What Kills a Good RP ?

[Marble shhh]

No direction.

 

[Noble Scion]

An evil RP! *badumtss*

 

[isabellllll]

what kills a roleplay for me is probably a general distaste for the roleplay shown by my partner. i dislike when you can tell by the writing that the response is rushed and carelessly written! i love detailed and interesting responses, one that shows interest in the genre.

 

[Brendanfp]

Sorry, all for my lack of responses RPN is being weird with its notifications. Thank you all for your thoughts and opinions. I really do value each and every post :3

Lack of Motivation ​

Number one RP killer, lack of motivation. If no one has the drive to post they always wait for someone else to pick it up, then starts an endless cycle of waiting.

I myself always forget to answer, or have no motivation, so it just depends on the person ig

I feel like lack of motivation for sure or a loose plot line.

1. Inactivity. It's hard to have a good flow going if you / your partner are gone away for too long and RP for too short. I understand IRL could be overwhelming but make an effort to at least reply twice or once a week? Or if it's impossible to notify the partner so you wouldn't leave them hanging.

Lack of Motivation is a big point I see come up again and again. And it's easy to see why, if you have no motivation you won't feel like doing shit. This concept is true for any activity in life. However, half the reason for this thread is to find out how to prevent such things from happening. So any ideas? :3

 

[Brendanfp]

Lack of Direction
​

2. Unplanned plotlines. Usually, RPs are planned up until to the certain point though sometimes RPs tend to diverge from the planned plotlines (which is alright but too much is nah) and you gotta re-route to go back to the main plotline. I kinda don't like it, especially if you're time bounded because it makes the RP unnecessarily long and hard to finish IMO.

No direction.

Lack of direction is another answer I see a lot. I feel like this mistake is a lot easier to make than others because everyone has ideas they just can't wait to share with the world. Impatience is the catalyst for this RP killing mistake.

 

[Brendanfp]

An evil RP! *badumtss*

Hehe :3

 

[Brendanfp]

Lack of Communication
​

Lack of communication can kill RP threads relatively quickly. If a GM doesn't inquire about anyone's status regarding activity, no one will. I hate being left in the dark about absences and quitters, but I will always respect their decision if they notify me about leaving or quitting.

Yeah, lack of communication is a huge one. The RP is like a mini community if no one is communicating people just end up leaving to find a better one, and if everyone is leaving and no one is saying why then it will just trigger more to leave.

 

[Brendanfp]

For me these are the following :
3. Romance. Yezus this is the one I don't like the most. When someone inserts the romance genre in an RP. I tried doing this and it ended up in a total disaster so nope, not the one for me. It adds the unneeded drama and most romance plots are overrated/cliche no offense.

Yea, I never thought of that one. Can I inquire about what happened?

 

[Brendanfp]

Characters that are a pure reflection of the writer and therefore feel entitled to be involved in everything and liked by everyone.

A personal pet peeve of mine >.<

 

[Brendanfp]

what kills a roleplay for me is probably a general distaste for the roleplay shown by my partner. I dislike when you can tell by the writing that the response is rushed and carelessly written! I love detailed and interesting responses, one that shows interest in the genre.

I totally get where you are coming from. Sloppy and rushed writing is always a let down for me, cause I feel like there is no point of Rping if they are not going to put 100% into it.

 

[Elle Santiago]

You have to make sure that your players have the same writing competence too. One might have a very detailed writing, the other subpar. The one with the detailed writing might feel like the other person just rushed through it for the sake of posting, while the other might feel like they’re not good enough, making them feel self-concsious writing. Either way, both would foster an environment that would possibly make them stop posting.

Give rules as well. I mean, there’s a standard rules and then there’s your rules. It might be anal to say “you gotta post this set amount of times per day or week” but it establishes what you expect from them.

Interaction is really a strong one as well covered by those who came before me.

What else... oh, right! If you find yourself receiving a lot of interest, limit the numbers of your players. Know your limits and whatnot. Get the excess people interested waitlisted. If you wanna test them and their dedication, have them write up a character sheet and decided who you want in in your RP.

 

[platinum]

personally i feel it starts to die out when a section is dragged on for too long e.g. a scene in which a character is waiting for another character to finish doing something or come out of a room. sometimes too much detail is included and it ends up getting boring really quickly. sliding out of a situation like that seems really forced - at least to me - and can make the rest of the roleplay seem kinda awkward.

 

[Rhianni]

Just about anything.

Roleplays are, unfortunately, notoriously fragile.

Lack of time, lack of communication, a sudden death of an inspiration. It can happen even with partners that were reliable for months prior to either dropping out or outright disappearing.

OOC interaction is a big factor that can make or break a roleplay, though.

 

[The Iron Kaiser]

I think when the GM just gives up on Putin in any effort it has an effect on the RP as a whole

 

[The Iron Kaiser]

There is also a problem with confusion amongst players when the GM does not provide reasons for certain thing happening.

 

[Bie]

lack of motivation from the players or gm

 

[CyanDragon]

Bad grammar.

 

[dollsteak]

Bad writing.

 

[LadyAurora]

A lack of plot always kills roleplays

 

[Kozilek]

People wanting something to happen, and going about it in a heavy handed manner. I play a lot of D&D, and there's always one player who wants something to happen for whatever reason, but instead of keeping it quiet and going about it secretly, and then having a big reveal and it's funny/cool/epic/etc, it's annoying. It happened a lot when I roleplayed online elsewhere, and they either god-mod or make the scene seem unrealistic by forcing something to happen.

Bad writing always does it as well. However, if it isn't someone's first language, I can respect that they're trying and I stick with it.

 

[SandraDeelightful]

Too little interaction in OOC chat.

 

[MysticWitch]

For me, its when the fellow rper contributes nothing to the rp itself and is in a sense a "Dead" rp partner. I'm pretty flexible and can contribute a heck of a lot of action, ideas and twists to my RPs. But when the other only reacts and doesn't contribute anything in return I get bored VERY quickly and often break it off.

 

[Brendanfp]

Bad grammar.

You really think so? That's one I haven't heard.

 

[Brendanfp]

Bad writing.

That's pretty broad lol.

 

[Brendanfp]

Too little interaction in OOC chat.

Yes. The OOC is the big one that keeps popping up. Never really saw it as that important before this discussion.