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What gets you invested in a playthrough/want to read one?


PincerClaw420

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Pictures. If you lack the pictures, I lack the ability to understand. But really, most importantly I like when the characters feels real and when the plot doesn’t linger for too long. And no melodrama. I feel that if a story is good, it won’t need melodrama to appeal to emotions. It just will naturally. What about you?

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8 minutes ago, Applesauce said:

Pictures. If you lack the pictures, I lack the ability to understand. But really, most importantly I like when the characters feels real and when the plot doesn’t linger for too long. And no melodrama. I feel that if a story is good, it won’t need melodrama to appeal to emotions. It just will naturally. What about you?

Noted. I agree with you on pictures helping me understand, but if a playthrough has no pictures but good descriptions, I'll certainly continue reading. Your other points I also agree with. As for my own thoughts, I always like it when there's a bit of mystery involved, along with natural/colorful descriptions and dialogue. (LAL does this really well!) In reality though, as long as the playthrough's story driven, I'll probably read it. I think I stated some of my other opinions on Sky's Queendom Playthrough when they asked for thoughts, so I won't be writing an entire essay here.

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Character relationships and interactions. I don't like reading walls of text in english, but if it has good formatting, I'll give it a go. And yes, pictures are important. I'm better at remembering nichelings by looks than names

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Pictures,

Pictures

Pictures

PICTURES

I have ADD, and that makes it hard for me to focus on certain things, but if there's something I can look at that will illustrate it for me, I really want to read whatever wall of text you throw at me.

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If it only has a few characters at the beginning. I physically can't start a story where there are like ten different nichelings because I need time to get accustomed to characters (especially with names and also looks). 

Also, the text needs good formating, else it gets overwhelming for me. I like pictures a lot, too. 

Most important is that I can build a relation to the characters and get to know them. Thats why I like it when there's only a few at the beginning, because then you can really focus on them.

I also think that character developement is important - I could probably read a story that plays on an easy island and has zero predators, sickness or murder. As long as the characters are compelling and the dynamics are interesting I will love it (might even attempt doing that once I get out of school and have some more free time Once I finish this year I take a break because 12 years of school are exhausting)

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17 minutes ago, mhiahia said:

If it only has a few characters at the beginning. I physically can't start a story where there are like ten different nichelings because I need time to get accustomed to characters (especially with names and also looks). 

Also, the text needs good formating, else it gets overwhelming for me. I like pictures a lot, too. 

Most important is that I can build a relation to the characters and get to know them. Thats why I like it when there's only a few at the beginning, because then you can really focus on them.

I also think that character developement is important - I could probably read a story that plays on an easy island and has zero predators, sickness or murder. As long as the characters are compelling and the dynamics are interesting I will love it (might even attempt doing that once I get out of school and have some more free time Once I finish this year I take a break because 12 years of school are exhausting)

Exactly my thoughts! Especially for the multiple nichelings at the start, one of the reasons why BIL, LAL and TCQ are some of my favourite playthroughs.

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Long walls of text, and pictures'

there needs to be pictures or I'm just not going to read it

also long walls of text, I hate them. There just so annoying and it's hard for me to read them if it's not in the right formatting.

Maybe put long walls of texts at the start or end, but no where else  

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Like a lot of other people, characters are one of my favorite parts of storytelling, and playthroughs are no different. I hate it when characters are one-dimensional and lack any sort of humanity (BIL had a serious problem with this-which is why I've been spending the last two months coming up with more in depth personalities for every named character, which I'll get out there soon since I discontinued the playthrough and still feel bad about it dyghi)

I've definitely gotten a lot better at writing in my newer playthroughs, both story-telling wise and actual grammar and stuff. There are characters that I focus on more than others, either because they're really fun to write or writing from their perspective helps me (and hopefully other people) understand them better. cough Pocky coUGH

I can live without screenshots (mostly because my friend forgets them a lot in her playthroughs love ya Foxy), but it's definitely nice to have faces to attach to names. (I lost all of my screenshots when my laptop broke, so I've been writing the next few chapters of IL without them-oops?)

Also the 'long walls of text thing' is why I format things kinda weird in my playthroughs-I can't stand reading something that has few to none paragraph breaks, specially if there's a number tossed in there somewhere? Yeah, uh, I'm gone. 

Annddd character interactions-I'm not too great at those either, but I try to make them at least a little interesting 🤷‍♂️

 

(sorry that this was long, I'm sick today and I wanted to get this all out there before my brain starts frying)

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Good characters and relationships. If there's large blocks of text, I skip it. Same with long periods of dialogue. Pictures help break it up. Shorter entries also help because I fell like I can more easily read a little bit and read the rest later than if there's a very long post. However, too many short entries at once is bad as well. Also, ones that show every single detail can get boring. (Like, as much as I love Floo and Co., I tend to skim because there's too many entries and every detail is talked about. I just want to get to the important stuff.)

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Pretty much exactly like everyone elses. No long blocks of text-- though I can live through those, I just prefer not to.

It doesn't really matter to me whether or not it has screenshots or not because no books I've become invested in had illustrations, but if they're there, then that's nice.

Character interactions. It's like in Warrior Cats whe they have to swap POV's just to tell yo uwhat's going on in the other clans even though they have nothing to do with the main plot-- just, make your characters interact, or at least think about each other. 

Also, if a character acts one way at the start and suddenly acts another way halfway through, I need an explanation at least. At best some kind of journey of self discovery. 

I agree that character development is important, too. If a character is too complex right from the start, it's hard to believe that it's the same character. although sometimes i manage to hve issues with this. at least, in my opinion. But an empty slate of a character is no good, either.

One 'chapter' or post has to have new information. By that I mean no repetition - that's just something that I personally can't handle - and no unecessary details unless it's a portrayal of the character's personality through thoughts or for foreshadowing. Actually, that's just a story tip in general. Just a little note on that last one; I had to write the entire thing on my whiteboard and force it into words because my brain was going too fast for me to comprehend it properly in something other than images and colours. What is going on--

This is just a little kinda personal preference thing, but if I find wanderers that I don't think I can slot into the story - for example, there's an old melanistic female creature that I have nothing to do with in my Orniekis playthrough because she's old, but not as old as Pridukven was - I don't even try. I invite them in so that they're not wandering around and then use then to gather food so that my creatures don't starve to death in the middle of a plot point. 

I think that's all I have to say. Might come back to this if I get any other ideas and edit them into this reply.

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21 hours ago, Applesauce said:

Pictures. If you lack the pictures, I lack the ability to understand. But really, most importantly I like when the characters feels real and when the plot doesn’t linger for too long. And no melodrama. I feel that if a story is good, it won’t need melodrama to appeal to emotions. It just will naturally. What about you?

OH OH OH I can’t believe I missed this point. Originality. Even if it’s a playthrough that was inspired by a challenge or another playthrough it can still be very original in the way it’s written. (Also I love when there’s comedy. I know that trying to make people laugh can be kinda intimidating, but it feels great when you do it.)

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