7
Dispatch → Meta → Gameplay
by 
The Federal Republic of Zhousheng.
.
255 reads.
SO YOU WANT TO: USE THE RMB
It is important to understand, that no matter the content of the message, the lenght and general formatting alone may decide how people react to it or if they react at all.
If your message is rather just two sentences, with no headline, no link to a dispatch and no real backstory, more realistic players would not react to it, as they do not have enough information to form a reasonable response. Therefore, even if you can sum up the message in one sentence, add some more information to it to make it about one paragraph and at least add a headline to it, it would make miracles.
Secondary, if your message is extensively long, it may actually be more reasonable if you include the full text, along with maybe some more images in a dispatch or a factbook and link it along with a shortened version of the same message. There is not a clear boundary where the message is too long, but if you notice that the number of paragraphs is nearing or has crossed ten, please consider creating a seperate dispatch or hiding it in a spoiler collapsible list.
Technically, any post in the RMB can be fitted into three cathegories. Those cathegories are:
In-character posts (IC)
Any post in theis cathegory is effectively an equivalent of the nation calling a press conference and announcing it to the world, or some important civil figure doing so for example in the news or in a public speech. No matter the context, it is presented through the eyes of somebody or through the in-character stand of the agency it is supposed to represent. Those posts may not be effectively always correct, as may include false information, both deliberately or due to the lack of knowledge of the figure giving such an information. Messages like those should be generally welcomed unless very rare cases (such as deliberate misinformations, in which case there should be an OOC note stating that this is a IC muddying of waters, or if they are IC praising crimes against humanity, war crimes, or any other horrific acts). It doesn't need to be politics, but it may also be a classical newsreel or some teaser for a fictional book/movie/series/song etc.Out-of-character posts (OOC)
Those posts, at least at the time of writing, are as common as the in-character posts. Those posts are written from the perspective of the player, not a country or some figure in the country. Those posts may be OOC comments on a diplomatic situations, such as "I feel like we should do something about XXXX's expansionism", where it is not said as a governmental policy but rather a out-of-the-lore complaint aimed on the country, or it may be worded as "I am considering that with my current lore, I might have been a historical colony of a foreign empire. Was there such an Empire for which it would make sense to control my nation between 1720 and 1947?.
Those posts include metainformation which should NOT be used in-character. Such an action is called "
metagaming" and effectively kills the suspense of the situation, because it would imply for countries to know everything. Posts from this cathegory, which may be confused with the IC posts, should be labeled with a note, that the post was written out-of-character. The best way to reach it is by adding a "OOC:" to the section where the OOC part begins and writing it in italics or hiding it in a spoiler labeled as "OOC".Mixed IC-OOC posts
Those posts, as the time of writing, are the most common type of posts. Those posts combine the two previous cathegories, adding a IC presenting of a situation and adding an OOC information on what is happening behind the scene. This may include for example the combination of a politician giving a speech about how is their country doing well economically or about how the foreign nation has apologized over a scandal, followed by a OOC note, stating that the foreign nation has not apologized and that the politician has been misinformed/lying.Meta posts (Meta)
Meta posts are posts, which do not have anything in common with the game and therefore are the only type of posts, which are actively disruptive to the communication in the RMB and should be lowered to minimum. Some of those posts are innocent, such as the first "hello" message of newcomers, or mods poiting out if country has violated a certain rule or explaining why their roleplay has been non-canonised or directing them to the RP Guide, others, however, such as people talking about totally unrelated things (real life politics, real life relations etc.) are actively disruptive to the game itself and therefore should be lowered to the absolutely necessary minimum. (There are special channels dedicated to unrelated discussion inAnterian Discord)
The RMB is a public chat that can be seen by the whole of region and as such should be used only for messages that either do not have a direct recipient, messages which may have large ripple effects on the whole region or messages which are directed to the larger audience.
If you want to have a trade deal with a certain country, you can send them a telegram, where only they see it. If the message is directed only on a bunch (or possible even one) person, you can solve that through telegrams, without spamming the RMB.
If you want to condemn a country for a thing they did (IC), make sure you post it only in case others may react to it. If it is only a pointless friction between you and the condemned country to which others cannot realistically respond to, keep it in telegrams.
To foreign learners and natives alike, English can be sometimes tricky. For the purpose of communication, you should try to result to a level of english, which can still be understandable, but is professional to an extent, that it can be used for the project you are doing.
Before you post your message, check your grammar, your sentences and your spellings. Even if you have a really cool idea, it can be executed terribly if it is written wrong. One misspell or forgotten coma may annoy the optional grammatical maniac, but if too many things are wrong with the text, be it not breaking it down into paragraphs, too many misspelled words, too many grammatical rules broken or problems with vocabulary, the text becomes unreadable.
Despite minor mistakes in coma placement, the text is understandable.
This message is on the lower boundary of acceptable posts, as it is highly misspelled.
Example: Shakespearan high english:
Example: Shakespearan high english with at the time used characters:
Example of extremely misspelled language:
This should go without saying, but if you notice something is wrong with your old message, or if you want to note few shorter non-related messages, you can merge them into a single message, so it doesn't spam the RMB.
If you, for example, want to say, that a man was arrested in your capital for running over a cyclist, and then that the government decided to raise tariffs on a foreign country, and neither of those messages is a part of larger happening are not large enough to stand on their own, you can merge them into one single message, making it a newsreel.
If somebody responds to your message, you do not need to respond with "OK". You can just like their reply and it would hammer the point to the same extent.
