Yog Sothoth said
I'm sorry if came off as aggressive, it's just that superheroes have been stereotyped for years and it's wrong for people to do that without giving them a chance, so I am what you might call a comic book crusader.

While it is great to want to introduce different perspectives or make sure that people are thinking about what they're saying with more effort than it takes to type or say the words, that they have, in fact, actually looked at what they might be disparaging, crusades aren't healthy for anyone involved. Although, honestly, I don't think anyone was disparaging comic books in this instant.

I find oversized weapons annoying. I don't know why. I don't rp in most settings where they might show up, and I'm definitely not any big expert on fighting styles. But giant swords, or huge axes it would take a bear to even lift, without there being giant figures proportionally sized to the weapon, just make me wonder why the wielder hasn't fallen over yet.

My List o' rants : people starting making CS's and the roleplay never starts or takes like a week too because of an inactive GM. I understand stuff happens but you could at least pop on for a sec and let us know that our time has not been wasted yet. I also feel like... This sides updates have been stagnate for a long time and it's sort of getting to me considering we've had down time and the last guildfall affected me greatly. They seem to pop up and try to fix it at th last moment and I'm worried they'll be too late next time. I also feel like free level players are trying to hop on to casual and that does not float well with me internally. It's kind of annoying

@Asuna: Inactive GMs in general is something that just gets on my bad side. If you're going to make something then stick to it, and if you lose interest then say that instead of making up excuses as to why you won't advance your goddamn story. Just be real with me here, I invested enough time to create this character and post in your IC, the most you can do is not lead me on so I give you my full effort while you give me lazy and half-assed (Mostly just ranting out something that had happened recently).

As for the site it really does seem like updates are last minute. Mahz said he was working on the guild so hopefully what he does/did helps the guild in general. Though I've been slowly migrating elsewhere as sad as that is to mention considering I've been with RPG for quite a few years, but I'm not a patient person and there's only so much I can take....

If Free players want to try something different then I say go for it as long as they keep up with the standards of Casual and/or the RP. If they are playing Free in Casual though then they might as well go back to free. If they're trying to get to a Casual level I'd suggest trying out a few writing exercises (I would give a few buuuuut I'm tired as fuck so Google is your friend :D)

Cuco said
Personal problem; having a hard time understanding where the border between player and character ends. It seems like whenever I have a character get hostile with another character in an RP, it always spills out into the OoC. I mean, I'm quite aware there should be a division between that sort of thing, but it always seems to happen with me. Do I just have bad luck, or is there more to this?

This. So much this.

I've dealt with things of that nature far too often for me to feel like its just a coincidence. To put it bluntly, I suspect that there are an unhealthy number of roleplayers who have issues separating reality from fiction. I'll drop a few examples from my personal experiences, just for the sake of showing people what I mean.

So, say that Bob and Sue are both roleplayers in a relationahip, right? Well, my character comes along and flirts with Sue's. Well, Bob decides to get aggressive for hitting on his girl.

Another example: Bill and Jerry have characters with polar opposite personalities and agendas. Naturally, their characters clash. Well, the next time Bill and Jerry talk in the OOC, Bill gives Jerry a verbal beatdown over something trivial. Well, Jerry decides to use his character to murder Bill's. Then Lily, our Gm, only punishes Bill; and ya wanna know why? Lily's character is Jerry's character's brother.

I get that some people with...less than stable minds need to express themselves and all, but this kind of thing irks me when it happens.

Maxxorlord said
This. So much this.I've dealt with things of that nature far too often for me to feel like its just a coincidence. To put it bluntly, I suspect that there are an unhealthy number of roleplayers who have issues separating reality from fiction. I'll drop a few examples from my personal experiences, just for the sake of showing people what I mean.So, say that Bob and Sue are both roleplayers in a relationahip, right? Well, my character comes along and flirts with Sue's. Well, Bob decides to get aggressive for hitting on his girl.Another example: Bill and Jerry have characters with polar opposite personalities and agendas. Naturally, their characters clash. Well, the next time Bill and Jerry talk in the OOC, Bill gives Jerry a verbal beatdown over something trivial. Well, Jerry decides to use his character to murder Bill's. Then Lily, our Gm, only punishes Bill; and ya wanna know why? Lily's character is Jerry's character's brother.I get that some people with...less than stable minds need to express themselves and all, but this kind of thing irks me when it happens.

Did that actually happen?

Yog Sothoth said
Did that actually happen?

Oh yeah it did. Sounds too incredibly ridiculous, right? Nope! Totally, 100% legitimately happened.

I personally had a hard time actually dealing with people who go overboard on the expectations of the other characters. Once in a roleplay a character called Paul Lyons was forced to team up with a group of pirates. He pointed and waved his weapons around and what not while the Captain, Paul's boss, was more earnest towards the pirates. Keep in mind Paul and the Captain are MILITARY persons whom are mainly known to fight AGAINST pirates. So when Paul kept being a jerkass to a group of pirates over the course of about one or two days of in game time to a group of people he just met; my Co Gm came and informed me about a day or so in real life time, if that, about a plan by the other two roleplayers to NUKE the entire ship just because they're not trusting towards these characters. Yes Paul was a complete asshole but he was not only my character and he wasn't the one in charge. But I was also the GM of the roleplay. So effectively you're plotting to NUKE the Gm's player characters...and then what? You continue on with the GM casually being like, "Oh yeah you just killed my characters....ALL of them on a massive ship... over them being trigger happy with a group of criminals? Yeah I don't fly like that even if they were not my character never would have I resorted to outright killing the GM's characters or any other player characters in the first actual chapter of the story...

Yeah I'm not expecting obedience from player character. You can argue in IC, you can try to get around things and acquiesce to things. But to kill an entire group of military soldiers whom are simply not willing to trust pirates with recently captured tech they haven't seen before is unacceptable. .

Maxxorlord said
Oh yeah it did. Sounds too incredibly ridiculous, right? Nope! Totally, 100% legitimately happened.

man I would be so pissed if that happened to me, I don't know about you but the GM of that roleplay should have been suspended for doing something that ridiculous.

Maybe is because a fair amount of RP characters are self-inserts?

Let's be honest here; there's most certainly a share of people in Rps who aren't playing a role as they are directly or indirectly playing idealized versions of themselves with super powers.

Many people make the mistake at some point, including myself.

Sometimes its fun to play yourself though, I think.

Dredigan said
Sometimes it's fun to play yourself though, I think.

I'm not a fan of it; mainly since I feel like aspects of my personality end up leaking into whatever or whomever I make as a character anyways.

But hey, it's RP and playing roles tends to lead to mean having one's self in a character role you play, be it a individual, a organization or tower or planet or giant, monolithic for no good reason alien empire.

In that sense, RPing is kinda like acting, but with text or dice and everyone making their characters instead of the director/writer. Make of that what you will. [Now, I suspect there may be some RP genres where players have to take the role of a character the GM makes, but they don't seem common].

Collaborative story telling is one approach I hear, but it usually in practice don't work out well since actual stories tend to be structured A LOT more than role-plays are, for instance the main cause of character death in a RP is usually loss of player interest.

Does anyone else feel like character driven roleplays never seem to get very far? I feel like story is what keeps people interested in the rp not just the characters.

Yog Sothoth said
Does anyone else feel like character driven roleplays never seem to get very far? I feel like story is what keeps people interested in the rp not just the characters.

I share the same sentiment. That's why I like to intertwine story, characters, and playing.

Also, my official complaint is how Real Life can be a total crapshoot. Many an RPer has been bound by work, school, family, and so on, making good RPs six feet under.

Yog Sothoth said
Does anyone else feel like character driven roleplays never seem to get very far? I feel like story is what keeps people interested in the rp not just the characters.

Not really.
But then again I see characters and story as one and the same.
You need good characters to drive a good story.

Yog Sothoth said
Does anyone else feel like character driven roleplays never seem to get very far? I feel like story is what keeps people interested in the rp not just the characters.

This circles back to player expectation versus reality. Mostly heavily character driven threads just haven't had enough time to grow into being a concept that can work. Additionally, they tend to require a higher number of characters to feel fulfilling. I've found that they tend to need very specific timing with their release; quick enough that the IC people don't disappear, but delayed enough that you have enough interest to make it work.

It also comes down to just general GMing. You have to create compelling reasons for characters to go to places other than just 'go do this', otherwise interaction, which is crucial to these types, ends up suffering. This is especially the case in larger word character driven stories where it would be strange to have X character be at Y location, so they are off on their own for now due to their background.

Overall, I prefer the character driven threads, they just can be very difficult to execute.

Something that has been confusing me ever since I joined sites completely devoted to roleplaying is just how insanely popular pairings are as the main theme of an rp.

When viewing the 1 on 1 interest check you'l notice that almost all the request posted there are either plots based on certain pairings or in more extreme cases just a list of pairings.
Am I the only one who thinks that is an rather flawed way to build a plot? Call me old fashioned but I always believed the plot should be the main focus of any story. Romance can easily be part of that of the plot, a beneficial part of the plot, but in the end it remains that....a part, a tool in the toolbox but in most requests its mentioned as THE core aspect of the plot, the thing the whole roleplay revolves around.

I just find this a weird concept, after all how can you decide such a thing beforehand? What if the two characters just don't have that ''click'' required for a romance to form? If that's the case you either have to drop the rp or go on with a forced romance between two incompatible characters. Would it not be smarter to first create an overall plot, then fill it with characters and only THEN start paring them based on who gets along the best with whom.

I also find it highly restrictive when you have to come up with the events that make up the plot because since the romance is the core aspect that will be the aspect that stand in the spotlight before all others. Other cast members can be introduced but in the end it still all resolves around the couple. The evil king can plot to destroy the world as many times as he likes but in the end he's just the background noise compared to the blossoming romance, his actions are designed to bring them closer, a villains scheme is mere background and stopping it isn't as important as the main two growing closer together.
Supporting cast members are also somewhat handicapped when you base the world around just two people. Sometimes you create a side character both you and your partner like and ''promote'' him to the status of main character but even then he will not a real mean character but a lesser one, obviously inferior in status to the couple.

For example I once did a Naruto rp about a rookie team from the hidden cloud village. The team's teacher was designed to be utterly apathetic to his students so we came up with with a higher ranked character in his later teens who took the team under his wings as some sort of big brother mentor. Eventually that character's own circle of friends, his own teacher and the people that were in that characters own rookie team were added as a secondary cast that could take part in missions that would be unrealistically dangerous and important for the rookies to go on. I don't think such a secondary cast could have been created had we went with a ''Boy genin falls in love with girl genin'' plot.

It was honestly kind of a ''culture shock'' to see all those request like ''Templar x mage'' ''assasin x target'' ''Princess x commoner'' when I was used to things like:
Playing out the events of different fire emblem games through the eyes of certain characters
What if Pit crashed in Hyrule during the events of Ocarina of time?
Lets have Etna overthrow Laharl!
Would Caesar have been a Tempar or an Assasin?

Did that last bit come across a bit elitist? I hope not, I'm actually casual in every sense of the world, I just find the great focus on pairings rather restrictive instead of adding to the freedom you should preferably have in an rp.

Innue said
This circles back to player expectation versus reality. Mostly heavily character driven threads just haven't had enough time to grow into being a concept that can work. Additionally, they tend to require a higher number of characters to feel fulfilling. I've found that they tend to need very specific timing with their release; quick enough that the IC people don't disappear, but delayed enough that you have enough interest to make it work. It also comes down to just general GMing. You have to create compelling reasons for characters to go to places other than just 'go do this', otherwise interaction, which is crucial to these types, ends up suffering. This is especially the case in larger word character driven stories where it would be strange to have X character be at Y location, so they are off on their own for now due to their background.Overall, I prefer the character driven threads, they just can be very difficult to execute.

that's just it, people don't have enough time for heavy character driven rps, we have to work, go to school or take care kids. Real life is more important than telling stories with other people over the internet, which is why story driven rps make it more accessible for players with busy schedules. Also what grabs players is the concept and where you plan on going with the roleplay which is a form of the plot-line development. from my experiances, the most successful rps I have been a part of have always been the ones that have a definite plot direction and work all of the characters into it. Characters are fun to create, but without a goal in mind when it comes to the rp's story then you're basically stuck with a cool character that has nothing to do. Most roleplayers need direction which is where the GM and his co-GMs come in to help guide the story along. a lot of roleplays that I have been a part of that failed was because the story didn't go anywhere and the players had nothing to do. So if you're going to run a roleplay then please set some goals and have your storyline planned out otherwise it will most likely die.

Magic Magnum said
Not really.But then again I see characters and story as one and the same.You need good characters to drive a good story.

I have been in several rps with great characters but the rps barely last a week before its dead.

Yog Sothoth said
that's just it, people don't have enough time for heavy character driven rps, we have to work, go to school or take care kids. Real life is more important than telling stories with other people over the internet, which is why story driven rps make it more accessible for players with busy schedules. Also what grabs players is the concept and where you plan on going with the roleplay which is a form of the plot-line development. from my experiances, the most successful rps I have been a part of have always been the ones that have a definite plot direction and work all of the characters into it. Characters are fun to create, but without a goal in mind when it comes to the rp's story then you're basically stuck with a cool character that has nothing to do. Most roleplayers need direction which is where the GM and his co-GMs come in to help guide the story along. a lot of roleplays that I have been a part of that failed was because the story didn't go anywhere and the players had nothing to do. So if you're going to run a roleplay then please set some goals and have your storyline planned out otherwise it will most likely die.

Your last line would be better phrased as, "I think it is important to make sure there are set goals and have your storyline planned out." Your current phrasing rubs me the wrong way.

There aren't absolutes in this.

A lot of it depends on the level that the roleplaying is being done at. Character driven roleplays can operate much better in free than in casual or advanced because the expectation is different. However, that isn't to say that you need to absolutely have a storyline in order to make it work in the higher levels, as there is a distinction between having a storyline and having a purpose. I've ran Natrelmon many successful times without a real storyline, but created challenges for the players.

Innue said
Your last line would be better phrased as, "I think it is important to make sure there are set goals and have your storyline planned out." Your current phrasing rubs me the wrong way.There aren't absolutes in this.A lot of it depends on the level that the roleplaying is being done at. Character driven roleplays can operate much better in free than in casual or advanced because the expectation is different. However, that isn't to say that you need to absolutely have a storyline in order to make it work in the higher levels, as there is a distinction between having a storyline and having a purpose. I've ran Natrelmon many successful times without a real storyline, but created challenges for the players.

Most of the time if there's nothing for the characters to do except just talk then the rp doesn't last very long. That's my experience, again most players want direction and something to do