@vancexentan

Yup.

At the same time, you have those people who don't suck at interaction, but actually push it away. This causes problems beyond belief sometimes, as it leaves bad imprints on people when they try to interact with these douchebags who'd rather keep to themselves and turn the roleplay into their own fucking fanfiction. But there are people who are just mentally unable to grasp the idea of interacting with others; Seemingly to the point of mental retardation.

@RaddumYes I've seen roleplays like that a a plenty and if people don't get their special little thing they don't want to be in the roleplay or they label you as a bad gm. For example one person once upon a time wanted a bloody cross between a vampire, and some sort of neko creature when Vampires are canonically extremely powerful individuals and even half breeds would be a big deal. And they just wanted it for the fucking ears. I've seen plenty of naruto roleplays ruined because people make their characters too bloody strong to the point where a nine year old can beat a full grown adult just because of his special brand of eyes which were somehow fully developed at his age.

Roleplays are for mutual interaction with other characters. Any of my roleplay ideas could easily be turned into fanfiction on some random site or another but I like the aspect of combining other narratives and character ideas together. But the major problem comes along when the people just want to glorify their character instead of actually making a compelling narrative. I've always been an end game guy so when my ideas do get realized they turn out pretty well however they almost never have because no one sticks around longer than a week too see what I actually have flipping planned. Entire character arcs, and intricate stories revolving around factions, and conflicting character interests lead to nothing because nobody can see five feet in front of them and wade through the opening 'we all meet in a tavern' scenario to actually get into any sort of meat. And roleplays that start off with the characters knowing each other feels forced, and undeveloped. And even then the people leave causing massive gaps in roleplays.

My fate/stay night roleplay literally died mid chapter one recently because two people couldn't decide what to post and gave up without telling me. And even more people up and left without much of a word leaving me to patchwork the opening to the roleplay not once, not twice, but three fucking times.

neko

I read everything else, but this person needs to die.

Also I am almost certain I know who you're talking about, and if it's actually him, we should bust his kneecaps.

@RaddumI'm not sure if it was a he or not but the person I'm referring to is from, (I think?), the old guild. It was a rosario x vampire roleplay and in the interest check I almost got fucking burnt by the mods for flaming because I got so annoyed over the fact that they were trying to skip over cross-genetic stuff with a freaking super race for cat ears that they were ignoring all the other bloody traits. I mean m own character in that was a werewolf (another super race) but only because I wanted to make sure I had an out to bad situations when they came along. I never do anything in my roleplays to over play my character on purpose and I get ridiculously pissed when people call me out on apparently trying to overstep my character over the others. Especially since on another website I'm roleplaying on I literally had my battle character, a magical knight version of mordred, get literally punt kicked through the wall by another enemy.

A very short bitch for today.

Saying your occupied and are unable to focus on all the RP's you currently have and then joining more shit and searching for more shit makes you a liar. A lack of honesty about laziness or disinterest is very distasteful.

@Raddum You see Raddum; once they see you in an RP, people go to any length to leave it fast as possible.

@Mr Allen J

Usually because the shitlords don't belong there.

There's also a rumor that it's so bad people literally kill group roleplays before they begin because of me.

_{I understand it was bad anyways but that was the earliest r.i.p I'd ever witnessed.}

meow

Y'know what REALLY grinds my gears? People meowin' in the bitching thread. Nom' sayin'? Just like. Fuckin' MEOWING. IN THE BITCHING THREAD. It's even worse when it's just a single meow. Like "meow", y'know? No capitalization. No punctuation. Just-- URGH. Can't stand that shit.

Not namin' any names here. But YOU KNOW WHO YOU ARE. Next time try barking, because the LAST thing I wanna hear when I'm about to get my super salty bitch on is a fuckin' meow. Don't mess with me.

I'm gonna say it.

I hate the 'we all meet in a tavern' scenario.

I hate beginnings.

I hate the 5 pages of posts that it takes for everyone to go through the motions of, 'oh, hi, I *TOO* am on a quest to drop a fucking piece of jewelry into a pit of lava! But because my misspelled personality tab says that I am stand-offish, I'm going to distrust you until everyone gets so bored with the introductions that everyone quits.'

A fundamental guideline in improv is to always have the characters know each other in some way. It just makes the dynamics way more interesting if they already have a relationship.

Maybe people drop out of roleplays because we all get hung up on the introductions, which are boring as fuck?

What if we started with all the obnoxious introductory box checking done, and just skipped to the fun bits, be they character driven backstabbing, stabbing, or just stabbing characters?

Literally the only time in history that the 'they meet in a tavern' has worked as a literary device was fucking Chaucer, and it's easily the lamest part of Canterbury Tales.

@Sypherkhode822 I agree that introductions can be a chore to get through, especially when it's almost all you've done in recent RPing. However, I've seen plenty of RPs fall in spite of starting at an "exciting" part, and I've seen a few RPs last for years past their awkward introductions. Simple fact of the matter is RPs are touch and go no matter how you do it, and you just have to hope the people you got stuck with this time will see it through.

In fact, I was in an RP not long ago that started at a point we were all supposed to know each other and it started with a fight sequence. But as all RPs go, half of the initial cast went up in smoke in the first few scenes and the cast thinned out over the course of the RP to the point there were only 4 people left (which I was and am not one of, by the way). Now said RP has sat in silence for over two weeks and the players seem to have left it be for new horizons.

Also, going off of this, something that annoys me; when people seem to break character for no good reason. As I said, in that RP it was established the cast knew each other already by virtue of being stuck in a hellhole world for at least a year. In spite of this, someone decided that the best reaction to the death of one of their character's comrades was for them to feel nothing at all. Now, you might be thinking it's entirely possible for someone to be apathetic towards someone dying, but this was someone they were supposed to have gone through a really rough time with for a year, and the character had never been established to be so blithely apathetic towards such things in the past, not in character nor on their character sheet. In fact, their character shortly after displayed a great deal of care and affection towards another character whom they had never even interacted with once before nor been established to have any history with. This all led me to the conclusion that the player was full of shit and was RPing in line with their own whimsy and not according to any logic.

Introductions are only boring if you have no imagination to make them interesting or don't have fun interacting people in one of the most principal moments of a story.

Introductions are only boring if you have no imagination to make them interesting or don't have fun interacting people in one of the most principal moments of a story.

This.

Introductions are wonderful things; I love writing my first post in a roleplay to establish my character and set her/him up for the journey ahead. It allows me to show an example of my character, beyond the CS: As most people know that they write a CS and end up playing a character differently. An introduction post allows you to express how things'll truly be going down, and what your fellow roleplayers can expect from you.

Now if you aren't a writer, I guess I get it. Pure roleplayers like to be thrown into the thick of things and don't care much about the path ahead; They just want something to bash their keyboard about. I'm certain any writer would whole-heartedly appreciate introduction posts though, as they are probably the most creative you'll be able to be in some roleplays: Specifically in plot-heavy ones.

Also personally, it lets me gauge if someone is worth my time: Specifically in 1x1's. I almost fight people so I have the right to write our intro, but occasionally if I'm unsure of my partner, I'll have them do it. Sometimes I'll get something good, sometimes I'll get something that'll disappoint me. And when the latter happens, it is usually a good sign that we aren't good partners, as I'd like someone who is at least somewhat talented: Not someone who just spends a single paragraph getting straight to the point, but spends many expressing their character and how they act in the world provided. If they can't do that, it's not exactly motivating for me to do it. And sure I could stoop down and post like them so I feel like no effort was lost, but...

I'm not that desperate.

And sure I could stoop down and post like them.

Well adjusting your style to fit isn’t necessarily bad, insofar as my opinion goes but other than that I pretty much agree with everything you just said.

Well adjusting your style to fit isn’t necessarily bad, insofar as my opinion goes but other than that I pretty much agree with everything you just said.

Anyone who does this to accommodate his partner will only feel resentment and bitterness later down the road. He'll feel like he deserves better RP than this person can provide, but because he was willing to tolerate it and even encourage it so early into the relationship, the other RPer might have no clue at all that what he's doing frustrates his partner.

@Inkarnate

<Snipped quote by Inkarnate>

Anyone who does this to accommodate his partner will only feel resentment and bitterness later down the road. He'll feel like he deserves better RP than this person can provide, but because he was willing to tolerate it and even encourage it so early into the relationship, the other RPer might have no clue at all that what he's doing is frustrating his partner.

^

@pugbutter @Raddum

The difference here is adjusting, not placating. Much like a good musician adapts their form for a collaborative project, a good writer does the same. This isn’t me saying we should accommodate to our peers in some diminutive fashion but adapt to things that better fit the collaboration as a whole. I agree with the sentiment of don’t waste your time in a writing relationship you feel is counterproductive. Understanding where your writing chemistry and preferences lie is more important than pleasing some friend you don’t really enjoy writing with. Being in the same hobby doesn’t mean you enjoy the same things in prose.

On the one hand I'm glad I'm picky on what I post, but on the other hand it annoys me I have to re-write something three freakin' times before I'm satisfied.

I much prefer it when I nail something the first try, with maybe some minor edits >.>'

On the one hand I'm glad I'm picky on what I post, but on the other hand it annoys me I have to re-write something three freakin' times before I'm satisfied.

I much prefer it when I nail something the first try, with maybe some minor edits >.>'

We can’t all be happy with the first draft, yeah. But at least you got in three when it could’ve been up to thirteen. I think [for roleplaying] that is the highest I’ve revised a single post until I was content with the results.

@Sypherkhode822 While introductions can be boring/a chore, a good introduction is basically letting people get a feel for the RP, and the characters. Dropping right into the "exciting parts" like a ADD-suffering child would only hurt the RP in the long run.