Evaluation Guide

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Evaluations Guide

Rules

A short list of rules exist within Evaluations to ensure that members do not try and cheat their way through the system in order to achieve the top rank within a matter of days. Such rules are not meant to be limiting towards the roleplayer, but instead intended to create a level playing field that would otherwise be open to scandalous abuse. Thus, the Evaluator is expected to enforce all rules when required to. More rules will be added if and when necessary.

Unless otherwise specified, all post count requirements apply per person, not in total, and apply to all topics.
The minimum post count requirement for any threads involving more than one person is 3 posts per topic - social topics with two or less posts from the participating members will gain no more than ten EXP.
If writing a solo topic, you can opt to write a single post that has at least three times the minimum word count requirement.
A member is only permitted to create three consecutive roleplaying topics with two or less posts. Any more and the overall grade must be reduced by fifty percent (rounded down).
Anybody that does not have a good reason for neglecting to exit a thread will receive a point deduction.
There are some rules that, when broken, will result in a voided topic. That means you will not receive any points, and depending on the situation (for example if there's a problem with your actions in a topic), the events of the thread will be written off as if they never happened IC.

Grading

Scale / Possible Points

Roleplaying topics that include at least three or more posts from the participant(s), as well as Summon Training topics will be graded on a scale of 1-20. Roleplaying topics that include at least two or less posts from the participant(s) and missions will be graded on a scale of 1-10. Do keep in mind that successfully completing a mission will net you bonus points based on the mission rank:

D-Rank: +2 MP
C-Rank: +4 MP
B-Rank: +6 MP
A-Rank: +10 MP
S-Rank: +15 MP

Please note that if your mission does not seem to accurately reflect the difficulty expected of its rank, you will forfeit the rank-based completion points. If you fail to complete the mission objectives, whether intentionally or not, you forfeit the rank-based completion points and the score will be applied to your EXP instead.

Please be aware that you shouldn't be spamming missions below your rank in order to gain points for ranking up. Not only will this leave you without decent experience IC, but too many of these missions in a row will force the evaluations team to apply a point penalty. You shouldn't be doing missions more than one rank below you unless you're serving as a team leader for lower-ranked shinobi, and for every 2 missions you complete that are one rank below you, you must complete 1 of equal rank. Failure to abide by this will result in an initial reduction of points, and continued breach of this rule will result in voided missions.

Bonus Points

Given the nature of the evaluation system, we feel that those that go above and beyond should be rewarded for their efforts. This way, those that do what's necessary aren't penalized, nor are additional efforts being wasted. There are different types of bonus points you can earn, and there will be varying levels of "achievements" you can reach in each topic you participate in. This is to help reflect the amount of effort and the level of quality put into your work and to encourage going above and beyond. Some Bonuses will go towards ranking EXP/MP (dependent on thread type) while others will only be applied to your available funds. If you go above and beyond, an evaluator is able to grant you bonus points based on what they feel is appropriate for your story. However, there are a few bonuses that have set values.

General Bonuses: In any roleplaying topic, whether it's a social/spar or a mission, you have the potential to earn bonus points based on not only your story-telling ability, but the content of the thread itself. They can also be incredibly specific, such as a member getting bonus points for coming up with a unique way to solve a problem that the mod finds impressive, or handling a challenge better than expected. Due to the varying nature of these general bonuses, they do not have set values. Instead, the amount of the points shall be at the discretion of the moderator, but is not likely to exceed a maximum of 10 points, regardless of whether the points are EXP, MP, or AF.

Localized Plot: Localized plots refer to member-created "mini-plots" that have an effect on an entire area, such as all of Kiri, both Kumo and Konoha, or all three villages to the point where it has an effect on everybody that's located there, even if indirectly. Those that play a part in these localized plots will receive an additional 5 ranking points per topic, whether they be EXP or MP (whichever is most appropriate). (Guide on Localized Plots coming soon!)

Site-Wide Events: Those that successfully complete an event mission or participate in a social thread centered around an event will be granted an additional 15 AF. If multiple parties are competing to complete a mission, such as a Konoha nin versus a Kumo nin, the one that was unable to complete it will only receive 10 bonus AF.

Criteria

Storytelling, Spelling & Grammar, Readability and Structure, is a tick list of factors that are taken into account when evaluating a topic. Though other factors may be taken into account by various Evaluators, these are ultimately a set list that we believe to be necessary and play an important role within forming the foundation of official evaluations. As mentioned, other factors may be taken into account on a personal level, however, these are areas that we place emphasis on when creating an evaluation.

Storytelling: Storytelling is the conveying of events in words. When you write a story, you should be able paint the picture of what you are writing by using simple text combined with words that make up the meaning of what you are trying to convey. Storytelling is a broad definition, but we want you to keep it simple. Can you tell story? Can you break it down into a beginning, middle and end? Even if your story spans over multiple topics, a beginning, middle and end must exist. You must be able to tell a story that keeps people reading whether it's in the middle of your Saga, the very beginning or end. Entertainment also fits here. At the end of the day, someone has taken time out of their day to sit down and read your work for free. They don’t want to be going through endless topics reading the same old, boring drivel. They want to be reading new, exciting and fresh topics that make them want to read more and more whilst keeping them in suspense in between. When posting, you need to be asking yourself some questions such as; did the topic tell a story? Did the topic keep your attention? Did the topic make you want to read more? You should write for your enjoyment, but also write so that people feel excited when they read your roleplaying.

Spelling and Grammar: The bane of all writers can often be the most simplest of spelling and grammar mistakes, which is why the eagle-eyed evaluator, is here to help point out these mistakes. If a frequent mistake is made, such as five or more times per post, then an alert should be made within the evaluation and points deducted. Any less though is acceptable. If your grammar isn't good, by simply asking for tips when you post your topic up for evaluation can spur the evaluator to help you with the errors. Now that you're making an effort to become a better writer, don't fret about points being deducted. The basic level of grammar that we're looking for is the same you use to talk amongst your friends and what you learned or are still learning in school.

Readability/Flow: Readability is commonly referred to as 'flow' on most roleplay sites. Readability is important when writing but difficult to master. Readability is your ability to make the topic flow into one story. This flow is usually interrupted by what is called 'rehashing' or writing a similar or same train of thoughts over and over again, in a new way. Though there are multiple ways one can deal with a situation, constantly writing it over again becomes a bore if new story elements aren't introduced. Also, when writing topics with people it is not necessary to retell events from the beginning of your post in detail. Remember, having a proper flow helps your story - it becomes easier to read.

Structure: Structure is your ability to format your reading in a way that makes it easy to understand and read. When reading topics with considerable length, the blocks of text make things hard to read as it feels like a chore just looking at them. Space your dialogue out, remove clutter from your posts by stating a single idea and moving on to the next. By adding lines between dialogue, thoughts and even text it gives the feeling of moving to the reader, therefore it is easier for them to get through the story. Stay away from unnecessarily long sentences but don't use a bunch of short ones.

Mission Criteria:

Since missions are graded on a different scale from normal topics, they will also be graded using criteria that are more fitting for their purpose, specifically their purpose in-character.

Comprehension and Execution: Did they fully understand what was being requested by the client and did they to adhere to the exact directions or did they stray off the directions and go about it in their own way with out necessity? Points deducted for any detail no matter how small that was overlooked and not completed in the task. Also anything that went against a direct stipulation/order issued by the client will receive at minimum a one point deduction unless doing so aided the over all mission in its effective completion. To do so must have made the mission more successful than had they not. No exemptions will be made if the mission would have been just as successful or less successful by disobeying or ignoring orders and stipulations.

Creativity: Did they use their ninja training to come up with an inventive and new way to complete the mission or did they do it in a generic and more or less boring style? This is entirely at the discretion of the grader. However base guidelines more or less settle around out of the box thinking to solutions and methods as well as adaptability to new circumstances.

Evidence and Collateral: If it was a secret mission were they found out by anyone at all and blow their cover, otherwise, did they cause any unnecessary damages to the area or people which was not needed for mission completion? Higher score = less collateral. Points to be deducted based on extremity and noticeably of extra damage. This does not include damage that needed to be caused to complete the mission, but rather that could have been avoided and still have completed the mission just as well. These include things like damage to buildings, agriculture, nature, injuries to others and murders. Again, things that were needed to be done to complete the mission will not count as deductions.

Quality:This one is best described as a combination of the four values used to grade social topics It involves, length, grammar, quality, structure and character progression. More or less it comes down to if the grader thought you should have described something important better, or if your details were a little confusing, or if you just obviously weren't even trying on the mission at all. Character Progression is obviously indicative of some form of growth shown through the topic.