Advice/Help Gathering Interest in Your Interest Checks ( 1x1s specifically )

[rae2nerdy]

So the way I had this worded previously caused some confusion so I thought i'd post a clarification.

I mostly do 1x1 roleplays as I have very sporadic schedule that means I can usually go from posting twice a week to once a month depending on what else I have going on. And 1x1s just allow me to have more freedom about posting.

But I have seen recently a popular trend in adding pairings to your roleplay ( usually for romance although as StoneWolf18 mentioned not always ).

And I was wondering what tips do you find makes your searches more popular? Do you find adding pairings to help gather interest? Or putting in lots of plots?

 

[Ranix Aurus]

This response is my personal opinion and does not reflect others' preference in any kind. But,

Personally if I see an interest check blatantly asking for romance, or specifically requires and/or expect romance element, I walked away.

 

[rae2nerdy]

This response is my personal opinion and does not reflect others' preference in any kind. But,

Personally if I see an interest check blatantly asking for romance, or specifically requires and/or expect romance element, I walked away.

lol sorry my first question wasn't clear. I had meant to ask more specifically - when you make an interest check. Do you find adding romance makes you more likely to find partners? Or in your case do you find that having no romance in your search makes you less likely to find partners?

 

[Sibelle Grey]

I'm exclusively roleplaying one on ones at the moment and I mostly reply to other people's interest checks (I've posted a grand total of one, myself), and from what I've observed, romance-oriented one on ones do tend to get a fair bit of interest. Especially generic ones that are basically pairing ideas and leave a lot to be worked out between the partners. So, yes, I'd say romance makes you more likely to find partners, because more people want to roleplay romance than not.
However, I've also seen some people complaining about the lack of platonic 1x1s, so not everyone wants romance in their roleplays.

 

[JokerValentine]

I mean, I always think that you can't possibly get everyone to think of you as a compatible partner. So, I guess putting romance in drives a specific crowd to your interest check, it potentially repulses people away. That being said, putting something in an interest check you don't like to do can bring about dicomfort.

You'll get yours by doing you.

 

[rae2nerdy]

I mean, I always think that you can't possibly get everyone to think of you as a compatible partner. So, I guess putting romance in drives a specific crowd to your interest check, it potentially repulses people away. That being said, putting something in an interest check you don't like to do can bring about dicomfort.

You'll get yours by doing you.

lol it was asking more from a demographics perspective. I wouldn't say that you have to do xxx thing in order to get more people as that's not necessarily always the goal of an interest check. It is more or less just to judge the interest on whatever YOU want to do.

I was just noticing that a lot of roleplay interest checks had romance in them and not all of it was of the - beats you over the head with their personal fantasies and wish fulfillment - so it was just an idle question.

Does having romance make them more popular or less.

Not necessarily do I have to put romance in my roleplays or risk being a friendless loser forever alone.

 

[JokerValentine]

lol it was asking more from a demographics perspective. I wouldn't say that you have to do xxx thing in order to get more people as that's not necessarily always the goal of an interest check. It is more or less just to judge the interest on whatever YOU want to do.

I was just noticing that a lot of roleplay interest checks had romance in them and not all of it was of the - beats you over the head with their personal fantasies and wish fulfillment - so it was just an idle question.

Does having romance make them more popular or less.

Not necessarily do I have to put romance in my roleplays or risk being a friendless loser forever alone.

I don't understand.

 

[rae2nerdy]

I don't understand.

So basically my question is more or less just about numbers not preferences. I'm not asking if people like romance or not.

But whether you think the presence of pairings or romance in an interest check makes that check more likely to get responses

 

[Nana_MelaNinja]

I believe the answer to your question is yes. Adding romantic elements will likely garner more interest/responses to your interest check. Romance, even when used secondarily, is a hugely popular genre that lots of people enjoy including in their RPs. You might lose some interest by not including it, but there are still plenty of people who do prefer to avoid romance and/or stick only with platonic/familial relationships.

 

[JKai]

Romance is fine if it's not mandatory in an interest check. I mean, how do you know if characters will get along or have chemistry. I'd like to see it play out, if it happens, instead of plot B must have romance in it. There's no fun in it that way least that's how I feel.

 

[Birdsie]

I rarely do 1x1's, except in the case where I have discovered a partner to write with that is truly engaging and doesn't produce quote-on-quote: "bullshit characters."

As for romance itself.
All roleplays, without exception, focused on romance are doomed to fail. I was never interested in them, but sometimes people just insisted. So I agreed, but as I said:
They always failed.

There's no action, nor all that much place for character development in a romance roleplay. All there is, is a perpetual cycle of Cuddling >>> Flirting >>> Date and all over again. Sometimes the cycle breaks to unleash a Fade to Black, at which point I just can't take it anymore and leave, devoid of hope for the future of mankind.

Romance is a good side-plot and shipping characters isn't that bad either, but still. Focusing a plot on pure romance is like focusing all military budget on producing flamethrowers. Not even fuel for them.

 

[rae2nerdy]

Lol again I think I wasn't clear I'm not asking about romance in roleplays. I'm asking more about creating an interest check specifically.

So I'm not asking so much on your ideas of romance in a roleplay and asking more - if you make an interest check and you put pairings in it do you find more people respond than would if there were no pairings.

So say you make a interest check and you state you want no romance, do you find this interest check to be less popular than other interest checks that do have romance in them

 

[StoneWolf18]

TL;-DR: Uh... fuck no. I prefer platonic relationships.

Long answer, I've only recently began trying out romance due to the lack of partners I was gathering as most people do want those themes, even if slight. Another thing to note is that not all pairings are romantic. Personally, they are just a foundation to build a plot off of as if you just went of the pairing, you'd have nothing to roleplay aside from two loose character concepts. That being said, I have both plots and pairings listed in my check, and to be honest, more often than not people gravitate to the plots for clearly obvious reasons.

Just my two cents on the matter. ^^

 

[rae2nerdy]

TL;-DR: Uh... fuck no. I prefer platonic relationships.

Long answer, I've only recently began trying out romance due to the lack of partners I was gathering as most people do want those themes, even if slight. Another thing to note is that not all pairings are romantic. Personally, they are just a foundation to build a plot off of as if you just went of the pairing, you'd have nothing to roleplay aside from two loose character concepts. That being said, I have both plots and pairings listed in my check, and to be honest, more often than not people gravitate to the plots for clearly obvious reasons.

Just my two cents on the matter. ^^

So you find having plots to be more helpful in searching than having basic ideas listed?

 

[StoneWolf18]

So you find having plots to be more helpful in searching than having basic ideas listed?

Of course. If you have more of an idea of where the roleplay is to go, that's less work than building everything from the ground up with a pairing.

 

[Pretzel Heart]

Personally I can't get anything out of an interest check that has no plots (like actual stories not just teacher x student, etc). That's the very first thing I look at because it tells me the most about a person, as in their creativity, what they like, how they write, and if I think any of their ideas sound fun!

If they don't have any plots then they better be oozing personality and have similar interests / goals as me (such as darker themes, looooots of world building, meaty posts I can sink my jaws into). I like people who include a bit of humor, tongue-in-cheek...it makes me feel like they can be someone I can pal around with alongside the RP, which in turn makes a more comfortable environment for churning out ideas.

But in the it's all very tailor-made to the individual. I think the best bet is to lay yourself out there as honestly as possible and you'll find (hopefully) the right kinds of people will come to you. If you write something to appeal to a mass audience you might not get responses that gel as well as you'd like.

Good luck!