Quantity over quality...

I'm sure you've heard that line before. Every fed worth it's weight in taco's has made that claim. This debate has been going on forever, but has recently been discussed in one of the Feds I am in, the XOW. Roster members there claim that they prefer quality over quantity as well, but I'm not so sure they even realize what that really means. Some claim that a single superior RP does not deserve to win against multiple above-average yet lesser RP's because of the demonstrated consistent quality of the multiple RP's reflect a better RPer. I didn't agreed. I believe in the true meaning of Quality reigning over quantity and say that a single superior RP beats out multiple RP's each and every time. So, to put things in better perspectives I did a little research on the subject... a byproduct of my University years, when research projects were my life.

I selected 10 E-feds, 5 that have been open for 3 years or more and 5 that have only been open for less than a year. For the less than a year group I did "NOT" use feds that were branched off another fed, were feeder feds or were premade for a select group of ex-fed-mates to start up with. The younger feds were made up of rookie Rpers without much Fedding experience. The older Feds had roster members with years of experience, sometimes 10 years or more. So, that being said, here are the numbers:

OLDER FEDS

1........................ 168 lines ....... Weekly show ....... 1 RP average

2........................ 120 lines ....... Weekly show ....... 2 RP average

3........................ 126 lines ........ Bi-Weekly ........ 2 RP average

4........................ 133 lines ........ Bi-weekly ........ 2 RP average

5........................ 125 lines ....... Weekly show ....... 1 RP average

AVERAGE ===== 134 lines ................................... 1.6 RP average ...... 214.4 lines per RP period

LESS EXPERIENCED FEDS

1 ........................ 110 lines ..... Weekly ................. 2 RP average

2.......................... 40 lines ...... Weekly ................ 2.5 average

3.......................... 44 lines ...... Weekly ................ 3 RP average

4.......................... 63 lines ...... Weekly ................ 2 RP average

5.......................... 69 lines ...... Weekly ................ 2 RP average

AVERAGE ====== 65 Lines ................................... 2.3 RP average ...... 149.5 lines per RP period

XOW ....................... 53 lines ..... Bi-Weekly ...............

Quite the contrast wouldn't you say. Obvious differences stand right out when you put them on a screen like this, side by side. The older feds pack more words into their RP's, but less of them each RP period. Even the RP period is longer on average as well. Younger Feds put out more role-plays, but place less material into each. Something I did not keep track of stat wise but still worth mentioning is that the older Feds tended to have stable rosters with only a few additions here and there every couple of months or so. Older Feds tended to have roster members leave for personal reasons such as "new job"..."family time"... or "Burnt out". Younger feds tended to have more flare-ups and fights, with roster changes being because of more game-related reasons such as "no one understands my style"... "the judges don't know what a good RP is" or "I'm being screwed over each week". So it seems that quality is a very debatable subject that many can not agree upon, in younger Feds.

CONCLUSIONS: Let's talk quantity first. I guess that phrase depends on the age of the Fed you are in. Older feds, with experienced players put out more quantity of RP material and try to pack it into less RP's. Younger Feds put out more RP's per show but still put out about 50% less total material. Quantity is easy to see, easy to pick out and count. But it means different things to different levels of experience. Look around the net and you'll get a better idea of quantity, because although it changes from place to place it is always measureable.

As for quality, that remains in the hands of your Fed's judges. But experience should teach you what your judges are looking for after being in a Fed for awhile. And although quality is rather subjective, it seems to be an concern only with less experienced players. Experienced players seem to know when they've been bested in an RP duel. Players that do not have full confidence, which seems to be less experienced ones, tend to attempt more role-plays in order to assure themselves a chance at making an impression upon the judges, Fed and fellow roster members. More experienced players that are still playing after years of RP'ing have gone through this stage already and have come to the conclusion that their work is already quality stuff, thus the need for multiple RP's lessens.

So, getting back to the XOW example, which employs a 2 RP limit per biweekly RP period we are talking about 103 lines of material on average. So if a more experienced player, from one of the older Feds, joined up and put out just 1 RP, they would produce 134 lines on average. So if the XOW judges came to the conclusion that both players were equally skilled at writing RP's (quality), they may decide to consider quantity to see who the more consistnt RPer was. On one hand it's 2 RP's to 1 but the single RP has almost 1/3 more material than the XOW regular. Should this single RP win? Tricky, tricky isn't it. Not so cut and dry because if all you are doing is judging by quantity, 2 RP's beat 1, but that 1 RP has more material... so isn't that more quantity then? So unless you can all agree what level of quantity you are going by (total material or piecework) you can't really state that quantity is a good measure of RP’ing. Quality however is stand-alone, it has no limits and can't be broken down into measureable parts.

So how do you compare quality over quantity? You don't. Both are separate aspects of writing that should never be lumped together. One aspect is easy to see and judge, one is not. When it comes to quality, either you have it, or you don't. The Gettyburg Address, one of the most thought of political speeches of all-time, is a mere 10 sentences long. That was quality. And no quantity of above-average speeches by fellow US Presidents such as Ronald Reagan or Theodore Roosevelt has changed people's minds. Or mine.

So if you must pick one over the other in terms of RP consideration, I'd have to say...pick QUALITY.Why? Because quantity changes from place to place and has little impact when you look at the big picture. When people think of the great writers in history, they don't think of who wrote the most books or even those that churned out a lot of above-average ones... they remember and exalt the great writers by single pieces of work. A single literary wonder can cement your place in people's minds as a great writer, just like a single RP deserves to win you a match if it's above anything your opponent has put out... no matter how many of them that may be.

Toodles!