Top 5 RP Misconceptions

[M.J. Saulnier]

This is a heads up before people line up to say, "Hey, it's just your opinion that a story can't work itself out!"


Thanks captain obvious but it's actually not my opinion. This is a collective of RP veterans spanning as far back as '97, my Jedi Masters, as it were. 2 of these are mine (Mary Sue & Cluster of Destiny). This is shortened version of the Top 10.


Feel free to disagree, but know you're not disagreeing with me in every case.


#5:


"The Cluster F**k of Destiny!"


Through some untold, unforeseen circumstance, 99.99% of all writers, in 99.99% of all RPs, find themselves in a Cluster F**k of Destiny. This is when 4-8 characters immediately cross paths and find common ground in a quest to save the day from evil. And all of this happens inside of 4-8 posts.


The misconception here is that this is any sort of start to a credible story someone would want to keep reading—let alone was the best way to set up your cast and plot.


You can almost picture several cliche, archetype characters accidentally colliding at a crossroads. And while helping each other gather their loose belongings off the ground, discover that they are all in fact on a fabled quest to achieve similar goals, and decide to travel together immediately, never leaving one another's side for the next 200-300 pages...


Weakest IC launch humanly possible without actively trying to bomb it. Play your cards with a little more finesse and calculation, your stories and characters will go down on you for it.*


#4:


"That was awesome!!... Right? .....Guys?"


Assumptions have no place in role play, ever, for any reason. When approaching another writer's character or scene, touch base, open a line of direct communication.


We're in an RP that's just started. I kick off with a post depicting my character at a small restaurant at a corner table nursing a black coffee. He seems a little on edge and keeps checking his surroundings as well as the time piece on his left wrist. I end with a cliff hangar; nothing is revealed or resolved.


You assume I'm waiting for someone and decide it's going to be*YOU. This is going to be SO GREAT!


You enter the small establishment, approach me calmly and sit down across from me, spitting out something like, "You're early."


What you couldn't have known without asking was that I'm an assassin, and I'm waiting on my mark. You've now destroyed that plan all together and forced this awkward, ugly exchange that hinders everything. Of course we*"can"*salvage the scene and work on the fly. I'll sacrifice the intro I planned specifically for my character for specific reasons so you can make a flat transition into the IC without exploring and setting up your character at all. We're off to a fantastic start! Even though you could have just said, "Hey, I got this idea. What if..."


#3:


"Mary Sue... Who Are You?"


A lot of people actually don't know what a "Mary Sue" (sometimes a Gary Sue when referring to a male) is, or how they can be used effectively in a story (it doesn't happen very often, because it's very hard to pull off).


I've heard people say a Mary Sue is an annoying female character. A female character played by a teenage girl (usually a bad writer). I've even heard it referenced as a character someone uses over and over in different projects.


A Mary Sue can be any gender, played by anyone. It is a seemingly perfect character, usually created by an insecure or otherwise escapist writer. They generally have no weaknesses, or if they do, they can and usually are channeled into strengths when it matters most, because a Mary Sue cannot fail.


They boast an impossible range of skills, strengths, knowledge, and means. They are often teenage girls, and their level of skill and wisdom is preposterous for their age. The primary trait of the Mary Sue is the ability to learn, even master any skill or feat in a remarkably fast amount of time. They adapt instantaneously to every situation thrown their way, almost always taking point and coming out on top.


So how do you use one? Subtlety.


Don't use this extreme blueprint. Furthermore, don't make the character a primary cast member, but a secondary or supporting role. Ideally, though, the Mary Sue is a Villain with drastic, deep flaws and weaknesses that emerge over the course of his or her journey. This method presents a perfect antagonist force that slowly reveals itself to in fact be flawed and imperfect, sometimes the things you thought were strengths ending up being weaknesses.


#2:


"Stories Work Themselves Out!"


No. No, they don't.


A good story requires premeditation, thought, some complexity and careful structure. How can multiple writers attacking a plot from multiple angles with their own motives ensure the final product has reached it's full potential?


Communication at every stage of the project. Leave nothing to chance or in the wind (within reason). Discuss, mull over, and finalize every decision going forward. Great story telling is a complex creature, and it doesn't happen by chance.


#1:


"Longer Is Better!"


This is the number one misconception in all of role playing and has divided the upper class for as long as I can remember. Only after years of reading and writing roleplays from a critical perspective does it become evident why longer is in fact NOT better, but worse.


Let's break this down piece by piece and examine the anatomy:


• I usually don't have 20 minutes to read one or more epic posts depicting your character entering town from a dusty old country road. How then could I—in good conscience—ask that of my co-writers every time I submit a post? Do this long enough and take it seriously enough, you start to consider things like this.


• Long posts bore the shit out of people. We usually don't get through them, especially if you color code all of your dialog, allowing your cowriter a to skim everything but the dialog (Double Rookie Move. It's like Kryptonite to my refined senses). It makes a choppy, cumbersome read that dispels any interest in the plot within a few posts. Pace and structure is everything—it's make or break.


They also murder your dialog and scene flow. Post length should always vary depending on the circumstance at hand. When 5 characters are in an intense conversation and the writers are spewing 8 paragraphs of filler each, I stopped reading on page 1. And what are we really writing for? Narcissistic gratification, or to tell great stories the world can appreciate? Something every writer should ask themselves before they get involved in someone's baby.


•"Nice tan, bro!"


Finally, the limelight is intoxicating. Long posts actually force writers to hog the limelight, often loading submissions with filler just to meet length requirements. I found myself doing it all the time in the early days. Long posts can even compromise character development, giving far too much insight into characters far too soon. How you reveal things and when is so important to a character's growth and the reader's experience.


5 RP Misconceptions debunked. Something for everyone to consider or disregard as nonsensical heresy.

 

[Spacekitty]

I actually like writing long post chock full of detail and "fluff" as you would call it. But only for scene setting or intros.


Of course these long posts aren't like a billion words (longest I had was 1,600 words ) and are in my opinion) enjoyable to read.

 

[call me rae]

lol these were fun to read actually even if i didn't agree with about half of them you described them in such an entertaining way that i had to laugh.


Now I'll get into what I disagreed about specifically in a moment but I did have a few misconceptions that I have come across that I thought I'd add to your list.


1. I'm a Winner!


This is most common specifically in roleplays where there is some kind of combination of powersor conflict as a central plot point.


So yeah the idea that you always have to succeed at whatever the quest/central conflict/whatever is in your roleplay. That your characters can not loose and certainly can't die. As doing so would ruin the story or usher in the apocalypse or something stupid like that.


And the truth of the matter is - we learn far more from defeat than we do from victory. Your character loosing a few battles or ultimately the war will actually give you far more to work with in terms of fleshing out their character than if you just go in and do some kind of cheat code on your characters life :


Like bam smack pow - I win! Roleplay over.


How is that interesting?


2. The Internet Gives You Telepathy


Somehow a lot of people seem to be under the impression that the internet gives one mind reading capabilities. Because they will go into a roleplay discussion making the bare-minimum of input necessary. Typically this is in the form of - "that's fine, or i'll do anything."


Yet despite this seeming open-mindedness on the part of this person the fact remains that the roleplay usually dies because they either leave in the middle of plotting or end up getting angry that the roleplay isn't following their ideal direction.


Well here's the thing : we can't fix what we don't know is broken.


So if you see a roleplay going in a way you aren't comfortable with - or if you have some ideas that you want heard, your going to have to speak up and say them.


Because despite the many technological marvels we see created every day - to the best of my knowledge telepathy via WiFi isn't yet one of them.

 

[call me rae]

For Cluster Fuck of Destiny I think the misconception here is more that people will have a pre-plotted idea when they post an introduction.


I certainly can't speak for everyone but 99 % of the people I roleplay with treat an introduction as just that - an introduction to your character.


There is no hidden agenda in a post - instead they are just plopping their character in whatever the opening setting is and open themselves up for interaction.


As that is kind of the purpose of roleplaying - interacting with the other people in the roleplay. So someone sees a character in the corner by themselves they're going to naturally assume that person is open for interaction.


Now this doesn't immediately follow that everyone is going to be BFFs within twenty minutes of meeting each other either - but that's more to do with poor planning and an eagerness to get to the meat of the story than anything.


I mean in most of roleplays it is true people think that the characters have to band together to "win" the roleplay. And your right - this is a heavy misconception. You don't have to like someone to work with them in a life and death situation after all.


Or even just in a situation where it would be in your best interests to work with the group. But determing such nuances also depends on the general tone of your roleplay. Most of the time these sorts of things are just epic soap operas anyway. Where no one is acting like a real person and everything is about high drama or shenanigans. In which case you just go along with the ride as you follow the majority rule.


Now as to your specific example - I think that might have been more of an issue where there wasn't enough explanation on what your character was doing. And also your assuming that other characters would have a more detailed understanding of your characters motivations than is perhaps reasonable.


Remember just because another player might know that your character is an assassin waiting patiently for their mark doesn't follow that THEIR CHARACTER will know the same thing. So in that specific scenario it could be perfectly in the character's personality to go up to a stranger and start a converation. Now assuming your character is waiting for them is also not especially a bad thing either. Unless you specifically state otherwise in your post - where you state that your character is waiting for a mark. Than all they have to go on is - loner in a corner sipping a drink.


It could be they're only trying to help you out by bringing your character into the fold so to speak. And it's not as if you couldn't turn it into a comedic moment if it turns out your characters don't know each other.


But yeah while maybe they shouldn't have assumed that your characters were automatically going to be aquaintances - expecting them to know that your character is an assassin is also a little unfair if you hadn't actually stated it in the post.


As I stated above - The Internet doesn't give us Telepathy. So you can't get mad at people for not nothing things if you don't state them.

 

[Lorsh]

[QUOTE="Loco Mofo]
• Long posts bore the shit out of people. We usually don't get through them, especially if you color code all of your dialog, allowing your cowriter a to skim everything but the dialog (Double Rookie Move. It's like Kryptonite to my refined senses). It makes a choppy, cumbersome read that dispels any interest in the plot within a few posts. Pace and structure is everything—it's make or break.

[/QUOTE]

This. I pretty much quit this one roleplay because every character started off with ridiculously long introductory posts. Regardless, I forced myself to read them all, but afterwards I honestly couldn't bring myself to slap my keyboard enough times in order to match everyone else's length. I had signed up for a casual roleplay, mind, not a detailed one.

 

[M.J. Saulnier]

I have always subscribed to the belief that length should vary depending on circumstance. How many characters are actively posting or and especially *talking*?


Tom askes Sharon a direct question, but Sharon will be offline for the next 8 hours, so Dick and Harry continue the convo without her. . . Bad form 101.


Do you need to cover certain details right now, or do you want to?


I'm a story teller first and foremost. I don't write to have fun and interact. It is fun and interaction is always rewarding, but I'm a writer. I put the stories and characters first.

 

[call me rae]

[QUOTE="Loco Mofo]

Do you need to cover certain details right now, or do you want to?


I'm a story teller first and foremost. I don't write to have fun and interact. It is fun and interaction is always rewarding, but I'm a writer. I put the stories and characters first.

[/QUOTE]
I'm assuming this bit is directed at me - but feel free to let me know if it isn't.


I think the point I was trying to make is simply this - roleplaying is by it's nature interactive. It's all well in good to focus on the story and the characters but at the end of the day this is a collaboration.


The whole point is for their to be interaction between characters in such a way that is enjoyable for everyone.


So therefore going into and saying well I just want to write for me and my own plot points isn't going to work. Because your expecting other people to conform only with your idea of how the story can go - which is unfair to them.


I mean if you want to focus specifically on just the story and your own characters you can always write your own novels or whatever.


Roleplaying is about everyone pitching to make a story from as many points of view as possible.

 

[Spacekitty]

The whole point is for their to be interaction between characters in such a way that is enjoyable for everyone.

That denotes the difference between a collaborative story and a role play. Subtle difference that changes the way the story is presented. These rps generally fail unless the others are onboard with this concept.

 

[M.J. Saulnier]

It actually wasn't directed at you, reading. More explaining why I've drawn some of conclusions and why I practice the form and habits I do.


I've always treated every project as a collaberative effort. I feel any time a group is trying to tell a story of any kind together, it should be collaberative to some degree.


I have had the opposite experience with RPs where there is no communication and vision. They fail miserably because it gets pulled apart and strays to strange places in the heat of the moment far too often. The exception is when there is no vision at all, on any one's part. Rather a basic plot and no one cares exactly where it goes or what happens. I enjoy free form projects. It's a great releif to just let go and strictly have fun and screw around, paying no attention to the story as a whole.

 

[call me rae]

That denotes the difference between a collaborative story and a role play. Subtle difference that changes the way the story is presented. These rps generally fail unless the others are onboard with this concept.

I guess it would depend on how you define failure. I mean sure if everyone is scatterbrained and there is no real plot or direction to speak of and it's basically everyone for themselves than yeah nothing is going to happen.


But I meant more in that you got to include everyone in the roleplay process. The more involved people are the more likely they are to stick with things even if the story might have hit a lull or people might be suddenly busy and unable to post often.


The longest running roleplay I was ever in lasted four years ( and to be honest it might still be active I've just lost track of the people who were in it )


And the reason it remained active throughout all that long time is because the core group of participants were allowed to keep the story going by contributing equally. Now that doesn't mean that everyone contributed to the story or the accepting of new members or the making of new threads or whatever.


No everyone had their own particular talents that they could contribute to the whole. My own Jedi Master if you will was the Mod and he was great at keeping people more or less on task. He could keep things going in a direction that was consistent with the world and was able to act as the liaison between our over worked GM and the rest of us.


My own specialty at the time ( since this was back when I was just starting to leave the cringe worthy N00b state and become a real live roleplayer ) was activity director. I didn't know enough of the universe to really contribute story ideas - although I could take off the wall comments in the Chat/OOC and run with them. My specialty on the other hand was coming up with fun themed games that people could play during the down times of the roleplay. I would make little graphic prizes and come up with fun things to do like - for Valentines Day for instance I made a kind of fun dating style game where people could pair their characters up with off the wall partners and whoever came up with the wackiest pairing won.


Another time I had them do a kind of gif interview where I came up with questions and you where supposed to answer with a gif that incompassed your character's reaction to the question.


I did more things but it was a while ago so I can't remember them.


But now I'm sure most people would say - well what the hey does that have to do with interaction and collaborating on a story.


Not a whole lot to be honest but it kept things fun and strengthen the bond between the players which in turn kept us all motivated to continue with the story.


At the end of the day that's what keeps a roleplay going. Not some militant adherence to a storyline or obsession about character relationships. No it's keeping things fresh and entertaining for the players.

 

[M.J. Saulnier]

If you need anything even remotley close to a "militant adherance" you're working with the wrong group.


Story telling should come naturally, and your cowriters should have no problem working together on the plot. There's nothing worse than an oddball sitting quietly in the corner periodically tossing wrenches at the plot or obsticles at other characters without first touching base on a genralized level to leave some sponteneity intact.


What am I going to do?


Where is my interaction coming from?


What do I think should happen right now?


That's selfish gaming, and even though folks might be nice about it, it's not fun to play alongside.

 

[call me rae]

[QUOTE="Loco Mofo]If you need anything even remotley close to a "militant adherance" you're working with the wrong group.
Story telling should come naturally, and your cowriters should have no problem working together on the plot. There's nothing worse than an oddball sitting quietly in the corner periodically tossing wrenches at the plot or obsticles at other characters without first touching base on a genralized level to leave some sponteneity intact.


What am I going to do?


Where is my interaction coming from?


What do I think should happen right now?


That's selfish gaming, and even though folks might be nice about it, it's not fun to play alongside.

[/QUOTE]
Sadly you'd be suprised at how often it comes up. Usually the militantness is a related to the whole "Winning the Roleplay" mindset. Where instead of one person desiring to single-handedly spearhead the resolution of whatever the central conflict is - there is one person who is so stuck on how they think the story should go that basically it just becomes a fanfiction or novel for them to write and everyone else is their unwilling lackeys.


I've painted myself into a corner like that once with a roleplay that I tried to get off the ground before. It was based on an obscure fandom which is why I was so insistent on what should and shouldn't be allowed - as I was following the world set up in the original story.


The problem is no one else had heard of that book series ( which is a shame cuz it's one of my favorites and more people should read it ) but it honestly just took all the fun out of the idea when I was constantly like - No it's more like this not like that.


Eventually I just gave up on the idea and moved on. It wasn't worth aggravating myself trying to explain it to others and it wasn't fair to my partners for me to be all Nagging Nancy to them.

 

[Spacekitty]

Try doing a character driven nation building RP. Hardest to get good players for

 

[call me rae]

Try doing a character driven nation building RP. Hardest to get good players for

How do you mean? I've never done a nation building roleplay. At least I don't think I have.

 

[Idea]

[QUOTE="Loco Mofo]This is a heads up before people line up to say, "Hey, it's just your opinion that a story can't work itself out!"
Thanks captain obvious but it's actually not my opinion. This is a collective of RP veterans spanning as far back as '97, my Jedi Masters, as it were. 2 of these are mine (Mary Sue & Cluster of Destiny). This is shortened version of the Top 10.


Feel free to disagree, but know you're not disagreeing with me in every case.


#5:


"The Cluster F**k of Destiny!"


Through some untold, unforeseen circumstance, 99.99% of all writers, in 99.99% of all RPs, find themselves in a Cluster F**k of Destiny. This is when 4-8 characters immediately cross paths and find common ground in a quest to save the day from evil. And all of this happens inside of 4-8 posts.


The misconception here is that this is any sort of start to a credible story someone would want to keep reading—let alone was the best way to set up your cast and plot.


You can almost picture several cliche, archetype characters accidentally colliding at a crossroads. And while helping each other gather their loose belongings off the ground, discover that they are all in fact on a fabled quest to achieve similar goals, and decide to travel together immediately, never leaving one another's side for the next 200-300 pages...


Weakest IC launch humanly possible without actively trying to bomb it. Play your cards with a little more finesse and calculation, your stories and characters will go down on you for it.*


#4:


"That was awesome!!... Right? .....Guys?"


Assumptions have no place in role play, ever, for any reason. When approaching another writer's character or scene, touch base, open a line of direct communication.


We're in an RP that's just started. I kick off with a post depicting my character at a small restaurant at a corner table nursing a black coffee. He seems a little on edge and keeps checking his surroundings as well as the time piece on his left wrist. I end with a cliff hangar; nothing is revealed or resolved.


You assume I'm waiting for someone and decide it's going to be*YOU. This is going to be SO GREAT!


You enter the small establishment, approach me calmly and sit down across from me, spitting out something like, "You're early."


What you couldn't have known without asking was that I'm an assassin, and I'm waiting on my mark. You've now destroyed that plan all together and forced this awkward, ugly exchange that hinders everything. Of course we*"can"*salvage the scene and work on the fly. I'll sacrifice the intro I planned specifically for my character for specific reasons so you can make a flat transition into the IC without exploring and setting up your character at all. We're off to a fantastic start! Even though you could have just said, "Hey, I got this idea. What if..."


#3:


"Mary Sue... Who Are You?"


A lot of people actually don't know what a "Mary Sue" (sometimes a Gary Sue when referring to a male) is, or how they can be used effectively in a story (it doesn't happen very often, because it's very hard to pull off).


I've heard people say a Mary Sue is an annoying female character. A female character played by a teenage girl (usually a bad writer). I've even heard it referenced as a character someone uses over and over in different projects.


A Mary Sue can be any gender, played by anyone. It is a seemingly perfect character, usually created by an insecure or otherwise escapist writer. They generally have no weaknesses, or if they do, they can and usually are channeled into strengths when it matters most, because a Mary Sue cannot fail.


They boast an impossible range of skills, strengths, knowledge, and means. They are often teenage girls, and their level of skill and wisdom is preposterous for their age. The primary trait of the Mary Sue is the ability to learn, even master any skill or feat in a remarkably fast amount of time. They adapt instantaneously to every situation thrown their way, almost always taking point and coming out on top.


So how do you use one? Subtlety.


Don't use this extreme blueprint. Furthermore, don't make the character a primary cast member, but a secondary or supporting role. Ideally, though, the Mary Sue is a Villain with drastic, deep flaws and weaknesses that emerge over the course of his or her journey. This method presents a perfect antagonist force that slowly reveals itself to in fact be flawed and imperfect, sometimes the things you thought were strengths ending up being weaknesses.


#2:


"Stories Work Themselves Out!"


No. No, they don't.


A good story requires premeditation, thought, some complexity and careful structure. How can multiple writers attacking a plot from multiple angles with their own motives ensure the final product has reached it's full potential?


Communication at every stage of the project. Leave nothing to chance or in the wind (within reason). Discuss, mull over, and finalize every decision going forward. Great story telling is a complex creature, and it doesn't happen by chance.


#1:


"Longer Is Better!"


This is the number one misconception in all of role playing and has divided the upper class for as long as I can remember. Only after years of reading and writing roleplays from a critical perspective does it become evident why longer is in fact NOT better, but worse.


Let's break this down piece by piece and examine the anatomy:


• I usually don't have 20 minutes to read one or more epic posts depicting your character entering town from a dusty old country road. How then could I—in good conscience—ask that of my co-writers every time I submit a post? Do this long enough and take it seriously enough, you start to consider things like this.


• Long posts bore the shit out of people. We usually don't get through them, especially if you color code all of your dialog, allowing your cowriter a to skim everything but the dialog (Double Rookie Move. It's like Kryptonite to my refined senses). It makes a choppy, cumbersome read that dispels any interest in the plot within a few posts. Pace and structure is everything—it's make or break.


They also murder your dialog and scene flow. Post length should always vary depending on the circumstance at hand. When 5 characters are in an intense conversation and the writers are spewing 8 paragraphs of filler each, I stopped reading on page 1. And what are we really writing for? Narcissistic gratification, or to tell great stories the world can appreciate? Something every writer should ask themselves before they get involved in someone's baby.


•"Nice tan, bro!"


Finally, the limelight is intoxicating. Long posts actually force writers to hog the limelight, often loading submissions with filler just to meet length requirements. I found myself doing it all the time in the early days. Long posts can even compromise character development, giving far too much insight into characters far too soon. How you reveal things and when is so important to a character's growth and the reader's experience.


5 RP Misconceptions debunked. Something for everyone to consider or disregard as nonsensical heresy.

[/QUOTE]
aaaahh...a wonderful read and with some surprising thoughts. Even more surprising, I agree with just about everything you said.


How many times did I have to tell people to avoid some of these, such as the one about assumptions...or the number 2 with people always rushing through things. Never taking time to savor it. In fact, that is one of the reason why I actually disagree with number 5.


You need longer posts with some people. Sure, detailed, simple and causal are all possible and valid, and all can turn out great, and although detailed is usually the one pressing itself on the others, something being bigger (a post) won't make it worse. Especially if you're talking a group rp. CAuse the problem of filler exists, but there is one that is the opposite and worse: people getting shunned or ignored cause this or that player is not feeling like writing a couple more lines. Being excluded like that is an experience I know well, and one I wouldn't wish for anyone. In doubt between shorter or longer , longer is still the lesser evil, in the least.


And regarding number 3, I do agree, but what really annoys me is another facet of such characters: Arbitrary characters. They aren't perfect per say, but usually they remain infallible.They give 180 personality turns on the mood or rather convinience of the rper. They follow formulas and usually spell lazyness on sight. I'd add more, but I could just add a link to my actual rant latter.


Finally, I actually get why number 1 happens. It's a mistake , and fixing it would lead (maybe) to some awesome results , but I think it's only natural. And that is because, realistically the characters might never meet, or some would only join the fray latter in the rp. In other words, some rpers would be left waiting for weeks until their turn to join arrived and some might never end up being allowed in at all. WIth the "bump" scenario, at least they get a little interaction, even if it's forced.