Dudes who set up RP universes that are heavy in racism, sexism, homophobia, etc all in the name of "being realistic hurr hurr hurr".

This is a case of someone failing to communicate the real reason for their decisions. Which is very common, though it's not always as bothersome as this. You're not including these things because they're realistic, you're including them because you want them to exist for the inherent value they bring to the story. It's a matter of tone: if you want a dark, gritty fantasy world, this is one way to get there. The sense of realism is just a peripheral benefit.

Of course, there's also the people who use fiction to push a political agenda. Fuck those people. But in my experience, it's rather hard to differentiate with certainty whether the beliefs of someone's character / setting are their own real-world beliefs, or just flaws to make the character / setting more interesting. As long as they're not openly preaching misogyny OOC, that is.

@Drache

I just think you did not express your point well, which is why Ammokkx made their point against it. For the record, I agree with them in the matters of this. Humans are shitty, life is shitty, and by proxy darker settings that focus on the shitty part make sense. But I do get what you take issue with. However I cannot recall any one RP that is "grimdark for the sake of grimdark" that has been an outlet for shallow bigoted perspectives. I can recall plenty that think death, murder, and gloom is all one thinks they need to be dark however.

@Inkarnate

Perhaps I am just unlucky that I seem to run into this a lot. It could be that my characters frequently defy the typical straight male white-european stereotype that seems so prevalent in medieval fantasy games. *shrug*

@Drache It happens. Now with a fantasy setting, those "isms" are up to the GM. Nothing saying they have to be there for "realities" sake but some like those things for various reasons.

Now, for me I do put a lot of "isims" in some of my Rps. My fantasy, modern day, or futuristic ones they really don't appear unless someone makes a character that is a racist or the like.

Now my Rps that are slice of life pre-1950's I put them in the setting heavily and a warning that goes along with it. I have one currently set in the 1920's Egypt & another in 1820's London; so hate against certain races, religion, poor treatment of women and so forth all play a part in the story because that is part of history. Seeing my rpers play characters that "buck" that system adds to the rp, but only if done well.

There's a difference between tone and taste. The tone of a roleplay can be dark, oppressive and real, but the taste is how someone applies that level of tone. Using @Lady Amalthea's signature MASH image as an example, but MASH is during the Korean war and yet it was a long running comedy show with little in the way of *ism* except what was used in light hearted themes and jokes. Place that same world in another writer's hands and you may end up with something along the lines of Hacksaw Ridge, Saving Private Ryan or Black Hawk Down. Even Inglorious Bastards uses comedy during it's story but it's a very different level of comedy compared to MASH.

In summary, @Drache, I think you just attracted the wrong writer.

@NuttsnBolts Actually MASH in the later seasons dealt with the dark side to racism, sexism, and more. It played heavily in the development of not only Hotlips, but Winchester and even Hawkeye. So while yes, it was a comedy it dug into these "isisms" and showed a very dark side a lot of the time.

I was about to say.

"Wait, MASH gets dark as hell."

I was about to say.

"Wait, MASH gets dark as hell."

As someone who grew up watching reruns religiously, this was my train of thought as well.

@Inkarnate@Ruby@Lady Amalthea
Mash was never my thing. I was more Fraiser and Home Improvement

I just want to join an RP that doesn't die, damnit.

I just want to join an RP that doesn't die, damnit.

try a small group of people without a strict posting regiment

so far it's worked for my rp. also helps to find dedicated people, but that's out of anyone's control

Sorry if these have been mentioned.

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When you see an rp that sounds interesting, but the person tells you which photo to use for your character profile and they tell you every detail of how they want your character's personality and background to be. Might as well be playing a fandom character at that point.

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Interest checks that only say a few lines, for example: "Hey anyone want to do a [blank] role play? Hit me up!" Sometimes their thread title sounds good and then you get nothing!

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Not being flexible and only RPing one gender, especially in romance role plays.

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A character is supper submissive and will not have an opinion or do anything.

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Looking for a IRL male to play a male character or IRL female to play female character. I've seen some good sounding RPs, but they only wanted a IRL male because they were looking for a male partner for their character.

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Getting a RP request, but it sounds like cybering, bordering on creepy. [This has happened more on other forums, but a couple on here, too.]

<Snipped quote by Iuniper>

try a small group of people without a strict posting regiment

so far it's worked for my rp. also helps to find dedicated people, but that's out of anyone's control

I think that would be ideal, definitely. Ideally I would like to meet such dedicated people who are pretty lax, yet dependable. But we'll see. : )

I just want to join an RP that doesn't die, damnit.

Look to see if any long running RPs are taking on players. Failing that, pay attention to GMs that have successful games under the belts.

Or you could do what I did and decide to start GMing because I never saw any games I wanted to participate in.

<Snipped quote by Iuniper>

Look to see if any long running RPs are taking on players. Failing that, pay attention to GMs that have successful games under the belts.

Or you could do what I did and decide to start GMing because I never saw any games I wanted to participate in.

Aye, I ought to stop whining and get to putting my own game up. Thanks for the advice. :)

<Snipped quote by Iuniper>

Look to see if any long running RPs are taking on players. Failing that, pay attention to GMs that have successful games under the belts.

Or you could do what I did and decide to start GMing because I never saw any games I wanted to participate in.

I GM specifically because I couldn't find jack to join myself. I don't like Gm'ing but if I want to rp i don't got much choice in the matter.

I GM specifically because I couldn't find jack to join myself. I don't like Gm'ing but if I want to rp i don't got much choice in the matter.

Or, y'know, Gming because you don't trust anyone else to keep their goddamn RPs alive sometimes, even if there's been examples of your genre in the past.

...I'm also not sure if that counts as humble bragging or not...

*Obligatory gripe about generic 5ft submissive female characters*

No reason for it, just came to mind out of nowhere.

Its like nobody has ever heard of men being asked out by 6'4ft amazonian goddesses...

Okay, okay, so maybe I can't sleep because of weekend plans. _{(I mean...shes like...damn)}

^w^

OH! The thread is here about bitching...uhh... Darn! There sure is a lack of characters of dark-skinned descent in threads!
At the very least, I also don't research every thread before making generalized claims!
Grr, I am a bias individual!

Does that count?

So this happened not too long ago, but long enough that I dont know if people will remember...

Ever had a collab that went south? Maybe. But have you ever worked with someone to start a collab and then they remove your work when it comes to putting up the post? Bet you haven't.

So what happened? Well.... I jumped omto a pirate pad with a fellow player in an RP, cause I wanted my character to get more involved, and he posted up on the forum to say that he was free for collaborative writing. He wrote his part, I wrote some stuff, and I went to pass it back to him when he said he was waiting for a third party response of someone that was in the vicinity of the characters. Fair enough, so I left it.

I kept coming back and checked it out, noticing nothing else was done, and 2 days later I saw a post by that user go up. "Cool?" I thought cause I never really got to write more and it was a bit of a surprise.

When I read the post I saw that the guy had REMOVED my work and added his own stuff in. He progressed the scene without my character and I was left wondering what the hell did he do that for?

I just can't fathom, the logic of working with fellow writers should be the norm, but if you are going to reject your fellow players then go write a novel instead. There is no reason why you should be so selfish.

Note: I ended up leaving the roleplay as the GM went MIA anyways.

@Hawlin Well, I think it's a factor of the demographics who play here. I'm making generalizations as well, but almost every player I've met on the guild is of European or Asian heritage. It might be a factor of "how can I play another race and not seem like an ignorant ass?" If you play somebody of a different race, I think the fear is that you'll seem racist for making them urban or portraying them in any way real-life stereotypical.

It makes perfect sense, even if it does prevent a healthy diversity in rps. That being said, some of the best players I've met played multiple races simultaneously in the same thread and did it WONDERFULLY. So to remedy that, I think people need to be less afraid and overall less potentially judgmental if it does go south. It's a sticky subject, so it needs to be approached with care.

I could be way wrong about all of that too though, it's one perspective XD