Viewpoint What you cannot stand in characters?

[Crayons]

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.

Yeah, I found it really weird when I joined an RP forum because a couple of my friends were already on there, and one of the categories you had to fill in for your character was "submissive, dominant or switch" as though ... always someone had to be dom/sub. AND it wasn't a romance/smut focused RP either although I'm p. sure smut was allowed and encouraged. I didn't end up RPing there because it was so, so, so SERIOUS and I couldn't handle it.

 

[rae2nerdy]

So I follow a erotic romance writer's blog and she regularly goes rants about this in fiction. (the dom/sub/switch). The thing is largely BDSM terms and are used in reference to BDSM play not as personality traits for individual people. And furthermore BDSM relationships actually encourage open lines of communication and being super open about what you want in the bedroom. You can't just look at someone and automatically assume they're dom/sub whatever based on their personality.

As for the top/bottom (I'm assuming seme/uke I don't actually know what those words mean) that's another issue entirely. It's basically the polite version of walking up to a gay couple and asking "So which one of you is the boy and which one is the girl?" Where the one doing the receiving must always be the girl and the one doing the fucking must always be the boy.

Which is again a little rude and also not how relationships work. Much like the dom/sub/switch the answer only involves bedroom positions. It doesn't have anything to do with personality trait or someone's role in a relationship.

 

[DatDemon]

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

Couldn´t have put it better than that.

I mean, sure. There are charcaters like this, that work. But they only do, because if you put thought and most of all love in the creation. And you have to make sure, that they don´t stay onesided the whole RP over. Make them evolve. Even if it´s an omniscient ancient god of gods or whatever.

I personally think, that the more OP your character is, the harder it gets to pull this off. But it´s NEVER impossible.

 

[ashwynne]

Yeah, I found it really weird when I joined an RP forum because a couple of my friends were already on there, and one of the categories you had to fill in for your character was "submissive, dominant or switch" as though ... always someone had to be dom/sub. AND it wasn't a romance/smut focused RP either although I'm p. sure smut was allowed and encouraged. I didn't end up RPing there because it was so, so, so SERIOUS and I couldn't handle it.

That's bizarre xD If it was a BDSM-based roleplay forum then I could understand it to a degree, I guess, but not if the RP wasn't even focused on those elements LOL. I'm honestly laughing just thinking about that being a required part of a character sheet. It must be for people to try and pair up their characters with someone who's a compatible BDSM partner, but again, if it's just a general roleplay forum then that kind of specificity is bizarre. As though everyone is going to fall into one of those categories or be interested in it in the first place. Makes me wonder how old the people coming up with the sheet requirements are... or at least it makes me suspect they have no actual knowledge on BDSM.

 

[Crayons]

That's bizarre xD If it was a BDSM-based roleplay forum then I could understand it to a degree, I guess, but not if the RP wasn't even focused on those elements LOL. I'm honestly laughing just thinking about that being a required part of a character sheet. It must be for people to try and pair up their characters with someone who's a compatible BDSM partner, but again, if it's just a general roleplay forum then that kind of specificity is bizarre. As though everyone is going to fall into one of those categories or be interested in it in the first place. Makes me wonder how old the people coming up with the sheet requirements are... or at least it makes me suspect they have no actual knowledge on BDSM.

It was a kind of "sexeh" RP where there was a lot of romance/smut/supernatural flirting going on. But yeah, no idea why they needed that on the profile. XD It was on the purple prosey side and a fan RP of an "adult" book series so I would imagine they were all at least 20 something.

 

[ashwynne]

It was a kind of "sexeh" RP where there was a lot of romance/smut/supernatural flirting going on. But yeah, no idea why they needed that on the profile. XD It was on the purple prosey side and a fan RP of an "adult" book series so I would imagine they were all at least 20 something.

LOL. 50 Shades of Grey readers, probably. The #1 source for misleading/misinforming people on how BDSM works. Because everybody knows that the entire world falls into one of those three categories, regardless of whether they're actually into BDSM or not xD There's actually a lot of interesting information out there from people in the BDSM community about how bad those books have been when it comes to a healthy understanding of how it works. It's pretty sad, actually.

 

[BackSet]

This is the weirdest conversation I have ever seen. And I've seen some weird conversations.

 

[ashwynne]

This is the weirdest conversation I have ever seen. And I've seen some weird conversations.

I wish this was the weirdest conversation I’ve seen/been a part of xD

 

[Crayons]

LOL. 50 Shades of Grey readers, probably. The #1 source for misleading/misinforming people on how BDSM works. Because everybody knows that the entire world falls into one of those three categories, regardless of whether they're actually into BDSM or not xD There's actually a lot of interesting information out there from people in the BDSM community about how bad those books have been when it comes to a healthy understanding of how it works. It's pretty sad, actually.

This was before that abomination came out. It was an RP based on the Anita Blake books, which are full of cheesy AF sex scenes. XD

 

[rae2nerdy]

This was before that abomination came out. It was an RP based on the Anita Blake books, which are full of cheesy AF sex scenes. XD

Don't they also have BDSM elements though? Or am I confusing it with Hamilton's faerie series? The wereleopards whole thing was super fucked up BDSM I thought.

Anyway onto my own personal gripe. I'm not sure if this is a character issue so much as a character request issue. But when people say they want you to play their love interest/crush. But then they basically tell you what the character has to look like and act like and everything. And I'm like...um if you have all this pre-planned stuff why don't YOU play the love interest then? I'm not ghost writing someone else's character.

I see this a lot with canon characters. They'll request I play a canon (which I don't mind really) but then they dictate HOW I play the canon. How they act, how they feel about the OC, etc. And it's like...um no. If I play a character I get to decide how they act/feel/look/etc. Otherwise it's not MY character it's yours.

 

[Crayons]

Don't they also have BDSM elements though? Or am I confusing it with Hamilton's faerie series? The wereleopards whole thing was super fucked up BDSM I thought.

They probably have elements of it. XD I only read the first one and it sucked so hard....

You may ask why I was in an RP of a fandom I didn't like. It was because my friends were like "heeey you don't need to have read the books, just come join!" when we had our own little forum. (And they were right it was super fun.)

But anyway having "elements" of BDSM doesn't really justify making you put that as a required field on your character sheet.

 

[rae2nerdy]

They probably have elements of it. XD I only read the first one and it sucked so hard....

You may ask why I was in an RP of a fandom I didn't like. It was because my friends were like "heeey you don't need to have read the books, just come join!" when we had our own little forum. (And they were right it was super fun.)

But anyway having "elements" of BDSM doesn't really justify making you put that as a required field on your character sheet.

From what I remember of the series it would be a reasonable question. The weres all had pretty effed up dom/sub dynamics so when I said elements I meant like Fifty Shades. It was inspired by BDSM dynamics without any understanding of the community.

I think it’s also like Fifty Shades in that the central idea is actually really interesting. And her world building was pretty good. It’s just she was really bad at writing relationships. And as they’re “erotic romances” the relationships are the central focus.

So that said I think doing an roleplay in the world without knowing about the books would be the best way to go.

 

[Wert]

I dislike when most of the focus of a character is only put on one thing about them. I get it when you're first writing a character and other characters are just getting to know them, I do that too sometimes, but even then having the same statement repeated in your posts is a bit obnoxious to me.

Since I'm not sure I'm explaining this well..
A writer wants everyone to know that their character is absolutely not interested in romance, even though no one asked, and they continuously put it in every post. "Aha! But I have no interest in men!" She repeats for the tenth time within two pages.
BonusPoints: They assume everyone of the character's preferred gender is into them.

Or

A writer really wants to put off that their character is attractive, and only focuses on the fact that they are attractive and not much about anything else.
Bonus points: They never describe how they are attractive, they just say they are attractive.

Another thing to go with this:
If you write "everyone finds the character irresistible/attractive" in a post it makes me want to hurl. It's assuming every character finds them attractive, which isn't usually the case. My character might think your character is attractive by other people's standards, but that doesn't mean they're attracted to them. This could go with a few things aside from attractiveness, too.

 

[Crayons]

I dislike when most of the focus of a character is only put on one thing about them. I get it when you're first writing a character and other characters are just getting to know them, I do that too sometimes, but even then having the same statement repeated in your posts is a bit obnoxious to me.

Since I'm not sure I'm explaining this well..
A writer wants everyone to know that their character is absolutely not interested in romance, even though no one asked, and they continuously put it in every post. "Aha! But I have no interest in men!" She repeats for the tenth time within two pages.
BonusPoints: They assume everyone of the character's preferred gender is into them.

Or

A writer really wants to put off that their character is attractive, and only focuses on the fact that they are attractive and not much about anything else.
Bonus points: They never describe how they are attractive, they just say they are attractive.

Another thing to go with this:
If you write "everyone finds the character irresistible/attractive" in a post it makes me want to hurl. It's assuming every character finds them attractive, which isn't usually the case. My character might think your character is attractive by other people's standards, but that doesn't mean they're attracted to them. This could go with a few things aside from attractiveness, too.

Typical Mary Sue trait, this. Also I wrote a whole post on why I can't stand people writing "everyone thinks X about character" somewhere but I dunno where.... XD

I think it’s also like Fifty Shades in that the central idea is actually really interesting. And her world building was pretty good. It’s just she was really bad at writing relationships. And as they’re “erotic romances” the relationships are the central focus.

Yeah I guess the source material had a good deal of dom/sub relationships because of the nature of wolf packs and the like, and the erotica based on those. But the RP itself wasn't full of boning down. XD

I don't really think anything about it was "good". The scenario was another rip-off of World of Darkness (a la Underworld), but with more inter-species boning,. The characters sucked hard (no pun intended), especially Anita herself, who was an awful Mary Sue - one of the worst I've seen in an actual published book. I'm really glad I played in an RP of it before I read any of it, tbh. I think it goes to show that sometimes the source material or fandom counts less in an RP than who you're playing with.

 

[Becker]

I always find it humorous when someone makes a Captain-General-Major-Sergeant-Important-Senior-Master-Admiral or otherwise a very high ranked individual but has little to no interest in being a leader? ~ When the highest ranking general is some under-aged, 8 foot tall, emotionally unstable, edgy teen, bush wookie and they're stuck half-way up a tree because they don't want to talk to the rest of the team in a normal conversation.

smh..

 

[rae2nerdy]

Typical Mary Sue trait, this. Also I wrote a whole post on why I can't stand people writing "everyone thinks X about character" somewhere but I dunno where.... XD



Yeah I guess the source material had a good deal of dom/sub relationships because of the nature of wolf packs and the like, and the erotica based on those. But the RP itself wasn't full of boning down. XD

I don't really think anything about it was "good". The scenario was another rip-off of World of Darkness (a la Underworld), but with more inter-species boning,. The characters sucked hard (no pun intended), especially Anita herself, who was an awful Mary Sue - one of the worst I've seen in an actual published book. I'm really glad I played in an RP of it before I read any of it, tbh. I think it goes to show that sometimes the source material or fandom counts less in an RP than who you're playing with.

I never saw Underworld admittedly. But I kind of liked the lycanthropy as a communicable disease (a la measles) and the government regulating of preternatural beings aspect. Most such stories I had read previously where more like Harry Potter. Where all the preternaturals where hidden. So I found the idea of them being fully integrated into society To be cool.

Sadly being as the source materials where erotica the really interesting setting and world building was overshadowed by the toxic relationships.

On topic for the thread and sort of related to the worst parts of the Anita books:

A trait in romance characters I cannot stand is when toxic behavior is excused because someone is a romantic lead. Often times to a hypocritical extent.

Ex. Female Love Interest is not a slut like Other Girls yet she literally sleeps around with all the guy characters in the story. Like excuse you you where just saying how Susie is a homewreaking ho for doing the exact same thing.

Male love interest is an abusive and controlling asshole and yet it’s totally fine. Whereas less desirable male acts exactly the same way and he’s the villain.

Like the unintentional take away from this is so gross. Basically if your physically attractive you can act however you want and it’s okay. Because all anyone likes you for is your looks.

 

[Lorsh]

edgy "i wear a mask all the time" characters

 

[FoolsErin]

edgy "i wear a mask all the time" characters

I mean, if there’s a valid explanation for them to, like being disfigured in some way or whatever...

But yea the whole “I wear a mask because my face is too ugly even for this sinful world!” with said character’s face not even really having anything remotely interesting about it beyond the fuck ton of eyeliner and other “emo” makeup is just no.

 

[BackSet]

What about
"I wear a mask because I think I look damn cool in it."
"Take off the mask."
"No."

 

[FoolsErin]

What about
"I wear a mask because I think I look damn cool in it."
"Take off the mask."
"No."

Stuff like this was kinda in the back of my head when I wrote my reply, actually. As long as it’s not an overly dramatized reason, masks are fine for any purpose in my opinion.

Though I will say I reeeeaallly dislike considering a pathetic little baby mask surrounding the eyes and only slightly covering part of their face identity hiding. No it’s not, you can still see most of their damn face!

 

[BackSet]

With a lot of heroes, I've always figured it's the demeanor change. Well, okay, actually just Superman. Hal Jordan needs a new costume.

 

[Idea]

Though I will say I reeeeaallly dislike considering a pathetic little baby mask surrounding the eyes and only slightly part of their face identity hiding. No it’s not, you can still see most of their damn face!

WHAT?! How could you possibly see through my masterful disguise?

A pair of contact lenses!

 

[BackSet]

You'd be surprised how much a change of eyecolor could effect someone's perception of you.

Disguises are all about demeanor. Even if you have a disguise that conceals you perfectly if you don't change how you act everyone will know it's you. Unless you're Spider-Man in which case nobody actually knows who Peter Parker is so it's cool.

 

[rae2nerdy]

I would actually say it's people's belief that really hides your identity. People do not associate heroes (or villains) with every day lives. No one wants to think about what Superman eats for breakfast or where Wonder Woman gets her dry cleaning done or how the Flash keeps from swallowing bugs when he's running so fast. Because that's just not the kind of thing that heroes worry about. They're worrying about saving the world, fighting invasion, etc.

So yeah you don't have to have a full face mask or totally alter your personality to hide your identity. A set of super powers and a fancy onsie will do. I mean for one thing if a guy can lift a building or make a dragon appear out of thin air, guess what his face ain't gonna be what I'm staring at. For another, unless the person knows you really well they aren't going to be like "oh hey that guy looks like whatshisnuts that i saw that one type at arbys."

 

[BackSet]

What about rich dudes, though. There's a reason Bruce Wayne is reclusive.