Roleplay Pet Peeves

[punkinblackk]

RP I'm in right now... GM basically has everyone in a tie lock, and we've been there since tuesday, because he hasn't replied... I find it really irritating to be completely honest.


Impatient, impartial, center of attention people, who complain OOC every five minutes that nobody is replying to them, even if the rp is rather dead at the time. (Like... there was literally nobody else on except me and that person.)


The ridiculous tragic backstory... (just got this one 'I blacked out when I was young and killed my mother... blah blah blah, now I live with my uncle who abuses me, so I dress skimpily, and whine all the time.') WTFH. If you killed your mother, why would you put up with asshole uncle, hell, how'd you even kill your mother when you were young, pretty sure she'd have tried to stop you.... just.... ughhhhh.

 

[Khadame]

I absolutely hate characters who try to be too special.


Putting my hate for Tumblr for bringing this cancer to earth aside, I find myself seeing "demi-sexual", "non-binary", and the worst offender of all, "gay", a lot. It's not these terms that bug me specifically. I'm not some sort of bigot and want to purge gays from earth. No. What I intensely dislike, however, is people either:


a) Centering their entire OC around it, meaning it basically defines the character as they have no other defining traits


b) Mentioning it in passing as if it only were there to make them more of a special snowflake then they make a big deal out of it later


If it made the character more believable (OC is guyfierisexual, but it only comes up when it's relevant to the situation at hand), fine. It irks me, but whatever, I won't start a hissyfit over it nor voice my opinion. 


You know, there is something I call the Vegan Syndrome. It's when people want to mention that they're vegan all the time and shove it into your face brutally with their big ol' pepperoni tofu salad. Replace vegan with gay. That irks me.


Same thing applies for mental illnesses. In fact, it's probably even worse with them.

 

[Umbrie]

sorry. but even if your mother were a Dwarf, the earliest you could succeed at killing her would be when you are 12-14 years old, and that is assuming you were a normal sized child of a mother that had Congenital Growth Hormone Deficiency Syndrome which if your mother had, you have to be extremely Lucky to not have. and that is more to do with bone density and physical development more than anything. an 8 year old is not murdering her mother, and her mother is not going to be that weak without having C.G.H.D.S. which means you were either already adopted or extremely lucky to not inherit your mother's dominant  genetic disability.

 

[kitphiroth]

Let me just send this epic and awesome post with lovely details.


*waits three days for a response, gets a one liner back*


I hate when I put in effort only to get a single sentence.

UGH, THIS.  you know that they only replied out of obligation and guilt.

 

[call me rae]

if everybody out there had a no Tolerance Policy for Munchkining, it would do nothing to Help Reform the Munchkins and would Alienate new Roleplayers who were honestly unaware. i used to be a Filthy Little Munchkin, and didn't know why i was being booted out of Roleplays, until i learned how to balance characters and during that course, my characters were too flawed, so i worked hard on not playing useless characters who also weren't brokenly overpowered. i mean, i would still play an Otaku in a Zombie Apocalypse game, but i would at least try to give them a sensible professional skill. for example, an Otaku who works as an accountant at a hospital and knows how to pirate video games. the character isn't completely useless, but isn't the cliched military badass.


at the same time, it is bad form to play a spellcaster in Lankmahr because Conan and crew would kill any sorcerer they found.

Actually if you don't mind this post sort of perfectly illustrates an issue I see come up in threads and roleplays all the time. So I'll be breaking it down a bit just to go over specific example. This is not intended to be a dig at you specifically just sort of a way to illustrate how sometimes when you post you do a thing that makes it hard for people to understand what your saying.


And this thing is when you use terms without defining them. These can either be terms from outside mediums - table top games, video games, anime, books - or things you totally make up by yourself. But either way the terms are a something a bit obscure to the general userbase and they're just put in posts like everyone should know what they mean. 


And then when people get confused a lot of time the posters get equally confused. Because it's like:


A : I don't know what your talking about, could you explain XX , YY , or ZZ?


B. What do you meant you don't know what I'm talking about, I'm being perfectly clear. XX is XX , YY is YY , ZZ is ZZ.


But  nothing ever gets resolved because no one ever seems to get the issue is basically just one person using terms the other person understands.


For instance we'll use the term Munchkin from the above post specifically.


To me a Munchkin is one of three things


A. a child


B. a character from Wizard of Oz


C. a short person


But from the context of this post I am to presume you are talking about something totally different. I think it might be a kind of (bad?) roleplayer but the context is a little iffy and honestly I am making a best guess only.

 

[Umbrie]

Munchkin is a Tabletop Roleplaying Term that Refers to a Player who is literally playing the game with the intent to Win It. they Generally Minmax with the focus on the Activity that bears the most weight in the game and takes the most spotlight, Whine when the Game Master exploits their Flaws against them, and Generally want the biggest advantage and most positive spotlight they can get. the Munchkin is the kind of Person who will play a Badass Murderer in a Zombie Apocalypse Game because they want to kill the Zombies and be the biggest Badass with the Most Badass Points and whine when their Badass has to deal with the Consequences of being a Murderer.

 

[call me rae]

Munchkin is a Tabletop Roleplaying Term that Refers to a Player who is literally playing the game with the intent to Win It. they Generally Minmax with the focus on the Activity that bears the most weight in the game and takes the most spotlight, Whine when the Game Master exploits their Flaws against them, and Generally want the biggest advantage and most positive spotlight they can get. the Munchkin is the kind of Person who will play a Badass Murderer in a Zombie Apocalypse Game because they want to kill the Zombies and be the biggest Badass with the Most Badass Points and whine when their Badass has to deal with the Consequences of being a Murderer.

You misunderstood as I said I wasn't calling you out with my post I was just using you as an example of an issue I see pop up in threads a lot. You actually do pretty well with explaining yourself most of the time, there are people that are far far worse than you. I just didn't feel like sifting through lots of different posts for an example when your post an easy to illustrate point. 


That being said what you are describing is commonly referred to as a special snowflake on the site. So if you ever see this term it is basically exactly what you described above. 

 

[Umbrie]

You misunderstood as I said I wasn't calling you out with my post I was just using you as an example of an issue I see pop up in threads a lot. You actually do pretty well with explaining yourself most of the time, there are people that are far far worse than you. I just didn't feel like sifting through lots of different posts for an example when your post an easy to illustrate point. 


That being said what you are describing is commonly referred to as a special snowflake on the site. So if you ever see this term it is basically exactly what you described above. 

and i was used to special snowflake being used to refer to a character who was supposed to be narratively unique and special in some way. like the "Boy Who Lived" or "the Only Good Aligned Drow who rebels against the norms of his evil aligned species." or some other attempt to grab attention or Validation

 

[call me rae]

and i was used to special snowflake being used to refer to a character who was supposed to be narratively unique and special in some way. like the "Boy Who Lived" or "the Only Good Aligned Drow who rebels against the norms of his evil aligned species." or some other attempt to grab attention or Validation

Which illustrates my point. People define terms differently so it's something you have to watch out for when you post in the threads because we get people that come from a wide array of roleplaying backgrounds. Typically the best way to handle this is if your confused just ask. 

 

[Inner Power]

I had a partner constantly edit their post after I've posted. I don't have a problem with edits but if in the last post I've already responded to has your character in one location but you've edited to make them somewhere else that is annoying. This happened on a constant basis. The only way I found out is because they told me "Oh hey I changed my last post." 


I talked to them about it though they continued to do it therefore we parted ways.

 

[Umbrie]

it bothers me when a Roleplayer's OC is merely a copypasta of an existing canon character or a mishmash of existing canon characters in the same fandom with merely their name changed and maybe a different or edited faceclaim. now, i don't mind anime pics as faceclaims, even if they are edited faceclaims. but the problem is more the character than the faceclaim, i have no real issue with other people recoloring or tracing or using other people's recolors or traces as faceclaims, i know how hard it is to get RPs with a hand drawn avatar. but please, don't try to "Develop your character" by literally stealing a canon character with minor changes or fusing two canon characters with a new faceclaim. now, i don't mind similar personality traits or backstory elements.  for example, you can make a Materialistic, Greedy and Vain female Yugioh Duelist, just don't outright copy paste Mai Valentine as a whole with maybe a name change and one or two cosmetic differences that can be easily replicated by real world methods.


if you take a 10 year old girl with blonde hair, put her in a white gothloli dress with a matching hat, name her Elena, had her start with a Pikachu, literally had her gain all 3 starters for that region and gain all 8 of her badges through pity, had her travel with the 2 weakest or youngest gym leaders in the region, had her travel with a new coordinator in every region, had her release every pokemon that reached a certain level or evolution threshhold, and literallly had her restart every new region with just her pikachu. you didn't make an original character, you merely copy pasted everything about Ash Ketchum, changed his gender to match the fact you are using an image of Lillie from Pokemon Sun and Moon as a Faceclaim, and literally renamed her and tried to pass her off as original.


i know this happened a lot with the OCs made by my Facebook Buddy Zeronia. she was a nice person to talk to, but she was Lazy with OC design. her current Main OC, Nepalutune is an Edited Image of Nepgear, with Neptune's Personality, a Name that merely threw in a few additional letters to Neptune, has no real console she is based on, and is literally another Planeptune CPU Candidate when Planeptune has Too many CPUs and the Nation that should be Loaded with them is Lowee.

 

[simj26]

it bothers me when a Roleplayer's OC is merely a copypasta of an existing canon character or a mishmash of existing canon characters in the same fandom with merely their name changed and maybe a different or edited faceclaim.

I cannot understate how much I agree with this. There are even worse where they take a character from a lesser known anime/game/media, and try to copy paste that, in hopes that no one will notice. I remember someone taking a character from a Fire Emblem game that wasn't TOO popular, making a whole new flashy background and name card for him, and then makes a few edits to the character sheet to make him only slightly different, in that he's a better person than his original incarnation. But the rest of the guy's story is the same, just with certain plot points changed, and while others who have never touched the game before (which is quite a huge number) think it's a completely original character, hardcore players will instantly pick up on it. 

 

[Umbrie]

I cannot understate how much I agree with this. There are even worse where they take a character from a lesser known anime/game/media, and try to copy paste that, in hopes that no one will notice. I remember someone taking a character from a Fire Emblem game that wasn't TOO popular, making a whole new flashy background and name card for him, and then makes a few edits to the character sheet to make him only slightly different, in that he's a better person than his original incarnation. But the rest of the guy's story is the same, just with certain plot points changed, and while others who have never touched the game before (which is quite a huge number) think it's a completely original character, hardcore players will instantly pick up on it. 

i can agree with this. i can steal half the cast from any Atlus, NIS or IF RPG Title or a Premade Character from a Free to Play Korean Action MMO and nobody at most tables would truly Notice but i have friends who would notice and i would be feeling guilty if i Took Elemental Master Aisha, made her Sweet instead of Tsundere, made her 16 instead of 18, and tried to cram her into a Verse filled with older roleplayers and pass her off as my own creation. if i steal a character from a work of fiction, i at least admit i stole that particular character for RP purposes. if nobody in my D&D group played any of the Fire Emblem games and i bring in Lute from Sacred Stones, i will at Least Tell them Lute came from a Strategic Wargame for the Gameboy that has anime style Graphics.

 

[Khadame]

i can agree with this. i can steal half the cast from any Atlus, NIS or IF RPG Title or a Premade Character from a Free to Play Korean Action MMO and nobody at most tables would truly Notice but i have friends who would notice and i would be feeling guilty if i Took Elemental Master Aisha, made her Sweet instead of Tsundere, made her 16 instead of 18, and tried to cram her into a Verse filled with older roleplayers and pass her off as my own creation.

Rena is better than Aisha, anyway.


I agree. Playing a premade character is sort of fine, but the problem, for me at least, lies in the fact that once you play one and I know you do, most of the time it's just plain bad. If I have a certain image of a character (Aisha, for example, if she were tsundere), I just expect that image to be written out as it is. But the roleplayers sometimes just change and warp it and I get super confused when the entire image is shattered, and the end is a heap of bullshit. Gets worse when other canon characters are included. Or ships.


Though this would also be a problem in most fandom RPs and the main reason I'm hesitant to join them.

 

[Umbrie]

Rena is better than Aisha, anyway.


I agree. Playing a premade character is sort of fine, but the problem, for me at least, lies in the fact that once you play one and I know you do, most of the time it's just plain bad. If I have a certain image of a character (Aisha, for example, if she were tsundere), I just expect that image to be written out as it is. But the roleplayers sometimes just change and warp it and I get super confused when the entire image is shattered, and the end is a heap of bullshit. Gets worse when other canon characters are included. Or ships.


Though this would also be a problem in most fandom RPs.

i mean, Even as a Tsundere. Aisha does have a Sweet and Caring Side. she generally expresses it in a way that comes off as blunt and abrasive though.

 

[Khadame]

i mean, Even as a Tsundere. Aisha does have a Sweet and Caring Side. she generally expresses it in a way that comes off as blunt and abrasive though.

Of course, but it gets weird when blunt and abrasive goes into stalker-with-a-crush territory. Or worse, only dere without the tsun. 

 

[Umbrie]

Of course, but it gets weird when blunt and abrasive goes into stalker-with-a-crush territory. Or worse, only dere without the tsun. 

Aisha becomes more Dere and Less Tsun as her Elsword Storyline Progresses. i think by the time she turns 21. she becomes a fully fledged Deredere. so if the Aisha you were playing as were 21 or older. she would be pure Dere and no Tsun,

 

[Johannes]

Mmm... my pet peeve would be GM's that can't seem to keep an RP alive. I would be prompt in my posts but after a while others stop posting. Then I wonder, "maybe the the GM is doing something about it." But then the Rp just dies and I can't bring myself to tell others to post or tell the GM to enforce the rules or stimulate posts. 


I also dislike sandbox RPs. Like, your characters live in a kingdom, have fun. As said earlier, then everybody goes off and does their own thing, but no one interacts with each other. Thus, people have to take the initiative and force their character to go off somewhere and think of a way to interact with others. 


Having strict GM's have their ups and downs. On the plus side, you can expect the plot to be driven and the roleplay to move forward. One the downside, post requirements and, as mentioned earlier, if the GM is over bearing in their requirements. But honestly, I would rather put up with that than an RP that dies. 


It was also brought up earlier about one liners. I can tolerate small posts to a certain extent, but what really bugs me is when people do rapid fire small posts. I typically try to avoid simple or casual roleplays as people tend to get in rapid fire 1 on 1 posts with each other. Resulting in a hard to follow roleplay or hard to get a post in edgewise. In detailed rps, it can be challenging to produce quality, two paragraph posts, but at least it sets a pace. 

 

[jinkx]

People that don't put any research into their characters. If you're going to write a character in a situation you know little about, (e.g a character with a mental illness or a character that's suffered abuse in the past), at least do a fucking google search. Read a message board or two. Put effort into your characters. 


On a similar note- and I've probably mentioned this before but forgive me- "crazy" characters. I do not give a fuck what their backstory is, you cannot just write a character and describe them as "crazy". Stop writing sociopaths, stop writing psychopaths, unless you're willing to portray them accurately and appropriately. As for the people that write their characters as cackling, hallucinating stereotypes that get pissed off every time somebody breathes... Please stop these people. 

 

[Lappi]

People that don't put any research into their characters. If you're going to write a character in a situation you know little about, (e.g a character with a mental illness or a character that's suffered abuse in the past), at least do a fucking google search. Read a message board or two. Put effort into your characters. 


On a similar note- and I've probably mentioned this before but forgive me- "crazy" characters. I do not give a fuck what their backstory is, you cannot just write a character and describe them as "crazy". Stop writing sociopaths, stop writing psychopaths, unless you're willing to portray them accurately and appropriately. As for the people that write their characters as cackling, hallucinating stereotypes that get pissed off every time somebody breathes... Please stop these people. 

Yea done it before but that was during my newb days. That and it was mostly for fun. I have learned better rp skills since then.


     But I do enjoy sociopathic characters but they are extreamly hard to write as the illness is well... Obscure. But they are considered non-empathetic but known right from wrong. They can also show emotion to certain things. Crimes they commit are often times out of the blue and unplanned. Thus it makes them more likely to be caught.


Psychopaths I have yet to research correctly. So I'll refrain from speaking.


   Anyways my pet peeve is people who during a fight in a rp just crush your char like Its nothing with a super obscure weakness.


For a example;


Player 1 pulls a revolver and shoots 3 times in a fan the hammer motion towards player 2


Player 2 pulls 2 uzi's dodging all 3 bullets and firing both clips hitting player one 15 times.


To anyone who RP's fights like this just please;

 

[Umbrie]

how the hell do you hold an Uzi in Each Hand without suffering Extreme penalties to accuracy caused by the Recoil. most people don't dual Wield Submachine Guns because Dual Wielding is a Suicidal and Wasteful Style. and how the Hell does Anyone Dodge a Bullet at Point Blank Range? at least take some cover behind a Trash Can in the alley or Something. simply dodging with no real description or consequence is boring. why not have the bullet sting painfully as it grazes your shoulder?

 

[Trust]

Tbh, I just hate unrealistic fighting, it makes everything so messy and just not fun.


so in fantasy or sci-fi settings, I like some level of realism, even if it is unrealistic. Pretty sure I covered it in a earlier post when someone thought you could actually deflect bullets with a sword, the moderator allowed it so I left.

 

[JujuBee]

Mmm... my pet peeve would be GM's that can't seem to keep an RP alive. I would be prompt in my posts but after a while others stop posting. Then I wonder, "maybe the the GM is doing something about it." But then the Rp just dies and I can't bring myself to tell others to post or tell the GM to enforce the rules or stimulate posts. 

Just know I'm not arguing with you here. I just want to add that sometimes the life in an rp isn't exactly in the hands of the GM. The GM can do everything that they can to keep it going but if the people who participate in it choose to drop and disappear then there's not much one can do to keep it alive. Plus when you have a GM that actually @s people and tries to keep attention on it, they can be seen as being 'naggy' or 'annoying'. It becomes a lose-lose situation. 

 

[Johannes]

Valid point. I wish that RP's did not die so easily or were easy to maintain. I am getting tired of having to search for a new roleplay and create a new character every time an RP dies.

 

[JujuBee]

Valid point. I wish that RP's did not die so easily or were easy to maintain. I am getting tired of having to search for a new roleplay and create a new character every time an RP dies.

My darling, that's all you'll ever do on this website. I would say that maybe 40% of the people on here are good for continuing an rp lol. That's exaggerating I'm sure you understand what I mean