Viewpoint What you cannot stand in characters?

[mother of sorrows]

there aren't a lot of character types i hate, but i can't stand two things;

• overly edgy characters. okay, i've been guilty of this myself and even now i still sometimes look at my ocs and go 'wow, you're one edgy bastard, aren't you?' honestly, a bit of edge is fun and i don't mind it. what i absolutely hate, though, are those overly edgy anime-esque charas. the type who is always smirking evilly, has a super tragic backstory, goes on a badass killing spree and then stands there covered in blood while laughing maniacally... the worst thing about them is another character will never catch them slipping! they're never embarrassed, offended, sad (except when it comes to their tragic backstory) or ever get defeated. even if they're up against a character that's vastly more experienced in fighting than them, they always find some way to beat their ass. and they always have some witty oneliner to throw at any chara that roasts the heck out of them ://
• when characters have mental illnesses or have gone through deep trauma, but its grossly inaccurate. obviously, trauma and mental illness are both very complex topics and every person goes through them differently; but i've seen writers slap things like that on their characters just to make them tragic. """"scary""" mental illnesses like schizophrenia and psychosis get the blunt of this, usually. for example, i've seen a character years ago who had schizophrenia and would never show symptoms until it was time to fight, then they somehow turned into a killing machine - because apparently mental illness will give you super strength. it's kind of a slap in the face, to be honest. not that i'm against people writing about mental illness and trauma, but please research! everybody is human and bound to make mistakes, but taking something a person suffers with everyday and making a spin out of it to make your chara more interesting is just.... no

that's pretty much it! hopefully, i didn't bring the mood down with the last point, but it just irks me beyond belief :"")

 

[Wert]

The whole "cute anxiety bean character" stereotype. Anxiety isn't cute, and it's not the same thing as being shy or introverted.


Damsel in distress characters. You know, those characters who are constantly in need of saving. The writers often pull things out of their ass so that their character is in some form of danger to draw attention to their character. It's done an unreasonable amount.


Characters who don't fit the setting. Bonus points if the character is mary sue.


Characters whose only personality flaw is anger issues. Especially if said anger issues are only shown when the characters are about to fight, or already in combat. They don't accidentally snap at people, or show in any other way that they actually have anger issues. I have nothing against characters with anger issues, but come on. At least show that they have it, or give their personality another flaw. I've come across this often, and have been guilty of it in the past. It just feels like lazy writing.


Those characters who can never be wrong, or never fail at doing something. They're somehow good at everything.

 

[BackSet]

Characters whose only personality flaw is anger issues. Especially if said anger issues are only shown when the characters are about to fight, or already in combat. They don't accidentally snap at people, or show in any other way that they actually have anger issues. I have nothing against characters with anger issues, but come on. At least show that they have it, or give their personality another flaw. I've come across this often, and have been guilty of it in the past. It just feels like lazy writing.

I do this sometimes. I just can't bring myself to be mean to other people's characters because what if they get mad at me and I can't deal woth that kind of stress.

The whole "cute anxiety bean character" stereotype. Anxiety isn't cute, and it's not the same thing as being shy or introverted.

I like to think that I am cute in my anxiety. I'm kidding.

In all seriousness, yeah, you're right, anyone who actually goes through anxiety on a regular basis can tell you that it's not cute.

 

[BurntCook]

If they have a section a mile long for their abilities/powers and a three word description of personality.

PREEAAAACCCHHH

 

[BackSet]

Personality's hard man. I'm not a frikken psychologist.

 

[Crayons]

Personality's hard man. I'm not a frikken psychologist.

Just out of curiosity what do you find hard about it?

 

[BackSet]

Just out of curiosity what do you find hard about it?

Well, I can write a character's personality just fine in story, but actually trying to describe it, well, there's so many facets that it's hard to keep track of and it's not like I ever actually follow the personality section to the letter because Characterization Marches On.

Plus I only know so many types of emotions and mental descriptors.

 

[Jupiter_Pluvius]

I do this sometimes. I just can't bring myself to be mean to other people's characters because what if they get mad at me and I can't deal woth that kind of stress.

I like to think that I am cute in my anxiety. I'm kidding.

In all seriousness, yeah, you're right, anyone who actually goes through anxiety on a regular basis can tell you that it's not cute.

I have a character who is a jerk to pretty much everyone she meets in the beginning. Characters have to earn her trust and respect, otherwise she sees them as weak distractions. It was difficult for me to roleplay with her in the beginning because in real life I'm such a loving and understanding person -- but when I decided to let her personality traits happen, it became so much fun! There were a few people who got upset(unfortunately,) but there others where their characters reacted according to THEIR personality traits, and it flowed nicely. She's one of my favorite characters to use since she's so different from me. It really throws me into a different world.

 

[Crayons]

Well, I can write a character's personality just fine in story, but actually trying to describe it, well, there's so many facets that it's hard to keep track of and it's not like I ever actually follow the personality section to the letter because Characterization Marches On.

Plus I only know so many types of emotions and mental descriptors.

That just seems very odd to me.

 

[BackSet]

That just seems very odd to me.

How so?

 

[Crayons]

How so?

It just sounds like a big blind spot in writing/imagining if you can't describe a personality. If someone said to you "oh your best friend is Ann, what's she like?" Wouldn't you be able to describe her personality...? The way I see it is it's just like describing anything else, "that tree is tall, green, has red bark and a woodpecker hole" except that personality is one of the things most intrinsic to the human experience so we should be able to describe it better. I just find it somewhat baffling.

 

[BackSet]

It just sounds like a big blind spot in writing/imagining if you can't describe a personality. If someone said to you "oh your best friend is Ann, what's she like?" Wouldn't you be able to describe her personality...? The way I see it is it's just like describing anything else, "that tree is tall, green, has red bark and a woodpecker hole" except that personality is one of the things most intrinsic to the human experience so we should be able to describe it better. I just find it somewhat baffling.

Yeah but I wouldn't give a long description. I'd say: yeah, Ann's pretty nice. She's got a bit of a sweet tooth and sometimes has trouble functioning unless she's had some sort of sweet thing (trust me, it happens). She's also scared of dogs because a dog bit her one time.

 

[Crayons]

Yeah but I wouldn't give a long description. I'd say: yeah, Ann's pretty nice. She's got a bit of a sweet tooth and sometimes has trouble functioning unless she's had some sort of sweet thing (trust me, it happens). She's also scared of dogs because a dog bit her one time.

...

Would you be able to describe your own personality?

 

[BackSet]

...

Would you be able to describe your own personality?

Um...

I'd probably have to think long and hard about it before I do it.

 

[Thelightone]

I don’t like it when you basically decide which OC is going to be the more evil one and they intro has them living up to what was agreed upon and then about 2 replies in the evil-ish OC is now trying to kiss or be nice to the good-ish OC with no underlying ill intent. If you’re gonna play a villain, play a villain at least until something significant happens where they can start being a more dynamic character.

 

[starstucker]

the ones who try to create situations or toss themselves into situations that don't involve them.

the ones who are always edgy and roast strangers on the daily.

the ones who are 'soft anxiety cute trans boi uwu'.

ew.

 

[Idea]

Especially if said anger issues are only shown when the characters are about to fight, or already in combat. They don't accidentally snap at people, or show in any other way that they actually have anger issues. I have nothing against characters with anger issues, but come on. At least show that they have it, or give their personality another flaw. I've come across this often, and have been guilty of it in the past. It just feels like lazy writing.

This but honestly applied to every flaw that is only there when the player thinks that they can otherwise justify it. "My character is super sassy to people who are mean to them"; "my character doesn't trust people they barely know"; "my character is lazy unless there is something important to do"; "my character is reckless when the situation calls for quick action"

That's not a flaw, that's being a person.

 

[just_patches]

I don't like chivalrous characters who put their chivalry over their objective or when it makes them more disrespectful than anything
Such as: chivalrous male fighting a woman who us of similar strength to him and she is an antagonist but they refuse to fight her or treat her as an equal because "I can't hit girls >.>"
It's not too bad if portrayed as a flaw though

 

[Coco Adel]

That character that somehow has the instantaneous solution to everyone's problems, therefore, making anyone's character arc, growth, development, etc completely irrelevant.

Or the undercover bunny who inserts themselves into your backstory (without consulting you I might add) and makes it so that they were you childhood friend, long lost love or that you did something awful to them in the past (even if it goes against everything your character is and would never do so in the past or present) effectively controlling your character in some way shape or form.

 

[Coco Adel]

I notice some rpers will list weaknesses and character flaws on their cs, but they’ll either be too insignificant to matter (oh, she has mild acne sometimes), or they’ll just never come up in-game. Typically the kind of thing that people using Mary Sues try to staple onto their characters to make them seem flawed when they actually aren't.

I give my characters actual weaknesses, while I'm pretty good at displaying personality weaknesses I tend to actually give them physical weaknesses when it comes to powers taking a somewhat MHA approach to it, giving my powers requirements and physical drawbacks and limitations.

 

[Submerged]

When people say they only play "submissive" or "dominant" characters

Like go hog wild on playing whatever character you want but if I make another mlm character and get asked if they're "seme or uke" imma tear my hair out

This problem seems front and center for mlm rps and it's one of the main reasons I stray against that type of rp at this point.

 

[FoolsErin]

if I make another mlm character

I THOUGHT YOU MEANT MULTI-LEVEL MARKETING CHARACTER FOR A SECOND AND I WAS EXTREMELY CONFUSED.

 

[Submerged]

I THOUGHT YOU MEANT MULTI-LEVEL MARKETING CHARACTER FOR A SECOND AND I WAS EXTREMELY CONFUSED.

Hey, I take my pyramid scheme rps very seriously!

 

[just_patches]

Like go hog wild on playing whatever character you want but if I make another mlm character and get asked if they're "seme or uke" imma tear my hair out.

Agreed
While I don't really play mlm, am not against it, I feel having any submissiveness or dominance to come naturally.
Semi-related is the notion that Extrovert characters are always dom and introverts are always sub

 

[BackSet]

There's also the assumption that there are only two categories and that it's not possible to have a healthy, mutual relationship between two people without one dominating the other.