@Undine
People seem to have difficulty in differentiating what the player knows and what the character knows. I think this is attributed to poor dissociation of writer-muse. Which explains why people get upset if you criticise their character through your own character ... Or if bad things happen to the character. No one wants misfortune so these players try to sidestep mishaps, leading to plenty of metagaming.

Honestly they annoy me. Makes me wanna shake them and tell them to stop seeing themselves as the Chosen One of the story who must survive against all odds to reach the end.

@NuttsnBolts
Maybe they're being considerate of you being sick last time and backed off. Ta, such darlings.

Seriously though, the prowl for partners that have chemistry with us is real. //pats his forearm as consolation

I see a character sheet as a guide on how you intend to write a character, but too many people consider it an absolute, I feel. It's not just charisma either; it goes for traits like smart, observant... Which also can easily lead into metagaming, now that I think of it.

Hence why I hate personality sections in a CS. I got told for being too vague once. Why does it matter? You'll see it in IC.

@NuttsnBolts
Clashes. Duplicates make or break dynamics (often the latter). What I really don't like is life stories written in biographical forms. It's one thing to make sure no one else has a jarringly similar character, it's another to spoil the mystique of getting to know someone.

Often this is because they want to wave in our face, "he's a jerk because shit happened to him". Which then causes me to wonder how credible the writer's skill is to portray proclaimed traits like "clever" and "alluring" since you're trying to give yourself a cop-out leeway by convincing the writers of other characters into not killing off your douchebag character. If he doesn't have enough screen time to show his Jerkass With a Heart of Gold moment, big whoop! Life happens.

It's okay to be adventurous and wanting to step into the shoes of someone different than who the writer is in person. But please, read more first of such types of characters.

@Pair of Hearts
With most of my characters I usually have an element that's hidden away from the character sheet; something from their past or a future event. If you look at my writing I'll start to incorporate these aspects and slowly expose them, leaving others to make the call if they want more.

Most of the time I think it's the GMs that govern this when they present any character sheets themselves. They go into details and history for their characters and ask for players to do the same in their bio sections. Half the time what is written is never used in the roleplay itself.

Worse part is I now naturally write about a character's life events in a character sheet because I've been trained to do so.

@NuttsnBolts
I'm happy to bludgeon that sinister facet of you by stalking lurking your sheets and popping a PM every time your newest CS starts to look like a Wikipedia article. Second opinions, right?

A good sheet tells as much information as it has to. I've written short, long, everywhere between. I'm more proud of my longer ones due to them being far more in-depth.

Hence why I hate personality sections in a CS. I got told for being too vague once. Why does it matter? You'll see it in IC.

I think personality is more important than backstory in CS's.

A good sheet tells as much information as it has to. I've written short, long, everywhere between. I'm more proud of my longer ones due to them being far more in-depth.

<Snipped quote by NuttsnBolts>

I think personality is more important than backstory in CS's.

I suppose it depends on the character and the RP. (Still proud of my Tahlia CS )

The person who continually comes online, is mentioned multiple times with a direct link to their username so there is no way they are not getting the messages through the Guild's interface, but never performs the action you need them to. Worse yet is this when it is something so simple as editing a post, not even writing one. You can prune back and trim easier than you can foster and muse on, at least normally. Why bother coming on, clearly viewing what you need do, then deciding not to for days? You are not hidden, as we can see you viewing the topic and where else you have or are posting.

There's a number of people waiting on you. Your selfishness is tiresome.

@The Harbinger of Ferocity
Guessing this is group roleplay?

Yes, that it is, @Pair of Hearts.

@The Harbinger of Ferocity
Same situation. I had to discuss with the other players, as the GM, and poll if they wanted the person out. If you're GM, I suggest this method - killing off someone can be fun!

I do not believe in killing a character off just because their player is not behaving well or in accordance. A character should only die because of their error or the one acting on behalf of them. They are more useful "off screen" anyway, having been essentially a non-player character otherwise, canonically. A protagonist or antagonist, but not nearly as important as they might have seemed.

Killing them just comes across as blunt and hardly elegant.

@The Harbinger of Ferocity
Ooh, misunderstood. I thought you meant how they log in and not post, see they're prompted, and proceeded to ignore.

Good luck keeping up with elegance and invigilation simultaneously though - it's an astounding feat that requires much faith.

That is what I am talking about, that the player will log in, not edit their post so the rest of can proceed despite numerous attempts at prompting, then vanish again offline. In that fifteen minute span they were on, they could have made their edit. There is nothing wrong with their character in this situation, just the player; killing their character off would really succeed in nothing and we would be better served as having their character just leave for roleplay relevant reasons after. Now they are still canon and do not feel like an abrupt, random, inexplicable death from a formerly somewhat important individual.

My issue more than anything being that four other people are kept waiting.

@The Harbinger of Ferocitycan the situation be rewritten to change the course of events? Or is the edit really needed? :/

Sounds like you have a pickle and this is what can be annoying about group rps. Been in a few that have failed and it's sometimes due to one person who holds everything up. I feel your pain.

It's been a while, I should get on more. Just for this thread,of course. I'm going to get to work straight away and start my own series of rants and hopefully not ruin the flow of this current conversation. no promises.

Rant 1: my weaknesses in roleplaying and my apparent lack of ability or motivation to fix them.
This one is pretty much self explanatory except for what I am not so good at in this hobby of mine. I've been at the level I have in terms of roleplaying for about a year and a half or so, where I'm able to post a somewhat decent reply that satisfies whom I roleplay with. The posts are usually not too long and not too short, just enough to fit into what I would describe as a half-step above Casual roleplays. And this is what dissatisfies me. I've attempted to increase my understanding of many words in the english language not commonly used in day-to-day affairs,as well as the general length of my posts to no avail. I'm constantly stuck in this little void and I can't seem to muster the motivation and the brainpower to produce a post that flows easily and explains what I want it to easily. Another problem related to this is that I am appallingly horrible at sentence structure in my own native language, to the point where I doubt myself constantly when I write papers. I want out but I just can't seem to find my bearings in this vast sea.

Rant 2: Lack of muse and experience in non-1x1 roleplays. I am also not really good at roleplays with more than one other roleplayer in them. I used to a lot back a few years ago, but I had many bad experiences with them and thus stopped looking for them. The last time I was a part of a multi-roleplayer thread was 5 months ago and it only lasted 2 weeks due to inactivity and generally bad muse. Also, many of the threads that I see just don't strike me as interesting. All the threads that do have multiple roleplayers and an interesting premise tend to be in the advanced section, in which I have trouble due to said inconveniences in the first rant.

I have a few more, but I feel a bit better now that I've...gotten what I think are inconveniences on me off of my chest.

The entire thing lays in one of two hands, one being those of the player, the other being the Game Master, @NuttsnBolts. Most roleplays I take interest in do not function as a story between two people; too many characters, for one.

@The Mage
I was in the same position (from low Casual to high Casual), but thanks to a few encouraging and stellar writers here, I got over myself.



Read a lot. You'll only end up killing your muse with all that expectation suffocating it. Just remember, the first step is always the hardest.

Also, stop living in the past. You're in a different spot now. People evolve, writings change. Keep reading, keep writing. Find what you want to represent. Revel in it. Rinse and repeat.

Try something small, like a trio or quartet roleplay with your usual roleplay buddies who all share similar interests.

Rant 1: my weaknesses in roleplaying and my apparent lack of ability or motivation to fix them.
This one is pretty much self explanatory except for what I am not so good at in this hobby of mine. I've been at the level I have in terms of roleplaying for about a year and a half or so, where I'm able to post a somewhat decent reply that satisfies whom I roleplay with. The posts are usually not too long and not too short, just enough to fit into what I would describe as a half-step above Casual roleplays. And this is what dissatisfies me. I've attempted to increase my understanding of many words in the english language not commonly used in day-to-day affairs,as well as the general length of my posts to no avail. I'm constantly stuck in this little void and I can't seem to muster the motivation and the brainpower to produce a post that flows easily and explains what I want it to easily. Another problem related to this is that I am appallingly horrible at sentence structure in my own native language, to the point where I doubt myself constantly when I write papers. I want out but I just can't seem to find my bearings in this vast sea.

Dude... wanna know a secret of mine?

No, seriously... I was shit at English. Final year 12 exam mark was what they call a mystery mark, meaning I got less than 50%. Even these days while reading I need to place my finger on the line or scroll the page to a certain point to make it easier. It's why I write with colour too as it helps me to read my own work. So fuck those who tell me it's not the "traditional" way of doing things. I'm not dyslexic or anything, but I do have difficulties in out spoken reading and occasional writing.

Why am I saying this? Because English is one thing that really has no wrong answers. There are "better" ways to convey a sentence and more optimal ways to describe something, but as long as you're clear in your wording, even small errors can be overlooked. Besides, practice makes perfect.

Also, Tau! :D