@meg said in Ideal Scene Length?:
I find that 'meet and greet' first scenes never go anywhere, and I prefer to keep those like, shorter. If this is the first time our characters are meeting, I'd rather something short and sweet. Then the next time we put them together, maybe a bit longer. Or if they click, a lot longer! Maybe they end up gushing about
I think I like meet and greets especially if they are organic and players invest in them.
To be clear about what I mean - 'organic' not in the way that's in the flow of RP since obviously there is no flow yet as you're just IC meeting for the first time. What it does mean is there's no agenda about it; I'm not meeting a character pre-determined between us to be my PC's love of his life, or a future coterie buddy or whatever but instead it's a blank slate and we're just exploring the chemistry and possibilities between them. That is a great setup, IMHO, and even more so if I don't even know who the other player is. For example I had a pretty good meet-and-greet yesterday, it was fun, yet nothing 'happened' in that scene; we discussed pillows, lower back aches and what it's like to live in a small town.
But that leads to investment... and it's a real thing. Look, I get it; it's more exciting for the player to be part of that PrP where you go up against the Goblin King or you're meeting the Prince for the first time instead of a random Joe at a cafeteria, but if you don't pour some effort and do more than pose about the weather then no big surprise there, the scene is going to be boring. The normal rules of RP still apply whether it's a 'throwaway' scene or not; we need to give the other person something to throw back at us, push the boundaries a little bit, build up some rapport.
If I show up and have my guy do the RP equivalent of staring at his phone half the time then yeah, the meet and greet will suck - but it's because I suck.