pull out a book rather than just pulling the book out? Events may be "happening" so that present tense is the "correct" tense to be in, but is that really a big deal?
There is obviously a difference between
1.) Doug ate the bagel
2.) Doug is eating the bagel; and
3.) Doug would eat the bagel
But, as has been shown, each one can be interrupted in some fashion. Even if it requires, in a sense, a mild bit of "retconning" for the sake of RP. Doug may have ate the bagel, but if someone states that "a couple bites in" or "just as his teeth break its crisp surface" they are still acknowledging that Doug was in the act of eating the bagel and is attempting to have something happen during it. A sort of forcing into a present tense (or even future, if it kept him from eating the bagel at all) that effectively changes the flow of events, if you will, for the sake of RP.
And if Doug's player doesn't mind that someone has interrupted his eating of his bagel, regardless of the tense it was presented in, is there any harm?
In the case of eating a bagel, it likely doesn't make a difference. Â Most of this doesn't until a certain kind of context.
This format was originally created for freestyle RP on IMs and forums. Â Tabletop games tend to have systems for combat, and in fact, some of these made it over (some well-structured threads had dice emulators, DMs, etc.). Â Freestyle open RP didn't have that. Â There was a mechanical version on IMs called quicktype (where someone would declare an action, an impartial third party would type a nine word sentence, then both players would try to type it as fast as possible; least mistakes won, ties were settled by who posted faster).
However, the de facto standard of freestyle RP combat was the "tactical checkmate". Â In it, essentially, people declared actions and reactions until someone couldn't weasel their way out of getting hit (if it stretched too far, people could call a tactical checkmate, because you can't bend your back completely over without some serious backstory, for example). Â And for tactical checkmate combat (and later, for pretty much everything) the present tense with future conditional was the way you learned to type.
In that example I gave above, action locking was usually what got you killed. Â Ziggy could draw his sword and cut at Ignacius's elbow as he stepped to the side. Â If Ignacius is trying to cut off Ziggy's head, he has no exit, he is still trying to cut off Ziggy's head even if Ziggy is about to dismember him.
That's why there's so many "woulds" and future conditional verbs in a lot of old-school RPer's styles, even though that's not seen in many novels or short stories. Â An RPer, especially in some kind of contested action, tends to set a future conditional on a present action, saying Ignacius is drawing his sword and swinging, with the intention of hitting Ziggy's head if it's still in the area. Â However, in that wording, the swing can change and meet Ziggy's sword instead of Ziggy's head as soon as Ignacius reacts to the situation.
Tactical checkmating is still the de facto standard today if your character gets in a dust up with another character and it wasn't planned. Â However, FFXIV has a lot more DMs and dice rolls just in the community. Â The population is, at this point, getting a bit young to the point where some maybe started RPing in games instead of forum threads and IMers, so they've grown up with the tools around them.
In short, it's not necessary for any action (and most people don't care too much), but grammar suddenly can become a big deal if someone decides to take a swing at you and you don't have a dice setup beforehand.
That, and it's good RP courtesy, if such a thing exists anymore, to leave any contested action available for future reaction. Â If your character grabs a bottle of wine and pours it, trying to fill someone's cup, that person can't cover the cup and say no thank you. Â If your character begins to tip the bottle, intending to fill it (notably here, intending to fill it in the future, making it a conditional future tense), your character can stop before he pours wine all over her hand and the table.
