Roleplay Pet Peeves

[JujuBee]

No one in this thread is saying that. They are stating opinions just the same way you are. Now in the interests of keeping things civil I suggest we move away from the topic.

I was honestly going to comment back but you beat me to it posting to move away from the topic. Lucky you

 

[NemoTheSurvivor]

Creating an entire world on your own with many details for hours or perhaps even days for an RP you wanted your world in. Yes, you have people joining your RP and such. But the thing is, they ignore the history and lore that needs to be incorporated in their CS's. Like, your efforts has gone to waste. Same can be said about people bailing without any. Damn. Reason.

Bonus points if they refuse to change their character and want you to change the lore you spent days editing and balancing to make everything work just to incorporate their unbalanced race and abilities.


Leavers suck, but they happen. I find calling out inactive players on a regular basis (every couple of days) tends to either reveal which people are ignoring your RP or cause people to formally leave because they don't want to get spammed by a RP they aren't participating in. Then, you just take control of their character and have them jump off a cliff find a way to have them leave the RP.

 

[Galahad]

At one time I asked a player to kill his character before leaving the RP XD

 

[The Swedish Chef]

No one in this thread is saying that. 

First of all, that's debatable. Secondly, what people say or doesn't say in this specific thread is irrelevant. I mean, I could easily point out an handful of roleplays with plenty of "diverse" characters on this site, yet the lack of "diversity" in the other roleplays still exist. 

 

[ApfelSeine]

2 hours ago, The Swedish Chef said:



First of all, that's debatable. Secondly, what people say or doesn't say in this specific thread is irrelevant. I mean, I could easily point out an handful of roleplays with plenty of "diverse" characters on this site, yet the lack of "diversity" in the other roleplays still exist. 




 

I think there are two mentalities that exist with people who want to include diversity in roleplays (to be grossly generalistic), and it's important not to conflate the two. One mentality is, as some people might say, that everyone should make an effort to play minority characters because they are not nearly as prevalent as white/straight/cis characters. That one I do not agree with because anyone can play whatever character they want to, especially since roleplaying is for fun. Tokenism is a pet peeve that a lot of people have, and I have that one as well (though a lack of diversity is more disappointing to me, which is kinda paradoxical).


The second mentality is that it is a shame that there isn't more diversity in roleplaying, but that doesn't really reflect badly on the roleplayers. Rather, it's just a bit disappointing not to see diversity. This is the mentality that people have been voicing on this thread. It is simply a pet peeve that diversity isn't more common, not a demand for people to meet a personal standard. This viewpoint is not saying that people are wrong to play any particular demographic of character.


What people seem to be getting annoyed about are the people who say "you're wrong not to add diversity to your roleplay characters", when what is actually being said on this thread is "I wish it was more common to see a diverse group of characters in the roleplays I join". It's the difference between demanding diversity and appreciating/enjoying diversity; the first is unreasonable, and the second (the sentiment people have been voicing on this thread) is completely understandable. It's all a matter of preference after all.


It is probably a common pet peeve for people to have where roleplayers make demands that characters be a certain demographic ("you've gotta play a guy for my girl" or similar shenanigans). Expanding from that, a pet peeve of mine is people who take this mentality, but don't make it clear ahead of time. Namely, people who just ghost when they do not like the character you have made because they were planning on doing a romance (which more often than not they do not specify lol).

 

[The Swedish Chef]

I think there are two mentalities that exist with people who want to include diversity in roleplays

I disagree. The only difference between the two is that one group is just saying it outright while the other is just heavily implying it. 

 

[NemoTheSurvivor]

I disagree. The only difference between the two is that one group is just saying it outright while the other is just heavily implying it. 

Group 2 trying to guilt trip you into diversity, nor are they going to drop a RP just because there's no diversity (that may be one of the several factors that leads to dropping a RP, but not the only one). They are expressing something the find upsetting in a thread designed to let people vent frustrations, so I do not understand why you would think that, in these circumstances, they are "heavily implying" anything.

 

[ApfelSeine]

I disagree. The only difference between the two is that one group is just saying it outright while the other is just heavily implying it. 

I think there is a significant difference between the two. Not everyone who enjoys divisity is judgemental. Personally, I like to see diversity, and I feel that overall it is too bad that there isn't more diversity in most roleplays I have seen, but on a case by case basis I don't care what demographic another player favors. I don't expect people to cater to what I want, it just makes me happy when there is diversity and somewhat disappointed when there isn't any. It's a matter of preferences really.


If people in the later group I described in my last post are anything like me, they wouldn't be implying anything because they really wouldn't say anything outside threads like these. They wouldn't complain to the GM that a cast of characters are not diverse, but instead simply sigh about the fact that society has engrained an image of whiteness into most visual mediums to the point that it becomes the go to appearance when coming up with a fictional character. That's not a reflection on the players themselves, but more of a product of pop culture.


I don't doubt that the people you tend to encounter either blatantly demand diversity, or passive aggressively imply that there should be diversity. I classify both these types of people into group 1. Group 2 are the people who keep their mouth shut in the roleplay and only ever vent about it internally or on threads like these. I feel that it is possible to be saddened about a trend of lack of diversity without putting blame onto individuals for the characters they choose to play. It seems to me that this is what the people in this thread are expressing, they would prefer to see the trend change but do not demand that it be changed, and I think that is important to clarify.

 

[call me rae]

Guys again in the interest of keeping things moving along let's move away from diversity.


Both sides have stated their opinions and we can agree to leave it at that. There is no reason to beat a dead horse.

 

[Umbrie]

Bonus points if they refuse to change their character and want you to change the lore you spent days editing and balancing to make everything work just to incorporate their unbalanced race and abilities.


Leavers suck, but they happen. I find calling out inactive players on a regular basis (every couple of days) tends to either reveal which people are ignoring your RP or cause people to formally leave because they don't want to get spammed by a RP they aren't participating in. Then, you just take control of their character and have them jump off a cliff find a way to have them leave the RP.

Truesies. i don't mind another person playing a Nymph as long as it wasn't an Excuse to have the highest possible intelligence and charisma by playing a Vampiric Nymph. and i wouldn't allow an Ogre player who just wanted to be an ogre with the sheer intent to maximize their strength and constitution. how about a Nymph that isn't a Bard or an Ogre that isn't a member of a Warrior Subclass?

 

[NemoTheSurvivor]

Truesies. i don't mind another person playing a Nymph as long as it wasn't an Excuse to have the highest possible intelligence and charisma by playing a Vampiric Nymph. and i wouldn't allow an Ogre player who just wanted to be an ogre with the sheer intent to maximize their strength and constitution. how about a Nymph that isn't a Bard or an Ogre that isn't a member of a Warrior Subclass?

Question: How would those two be unbalanced? An Ogre Warrior would make an impressive warrior, but it would have to sacrifice somewhere else to get that power, and a highly intelligent doesnt sound like the most useful class in a fight (it also depends on the enemy, as certain fighting styles will be effective against certain enemy types and strategies). What I'm referring to is those Half-Angel Half-Demon races that gain the strength of all without any of the weakness of either race, in addition to having world crushing abilities with no limits to their use, not people gaming the current system to maximize their power.

 

[Umbrie]

Question: How would those two be unbalanced? An Ogre Warrior would make an impressive warrior, but it would have to sacrifice somewhere else to get that power, and a highly intelligent doesnt sound like the most useful class in a fight (it also depends on the enemy, as certain fighting styles will be effective against certain enemy types and strategies). What I'm referring to is those Half-Angel Half-Demon races that gain the strength of all without any of the weakness of either race, in addition to having world crushing abilities with no limits to their use, not people gaming the current system to maximize their power.

just as having an overpowered Cambionic Nephilim with none of the weaknesses can be considered Imbalanced: so can picking a Race who fits their Role like a Glove and has weaknesses that are completely irrelevant to the role they play. to an Ogre Warrior who smashes things is going to be leagues ahead in smashing things, that loss of intellect and charisma is irrelevant when the Ogre is built for smashing things. that Nymph bard is going to have a wide array of powerful spells, talents, and skills and their penalty to physical strength and physical toughness is pretty much irrelevant when they cover the magic role better than most magi and can cover all the non combat roles as well. this all due to a high intelligence and charisma,

 

[Blaire Wisteria]

just as having an overpowered Cambionic Nephilim with none of the weaknesses can be considered Imbalanced: so can picking a Race who fits their Role like a Glove and has weaknesses that are completely irrelevant to the role they play. to an Ogre Warrior who smashes things is going to be leagues ahead in smashing things, that loss of intellect and charisma is irrelevant when the Ogre is built for smashing things. that Nymph bard is going to have a wide array of powerful spells, talents, and skills and their penalty to physical strength and physical toughness is pretty much irrelevant when they cover the magic role better than most magi and can cover all the non combat roles as well. this all due to a high intelligence and charisma,

I see what you're say here and I can agree with some of it, but said ogre would be entirely useless at getting information or conduction diplomacy but himself. Same with the nymph bard, what'll it do when it get's grappled? Probably wait like 4 turns while failing rolls and taking damage until a party member helps them out. That's why good party composition is so important.

 

[NemoTheSurvivor]

just as having an overpowered Cambionic Nephilim with none of the weaknesses can be considered Imbalanced: so can picking a Race who fits their Role like a Glove and has weaknesses that are completely irrelevant to the role they play. to an Ogre Warrior who smashes things is going to be leagues ahead in smashing things, that loss of intellect and charisma is irrelevant when the Ogre is built for smashing things. that Nymph bard is going to have a wide array of powerful spells, talents, and skills and their penalty to physical strength and physical toughness is pretty much irrelevant when they cover the magic role better than most magi and can cover all the non combat roles as well. this all due to a high intelligence and charisma,

Like Endergod said, they're incredibly useful in one specific role, but outside that role, they are practically useless. Which is how the system balances itself out. It's not perfect by any stretch of the word, but it's manageable. Compared something that does break the system by being able to do what the Ogre Warrior and Nymph Bard, but without their respective weaknesses, and that's what I have a pet peeve with. 

 

[AnimeGenork]

Just remembered something else.


In a group roleplay, when everyone's posting these beautiful three paragraphs or something, and then there's that one person who posts two sentences and doesn't move the story along. Like, can you not.


GAH


Alright, I'm soothed now. XDDDD My apologies.

 

[Umbrie]

Like Endergod said, they're incredibly useful in one specific role, but outside that role, they are practically useless. Which is how the system balances itself out. It's not perfect by any stretch of the word, but it's manageable. Compared something that does break the system by being able to do what the Ogre Warrior and Nymph Bard, but without their respective weaknesses, and that's what I have a pet peeve with. 

it turns out into a net gain in most Point buy systems.


mister Cambionic Nephilim is going to be completely useless at everything with a point buy system, unless he actually gives himself both a role to fill and a bunch of weaknesses in roles he doesn't intend to fill. generally, in Point buy systems, Taking Weaknesses either gives Extra Points or makes it easier to gain points over time. often both. the Nymph Bard literally aces social encounters, but will gain lots of experience in combat from losing a lot of fights, and the Ogre warrior literally aces melee fights and will gain lots of Experience from Social Encounters by Botching Contracts. becaue most of the time, it is easier to level a skillset you are bad at. meaning in a Year of Play, maybe 6 months, the Nymph will be a better fighter than the Cambionic Nephilim and the Ogre will beat the Cambionic Nephilim at Social skills. while still being the best at thier respective facets. meaning the Cambionic Nephilim is outperformed by Patience and being active with as many skill challenges as possible.there are many Tabletop RPGs where characters only advance by failure.

 

[duegxybus]

Time travel God modding. I make something called organization A.


Someone makes a character who comes from the future and starts saying things my organization will do soon, and they're stupid things, unlike what the organization normally does. Like wtf, when did I say they'll do that in the future?!

 

[Upton O Goode]

@JPax Is that something that actually happened to you? Cause it sounds hilarious.


Also, it reminds me of something similar to that; inventing details in an RP for your own convenience. I had a friend that had planned some kind of kidnapping mystery plot or something to that effect, with an NPC going missing with the players needing to find them. Then one player invents a convenient note from the villains who, for some baffling reason, told them they tied them to some train tracks, letting them know exactly where to go and giving them ample time to save the NPC. Worst part was all the other players went along with it and didn't care to change how it played out, so my friend closed the thread in anger.

 

[NemoTheSurvivor]

@Umbrie


You missed the point. I'm not debating the effectiveness of said race with all benefits with no weaknesses. I'm saying that someone comes into a RP without reading up on the rules or lore, creates a character that breaks said rules, and then demands the RP change to accommodate their character. It doesn't matter how effective the character will be in the long run. You then compared the broken character with a character specialized in one specific role, which is not broken. I asked how the two were related, and you explained that stacking a class and race to maximum effectiveness created the same effect as a broken race. Considering that it is entirely in the rules for a race to have bonuses that benefit certain classes more than others (as well as having to sacrifice another part of their character to get that specialized), and not a game breaking race, they are not the same thing. One is allowed based on the rules created by the game, while the other is a munchkin combined with a Mary Sue/Gary Stu who is trying to be an anime protagonist.


To put it simply, breaking the rules of the game to create a character with no weaknesses, then demand to have the rules changed to have said character allowed, is what I have a problem with. If you don't like class/race stacking, that's fine and I won't knock you for it, but it is unrelated to my pet peeve.

                                                                                    
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Also, it reminds me of something similar to that; inventing details in an RP for your own convenience. I had a friend that had planned some kind of kidnapping mystery plot or something to that effect, with an NPC going missing with the players needing to find them. Then one player invents a convenient note from the villains who, for some baffling reason, told them they tied them to some train tracks, letting them know exactly where to go and giving them ample time to save the NPC. Worst part was all the other players went along with it and didn't care to change how it played out, so my friend closed the thread in anger.

You know what's fun? Having everyone save the day with no effort whatsoever! That totally won't leave us with nothing to do since the entire plot is finished in two posts.

 

[Umbrie]

Time travel God modding. I make something called organization A.


Someone makes a character who comes from the future and starts saying things my organization will do soon, and they're stupid things, unlike what the organization normally does. Like wtf, when did I say they'll do that in the future?!

if you want to bring a character from either the Past or the Future. please Acknowledge that your own character is part of an Alternate Timeline and the Same Cycle of Events isn't guaranteed.


if i Traveled to the Past and murdered some Famous Tyrant's Grandparents before Said Tyrant's Parents were born. the Tyranny would still occur under a different and potentially even worse Tyrant.

 

[Umbrie]

@Umbrie


You missed the point. I'm not debating the effectiveness of said race with all benefits with no weaknesses. I'm saying that someone comes into a RP without reading up on the rules or lore, creates a character that breaks said rules, and then demands the RP change to accommodate their character. It doesn't matter how effective the character will be in the long run. You then compared the broken character with a character specialized in one specific role, which is not broken. I asked how the two were related, and you explained that stacking a class and race to maximum effectiveness created the same effect as a broken race. Considering that it is entirely in the rules for a race to have bonuses that benefit certain classes more than others (as well as having to sacrifice another part of their character to get that specialized), and not a game breaking race, they are not the same thing. One is allowed based on the rules created by the game, while the other is a munchkin combined with a Mary Sue/Gary Stu who is trying to be an anime protagonist.


To put it simply, breaking the rules of the game to create a character with no weaknesses, then demand to have the rules changed to have said character allowed, is what I have a problem with. If you don't like class/race stacking, that's fine and I won't knock you for it, but it is unrelated to my pet peeve.

                                                                                   
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it only actually matters in a point buy system.


i was suggesting the use of a point buy system to balance the races. i wouldn't demand the RP change to accommodate the character.


Here is a message to all of you who can't find an RP to shove your Half-Demon Half-Angel Vampiric werewolf Dragonborrn Elven Snowflake into.


Either Make and GM Special RP for your Snowflake, or Learn to boil your character down to the essential things that define them and proceed to create a balanced and fair version of the character.

 

[duegxybus]

if you want to bring a character from either the Past or the Future. please Acknowledge that your own character is part of an Alternate Timeline and the Same Cycle of Events isn't guaranteed.


if i Traveled to the Past and murdered some Famous Tyrant's Grandparents before Said Tyrant's Parents were born. the Tyranny would still occur under a different and potentially even worse Tyrant.

Did I mention another one of my pet peeves is when roleplayers use capital letters in random places... xD

 

[Umbrie]

Did I mention another one of my pet peeves is when roleplayers use capital letters in random places... xD

I can't help it. i use Capitalization as a forrn of Emphasis on Certain words, because when i started RP in 1990's, there was no option for Italics and i never learned ti Shake the Habit.

 

[duegxybus]

I can't help it. i use Capitalization as a forrn of Emphasis on Certain words, because when i started RP in 1990's, there was no option for Italics and i never learned ti Shake the Habit.

Ah, gotchya. You know where I was in the 1990s? nonexistent. My mom was a teenager. So that's why I get irked about the random caps.

 

[Umbrie]

Ah, gotchya. You know where I was in the 1990s? nonexistent. My mom was a teenager. So that's why I get irked about the random caps.

i started Roleplaying in 1995. i was 6 at the time. well, our "Drama Class" in my Elementary/Primary School was really a "Roleplaying Club" that Masqueraded as a "Drama Class" as a "Cover" to hide from "Religious Patents". we did one Re-Enactment a month to not lose our funding. there was about 30-50 Students there.