Roleplaying Pet Peeves

I hate it when people do really short posts that basically do nothing to help the story move along, and you end up the only one putting any effort into it. Like @Emory and @Queen of Roses I hate it when people will just start roleplaying in first person without telling anyone else they are going to do it, and when everyone else is roleplaying in third person. It can just be a pain to read. As a side note I have actually had several roleplays where the other person insisted on writing in second person, I have had this happen several times. I mean seriously how popular is Second person for writing anyway.
 
All the ones above and:
  • Depends on the roleplay, but when everybody's characters are all really good at combat. Nothing wrong with having a character like that of course but it's annoying to see so often rather than characters who have to rely on other ways to solve conflict like stealth, throwing money at the problem, running away, talking their way out of it or whatever.
  • You see it most often in fantasy when there's different races to choose from - characters who are half one race and half another and have the strengths of both and none of the weaknesses.
  • Elitism - pretty self explanatory.

I believe that most of your concerns and the other issues mentioned by the other posters on this thread; basically comes down to the (Partnership).
A well established partnership rarely....if ever.....has to deal with these types of problematic issues. But with people that do not know each other at all....and try to come together to tell a story, the problem generally stems from a lack of mutual respect, trust and oftentimes, proper communication.
With a well established partnership things like "Posting expectations-character interactions....battle wins vs losses....a characters demise for the sake of a plot...etc, etc; are things that are discussed and agreed upon, in a mature fashion, before hand. So the effort is not a futile one....but collaborative. Whereas, new partnerships tend to suffer from (Two individuals) that are completely on the opposite side of the spectrum. Nothing productive will ever come from that. With a trusted partner....there would be no problem allowing one's character to die in a (Story plot); no one's ego would prevent them from being able to achieve there creative aims.

Characters like "DoomsDay---Darkseid---Thanos---Superman....etc...etc, could all be a part of a role play with (mature partners) and that with few, if any issues at all. But outside of that spectrum....it could never work. And the characters themselves would be blamed.

That has at least been my experience.
 
I believe that most of your concerns and the other issues mentioned by the other posters on this thread; basically comes down to the (Partnership).
A well established partnership rarely....if ever.....has to deal with these types of problematic issues. But with people that do not know each other at all....and try to come together to tell a story, the problem generally stems from a lack of mutual respect, trust and oftentimes, proper communication.
With a well established partnership things like "Posting expectations-character interactions....battle wins vs losses....a characters demise for the sake of a plot...etc, etc; are things that are discussed and agreed upon, in a mature fashion, before hand. So the effort is not a futile one....but collaborative. Whereas, new partnerships tend to suffer from (Two individuals) that are completely on the opposite side of the spectrum. Nothing productive will ever come from that. With a trusted partner....there would be no problem allowing one's character to die in a (Story plot); no one's ego would prevent them from being able to achieve there creative aims.

Characters like "DoomsDay---Darkseid---Thanos---Superman....etc...etc, could all be a part of a role play with (mature partners) and that with few, if any issues at all. But outside of that spectrum....it could never work. And the characters themselves would be blamed.

That has at least been my experience.

I heavily agree with you on this matter. As much of a mood killer as it might be to just plan things out (Specially with battles and such) if they involve both characters in the play, it completely keeps it from devolving into an immature endurance test of who can dodge more or hit harder in their attempts to desperately win the fight. So usually, when a RP I'm in involves any sort of violent conflict between my character and my partner's character, I always ask beforehand for a defined victor. It's like setting up the foundations of a house; from then on, a ton can happen. After all, not all victories are crushing, definite ones. Perhaps someone won a duel but at the cost of a severe wound, or staining their otherwise goody-two-shoes reputation by using a more dirty method.
 
I heavily agree with you on this matter. As much of a mood killer as it might be to just plan things out (Specially with battles and such) if they involve both characters in the play, it completely keeps it from devolving into an immature endurance test of who can dodge more or hit harder in their attempts to desperately win the fight. So usually, when a RP I'm in involves any sort of violent conflict between my character and my partner's character, I always ask beforehand for a defined victor. It's like setting up the foundations of a house; from then on, a ton can happen. After all, not all victories are crushing, definite ones. Perhaps someone won a duel but at the cost of a severe wound, or staining their otherwise goody-two-shoes reputation by using a more dirty method.
Wise and very talented writer with the exceptional super power of preparation, and detail. Creativity as well. We're agreed.
 
When I'm plotting with someone and I've just laid out a few good ideas, and their only response is "sure lol". That drives me nuts. I can't stand first person either. It pulls me out of the story.
 
My two biggest pet peeves are tone inconsistency/outright ignoring any tone in the scene, and short posts.

In regards to the first, I’ve roleplayed with some people that just... outright decided to ignore the gravity of their actions? For an example, someone wrote a mass murder scene. Really gruesome, bodies and blood everywhere. And then they moved on as if nothing had happened. I don’t know if it’s really a huge thing to anyone else, but it kind of drove me nuts how nonchalant it was. Where’s the drama? What thoughts were going through the character’s head? What was the motive? None of that was present, it was just a murder spree.

And I know the second has already been addressed multiple times but good lord I get really annoyed when I put something about this being a semi literate to literate rp in the description and someone comes along and writes two or three sentences. I get writers block, but it just makes a part of me die whenever it happens. Especially when the person in question leaves for days at a time and then suddenly comes back with the same length replies. I dunno, just makes me feel like I’m putting in a lot of effort for little to no payoff.
 
I might have mentioned it elsewhere, but another pet peeve is when someone is trying to paint a dark, dramatic picture, and then ruins it by making a reference to an Internet meme or an infamous Internet site.

For example, one forum-based RPG I was a part of had the host describing the scene of a brutal vehicular homicide as a gruesome scene, but said it was reminiscent of something seen on an infamous Internet 'shock site'. That reference was jarring, inconsistent with the overall tone of that post, and pretty much wrecked the mood it was trying to establish.
 
I don't like it when roleplayers ignore my characters when I'm trying to interact with theirs.

On another RP website, there was an RP forum that I got approved for that had 6 to 8 other characters participating. I loved the plot for it and wanted to be a part of it. Most of the other roleplayers knew each other beforehand, but I was fine with that. After character introductions, nobody really interacted with my character and if they did, it would be two to four sentences of interaction. When they interacted with each other, it would be a paragraph or two of interaction. I was pissed and also hurt for a bit. Then I left the forum completely. I didn't like being excluded like that.
 
I honestly lose it when we're plotting and they say "anything you want is good" or "sure we can do that, I'll follow your lead". Like please no, I love it when we both and discuss together, if not I feel like the other person isn't enjoy it.
 
I haven't roleplayed here yet, but I've experienced enough around the internet to find a few irksome things:
  • When people expect me to play all other side characters. I used to RP on Quotev, and I had a partner that that would only play their characters. But the moment they mentioned a side character, they'd send something along the lines of 'She heard [side character] speak,' and just leave it at that, expecting me to take care of it. It feels a little lazy to me...I just sort of feel like if you take the time to mention the side character, at least control it, too? I don't know what's in your head.
  • Like many people have said, sending multiple paragraphs only to receive a couple sentences in response. I can understand if you've got writer's block, but at least try? It makes the story less fun if there's nothing else to go off of. This also goes for one liners.
  • When people seek me out for sexual themes, and only sexual themes. I can't do that stuff, not when it's focused solely on smut, and I much prefer fade to black. It just makes me uncomfortable, and also makes me feel...used? Like people don't care for my friendship, but for my ability to make them feel gratified.
  • Invincible characters. Seen it a few times posted here. It's just frustrating to see a character that can do nothing wrong, cannot be beat, and always come out glorious. Fights are ugly, and usually all parties take a few blows. It might be a little different in gunfights, but unless it's a Matrix roleplay, don't dodge bullets. And you're most certainly not going to hit every. Single. Target. With perfect precision. Give your characters flaws! Let them come out bloody! It makes for a much more interesting story and believable character.
  • First person and second person. They're jarring, especially when everyone else in a group is in third.
  • Last one: trying to plan an RP and it's one person doing the work. I can understand it more in a group RP, but I'm talking more 1x1. 1x1 stories are 2 people working together. It makes me, at least, not want to continue, because I worry that maybe that potential partner may bring the same to the overall roleplay.
But, from what I have seen, it looks like these are very rare, perhaps, at least in the forums I've been floating around in? I doubt it'll be much hassle here. Everyone I've seen here so far are really good.
 
// I never thought I'd say this but it bugs me when I find someone with ideas super similar to mine all the time. Like I love the fact we both want the roleplay to go this way, but it's not exciting anymore because we know what to expect from each other now.
 
For me the biggest one is short posts. If I write 800+ words, I'm not accepting your one paragraph. Not every post has to be crazy long, but I don't think it's fair that I put a lot of time and effort into my post and then get in return something that anyone could write in 10 minutes.

Bad spelling and grammar is next. Not using punctuation and such. If every other word is spelled wrong, I can't read it - it starts annoying me so much I can't read it. Everyone does mistakes every now and then, but if you can't be bothered to send me a decent post, then don't send it at all. Not asking anyone to be perfect, but showing a little bit of care in your post would be appreciated. Roleplaying is supposed to be fun, but it's not only about the story for me. It's not fun to read something that's nothing but mistakes.

Lastly, two types of characters; the invincible "better at everything than anyone else" kind who can do no wrong and is always the best. Or then the crying, useless "lady in distress" kind of character who contributes nothing and needs someone to rescue them or take care of them at all times.
 
I try to avoid those role plays that emphasize competition over storytelling. Once you start trying to turn what is pretty much collaborative writing into a competition then you devolve you characters into nothing more than stat sheets. I get the appeal and I don't mind some competitiveness when the rules of engagement are clearly defined but ultimately I'd rather sit down and tell a story with a group of fellow writers. I think some pretty cool PvP moments could be introduced into a role play with the right sort of mindset and the introduction of some table-top elements but that's just how I would do it.

I guess that's more of a preference than a peeve, though. So how about this? When someone tries inserting the wrong kind of logic into a story. What I mean by that is say you are running a typical high fantasy adventure but you have a player who keeps trying to insert anime logic. I know that magic in fantasy is all about making the impossible plausible but anime is its own beast and sometimes follows a logic and even a style that flies in the face of the more grounded fantasy genre. Does that make any sense? I can't think of a good example off the top of my head.

I have other peeves, I'm sure but I think the one above most is when people outright refuse or are just uninterested in talking out their expectations. I like to know exactly what sort of expectations my fellow players have so that we can try to all be on the same page. There is nothing more frustrating than when someone tries to play a class clown in a drama or a murderhobo in a mystery when you're supposed to be playing detective.
 
I have all sorts of pet peeves. Most of them to do with grammar.

Like, when people try to classify the word 'unique'. How do you even go about placing that word and its meaning into categories or states of definement? It's either unique or it's not. There's no middle ground or it would not be unique at all. You can have 'somewhat special' but 'somewhat unique'? At that moment, it is no longer unique or special.

There is also the case of 'Their'. 'There' and 'They're' type words. I understand it from a phonetic point of view, where you're sounding out how the word spells but otherwise, just maybe, these types of words are falling victim to a lack of understanding towards possessive words, omitted letters and so on.

The English language is a fine fettled thing.

I've had my writings criticised before purely because it was critiqued by an American reader. I am English and therefore I will use words like 'Colour', 'Armour' and so forth because that is how it is spelt and how it is pronounced.

Short postings... I can definitely agree on this and it's something that constantly crops up for me. There is nothing to bounce off from from a really short post. I have had to somehow derive a response to a single sentence before and that is incredibly frustrating. I come from an arts background in terms of education and bouncing ideas off of others is a fundamental process. No two minds are alike and thus bouncing off ideas helps to spark the creative process between peers. It's like answering a question, you'll use part of the question in your answer. I like quality but there's little quality to be found in single sentences that provide no use. I mean, sure, there are some single sentences that work but that's all about the situation to hand and the chemistry involved inbetween authors.
 
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I have all sorts of pet peeves. Most of them to do with grammar.

Like, when people try to classify the word 'unique'. How do you even go about placing that word and its meaning into categories or states of definement? It's either unique or it's not. There's no middle ground or it would not be unique at all. You can have 'somewhat special' but 'somewhat unique'? At that moment, it is no longer unique or special.

There is also the case of 'Their'. 'There' and 'They're' type words. I understand it from a phonetic point of view, where you're sounding out how the word spells but otherwise, just maybe, these types of words are falling victim to a lack of understanding towards possessive words, omitted letters and so on.

The English language is a fine fettled thing.

I've had my writings criticised before purely because it was critiqued by an American reader. I am English and therefore I will use words like 'Colour', 'Armour' and so forth because that is how it is spelt and how it is pronounced.

Short postings... I can definitely agree on this and it's something that constantly crops up for me. There is nothing to bounce off from from a really short post. I have had to somehow derive a response to a single sentence before and that is incredibly frustrating. I come from an arts background in terms of education and bouncing ideas off of others is a fundamental process. No two minds are alike and thus bouncing off ideas helps to spark the creative process between peers. It's like answering a question, you'll use part of the question in your answer. I like quality but there's little quality to be found in single sentences that provide no use. I mean, sure, there are some single sentences that work but that's all about the situation to hand and the chemistry involced inbetween authors.

You've inspired me. This isn't really a peeve so much as something that catches my eye whenever it's used. If you are leaving the house then you are walking to the door and not towards it. Walking towards something implies to me that you are walking in the direction of that something but your destination is elsewhere or that you only know the general direction of your destination.

I don't have much room to wiggle, though. I'm crap at grammar. When I first started role playing I would write in what I can only describe as "future tense". It was a horrible habit I picked up from learning the T1 fighting rule set and I was always paranoid about doing something wrong so I would describe what my character was going to do as opposed to what they did. Recently I had the humbling pleasure of coming across some of my writing from that time. I'm not much for the scorched Earth mentality but there are some things that can only be purged with fire.

As for posting length, I'll take a well written short post over three paragraphs of fluff. Don't get me wrong, it's hard to work with literally one sentence but it also depends on the context. A conversation between two characters can be difficult to carry out if each person is trying to reach some sort of word quota. It's during those exchanges that I think writers need to get together and either hash out a single post written or approved by each party or work out some mutual time together and rapid fire some short dialogue posts at one another. This is one of the challenges that role players face that someone (or even two) writing a novel doesn't have to deal with.

That actually segues into a pet peeve of mine and that is having to read through a paragraph of a character's inner monologue only for them to end with a short sentence of dialogue because it gives me about the same amount to work with as your own example. This was another embarassing habit I had back in the day.
 
You've inspired me. This isn't really a peeve so much as something that catches my eye whenever it's used. If you are leaving the house then you are walking to the door and not towards it. Walking towards something implies to me that you are walking in the direction of that something but your destination is elsewhere or that you only know the general direction of your destination.

I don't have much room to wiggle, though. I'm crap at grammar. When I first started role playing I would write in what I can only describe as "future tense". It was a horrible habit I picked up from learning the T1 fighting rule set and I was always paranoid about doing something wrong so I would describe what my character was going to do as opposed to what they did. Recently I had the humbling pleasure of coming across some of my writing from that time. I'm not much for the scorched Earth mentality but there are some things that can only be purged with fire.

As for posting length, I'll take a well written short post over three paragraphs of fluff. Don't get me wrong, it's hard to work with literally one sentence but it also depends on the context. A conversation between two characters can be difficult to carry out if each person is trying to reach some sort of word quota. It's during those exchanges that I think writers need to get together and either hash out a single post written or approved by each party or work out some mutual time together and rapid fire some short dialogue posts at one another. This is one of the challenges that role players face that someone (or even two) writing a novel doesn't have to deal with.

That actually segues into a pet peeve of mine and that is having to read through a paragraph of a character's inner monologue only for them to end with a short sentence of dialogue because it gives me about the same amount to work with as your own example. This was another embarassing habit I had back in the day.

Never really thought much on the whole 'to' and 'towards' thing before... but now that you mention it, I can get why. That's opened a fresh way of looking at things.

I'm a little more used to 'future tense' being used but then I also play Dungeons and Dragons where that way of talking is a little more free for interpretation because of the nature of dice rolls. It allows for a little more fluidity rather than having stated something in a past tense only for a dice roll to throw that to the four winds. It's also a tense that crops up in places such as Events in MMORPG's like World of Warcraft for the same reasons. I tend to struggle a lot more reading through First Person narratives as I view that as something to be something only used for something that character would see, like a journal or video recording for example. It's a very personable thing, I suppose.

Point. Sure, it's nice to see a little of what that character is thinking or how they're reacting internally to an event but yeah, you need that wall to keep bouncing that ball against. I'll always take quality over quantity when Role-Playing/Storytelling with others and I sure as hell don't expect someone to write five thousand words to match my own five thousand words. Every word should be there for a reason, not to fill a word quota. Just more than one sentence every post would be lovely. My friend has this habit and I can freely admit I don't RP with her anymore for this reason.
 
Never really thought much on the whole 'to' and 'towards' thing before... but now that you mention it, I can get why. That's opened a fresh way of looking at things.

I'm a little more used to 'future tense' being used but then I also play Dungeons and Dragons where that way of talking is a little more free for interpretation because of the nature of dice rolls. It allows for a little more fluidity rather than having stated something in a past tense only for a dice roll to throw that to the four winds. It's also a tense that crops up in places such as Events in MMORPG's like World of Warcraft for the same reasons. I tend to struggle a lot more reading through First Person narratives as I view that as something to be something only used for something that character would see, like a journal or video recording for example. It's a very personable thing, I suppose.

Point. Sure, it's nice to see a little of what that character is thinking or how they're reacting internally to an event but yeah, you need that wall to keep bouncing that ball against. I'll always take quality over quantity when Role-Playing/Storytelling with others and I sure as hell don't expect someone to write five thousand words to match my own five thousand words. Every word should be there for a reason, not to fill a word quota. Just more than one sentence every post would be lovely. My friend has this habit and I can freely admit I don't RP with her anymore for this reason.

I don't know MMOs but I can deal with future tense in a table top game. At least it belongs there and I only have to listen to it. But could you imagine trying to read a book or even a short story full of that? It would drive me nuts. I'd be on the edge of my seat because I'd be waiting for the main character to actually do something. It would be like listening to that guy who has been working at his job for 20 years and for 20 years has talked about how someday he's going to quit and go to film school. That's nice, Mark. Now go peel the gum off of the bottom of table five. If you're lucky it'll still be wet.
 
I don't know MMOs but I can deal with future tense in a table top game. At least it belongs there and I only have to listen to it. But could you imagine trying to read a book or even a short story full of that? It would drive me nuts. I'd be on the edge of my seat because I'd be waiting for the main character to actually do something. It would be like listening to that guy who has been working at his job for 20 years and for 20 years has talked about how someday he's going to quit and go to film school. That's nice, Mark. Now go peel the gum off of the bottom of table five. If you're lucky it'll still be wet.

I'd quite likely throw the book away if it was written in Future Tense and I love reading. :<
 
Late to the party but I mean better late then never.

If I have to say what I find annoying about roleplaying, I also have to say what I value best in a roleplayer.

What I value most in a roleplayer is willingness. It’s willingness to accept the fact their character can die or be taken out at any moment. It’s willingness to know that things don’t always go according to plan. It’s willingness to make stuff up on the spot. It’s willingness to play a character specifically for the purpose of playing a fun character and not winning a game.

Those “unwilling” roleplayers tend to be annoying to work with, and do a bunch of roleplaying things I hate.

  1. God-mod.
  2. Not contribute to the plot, just detail their looks.
  3. Have a character with no realistic weaknesses. They can be overpowered as long as there’s a realistic weakness with their character that negates their overpowered nature. Saitama from One Punch Man can kill people in one punch, but he’s apathetic. Mob from Mob Psycho 100 is completely overpowered, but is a pacifist. I’m just talking about the “always morally right” characters.
  4. Nothing to do with my “values”, but purposefully be creepy. I’m not talking about being creepy in the form of how PT is a creepy game, I’m talking about perving on another roleplayer because they find that character “sugoi” or “kawaii”
When I defend roleplaying, I say at best it’s a collaborative story with living, breathing characters and a well-developed plot.

I also don’t beat around the bush and say that at worst it’s like kids playing in a sandbox and one kid saying “Hah! Take that! I have super ultra mega punch! You can’t beat that! You automatically lose!” and the other saying “Oh yeah? Well, I have a mega ultra blocker! I blocked your mega punch!” and the other kid saying “You’re cheating!”

I don’t know how to end this.

TL;DR: I dislike it when people aren’t flexible, don’t contribute to the plot, and are creepy. I’d rather roleplay with a leaf than a rock.
 
I hate people who play solely "dominant" characters but are actually insecure and harbour some quite offensive beliefs. I've had writers think they should be able to force me to write what they want without my consent because they're "dominant" and share some homophobic and misogynistic viewpoints when I try and say no.
There are also a lot of people who don't like some of my OCs because they're not so conventional. I have a mute OC who is really fun to play! I'm in a long-term, 1x1 roleplay with an old friend using her and a few others and he's never once had an issue including her in situations. Some writers think she's too difficult to write with and there have been instances where it's been hard to play her because the situation just became awkward, but it is possible and it can be fun!
 
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