I am not a veteran Gaian or whatever, but when I first started gaiaonline about two/three (I cannot even remember the exact time) years ago when I went into Barton Town people could actually write. Nowadays, I see people who do not know the difference between they're, their, and there, to, too, and two, or were and where. I've seen those who cannot even look to see where their role play is going. There is a total lack of originality. Frankly, it is annoying the heck out of me.
Back when I first started I was novice -that actually may be a to nice of a term to use- writer who wrote maybe three sentences. Sure, fine when your starting out. The role plays were labeled semi-lit anyways, so that was the standard there. Now I see things that state that they're literate and yet in the the rules it goes "This is a literate role play, five sentences please!". Five sentences? That is the minimum size for a single paragraph. I remember when literate meant at least two to three paragraphs minimum. Advanced literate was, as titled, advanced literate writing; perhaps five paragraphs plus.
I am not saying that having semi-literate writers on Gaia is terrible, that their input is simply not wanted. However, I am saying that Barton Town has been overrun by people who cannot write. Three sentenced spanned writers who use ** for actions labeling themselves literate writers. Where have the actual role plays that require a little effort gone?
On another note, Barton Town has seemed to have lost a lot of creativity. I see the same genres over and over again. "Vampyre mansion", "Zombie role play!", "[Insert any season you wish] Love~", "Boarding School", "Angsty Teenagers.", etcetera. Those are only five I can just pull out from my head. Those are frequently occurring ones. Very genetic genres that can be toyed with to make interesting. Are they though? No. I rarely see a good vampyre role play anymore, most are mansion and Twilight remakes. I get so bored of a lot of them, no originality. Just simple little plots meant to occupy little time to entertain for maybe a week or two. A few of these are fine, but this brings me back to my point; we are being overrun.
Role plays used to last months, maybe even a year(s) if you did it right. Now well thought ones die, and effortless one rein. I was in a small little cafe role play for more than half a year, it was very fun. Now I join and they die within a a few days, I'd give them two weeks at best. Try as I might, I never find ones that stick well. Bad luck or is it just how the majority run? Of course I see other role plays that require a single sentence last 500 pages plus? They do, I suppose, post fast seeing how a six years old can compile a single sentenced story. Perhaps six is being too nice...
In the Series-Related Misc. subforum I see the same things occurring. I do notice that it breed more literates than Barton Town does, a blessing for any anime fan. Though we still have the effortless Naruto, OHSHC, Frubba, etcetera role plays. That and some cannot even read that description of the subfroum. It was made for anime/tv./book/manga/video game and all Non-Gaian content. Slave role plays as well. Yet I see a lot of role plays that don't fit in that criteria in there. As well as seeing the Naruto and Inuyasha role plays in Barton Town. This is lack of reading though, not so much the literary crisis.
I think I ranted long enough. I just really needed to get this off my chest. Honestly I feel deprived, I wish I was older and more experienced in role playing when I first joined Gaia. It wasn't such a well-known site and filled with lovely writers. I was not though, and now I am stuck in the era of new users ( I hate the word no0bs, it makes me feel like a computer nerd, hence why it hasn't been used in this rant) or even older users who won't be creative and put forth the effort. I hope some people sympathize with this.
iD r e a m e r r Community Member 
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