Deal Breakers. What makes you "walk" away?

[.MakAttack.]

A typical deal breaker for me is a poor connection. By this I mean our writing styles just don't seem to mesh or we can't quite reach a point of give and take when it comes to the story and characters. Then there are the partner(s) who seem to just go out of their way to piss you off. Doing things like controlling your character and the environment just to make their character look specifically superior. Talk about annoying.

 

[myfanwy]

when people romantacise living in a shitty neighbourhood or having thin ass walls that you can talk to your potential love interest through.

nah bih it ain't cute it's annoying and i just want to sleep, not hear my neighbours yelling at one another.
i also hate hearing sirens in my neighbourhood about three times a week. living in a bad neighbourhood doesn't always make you tougher or some shit like that. if you piss off someone you could be, and probably would be, shot.

it's a v specific grip but ya know.

 

[rae2nerdy]

when people romantacise living in a shitty neighbourhood or having thin ass walls that you can talk to your potential love interest through.

nah bih it ain't cute it's annoying and i just want to sleep, not hear my neighbours yelling at one another.
i also hate hearing sirens in my neighbourhood about three times a week. living in a bad neighbourhood doesn't always make you tougher or some shit like that. if you piss off someone you could be, and probably would be, shot.

it's a v specific grip but ya know.

wait that's really a thing? but like how? how do you possibly make drive by shooting romantic? oooh we had to duck beneath our window and our lips accidentally touched tee hee?

 

[Ferociousfeind]

They sensationalize it, showing off how cool it is while being totally unaware that living in a ghetto sucks. And people don't want to live there for a reason. (Because it sucks)

 

[myfanwy]

wait that's really a thing? but like how? how do you possibly make drive by shooting romantic? oooh we had to duck beneath our window and our lips accidentally touched tee hee?

that made me laugh so much omg thank you.

they try to make it romantic by: oh my goodness i can hear your every move omg senpai love me :3

and, my favourite

omg u saved me from a big bad criminal i love u

but yee, as Ferociousfeind mentioned, it fvckin' sucks living in a ghetto. like. there is nothing romantic about this place just bc u think the suburbs suck doesn't mean you can project false ideas onto a shitty ass neighbourhood.

 

[rae2nerdy]

Oh I know we lived in - I guess projects ? The suburban equivalent of the ghetto. A u-shaped duplex complex.

And we’d have people shooting out peoples car windows and randomly having to duck if you hear loud noises. And anytime We had to walk anywhere mom would stop at every tree and bush and be like if someone jumps out you run. Leave mommy and run until you get to the fire station / crowded neighborhood

 

[rae2nerdy]

So yeah not seeing the romance

 

[Ferociousfeind]

jeez "leave mommy and run until you get to the fire station" is incredibly dark. No romance there eww.

 

[rae2nerdy]

Yeah mom Moved us to tiny cornfield town when I was nine. Had enough of the “romantic” fear of random gun violence

 

[kevintheradioguy]

O-o-oh, boy!

One!
People just assuming what my character does. Whether it's big, like skipping a day and describing what he did, or even small stuff, like he was punched, and he yelped. I mean, I have one character! Let me play him! This is why I'm roleplaying to begin with! And why do you roleplay, if you don't need another person? It's discussable, though. PMing with "Hey, I want to skip a day, what your character will be doing?" is a plausible turn of events. Some old partners have a benefit (for the lack of better word) to assume, as we've been playing for a while, and they can predetermine character's actions.
DMing is not included here. I'm perfectly fine with people narrating other characters and world around (would like to didcuss who is a narrator beforehand, though), just, please, live my character to me.

Two!
Different tense. I exclusively play in third person limited, past tense. And mention it as well. It's like a... collective book creation for me. First person is OK when I DM in real life, but text RPs are just that. So it turns me cometely off to read a first person response (or god forbid, second!) to my message, or even third person present tense instead of past. Immersion breaks that very same mkment, and I just cannot get my mojo back, so to speak.

Three!
Bad grammar and alike. I know, we all make mistakes. People can get tired. Typos are a thing. Heck, I'm sure I made some typos in this comment here! But seeing "your welcome", lack of commas, and posts devoid of any diversity (like "he said" after every cue... which can be used for certain scenes to create a good emotional colouring, but there's a difference). I put effort into my post, I want to see some effort as well!
While on this note, "seme", "uke", "desu", "nya". No, just, no, stop. a) I've no idea what you're talking about. b) we have an English RP, be so kind to speak English.
While on this note v.2.1., smileys in post. I had a partner once who said "I don't know why describe "he blushed" when you can put a smiley?", well... why put a smiley when you can describe "he blushed"? OOC text like "sorry for long delay, my whole family died and aliens destroyed my house" goes here too. PMs exist, people! Let us RP in our RP thread.

Smaller things can be irritating, but I can live with Mary Sues, unneeded exposition, and short replies.

 

[BackSet]

third person limited, past tense.

Wait, people roleplay outside of third person limited, past tense?

 

[BackSet]

like "he said" after every cue... which can be used for certain scenes to create a good emotional colouring, but there's a difference

We probably shouldn't roleplay then. I'm pretty bad at varying my speaking related verbs. I was good at it once but I forgot lik nintey precent of my variation. The best I can do is replace it with asked, shouted, mumbled, groaned, and the like when nessesary and add how they said it onto the end. (Ex he said calmly.)

 

[Ferociousfeind]

I don't have a concrete POV, and sometimes jump around in third-person.
Though sometimes I narrate the thoughts of a character if they're... "peculiar" on the inside. Which is 1st person. (Shut up I have autism so I can play a mildly autistic character harumph)
And sometimes the action mirrors how they perceive it, in my own unreliable narrator fashion. E.g.

The wind swept through the vslley, rustling leaves on a tree. An electric zapping could be heard from across the valley as he crossed the expanse. A blade of white light crosses his path, and he was surrounded. Dozens of simple gangmembers, here for a quick buck.
"Hello, boys," the man said.

"We want your money, not your life, old man." One of them spat. A bright light from the barrel of a gun yielded a loud warning shot. The man refused to even flinch.
"You know who you are dealing with, little boys?"
He threw off his cloak, unholstered a pistol, and unloaded four shots into each man. He spun the now-empty pistol on his index finger, "It's high noon, boys."

IT'S HIGH NOON.

 

[kevintheradioguy]

Wait, people roleplay outside of third person limited, past tense?

First past, first continuous, first present, second, third present, third continuous. You're lucky if you never stumbled upon those people. And you're giving me hope for this community as well c:

We probably shouldn't roleplay then. I'm pretty bad at varying my speaking related verbs. I was good at it once but I forgot lik nintey precent of my variation. The best I can do is replace it with asked, shouted, mumbled, groaned, and the like when nessesary and add how they said it onto the end. (Ex he said calmly.)

Maybe, but being able to write that already gets you out of the danger zone. I had a few players who went just with "he said, he said, he said, he said", and it is kind of irritating. People can whisper! Murmur! Yell! inquire! Ask! All those things. It can even be something like "I hate this place." - Blackwall lit a cigarette. ...instead of "he said".

 

[99thslayer]

Don't know why, but I have a pretty big problem with italicizing actions. Perhaps it's because it looks unprofessional as hell. A person I've been RPing with for years suddenly decided they were going to begin italicizing all of their actions, which suddenly made me not want to continue roleplaying with them. I do not mind italics if you're trying to emphasize a point, but it just repels me if italics are used for literally every single action and only stopping for dialogue.

 

[Ferociousfeind]

Ewww. Italics are for inward thoughts because, "Quotation marks are for talking out loud!"

 

[kevintheradioguy]

I've been using "this for speech", and 'this for thoughts', or 'this for thoughts'.

 

[BackSet]

Don't know why, but I have a pretty big problem with italicizing actions. Perhaps it's because it looks unprofessional as hell. A person I've been RPing with for years suddenly decided they were going to begin italicizing all of their actions, which suddenly made me not want to continue roleplaying with them. I do not mind italics if you're trying to emphasize a point, but it just repels me if italics are used for literally every single action and only stopping for dialogue.

Why would anyone do that? Italics are strictly for putting stress on a word (or thoughts, if you want)

 

[SandraDeelightful]

I hate when people use first person!

 

[Generic Brooding Antihero]

Maybe, but being able to write that already gets you out of the danger zone. I had a few players who went just with "he said, he said, he said, he said", and it is kind of irritating. People can whisper! Murmur! Yell! inquire! Ask! All those things. It can even be something like "I hate this place." - Blackwall lit a cigarette. ...instead of "he said".

I'm the exact opposite. It's lazy writing, but a barrage of 'said' or even 'asked' or 'replied' is at least bearable. On the other hand, I can OD on said-bookisms really quick. They're garnish -- great in small doses, but when used in excess, can really detract from the main dish.

TV Trope's article on said-bookisms explains it perfectly:

A Said Bookism is a variety of Purple Prose in which the writer goes out of their way to avoid the word "said". It was quite the fashion at one point; there were even 'said books' (hence the name, "said book-ism") you could buy with lists of verbs that can be used instead of "said", like "exclaimed", "emoted", "sighed", "rumbled", "hissed", "pontificated", "enquired", etc.

Said Bookisms are often considered lazy writing by readers and critics who want dialogue to speak for itself without the use of fancy tags to carry its meaning and intention for it; in many cases, the dialogue tags effectively repeat what the dialogue is already telling us.

Some said bookisms – particularly "asked", and to a lesser extent "replied" – are widely considered as acceptable when used properly (i.e. when a character is asking a question, and then the other character replies). The primary danger of other said bookisms lies in the fact that repeated use makes them lose their effectiveness; if every character growls, snarls, or hisses with every line of dialogue, then the unusual dialogue tags lose all of their impact and the writing looks ridiculous. Verbs which aren't a form of speech are especially frowned upon; using "laughed" or "sighed" as a dialogue tag (as opposed to noting that a character did one of those things) can be distracting, while using "smiled" or "shrugged" as a said bookism is right out - you cannot smile or shrug a line. And if a character "hisses" or "snaps" their dialogue, it should probably be a line where you can actually do that; you can't hiss a phrase with no sibilants, or snap a Wall of Text. Some other dialogue tags, such as "ejaculated", have come to gain connotations which render them unusable in serious text. That said, Tropes Are Not Bad: the Bathos that can come from an unusual choice of said bookism is a good source of comedy, as in the Ring Lardner exchange quoted above. Also, in some languages like Spanish, this trope is enforced as repetiton is considered a bad thing much more than in other languages. Try to compare any book to their Spanish translation, or viceversa.

Experienced writers avoid extensive repetition of "said" by describing the speaker's actions, posture, or body language; through the word choice in what's being said; and by sprinkling in said bookisms where they actually enhance the delivery of the text. Sub Text is often used to give the reader an idea of how dialogue is delivered, even when it is not stated outright. Less experienced writers would be better off just sticking with "said"; it's one of those invisible words that most people who aren't writers don't think about.

 

[kevintheradioguy]

but when used in excess, can really detract from the main dish.

I never said anything about using in excess C: I said what I said, no need to think I meant using anything BUT "said".

 

[Generic Brooding Antihero]

I never said anything about using in excess C: I said what I said, no need to think I meant using anything BUT "said".

I hear ya. I was just saying that imo, excessive use of said is much better than excessive use of muttered/uttered/hissed/shrieked/what-have-you. I mostly brought it up as it seems like a common problem in the RP community, even more so than only using 'said.'

 

[kevintheradioguy]

Another... half-deal breaker, or a pet peeve that makes me go away after... well, a few lines of discussion.
One-line replies while discussing. The ones that go like this:

Me: Hello, I saw you're looking for modern-day RP, and I liked your first scenario. I'd like to try it if you're free. Say, what exactly are you looking for in a RP and the partner?
Them: I'm looking for furries.
Me: Alright, I can play as one, in fact, I have three characters that are anthro animals, they are this, this, and that. I'd prefer to play the first one, as I like his personality more, but if you fancy someone else, it's not a problem at all.
Them: OK.
Me: So, do you want someone of three, or can I choose on my own?
Them: The second.
Me: Alright, but besides that, what else do you seek? Maybe detective mystery, or adventure, or romance, or time-travelling space aliens?
Them: Can you play a submissive?
Me: Are you... looking for nsfw game?
Them: Yes.
Me: I think so... though I'd prefer there to be a story as well. As in, a story with smut, not smut with a story, if that makes any sense.
Them: OK.
Me: Um, then sure. Which scenario do you prefer? You listed several, and I can see us going into any of them.
Them: Any.

It sometimes makes me feel too talkative. but then I reread, and realize, nope. I'm awesome. (you have to have some self-confidence)

 

[rae2nerdy]

kevintheradioguy

Just as a reference on this site NSFW / smut roleplays are against the rules. Even if your asking to do them off site.

But that being said yeah I hate it when people give you nothing to work with, or it's like pulling teeth to get them to pin down an idea. I mean if you haven't really thought in depth about an aspect of the roleplay at least say so and I can start throwing out ideas to see what sticks.

But if literally all your replies are - "whatever you want." "okay" "no" then I'm gonna get gone real quick.

 

[kevintheradioguy]

kevintheradioguy Even if your asking to do them off site.

Oh, I didn't mean that dialogue happening exactly on this website. People never asked me about any erotic content here, and I appreciate it. Just as a random thing from the top of my head of how things can develop.