Viewpoint Unpopular roleplay opinions?

Kazanna said:

Romance 1x1 required plays are an overplayed Trope and you should feel as bad as I do about enjoying them.

Also, ignore my spoiler, it's just my negative opinion about other people's opinions.

Spoiler: Reeeeeeee

A single paragraph is fine, but a one liner within anything besides a 1x1 is usually just useless. I would have to say that 60% of my plays have died to people starting with decent detail then spiraling into and endless level of one liners that lack any sort of depth or attention to detail. I understand that combat can be sped up by shorter posts, but I can put out multiple paragraphs to a single combat action, if you're going to do something, do it right in my opinion. If you're going to take a swing at me, describe the visceral contortions of your characters muscles and the boiling rage that fuels their need to destroy my characters face. I've seriously had posts that were

"Examplencharacter attacks you really hard and it hurt."

And that was the whole post.

I dont care about word count, but I've always cared about detail.

And someone shouldnt roleplay if they dont reply at least weekly? Hah, I've had partners not reply for years, and pick up a story right where it left off. Literally happened like last week. Doesnt bother me. Working adults dont always have the time to devote to 2-3 replies a day let alone per week. Hell I've had monthly reply plays that were incredibly satisfying.

If you ignored my warning, I'm not sorry, and you should feel bad if you want me to be for any reason. You're not my mom! You cant tell me how to feel! Nyeh! Flips a table.

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I can role with that. I like romance but it's never a must for me. I'm good with two people just being friends too

silvercharizard said:

I can role with that. I like romance but it's never a must for me. I'm good with two people just being friends too

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Or, you know, a roleplay where the characters aren't friends. Where they're trying to kill eachother, where there is no happy ending.

Kazanna said:

Or, you know, a roleplay where the characters aren't friends. Where they're trying to kill eachother, where there is no happy ending.

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That too lol

Dutch said:

I think ghosting / ditching / ignoring / blocking is both an acceptable and reasonable route out of a roleplay situation a player doesn't want to be in. People aren't required to divulge why if they don't want to and are not beholden to a partner because they decided to RP with them.

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THIS
I really hate ghosting people but sometimes "Hey life is busy and I can't make time right now" isn't good enough for a few partners I've had. Ghosting happens, I suggest anyone who hates it just learn to deal with it.

I don't actually mind carrying a roleplay for the most part. As long as my writing partner can give me a post to work with, I'll go with it. Though, in group roleplays it is a bit different.

I guess this can go with my first one, but I'm fine with not having a fleshed out plot, lore, or environment. I actually prefer settings that can be changed and grown throughout the roleplay as long as a basic setting is there. I'm not sure how unpopular that is, if it is at all.

Dutch out here being completely valid

Also kind of unpopular, if you’re upset someone doesn’t want to play a certain gender or sexuality, or they only want romance, or whatever it is you don’t like, they aren’t the partner for you. If you aren’t compatible just move on. Life is short, find someone with the same interests as you.

MasterMalefica said:

@Dutch out here being completely valid

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I have a lot of years of pent up feelings and I see a lot of negativity about certain things I love and it sours my soul . . . I REALLY appreciate this thread!

Dutch said:

Romance main plots and romance inclusions in RP is valid. Resulting in beautiful character driven story telling full of fun twists and turns that are both engaging and completely fulfilling to write/read. Anyone who complains about its commonplace in the community needs to check themselves. Romance isn't an invasive nuisance that ruins roleplays and is as common now as it was 20 years ago.

Spoiler: Additional spicy take

I think dudes are pissed because girls won't RP their macheesmo hetro power fantasies. Preferring queer romance with all it's accompanying cliches and tropes OR soft, harlequin style female drive romance plots where the male learns to bend and change for the female lead. And now romance is bad and the entire forum will hear about it!!!!

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Something about romances eases me, even if the romance itself isn't easy. It helps me get really into the story and invested in the characters. I was never one to ship T.V or movie characters, but finally reading all that build up in a story come together was so magical to me.

Like, I got my own real life ideals, but let me also enjoy fantasy ones for the sake of writing!

Brookflower said:

Something about romances eases me, even if the romance itself isn't easy. It helps me get really into the story and invested in the characters. I was never one to ship T.V or movie characters, but finally reading all that build up in a story come together was so magical to me.

Like, I got my own real life ideals, but let me also enjoy fantasy ones for the sake of writing!

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Yo romance is purely human, completely driven and reliant on characters, packed full of emotional, mental and physical hurdles. It honestly a no brainer that so many people want to include it to some capacity in their RPs.

I totally agree a dash of romance in any of my plots causes me to be much more emotionally and mentally invested in the characters. And like you said lets you live out that fantasy, that happy (or otherwise) ending, it's indulgent and fulling, it feels good.

I mean shit do I ever get a headrush and fluttery when characters finally get together.

So not gonna lie, big unpopular opinion. I hate it when the assumption is that all women must like romance by virtue of having a vagina. Like I wasn't aware our lady parts had a taste in literature or pop culture narratives.

I personally hate romance because I find a lot of it badly written and reinforcement for harmful stereotypes about people in general and woman in particular. Now I don't think that makes the genre itself bad or anything. I just know that writing it leaves me frustrated.

Still this idea that anyone who doesn't like romance is either a loveless robot or a hateful misognist can go die in a ditch thanks.

(I mean not calling out the thread. I've actually gotten this a lot from roleplay partners and it always makes me super angry.)

middleagedgeek said:

So not gonna lie, big unpopular opinion. I hate it when the assumption is that all women must like romance by virtue of having a vagina. Like I wasn't aware our lady parts had a taste in literature or pop culture narratives.

I personally hate romance because I find a lot of it badly written and reinforcement for harmful stereotypes about people in general and woman in particular. Now I don't think that makes the genre itself bad or anything. I just know that writing it leaves me frustrated.

Still this idea that anyone who doesn't like romance is either a loveless robot or a hateful misognist can go die in a ditch thanks.

(I mean not calling out the thread. I've actually gotten this a lot from roleplay partners and it always makes me super angry.)

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I love me some good, fluffy, wholesome romance. But like, it's not required in any roleplay I do. Just because I'm a woman doesn't mean I automatically wanna go straight for the romance. Let's slow burn, let's world build, let's so literally anything other than "We are in love right now"

MasterMalefica said:

I love me some good, fluffy, wholesome romance. But like, it's not required in any roleplay I do. Just because I'm a woman doesn't mean I automatically wanna go straight for the romance. Let's slow burn, let's world build, let's so literally anything other than "We are in love right now"

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And that's fine too. I'm just talking about people who have this opinion that all women MUST like romance or there is something wrong with them. Either their self-hating misogynists or defective in some way. When it's like, look maybe some people just like reading fantasy adventure stories or writing gory horror rps.

Like women don't all have to like the same thing. Some people are allowed to like romance. And some people are allowed to hate it. As long as you aren't hating PEOPLE for what they do or don't like it's no ones business.

But man I have had plenty of people climb on their high horse and tell me my opinion is somehow factually incorrect because apparently women have to like romance by virtue of having a vagina and identifying as female.

middleagedgeek said:

So not gonna lie, big unpopular opinion. I hate it when the assumption is that all women must like romance by virtue of having a vagina. Like I wasn't aware our lady parts had a taste in literature or pop culture narratives.

I personally hate romance because I find a lot of it badly written and reinforcement for harmful stereotypes about people in general and woman in particular. Now I don't think that makes the genre itself bad or anything. I just know that writing it leaves me frustrated.

Still this idea that anyone who doesn't like romance is either a loveless robot or a hateful misognist can go die in a ditch thanks.

(I mean not calling out the thread. I've actually gotten this a lot from roleplay partners and it always makes me super angry.)

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I’m a woman and I’m aromantic/asexual... so that basically means I don’t want any romance or intimacy in my life, at all, ever.
Does this make me an emotionless robot? Absolutely not. I’m a pretty emotional person, and I’m a huge softie tbh.
Just because I don’t like romantic/sexual relations of any kind does not make me cold and uncaring. I value platonic relationships very much, and I love my friends. I’d do anything for them.

The assumption that all women must love romance or else they’re cold and robotic is flat out harmful for people like me. I wish it would stop.
I also wish people could value platonic friendships more. A lot of people seem to treat them as if they’re lesser than romance, and it makes me pretty depressed to see that kind of ideal perpetuated a lot - including in RPs.
Look, it’s absolutely okay to like romance in RPs. I guess I’m just sad that more people don’t appreciate platonic friendships.

PotatoPhoenix said:

I’m a woman and I’m aromantic/asexual... so that basically means I don’t want any romance or intimacy in my life, at all, ever.
Does this make me an emotionless robot? Absolutely not. I’m a pretty emotional person, and I’m a huge softie tbh.
Just because I don’t like romantic/sexual relations of any kind does not make me cold and uncaring. I value platonic relationships very much, and I love my friends. I’d do anything for them.

The assumption that all women must love romance or else they’re cold and robotic is flat out harmful for people like me. I wish it would stop.
I also wish people could value platonic friendships more. A lot of people seem to treat them as if they’re lesser than romance, and it makes me pretty depressed to see that kind of ideal perpetuated a lot - including in RPs.
Look, it’s absolutely okay to like romance in RPs. I guess I’m just sad that more people don’t appreciate platonic friendships.

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Exactly. I'm also aro/ace and I get frustrated by this idea that I'm somehow to be pitied to because I don't want to date/have sex. As for roleplays I always get frustrated by the lack of relationships in general. It's like the whole point has to be people falling in love and once that happens the relationship is over.

So not only does it take out any kind of platonic relationship it also takes out even romantic relationships too. Because people aren't actually interested in the relationship itself but the "getting to know you/falling in love" part.

Romance (for me, at least) isn't a requirement for a RP to become enjoyable. You have basically an infinite amount of possibilities. It's a RP world, the possibilities are literally endless... I'm sure it's possible to come up with something that doesn't require romance integrated into the plot to be interesting.

That being said... Whenever it happens naturally, I've found it to be nice. I love it when two characters come together without planning, because it feels very natural and genuine that way. I've not tried pre-planning out a romance, myself, but I've pre-planned a few OTHER things to DEATH, and I can see how it could sap the fun out of it. For me, one of the main things that makes a RP fun is seeing how the characters react to certain scenarios and difficult choices... And the character has less room to do something unexpected when you plan things like romantic partners out from beginning to end. It just isn't my thing.

But hey, if it's your jam, I say go for it. You should do whatever makes you happy.



On the topic of ghosting... Well, I'm of the opinion that it's not a cool thing to do. Even if you don't provide a reason, a simple "goodbye" is the cordial thing to do, just to let your partner know not to expect you again. It's a social standard... But because it's only a social standard, you have no obligation to actually abide by it, if you so desire. To me, it's like... You're on a date with someone. Would it be really rude to get up and leave without warning? Yes, of course. Is it against the law to? No, not really.

It's less that I think that ghosting is morally "wrong", and more of... highly impolite. But hey, I've come across WAY worse, so I'm not complaining... Even though I don't appreciate ghosting, I'd much rather have that happen than an RP partner who sticks around even though they don't want to. The truth is, these things happen sometimes, and you just have to deal with them.

I do NOT think, however, that you should ever take ghosting personally. Like I just said, it's something that happens to everyone. The sooner you accept that it's going to happen really often, the more content you will be when it does inevitably happen. It's unavoidable and complaining about it doesn't ever change anything. It's a constant in the RP world that people will just have to learn to deal with... And if you can't deal with rejection, perhaps it's a good idea to stay off the internet for a little bit. For your own mental health, until you can get yourself to a point where you're okay with the fact that disappointing things just happen sometimes.

tldr: I don't like pre-planned romance or ghosting, but if you don't agree with that, I'm not gonna hold a grudge, hunt you down, and throw you into the pyre. Do what you do.

For me the unpopular opinion isn’t on planned or unplanned romance. It’s more the idea that romance is limited only to a pair of characters having a crush and falling in love.

Like that’s the sum total of the relationship and anything beyond that is “boring”.

Whether that be trying to write any number of platonic pairings or even just writing out the full length of the romantic relationship itself AFTER the falling in love bit.

It’s like why does it have to be boring to have my characters actually still hanging out with your characters once they’re over the initial butterfly in the stomach feeling.

There is usually still a plot going on after all that should give us something to work with.

middleagedgeek said:

For me the unpopular opinion isn’t on planned or unplanned romance. It’s more the idea that romance is limited only to a pair of characters having a crush and falling in love.

Like that’s the sum total of the relationship and anything beyond that is “boring”.

Whether that be trying to write any number of platonic pairings or even just writing out the full length of the romantic relationship itself AFTER the falling in love bit.

It’s like why does it have to be boring to have my characters actually still hanging out with your characters once they’re over the initial butterfly in the stomach feeling.

There is usually still a plot going on after all that should give us something to work with.

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I would agree, but I've not actually managed to progress in a (RP) romantic relationship to the point where things simmer off a little bit. I can imagine it though! I think it'd be nice to get to the point where the characters aren't constantly lovey-dovey with each other, and to see how exactly they help each other improve as people on a regular basis. It'd be really cool to see what their regular dynamic is, as opposed to their rose-tinted one during the "crushing" stage. See what they're like when they're actually in a long-term thing, and see all the struggles and consequences that actually do come with the burden of having a relationship!

self inserts get a little too much hate i feel like. they're generally harmless, and as long as they don't hurt anyone, I don't see why its such a big issue? i know a lot of younger roleplayers tend to gravitate towards them (something i don't think should be shamed either bc we were all 14 at some point) and so people associate it with immaturity, but there's really no need to be so quick to be like "lol cringe." you can chalk it up to a difference in interests but the hate can get so aggressive at times

• Having a mild illness, being a "little depressed", having your cousins' friends' uncles' dogs' hamster die is NOT a valid excuse to delay your RP post. (Exams, school projects or studying is a valid excuse; but only for a week, tops.)
• Don't like romance. Don't want to do pairings. Don't want romance tacked on to my characters. Don't care if they're gay, straight, lesbian, young, old, furry, harlequin, machismo, trigender pyrofoxes, or apache attack helicopters. I am Asexual and Aromantic. Less kissing and blushing. More explosions.

Dutch said:

It's totally okay to have a tragic backstory, dead parents, lived in the woods, feral child, that wields a katana character. Roleplaying is an escapist writing game, a fantasy world you create to house your original character and tell stories you want to experience / write. Don't let anyone tell you that you can't play that character because their cliche, mary sue garbage. If you have people who want to play with you and enjoy playing alongside you, then YOU KEEP DOING YOU AND MAKING THAT TRAGIC BACKSTORY, BADASS WHO LIVED IN THE WOODS RAISED BY WOLVES AND WIELDS A KATANA!

Play your escapist fantasy character!

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Or be me. Create an entire Justice League of overpowered escapist fantasy characters that also function as self inserts, find another RPer who does the same thing and pit existential multiverse-ending threats against them.

Not sure why I am being quoted, but okay?

toonbites said:

there's really no need to be so quick to be like "lol cringe."

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Preach! Cringe culture can go crawl back in the hole it came from. Let young RPers enjoy their self inserts, their tragic backstories, their OP badasses. We all did it and as experienced older RPers we should leave that fun well enough alone!