yanastyboi
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- Thread starter yanastyboi
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rae2nerdy
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Personally?
- Does platonic or non-traditional romance (by which I mean something other than straight/gay folks falling in love)
- Is okay with slow posting speeds (a post per week on average)
- Spelling/readability of their pitch. (as in no bright colors, tiny font, or words misspelled to the point of illegibility)
- Enthusiasm / Willingness to help with the plot
They seem like they actually welcome the idea of having a partner to play ideas against instead of these are my rules this is how it's going to go if you want to write with me. Yeah, I get you have rules but if you intend to try to attract potential partners to you with an overall douchebag nature I don't think it will work.
Romance although it's cool if it comes up is not required, person won't get bored without it, feels the roleplay will be doomed because there's a lack of it. Extending on that, doubling is not needed. They will enjoy playing either a male or female character in any type of situation.
Has access to writing samples and will not be a jerk about sending one over. Yes, I like looking at the writing of others not for reasons of me thinking I'm some kind of elite or have an elite attitude or demand one, that's far from it.
Is up front, if it doesn't work no need to dance around the obvious.
Has a realistic posting schedule, won't get uninterested in the roleplay if posts aren't done everyday, several times a day, and is not nasty about it.
Romance although it's cool if it comes up is not required, person won't get bored without it, feels the roleplay will be doomed because there's a lack of it. Extending on that, doubling is not needed. They will enjoy playing either a male or female character in any type of situation.
Has access to writing samples and will not be a jerk about sending one over. Yes, I like looking at the writing of others not for reasons of me thinking I'm some kind of elite or have an elite attitude or demand one, that's far from it.
Is up front, if it doesn't work no need to dance around the obvious.
Has a realistic posting schedule, won't get uninterested in the roleplay if posts aren't done everyday, several times a day, and is not nasty about it.
Jannah
Barely holding on.
-A unique and unusual idea that strays from the usual RP tropes and genres/pairings(especially if said idea is either historical or fantastical).
-Doesn't expect posting every day(I simply cannot manage it, especially with the amount of RP's I have already).
-Doesn't require romance(platonic relationships can be just as fun to explore too).
-Doesn't expect posting every day(I simply cannot manage it, especially with the amount of RP's I have already).
-Doesn't require romance(platonic relationships can be just as fun to explore too).
Jannah
Barely holding on.
I'm not opposed to romance in RP's. In fact, I actually enjoy it. I just don't want it in every RP. I want a mixture of platonic and romantic. I do also play multiple characters, but it's inevitable that one or two of them will always become the most prominent and important in the RP.
rae2nerdy
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See I think for me it's not that I don't like romance. I just find telling the story about people falling in love to be boring. I tend to like stories that focus on people in the "living together" stage if that makes sense. People getting married, people getting divorced, people grappling with the idea that the fairytale they thought they were getting isn't all it's cracked up to be.
Mostly because I see a lot of romance stories that kind of idealize the falling in love part but not a lot that really focus on - hey living with another person is kind of hard. You aren't going to love them every moment of every day. And that's fine.
I'm also not vehemently against romance in RPs, but I don't like doing ones where it's expected or required just for personal reasons, and I think a lot of people make RPs where it's expected (even if they leave it unsaid. Like, if you join a highschool based roleplay for example, 90% of the time all of the plot threads revolve around romance in my experience, so you go into it expecting it). so when I see one where people make it clear they'd prefer a focus on platonic relationships? It makes me way more excited about it, that's all. It doesn't come from a distaste for romance in general.
Jannah
Barely holding on.
The romance stories I do are typically far from happy and fluffy. I usually focus on the star-crossed lovers and forbidden romance type stuff simply because I'm a sucker for those tropes.
rae2nerdy
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Well I wouldn't call it boring in the objective sense. I think in my experience is more a matter of what romance means to people. A lot of people define it purely as characters falling in love. This doesn't mean that the characters all have happy perfect lives. But the act of falling in love is what makes a roleplay "romantic."
For me I tend to define romance as two people in a romantic relationship. So it's a bit like when people use the term "literate." Some people define that as - Person who writes X paragraphs per post. And some people define it as - Person who can read and write.
Neither person is wrong really. It's just how you define a word will influence your expectations. So if I were to say I'm literate and my partner thought that meant I wrote X paragraphs per post. When I just meant, yeah I can read and write. Than the expectations are not going to line up.
rae2nerdy
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For me I think the non-positive feelings comes more in how pushy a lot of the people on this site are about it. I literally had a girl argue with me for twenty minutes once because she kept insisting I pick a "crush" for my secondary character. I'm like, "I don't want this character to have a crush. I don't want this character to have a crush. I do not want this character to have a crush. Please stop asking."
I've also had plenty of people drop me like a hot potato the moment they realized I wouldn't write characters falling in love. Now note I said "falling in love" specifically, because I always offer established romance as an alternative. But nope, if Character A isn't falling in love with Character B than apparently the roleplay isn't romantic.
So that has led to a bit of exhaustion with the whole situation. At this point I just flat out say - "I only do platonic or aro/ace relationships " it's just less of a headache.
Jannah
Barely holding on.
Must be a personal taste thing because when I do romantic RP's I do the whole falling in love aspect. I personally think it's one of the most exciting aspects simply due to the circumstances I have in place that bring the characters together. Again, goes back to the whole star-crossed lovers/forbidden romance tropes I adore so much. Like, these two people know they're not supposed to fall in love, yet they do anyway, which creates a whole set of challenges.
The pushy thing is a good point. I've also had experiences where people are like "your character and my character are romantically involved, which means we're romantically involved too, clearly". Or they'll have their minds set on two characters getting together and get very angry when you don't want to.
It's thankfully not super common now, but it happens - luckily you can spot these people easily because they'll ask for the actual roleplayer to be a specific gender and stuff like that, though.
But yeah, I think stuff like that is possibly a factor in why some people avoid romance.
rae2nerdy
left site
Certainly as I said I don't mind romance. I just like a specific type of romance that I have had a hard time finding partners for. Instead I get stuck with pushy people or people who want to roleplay a type of romance I don't like. But I have nothing whatsoever against the genre as a whole. It's just I've been burned too many times on this site so I look at it warily now.
Oh, I enjoy romance don't get me wrong. It's nice to see two characters trying to make a relationship work. What I have an issue with is romance being essentially forced into the story without it allowed to naturally happen, if it even happens. I've seen people say it is a must but when it boils down to it how do they know the other person's character will have such feelings for theirs? It may just be me, I don't like feeling like I'm being told how my character will feel about another character especially if I'm not shown any kind of reason.
The slow, they've been through situations, do they like each other, what do they do with their feelings romance is my favorite. The no pressure, they might not even address their feelings yet hold a strong connection type. I always like where there's a possibility it can be included but if it's not there's more to the roleplay other than it.
rae2nerdy
left site
Funnily enough this reminds me of the time a guy pitched me a roleplay where he was like - so your character will be a mechanic and she'll be kind of tall and buff and really into my skinny OC. the roleplay will be about the two of them falling in love and him working up the courage to ask her out.
And I'm like...so why do you need me exactly? You've pretty much got the whole thing written out.
Jannah
Barely holding on.
If it's forced romance that's where I get wary myself. I enjoy my romantic plotlines as much as the next person but there need to be natural chemistry and a mutual attraction for me to want to take that step, otherwise that shit is staying platonic, haha.
Wow...that's just wow. Yeah, he probably had some of the dialogue for the female written out too.
Exactly. Another turn off for me is if a person is trying turn away from the plot to have my character fall for theirs no not happening.
Idea
The Pun Tyrant
Well, for starters, I doubt I would contact anyone for a roleplay with a single pitch (unless this is, like, an extensive one rather than something like an elevator pitch), mostly cause the kind of things I require and methods by which I evaluate whether they are present usually take up more than that (read: always take more than that). Sofor people like me, don't expect anything quick to be enough.
With that said, and from here on out assuming that more extensive pitch, what's needed (in principle) to sell me on the idea of a roleplay, besides the base interest in the idea:
1. I must fundamentally believe that the idea has potential, both on it's own and for my own needs as an individual player. What I mean by this is that I must believe that a long-term roleplay can be sustained on the power of the plot alone, by means of inherent (or which I believe to be able to feasibly and relatively accessibly make myself) branching side-plots, built-in events and the like, as well there being room and meaning in my presence as an individual player. Examples on what not to do for the first part would include plots that are too constrictive for what the characters may be able to do, or offer only a start or endgame seemingly without any plan for what might be done in between. Examples on how not to make my presence count include roleplays where regardless of how I build my character it essentially makes no difference and they are entirely replaceable, or plots where I feel I can't express any real creativity with my characters (a very important point for me).
2. I need to see life put into the interest check, showing personality and passion for one's project. I will not be swayed by grocery lists.
3.The RP's appeal must be showcased and fit in with my interests. Well, the part about fitting my interests you shouldn't worry to much about, you can't appease everyone's tastes. However, knowing what kind of tastes your RP appeals to is important to maximize your chances of success and the quality of your roleplay. I often say that your interest check is your pitch in the market of roleplays in whcih the currency is people's time and effort. With hundred's of different options it is paramount that you properly convey what makes your RP worth picking, what it will offer me as a player, what makes it stand out from the crowd.
4.I must be able to trust the GM/partner fundamentally and in that they will permit and respect my RPing style. I do not trust GMs who start and RP and immediately seem to vanish for long periods of time without being able to properly explain it, it shows they had no foresight. I can't trust GMs who make up new rules as they go or suddenly invent criteria for characters based on a feeling of discomfort rather than anything concrete, it shows that at any time my effort could go down the drain cause they felt like changing something. I can't trust GMs who focus too much on one character, it shows their priority is that character moreso than the RP itself or its members. There are a lot of clues which unfortunately often end up being right the few times I do ignore them. Working together will not work well if I can't put a bare minimum of trust in you.
Beyond that there is just the fact that I need in RPs to be able to play in my own style. I don't have much time to experiement at all, so these days I'm not compromising there.
Hope this is helpful! Best of luck and happy RPing!
PS: On the topic of romance, I personally don't mind it, though because I often play very, very young characters it just wouldn't make sense for a lot of mine. Back when I asked my little set of introdutory questions one of them was "what's your stance on romance" and like 99.99% of the time people went like "I don't mind it, but I want it to develop naturally, don't want "love at first sight" stuff".... Considering that, it was so common I got to wonder the point of even saying it. It was like, yeah, that's everyone's stance, so unless they are just being hypocritical about it this shouldn't have to be said. Romance is extremely popular in part due to it's sheer presence in media and an easy target for misconceptions and embarassment regarding one's own writing in it and the general populace's.[/b]
With that said, and from here on out assuming that more extensive pitch, what's needed (in principle) to sell me on the idea of a roleplay, besides the base interest in the idea:
1. I must fundamentally believe that the idea has potential, both on it's own and for my own needs as an individual player. What I mean by this is that I must believe that a long-term roleplay can be sustained on the power of the plot alone, by means of inherent (or which I believe to be able to feasibly and relatively accessibly make myself) branching side-plots, built-in events and the like, as well there being room and meaning in my presence as an individual player. Examples on what not to do for the first part would include plots that are too constrictive for what the characters may be able to do, or offer only a start or endgame seemingly without any plan for what might be done in between. Examples on how not to make my presence count include roleplays where regardless of how I build my character it essentially makes no difference and they are entirely replaceable, or plots where I feel I can't express any real creativity with my characters (a very important point for me).
2. I need to see life put into the interest check, showing personality and passion for one's project. I will not be swayed by grocery lists.
3.The RP's appeal must be showcased and fit in with my interests. Well, the part about fitting my interests you shouldn't worry to much about, you can't appease everyone's tastes. However, knowing what kind of tastes your RP appeals to is important to maximize your chances of success and the quality of your roleplay. I often say that your interest check is your pitch in the market of roleplays in whcih the currency is people's time and effort. With hundred's of different options it is paramount that you properly convey what makes your RP worth picking, what it will offer me as a player, what makes it stand out from the crowd.
4.I must be able to trust the GM/partner fundamentally and in that they will permit and respect my RPing style. I do not trust GMs who start and RP and immediately seem to vanish for long periods of time without being able to properly explain it, it shows they had no foresight. I can't trust GMs who make up new rules as they go or suddenly invent criteria for characters based on a feeling of discomfort rather than anything concrete, it shows that at any time my effort could go down the drain cause they felt like changing something. I can't trust GMs who focus too much on one character, it shows their priority is that character moreso than the RP itself or its members. There are a lot of clues which unfortunately often end up being right the few times I do ignore them. Working together will not work well if I can't put a bare minimum of trust in you.
Beyond that there is just the fact that I need in RPs to be able to play in my own style. I don't have much time to experiement at all, so these days I'm not compromising there.
Hope this is helpful! Best of luck and happy RPing!
PS: On the topic of romance, I personally don't mind it, though because I often play very, very young characters it just wouldn't make sense for a lot of mine. Back when I asked my little set of introdutory questions one of them was "what's your stance on romance" and like 99.99% of the time people went like "I don't mind it, but I want it to develop naturally, don't want "love at first sight" stuff".... Considering that, it was so common I got to wonder the point of even saying it. It was like, yeah, that's everyone's stance, so unless they are just being hypocritical about it this shouldn't have to be said. Romance is extremely popular in part due to it's sheer presence in media and an easy target for misconceptions and embarassment regarding one's own writing in it and the general populace's.[/b]