Viewpoint What you cannot stand in characters?

[SP3CT3R]

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

Blinking can be a reaction to something. If the narrating character notices another character blinking, it can mean that the character is very still because something gave them pause and blinking is the most prominent action they're taking at the moment.

 

[Sara Sidereal]

Blinking can be a reaction to something. If the narrating character notices another character blinking, it can mean that the character is very still because something gave them pause and blinking is the most prominent action they're taking at the moment.

If the only thing you can think for your character to do is blink, you don't deserve to be in games with human beings.

 

[BackSet]

Where's the description of your circulation and breathing, jackass?

Imagine smeone actually did this. Like, their entire post was just a long scientific description of their character breathing.

 

[SP3CT3R]

If the only thing you can think for your character to do is blink, you don't deserve to be in games with human beings.

You're supposed to follow it up with another action, obviously. I meant that pointing out a character blinking isn't a 100% useless inclusion.

 

[Sara Sidereal]

You're supposed to follow it up with another action, obviously. I meant that pointing out a character blinking isn't a 100% useless inclusion.

It is 100% useless, always. It is contributing exactly as much as an empty post.

 

[SP3CT3R]

It is 100% useless, always. It is contributing exactly as much as an empty post.

I literally just said that it's only useless on its own.

[Character] blinked. - not helpful

[Character] blinked. "What?" - common reaction to another character explaining something, means the character blinking is paying attention but processing none of it.

 

[Nue]

..You guys never see that thing where someone hears something that's absurd/confusing to them and they do The Blink? Y'know?

 

[SP3CT3R]

..You guys never see that thing where someone hears something that's absurd/confusing to them and they do The Blink? Y'know?

Exactly. Thank you.

 

[Sara Sidereal]

I literally just said that it's only useless on its own.

[Character] blinked. - not helpful

[Character] blinked. "What?" - common reaction to another character explaining something, means the character blinking is paying attention but processing none of it.

I blinked. "What"?

Ok, so now the other guy is just going to repeat what he just said, while having no useful information with which to modify anything, the story hasn't progressed at all, no one has experienced anything new or cool, and no one has learned anything.

And people probably waited over a week for this drooling idiot to post just to lose some of their precious free time reading his post. It's like he has no awareness of the fact that he's engaged in a social activity with other human beings, who are expecting him to contribute something. Not a masterful quality, not a huge quantity. Just something. But he doesn't care. At all. Why even show up?

 

[Nue]

people really be mad about blinking huh

 

[SP3CT3R]

I blinked. "What"?

Ok, so now the other guy is just going to repeat what he just said, while having no useful information with which to modify anything, the story hasn't progressed at all, no one has experienced anything new or cool, and no one has learned anything.

And people probably waited over a week for this drooling idiot to post just to lose some of their precious free time reading his post. It's like he has no awareness of the fact that he's engaged in a social activity with other human beings, who are expecting him to contribute something. Not a masterful quality, not a huge quantity. Just something. But he doesn't care. At all. Why even show up?

If you're the type to repeat an explanation to someone who already doesn't understand it instead of phrasing it differently, I probably don't like you in real life.

 

[BackSet]

*Blinks* What?

Not my finest joke but I'm working with what I have.

 

[Sara Sidereal]

If you're the type to repeat an explanation to someone who already doesn't understand it instead of phrasing it differently, I probably don't like you in real life.

Oh no. The horror.

 

[BackSet]

Alright, time to cool down and move on.

I hate people who try to turn all the female characters (and it's almost always the female characters) into their character's personal harem.

 

[Sara Sidereal]

Alright, time to cool down and move on.

I hate people who try to turn all the female characters (and it's almost always the female characters) into their character's personal harem.

And I hate female characters who hit on every male character in sight with no regard for who they make uncomfortable. Truly we are as yin and yang.

 

[BackSet]

And I hate female characters who hit on every male character in sight with no regard for who they make uncomfortable. Truly we are as yin and yang.

I hate that as well so we are not as ying and yang. I am perfectly balanced.

 

[ashwynne]

I definitely consciously blink sometimes when I'm shocked/startled and am trying to buy myself time to decide how to react. It's 100% a valid reaction in a post provided it's followed up with further description/action. It can also speak largely to state of mind.

As an example... this is literally a sentence from a post I wrote this morning. Obviously, several more paragraphs of reply were included but my point is that you can definitely use blinking to communicate information to the reader:

"Both men stared, blinking in confused unison, as the human ignored Talfryn entirely and began to bob a half-curtsy to Rhys instead."


But anyways. I absolutely despiseeeeeee painfully shy, awkward, characters that end up signing up for some adventure that will require them to be outgoing/engage in tons of social behaviour. It's just illogical. One thing if they're compelled to go and their shyness causes PROBLEMS until they sloooowly begin to get over it, but usually people just write "incredibly shy and awkward" as "has a stammer and functions totally normally beyond that."

 

[SP3CT3R]

Alright, time to cool down and move on.

I hate people who try to turn all the female characters (and it's almost always the female characters) into their character's personal harem.

Even worse is when he tries to be in a poly relationship with all of them. Harem already reeks of wish-fulfillment, don't try to tiptoe around the one source of conflict.

 

[BackSet]

That reminds me of a joke I once made that Arthur, Guinevere, and Lancelot should have just had a threesome but that is neither here nor there and is completely unrelated to the topic at hand.

Also, I hate the harem genre.

 

[Sara Sidereal]

I love harems, and wish fulfillment.

 

[BackSet]

But what is the appeal.

Half the harem stories I've read/watched (and subsequently dumped when I realized they were harem stories) I think none of the harem members fit with the protagonists.

 

[Aerynth]

I cannot stand it when a character is boring and has no motivation to be in the story. I'd much rather play with dark edgelords and Mary Sues than with someone without a personality.

 

[SP3CT3R]

Also, I hate the harem genre.

It's pretty trashy, but the ones that aren't also isekai can be tolerable.

 

[Becker]

Overly camp characters... I ain't bashing on the gays, just those that radiate their campness onto others similarly to how Chernobyl reactor No.4 radiates onto others..

fatality...

 

[Jannah]

I can't remember if I replied to this already, but here goes:

-Characters with angsty and/or tragic backstories simply for the sake of having them: These kinds of backstories can work well when they add something to the character, but oftentimes they're present simply for being edgy.
-Wish fulfillment plots/character traits: Yea, I'm outta here. Please take those elsewhere.
-The token minority character that is out of place in the plot/setting and lacks personality, thus only exists so the writer can say how tolerant they are: Don't get me wrong. I've written minority characters, racial, sexual, religious, ethnic, whatever. They can be used, but please make them actual characters beyond being gay, being black, etc.
-Characters that possess a certain trait just to one-up everyone else: Yep, I've seen this happen.
-The character that refuses to work with the others no matter the cost: lone wolf characters can work, but them wanting to work alone can perhaps be something they have to compromise on once in awhile, much to their dismay. Perhaps they can even begin to realize that working with others is not so bad!
-The passive characters that only react to the actions of others and do not bring anything new to the scene: RP is a joint effort, people!
-Related to the first point, but characters with mental illness simply for the sake of being edgy: I've written mentally ill characters in the past, but typically there's a reason within their backstory for their being mentally ill. Additionally, all mental illness should be properly researched before written. I've seen far too many characters written with poor portrayals of real world struggles that come with mental illness.
-Every single character either being in positions of extreme privilege/wealth or extreme poverty: Yes, I get it that the two extremes can be fun to write, but what about the ordinary middle class workers? (RP plots that revolve around class warfare or taboo interactions between different social classes are obviously exempt from this rule.)
-Characters that are constantly the centre of attention for any reason: Give the others time to shine too!
-Evil characters that are evil simply for the sake of being evil: Personally, I like villains to have depth. Very few people are born evil so I want to know why they're evil. It wasn't like Hitler woke up one morning and simply decided he wanted to gas the Jews.
-Any instant romance and poorly developed characters that only exist to be a love interest: Usually these types are unnaturally good looking(based on the writer's own preferences of course). Don't do it.
-Ridiculously overpowered characters: This is especially a problem in any RP involving superpowers, magic, or any other special abilities. Your character cannot be a master at everything, especially if they have not been trained in any way. They can't just instantly gain new abilities either without GM approval simply because they're in a difficult situation plot-wise. (Exceptions can be made for NPC characters with certain discretion in place.)