Character Adopting - The Wrong Way

[voracity]

The title doesn't exactly fit, but I'm a little too angry to find the proper descriptions and words at the moment, I hope that the people who might get a little keyboard-crusading will forgive me on this.


Alright, so normal situation: You find that you are ... moderately disappointed with how the roleplay is turning, or you might begin to doubt the role play's actual potential to carry through long term for plot ... or sadly, you find yourself questioning that very misleading "detailed" labeled at the top left side, and the GM's ability to ... well, GM! Perhaps there's also a slight issue with the other players in the roleplay, where you are just a little too detached and brushed off where you fear that you'll be left behind and that fights will surely take place if you step even a little bit out of line with 'their precious'. Worst of all, you might find yourself flipping through the rules, and find five different people on four different occasions breaking the very rules that ... let's be honest, there were only five, come on people.


Now that's just so you get a bit of context, the initial frustration one might experience for a good week or so while being bombarded with an OOC thread full of 'well, I think' [and in retrospect, I really should have just tagged someone specifically instead of expecting them to assume I was addressing someone who actually knew something], the real story starts here: where one might actually grow a pair, and maturely leave a formally written notice to your GM about leaving the roleplay. Of course, to avoid sounding like ... your average angry white cis gal from Cali, you don't mention any details to your leave, signing off with a polite, 'I doubt you want to hear about the details' [because I SERIOUSLY doubt you want to hear the details].


Now. Before doing this, I had also went in and deleted all of my posts - and I'll say it right here, if anyone finds themselves in this situation, I recommend you do it too, go in and delete ALL of your shit, and perhaps make a backup of your character sheet, because you know, that's your baby guys. That's the baby you spent a good 4 hours finding a face claim, getting the code to work, coming up with a backstory that doesn't make you look like you some average basic white ho who white trashed her way into a Shoujo, or like, you know ... THAT guy, and etc.


Ahem. Now, afterwards, this GM might come back to bother you. Some might ask for details in which ... Luck Good, fellow brothers and sisters.


But here I get the oddest request ever ... request is the wrong word, there was no question whatsoever in the message. It simply ... inquired, whether or not I have my character sheet still, somewhere saved perhaps. Now, I have worked with some roleplays in where when someone leaves they may ask about turning their character into a neutral character, an NPC, and I'm totally against it if it were for a roleplay that caused me this much stress and frustration, but otherwise ... you know? Or maybe, if they decide that "what a bish. leaving!??!" and kill my character off in the roleplay then ...


Well, the circle of life, amiright?


Sadly though, none of the two from above were clearly stated, and so I asked for details concerning the need of my character. And my response was something along the lines of, "Oh ... well, if you can find it, ring me up~" [that's like ... pretty far off, but still, anonymity at it's finest, yeah?] it took another line and more intense passive aggressive to get a proper answer, which was, "Well, I think someone else can like take over the character. I mean, the characters dorm is still there, you know?"


... I can't. Even words. At this point. Anybody else have this ... anger, this outrage just spread across their entire system like I had?


EDIT: Can I also share some groans, mild confusion and wonder if the GM is for real or not with that very last part? We were ASSIGNED the rooms by the GM themself on THEIR OWN POST.


The bigger question that I have, for anyone who does this regularly, and I am aware that it's more a personal ... method of doing things for some people, but like, how did you come to know this kind of method. Like, seriously, I have never had anyone ask me to give up my creation for someone else [who I suspect 'can't code', 'it's too hard', 'I'm a total newb at coding', again purely speculation, and we both know what I really mean in the quotes.] Remember what I said before about deleting all your shit before you leave a roleplay? Not only is it ... well, being a decent roleplayer to clean up your leftovers, it's to prevent this low-scale theft and plagiarism.


Anyone else have these mind blowing GM stories to share?


Thank you and Goodnight.

 

[JayTee]

So the RP wasn't what you were expecting, and your reaction was to nuke your posts (disrupting the flow of the RP) forcibly remove your character from the game (leaving other characters who were involved with your character in a lurch) and write a post demonizing the other people involved, with a request for others to do the same in an attempt to either validate your position or pretend that this is a discussion post and not a bitchfit?


I don't see the point of this thread.


Kids, I've been RPing for over a decade, and in my experience if you find yourself in a situation where you are no longer enjoying it, the only acceptable response is to politely excuse yourself from the game. Maybe write a farewell post so people who have characters involved with your own can have some kind of closure, but that's about as far as it should go. That's it, that's all you have to do.


If the GM asks if someone can play your character and you don't want them to, politely tell them no. Heck technically you should be grateful that they asked in the first place, as there really isn't anything stopping them from assigning them NPC status, or simply giving the character to someone else so the game can continue unimpeded. Once you leave the game, control over the character is effectively relinquished, and the sacrosanct idea of "My character my call" (which I am an adamant supporter of) goes out the window. You're gone, you don't get a say anymore.

 

[voracity]

So the RP wasn't what you were expecting, and your reaction was to nuke your posts (disrupting the flow of the RP) forcibly remove your character from the game (leaving other characters who were involved with your character in a lurch) and write a post demonizing the other people involved, with a request for others to do the same in an attempt to either validate your position or pretend that this is a discussion post and not a bitchfit?
I don't see the point of this thread.


Kids, I've been RPing for over a decade, and in my experience if you find yourself in a situation where you are no longer enjoying it, the only acceptable response is to politely excuse yourself from the game. Maybe write a farewell post so people who have characters involved with your own can have some kind of closure, but that's about as far as it should go. That's it, that's all you have to do.

I'll admit about 90% of that was a bitchfit, correctly labelled too so thank you for providing that much. I do want to defend myself in the fact that it was only the beginning when I pulled out, so no, there was no disruption of flow of the roleplay, nor was there anyone else involved other than myself and whatever 'slot' the GM may have filled my character in on a table of contents. The part to get others to validate and perhaps take my side was a bit too much, I'll agree after reading this ... what hours later?


I did take a look at the prefixes in this entire 'roleplay discussion' thing before making it, at the top label, I made it an 'experience' and what the staff has put as the description of the prefix was that 'The Experiences prefix is used to label threads that allow users to post their personal roleplaying experiences. ' and while like you said, it was pretty much a bitchfit, if I had used perhaps a more formal language, maybe represented my points, my view, and the controversy I felt this entire topic is in, in a more mature and sophisticated way, it totally could have flew by completely unnoticed and still fit within the 'whole point of this thread'. As well, if I left all my own comments out, and only presented the fact where some of the characters are getting 'stolen' it could have fit a better audience, or perhaps shared a view that most roleplayers can see, learn, and perhaps start a discussion with.


While I could have left it just at the "I apologize for leaving so suddenly, without too much warning, I won't bother your busy days with the details, best of luck in your future endeavours" I can't help what I feel when someone continues to message after me, and demanding something that completely crosses the line with me. I could just hold it in, you might say, go rant on a blog or somewhere else, you might say, but I'm not that person with that kind of maturity or experience yet. It's like you said, I'm a kid. I don't have the decade(s) of experience you'd had and gotten into situations where I am displeased and offended all in one, with an extra punch. Some people stress relief with something else, maybe cutting, maybe making videos, making drawing a picture, maybe going outside, but the only safe way I know and use is with my words. Unlike Rpnations sister site Iwaku, there's no place on this site where once can share these personal, but can still gather perhaps an audience with similar views and experiences, other than in this tab with a prefix this appropriate.


So I'm sorry I don't have all of the experience of a decade(s)-old roleplayer who has seen how things can go both ways, perhaps many other ways, of others' actions, I'm sorry that you don't think that this experience of mine has a point or belongs here in the first place, and I apologize for thinking that this topic as a whole is appropriate in the first place to share in a site with many others who could give an insight to the 'why', the 'how' or why it's alright and their point of view. Worst of all, I apologize about the stance I have of stolen works, plagiarism, and potential theft on the net when I'm sites where everything is shared and worked upon with others.


Is there perhaps another place on this site for a place where you might think this is appropriate? Perhaps somewhere where it be accepted if I polish up the words and present it as a real case, a question, instead of an accusation?

 

[voracity]

If the GM asks if someone can play your character and you don't want them to, politely tell them no. Heck technically you should be grateful that they asked in the first place, as there really isn't anything stopping them from assigning them NPC status, or simply giving the character to someone else so the game can continue unimpeded. Once you leave the game, control over the character is effectively relinquished, and the sacrosanct idea of "My character my call" (which I am an adamant supporter of) goes out the window. You're gone, you don't get a say anymore.

That's where our views differ entirely, which I'm sure is based off your abundance of experience as both GM and roleplayer yourself. I'm sure some people would be 'grateful' that their character gets to live and serve a purpose, but I personally don't see why I should be grateful for something I have left behind and yet will always have some sort of loose string connected to. Again, I've read and understood your stance on your characters turning into NPC's this one is my own point of view.


I don't have a problem with GMs turning unused characters into NPC's, with or without consent, because there have been occasions where they simply never look back or give a straight answer, what I have a problem with is handing it off to someone to take over without that consent. To avoid that altogether, that mess where one does get offended in conflict of interest, and whatever their beliefs are, what they are a supporter of, I've simply done both parties and favor and cut the middle man - the character itself. There is no character to control, to save, to make any shots.


I'll also make a note that not every roleplay will get stuck, get awkward, or fall all over itself with the absences of players and characters, it may leave the roleplay in a dry spell, or a particularly steep hill, but sometimes it doesn't happen altogether, the GM themselves might be the ones to delete all the posts that the player who left made, their characters and all that, just to save confusion for newcomers who doesn't need to know who it was that left, what their character was, if the position is taken or not, etc and still successfully continue on, with it's new characters and different rotations, even when people regularly drop and come on board.


I do enjoy reading your point of view, but I must continue asking, about this part "Once you leave the game, control over the character is effectively relinquished" the question is why I made something that I never had control of ultimately in the first place? The way you've made this sound, sounds as if whatever you've made is only something you have been given control over, that the GM has allowed you to make the character [and yes, there's the whole approving of your character but] where one would assume that once approved and created, you alone can control what the character may do, how they may act, how they may improve, spice up, the entire plot itself? If the whole thing is a matter of control, why don't the GMs just make 'Set Characters' and have interested players assign themselves a character that's already made and completely owned by the GM? Why do players even contribute to plot with characters of their own creation when the GM can just as easily make their own similar ones, drive the plot on their own with the characters that won't leave or get deleted?


I just strictly find how GMs can easily take anything that you've made and just slap their name over it, is that what you're trying to say happens when you leave the roleplay? That maybe someone who might have no way of communicating whatsoever, can completely lose their character, their posts, their ideas and their own creativity to the GM because of things beyond their own powers? Why are people creating characters now? Why are there people who have a library of characters that they can use for multiple roleplays, after tweaking some small things accordingly to the roleplays needs like perhaps something the GM needs to randomize into their 'skills'? If they pull out of one of those roleplays, they still have that same character running in other roleplays, but does that mean if one day they decide to pull away from all of them, that 5 other GMs now own that character as well?


You stand by the idea that once you've left, whatever you've made in that particular roleplay belongs all to the GM, and that's just something I don't see myself accepting. Your points do show me a lot that I can think over, to see the other side, but I still can't let go of the idea that what I've typed, what I've spent days on thinking, compiling and creating is just something that a whole bunch of other people can take a part of as well. It's simply how we share the value of what we create perhaps, and the idea that somehow someone can potentially abuse their power and just strip you of all of you've done its frightening, and of course, in the power ladder, one such as myself won't have any of say, like you said since I left, what kind of protection is there for people who are just getting all of their materials plucked from them, without them even knowing, with them saying "no" or perhaps even having problems of their own concerning this kind of loss and invasion?

 

[call me rae]

Well I'm going to agree with you and say I don't think you were being too bitchy or anything. I mean I've seen other people post rants regularly in this section. As long as you don't put anything that can link to whoever your talking about - and you didn't - then it's perfectly fine to post a rant to express your feelings.


I happen to agree with you actually if someone asked to use my character after I left a roleplay I'd be like "lol whut? no."


I mean if you want to kill my character off or rap up whatever interactions my character is having at the moment then sure but I'm not going to let people take my character. Even the ones that I just slap together in like twenty minutes or less - much less the ones I worked hard on.


The way I see it if you want to join a roleplay you should be able to make your own character. If it's an issue of there being an empty space - um just say that there was a conflict between the characters and the roommates were switched.

 

[Sunbather]

I would not delete my character's posts, because they were made. Whether they are there or not, it happened and is now part of the roleplay's lore. My character, however, will not be taken over unless I consent. If someone does this, I'd ask for it to stop or otherwise ring up an admin. Feels like creative theft to me. I had an RP once that was made by ToteMaus, and they were wonderful as a GM. Caring, tagging, active and all that. I just, much to my shame, felt completely uninspired and demotivated to participate any longer. So I offered for them to make my character into an NPC, because this was all my fault and noone else's.


It depends on the situation.

 

[Pariah Stark]

Character Ownership

Roleplaying games are collaborative ventures. So while a Roleplay Creator owns the content associated with their roleplay (as long as such content is not plagiarized or copyrighted), specific entries (such as a player's characters) submitted to that roleplay are considered the property and ownership of that individual poster by the RpNation Staff.


That is the RpN stance on character ownership.

Heck technically you should be grateful that they asked in the first place, as there really isn't anything stopping them from assigning them NPC status, or simply giving the character to someone else so the game can continue unimpeded. Once you leave the game, control over the character is effectively relinquished, and the sacrosanct idea of "My character my call" (which I am an adamant supporter of) goes out the window. You're gone, you don't get a say anymore.

Making this statement... false!


Bam.


Now, this is an argument where I immediately side with Vlaty, and for two reasons.


Reason A: I believe that a GM is equally responsible for fallout as any player within their roleplay. There are some exceptions to this, for instance, if a disgruntled player begins PM'ing new interested parties to attempt to persuade them not to join a project, then maybe we're crossing a blurred line. However, if a GM does something that legitimately upsets a roleplayer to the degree that they want to leave and believe their specific content shouldn't be used in a collaborative project, well then hey, despite the collateral damage and innocent bystanders, that's their right.


I'm not even going to be nice on this one. There are plenty of things that a GM can do that can lead to their roleplay being hurt, and sometimes, those consequences might just be deserved. Do others get hurt? Potentially. Can this intrude on the enjoyment of others? Naturally. Is this any one individual's fault? No; it's likely the culmination of several and while many people would love to jump on the bandwagon and say that the health of a roleplay is better for the community and a GM is basically 'always right' within their domain, I would and in fact do boldly challenge that.


I've been roleplaying for right on a decade myself, and I've seen good outros and devastating exits. Here's a fact: sometimes, the friends of a GM will blindly jump to their defense regardless of who is wrong or right. A lot of times, people don't care who is wrong or right or whom impeded on whose rights or who was mistreated or whom got the shit end of the stick - a lot of people only see the community, the site, the overall health and go on. I don't think that's sufficient. I don't think that's enough. People can't learn from mistakes if they don't ever have that mistake reinforced. I GM a lot. I turn down a lot of people. I've been in a lot of groups and had enough content to run entire roleplays, then left. I've been in situations that take this scenario to the extreme, and down to it, this is a reason that a GM should always be aware of their social standing with their roleplayers, what content they create and how much. For instance, if a player could forcibly rip all of their content out of a roleplay and have it stand alone as its own continuity, then maybe that GM let that player have a little too much free reign. Maybe, just maybe, that was poor GM'ing skills and when that content is potentially ripped from their roleplay its their fault. If twelve other people potentially have their roleplay ruined, then whose fault is that? Not the GM's - not the player in question, but more than likely both of them. You can't perpetuate that a GM holds complete sovereignty and take away the ownership rights of what a roleplayer creates, but you also can't give a roleplayer so much authority they can walk around like the Chief.


However, there is another reason that I side with Vlaty. First, even if someone did... rip out an entire character or that much lore, a proper GM should be able to patch it up and replace it. What the Hell stops you from writing and replacing what was removed? Delete every post? Fine, retcon a fix. Sit down, write it out, come up with a solution. It's not that hard. When looking at this situation, it appears as if one believes that hypothetically deleting 50% of an established RP would kill it. Fact is, in the proper hands, it won't. Given a loyal roleplayer following and a little time with the proper writing, potentially a bit of patience, even the worst of problems caused by this can be fixed. With this notion said, I want to bring up another. This problem is about time and effort. The collective work of the people involved, including the extra work a GM might have to do to fix a problem.


Down to it, I think this comes down to the responsibilities of a GM and a player as well as the images and reputations they create for themselves. A GM should be reliable, flexible and capable of communication. At the same time, a player should be willing to make compromise and understand that their actions, even if in the right, can cause other GM's not to want them around. This is a touchy subject, but down to it, this is no different than high school lunchtables. Make a rep for yourself and a lot fewer people will want you around. Get your own table? Well, if you were a jerk at others, people might not want to sit with you.


But, back closer on topic, no GM should ever have the right to completely take content not created by them and synthesize it into a roleplay. As a matter of fact, I have a highly specific rule for my roleplays in regards to this:


The Rite of Creative Domain | Anything created by the players for the setting, or for their characters, is subject to use and subjugation by the Staff. This does not apply to specific characters or items (as such would conflict with RPNation rules), but it does apply to anything not approved into the setting and used as descriptors for their characters, items, or events, such as NPCs.


Why? Because a) RpN rules only include specific entries and b) because just in case a player leaves, I'm going to keep as much nonspecific detail as I can to FIX the hole they leave. Simple as that.


The site has rules for this. There is a policy.