Viewpoint What makes you nope out of a search thread?

[BackSet]

Other than strictly fandom threads, the following is a hot yikes:

1. Rude vibes. I suppose this is a bit vague, but some threads give me this gut feeling that the OP will be very hard to write with. It normally shows in their responses to the thread, when others link reasonably good ideas to build a plot on that fits OP's requests, and the OP goes "I don't like it!" without giving it a chance or proposing to discuss it in PMs to see what they would like. They're dead set on something specific and shoot down potential partners right off the bat.

2. Threads with very specific, very cliche plots set in a fantasy dystopian world where sexual/physical abuse is heavily implied. I can see from a mile away that is a fantasy the OP wants to self insert themselves into. You know it when you see it. Nothing makes me nope out faster.

3. Tiny tiny font size. I'm sorry, I'm not scooting over closer to my screen to squint at size 2 text.

I hate that last one. It's worse when it's on a fancy bright color background that the text barely shows up on.

 

[rae2nerdy]

Also too text on an image background. It looks ugly and it’s impossible to read.

 

[BackSet]

Also scroll boxes. Sometimes I can't even scroll.

 

[Michibear]

1. I don't mind if people have furries listed as a topic, but if that is your only topic and/or all your characters will be then I leave the thread immediately. It just isn't something I'm interested in.

2. If you don't double on mxf. I respect that is your choice. I just don't play a male decently without having a female character as well.

3. If you are super strict on the reply every day.

4. If you have fandom as a prefix I most likely won't even click on the thread unless I see originals in your title. I am just not good with fandoms, or more so playing canon characters.

 

[TrashGremlin]

In my experience however 99.9% of the time “must double” is basically when someone really wants you to play the male for their female. But since demanding people play a specific gender is pretty commonly an asshole thing to do they try to be “subtle” by saying “well I guess I can play a male after all BUT ONLY if you play TWO characters of a gender and sexuality I decide.

It’s selfish as hell.

I don't mind adds like that,at least people are being upfront about it. I'd rather know that someone wants their partner to indulge them in a particular type of setting, rather than plot with someone and find out that they wanted this very kind of configuration through the backdoor.

 

[rae2nerdy]

I don't mind adds like that,at least people are being upfront about it. I'd rather know that someone wants their partner to indulge them in a particular type of setting, rather than plot with someone and find out that they wanted this very kind of configuration through the backdoor.

I just find the wording rude tbh. It turns me off if I feel like the whole roleplay is going to be catering to my partners wants.

At the very least you can ask someone politely and offer up some kind of compromise.

So instead of saying - You have to play all these various characters for me to be happy.

You can say - I’m really looking forward to romantic roleplay with MxF. I would like you to play the M but I’m willing to do a second character if you want me to play someone for you.


As at least the second way your leaving it up to your partner to tell you “Hey can you play X for me?” Rather then assuming they want to play two distinct characters to make you happy.

I’m mostly thinking for the people who don’t roleplay specifically for romance, like myself.

I don’t mind playing a crush for someone else. But I am not interested in having a crush of my own. So the idea that I have two male two distinct romantic pairs just so my partner gets to claim they’re being “fair” is frustrating.

Because to me fair is actually asking your partner what they want and giving them that.

If what they want is one pairing than do that. If they want one romantic pairing and one platonic pairing than do that. If they want a ratio’d pairing of both characters playing MF or Canon&OC, than do that.

But at least ask up front what your partner actually wants. Don’t make assumptions.

 

[Punkie]

Attitude is a big factor for me; I want my partner to be friendly, someone who is easygoing and easy to work with, not simply just my writing partner. If they're really short and have a bad attitude in their post, it doesn't really make me feel like they'd be the same when it comes to writing.

Formatting for the post mostly doesn't matter to me; some people like to be cut and dry with what they're looking for, and that's understandable. However, bright colors and messy formatting can throw me off, especially for me when I'm looking for literate partners. Basically, if you've got a basic post, that's fine, but if you have a post that's actually really messy and hard to read, I don't really like that a lot honestly.

As for the doubling topic that people are talking about; on one hand, I can see the frustrations of people who don't double, and it may seem selfish, but then again that's their personal RP thread, so people can have whatever preferences they'd like. I don't usually double myself, it depends on the fandom, and it's mostly because I'm generally bad at playing canon characters/male characters, though I have done it before. The other issue I find with doubling is that writing is a lot ore tiring when you have to write with four characters instead of two. i really enjoying having the focus on whatever plot we had in mind, between two characters, and when you add in an additional two characters into the mix it can be a lot harder to focus.

 

[Demonic cupcake]

Tip to people that are new at making a roleplay. Dont specify that. It makes me so much less likely to join

 

[BackSet]

If somebody has, either in the past or in the present, mentioned that they're into body modifications I am out of the thread faster than a speeding bullet.

 

[Wordy]

Threads that are too particular over who/what you'll play exactly with no wiggle room.

Plots that survive PURELY on romance. I can't stand them - I like having romance as something that's written in if there's a window for it, but it's never something I deviate to as an immediate plot point.

When there's characters already planned on OP's behalf (which is fine), but all of them are too awfully perfect or they're catered to clearly fit some sort of personal fantasy that usually wouldn't show up in your average story.

And this next one is purely preference, but I avoid anything that tends to have anything with heavy political correctness/characters that live and breathe for that theme. Some people like writing that stuff, but I see enough about that in my real life and I like writing for the storytelling aspect. Not only that, it makes me feel like I have to tiptoe around certain topics whenever I see this brought into a roleplay. It ends up making my characters become overly passive and neutral on all grounds, so it kinda' kills it for me.

EDIT:

The last point was touched on in a previous post and explains it much better. Characters whose only personality traits are what their politically-centered views are, and when a character's sexuality is made to be a personality trait rather than who they are. A lot of people write characters like this well, but others try to force it in just for the sake of doing it. Hope that makes what I'm saying a little clearer, because I'm not against characters like that at all. It's just when it's very 'in your face' that it becomes overbearing.

 

[BackSet]

Harems. If someone mentions Harems I'm out.

 

[Wordy]

Harems. If someone mentions Harems I'm out.

Harems?

 

[BackSet]

Harems?

You know. Like, Man is surrounded by 10 beuatiful women who are all pining for him but he's oblivious. At least, I think that's how it goes.

 

[Wordy]

You know. Like, Man is surrounded by 10 beuatiful women who are all pining for him but he's oblivious. At least, I think that's how it goes.

Ahh, I see. Like an exaggerated love triangle. I agree with you on that one.

 

[BackSet]

Ahh, I see. Like an exaggerated love triangle. I agree with you on that one.

Sort of, yeah. They're also a thing in real life if your rich enough to afford it.

 

[PhoenixMire]

Harems. If someone mentions Harems I'm out.

Man, I loathe the harem trope so much. I guess sometimes it can be portrayed interestingly, but harems completely ruin things for me that are otherwise good.

 

[Tove]

Ghosting, dropping, whatever can be a slippery slope when it comes down to roleplay it has happened to everyone, circumstances are different. A turn off for me is reading a request thread that goes into a lot of detail about the person not having any luck finding roleplays or how former partners, from any number of reasons, contributed to that reason as well. I haven't seen it here yet but I have elsewhere. I just feel that yeah a person might not have the best time finding partners but if you mention it in your search where you're trying to get partners, I don't know, it makes me just avoid it especially talking about other people you no longer write with.

I would think what happens if we write together and something doesn't work out. I just really want to see a search of ideas and eagerness to craft something together not about situations about former partners being the reason for what not.

 

[Bealocwealm]

So what I'm going to say is a doozy because it applies to almost every search thread:

When it's apparent they only want romance RP, and all char pairings are romantic pairings. ... Which is the default.

It's hard finding RP when you don't really like romance RP!

 

[BackSet]

So what I'm going to say is a doozy because it applies to almost every search thread:

When it's apparent they only want romance RP, and all char pairings are romantic pairings. ... Which is the default.

It's hard finding RP when you don't really like romance RP!

Reason #1 why I don't do 1x1s.

 

[PhoenixMire]

So what I'm going to say is a doozy because it applies to almost every search thread:

When it's apparent they only want romance RP, and all char pairings are romantic pairings. ... Which is the default.

It's hard finding RP when you don't really like romance RP!

Man I hate this so much. I just want some platonic RPs. Guess that's too much to ask for

Reason #1 why I don't do 1x1s.

Same exact thing happened to me when I did group RPs though. People were always anxious to pair their characters together. You're lucky if you haven't run into a bunch of romance-crazed people in group RPs as well :')

 

[BackSet]

Man I hate this so much. I just want some platonic RPs. Guess that's too much to ask for


Same exact thing happened to me when I did group RPs though. People were always anxious to pair their characters together. You're lucky if you haven't run into a bunch of romance-crazed people in group RPs as well :')

It's simple. Avoid f***ing school roleplays, any roleplays mentioning pairing and romance, and anyone who's title is something along the lines of "[topic] rp?"

 

[rae2nerdy]

For romance I find that most of the time people don’t actually require it whatever their search thread might say. (In 1x1, I cant speak to groups).

The easiest way to tell if the person actually is going to insist on romance or if they’re willing to do something else is look for two things.

1. Doubling ratios. Where you both play two characters that make up two distinct pairings. These people tend to be more insistent on adding romance.

2. Slow Burn, basically if they say they want to build up to a romance than chances are they’re fine if it doesn’t show up at all.

It does involve actually talking to people but unfortunately a lot of people who are fine with doing platonic roleplays don’t actually label that in their search threads for some reason.

That said you will never know unless you ask. I do exclusively platonic roleplays and I have found good partners by searching through the romance specific threads. You gotta actually read them close and learn to get a feel for the people who only want a romantic fantasy and the people who default to romance because they can’t think of something else on their own.

The second group are usually the ones you want. As you give them other options and they’ll be happy to run with it.

 

[BackSet]

I've got only one person I'm comfortable 1x1ing with and he doesn't even go on here anymore.

 

[PhoenixMire]

It's simple. Avoid f***ing school roleplays, any roleplays mentioning pairing and romance, and anyone who's title is something along the lines of "[topic] rp?"

Been there, done that
Still had awful/annoying group experiences wherein all people cared about was pairing characters up...
RPing in general has been a bit lackluster for me lately tbh.

 

[Sachihiiro]

• if they require me to be a certain gender to play characters of that gender. scares me off.
• i'm going to nod my head in unison with everyone else who said attitude. and not necessarily just a foul attitude, if their humor or tone makes them sound like someone i wouldn't really jive with, i tend to steer clear just so that they might find someone more compatible.