Viewpoint Unpopular roleplay opinions?

[BackSet]

Eh. Ghosting's cool with me. It's how I figure out who actually gives a shit.

 

[rae2nerdy]

See I do fantasy roleplays exclusively with infrequent superhero side projects for variety. And I definitely get people who have a very hand-wavy approach to logic. In their mind fantasy (or sci-fi) is all make believe so anything goes.

And I am like. No. A world has to have rules and internal consistency in order to function. Even if the plot is basically about all powerful gods creating their own galaxies. There has to be a consistent means for those people to achieve that feat. It has to follow some kind of internal logic.

Not only that fantasy and science fiction can crossover but it has to make sense within that universe.

If the entire setting is some pseudo medieval world with elves, dwarves, dragons, etc and you show up in a giant robot than your ass better explain it in detail. Don’t just be like I dunno I thought this character was cool.

I will kick your ass out and good riddance.

 

[Tulik]

It’s not for no reason. It is for a very specific and very valid reason that ties into implicit bias. Now despite what people think, that’s not a bad word or an attack.

Implicit bias just means “The thoughts you didn’t realize you had.”

A good example of this is : I am a Latina woman. However I am also have a lily white complexion (mostly cuz I’m a hermit and hate going outside).

I live in a small town in the middle of Trump’s America. (Basically three generations of white peoples make up like 90% of the population).

So at my work I’m one of two women of color. The other woman works offsite though so I’m the only woman of color most of my coworkers see on a day to day basis. And again from a purely physical perspective I look white.

To the extent that my boss was reading a book where the main character has my last name and it took her until the end of the book to realize the person was Hispanic. Because the only person she knew with that last name (me) was “white”.

That is implicit bias. It wasn’t a conscious assumption she had. And once she actually thought about it she realized it was silly. Cuz my last name is hella Hispanic. But it was still one of those moments. Of oh wow you (meaning me) aren’t actually white are you?

So that is the danger in thinking that color and sexuality don’t matter when everyone is the same.

Because the REASON they don’t matter is because you have just defaulted everyone to a singular identity.

Which is why diversity is so important. Making everyone the same makes your world seem small.

And if your worried about making stereotypes, here’s the secret. Have more than one.

have more than one black person, have more than one gay person, have more than one dragon, etc.

Because when you add more diversity it makes everyone seem more human. Suddenly it’s not the one black ambassador to Caucasia. It’s oh here’s a group of black people who all have different upbringings, personalities, belief systems. And there are brown/white/Asian/etc people that are equally diverse.

As the more diversity you throw in the more you get back to the skin color not being a defining characteristic. It needs to be described because if everyone is a different skin color your gonna want your partner to be able to pick out your character in a crowd. But it becomes less of a “forced” attribute.

Outside of some fetishizing assholes, that’s all people are asking for. Make your world more diverse.

We are all the same. We are all humans with issues and flaws and demons. The way you describe diversity is akin to pandering. A gay person shouldn’t be in your story because they are gay. They should be in your story because they are an interesting character. If you’re having characters there just to pad out your world? You aren’t making it bigger, nor are you making it more interesting.

There’s a reason the best books no one cares about the color of someone’s skin or their romantic orientation unless the novels are focused exclusively on those things as plot drivers. It’s because a character is strong if they are built well. That isn’t built on the color of their skin, or their ethnicity. It’s built on the blocks of good story telling and character building.

Your boss didn’t notice that character wasn’t Hispanic because of some nonsense bias. He didn’t notice because it didn’t matter, because the author deemed that the character was important for who they were, not their skin color.

More diversity =\= good storytelling.

Your character being black/gay/biracial doesn’t make them interesting. It doesn’t make a good character. That’s pandering. And that’s the lowest common denominator that’s being pandered to.

 

[Crenando]

We are all the same. We are all humans with issues and flaws and demons. The way you describe diversity is akin to pandering. A gay person shouldn’t be in your story because they are gay. They should be in your story because they are an interesting character. If you’re having characters there just to pad out your world? You aren’t making it bigger, nor are you making it more interesting.

There’s a reason the best books no one cares about the color of someone’s skin or their romantic orientation unless the novels are focused exclusively on those things as plot drivers. It’s because a character is strong if they are built well. That isn’t built on the color of their skin, or their ethnicity. It’s built on the blocks of good story telling and character building.

Your boss didn’t notice that character wasn’t Hispanic because of some nonsense bias. He didn’t notice because it didn’t matter, because the author deemed that the character was important for who they were, not their skin color.

More diversity =\= good storytelling.

Your character being black/gay/biracial doesn’t make them interesting. It doesn’t make a good character. That’s pandering. And that’s the lowest common denominator that’s being pandered to.

Didn't a mod ask us to stop talking about this or something?

 

[Tulik]

Didn't a mod ask us to stop talking about this or something?

I wasn’t there for that. Did someone get to angry about the topic?

 

[Crenando]

I wasn’t there for that. Did someone get to angry about the topic?

I wouldn't say angry, but it was starting to derail the thread.

 

[Tulik]

I wouldn't say angry, but it was starting to derail the thread.

Yeah. Hot button topic. I can see that. Okay. My bad.

 

[Crenando]

See I do fantasy roleplays exclusively with infrequent superhero side projects for variety. And I definitely get people who have a very hand-wavy approach to logic. In their mind fantasy (or sci-fi) is all make believe so anything goes.

And I am like. No. A world has to have rules and internal consistency in order to function. Even if the plot is basically about all powerful gods creating their own galaxies. There has to be a consistent means for those people to achieve that feat. It has to follow some kind of internal logic.

Some handwaving is good, depending on the genre. You don't want to lose the whimsy or mysticism of a setting, if that's something the setting is designed for.

 

[Grey]

As someone who has written thousands of words of painstaking world-building and internally consistent magic, a degree of handwaving and a willingness to break your own rules for dramatic purposes is vital.

 

[rae2nerdy]

When I say handwaving I mean do no work. The people I’m talking about basically said they weren’t going to do any world building at all because the setting wasn’t “realistic”.

I don’t mind keeping things vague where necessary. But that wasn’t what I meant. I meant in the context of refusing to do any sort of world building or ignoring all the world building established purely for “coolness”.

 

[Grey]

Oh, believe me, I am an absolute nightmare for internal consistency. I often keep the true facts and rules of my settings hidden from players to create mystery and encourage them to interpret the material in their own, interesting ways.
I've just learned a little flex like that is also good.

 

[rae2nerdy]

Grey as either a Co-GM or player there would be cussing in the PMs. Like I would call you everything but a child of god.

Lord Jesus preserve me that would literally bring me to tears. Mostly of rage but also just of pure stress.

I cannot handle worlds where the internal consistency is not followed. It makes me physically upset. And anything that makes me so stressed I cry IRL is a hard no from a roleplay perspective.

 

[Grey]

Grey as either a Co-GM or player there would be cussing in the PMs. Like I would call you everything but a child of god.

Lord Jesus preserve me that would literally bring me to tears. Mostly of rage but also just of pure stress.

I cannot handle worlds where the internal consistency is not followed. It makes me physically upset. And anything that makes me so stressed I cry IRL is a hard no from a roleplay perspective.

Oh, you misunderstand; sorry for my lack of clarity.
I absolutely follow the internal consistency 90% of the time, but the trick is I don't often tell players the rules. I encourage them to figure out the internal consistency by sticking to it but not explicitly spelling it out.

 

[Grey]

Guess that in such way the experience might be more immersive

An ex of mine, who is also an excellent player, really loved doing in-character archaeology, and I guess that rubbed off on me.

 

[Melpomene]

My general rule for worlds is that you just have to keep with the tone of the setting, at the very least. While I always try to make sure the rules stay consistent and watch for plot holes and the like, my biggest issue is if someone breaks the entire feel of the setting by putting something in that stands out like a sore thumb.

 

[SP3CT3R]

I feel like people don't see cartoons as having value as RP inspiration. For the record, they do.

 

[Squid]

This is probably the most bizarre take I have but people worry too much about their characters looking pretty. I blame RPs that require real faceclaims since they tend to skew towards pretty young adult celebrities. I want to see characters that look strange and interesting; scars, tattoos, wacky hairstyles, etc etc. The world isn't all pretty 20-somethings

 

[Crenando]

My general rule for worlds is that you just have to keep with the tone of the setting, at the very least.

Playing characters counter to tone is something I personally enjoy doing, and I've known people on the site that have personally said the same, at least in a tabletop context. I don't see the problem with it if you do it responsibly. It's fun to do with stock archetypes in particular.
If your only goal for joining the RP as Zazathan the Wizened is to play the role of an old fashioned stock wizard in an RP full of young, attractive adventurers without derailing the plot, and you know when to reign the sillier elements of that in for serious storytelling, what are you really hurting?

 

[Melpomene]

Playing characters counter to tone is something I personally enjoy doing, and I've known people on the site that have personally said the same, at least in a tabletop context. I don't see the problem with it if you do it responsibly. It's fun to do with stock archetypes in particular.
If your only goal for joining the RP as Zazathan the Wizened is to play the role of an old fashioned stock wizard in an RP full of young, attractive adventurers without derailing the plot, and you know when to reign the sillier elements of that in for serious storytelling, what are you really hurting?

Oh I actually like that as well, I actually am very open to what people want to play as characters no matter their idea, as long as it is interesting to look at. I just mean not having an event happen which is so counter to tone that it takes you out of the feel of the world. I encourage people to have fun character interactions as long as they keep things on track, nothing wrong with it. What I do have a problem with is if in my RP that has already heavily established there is no spell-slinging, just a general mysticism, if you bring in a DnD sorcerer and have them sling spells since that will ruin the general atmosphere I wanted.

 

[SP3CT3R]

This is probably the most bizarre take I have but people worry too much about their characters looking pretty. I blame RPs that require real faceclaims since they tend to skew towards pretty young adult celebrities. I want to see characters that look strange and interesting; scars, tattoos, wacky hairstyles, etc etc. The world isn't all pretty 20-somethings

If they don't use real people as faceclaims, they use artwork depicting generic, conventionally-attractive anime characters. The problem is faceclaims in general.

i swear im not biased disregard my custom title

 

[Squid]

If they don't use real people as faceclaims, they use artwork depicting generic, conventionally-attractive anime characters. The problem is faceclaims in general.

i swear im not biased disregard my custom title

Haha, I don't disagree. Faceclaims are a pain in the ass for anyone who has a unique looking character (I've complained about this a lot today... maybe I'm a little bitter) and requiring them is annoying . I basically learned how to paint just to draw my OCs in a way that I was happy with.

Text descriptions are fun as hell though, and I like to put a bit of personality into them. I like thinking about how my OCs would describe themselves vs how others percieve them.

 

[Crow]

If they don't use real people as faceclaims, they use artwork depicting generic, conventionally-attractive anime characters. The problem is faceclaims in general.

i swear im not biased disregard my custom title

Well, the only other option is to draw- or-

Oh, oh, this one's a good one. A forum I was on MANDATED that EVERYONE roleplaying used descriptions only. And they also did the same thing with an 'Advanced Clause' where you actually needed a very sizy minimum plot. and very sizy minimum RP posts.

It wasn't a RP-oriented forums by the way.

Slice-of-life RPs were practically impossible in that environment.

 

[BackSet]

Faceclaim idea: LEGO Minifigures.

I've solved all your problems forever.

 

[SP3CT3R]

Well, the only other option is to draw- or-

Oh, oh, this one's a good one. A forum I was on MANDATED that EVERYONE roleplaying used descriptions only. And they also did the same thing with an 'Advanced Clause' where you actually needed a very sizy minimum plot. and very sizy minimum RP posts.

It wasn't a RP-oriented forums by the way.

Slice-of-life RPs were practically impossible in that environment.

I'm sorry you had to put up with that, but I still think that being expected to use faceclaims is seriously stifling.

Faceclaim idea: LEGO Minifigures.

I've solved all your problems forever.

Objection: you'd have to buy LEGO minifigures for that.

 

[BackSet]

Objection: you'd have to buy LEGO minifigures for that.