Deal Breakers. What makes you "walk" away?

[call me rae]

Dark and mysterious characters, that can see with something over their eyes, are perfectly strong and capable of killing 10 people at once, disrespect a king without consequences and be, like, 20 max AND  be lean and skinny like they never worked out in their life...really... that's just sooo unrealistic. 

I just realized something. You basically described Daredevil. Without the King bit. He disrespects King Pin but there are really effed up consequences for that.


He's dark and mysterious, he's blind so he uses echo location which means he can "see" with stuff covering his eyes. He's capable of killing tons of people ( he doesn't cuz he's a vigilante not a murderer ) , and in the show he is kind of lean and scrawny looking. But I mean he does actually work out that's just genetics of the actor.


So appearance wise he checks all but one of the boxes. ( I'm not sure what 20 max is but he probably checks that too )




That's why I'm not as het up about that kind of OP/special snowflake ness as other people. If I see that the person behind the character is only out to make a fanfiction revolving themselves and their awesomesauce character than I'll back off.


But if someone just makes a kind of cliche'd or over the top character because they don't know how to make anything better OR it fits the plot then it doesn't really bother me.

 

[call me rae]

I meant more that all the characters people choose to play are all teenaged white people, but thanks I might take you up on that sometime if I ever get stuck. (Though to be entirely honest, sometimes I just say "I'll add a picture later" and pretend to forget about it if I can't find a good one ;P ) It's cool that you've got entire selections of it already laid out though. Normally I just go to google and peruse it for an hour until I find something suitable. Or I draw it if anime style is allowed, since that's the style I stick to, and drawing allows more variation. I can't do that when realism is demanded though, hence why I'm marginally less likely to join a roleplay that requires realistic face claims (though I still join if it looks very good).

I'm more or less ambivalent. I usually have some kind of visual in mind for my characters ( whether that's a real person that I know, a canon character, or a picture I've found ) but I don't always need a picture slapped down too.


But since face claims are so important I made my pinterest boards to help people who struggled to find pictures keep up with the rest of us.

 

[Flooffy]

So appearance wise he checks all but one of the boxes. ( I'm not sure what 20 max is but he probably checks that too )




That's why I'm not as het up about that kind of OP/special snowflake ness as other people. If I see that the person behind the character is only out to make a fanfiction revolving themselves and their awesomesauce character than I'll back off.


But if someone just makes a kind of cliche'd or over the top character because they don't know how to make anything better OR it fits the plot then it doesn't really bother me.

 With 20, I mean age.


Normally, if it fits the plot, I'm okay, but if they're way too op, beautiful, just too perfect, it makes me back out.

 

[call me rae]

 With 20, I mean age.


Normally, if it fits the plot, I'm okay, but if they're way too op, beautiful, just too perfect, it makes me back out.

yeah i do 90% superhero roleplays. if i dropped every partner that checked off those three i'd be kind of SOL. I mean again for me it's the player more than the character.


Because a too perfect, op, beautiful, amazing, etc. character kind of fits the superhero trope.


But if that character is just a vehicle for the player to make their own story all about themselves then it's boring and I'm not doing.


To use an example


I had someone come up to me asking to do a superhero roleplay with the typical superhero trope characters. i.e. the sexy hero who is a badass and defeat everyone and the love interest.


I'm all sure whatever.


Only the person basically has it set up that their love interest is essentially the center of the universe. And the entire story revolves around Love Interests relationship drama. So I would be playing all these characters that had to follow a specific plot and cater to Love Interests needs / wants / feelings.


I was all nope nope nope.


Because it's not the characters that are the problem it's the fact that this person wanted to basically play out their own fantasy and have someone else write it for them.


It's the same problem with edge lords or ops or mary sues. It's not the characters that are the problem. It's the fact that the player only made them so they could make the story all about them.

 

[eclipsa]

Honestly, the quality of others' characters and writing is a huge factor for me. I'm always a little cautious when joining a roleplay that either a friend or I didn't make, because I have no idea what I'm getting into. I'm almost elitist sometimes. I hate myself for it, but that's how I am. I like details and I like multifaceted characters.

 

[Wishfully]

* Edited and threw my responses to other responses into a spoiler because I'm finally on a computer and saw my post was forever long, not just 1 or 2 things. Classic me RIP

Spoiler

Responding to some other responses earlier in this thread, not tagged because I was too lazy ;-;


I'm still dying over shadow the edgehog x'D


I have mixed feelings on personal ads for 1x1s. They kind of bother me, but at the same time it lets me know right away. I think it annoys me more to see a vague "Looking for partner" ad and so I click, read all the info, and then at the bottom it says "I'm only willing to play females and mxf relationships" because then I'm like great, I've wasted 5 minutes reading through this requirements list only to be thrown off by the end. Not that I don't waste hours doing even more pointless things on the internet but hey, we all have our pet peeves.


I was also slightly irritated by BBcoding as a requirement when BB codes were a thing. I was cool with GMs saying they like coding or offering up their own code, but calling it "required" bothered me. Don't get me wrong, I like coding and admire the heck out of people who did it well because it's time consuming! I did some coding too, and I'm still bitter that my hours of work have more or less gone to waste. But I understand that not everyone knows how to code or finds it easy, and I don't think it automatically diminishes character quality if a sheet isn't as pretty—requiring coding made me feel like that was implied.


Romance for sake of romance doesn't bother me as much as I think it bothers some of you; however I do prefer when people approach it with an "if it happens naturally then fine, if not is okay too" kind of attitude. I'm definitely not down for insta-romance but when I do a pairing RP I assume it's sort of implied as an eventually.

1. I have to admit large groups of people intimidate me. So if there are already, say, 20 sign-ups or pages of OOC on a group by the time I get there, I probably won't even bother. There could be nothing "wrong" about the users or vibes but I'm still going to bounce because crowds. (If there were already 10+ pages of replies to this topic I might not have responded 'cause I'm a timid turtle.)


2. The community is definitely the #1, most important factor for me. I feel like you can gauge a lot about the RP by the OOC interactions and the characters signed up/accepted. If I'm joining a group with a GM I know, it's not so big of a deal but joining with a bunch of people I don't know makes me nervous. So I wait and stalk all associated threads for awhile before deciding if I'd fit or should move on. Heaven forbid there be rudeness or unfriendly vibes in OOC, I'll bounce right away. Similarly, I tend to gauge 1x1 partners through their interest checks and PM interactions with me. I honestly stalk the heck out of threads and people. Less so now because people will know when I look at their profile unless I sign in anon (but I'm generally too lazy for that ^^'). That being said, if there's no OOC at all in a group or nothing on my potential partner's activity feed, I get nervous because I can't use my stalking powers  and just have to make a decision on sheer trust Dx 


I'm fairly flexible about a lot of things or at least try to be. I can feel kinda snobby/elitist sometimes when I cringe at character sign ups but then I try to remember "hey, that was probably you when you first started out" or "hey, some people have a different style than you and that's okay." Does that mean I'd accept the Sue/shadow the edgehog if I was GM? Nope. But it does give me a kinder mindset about it than just saying "wow that character sucks" because I know some of my characters have sucked and possibly still do. 

 

[Killigrew]

My biggest nope is the first post of the RP beginning with a description of the sun.


"The sun was high at noontime."


"The sun shone down."


"The sun was setting."


I don't know why it happens so often and why it irks me so much. I usually don't mind if it's in a dependent clause, but when it's the first sentence... just seems like a waste.

 

[Bone2pick]

If I can't help world build and create at least some of my character's conflict, then I won't bother.  I have too much vision for my characters to just sit back let the GM control and dictate every NPC interaction.  I've done that on the tabletop, I don't want it in my freeform.

 

[welian]

Between my time on staff, and my time roleplaying, I have a very specific list of players that if I see in a roleplay, I will not join. I like drama and gossip and tea as much as the next person, but only in small doses, you know? I spent my teenage years getting wrapped up in miserable interpersonal politics. I'm done. I want chillax RP groups.

 

[simj26]

I don't really mind personal arguments, as long as the other person can write well, and is an actually good roleplayer, I'm willing to set aside whatever differences in opinions we have about whether snakes, horses, or spiders are better waifus. 


Though, it stands to reason that i tend to pick fights with godmodders and horrible roleplayers for the giggles, so...

 

[Kalessin]

I don't like unfriendly and/or elitist people. Often I'm driven away right after reading the rules/requirements section despite the rules themselves being fine - I think often you can see a little bit of the creator's attitude and if I don't like what I'm reading between the lines I'll nope out. Especially if that first impression I get from that section is full of unnecessarily snarky comments about X and Y instead of simply saying that they are not into X and Y. 


Another thing is when people use Japanese terms when it's not needed ("She is very oppai", "I'm looking for yaoi"). I just don't like these terms. (EDIT: in a serious context, that is. I love tsunderesharks and all that stuff)

 

[budgieboo]

usually the thing that makes me click away when i see a roleplay are when it seems that character interaction is just going to be difficult, you know? like, if characters are spread too far apart, either through continents countries or separate dimensions or states but just anywhere that's not easy for other characters to meet, talk with, be friends or enemies with, or otherwise be aware of their existence. the only thing that's possible in these types of rps is to pretty much just make up a story and just why not do that on your own anyways if its not going to be anywhere near close to collaborative writing. 


another thing is when i'm too intimidated by the rp, even if it's a genuinely interesting rp, because the rpers are too fresh and plentiful, the posts are too good and i dont know anyone well enough and i have very low self esteem and i'd feel judged for not writing well enough and my characters arent decent enough and i'd be considered yet another cringy amateur edgy teenager by the community because that's basically what i am at this point

 

[Wyvir]

Quite a lot of things, actually.


Post length is something I'm rather specific about. While I'm not one to write great walls of text, one-liners are something I could never tolerate. Especially when I've put a lot of effort into my own post. Posts that are too long makes me want to back out too, since if I know m writing skill isn't up to that level, I get intimidated. It's not really somethings negative about it, but if I see ten chunks of incredibly long text, I know it's time for me to quit. 


Grammar's important too. I'm not too picky on that, since I know my grammar isn't perfect all the time, but I expect at least decent punctuation, capital letters, and the like. The things you learn in primary school, at least, should be present in a post. 


And the appearance does sort of matter too. I'm not expecting coding masterpieces, but they could at least ry to find non-blurry, non-stretched photos. Gifs also makes me shy away from roleplays as well, though I'm honestly not sure why.


Speed's another factor. The fact that some roleplays can move on at one post per minute kind of scares me. I prefer quality over quantity, and can often stare at a post for ages, trying to figure out the flaws in it. And most importantly, rapid posting usually is a sign for roleplays that will die in a day or two, I've found. If several pages of posts appear overnight, I know it's time to say goodbye.


These are probably the main things, but there's more pertaining to in character issues.

 

[Bunny Hop]

As a roleplayer and a GM I find short posts really really annoying. Especially when I've put effort into the GM post and they come back with something basic and quite frankly unintelligible.


Another thing for me is Mary Sue/OP characters, thy turn me away faster than a skunk. As a GM I've had to severely injure characters that were too OP after warning their creator several times regarding it .


The final thing has to be roleplayers who roleplay like this *picks up a sword and swipes at the enemy*, That strikes me as really dumb and immature. I can tolerate first person as long as the post makes sense but I prefer third.

 

[sakigamis]

Post length. For the love of god don't set a strict minimum requirement because depending on the situation I can either dump out five paragraphs or just respond with "What?", but also if you give me less than half of what I gave you when I know there's more you could mention, I'm probably just gonna drop it, especially if I specifically asked for detail. But like, I won't say one-liners are an instant drop; like I said, it depends on the context. It's hard to get serious, detailed RP going and keep it going but I have a lot of drive to RP so I end up spending half my day doing dumb IC conversations about how no, my character is not a squid, no Lucy he's not a cuttlefish either, fine call him a squid he's too tired to argue... and stuff like that just to have something to do in between serious/detailed stuff.


There's also perceived maturity level of the other person/people. How old they actually are doesn't really matter, but if they're the type for lolrandom humor and stuff... I'm out.


Oh! And I mostly do fandom RP and if you don't seem to be writing a canon character very well I will bail so fast.


As for OCs... I'm pretty lenient about OCs, honestly. You could give me the most OP-looking character sheet ever and I'd probably give it the go-ahead because I've seen plenty of examples of borderline-Sue characters being written well enough to stay firmly out of Sue territory in context, and I trust other writers perhaps a bit too much. I don't make a great GM ;;

 

[call me rae]

Post length. For the love of god don't set a strict minimum requirement because depending on the situation I can either dump out five paragraphs or just respond with "What?", but also if you give me less than half of what I gave you when I know there's more you could mention, I'm probably just gonna drop it, especially if I specifically asked for detail. But like, I won't say one-liners are an instant drop; like I said, it depends on the context. It's hard to get serious, detailed RP going and keep it going but I have a lot of drive to RP so I end up spending half my day doing dumb IC conversations about how no, my character is not a squid, no Lucy he's not a cuttlefish either, fine call him a squid he's too tired to argue... and stuff like that just to have something to do in between serious/detailed stuff.


There's also perceived maturity level of the other person/people. How old they actually are doesn't really matter, but if they're the type for lolrandom humor and stuff... I'm out.


Oh! And I mostly do fandom RP and if you don't seem to be writing a canon character very well I will bail so fast.


As for OCs... I'm pretty lenient about OCs, honestly. You could give me the most OP-looking character sheet ever and I'd probably give it the go-ahead because I've seen plenty of examples of borderline-Sue characters being written well enough to stay firmly out of Sue territory in context, and I trust other writers perhaps a bit too much. I don't make a great GM ;;

Related to maturity just the general politeness and openness of the person. Like if you only respond with two words in OOC to anything I ask likely I'm not gonna stick around. Or if your just kind of snotty and rude in OOC than again I'm not gonna stick around.


I mean your character can be a miserable garbage human being. But I expect you to have some common courtesy. 

 

[Inner Power]

When the other player starts to exhibit the same psychotic behavior as the antagonist they are playing.

 

[Tardy Grade]

Well if it's a RP that just started and the cracks are forming right of the bat then yes.


If it's been going on a while but it's suddenly taken a turn for the worst (one liner, bad grammar, days to respond) then I'd most likely drop it unless a valid reason was given at which point we'd resolve it before dropping it or carrying on.


If it's a RP with a person I've RP'd with/ am currently RP'ing with and having no issues in those then I'll make a gentle reminder but probably won't stop unless it's totally gone to pot. More to do with the complexity and the effect it may have on your other RP's.

 

[YanaAi]

First is when I feel that characters are being ignored. Since I mostly join group roleplays, I am of the impression that the members are to play as a whole. So I find it disappointing when there's an established "mini group" within the RP. Better state the maximum number of people that you need rather than hoarding the rest in for lackeys.


Second is when things are becoming too unrealistic. This depends on the RP's story line, though.

 

[Grey]

You know, I actually can't think of a concrete deal breaker.  I'm willing to entertain pretty much any genre and theme if it looks to be executed well, so is 'this appears poor quality' a reasonable deal breaker? 


I'll certainly avoid RPs for OOC reasons - if I find a person's worldview particularly abhorrent I have no desire to engage with them in any context.

 

[call me rae]

You know, I actually can't think of a concrete deal breaker.  I'm willing to entertain pretty much any genre and theme if it looks to be executed well, so is 'this appears poor quality' a reasonable deal breaker? 


I'll certainly avoid RPs for OOC reasons - if I find a person's worldview particularly abhorrent I have no desire to engage with them in any context.

lol it's an opinion so all opinions are equally valid. hell i won't roleplay with someone who only gives monosyllabic replies to every question I ask in OOC. some people will probably find that silly or possibly elitist. it just isn't my cup of tea though and I don't feel like wasting people's time if the roleplay isn't going to work.

 

[kianainactive1234]

Well if it's a RP that just started and the cracks are forming right of the bat then yes.


If it's been going on a while but it's suddenly taken a turn for the worst (one liner, bad grammar, days to respond) then I'd most likely drop it unless a valid reason was given at which point we'd resolve it before dropping it or carrying on.


If it's a RP with a person I've RP'd with/ am currently RP'ing with and having no issues in those then I'll make a gentle reminder but probably won't stop unless it's totally gone to pot. More to do with the complexity and the effect it may have on your other RP's.

See I take days to respond, solely because of the fact that I'm a busy person. School, sports, homework, a job. Those types of things get in the way for other people.


However if they have the biggest assload of an empty day then I understand what you're getting at.

 

[Tardy Grade]

@Kiana3746


"If it's been going on a while but it's suddenly taken a turn for the worst (one liner, bad grammar, days to respond) then I'd most likely drop it unless a valid reason was given at which point we'd resolve it before dropping it or carrying on. "


Assuming you are good on each response you do make and you'd informed me ahead of time on your situation you'd fall under the acceptable cases.


The issue with multiple day long break is worst felt when its a group RP with one individual slowing the others down.


I hope we're on the same page now? :3

 

[Pine]

A lot of things LOL but in the interest of time, one of the things that I find absolutely exhausting is... multiple conversations of dialogue going on at once? There isn't really any short term for what I have in mind, as far as I know LOL. This is going to be a confusing example, I think, because the process itself is lowkey confusing, so please bear with me as I stumble around trying to explaining this.


Post 1: Muse A is approached by Muse B, who says something.


Post 2: Muse C approaches Muse A and also says something.


Post 3: While we're at it, Muse D says something to Muse A, then says something to Muse C too.


Post 4: Muse A responds to B, C, then D.


Post 5: B responds to A.


Post 6: C responds to A, then D.


Post 7: D responds to A, then C again.


Post 8: A turns back to B, then turns back to C, then turns back to responding to D again.


So on and so forth. Suddenly the flow of the roleplay has devolved into this awkward pacing and there's just... no sense of real time. I see this happen a lot in realistic/modern roleplays, chiefly in an attempt to fluff up posts with length (because we're Detailed Roleplayers™ and it's disrespectful if our posts do not match length or whatever else). It ends up just really stressing me out, because if I'm going to give equal love and attention to every character that's talking to mine... that's going to be a very long post for something that may just be, essentially, small talk. Then also I try to keep dialogue within the realm of what you would see in irl conversations. Irl, you might see someone turn back to someone with "Sorry, what were you saying?" but that's about the extent of it. It feels a little strange though when you're the only person that treats these lines of dialogue as an interruption, though. Obviously this isn't something you can tell will happen before the roleplay has started, though, so... this is something I may quit a roleplay for after it has started, but... I just can't stand it LOL.


Not saying anything is wrong with it though. This is just more of how I like to go about my roleplays. You can also see this in interactions with just two characters, though.


"So that's why I like cats more than dogs. By the way, did I mention that Snuffles ate my socks yesterday?"


"Yeah, I agree that dogs would be cooler if they could use litter boxes. But no way, did he puke them back up?"


"Yeah, I use litter boxes, myself, so I don't see why dogs can't do the same. Yes, Snuffles puked it up. That's how we found the TV remote, too."


I also nope out pretty quickly when people throw the word "literate" around.

 

[sathanas]

There are specific genres and tropes I definitely like and enjoy having in rps, but I'm not too opposed to anything if it's done well. So, like a few others in this thread, quality is the most important for me. Quality is hard to pinpoint down into a specific set of definitions/requirements though, for me. Unlike others, there's no set post length I care about, or even a specific level of detail. As long as it's something I can work with and enjoy, it's acceptable. All i care about is how interesting it is. I can do detailed, casual, and simple no problem as long as the plot is fun enough, and the characters and their development enjoyable.


However, I have a few turn-offs. They're not guaranteed to always make me quit an rp or anything, but they're definitely unappealing.

• Intellectual elitism. This is pretty vague too, but people who decide that all script roleplays are silly and immature, or that if you only write three sentences you're the cringey scum of the earth, or that if you willingly partake in and enjoy a rp that takes place in a highschool and has anime faceclaims that you have no taste or writing ability, and etc. Judgey, uppity people. I just can't really stand their arrogance or their unwillingness to consider other people's views. And before anyone replies trying to correct me- there is a difference between "this isn't my cup of tea and I don't like it, but other people can do what they want" and what I'm describing. Plus, rps made or managed by people like this tend to be overly strict for my tastes
   
  
• Self-centered players. Don't get me wrong, I'm someone who's selfish as fuck, but when someone's obviously only interested in making scenes in the rp revolve around them and their own ideas while ignoring or not responding properly to other players it just takes the fun out of it. You even see this in detailed rps where the character in question isn't the son of satan who has 2,198 different powerful abilities and takes whatever they want but is badass and cool and gets all the ladies. It's a bit more annoying when realistic characters and detailed rpers do it in more subtle and acceptable ways, because then you can't call it out so easily. Since it's commonly associated with immature players who have obvious self-inserts and rpers, people will probably be a lot less willing to admit that they're even doing it.
   
  
• People who don't read. It's okay if they missed a detail or need to ask to be reminded- if they're asking, at least they're trying to be accurate in their posts. Same thing with rps with lots of people and posts, it's a bit more understandable that you wouldn't be able to memorize anything. But when I'm interacting with someone, and then have my character go to the basement, and the player I had been interacting with says their character is talking to mine when they're a whole floor apart it's a bit ridiculous. Even if there's 20 people in a rp at least have the courtesy to read the posts of the people you're interacting with.
   
  
• Bolding/coloring text or dialogue so it stands out. This goes in hand with my last turn-off but, it encourages skimming or only paying attention to what's bolded. "What, you expect me to read everything!?" If we're rping, and our characters are interacting, yes. Why the fuck wouldn't you read the entire post? Roleplaying by definition requires you respond to other people and only skimming or reading what's in bold makes that a bit more difficult, and more likely that a character on the roof is talking to a character in the basement. I get that when re-reading to respond it makes dialogue "easier to find" or that for some it makes it easier to read. But in that case if it's eyesight problems/brain problems/etc why not use your browser's zoom function, or get an extension that makes text a minimum size/a certain type of easily readable font? 
   
  
• Animal rps. The ones where all your characters are animals, like Warriors. I loved books like that when I was younger but rping those kinds of stories is just not my cup of tea.
   
  
• Also, seconding Pine on the multiple strains of dialogue going on at once. It makes it unnecessarily difficult to respond and it's easy to avoid doing it to other people if you just try.
   
  
• Additionally, when characters retroactively do things when interacting with yours and you gotta change the past/your post to accommodate. Like, for example. 
  
  Post 1: A-ko is in a fistfight. She punches B-suke in the nose.
  
  Post 2: B-suke doesn't dodge and gets whopped right on the sniffer. He's bleeding and screams "fuck you," then decks A-ko
  
  Post 3: A-ko gets knocked the fuck out.
  
  Post 4: C-suke dashes in and sacrifices himself to save A-ko. C-suke is hit with the punch instead and gets knocked the fuck out.
  
  Post 5: B-suke is devastated that he knocked his close friend C-suke right the fuck out.
  
  Post 6: A-ko's player has to re-write the scene. She's no longer unconscious, but standing in front of C-suke's body and shocked at the turn of events.
  
  Like plz, just react to what's already been done. Fight rules are a bit different- A-ko and B-suke have the right to choose whether or not a hit lands as long as they can reason it out well; no one likes bunnying or powerplaying. C-suke who had nothing to do with the fight re-wrote the timeline after A-ko had already been posted as being knocked out. The more appropriate thing to do would be C-suke running in after she's knocked out to protect her from further hits, or yell at B-suke, get a nurse, etc. The possibilities are limited to what you can imagine and what makes sense with C-suke's personality.
  
  It's even worse when dialogue is involved. Ties right in with the "multiple lines of dialogue going on at once" thing.