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At last.  A CYOA style community that is actually active.

As a bit of background, I was born in '79, so I was raised in the 80's with old text games and Choose Your Own Adventure books.  There was a certain charm to those old games that I have failed to find in all the new, fancy graphics.  And as my life became more complicated, the more complicated games made me yearn for the, if you pardon the expression, 'good old days'.

So, I start fiddling around with apps on my phone and come across some interactive fiction.  But a lot of it wasn't done very well, or froze my phone too much, or had costs to continue.  This had me looking around on the internet itself for some CYOA style games.  I found a few different communities, but most of them haven't been touched for over a year or more.

And then, finally, like an oasis in the desert, I come across this place.  Some of the posts have been made less than 24 hours ago, so I signed up right away.  And here I am.

Hello!

Welcome!

Glad to have you with us - as one old-school gamer to another, I hope you get a chance to write up some CYOA games yourself. The advanced editor is an awesome tool :)

Thanks for the welcomes.  I do have a few questions.  Is there a general FAQ, or should I just go ahead and inquire here?

Just ask here or make a new thread. For the advanced editor questions, people tend to ask in the advanced editor forum.

Heh.  No, I haven't even LOOKED at the editors yet. ;)  One thing at a time.  Would it be more clunky to start a new question thread, or just ask here?  I mean, what will make people less 'frowny'? :D

No problem with either. The people on this site respond well to thread hijacking, and asking questions is part of the Newibie Forum group.

Lots of helpful stuff here:

http://chooseyourstory.com/help/

Sweet.  Okay.  Let's see if I can collect my thoughts enough to ask what I want.

1. Are most stories here written by a single author, or co-authored?
2. Is there a place here to work on stories in a 'free to respond' style, such as some other sites have?
3. How long should a 'beginning' story be to get my feet wet?
4. Do stories have ratings?  And if I'm bad at rating my own stories, will I get in trouble, or just be asked to change it?

I think this is it for now, since someone is making waffles and my tummy is  taking over my thought processes.

1. Most stories are wittenberg by a single author, or at least the best are. But that may be due to the fact that the best authors don't need help, and not that co-authors ruin stories

2. No.

3. Any length, though 4 and above length is better the less

4. Your personal rating does nothing.

Oh, I meant maturity ratings. :)

Oh, then yes, you decide them. If it is found to be less or too high for the story, a moderator will change it,

Okay, good.  I'm really, really bad at determining how mature content is.  I mean, the really obvious extremes are easy.  I find the lines in between to be much more tricky.  Probably because I realize that everyone has their own cultural/religious/moral/etc background, and that will determine where they think things should fall.

If it includes swear words, (at least 5) I'd place it in a maturity level of 4 or 5, includes sex, 6-7, Lipove Sick=8

I don't have much swearing in my stories, if any at all.  Sex is pretty rare too.  As for straight out sick, well, I don't know if I've ever been accused of that.

Is there a general chart I could look at? :D

Ha, I just mispelled the name of the one game that enters the boundaries of what is allowed on this site: Love Sick by Endmaster.

If you do need help on this stuff, just ask one of the members to proof read the story, 

Slow typist delete.

Handy Maturity Rating Chart for Beginners:

See? Easy as pie ^_^

Congratulations; you hurt my brain and I've been on here less than 24 hours. ;)

My pleasure

Oh, also, is there a strong community preference towards story-focused games over game-focused stories, or vice versa?  Or are both equally valid options for making a story?

There is a general preference toward having meaningful choices in the games. So you could write a novel here with no choices (but well written) if you wanted (and some do), but they are generally rated a little lower than they deserve.

I meant, a game with just written choices instead of games with stats or inventories.

Hmm... I'd say the most successful games don't even have an Inventory. You can make a great game with one, but generally they do change the feel of the game.

Ooo, another question.

I notice some player comments on games have a gold star beside them.  What is the meaning of this and how do they get there?

(Also, is there a way to delete a comment  I left on someone's story?  I thought adding a second comment would replace the first, and so now I have two comments that are nearly the same, so therefor, redundant.)

The Star Comments are Feature Comments. If you leave a really good or helpful comment, it can become a feature comment and you get some free XP for it.

Also, no - you cannot edit or delete your comments. An Admin/Mod can if you PM them, but it can take a while for them to see it... 

Who determines if a comment is worth being a 'feature' comment?  Mod/admin?  Or the person who made the story?

I guess I should PM someone about that, but I'm not sure how important it is to clear out redundant messages.  I don't want to bother them if they're really busy.

A bit late, but Welcome to CYS. Please enjoy your stay!

 May i recommend avoiding the Field of marshmellows? There seems to be another Mustache war brewing there.

Thanks!

And... Field of Marshmallows?