Writer Instagram-face of Roleplay (The AI talk)

[War Marshal Helix]

My two cents? Sure. I'll be that hipster in the original post. I've never used it, never will use it. I don't think it should be banned, but you'll never catch me at it. Writing is self-expression, and personally I'd rather write with somebody sporting less-than-perfect writing skills than with a computer.

Obvious caveat, I'll be the last one to tell anybody else what to do. This is your hobby, your free time, one should write in whatever fashion one wants. Doesn't mean I'll ever understand the mindset personally.

TL;DR agree pretty much entirely with Jonyna Si , who articulated my thoughts pretty much to the letter better than I have here.

 

[Drystan Creed]

I use it as a grammar check and research tool, since I do use semi-realism in my analogies and explanations. (One notable example was when I described a five strike technique for a post and it managed to catch that I only stated four body parts that were struck in the next sentence. Very handy in catching minute inconsistencies)

Its also a good way to bounce ideas off. There have been many times where I asked it if it was plausible to do something in a post and it has shut me down. This was definitely for the better given the content I write and where I get my inspirations from. ("Hey chatgpt, would it be too absurd if I had Drystan shift his brain to avoid a blaster bolt going through his skull? Oh ok but what if I said I used the FORCE? Oh ok.")

I don't think strictly AI generated outputs for me are useful since I tend to write really wild stuff in my posts. For example, catching lightning bolts in a storm with your lightsaber to amplify your attack, or doing a 0-inch punch to shatter someone's helmet and knock them out, (Yes Drystan did these, yes I know its based.)

Another example was when I was talking about how babies use imitation to learn about their surroundings and made the connection that Drystan was a big baby for continuing to rely on imitation. (This is the tldr, but I don't think AI would have been able to make that connection for me and inject it into a post if i asked it to.)

As for other people using it. I don't really care. As long as your posts are coherent and interesting to read, you're cool with me. (This also applies to just posts in general)

(Side Note: I thought the "Stars" thing was an actual in-universe expression since I've seen it used here and there so I started including it to be more immersive in my character's dialogue. LOL)

 

[Aadihr Lidos]

I've noticed the same patterns in other posts, but I hold nothing against them as I likely have used ChatGPT as more of a crutch than they have.

I do not considered myself a writer.

I joined as an outsider to the hobby from a tabletop roleplaying / tangentially related theater background. AI usage has made this hobby accessible for me, and ultimately lowers the barrier of entry for more people, at the cost of the issues others have mentioned.

Spoiler: Yap yap tirade/self-report

I post exclusively from my phone, and have no text based/forum writing RP experience before chaos.
I've created tone and style documents from my samples to feed to each AI chat, have chatGPT project folders separated by character, and even used the deep research function to search the Wookiepedia for existing precedent. I've bounced ideas off of ChatGPT to consider different angles of an idea that I felt was stale. I've used it to format BBCode and divs, asked it about etiquette in hyper specific instances, and yes, fell back on it when I felt I had nothing to contribute to a thread that was held up by me.

Also, Em-dashes on mobile are just holding down "-" on the keyboard and selecting like you would an accent mark, so I will continue to shamelessly use them.

Also I'm with Drystan Creed on the Stars thing I thought it was a canon thing from seeing it around.

It's easier for me to modify what I know I don't like than to start from a blank page.
It's more like giving loose stage directions and refining the actor's instinct on their first take. I'm not clever with wordplay. I usually have a bullet point list of what I want to see in a post, along with what emotional train of thought the character is experiencing, or a certain vibe I want to convey and don't have the words to do so.

I do feel like a fraud when my writing is complemented, but my focus is more on developing each character's vibe than individual posts.

Yes, the time spent setting up the prompts, editing, and refining could be used to simply write the post — but I am not a writing enthusiast, just an amateur roleplayer with intermittent downtime with my job and a mobile connection. I ultimately just have a gut feeling for how I want to respond and use AI to put it to words refine that feeling into something that hopefully conveys the emotional intent to the reader.

I don't blame others for using it as a tool or crutch, and I don't hold it against them if they don't want to 'RP with a chatbot'. I just simply could not participate without these tools, and can only hope that I have given each character enough thought and care in editing and prompting that—even if I'm not writing the specific prose of every part of my posts—the core of the character is preserved in the final delivery.

Afterthought Edit: Another thing – after editing everything to my liking, I will provide the "final draft" to the AI so it receives feedback on what I personally choose to omit/add/modify from what it drafted.

 

[Azurine Varek]

All that said - you can pry my em dashes and sets of three from my cold, dead, clammy hands.

This. 100%
I used to use normal dashes in the same way I use em dashes now until I learned I could easily find the em dash on mobile (which is what I mostly use because it's easier for me).


Here's my issue:
Yes, I can tell when other people use AI to write whole posts half the time. The other half I have no idea.

What makes it worse is that what people consider 'instantly AI' is literally how I've been writing my posts since 2017, long before I ever joined Chaos. I even started putting some of my hand written posts through an AI detector to see what it would say, and I was getting told for some of them that 35% of my post or more was "likely made by AI" and seeing that wrecked me. Not because I hate AI, I have a whole philosophy on it that I don't need to yap about right now, simply because of the fear that I might be seen as a cheater for doing the same types of patterns I've used for years, that I love useing, and worked so hard to develop well.

There is no foolproof way of finding out if something is AI. The idea of having what I put so much energy into that I can barely manage 2-5 posts in a day because I choose not to rely on AI to do more than grammar check me (I have dyslexia and my grammar is atrocious if I don’t put it through something) or get me over a really bad block by suggesting different paths forward reported on the regular because of that makes me so scared and kills so much of my joy.

I've seen what people are doing to artists who even have a smidge of what people have dubbed "AI style", so many of whom prove time and time again that they painted the thing just to keep getting hate and reported and so much else.

If that were to start to happen here, I would leave. Full stop. Because at that point, it's not the game I love anymore.

HOWEVER, I also tend to get disheartened when something I see in response to my posts follows a formatting pattern that I just don't find preferable myself. I have no idea if that pattern would be considered AI, but that being said I don't think we can blame AI for it. No one is going to like absolutely everyones style of writing, and it's perfectly okay to not write with those who's style is antithetical to what you like to read/need to see to be able to keep your joy going while still having respect for the other writer and their choices.

What is not okay is pulling out the "I don't like that style so it has to be AI and now I hate it AND have no respect for you" excuse because the only thing that will do is devolve into groups of bullies and posts reported/people banned who never even did anything wrong.


Anyway, that's my thoughts on it.

Edit: I too started using 'stars' as a replacement for certain words cause I got tired of the site automatically changing the curse I actually had there into something else when I didn't have time to come up with something better to replace it. I thought it was a good in universe replacement for when I need something in a pinch when I saw it used and I don't plan on stopping.

(I didn't put this one through a grammar check, so pardon me if my spelling mistakes are all over)

 

[Ran Serys]

Uhhhh... Has nobody ever watched The Terminator?

Jokes aside, I am not a fan of AI in creative spaces. Especially in creative community spaces! If you're on Chaos, you have community. Need a soundboard for your ideas? Chaos. Need help writing a post? Chaos. Need another descriptive word for your character? Chaos and/or a thesaurus. We don't need AI when we have each other. If you don't know that, I'm here to tell you.

If you know me, you know that I am very understanding, giving, and easygoing. This is one of the few hard stances I've ever taken in my life. If you're going to use AI to write a story with me, please don't. I likely won't know if you do, but regardless I don't want to write with you if you're going to do that. If you have, I still love you. To each their own. Don't let me tell you what to do. Just please keep it far away from me.

In my eyes, AI generation is mostly theft. That is why I do my writing without it. Sometimes it sucks, other times its amazing. Sometimes folks will be waiting two-plus-weeks for my response and that is okay. That's life, we are only human, and this is just one of our very amazing hobbies which we are all already happy to be here for.

I could say so much more since AI is such an inescapable presence on the internet right now, but I won't because it's late and it'll make me big sad.

Just let me leave you with one thing. Next time you use AI for something just ask yourself "Do I need to use AI for this?" "Is this theft of someone's writing, art, image, voice?" "Is it worth the impact it'll have on the environment?" If the answers to these questions don't sit right with you? Good! Find another way, and remember I am always down to help you find it!

This is a creative writing community. Let's help each other with all of that and more.

I am here for you. If nobody else is here for you, I am here for you.

That said, Goodnight. I appreciate you all!

 

[Jonyna Si]

Sometimes it is insecurity over ability, feeling like you are not giving to the other as good as you are getting.

I think this is 100% convenience. I suffer from imposter syndrome, and I don't use AI, so I think it's people wanting nothing more than to take the easy route.

Like, I get it. It sucks to be bad at something and feel inferior to those around you.

But, if watching media has taught me anything:

We all sucked at one point. We all got better. You can too, you just need to put in the work.

THAT SAID,

I do take umbrage with another thing in that sentence.

Can we stop pushing this idea that if my writing partner drops a novel in my lap, I have to respond in kind? Sometimes, especially with my bipolar depression, I just wanna pump out a few sentences and call it a day. Sometimes, I don't have a lot to say. I understand it doesn't give you a lot to work with, but I'm sorry, not everyone wants to write War and Peace every post.

I came from chatroom RP, where you had 1000 characters per post as a limit. As a result, my writing style is very to the point. I don't do a lot of flowery description, because I'm going in the script writing, and because I read comic books. My inspirations, the media I consume, it's all very low on purple prose.

I'm sorry if I can't match your speed if that's your vibe, but I don't really care to. I write how I wanna write.