What do you want to avoid during a RP?

I tend to dislike:
  • Dry, condensed posts that read like a saltine cracker. Alright, so you want to be brief and direct, that is your modus operandi. I, however, prefer posts that paint a picture with detail, emotions and more. Depth, it is my joy.
  • Oversimplified plots and worlds. I like a world and story that builds intrigue and has many layers to it to explore. To me, there is nothing more boring and frustrating being thrown into a linear and stagnant setting where there is nothing to explore or add than the thin white veneer around you.
  • Combat "simulator" role-plays. There is a time and place for combat in stories, but I tend to avoid those that throw you into battle after battle without any reprieve for story and character development, leave alone a chance to debrief from what just happened.
  • The "God Master". I understand GMs control things in their stories and that they will need to put a foot down on some matters to create a conducive environment for their games... I do however, think there are those who take this role far too seriously and are far too limiting.
  • Speed-posting, One-Liners, and Constant Collaboration. To me, there are some projects that can benefit from this and people who can make this work.. I am not one of those people.
 
When your character gets ignored.

I mean I honestly understand if someone doesn't respond to every little thing my or another's character does. But I've seen rps were two people are in their own world and someone tries to get in on it and the other two don't even acknowledge the post.

I also dislike if it is a detailed rp and someone replies with a one liner. If there is no standard post length for the rp, then go for it.

My last one is more of a personal one. Say the RP I end up joining has a fairly large group, I will make character charts/webs and also tag maps and such. ( I really want to contribute the best I can) I share everything I do with the group and then...? The rp never starts :(
 
In roleplays, I dislike seeing "them". If you've ever roleplayed with someone who's new to roleplaying, you've probably heard of "them". Now, I'm not hating on anybody who has just began to roleplay, as we've all been there. When we first start rping we all want the same thing; the PERFECT character who will save the day all day every day. Eventually we learn that no, characters don't need to be perfect and are better off not being perfect.
Some people, though, never learn. Oh boy do some people not learn.
Generally, most of the characters like these come from the youngin's that aren't as... experienced, which is perfectly fine. As I said, they grow out of it eventually.
But there is also the one that has to flaunt it in your face that their character can TOTALLY succeed your character at everything, no matter what it is.
I think you guys get what I'm saying from this mini-rant here.
(P.S. For those of you who don't know, I'm talking about what are called "Mary Sues". I choose to call them "them".)
 
Maybe it's me but i'm quite open to a lot of the types of RP that people have listed here. One liners do have a time and place, simplified worlds / plots can allow for a wider array of characters and circumstances, over-powered users, well, i'm happy to give guidance to.. These may not be my personal preference but I enjoy tutoring others and helping them find a more experienced style gives me satisfaction.

If there is one thing that does bother me it is over active GM's. GM's should know better ;)
 
When the RP has no plot, making it fade into the black hole of dead RPs.

I can't stand it when someone's (*cough* my *cough*) character is practically screaming "Hey! I'm open! Talk to me!" and the character still gets ignored.

Doodles - I hate 'them' too. They seriously get on my nerves.
 
WareehomEw-wetak said:
As an adult, I get why some would be a bit weird about rping with minors. Lots of things can get misconstrued and fuzzy. It's less messy if minors aren't involved.
Click to expand...

I kinda agree. Ignoring the people that want to be the morality police and keep kids from being exposed to violence and swearing, euuggh. Even when character pairings are legal, romance can get awkward fast for 20 different reasons. I've encountered quite a few issues with writers having an age gap, but people can be surprisingly mature or immature for their age, so it doesn't always do something.
...But hey, on the plus side, you can always ask the thread owner if you're young, right? They probably care more about mental maturity than physical maturity, it's not like they gotta look at you. What's the worst they're gonna do, say no? No harm in age restrictions.

Anyways.

  • Big groups. When we surpass the 10 person mark it becomes a clusterfuck in a hurry.
  • Mandatory pictures. I can use my imagination well enough thank you.
  • Samples. They don't work. People steal them or work for weeks to make a perfect one, then end up writing badly or showing no grasp of basics like character development.
  • Romantic focus. Often it becomes a fillibuster in a group chat. It should be done aside, and alluded to in the actual group chat if it's canonical. There shouldn't be a nine page write-up like the character dumped random pages of their diary on the forum where they were gushing over some new guy/girl, it's really distracting.
  • Sexual stuff outside of private chats. Dear god I don't need to see more sloppy dry humping, text or otherwise. There's better things to get off to out there. It should be a part of character development, not self gratification, meaning I don't need to be exposed to ten synonyms for the word dick to get the idea two people banged.
 
Kaos said:
meaning I don't need to be exposed to ten synonyms for the word dick
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Cucumber
Hot Bottle
Rocket
Naked Sword
Sergeant Peter
Weapon
Little Head
Pecker
Cock
Stick Shift

No Regrets.

In all seriousness: Nah I get'cha. If you're gonna handle sexual topics, use your big head, not your little one. It's about power or emotions, not the actual physical act--which will never live up to your imagination anyway.
 
Nilum said:
Cucumber
Hot Bottle
Rocket
Naked Sword
Sergeant Peter
Weapon
Little Head
Pecker
Cock
Stick Shift

No Regrets.

In all seriousness: Nah I get'cha. If you're gonna handle sexual topics, use your big head, not your little one. It's about power or emotions, not the actual physical act--which will never live up to your imagination anyway.
Click to expand...
"Solid Snake"
"One-eyed Monster"
 
I hate roleplays were the person literally makes me do half of the work. Like, I'm a huge newbie at roleplaying myself, but at least i put some effort!
 
These are the top 5 things that I try to avoid during a roleplay:
  • 100% avoid ERP's. I have visited many sites in the past where my partner and I would be roleplaying on some...idk...appropriate topic. At some point, they'd suddenly add the nasty stuff in out of no where. Like. Bruhhh, W H Y.
  • Godmods. I don't even need to go in-depth with this one. Godmodders ruin the roleplay, and it stresses me out every time. You'd be in an intense fight of some sort...and they just don't seem to take any damage! In the end, you're the one who ends up taking all the damage/dying. Ugh.
  • One-liners. If you can only write a couple sentences, I'm totally fine with that. But...really? My fingers are melting because I'm trying to write up a good post that'll engage us both...and you give me...a one-liner? ;w; Personally, I believe one-liners push your partner out of the roleplay. Your partner isn't engaged enough, and the same goes for the one who wrote the one-liners.
  • If you can't spell/use correct grammar...I'm out. It honestly interferes with the roleplay. I'm not a master when it comes to grammar, but I definitely try and make sure what I'm posting is typed correctly. Many don't even bother going through the whole spell-check process. And...do you guys know what a period is? Some people don't even end their sentences! It really confuses me a lot of times.
  • I try to avoid communities with too much drama. Every roleplay site has their own issues with drama at some point, but some are way worse than others. If the members can't get along, they not only ruin the entire roleplay, but the site as a whole.
 
One-liners, especially when it's one word that my character cannot react to.
Instant shipping/people trying to get you to ship the canon character you're playing because it's their favourtie or popular. It's not good either when, although it's a 'popular' ship in a fandom between certain canon characters that you either don't care for/don't agree with. Ships that focus on sexualities you're not interested in writing. (It's worse, when, it's not just the rper who plays the character they want yours to ship with who pressures you, but other people on the site too because they like it.) Smut for the sake of smut/incest
Rpers who complain when your character reacts badly to something they've done and call foul (usually because of politics/political correctness.)
Role-plays involving food. (Not because I am uncomfortable with it, but because there was a time when almost all the rps I had revolved around it. It became a bit boring and repetitive.)
Excessive IC bullying. It's OK once in a while, but if a it's all that a writer throws at you it becomes real bullying, especially when your character isn't 'allowed' to proceed with anything they want to do repeatedly, or just general unpleasantness.
Storylines that are extremely heavy in mental illness, domestic violence, etc, especially if it's not been planned out.
Parody/comedy storylines that make fun of serious issues, illnesses, etc because it's disrespectful.
 
As for me:

  • Other people controlling my characters too much, also denying my characters any chance to react to a situation. Unless I give them permission to do so, of course.

  • Mary Sues, be it a character or an entire faction. Sure you love your characters and armies so much, and I understand it. But to the point of making your minions basically invincible, without any weaknesses at all? That'll break the balance and kill any fun. Why do you never take any damage while I have to suffer all the damage from you? Why are your armies limitless, like it could flood all of the Universe within seconds?

    It's no fun to be part of the same roleplaying group that's All-Powerful Mary Sues. A good roleplayer should always try to create a balanced character with interesting strengths and weaknesses.

    Roleplaying will be more fun for everyone if you don't just lawnmow every challenge. It'd get boring if all about the RP are just some random Mary Sues fighting till eternity. But it'll be satisfying if we manage to defeat an opponent with considerable difficulty and also get defeated ourselves at times.

    The greatest fun in roleplaying isn't vanquishing endless amounts of foes without breaking a sweat. Sure, that can be fun too, but if you ask me there's much more enjoyment in getting into trouble and using your wicked cunning (and/or dice-rolling skills) to get out of it and helping together to overcome obstacles.

  • Overly Depressed Major Characters that do nothing other than sob and isolate themselves. If so, why make 'em major characters in the first place? If all of your characters are busy indulging in self-pity, then why bother roleplaying in the first place? Roleplaying is about people working together to build a world and progress the plot.

  • Overly Strict Rules that only serve to disallow us from any fun at all. Don't get me wrong, total chaos where all sorts of nonsense happen with tons of Mary Sues fighting to no end for no meaningful motivation isn't good either.

  • There's nothing to explore, do or add to a oversimplified, boring world.

  • Being ignored even if I manage to come up with something that's at least decent. Seriously, I've put in much effort in my writing, and what I got is... no response? "I have just written shit."
 
There are few roleplay sites I've been able to get in with good results. But with time they don't seem to last. So started to search for more, but then, I notice there were some complications. It grew to me restrictions that must be kept in mind, and I in my way try to avoid the cons.
Of course I agree to most of all that are above and mentioned. I made those mistakes myself in the past and sometimes till now I admit. There are complications that leads to the ruin of a roleplay, but I don't tend to have too much attention as I feel tolerant for them. Though these I list are mostly what I feel major when it comes to avoiding.

  • Numbers
    • Having few or average number of roleplayers are fine. But too many roleplayers, and with an explosive activity. Rather hard to catch up, I avoid that. I'm even fine with a less active roleplay as long as it is not dead.
  • Too Direct to the point
    • "Hey, may I know your name?" Asked a guy to another guy. Suddenly, another person showed up and sliced your throat. You could say this as otherwise lack of details, plain and boring, too direct to the point, etc.
  • Theme - An unfixed roleplay begets chaos. If the theme is flawed, you'll get like a lot of circumstances that loses you heart to roleplay. So I'm out for that.
    • Take for example some roleplay, if ever time travel is okay for the beginning; an "Evil" tyrant with his advance legion of futuristic robots gone back through time, and that time is in the past where the current time of the roleplay is set - to be specific Medieval. Conclusion? You're screwed as the plot progresses.
    • Another case, where it depends upon tech and ability, tactics and strategy. "Get your swords men! We go to war!" A company of swordsmen, faces a horde of futuristic robots with armed machine guns and laser... "Crud~!" ; "We have guns, we can kill e'm!" Suddenly the enemy countered with people-seeking magical fireballs... "I'm on fire! Retreat!" ; "Charge!" Calvary charges towards magical and heavily futuristic aliens... "Is this even possible!" At this point, a user is burdened heavily of his weaknesses, but to others can favor them, losing the balance.
    • Then there's another, not in time or technology wise, but a roleplay itself. If the theme is not fixed, then you might suddenly have an actual "third-wall break" where the roleplayer can speak to his or other characters. In otherwords, one can hardly tell if a roleplay is all-serious, partial-serious, serious-comedy, or all comedy.
  • All-Knowing - A friend of mine call it "Fortune Teller," other terms include mind-reading or OOC to actual perspective.
    • Take for example a young lad knows all of an old man's tale and even his secret life without any proof. Truth be told, the particular just read through his biography in OOC; A man who has a secret name only he knows, suddenly some "mind reader" called out that name after the man said it. The "mind reader" was like "I know that *cool pose*. I know all what you know."
    • So you get sometimes the case where your opponent knows your moves, that's fine. I respect and trust that. Though truth is just a perspective. It can get rough and end up none ending (endless fightings and arguments).
    • I wouldn't be sticking one-sided. As experience increases, some can grow a "planning habit" where one must make measures if a circumstance were to happen, then you have the "partial" contingency to counter it. Sometimes even counter the counter. And when they do this, sometimes they're mistaken to be an all-knower. Though this is actually not all good because one can hardly tell the truth of one person, unless he trusts the particular enough.
    • I'll not get into furthermore complications, It's more likely to be avoided.
  • Lack of Admittance
    • They call it "Mary Sue" lol. Endless fights, battles, infinite armies, powerful weapons, GODMODE, etc. Something to do with favoritism, or being an all-knower, or perhaps Reason. It comes to admittance and reason. I respect some "Mary Sues" and let them win if enough information and reason is supplied to the logic, or rather permission granted. But I'd avoid "Mary Sues" who lacks logical reason for their attempts, or those who doesn't admit when they are obviously defeated.
    • I accept defeat, but it ticks me off and would become myself a "Mary Sue" if I have one and only one character, for which has its pros and cons, being forced to die or be forcefully controlled without permission. (You can't let your main character die unless you are willing to, now won't you?)

All in all, it would depend on who I roleplay with. As long as one has a sense of rationality and acceptance for balance and fairness. We roleplayers have to respect each other and have fun. :)
 
The inability for a person to 'move on' from a scene. Getting stuck in a limbo of bad conversation that leads nowhere and does nothing to contribute to the RP, nor fill either person's needs.

Not having a goal or end game in mind. Nothing lasts forever and I need my characters to have something to strive for eventually - even if they don't know it.
 
Godmodders are what I'd probably consider the worst, especially when they get aggressive after the host of the RP asks them to fix a post or to stop the behavior. I was running an RP on another forum and someone suddenly started using powers that were not mentioned at all in their original character sheet and that I hadn't approved beforehand. I asked them to edit their post because it broke the rules I set for the roleplay, and they ended up sending me a multi-paragraph rant about how I was treating them unfairly when I asked in a polite manner. I do my best to be polite and work out a reasonable agreement if rules are broken, but people who get angry after I try to calmly find a situation make it difficult to do that.

Another type of RPer I avoid is the person who tries to make their character the most important person in the story. In another RP that I ran, someone kept asking me who the main character of the RP was. I tried to explain that I don't like to think of there being a singular main character, but he didn't back down on the question. Shortly after, his character began to act really creepy around mine and even started stalking her. I had the feeling that he was trying to go for a romance sub-plot so he could become a main character.
 
People who try to do things however as they please without regard for the rules, both in-universe and out. And I don't mean in ways that involve creativity with their character or their actions or anything, I mean like someone who wants to curse or have sexual content in a series that is meant for kids or something. You just have to have standards sometimes and not go overboard.
 
Great posts so far!
I dislike the "tourist" RP playstyle. The kind that join a thread so their character can have a front-row seat and be entertained but fail to produce any content on their own. I understand there are some cases where one player is directing plot and the others are expected to follow, but I have too often seen the opposite extreme where one player is expected to introduce all setting, all plot, and all the drama in the thread and the other ignores (or dodges) prompting to participate. /rant :)
 
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