This is a little thing I notice, but it's not really a major issue, more like an annoyed concern...

So I've come to notice how some RPs are created with an American feel to them, some more than others. This can be from the freedom of gun weapons in RPs, to the way cities and vehicles are described, and even references to historic events like the declaration of independence, presidential leaders or even the seasonal school structure and school design layout.

Its nothing "wrong" with these choices as each rp caters to a different audience but as someone who is not from the US, God damn it can be hard to participate in some of these RPs.

For instance, I tried to participate into a school rp once. Now Australian schools go from year 1-6 primary, 7-12 secondary. We start school in Feb and end in Dec. So each year matches up with each year on the calendar. The idea of starting school mid year and finishing, mid year the next year, while having different schools for lower high schools and upper high schools and all that stuff is so foreign to me, that I cannot physically understand why.

The other part with weapons is that I've never grown up around guns. I know about guns through movies and games, so I have yet to see a role play where having a gun is actually a criminal offense and people have to watch their ammo usage because you cannot walk down to your local shop and restock supplies.

This isn't a rip on Americans as I do have a lot of American friends, but so many modern RPs seem to be set or influenced by the American culture that as an Australian I do notice, and it can sometimes break immersion as even if I try to create an American character, it can sometimes feel like the foreigner.

@NuttsnBolts Blame Hollywood.

On a serious note, I do feel the same way as you:

For school terms, in Singapore we start in January and end around November - just a month ahead of Australia, but we're similar in the matching up with the calendar year. (There's no point to start school terms in the middle of the year because we don't have seasonal changes here - we only have summer all year round, so it's kind of pointless to have summer vacation, obviously.) Even the education system we have here and the subjects/courses offered are completely different.

As for firearms, unlawful possession of firearms is equivalent to death sentence. (It's Singapore - well-known for having some of the harshest laws in the world.)

Another issue I have with regards to settings is residential houses. Unlike America with lots of land space to build big mansions and bungalows far apart from each other, population in Singapore is very dense and most people live in high-rise buildings (either government flats/apartments or condominiums). Ownership of cars here is more of a luxury than necessity as the country is small and public transport here is very convenient.

And... Unlike all the strong black vs white that is still going on in the US, in Singapore the government often emphasizes on racial harmony, and any form of racism is not tolerated here.

Most of what I know about America are through the entertainment media, American friends, and relatives who live in the States - I've never been to US before, so I can only base on third-party information to try and put myself into these Americanized settings, leaving the rest to my insane imagination. It's actually hard to immense myself into such settings without the first-hand experience to feel the actual place on my own - and most of these third-party sources are only 50% true, the other half are mutated unconsciously by their own opinions and feelings.

@tsukune
Ah yes, bought up some very good points and I can understand the dense population with high rise buildings being very different to the large properties that one could have in the US and Australia. I remember when I was in Japan and I used their rail network how reliable and useful it was to get around. Here in sydney City Rail is nicknamed City Fail because it's lack of reliable services with some trains being 10 minutes late, the constant interruptions with repairs and the lack of services. North West Sydney is one of the biggest areas that is growing and yet it won't get it's first Rail network for the next few years, so every day thousands of Cars travel on expensive toll roads and sit in traffic jams to get to work.

Admittedly this is a part of Roleplaying where you are playing into a different environment and learning about that world, but a person's lack of personal experience outside their own environment does create some misunderstandings as to why certain things are the way they are.

@NuttsnBolts To be honest the train and bus system in Singapore is no longer as reliable as it was a decade ago after the massive breakdown 2 years back - while the government is working hard to restore the reputation, but the damage has already been done. The efficiency of Japan's railway system is on a whole different level, I swear - sure, the fare cost is a little higher compared to Singapore but it's totally worth the money when you consider the quality of service.

I don't mind playing in RPs with Americanized settings - I mean, RP is a place where we're given the chance to go out of the small box of reality around us, into the realm beyond with the power of our imagination. However, it has become a point where this kind of setting seems like it's everywhere, even in RPs that are supposed to set in non-American worlds (be it Asian, galactic, etc).

I feel invisible at the moment, yes I only have a few RP's and one of the few people I role play with comes on every so often. But for those who are on daily seem to forget posting a reply like they never got my reply, over the years of being here at the guild I have become very skeptical over my partner not getting my replies. I should not have to remind them as that is not my job, yet it seems to be getting harder and harder to keep role playing everywhere and anywhere on the internet. I can understand if they are busy but when they are replying to everything else but me it makes me wonder why I am doing this. As I have stated in another post I want to write a few books as I try to improve my writing, whether it is getting better or not remains to be seen.

Though I can write a book in a rough form I do miss the human element of another person which RP's give me. I guess the added stress of going to the devils playhouse ever week is getting to me and it seems being treated as a ghost is adding to it.


I should not be this

Anyone else feel like there's a torrent of ERP overtaking the 1x1 board? You'd think people looking to get their rocks off would go to more... specialized forums.

Anyone else feel like there's a torrent of ERP overtaking the 1x1 board? You'd think people looking to get their rocks off would go to more... specialized forums.

I don't think it's solely about people getting, as you put it, "getting their rocks off." It's about seeking out mature partners who are willing to write a mature story. Sure, it might not be for everyone. I will admit that, once upon a time, I feared that specific genre simply because I wasn't sure if I could handle it. However, after getting a start to it earlier last year, I found that I was slowly gaining a love for it. Recent weeks have taught me I've grown quite fond of it. It's not just because of the mature content; it's forging an erotic story and testing the boundaries of what I can and can't do. Plus, I like to think that my partners have become some pretty good friends of mine, so there's that too. Though, I'm curious - why do you have a problem with it? Is it because they are, as you said, taking over the 1x1 board? Or is it because it's mostly sexual content and not plot?

I have a strong dislike for romantic drama due to the amount of talentless drivel floating around in the genre. Furthermore I have seen my favorite fandoms being invaded time and time again by horny teenagers who want 'muh ships' to be some sort of talking point. Oftentimes in universes that would be less when a romantic subplot were forced into it.

@Altered Tundra

I have a strong dislike for romantic drama due to the amount of talentless drivel floating around in the genre. Furthermore I have seen my favorite fandoms being invaded time and time again by horny teenagers who want 'muh ships' to be some sort of talking point. Oftentimes in universes that would be less when a romantic subplot were forced into it.

@Altered Tundra

You have a point, but... I can't possibly be the only one who thinks that Shrek and Sonic are star-crossed lovers!

I have a strong dislike for romantic drama due to the amount of talentless drivel floating around in the genre. Furthermore I have seen my favorite fandoms being invaded time and time again by horny teenagers who want 'muh ships' to be some sort of talking point. Oftentimes in universes that would be less when a romantic subplot were forced into it.

@Altered Tundra

I wasn't necessarily speaking about canon pairings, but I can see why that would upset you. I'm not all that fond of ERP rps featuring canon pairings. It just doesn't fit in my opinion. So, I definitely see why it would upset you.

@Altered Tundra@Natsucooldude

Personally I'm not a big fan of romance as the main genre - I prefer it to be secondary, only acting as a side to spice up the plot and aid in character development. Even less for ERPs (the last time I attempted this it went out of control - maybe it's because I'm still new to writing smut and the other person took advantage of my inexperience); I might give it a shot again in the future, but for now I can't really get rid of that horrible aftertaste yet.

As for canon pairings for such RPs, I feel that it depends more on the players' capability of handling canon characters than hating canonical pairing ERPs in general. Of course, anyone would love to nuke those players who defiled their fandoms with their cringe-worthy p0rn garbage.

I have a strong dislike for female #humblebraggers

I take the city bus home from campus everyday, and usually it goes without incident. Today though as I was getting onto the bus a girl in front of me dropped her headband. Me, being the gentleman that I am went to pick it up for her. Only.. it didn't work out so well. Maybe it was the weight of my backpack that made me get off balance, but as I went to pick it up I ended up tripping forward on the step of the bus.

Long story short I embarrassed myself, banged my head, and the girl still had to pick up her own headband.

It would appear the universe hates me.

Not being able to do certain video game IP's because they are cult, not as popular as the big names, too retro/old or the hype is gone though the last thing mentioned is probably for the better. Examples for me is I can't get a Bioshock, Life is Strange, Timesplitters, Loaded, Borderlands and The Darkness which can be used as a few examples. It is even worse when you manage to get someone to let's say do a Saints Row RP but they leave without saying, which is actually makes me more mad/sad then not doing one at all.

I am sure everyone has that phase where they want to do an RP on something (Currently is Life is Strange), but no one bites or you get someone who really does not care for the RP you doing. This can be shown in one or more ways. Short posts (A few words to a line), really long pauses in-between posts (Posts elsewhere five times a day), lack of detail which is probably the worse of them all, though these are a few examples.

'Matt walked to the door before leaving the house.' -Terrible example of something I have got before.

Which door, the back door, front door, side door, trap door, imaginary door, secret door.

3 edgy 5 me characters. That is all. Not everyone has to be batman.

This is a little thing I notice, but it's not really a major issue, more like an annoyed concern...

So I've come to notice how some RPs are created with an American feel to them, some more than others. This can be from the freedom of gun weapons in RPs, to the way cities and vehicles are described, and even references to historic events like the declaration of independence, presidential leaders or even the seasonal school structure and school design layout.

Its nothing "wrong" with these choices as each rp caters to a different audience but as someone who is not from the US, God damn it can be hard to participate in some of these RPs.

For instance, I tried to participate into a school rp once. Now Australian schools go from year 1-6 primary, 7-12 secondary. We start school in Feb and end in Dec. So each year matches up with each year on the calendar. The idea of starting school mid year and finishing, mid year the next year, while having different schools for lower high schools and upper high schools and all that stuff is so foreign to me, that I cannot physically understand why.

The other part with weapons is that I've never grown up around guns. I know about guns through movies and games, so I have yet to see a role play where having a gun is actually a criminal offense and people have to watch their ammo usage because you cannot walk down to your local shop and restock supplies.

This isn't a rip on Americans as I do have a lot of American friends, but so many modern RPs seem to be set or influenced by the American culture that as an Australian I do notice, and it can sometimes break immersion as even if I try to create an American character, it can sometimes feel like the foreigner.

This is a really interesting post. I have a related, but not quite the same, topic.

Whether I'm playing on a forum, in a video game, or at a table in real life, one thing that bugs me when I sit down to roleplay with people that consider themselves experienced - not people who are new to roleplaying, mind you - is when they completely misinterpret what something in a given setting is designed to represent or else just shove what they want into a setting that wasn't designed with that in mind.

For instance, I played this game called Neverwinter Nights 2 a lot back in the day. There were some decent persistent worlds. One day I saw a server which had a culture that I was pretty sure was a mish-mash of Mongolian and Plains Indians cultures, and of course that really interested me. Its religion resembled the Tengri religion, the clans that made up the culture had totem animals and were named "Bear Clan" or "Deer Clan," and I think they were even described as swarthy. Despite this, someone decided this was obviously a Viking culture, and they turned it into that. Then I saw someone do the exact same thing on another server, this time to a culture that was pretty obviously based on India. Yeah. How does THAT translate into "Vikings" in someone's head? They even had castes!

But let's go back to the topic you introduced. Sorry for the diversion. I just had to get that off my chest.

So, as an American, I catch myself doing what you say a lot. Frankly, a lot of roleplays are very much built with assumptions from a western cultural view in mind, especially that of Great Britain and the U.S. This is the case both on this website and others. But as someone that likes to roleplay characters that aren't carbon copies of me, I've found a pretty good way of dealing with this:

I roleplay someone who doesn't get it. I roleplay someone who isn't from the big culture, and I roleplay out their confusion, frustration, and NPCs likewise being confused and frustrated with them. And if I can, I have them explain their confusion either in their heads or aloud, the better to sort of explain WHY this is so annoying, WHY this is so... bad.

To use a real-life example, I was playing a character in a fantasy setting akin to a medieval Wild West. He was a dwarf from a culture that had certain unbreakable rules. The trouble is that nobody in that part of the world adhered to those rules. So, I roleplayed out his frustration at how nobody actually followed similar rules, and he came to expect disappointment.

I also played a spellcaster from halfling clans based around the Romani people. He lived by a different set of ideas of what right and wrong were than the other characters in his group. Really, this brought mutual confusion to both sides, even though they usually got along swimmingly. What might seem like a great insult to them would be a great joke to him, and vice versa as well. It was an intriguing thing to play out.

You can also turn this around on people if you build the right character and make them be confused and frustrated in a way that's conducive to roleplay. In Neverwinter Nights 2 I played a Half-Orc paladin of Ilmater. I played on a server that took realism seriously... which included, well, racism. He was beaten, had people try to get him thrown in jail, and otherwise horribly mistreated. He was known for being a goodie-two-shoes, selfless protector of the weak, giving all his money away to the poor, blah blah blah. So, it upset people enough that some of them wanted him to fight back, either by trying to take the problem up with the law or by getting some SWEET VENGEANCE in with his huge honkin' greatsword. But he refused to, and he made people promise not to, because he wanted to show, by example, that you didn't need violence or a loud voice to make changes. (I was going for a Gandhi or Jesus style of martyrdom here.) This drove people nuts, but in the end it made people really intrigued, and it reintroduced them to a style of protest and preaching that society sometimes forgets about.

Yeah. In general, I just think the best way to counter people who insist on playing characters based around traditional American / Western ideals and beliefs is to introduce them to a separate belief system. Hell, if you want to really provoke some thought, take apart the western ideal of "progress" in a roleplay.

<Snipped quote by NuttsnBolts>
Mongolians/Native Americans = Vikings!? India = Vikings!?

The less people know about history and the people who lived in it, the more all fantasy will gravitate towards one of the two RenFaire singularities. Anything that is strongly medieval and/or tribal with iron age+ technology will immediately be Vikingised as soon as boats are mentioned. Anything that is vaguely steampunk or late medieval high-tech will immediately become Piratised whenever they reach a coastline. Those are the typical settings that people with no knowledge (and therefore no basis for a middle ground) of the society that these people are living in will jump to because it makes them feel like they know what they're doing and that they can worldbuild too. This is (slightly) more avoidable if you remove the notion that these are fantasy counterpart cultures and write out long, detailed descriptions of the cultures, but you're bound to get TL;DRs and people who assume and appropriate anyway.

Of course, this could also be attributed to ignorance of a much more innocent kind, where the player is afraid to write about certain cultures because they're afraid of making an offensive stereotype and don't know what aspects of this culture are and aren't politically correct to bring about. People are a lot more comfortable being vikings, because they're white and it's much more forgiving to mistranslate those cultures, and they're afraid of other kinds of characters because nobody likes to come off as ignorant/bigotted. It's a completely logical fear, and there's not really an easy solution.

It could be mostly cruel stupidity or misguided reverence, however optimistic you feel. Or maybe something different, it all depends on individuals, but this is what I've seen with this kind of thing.

*Lots of good points*

This honestly makes a lot of sense, yeah. It's easier and safer to say "Vikings" than to potentially get something wrong or write about something you're unfamiliar with. Even as someone who's taken several classes on world history and different cultures, I find myself often worrying about whether or not I'm going to portray something in a damning, rude way.

This will still bug me, but you make a lot of sense.

The given settings had some blurbs about their cultures that made it pretty distinct and clear what those cultures were meant to be like. It was just such a weird, trippy experience when I made this dark-skinned warrior-priest from what I was pretty sure was, yeah, Mongolian/Native American when someone claiming to be from the exact same clan was playing your typical angry pale Viking Berserker with a chip on his shoulder. (Did I mention the word "swarthy" last time? Because this culture's people were either described as "dark" or "swarthy.")

Trippy.

Again, though: very good points.

I really hate when people show up too the interest check, confirm their interest before the GM starts the rp, and then promptly just not enter the roleplay or even bother to further explain why they had decided not to join if asked.

I really hate when people show up too the interest check, confirm their interest before the GM starts the rp, and then promptly just not enter the roleplay or even bother to further explain why they had decided not to join if asked.

I can't speak for everyone... but a lot of people just fade off because they don't like how the OP turns out, or were writing a character sheet and lost interest. *Shrugs*