1x1 RPs

[Rhona W]

So, I'd really like to do a 1x1 RP to keep something moving fast and going on for a while.
Only, I'm looking for an RP with a story, some depth, and some action. Something with a continuing plot and a good world background and story.

I've advertised this in attempts at int-checks, but they all get ignored, in favour of the plethora of 'MxF' or whatever RPs.
My question is thus: Why does it seem like the only kind of 1x1's that are popular are romance-related ones, and everything else is ignored?
There was a big discussion about this on the Facebook page, and a lot of people came forward to say that romance RP's aren't the only 1x1's, and there's a lot of other stuff - but actual evidence says this isn't the case, at least by my experience. Or that no-one is looking for what I'm selling.

What's your take on it, forum-dwellers? I'm not really looking for advice, as such, just opinions. And potentially, y'know. A good RP.

[ishtar]

Well, the romance in any RP, not just 1x1, still need the agreements of both side, IMO. I mean, you can hardly have a romance if your RP partner doesn't agree to have his/her character to hook up with yours.

That said, I think people can still RP without the romance as the main focus. Sure, there might be a romance in it, but it should be as a 'sweetener' for the story.
At the moment, I'm doing a 1x1 with Sora, and we're both playing as females. We're not planning any romance between our characters, and leave it up for our muse as we go through the story. It might happen, it might not, it might be with each other characters, and it might be with another male character that we pop in later on if it fits.
Our main focus for the moment is character building and exploring how our chars reacted to the situation they're faced with.

So, yeah. It IS possible to do 1x1 RP without the romantic situation, it depends on the story and the agreement between you and your partner though. About the romantic related ones being more popular... *shrugs* it's not like you can help what other people like, right?

If your interest check got ignored, my suggestion would be try to bump it up to see if any would take a liking to it, or simply make a new one, maybe along with a story idea to give the reader some insight on what you're really looking for.

[Commander]

I don't think there's a whole lot you can do but bump it. Depending on the genre/plot it make take a while until the right person shows up. Just like an ugly vase might sit in an antique shop for 20 years until the perfect old lady comes in and falls in love with it. Romance is very popular amongst 1x1 and that will never change. If you really don't get any bites you may just need to slightly change what you're looking for, maybe leave things "open for possibility" or something. Good luck.

[Touch of Insanity]

I agree with others. I'm currently in a horror style onexone, Our characters are even different genders. If they do happen to come to like each other it'll come naturally. Fact is, some characters click on a friend level and others click on a romantic level over time. Like Commander said, it may just take time for someone to find your role play. There are a lot of interest checks in there and most people who do go in there are looking for some type of romance to happen over time. You just gotta find the right people.

[Tick]

The fact that 1x1 is flooded with romance RPs, and is known for that and its tendency to push or destroy the boundary for explicit sexual content, probably creates a vicious cycle where people there tend to look for it, and other don't bother looking. I know the couple times I've glanced through, I couldn't spot an RP that wasn't focused on a pairing.

Put the idea in the general interest check, and advertise it specifically as not AxB. That gives you a better chance on the audience.
If that doesn't work, you'll have to find a player you get along with that's willing to do it.

[TheFlyingScotsman]

I've ended up seeking romance plots to get a 1x1 rp, though I'd honestly prefer not to focus on romance atm.

I found that non-romance plots are ignored, because people want to focus on romance. Which is cool and all, but 'ehh.

[Yevin]

probably because its easier to do romance in 1x1's. I've tried doing a side romance in a group with another player but it never worked out - there was either a focus solely on the action or solely on the side romance. It's hard to find a good balance without making the other players ill. But with 1x1s it doesn't matter what a third or fourth person might say - its just you and the partner who wants to do a romance.

Myself, I tend to go to 1x1s for the mushy stuff and great character building stories that usually last a good while. I go to groups for awesome action and questing adventures mainly because its more fun to have more players in those type of stories.

[Jorick]

Romance isn't the entirety of 1x1, but it's a hefty majority for sure. I just looked at the 1x1 Interest Checks section and just from the title alone 17 of the 30 on the front page were blatant romance pairing things, and after looking at the other ones it seems only 3 threads out of the 30 were not wholly or partly romance-based interest checks.

I'd guess that it's partly a product of the nature of a 1x1 RP and partly due to the reputation building on itself. If someone wants to do some kind of romance RP, odds are they're looking for it to be one on one, as group stuff generally has some goal in mind that doesn't allow for many romantic interludes without derailing the whole damned thing. People who like to do romance RP stuff naturally gravitate toward 1x1 because that's where they'll be most likely to get what they want. After enough time and enough dedicated romance RPers using the section they became an apparent or actual majority; if the former, after enough time of people perceiving the 1x1 section as being about romance and thus going elsewhere if they aren't into it, then it turned into an actual majority. More time and more reinforced perceptions lead us to today, where romance is a strong majority of what goes on in the section. Or hell, I could be wrong and it started off that way entirely, but either way it seems to me a rather natural state of affairs.

Also, there's something to be said for the idea that those seeking romance are more likely to make their own interest check threads than the average non-romance 1x1 user. People have all sorts of particularities when it comes to romantic inclinations, with certain setups and scenarios they're interested in (and if they go for the X-rated side of things, kinks and turn-offs also come into play), so they're likely to make a thread outlining exactly what they want rather than combing through everyone else's things. This hypothesis of mine is backed up by the numbers: there have been 909 1x1 Interest Check threads made, and the next highest is Casual at 834, and Casual is generally viewed as the most active section (which is backed up by that section having by far the most non-interest check posts of any section). The interest check area is the face of a section on this forum, and since that's so heavily biased toward romance, well, I'm not surprised that it's hard to find other things. I know I avoid the 1x1 section because I'm not interested in romance as a primary focus and the few times I bothered to look that was all I found, and I wouldn't be surprised if there are many others like me.

It's unfortunate for those who wish to do something else in a 1x1 RP, but I can't think of much of anything that can be done about it.

[SilverRain]

Another take on why "everything else is ignored" is because there literally isn't enough players. A 1x1 RP has only two people - perfect for a romance story. If you check the non-romance 1x1s (such as fandoms or historical retellings) they sometimes come with the requirement that players need to take on more than one role. I for one, am able to take on multiple roles, but many RPers can't (or at least don't want to).

[Tick]

SilverRain said
Another take on why "everything else is ignored" is because there literally isn't enough players. A 1x1 RP has only two people - perfect for a romance story. If you check the non-romance 1x1s (such as fandoms or historical retellings) they sometimes come with the requirement that players need to take on more than one role. I for one, am able to take on multiple roles, but many RPers can't (or at least don't want to).

It's not a necessity to make a two-person story a romance. I could see it as convenient or easy to think up, but not necessary.
E.g. Two people (strangers/family/acquaintances) stuck on their own after some crisis, or both lost in the same place, trying to figure out how to survive/get out of said crisis.
Or a two-man mission of whatever kind.

[jennifer lost the war]

SilverRain said
Another take on why "everything else is ignored" is because there literally isn't enough players. A 1x1 RP has only two people - perfect for a romance story. If you check the non-romance 1x1s (such as fandoms or historical retellings) they sometimes come with the requirement that players need to take on more than one role. I for one, am able to take on multiple roles, but many RPers can't (or at least don't want to).

I've never understood this. It's completely natural to take more than one role. I don't think I've ever been in a RP where everybody didn't introduce other NPCs in their posts at least once, sometimes developing and appearing in the RP frequently. 1x1 has never meant one character with another character, it's one RPer and another RPer. So I'm confused as to why people became fixated with only having one character. What's the appeal? How can you possibly tell a story with just two characters, unless they're on a deserted island or something?

[Touch of Insanity]

jennifer lost the war said
I've never understood this. It's completely natural to take more than one role. I don't think I've ever been in a RP where at least one person didn't have other NPCs in their posts, sometimes developing and appearing in the RP frequently. 1x1 has never meant one character with another character, it's one RPer and another RPer. So I'm confused as to why people became fixated with only having one character. What's the appeal? How can you possibly tell a story with just two characters, unless they're on a deserted island or something?

When I started role playing in the onexone section, it was really easy for me to have the story so centered around the two characters that minimal NPC interaction was necessary. I cannot say how that has changed for me now, but I know now, I find the story is much more interesting and in depth with many different characters, even those that come and go. Maybe it has something to do with the level of the role play? I still have one or two characters that I play more,but I find lately more and more of my sub characters are becoming Co-stars and not extras on the set.

[Brovo]

Because people are lazy.

Before someone jumps down my throat with a terminator tank, no, I'm not talking about everyone who goes there. There are people who genuinely just want to do a long standing role play with a partner. Not with a group, just a partner, and that's not lazy, no, that's a personal preference.

Lazy is just how prevalent the... "Romance" in 1x1 is. You could also describe it as sleazy. It's low-class entertainment for vagabonds and the generally immature. I put it in quotations because there's two kinds of romance. Everyone claims to be type 1, most are type 2.

#1: Romance as a genre choice, a thematic style, not as the singular dominating point. It's not about wangst, it's simply a story that happens to contain romance. It's one of the two genres that traditionally cannot stand on its own anyway: You see a lot of romantic comedies in film for this reason.

#2: Because they want porn, er, a quickie, uhm, what I mean is, they want a ton of PG13 cybersex...

Look there's no nice way to put this, but a lot of the "romance" in 1x1 is literally just a series of meat shops. Stop me when you've seen this before: [Title]x[Title]. Like WerewolfXVampire, GirlXBoy, etc. This is literally the definition of a meat shop, where you select what kind of meat you want to pound. And cook.

Why is 1x1 so sleazy and lazy? Because it's fucking easy. First of all, you usually only want a single partner, and 1x1 is all about that. Second of all, you only need to get one other person to agree, and 1x1 is all about that. Third of all, the very title itself is kind of a dead giveaway: 1x1. Yes, it can stand for one on one. It can also stand for something else that is definitely not PG13 and would make Fonz blush brighter than the sun at mid day in Norway during the summer.

As if the meat shopping wasn't enough of a problem, you also have a lot of people there who register and basically just stay in that section permanently, without ever having read the rules on the site. For example: How many times have you seen comments about "adult content" being partially or even completely allowed in one way or another? Or even having to mention adult content allowance or denial... On a site that flat out denies adult content.

Again, not saying everyone who wants to RP in the 1x1 section is lazy or sleazy, there are some people who genuinely just want a partner... But the majority of it is just cheap, sleazy, lazy, softcore pornography. If you're really lucky, it might be censored.

[jennifer lost the war]

Brovo said Why is 1x1 so sleazy and lazy? Because it's fucking easy. First of all, you usually only want a single partner, and 1x1 is all about that. Second of all, you only need to get one other person to agree, and 1x1 is all about that.

Although I wouldn't go that far, I agree with the stuff you've said prior to that. 1x1 has certainly become something like a meat shop, but I've never visioned the genre to be that way and I think a lot of people feel the same. I would love to do a 1x1 with somebody to essentially write a collaborative story, and while you point out that you would only need 1 other person to agree with you, both the RPers also have much more responsibility and weight on their shoulders in terms of how the story ends up going and being shaped. In that way I wouldn't say the genre is lazy, just the people it seems to attract, since they have such a lazy interpretation of it.

Brovo said As if the meat shopping wasn't enough of a problem, you also have a lot of people there who register and basically just stay in that section permanently, without ever having read the rules on the site. For example: How many times have you seen comments about "adult content" being partially or even completely allowed in one way or another? Or even having to mention adult content allowance or denial... On a site that flat out denies adult content.

To be fair, the site acknowledges that they can't control what we do privately, so whenever I see that a 1x1 intends to engage in adult content I assume that the RPer wants to conduct the RP via PM or elsewhere, but maybe I'm giving them too much credit.

[Jorick]

jennifer lost the war said
To be fair, the site acknowledges that they can't control what we do privately, so whenever I see that a 1x1 intends to engage in adult content I assume that the RPer wants to conduct the RP via PM or elsewhere, but maybe I'm giving them too much credit.

Oh, you are giving too much credit. Waaaaaaay too much credit. Back on the old Guild, after Google ads were taken away due to them finding some objectionable content (it wasn't even a 1x1 smut thing, it was something old in the Spam section), a bunch of us went and searched for smut and so forth to bring to the attention of mods. Just between me and Elendra going smut hunting we must have found well over 100 blatant smut threads in the 1x1 section, plus tons of interest checks with really shady things (lists of kinks and explanations of some of them, for instance), and that's just what the mods hadn't already nuked in the past.

There are many people who blatantly disregard the rules, or maybe never read them in the first place. It's true that almost all of the smut 1x1 interest checks I've seen in my time on RPG have said they want to do it via PM or off-site, but there are still plenty who don't care about or never read the rules, which causes things like what Brovo mentioned about people just assuming adult content is allowed.

[Gowi]

Indeed, I remember seeing a My Little Pony roleplay in the free section with blatant (and poorly written) actions that were clearly breaking the rules. I reported it, of course. Still shocked about that one.

[Brovo]

jennifer lost the war said Although I wouldn't go that far, I agree with the stuff you've said prior to that. 1x1 has certainly become something like a meat shop, but I've never visioned the genre to be that way and I think a lot of people feel the same. I would love to do a 1x1 with somebody to essentially write a collaborative story, and while you point out that you would only need 1 other person to agree with you, both the RPers also have much more responsibility and weight on their shoulders in terms of how the story ends up going and being shaped. In that way I wouldn't say the genre is lazy, just the people it seems to attract, since they have such a lazy interpretation of it.

I think you're mixing up terms a bit, miscommunication. A genre is a series of tropes or stereotypes that define a commonly used setting or plot arc. A fantasy story often includes fantastical versions of medieval Europe, for example, or magic. Not all fantasy stories contain these elements, but they share common ones which string them all together in the genre they belong in.

1x1 is not a genre, it's a personal preference. That doesn't make it a lesser thing, it makes it different. 1x1 Draws softcore pornography like flies to a pile of shit because most porn is one on one, boy meets girl, or if you're into that kind of thing, girl meets flailing array of suspiciously shaped appendages.

Again, this doesn't mean that all 1x1 RP's are porn, this means that the 1x1 section as a whole is more likely to attract that kind of attention, and does.

As for the comment of it being easier to make one other person agree than multiple people, try posting adult content RP's in the advanced section and ask for 8+ players. Watch it burn to a crisp because getting that much attention on one RP would be more than enough to catch the eye of someone who does know the site rules. Plus most of these smut RP's, which are lazy, mind you, because they're not even well written porn (which is the insulting part of it all!), being 1x1, means they only have to wait for their partner to respond, which results in much faster posting cycles versus a group, which for horny teenagers, means a lot, really.

jennifer lost the war said To be fair, the site acknowledges that they can't control what we do privately, so whenever I see that a 1x1 intends to engage in adult content I assume that the RPer wants to conduct the RP via PM or elsewhere, but maybe I'm giving them too much credit.

Even then, it's still very upsetting for people who want to RP 1x1 and not be bombarded with sleazy, poorly written porn ads. The fact that it's even being advertised is shameful, it really is. If they take it off site I'll at least give credence that they're taking their personal, adult activities away from places where it might harm the site, so that gets my thumbs up... But really? Of all the places to advertise for porn, here?... Really? There are other sites better equipped to handle adult content than this one, and I'd even link one if it wasn't for the rule about advertisement.

[jennifer lost the war]

Sorry. I know it's not a genre, I was just being lazy in my word usage.

Gowi said
Indeed, I remember seeing a My Little Pony roleplay in the free section with blatant (and poorly written) actions that were clearly breaking the rules. I reported it, of course. Still shocked about that one.

yikes

[Brovo]

jennifer lost the war said
Sorry. I know it's not a genre, I was just being lazy in my word usage.yikes

Ah it's fine. I just like making sure people know these things. So many arguments because of miscommunication happen, it's horrible. :<

[Dervish]

Jorick said
Oh, you are giving too much credit. Waaaaaaay too much credit. Back on the old Guild, after Google ads were taken away due to them finding some objectionable content (it wasn't even a 1x1 smut thing, it was something old in the Spam section), a bunch of us went and searched for smut and so forth to bring to the attention of mods. Just between me and Elendra going smut hunting we must have found well over 100 blatant smut threads in the 1x1 section, plus tons of interest checks with really shady things (lists of kinks and explanations of some of them, for instance), and that's just what the mods hadn't already nuked in the past.There are many people who blatantly disregard the rules, or maybe never read them in the first place. It's true that almost all of the smut 1x1 interest checks I've seen in my time on RPG have said they want to do it via PM or off-site, but there are still plenty who don't care about or never read the rules, which causes things like what Brovo mentioned about people just assuming adult content is allowed.

The smut witch hunt was certainly one of last year's highlights, as was the aftermath of confused and angry people demanding to know what happened to their games. Good times!

I'll totally agree with Brovo saying a lot of 1x1 is embarrassingly lazy. Every time I go to look, there isn't a damn thing that interests me and almost all the interest checks are painfully generic pairings instead of actual plots. And man, if you're there not trolling for your brand of smut, there's virtually no games to meet your needs.