Not Finding The Right Roleplays

[Arubion Sivart]

I'm sure everyone has had this happen, when they go months without really rping because they can't find the right ones. There's been a couple of times i'd join a rp just to leave cause It didn't feel right. Doesn't everybody wish they could find their "Holy Grail" of RP's.

 

[Dusky]

No such thing. A roleplay is what you make it, to an extent. If you think something is lacking you talk to your fellow roleplayers about it. But I do get that. There were some very very good ones back in my day though. -waves cane in the air- What sucks more is when good roleplays die.


I've found that if you keep a close watch on upcoming roleplays even in genres that don't usually interest you, you will be pleasantly surprised. Robust and engaging plots pop up where you don't always expect them.

 

[ScarySketch]

Yeah, this happens to me sometimes. I just kind of become a stalker on the rp forums checking to see if a new rp pops up that will interest me XP What's worse is when I see a rp that looks just right for me, but they've stopped excepting any new characters, or they still except new characters but there's like 100 posts or more and it would just feel awkward for me to jump in at a point.

 

[Harmiko]

Something i usually get is that me and my partners don't click, like our writing just doesn't flow together and our characters don't really work or the plot just turns out to be something that i'm not interested in anymore. I try my best to make sure that i find good roleplays but sometimes this just happens especially when you've only been roleplaying for a short while.

 

[Idea]

[QUOTE="Arubion Sivart]I'm sure everyone has had this happen, when they go months without really rping because they can't find the right ones. There's been a couple of times i'd join a rp just to leave cause It didn't feel right. Doesn't everybody wish they could find their "Holy Grail" of RP's.

[/QUOTE]
Well, yeah. Everyone wants to find "that rp" which can really fill all your hopes. And it`s fine to look for it. But don`t EXPECT to have it. That`s something I`ve learned. If you want to enjoy something your standards have to be possible to achieve and flexible enough to accept that people have different styles and different tastes.


Another thing is to keep trying. Going months without rping because the rps weren`t right, to me, is a waste. You can probably put that time in doing something more productive, sure. But if you really want to rp, don´t give up even for a week. `Just about everyone is comprehensive if you tell them you want to stop before you get really deep into an rp.


Speaking of which, that`s another factor. Some rps are not great at first, because you`re not deep in it yet. You`re not immersed into this world you`re on. If that´s the case, I recommend increasing paragraph length. If more has to be written, there will be more space to use writing techniques such as foreshadowing, and to introduce character background, feelings and reactions properly, while not stalling the plot because of it.

Yeah, this happens to me sometimes. I just kind of become a stalker on the rp forums checking to see if a new rp pops up that will interest me XP What's worse is when I see a rp that looks just right for me, but they've stopped excepting any new characters, or they still except new characters but there's like 100 posts or more and it would just feel awkward for me to jump in at a point.

I really get this problem. It happens a lot to me too. I`d say you should make a search thread of your own. Refine it in the "roleplay planning and advise" section, which should bring some attention, and valuable criticism with which you can repair things that would scare away some people. If you own the group, you can`t possibly get lost and you can set up the rules you need to enjoy the roleplay as well!

Something i usually get is that me and my partners don't click, like our writing just doesn't flow together and our characters don't really work or the plot just turns out to be something that i'm not interested in anymore. I try my best to make sure that i find good roleplays but sometimes this just happens especially when you've only been roleplaying for a short while.

Again, this is true. Sometimes one loses interest or the styles aren`t right for each other. In this case, I recommend going back for the source for inspiration. FOr example, I was doing a rp based of the plot of "No game No life" once. I lost inspiration at a given point and my partner wasn`t being very proactive in the plot either. So, I went and rewatched an episode of the anime. By the end, I had the will an excitement to roleplay it again. This only works up to an extent, though and that extent is determined by your partner. For that matter, I`ll repeat one of the recommendations above: Set up the rules yourself. If your partner doesn`t want them, politely tell them it`s not gonna work out and leave.

No such thing. A roleplay is what you make it, to an extent. If you think something is lacking you talk to your fellow roleplayers about it. But I do get that. There were some very very good ones back in my day though. -waves cane in the air- What sucks more is when good roleplays die.
I've found that if you keep a close watch on upcoming roleplays even in genres that don't usually interest you, you will be pleasantly surprised. Robust and engaging plots pop up where you don't always expect them.

The problem, though, would be to find a suitable one. There are dozens, hundreds of rps going through the search every day, and one may barely have time for one or two. How to pick? It`s not like you can guess how it`ll go.

 

[Gilzar]

Well, I used to have the same problem that you used to have. Let me guess, you have an idea of what you want to do with a character, a setting you waant to have them in, and just a type of roleplay in general? If not I think I'm at least close in my experiences. Finding roleplays can be hard, especially if you have a specific standard of what you want to join. Plus, things may not always work out...


That's why I made the decision to start making my own roleplays, and believe me that at that point in my roleplaying experience I really didn't want to do that. But if we all could find roleplays that we enjoyed...we wouldn't get any new ones now would we? Pickiness in my opinion is what drives new content, so use that desire to strive above the mediocre. That's my view anyway, I'm always striving to do something new and never before done.

 

[Melisena]

I'm actually going through this at the moment because the RP I'm in, died or is on the verge of dying.. RPs that catch my interest, are either like 5 or 6 pages in or the GM doesn't reply to my question asking if the RP is still accepting new players...

 

[Archie]

1) make it


2) roll with it! people assume there are all these confines on RPs that just aren't there, usually GMs love innovations from players. The issue is "usually" is like 75% not 99%, so there will be people who go "this is my world don't you dare touch it", but finding 10 "meh" Rps and turning 7 into good ones is better than scouting out only 2-3 good ones. Players leave all the time and nobody alone has enough ideas to keep everyone interested

 

[Melisena]

@Archie You do make a really good point actually. Since I'm really new to this whole RP thing, I'm still learning about it. When I started, I thought that the GM had this grand vision on how the RP should be played out and very little ideas were taken into consideration. I feel kinda stupid for thinking that now, but oh well.. Even though I'm a complete newb, I'm really enjoying RPing so far.

 

[Dnanyu]

@Zakkachu I'm the same way - Even though I knew that One-on-One RPs were very much about working out the world together with your partner, the group ones always kind of felt like the GM was totally in charge and wasn't interested in suggestions or innovations from other players.

 

[Melisena]

@Dnanyu Well, it depends on GM and if the RP started or not. If there's a RP in Interest Check I like and I have an idea that could make the RP more interesting, I'll suggest it. If there's a RP I like, but its like 2 or 3 pages in, I wouldn't even bother suggesting anything and just roll with whatever is going on in the RP after submitting my CS and getting it accepted.

 

[Sibylline Oracle]

Personally, I prefer some flexibility from the GM in any RP I'm in. That said, I understand the need for an internally consistent setting/continuity. Some players I've seen expect some major changes that would almost completely alter the roleplay itself. That's why I ended up starting my own RPs: so everything about our RP would remain coherent. This required me to learn how to adapt some ideas into a setting while fleshing them out with their creators.


Actually, that's the part of RP I love doing the most: world-building!


The problem I have with finding RPs is how much of a stickler I am for continuity (see above)... while still preferring the "casual" 1 paragraph minimum post limit. The 3+ limit in detailed RPs can sometimes be a pain unless I'm already fully immersed in the setting, with an encyclopedic knowledge and some prior experience roleplaying in it. So if something happens in the plot which is thrown in there just for the sake of "being cool", I tend to zone out. I'm "casual-detailed", even though that may be a contradiction.

 

[Huor Spinks]

That's actually the main reason why I stopped roleplaying on sites like Second Life and IMVU. On Second Life, it's really expensive to come up with a sim on your own so I couldn't start my own sim with my own ideas, and out of all the existing roleplay sims and groups I couldn't find one that interested me. And if I did (I mainly hung around the Star Wars sims) they all happened to be uninhabited. I suppose that's the issue with real time roleplay; all the timezone issues come into play. As for IMVU, I didn't even have the motivation to really roleplay anything so I didn't even try searching for rooms to roleplay in.


Right now, I'm joining any roleplay that looks interesting, though one day, once I get enough experience on this site, I'll start my own roleplay.

 

[sorrow made you]

Unfortunately, I know what its like going for a few weeks to a month at a time without rping because I haven't found one that fits my interest.


Usually I would just make a roleplay if I couldn't find one that fit my needs, but... I'm so finicky, I tend to overcomplicate them and make them more more detailed than they probably need to be. Its just something that I do as a roleplay. I build an entire world and atmosphere, and then bring people in with my world weaving. Its my second most favorite thing to do as a roleplayer (the first is character creation). But times like now, I don't have the time nor mental capacity to manage a roleplay that remains on my standards. And if I tried to lower my own personal standards, then... well it will end badly for the roleplay overall.


I am someone that has to be interested in the concept of the roleplay in order for me to just look at it. Then I will scope out what potential it has. if I feel like I can draw inspiration from it and won't get stuck (writer's block/brain block, or inconsistent ideas), then I will try for it. If I feel like I'm debating too much or thinking too long (in the sense of a dilemma or not sure what I want to do to where it becomes concerning and not exciting), then I most likely won't join. That, for me, happens a lot.


And then there are those times where I do find a roleplay, but something comes up and it has to close. Or people stop posting.


So I really do understand, and I actually do appreciate the different opinions on how to resolve such a matter in this thread.

 

[Catharsis]

This actually happens to me A LOT.


This is probably because I have a very narrow point of interest. For example, like if you go through my postings I generally have only done zombie apocalypse roleplays. xD I just like the idea of survival, and it's difficult to find any good ones that aren't war based or something like that.


After a while, I eventually have to start my own roleplay because NO ONE is up for creating an especially awesome one that I can just join.

 

[karmacrushh]

I'm going through this right now as well. I have OCs that I am dying to use and genres that I would give my right arm to rp right now, and absolutely no one is biting. It might be because my interests are more specific, like Watchmen and Kingsman: The Secret Service, but it sucks that I've been searching for literally months with no luck. And if I do find one, then the person drops off the face of the planet :/


I'd like to start an rp, but I'm not interested in group rps, just one on ones.

 

[Feuver]

In my opinion, there's no such thing as a holy grail RP, only holy grail RPers.


If you find a great RPers, you can probably make any ideas work or at the very least try it. Even if the idea is a bit awkward or weird, they'll give it a shot. That and when you care about the Rper you're less likely to just up and leave and rather stay, even when the RP hits a snag or a mistake is made.


If an RP is good, that's great and all, but RPs tend to have themes that may or may not interest other players.


Of course this is all talking about a 1v1 scenario. Groups RP are an entirely different beast.

 

[London Fog]

I'm likely to join an RP if someone comes soliciting it to me unless it looks terrible (in my opinion), but when I'm looking for roleplays, I'm terribly, stupidly picky. This is mainly because, after several long years of jumping from character to character, I made one that I fell in love with. And yeah, I adore him, but if we assess his value in terms of helping me join and enjoy lots of roleplays, you may as well read that last sentence as "I spent several long years dealing with my stress through yoga and working at a soup kitchen. Then I found drugs." As much as I love that guy, he would appear out-of-place in 90% of the realistic roleplays alone, and even if I do find one where he might find his niche, I get kind of nervous about submitting him. He sticks out like a sore thumb next to the neutral, blank-slate characters that generally crop up in the kind of roleplay that I look for, and I'm concerned about annoying the GM. Which is a problem, because I have a problem. I crave roleplaying this character and roleplaying anything else feels weird unless I'm roleplaying him, too, in a separate thread. See, we're back to the drug analogy. If you're one of my RPN loved ones: hi, I'm finally admitting that I have a dependency problem. I knew it, you knew it, we all knew it. This character is my son, alright?


However, I don't feel particularly guilty or unfulfilled if I go awhile without roleplaying, mainly because roleplaying isn't the only place I write. I'm working on my own piece of original fiction that's just hit 100k words, so if I can't find an RP that I like, it's not a big deal. I'm a writer first and a roleplayer second. In fact, I think that my whole character-craving has a lot to do with the fact that the story I'm writing on my own is pretty gritty and dark, for the most part, and most of the characters are about as nurturing as a wet blanket. They're not very genuine people, either, and most of them are pretty aggro regardless of gender. So naturally, when I come online to RP, I almost never feel like playing a brooding loner with a sharp tongue and a katana. No, I want someone who is the opposite of that. And that's where Mr. Perfect comes in. In short, he's very genuine and nurturing and all-around sweet, but also sensitive and physically weak. Again, the exact opposite of what I write in my usual piece. He's my outlet, and he's just all-around fun to write. I suppose I could try to make another character that I "love", but the thing is, I wasn't actually trying to make my ideal character when this one came along, and I'm afraid that any other attempts would come off as forced. He just came naturally, so I'm going to take him and roll with him where I can, and I don't really regret that. Yeah, not being able to find a roleplay for him is lame, but it's to be expected since I'm being fussy, and I've always got something else to fall back on.


tl;dr: Yeah, it sucks a whole lot when I can't find the "right" roleplay, but a) it happens a lot and I'm used to it. b) I usually only play my one character, but I have my reasons, I swear. c) I did this to myself, 100%.

 

[Feuver]

[QUOTE="London Fog]He sticks out like a sore thumb next to the neutral, blank-slate characters that generally crop up in the kind of roleplay that I look for,

[/QUOTE]
It feels to me like you've either been looking at the wrong RPs or you are very arrogant when it comes to describing your character.


A lot of characters can start as blank slate as the goal for an RP is often to see that character grow. A character whose story is already set in stone and fully completed does not grow much with the RP at hand.


A character can be born from the samurai stereotype, the important part is that the author at least makes something interesting with the trope.

[QUOTE="London Fog]I'm concerned about annoying the GM.

[/QUOTE]
You should still at least try. If you're adamant about playing your character then it shouldn't be that embarrassing to ask a GM if they'd like to include your character.

 

[London Fog]

It feels to me like you've either been looking at the wrong RPs or you are very arrogant when it comes to describing your character.
A lot of characters can start as blank slate as the goal for an RP is often to see that character grow. A character whose story is already set in stone and fully completed does not grow much with the RP at hand.


A character can be born from the samurai stereotype, the important part is that the author at least makes something interesting with the trope.


You should still at least try. If you're adamant about playing your character then it shouldn't be that embarrassing to ask a GM if they'd like to include your character.

I think I may have worded that wrong.


It has less to do with the other characters lacking personality (which they don't, 99% of the time) and more to do with the fact that he has an extreme personality that often causes him to either get left in the dust in the plot, which is never fun, or wind up getting more "airtime" than warranted. As much as I love him, he doesn't work for a lot of things.


And I'm sorry if I made it sound as though I don't like other people's characters or think of them as being worth any less than mine. It's really not the case. I love reading about other people's characters, and I'm often genuinely impressed by the characters that people put out. Admittedly, I'm just kind of shy about using him in a setting where he's pushing his limits 24/7. I mean, a little bit of angst and fear and whatnot is good, but I don't want it to reach a point where his neediness gets in the way of what the other characters are doing.


And the whole "brooding loner" thing is something I always wind up saying in reference to characters that err on the darker, angstier end of the spectrum, and I suppose it's pretty inaccurate. I think I'm going to stop that.


And on the topic of why I don't just ask the GM - I don't really know. It just freaks me out a little. Most GMs are a lot older than I am, and that can be nerve-wracking for me to the point where I'll just say "heck with it, I'll join with a character better suited to this RP that I probably won't be able to play as well or just go and solo-write for the evening."


Looking back on it, most of that post came off as kind of unsavory. Sorry, y'all.

 

[Dice]

Passive is key. If you can't find ways to entertain others and yourself you run out of options regardless of the rp. It's not the story of an rp that matters it's how you and those immediately around you handle the story. I've had my few, none of them have been from Forum rp actually, so I can't say much.

 

[Feuver]

It's quite alright. Sharing stuff you care a lot about to complete stranger can be a taxing and scary thing. And I won't sugarcoat it, there are times where people will reject your ideas or even ignore you, but don't let that get in your head. Once in a while you'll find someone friendly and great and just finding one of those people is worth the few rejections you'll suffer along the way.


Besides, i haven't met that many unfriendly or demeaning people here yet. There certainly is bound to be a few, but as I said, avoid them. They're not worth your time.


Don't worry about the Age of the people around here. The people here are there to RP, and if they're shallow enough to accept or refuse people based on a the number of years they've been born, maybe they aren't the right people to RP with.

 

[Hinata907]

I wish I could find that one person who is willing to stay with you for a long. I did had one person who I rp with, but in june I haven't heard a reply back since. I wonder what happen.

 

[Xyshurondor]

In RP as in life, I am particular about what I want. It's worth it to me to comb through a lot of different sites looking for the players that are both compatible and might possibly stick around. It's sort of like a fun scavenger hunt.


I'm going to put out a lot of feelers in a given two week period. Maybe ten people will express an interest. I turn down two for grammar reasons and one for either time zone incompatibility or being a creeper (regrettably, that does happen). Then I start an intro with the other seven, and have two more quit without notice after the intro. I continue with the remaining five. In the first week, four sign off cordially with an "until next time!" or the like and then never sign back on. No one ever says "Sorry, it's not working, let's move on."


The one who's still there after a week is probably sticking around. So far I've found two in the month or so I've been looking (it was three, but judging by one's Skype response rate she isn't going to stick around long). I've only tried joining the one group play-by-post here. It died almost immediately. My 1x1 is still going.


Do I just suck at roleplaying? It's possible. From what people generally say on Reddit and elsewhere, though, I think my experience is not that uncommon. There are exactly three people that I've been casually RPing with for more than a year, and I met them by chance on deviantart, of all places.

 

[Feuver]

@Xyshurondor Live chat roleplaying is certainly a problem as time goes on. I used to do only that, but then some players get busy, and when you're busy it's just hard to set up a time or a date to continue on. Forum roleplaying allows the other user to post whenever they're available and fresh to do it. It's convenient when your free time is greatly diminished. That and when you're live chat roleplaying, it's easy to get distracted waiting for a post, and then you get distracted from replying as well.


It's been a common problem in my past that most RP starting often ends in abrupt disappearance of the other RPer. It's easy on the internet, no one knows who you are and even if they find you, they can just block you and make communication impossible. Some people have particularly low confidence, especially in the RP world I've found, which leads to them preferring disappearing than confrontation with the other RPer. This hasn't exactly happened to me here yet, and a lot of people seem decently respectful and honest, but I'm sure it will happen sooner or later.