Experiences Increasingly demanding search threads

[CastoffCaptain]

So, I've been on RPN for not quite a year now, but I've been around long enough to notice a... let's say disheartening... change in the way search threads are conducted. I left Gaia because of players who set excessive amounts of demands within their search threads (I'll expound in a moment), among other things. I came here and was pleased to find that people seemed to be much freer in how they wanted to RP/set up their search threads. Now it appears that within the last two or three months that's changed, and it seems to be because of a new wave of players-- although, I could certainly be wrong about that, and there are plenty of newbies to the site who are amazing.

The demands:

I don't mean "I only play female" "fade to black only" "I like to double" or "I prefer MxM", just to set out a few examples. Those are natural, expected, etc. I'm talking about what I left Gaia because of-- "If you read all of this, put the word "banana" in your post, tell me what I mentioned majoring in in college, make your first PM be in blue lettering, and list the years I've put into my settings search".

Yes, I've heard these, and I'm sorry, but excuse me? I'm not a trained monkey, I'm not jumping through hoops for you. These are the ones that bother me the most, truth be told.

Or: I only play on Discord. I only play in email. I won't consider anything else--there are no other options. (Ok, that's on you, but seriously? I'm on RPNation because it provides a nice environment in which to RP. Why aren't PMs good enough, or threads? Why can't you be flexible?)

Or. You must have some BBCoding in your post, otherwise I don't want to RP with you. (Uh, why?)

Or. Your character has to be between 17 and 19 years old, no exceptions.

Now, some of these demands I can sort of understand a person's justification behind them (that doesn't mean I agree with them--I can follow a person's thought process to get to their decision without thinking the decision is correct/acceptable/what I'd like). But what's bothering me is that these things seem to be increasing in volume very rapidly, and it's, well... irritating. I came here to RP, not to prove your superiority complex wrong by saying that yes, indeed, I did put the word "donkey" in my post just so you can manipulate me into doing what you want.

And yes, I can and do immediately back out of a search thread because of things like this, but if the trend continues to grow, I'm right back where I started-- in a community where I feel pressured and boxed in by players who have to have things 100% their way, and that's just... disheartening.

 

[Lorsh]

saw one fucking roleplay where you had to have a celebrity faceclaim so that you "could find enough gifs of them to use in your posts"

what the ufcking balls

 

[CastoffCaptain]

saw one fucking roleplay where you had to have a celebrity faceclaim so that you "could find enough gifs of them to use in your posts"

what the ufcking balls

I'm happy enough with having faceclaims, but I'm not going to demand it of my partner, nor will I ask something like what you mentioned. O_O I mean, pretty posts are great, but that's too much to ask.

 

[rae2nerdy]

The tired sigh of a Gaia roleplay refugee. How did they find us Captain? Did we leave too obvious a trail? Did our happiness in lack of unreasonable expectations somehow anger the hungry god of Elitist Standards and Silly Roleplay Hoops and so they sent their minions to follow us?

-----------------------

Lol all kidding aside I really do just sigh whenever I see this. I don't even really bother any more to get upset, it takes too much energy and honestly I don't care. I mean I am all for having your own set of standard - however lax or strict they might be. If you only want to roleplay using one of three face claims, on discord, under the light of a blood red moon than go for it. Find your bliss my friend.

But I do not have the attention span to play find the hidden passcode to unlock silly expectations with you.


If people don't read your expectations it's kind of obvious. You know how I know this? Because people do it all the time to me and I recognize it without putting silly pass codes in my searches. It's kind of common sense. If I say I'm only going to be able to reply twice a week and you ask me to reply twice a day it's kind of a no brainer you didn't read something. And the people who are going to read your stuff shouldn't feel like they have to pass some kind of test to prove how well they pay attention. Just ask them follow up questions like a normal person, honestly.

 

[Whisker]

So, I've been on RPN for not quite a year now, but I've been around long enough to notice a... let's say disheartening... change in the way search threads are conducted. I left Gaia because of players who set excessive amounts of demands within their search threads (I'll expound in a moment), among other things. I came here and was pleased to find that people seemed to be much freer in how they wanted to RP/set up their search threads. Now it appears that within the last two or three months that's changed, and it seems to be because of a new wave of players-- although, I could certainly be wrong about that, and there are plenty of newbies to the site who are amazing.

The demands:

I don't mean "I only play female" "fade to black only" "I like to double" or "I prefer MxM", just to set out a few examples. Those are natural, expected, etc. I'm talking about what I left Gaia because of-- "If you read all of this, put the word "banana" in your post, tell me what I mentioned majoring in in college, make your first PM be in blue lettering, and list the years I've put into my settings search".

Yes, I've heard these, and I'm sorry, but excuse me? I'm not a trained monkey, I'm not jumping through hoops for you. These are the ones that bother me the most, truth be told.

Or: I only play on Discord. I only play in email. I won't consider anything else--there are no other options. (Ok, that's on you, but seriously? I'm on RPNation because it provides a nice environment in which to RP. Why aren't PMs good enough, or threads? Why can't you be flexible?)

Or. You must have some BBCoding in your post, otherwise I don't want to RP with you. (Uh, why?)

Or. Your character has to be between 17 and 19 years old, no exceptions.

Now, some of these demands I can sort of understand a person's justification behind them (that doesn't mean I agree with them--I can follow a person's thought process to get to their decision without thinking the decision is correct/acceptable/what I'd like). But what's bothering me is that these things seem to be increasing in volume very rapidly, and it's, well... irritating. I came here to RP, not to prove your superiority complex wrong by saying that yes, indeed, I did put the word "donkey" in my post just so you can manipulate me into doing what you want.

And yes, I can and do immediately back out of a search thread because of things like this, but if the trend continues to grow, I'm right back where I started-- in a community where I feel pressured and boxed in by players who have to have things 100% their way, and that's just... disheartening.

I have to agree with you 100% on this. I've backed out of plenty of threads almost immediately as soon as I see them. I get that you're trying to make sure people actually READ your search thread, but there's a pretty fine line there between being cautious and unreasonable.

Also I'd probably abandon ship as soon as possible if someone DEMANDED a celebrity face claim. I DESPISE doing faceclaims enough already without that bullshit added on.

 

[Sunbather]

I do the "put so and so" sometimes, because I'm so tired of people just straight up ignoring lore and basic information. It's like "Hey, you wanna join my roleplay and that's cool and all, but you really couldn't muster five, ten tops minutes to read my interest check?" So now I put some sort of off-remark in the middle of my application rules to make sure people actually read that shit. The rest though, yeah, ridiculous. Especially the picture stuff. When a roleplay looks more like a scrapbook, I tend to back the fuck off right away. They're usually awfully written anyways.

 

[rae2nerdy]

In fairness if the people are from gaia than they're used to a thing called post layouts which are super fancy awesome amazing graphics that you use for each and every one of your character posts. Like no lie - This is like an extreme example but you get the idea. So many gifs in some of those threads it's a miracle the thread loads at all.

 

[rae2nerdy]

I do the "put so and so" sometimes, because I'm so tired of people just straight up ignoring lore and basic information. It's like "Hey, you wanna join my roleplay and that's cool and all, but you really couldn't muster five, ten tops minutes to read my interest check?" So now I put some sort of off-remark in the middle of my application rules to make sure people actually read that shit. The rest though, yeah, ridiculous. Especially the picture stuff. When a roleplay looks more like a scrapbook, I tend to back the fuck off right away. They're usually awfully written anyways.

reminds me of a really funny person i knew on gaia. a real sweetheart and mad creative with story ideas. but literally she would pretty much just make elaborate graphics and call it a day. like the story would be creative and people would be all excited but the roleplay would never start because she was too busy making like two more threads with these really elaborate graphics to focus on the one roleplay she actually had going.

 

[Sunbather]

reminds me of a really funny person i knew on gaia. a real sweetheart and mad creative with story ideas. but literally she would pretty much just make elaborate graphics and call it a day. like the story would be creative and people would be all excited but the roleplay would never start because she was too busy making like two more threads with these really elaborate graphics to focus on the one roleplay she actually had going.

Oh yeah, I know that issue. I'm a very visual creature, and I have made some pretty elaborate graphics before. I just don't want to put story and fun on the backburner just for my "aesthetic".

Like way back I made this banner just for posting in a thread, fiddeling around with the animations and whatnot. I enjoy that stuff, but I always make sure to put the players and the plot first, THEN do the pretty stuff.

 

[Umbrie]

i personally can't stand the idea of being forced to use celebrity faceclaims, please at least let me use some obscure cosplayer, use an anime faceclaim or use a description. how hard is it for people to read a 6 line description of a character's appearance? i'm not even going as far as to describe a character's undergarments unless they become relevant to the scene. which would mean that either i fumbled a dexterity check, tried to perform a flash feint to gain an upper hand against a young adult male opponent in combat, or somebody did something to my character as a means to expose them.

but yeah, i personally think it isn't character sheets that are the issue. it is people expecting massive character sheets that are perfectly BBcoded and look "Pretty". and because i don't use BBcode or celebrity faceclaims, i have a disadvantage when it comes to being picked for the majority of Roleplays. and what i do, is i ask about the universe before i make a character.

not because i didn't read the darn thing, but because i have further questions to better understand the universe.

 

[rae2nerdy]

Oh yeah, I know that issue. I'm a very visual creature, and I have made some pretty elaborate graphics before. I just don't want to put story and fun on the backburner just for my "aesthetic".

Like way back I made this banner just for posting in a thread, fiddeling around with the animations and whatnot. I enjoy that stuff, but I always make sure to put the players and the plot first, THEN do the pretty stuff.

yeah i don't mind a little asthetics or even when people have like a certain aesthetic they like in a search. if you are like hard core on the - you must have a picture and bbc codes in your posts it won't turn me off too much really. as long as you're not also like - you must only use one of these three people and preferably this one because i like the way he looks. or even stranger when their pairings are like gifs.

and it's liek -- you can play one of these people in the gif and i'll play the other and it will be awesome.

 

[CastoffCaptain]

The tired sigh of a Gaia roleplay refugee. How did they find us Captain? Did we leave too obvious a trail? Did our happiness in lack of unreasonable expectations somehow anger the hungry god of Elitist Standards and Silly Roleplay Hoops and so they sent their minions to follow us?

-----------------------

Lol all kidding aside I really do just sigh whenever I see this. I don't even really bother any more to get upset, it takes too much energy and honestly I don't care. I mean I am all for having your own set of standard - however lax or strict they might be. If you only want to roleplay using one of three face claims, on discord, under the light of a blood red moon than go for it. Find your bliss my friend.

But I do not have the attention span to play find the hidden passcode to unlock silly expectations with you.


If people don't read your expectations it's kind of obvious. You know how I know this? Because people do it all the time to me and I recognize it without putting silly pass codes in my searches. It's kind of common sense. If I say I'm only going to be able to reply twice a week and you ask me to reply twice a day it's kind of a no brainer you didn't read something. And the people who are going to read your stuff shouldn't feel like they have to pass some kind of test to prove how well they pay attention. Just ask them follow up questions like a normal person, honestly.

I just worry that one day I'll come here and it'll -all- be ridiculous demands.

I think they followed my beast-stink.

Also, marry me?

 

[CastoffCaptain]

I have to agree with you 100% on this. I've backed out of plenty of threads almost immediately as soon as I see them. I get that you're trying to make sure people actually READ your search thread, but there's a pretty fine line there between being cautious and unreasonable.

Also I'd probably abandon ship as soon as possible if someone DEMANDED a celebrity face claim. I DESPISE doing faceclaims enough already without that bullshit added on.

See, if someone says, play who you want, but if you want to make my day and don't mind, I like these faceclaims, that's a totally different bag than, you HAVE to RP said faceclaim and have X number of pictures for it. Less demand, more freedom.

 

[Whisker]

See, if someone says, play who you want, but if you want to make my day and don't mind, I like these faceclaims, that's a totally different bag than, you HAVE to RP said faceclaim and have X number of pictures for it. Less demand, more freedom.

Oh. My reason is a bit less complex. Searching for faceclaims just makes me feel weird and always with the need to delete my browser history soon afterwards to rid myself of the taint. Lmao.

 

[CastoffCaptain]

I have to agree with you 100% on this. I've backed out of plenty of threads almost immediately as soon as I see them. I get that you're trying to make sure people actually READ your search thread, but there's a pretty fine line there between being cautious and unreasonable.

Also I'd probably abandon ship as soon as possible if someone DEMANDED a celebrity face claim. I DESPISE doing faceclaims enough already without that bullshit added on.

See, if someone says, play who you want, but if you want to make my day and don't mind, I like these faceclaims, that's a totally different bag than, you HAVE to RP said faceclai

Oh. My reason is a bit less complex. Searching for faceclaims just makes me feel weird and always with the need to delete my browser history soon afterwards to rid myself of the taint. Lmao.

i guess my point is, no one should force or pressure anyone else into doing something they don't want. The RP I'm in right now-- sometimes I post pics, sometimes lyrics, but my partner doesn't, and I'm fine with that because it's her choice. That's what makes it fun for her. And it's supposed to be fun. : )

 

[Sunbather]

i personally can't stand the idea of being forced to use celebrity faceclaims, please at least let me use some obscure cosplayer, use an anime faceclaim or use a description. how hard is it for people to read a 6 line description of a character's appearance? i'm not even going as far as to describe a character's undergarments unless they become relevant to the scene. which would mean that either i fumbled a dexterity check, tried to perform a flash feint to gain an upper hand against a young adult male opponent in combat, or somebody did something to my character as a means to expose them.

but yeah, i personally think it isn't character sheets that are the issue. it is people expecting massive character sheets that are perfectly BBcoded and look "Pretty". and because i don't use BBcode or celebrity faceclaims, i have a disadvantage when it comes to being picked for the majority of Roleplays. and what i do, is i ask about the universe before i make a character.

not because i didn't read the darn thing, but because i have further questions to better understand the universe.

I can only speak for myself, but I require faceclaims in my roleplays simply for reasons of envisioning. I know that sounds weird, but I have a hard time envisioning things properly, mentally. I'd almost go so far as to say I have a mild case of aphantasia, it's just really, really hard to conjure an image in my head. The only time I can really have images in my mind that are clear and vibrant is during dreams and when I'm high. Otherwise I struggle with it. It's not impossible, but difficult. And a picture to go off of helps me massively, and I always say "Hey, please add a written description as well, feel free to describe how your vision differs from the picture you used." It just helps me visualize what you have in your head, since it's really hard for me otherwise. If you describe a character I might not really be able to get an idea what he or she looks like. If you put a picture of whatever person you feel looks similar to the character you want to play, it is much easier for me to work with it in the future.

I'd never limit what my players could use though. I think it's weird limiting to celebrities since we usually have some sort of association with them already. I mean, I don't mind it, and I've done it myself before, but I certainly wouldn't set it as a requirement. The only limitation I use is the general style. Like, do we all use anime pictures, do we all use artwork, do we all use real pictures. Just so it's a little more consistent.

 

[Umbrie]

I can only speak for myself, but I require faceclaims in my roleplays simply for reasons of envisioning. I know that sounds weird, but I have a hard time envisioning things properly, mentally. I'd almost go so far as to say I have a mild case of aphantasia, it's just really, really hard to conjure an image in my head. The only time I can really have images in my mind that are clear and vibrant is during dreams and when I'm high. Otherwise I struggle with it. It's not impossible, but difficult. And a picture to go off of helps me massively, and I always say "Hey, please add a written description as well, feel free to describe how your vision differs from the picture you used." It just helps me visualize what you have in your head, since it's really hard for me otherwise.

I'd never limit what my players could use though. I think it's weird limiting to celebrities since we usually have some sort of association with them already. I mean, I don't mind it, and I've done it myself before, but I certainly wouldn't set it as a requirement. The only limitation I use is the general style. Like, do we all use anime pictures, do we all use artwork, do we all use real pictures. Just so it's a little more consistent.

you fine with Anime Faceclaims or Amateur Cosplayers? i feel less guilty about using those than i do about using celebrities.

 

[unais]

The tired sigh of a Gaia roleplay refugee. How did they find us Captain? Did we leave too obvious a trail? Did our happiness in lack of unreasonable expectations somehow anger the hungry god of Elitist Standards and Silly Roleplay Hoops and so they sent their minions to follow us?

-----------------------

Lol all kidding aside I really do just sigh whenever I see this. I don't even really bother any more to get upset, it takes too much energy and honestly I don't care. I mean I am all for having your own set of standard - however lax or strict they might be. If you only want to roleplay using one of three face claims, on discord, under the light of a blood red moon than go for it. Find your bliss my friend.

But I do not have the attention span to play find the hidden passcode to unlock silly expectations with you.


If people don't read your expectations it's kind of obvious. You know how I know this? Because people do it all the time to me and I recognize it without putting silly pass codes in my searches. It's kind of common sense. If I say I'm only going to be able to reply twice a week and you ask me to reply twice a day it's kind of a no brainer you didn't read something. And the people who are going to read your stuff shouldn't feel like they have to pass some kind of test to prove how well they pay attention. Just ask them follow up questions like a normal person, honestly.

Another Gaia refugee omg; preach brother HAHA.

My own take is I am so happy that the RPN website lends itself so well to simplicity for layouts because god damn. I just can't be bothered to format a post more than bold the dialogue. It's such a goddamn waste of time asking me to ice a cake before baking it. Set up shop before I know what we're doing or am invested in it.

But I am wary of the elitism coming up as per usual; mostly because the idea of "more words and more detail is better" is still reigning supreme and getting reinforced by more threads.

I also... kind of. When someone asks for all those childish hoop jumping I typically think of it as a good indicator that it's not really someone I want to RP with anyway? I'm not really interested in sticking around to teach someone how to just chill out and be like a normal person. It has however made my RPing picks like... extremely limited .- . So I understand the disheartening of day in day out partner searching.

 

[Sunbather]

you fine with Anime Faceclaims or Amateur Cosplayers? i feel less guilty about using those than i do about using celebrities.

Yep! If I make an anime-esque roleplay, I'll put the restriction "anime only". If I make a roleplay with realistic visuals, I'll put "real images only please". But WHO you end up using for it, I don't care. Can be a celebrity, a random person, a cosplayer, a singer, an athlete, whatever you want.

 

[rae2nerdy]

Another Gaia refugee omg; preach brother HAHA.

My own take is I am so happy that the RPN website lends itself so well to simplicity for layouts because god damn. I just can't be bothered to format a post more than bold the dialogue. It's such a goddamn waste of time asking me to ice a cake before baking it. Set up shop before I know what we're doing or am invested in it.

But I am wary of the elitism coming up as per usual; mostly because the idea of "more words and more detail is better" is still reigning supreme and getting reinforced by more threads.

I also... kind of. When someone asks for all those childish hoop jumping I typically think of it as a good indicator that it's not really someone I want to RP with anyway? I'm not really interested in sticking around to teach someone how to just chill out and be like a normal person. It has however made my RPing picks like... extremely limited .- . So I understand the disheartening of day in day out partner searching.

yeah there are some good people out there though, most of them are super harried professionals but their are a few youngsters with free time and a basket full of chill that seem to be all - whateves man let's just have a good time.

ah youth. giving strength to this tired old dog to one day get back into roleplaying again.

 

[unais]

You can do it; good partners are out there. And I feel like the scale of RPN right now still makes it exponentially easier to find one than Gaia.

Alsooo mm I find that the people who do the jump through hoop tests typically are pretty childish (whatever age) and, like CastoffCaptain said, like to feel at least a slight power trip that they put someone on the ropes. Yeah, I take it as a self-weeding to know someone's not worth my time. So I guess it is useful in that way? But in the worst case scenario, people who are okay writers or okay people seeing that and thinking that behavior is appropriate or expected when they make a search is... bad.

Bros, when you talk to someone or RP a sample or see one post from them you can tell what kind of person or RPer they are xD You don't need these little "I am a god" things to determine that. IN FACT LOL SEARCHING THE THREAD FOR THE SECRET WORD DOES NOTHING HAHA. It absolutely doesn't help you figure out if someone really comprehends what you wrote. Lomg that's so absurd

 

[davian]

I agree that those are unreasonable.
I already feel harsh when I ask for the other person to write at least two paragraphs, but I'm sorry, if it's less I'll have difficulty replying to you and I'd rather wait for a two paragraph response than get an instant three sentences.

 

[CastoffCaptain]

You can do it; good partners are out there. And I feel like the scale of RPN right now still makes it exponentially easier to find one than Gaia.

Alsooo mm I find that the people who do the jump through hoop tests typically are pretty childish (whatever age) and, like CastoffCaptain said, like to feel at least a slight power trip that they put someone on the ropes. Yeah, I take it as a self-weeding to know someone's not worth my time. So I guess it is useful in that way? But in the worst case scenario, people who are okay writers or okay people seeing that and thinking that behavior is appropriate or expected when they make a search is... bad.

Bros, when you talk to someone or RP a sample or see one post from them you can tell what kind of person or RPer they are xD You don't need these little "I am a god" things to determine that. IN FACT LOL SEARCHING THE THREAD FOR THE SECRET WORD DOES NOTHING HAHA. It absolutely doesn't help you figure out if someone really comprehends what you wrote. Lomg that's so absurd

I love you.

 

[unais]

I love you.

Gurl LOL the only reason I'm not RPing with you RIGHT NOW is because I literally have my plate full every time I post with Malhy--and we have two threads right now @_@

Geezus christ Gaia refugees can you help me to normalize "post sample" requests? I feel liek such a douchebag since it says "it's not that I don't trust you--actually that's exactly what it means but a post can tell me with 90% accuracy if you have what I'm looking for or my compatibility trust me bro and don't craft a post just for me just gimme one of your olds". Dx All these other things, character sheets, image pics, faceclaims, formatting--NONE OF IT MATTERS when I'm trying to figure you out, LEMME SEE YO WRITE FIRST AND THEN WE CAN PROCEED

 

[Sunbather]

You can do it; good partners are out there. And I feel like the scale of RPN right now still makes it exponentially easier to find one than Gaia.

Alsooo mm I find that the people who do the jump through hoop tests typically are pretty childish (whatever age) and, like CastoffCaptain said, like to feel at least a slight power trip that they put someone on the ropes. Yeah, I take it as a self-weeding to know someone's not worth my time. So I guess it is useful in that way? But in the worst case scenario, people who are okay writers or okay people seeing that and thinking that behavior is appropriate or expected when they make a search is... bad.

Bros, when you talk to someone or RP a sample or see one post from them you can tell what kind of person or RPer they are xD You don't need these little "I am a god" things to determine that. IN FACT LOL SEARCHING THE THREAD FOR THE SECRET WORD DOES NOTHING HAHA. It absolutely doesn't help you figure out if someone really comprehends what you wrote. Lomg that's so absurd

Honestly, and I hope I'm not being mean here or anything, that sounds more childish than "putting hoops" in. I agree that it can be ridiculous, but ultimately, that is all super subjective and comes down to opinion. Just because you don't like it, doesn't mean it's inappropriate at all. (Unless, of course, the content of it is inappropriate!)

What I find really odd is how you equate "Hey, I wanna make sure you actually read what I put here." with "I am a god". Like... What? I 100% understand that sentiment with a certain kind of GM, who are super snobby and sorta snarky by default. I also can definitely see how it'd be weird for people to include like a trillion conditions into their ICs or applications or whatever have you. But making your opinion into "lul those guys are dumb" is... Like way more childish?