Viewpoint What you cannot stand in characters?

[rae2nerdy]

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

Yeah because he's antisocial and has a hard time connecting with people. It has nothing to do with his secret identity. A better example would be Oliver Queen, he's more personable and his costume is much less concealing than Batmans. Especially his original robin-hood esque one.

But let's put it this way - Do you know what Jeff Bezos looks like* ? Do you know what your mayor* looks like? Do you think you could recognize them if they were walking around cosplaying as Robin Hood and shooting criminals?

* - off the top of your head without having to google it.

 

[BackSet]

Yeah because he's antisocial and has a hard time connecting with people. It has nothing to do with his secret identity. A better example would be Oliver Queen, he's more personable and his costume is much less concealing than Batmans. Especially his original robin-hood esque one.

But let's put it this way - Do you know what Jeff Bezos looks like? Do you know what your mayor looks like? Do you think you could recognize them if they were walking around cosplaying as Robin Hood and shooting criminals?

Er... no, I guess I do not.

That actually reminds me of an issue I have with Batman: Why the hell is Gotham City like 50-60 percent wealthy socialites with the other 40-50 percent being beggars and criminals.

 

[SP3CT3R]

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!

You were in the Ladybug thread we know who this is about.

 

[Lexiseeksrp]

My fav is the split personality.
Shy and Keeps to Herself. Gets angry easily and causes a scene. She's friendly.

 

[SP3CT3R]

My fav is the split personality.
Shy and Keeps to Herself. Gets angry easily and causes a scene. She's friendly.

I feel like that's just an issue with people not knowing how to describe their characters' personalities well.

But I do hate when the "Doesn't get angry often" character only snaps and goes on a rampage when they're doing something noble, like protecting their friends from the arc villain. It's never for selfish reasons or in situations that make them look ugly.

 

[ashwynne]

But I do hate when the "Doesn't get angry often" character only snaps and goes on a rampage when they're doing something noble, like protecting their friends from the arc villain. It's never for selfish reasons or in situations that make them look ugly.

To be fair... people that tend to be even keeled and slow to anger do only tend to get angry when something really egregious is happening that breaks their moral code. I have a WAY bigger problem with people who say their character "has anger issues" but then only have them get angry when there's a noble cause/situation that justifies anger happening.

 

[SP3CT3R]

To be fair... people that tend to be even keeled and slow to anger do only tend to get angry when something really egregious is happening that breaks their moral code. I have a WAY bigger problem with people who say their character "has anger issues" but then only have them get angry when there's a noble cause/situation that justifies anger happening.

I was talking about the characters that go ballistic when they do get angry, and just kind of assumed that people would make that connection. Sorry for being vague.

 

[ashwynne]

I was talking about the characters that go ballistic when they do get angry, and just kind of assumed that people would make that connection. Sorry for being vague.

Ah okay, gotcha! Yeah, that's a bit different, depending on the scenario. Though it also depends on how you define "ballistic." I find that when quiet/even-keeled people DO get angry it does tend to be pretty explosive and scary. But if they're going on like... a murderous rampage or beating everyone up in sight then that's different xD

 

[Crayons]

Er... no, I guess I do not.

That actually reminds me of an issue I have with Batman: Why the hell is Gotham City like 50-60 percent wealthy socialites with the other 40-50 percent being beggars and criminals.

Capitalism.

 

[BackSet]

Capitalism.

Good enough an answer for me.

On the subject of characters with anger issues, I think I've covered this already but I tend to end up in roleplays with a lot of cute and nice things and I have the issue that I can never bring myself to have a character get angry at stuff like that because it just seems mean. I also can't make myself do it to other player characters because that's someone elses character and I like it a lot and they worked so hard on that character yelling at it would be mean.

Yeah, I might be too nice to play angry characters, despite my real life anger issues.

 

[Nue]

reverse mary sues. like, characters made by people who are so worried about coming across as overpowered or too perfect or whatever, that they take out anything that could be slightly interesting about them. guys. characters can be good at multiple things, or have more positive personality traits than negative, or be powerful. its ok. we won't kill you, please have fun with your characters for the love of god-

 

[rae2nerdy]

Yeah I tend to be overly blunt so if I see a “bipolar” character I usually nip that in the bud immediately. First I’ll ask if they are intentionally trying to make a character that’s bipolar (cuz sometimes I think it’s just not really proof reading your work) and if it is meant to be bipolar I just reiterate my “no real world mental illness” dealbreaker.

If it’s not then I walk them through the logical inconsistencies either between the backstory and the personality OR the personality itself.

I try not to be rude because it’s not like I’ve never written myself into a corner where a character ends up being contradictory. Especially since I make new characters for each roleplay. Some of them are bound to be stinkers.

 

[BackSet]

Sometimes, I write a character who's supposed to be a pretty swell guy and then he becomes a Snark Knight by accident because that's the type of character I usually play.

 

[Deadwood Deer]

Characters that don't fit in setting. Not like the rando caught in the crossfire, but happens to be useful or interesting, but a character who has literally no business being in the setting. If you seriously cannot come up with a justification as to why someone is there, why would you think they would ever be there? Why would you put a wizard in a sci-fi setting with no magic? Unless you can justify the usage of the word "magic" instead of, oh, I dunno, the technology of the time? Why would the wizard be there? Similarly, in historical settings, characters that just would not be there. A woman on the front lines of WWI, for example, that didn't happen. At that point, it's not historical war fiction, it's just fiction with a war. Context matters, provide it. It's not like you're being asked to murder your first born, just that you do a little thinking

 

[Zeev]

shy butterfly OCs, no inspiration or character, mary sues to sit up there but these are so strawman and uncommon these days, which is good. personally I find it the mark of a good RPer or writer if they can get me to hate a character, being apathetic or uninterested in a character, is worse to me than hating them. Because hate at least makes me reflect as to why I hate said character and the implications of such which can be good.

 

[C R Y B A B Y]

This is more just a personal bias but I absolutely hate characters that are one-track minded or very centralized on one core "theme" or "element."
I like multi-dimensions and layers. It puts me off seeing a somewhat kind of pigeon-boxed character (that could very well have very valid flaws/strengths and be a "rounded" character) that kind of is just this one thing. Leaves a bad taste in my mouth and those are usually the characters that turn me off from wanting to do an RP.

 

[monxmiracle]

I think what I dislike the most are what I would call “safe characters”. Characters that fail to push the envelope in anyway. They’re super nice and gentle and soft and uwu. Now I don’t mean flawless, mary sue characters. Just characters who wouldn’t even matter if they were removed from the roleplay. I see them as the ultimate RP killer. They are a sign of a writer who is purely reactionary, with nothing of their own to bring to the table

I have one or two of these characters, and to be honest. I myself, actually hate having these two characters. Like compared to all my other characters these two are probably the most bland and tasteless characters I have. And there are points where I just really want to yeet them out of the RP somehow. Or like kill them off.

 

[monxmiracle]

I'm taking for granted that those characters are already in the sin bin. XD

The worst is when the CS looks fine, but as soon as you are in the RP it's all constant attention seeking. "Oh my character got kidnapped, again!!!" "Oh my character needs help or they'll die!!!" "My character is gatecrashing your scene because you're not paying attention!!!" etc.

Disclaimer: Being kidnapped or in need of help is totally fine within reason. Character vulnerability is great. If it's always happening then the eyerolls get prompted.

Ah, I hated these kinds of characters. In a past group RP I did there was a person with a character just like this. Drawing all the attention to their own character and breaking up interactions. Which I for one and a lot of others absolutely despised. It actually got to the point where we all came up with a code word, we would say if they ever got to annoying. And came up with a way to kick them out of the RP. Mean I know, but really, it just gets really irritating when your character is always this fucking damsel in distress that needs saving. Like honey no... that's probably the most annoying thing to me ever.

 

[monxmiracle]

Kidnappers: *show up*
Damsel in Distress: "Ah, don't worry, this happens all the time. I brought my own chloroform!"

joke shamelessly stolen from the Nostalgia Critic

lmao, why is this so fucking accurate

 

[monxmiracle]

I personally, agree with a lot of these. But besides the whole "Ah I'm a fucking damsel, I'm in distress save me," trope. I also really hate like overly controlling or direct characters. Characters that basically control the action of your own OC. Or try to tag along, and be paired with your OC. I just really don't like this personally. I mean I don't mind if you ask to pair our OCs before hand, but the thing is, I just don't like it when you're just too assertive when your character interacts with mine. Cause that just makes me and my character in that situation, a little uncomfortable. When they just come on way too strong, they just met, and there's really no context, for how and why these characters feel the way they do. Which frankly, doesn't beat the damsel trope. But still up there are on characters I hate a lot​

 

[Crayons]

I personally, agree with a lot of these. But besides the whole "Ah I'm a fucking damsel, I'm in distress save me," trope. I also really hate like overly controlling or direct characters. Characters that basically control the action of your own OC. Or try to tag along, and be paired with your OC. I just really don't like this personally. I mean I don't mind if you ask to pair our OCs before hand, but the thing is, I just don't like it when you're just too assertive when your character interacts with mine. Cause that just makes me and my character in that situation, a little uncomfortable. When they just come on way too strong, they just met, and there's really no context, for how and why these characters feel the way they do. Which frankly, doesn't beat the damsel trope. But still up there are on characters I hate a lot​

If anyone controls my character's actions in an RP, I usually send them a PM (or whatever communication means you're using) saying, "In this part of your post X, you controlled my characters actions. Please rewrite it." I mean its a basic tenet of RP interaction to not control others' characters and usually it's a mistake because they just got carried away. If it isn't, you should probably explain the concept of godmoding to them, and if they don't understand that or refuse to change, time to say bye bye.

Lol, I RPed with a friend for a long time who would see the characters I make and always want to be their love interest no matter how weird they were. I didn't mind because she was very cool, but the whole "what, you want to make a love interest for my insane vampire clown?!" thing became kind of bizarre. I feel like this should be something you can talk about with your partners OOC or if not, you can just have your character behave in a way that they would be behave if someone did come onto them too strong.

 

[Sara Sidereal]

Characters whose only "interaction" with the world is to blankly look at yours and ask a single vacuous question at a time, over and over, post after post, not contributing anything, when everyone agreed you would build the world together in the roleplay.

Characters who just blink. It's a goddamn autonomous body function. Where's the description of your circulation and breathing, jackass?

 

[Eleganza]

I usually give every character a chance, but I often have issues with those who aim to fill every trope at once, even when they can't mix. They don't have a real personality; they continuously change from a scene to the other to force some drama or a specific dynamic.

One moment they are an edgy villain who fears no man and tortured a village; the other they are an innocent soft boy who's scared to look people in the eye and cannot survive alone. A day passes, and they are a romantic sweet-talker who hits on every living being. There is no explanation or transition, of course. It just keeps happening. When I used to be a Mod in a group, it was my personal pet-peeve. It made everything more confusing and irritating, especially since it was often used as an excuse to godmod or mess with other players.

 

[BackSet]

Characters who just blink. It's a goddamn autonomous body function. Where's the description of your circulation and breathing, jackass?

There are people who do this? Jeez.

 

[Sara Sidereal]

There are people who do this? Jeez.

Only death can release me from this nightmare.