Experiences Whats making you angry today? Rp pet peeves

[Gowi]

THIS!!
I think I've met exactly.... 0 people who are like this in reality.
I get nervous sometimes and stutter on occasion... it's m-maybe one letters worth and usually just the once. If that.
It stops being cute when it's constant and it's hard to take characters seriously who behave like that. If I was actually shy and had a stutter that bad, I would probably become a selective mute since stuttering would call more attention to me rather than less.
Anyone who wants to know how to write characters with a stutter should read Stephen King's "It" and pay attention to how he writes Bill Denbrough's dialogue.

Or even watch The King's Speech.

 

[Crayons]

I think it depends. Taking pirates as an example, they commonly use a drastically different form of speaking than 'landlubbers.' If you have a pirate among a bunch of upper class citizens (or just people from a different dialect, even) then having your pirate character speaking identically to them would just seem bizarre and out of place to me.

Same idea goes for roleplays set in more historical time periods where differences in diction were common between social classes. Having upper class and peasant class people talking the same takes away a lot of the dynamics, in my opinion. Dropped letters and enunciation differences can often only be made to come across phonetically. Saying something like "Margaret spoke with the accent common to the peasant class" and then having her dialogue be no different than upper class lacks authenticity, in my opinion. I'm not going to read Margaret's lines in 'an accent common to the peasant class' because I have no idea what exactly you have in mind when you say this.

Now... it does ultimately depend on context. People with an accent don't think they have an accent because that's just the way they speak. If someone is going to make a character that has a manner of speaking that's different from the other character(s) then using phonetics to get it across can work. But it requires a light touch--just enough to get across that there is a difference without hampering readability.

Idk, I see how it could be super annoying but I think there can be a lot of richness added to an RP with someone who knows how to give their character unique diction without impairing readability.

Well, yeah. Speech patterns, vocabulary use, etc is not the same as an accent. So while I agree with manner of speech being important it is a very different issue.

"Unhand me, you knave!" And "Get the f- off me!" have the same meaning but obviously use different words and imply different classes/character types, maybe place of origin etc. and whatnot.

I have a friend in southern us who pronounces "there" and "slayer" to rhyme. I'm British so I don't pronounce Rs at the end of words, and to me one of those words has one syllable and one has two. If I wrote a character from the southern US and started typing to imitate that accent I'd be writing "Thet gah overrr thay-errr is a slay-errr" which afaic is what his accent sounds like. But to someone else, who has a different accent irl that is going to be hard to parse. Also it would get annoying super fast for anyone reading the rp. Especially if I'm imitating their native accent.

If he was writing my accent he might write "that goi ova theya is a slaaya" which makes sense to him sure but to me it's gobbledegoo. Just don't do this.

By all means use different speech patterns but by the love of all things holy.... no imitating accents.

 

[ashwynne]

Well, yeah. Speech patterns, vocabulary use, etc is not the same as an accent. So while I agree with manner of speech being important it is a very different issue.

Well, the pirate example is a good one because it does technically qualify as an accent. And without it the "charm" or "atmosphere" of a pirate scene would be lost.

Honestly, I've never encountered anyone who gave their character an accent in the manner you're describing, so maybe that's why I'm having trouble seeing the issue. And even in those two cases... if you have a story set in the south of the USA and a character from England being a part of it, adding slight variations to the way they speak might very well add to the characterization. Obviously not to the extent that you used in your example, but picking a couple common words to spell phonetically as a reminder of the accent (so that the reader can self-correct to reading any dialogue correctly) can be a cool touch.

But yeah, if people are doing it the way you're describing then I'm suuuuuper out. That would drive me insane lol.

 

[JadeGreen17]

*Combat RP begins*

Me: My character throws a kick at you.

Other Player: My character grabs your kick and gets a sadistic grin on his face, twists your leg around and dislocates your hip, then throws you over his shoulder and slams you on the ground breaking your nose.

Me: Okay then I take out a gun and shoot you in the face.

Other Player: WHAT YOU CAN'T DO THAT!

 

[Idea]

*Combat RP begins*

Me: My character throws a kick at you.

Other Player: My character grabs your kick and gets a sadistic grin on his face, twists your leg around and dislocates your hip, then throws you over his shoulder and slams you on the ground breaking your nose.

I laughed when I read his. Should I have laughed when I read this? XD

 

[JadeGreen17]

I laughed when I read his. Should I have laughed when I read this? XD

Unapologetically edits the same moment you quote and reply.

 

[Crayons]

Well, the pirate example is a good one because it does technically qualify as an accent. And without it the "charm" or "atmosphere" of a pirate scene would be lost.

Honestly, I've never encountered anyone who gave their character an accent in the manner you're describing, so maybe that's why I'm having trouble seeing the issue. And even in those two cases... if you have a story set in the south of the USA and a character from England being a part of it, adding slight variations to the way they speak might very well add to the characterization. Obviously not to the extent that you used in your example, but picking a couple common words to spell phonetically as a reminder of the accent (so that the reader can self-correct to reading any dialogue correctly) can be a cool touch.

But yeah, if people are doing it the way you're describing then I'm suuuuuper out. That would drive me insane lol.

I once RPed with a person who was nice and cool and all that. Asked her to join another RP I was in, and she made this character ... this Irish character. (She was American btw.) And no word of a lie ALL her posts were like that. ALL her dialogue was done in faux Lucky Charms Leprechaun Irish and ugh.

Pirate accent is just West Country (Devon and Cornwall). There's nothing about the accent that makes it exclusive to pirates, just the word choices. "Arrrr Jim Lad, shiver me timbers!" etc.

 

[ashwynne]

I once RPed with a person who was nice and cool and all that. Asked her to join another RP I was in, and she made this character ... this Irish character. (She was American btw.) And no word of a lie ALL her posts were like that. ALL her dialogue was done in faux Lucky Charms Leprechaun Irish and ugh.

Pirate accent is just West Country (Devon and Cornwall). There's nothing about the accent that makes it exclusive to pirates, just the word choices. "Arrrr Jim Lad, shiver me timbers!" etc.

I'd like to be able to say the image of that didn't make me laugh, but I would be lying xD

Depends on where the pirates are from. Mine tend to be Spanish, so they would decidedly not have any kind of regional English accent lol. I think we may be talking past each other though. Just as an example... in one of my current roleplays, my character is a Spanish prince who ends up being held for ransom by pirates. To differentiate between his posh manner of speaking and their "pirate speak" there needs to be tangible differences or else the roleplay would fall flat.
ie:
"Really, Bastion, must you eat like some half-starved cur?"
"If ya don' like it, ya can piss off t' some other part o' the ship."

In my opinion, if it were written like this:
"Really, Bastion, must you eat like some half-starved cur?"
"If you don't like it, you can piss off to some other part of the ship."
It lacks the fundamental edge that shows the difference in class and education between the two of them. Written the second way they could have been born and raised in the same place with the same social status, you'd never know there was a difference. Meanwhile, with the first example it evokes a mental image of the difference between them without me needing to do any further explanation.

But again, it needs to be done properly lol. If it were done like this:
"Really, Bastion, must you eat like some half-starved cur?"
"I' y' don' li' i', ya c'n piss o' t' s'me oth'r par' o' t' ship."
I would have a migraine after a single sentence lol. But I think there's a difference between using phonetic spelling to properly bring attention to a character trait that differentiates from those around them, and overdoing it to the part of taking away from the story.

If proper research is used, I see no problem with someone using something like 'innit' occasionally, or perhaps spelling 'lieutenant' as 'leftenant' if their character is English among American-English speaking characters, just as a method to differentiate. Evoking an accent in dialogue can be a wonderfully effective thing. I'd point to Diana Gabaldon's Outlander books as an example. Claire is from modern England and gets transported back to historical Scotland. Because the characters around her all are Scottish, they have Scottish accents. Gabaldon writes them really smoothly, to the point that they flow well and do not take away from the story.

Idk, basically in summary I think phonetic spelling to call attention to a different accent is perfectly valid in writing if it's done well and respectfully.

 

[rae2nerdy]

Idk, basically in summary I think phonetic spelling to call attention to a different accent is perfectly valid in writing if it's done well and respectfully.

I think the problem is that most people don't actually do the research to make the accent/dialect accurate to the character they're trying to make. It often reads like someone who is putting on an accent rather than someone who is talking normally. And most people don't know how to write it in a way that still gives context clues to what their actually saying. It's fine if my CHARACTER doesn't know what the heck your talking about, but if I personally have to have some kind of writing key to decipher your text there is a problem.

I think rather than phonetic spelling of words people can use slang and different sentence structures. This also requires some research to do properly but it is a lot easier to read. As usually you can get the gist of what is being said purely by context clues. And you can still have the differentiation without giving your partner a headache trying to piece together half-written words.

 

[Crayons]

I think abbreviations and slang is fine to represent an accent to a degree (as your example ashwynne). But again, not what I was getting at with phonetic spelling.

I haven't read the Outlander books so I'll have to reserve judgement on that. I expect I would hate it though. XD

 

[ashwynne]

rae2nerdy
Oh, I completely agree! I think I said that too, somewhere in my post, that research would be important.

Perhaps the problem is that I've never personally experienced someone writing an accent in the way you guys seem to be describing. It's always been done very well where I've encountered it; adding to immersion rather than breaking it. I've probably just gotten lucky in that regard xD

Crayons
Ah okay, I think I have just never seen anyone actually go about it in the way you're describing. For me "adding accents" means doing it in the way that I used in my example (which is the only way I've ever experienced it) which I don't have a problem with. Or even the occasional phonetic spelling for specific words (never all of them though) as a point of emphasis. If I had someone writing them the way you described I'm sure I'd feel the same way... though I would argue that's a problem with the writer and not objectively with putting an accent on a character.

If you didn't find my example too odious you probably wouldn't have an issue with the Outlander books either. They're very well-researched and the accent isn't overdone at all.

 

[Crayons]

rae2nerdy
Oh, I completely agree! I think I said that too, somewhere in my post, that research would be important.

Perhaps the problem is that I've never personally experienced someone writing an accent in the way you guys seem to be describing. It's always been done very well where I've encountered it; adding to immersion rather than breaking it. I've probably just gotten lucky in that regard xD

Crayons
Ah okay, I think I have just never seen anyone actually go about it in the way you're describing. For me "adding accents" means doing it in the way that I used in my example (which is the only way I've ever experienced it) which I don't have a problem with. Or even the occasional phonetic spelling for specific words (never all of them though) as a point of emphasis. If I had someone writing them the way you described I'm sure I'd feel the same way... though I would argue that's a problem with the writer and not objectively with putting an accent on a character.

If you didn't find my example too odious you probably wouldn't have an issue with the Outlander books either. They're very well-researched and the accent isn't overdone at all.

I feel like your example was borderline tolerable. XD If I had to read a whole book like that I don't think I'd get on with it. The constant apostrophes would get to me eventually.

 

[ashwynne]

I feel like your example was borderline tolerable. XD If I had to read a whole book like that I don't think I'd get on with it. The constant apostrophes would get to me eventually.

Fair enough xD I don't particularly like typing like that either long term, but if I'm writing a story with pirates... they need to sound like pirates xD
Outlander is much more subtle. There are excerpts online from it that make for a good example. It's not nearly as tedious as pirate-speak which was the most potentially painful example I could think of lol.

 

[Becker]

*Combat RP begins*

Me: My character throws a kick at you.

Other Player: My character grabs your kick and gets a sadistic grin on his face, twists your leg around and dislocates your hip, then throws you over his shoulder and slams you on the ground breaking your nose.

Me: Okay then I take out a gun and shoot you in the face.

Other Player: WHAT YOU CAN'T DO THAT!

You have no idea how much this made me equally cringe and giggle at the same time! xD - Didn't even think it was possible to do so.

In my experience of GM-ing military themed roleplays, I once came across a typical and rather annyoing cliché in military themed roleplays - there's always "that guy/gal" who straight up refuses to lose a fight, regardless of the situation.

So in this perticular RP, it was a Metro 2033 themed story and thus it had all the typical moments of 'Russian post-apoc, sneaking, trading, running from hopeless situations" etc.. Rather fun stuff for both me the GM, constructing moments of sheer greed for the players, terror, action and so on. The players were having a ball, sneaking around the city ruins, collecting old world machinery to trade and tinker with themselves - fantastic bunch of people!

But.. there was that one person.. who was only interested in the action, never bothered to speak or interact with the other players, often hoarded alot of "Magically appearing, high quality items" in their posts, frequently taking out all the monsters, straying away from the group - wanting to be that lone stalker (but it's a group RP?).

Anyway, you get the general idea...

Now during this one fight on the surface against a horde of Russian Nazi's (Metro 2033 is kinda weird sometimes..) I wrote in the OOC that we -wouldn't- win this and we'd have to make a hasty retreat into a old, soviet minefield that was set up and abandoned during the collapse of the USSR by communist coup fighters that didn't want to give up their beloved Soviet Union. I thought it would be a rather interesting idea as it would give each character a "Oh shit" moment where they spot the metal prongs of the mines just in time to avoid stepping on it - all the meanwhile getting shot at and dangerous flying beasts were taking a interest on all this action on the surface. I express just how screwed the team was in terms of enemy proper fighting positions, numbers and our sincere lack of both. Thus we'd all die out in the open, get blown up by stepping on a mine or have the slightest ever chance of making it through the mine-field and escape back down into the Metro Tunnels.

Everyone seemed rather up for the plan, funny ideas of tripping up in the snow and landing on their faces - inches away from a mine amongst other bits of humour filled up the OOC chat. Feeling content, I posted my character's rash choice to fall back into the minefield - despite all the big warning signs hung around and even threw in a "Things really aren't going our way" moment by adding in that a stray round smashed it's way into my character's rifle, rendering it useless as a firearm thus he threw it away - triggering a mine nearby when it landed.

Then "This guy" posted about how he stood his ground, killed 'waves upon waves' of these Nazi scum. Looked over his shoulder and scoffed at the group for running away like a bunch of cowards. He went on, describing how he reached into his jacket and threw out a hand-grenade - a piece of explosive that he'd never mentioned earlier about finding or purchasing... *Big think*.

I was completely dumb-struck by this and i'd have had quite enough of this kind of bullshittery. Thus I laid a rather big complaint in the OOC (Which I kinda feel bad about nowadays since my choice of language used wasn't the most professional). I wrote paragraph after paragraph on how hopeless the fight was, how crappy I thought his character was (at that point, the frustration kinda flowed out like a stream) and overall just how unhappy I was with this post, despite my instructions in the OOC. xD

 

[JadeGreen17]

Trust me combat RP is tough enough with two people. I can't imagine having to herd an entire group of players through a story/adventure when they're all going off the rails every which way but loose.

Actually I can because I participated in an RP like that.

 

[Becker]

Trust me combat RP is tough enough with two people. I can't imagine having to herd an entire group of players through a story/adventure when they're all going off the rails every which way but loose.

Actually I can because I participated in an RP like that.

I feel like i'm in a AA meeting after laying out my pent-up frustrations to the group...

I would really appreciate a hug right now, not gonna lie. xD

 

[JadeGreen17]

I feel like i'm in a AA meeting after laying out my pent-up frustrations to the group...

I would really appreciate a hug right now, not gonna lie. xD

Awww.

Combat RP is tough.

Ya know I remember being on this character combat RP discord server where it was just the three mods circlejerking their OP character builds. Every fight between a mod and a non mod resulted in a mod victory, no matter how illogical the other mods would jump in and back up the mod in debate. Those jerks aren't worth my time going into detail about every thing but I drew the line when they started god modding my character sheets and changing info about my characters mid battle and telling me about how the stuff that I created worked.

 

[Becker]

Awww.

Combat RP is tough.

Ya know I remember being on this character combat RP discord server where it was just the three mods circlejerking their OP character builds. Every fight between a mod and a non mod resulted in a mod victory, no matter how illogical the other mods would jump in and back up the mod in debate. Those jerks aren't worth my time going into detail about every thing but I drew the line when they started god modding my character sheets and changing info about my characters mid battle and telling me about how the stuff that I created worked.

I'm very grateful for the hug, thank you but now I can feel my blood pressure rising after reading the rest of what you've written.. Why you do this to me? xD Giving me good news and then the bad

Now, I ain't the world's perfect GM - nor will I ever be. However, I do have a firm belief in doing things myself because then I know for sure that the RP will be done to a standard that I find acceptable - Thus i've always struggled to share power or it being shared with me. Why offer me the Co-Gm when I could run the entire thing myself? It's moments where you have multiple people in admin positions that cause the most trouble, lack of communication, co-operation and common understanding have torn apart RPs by the minute and driven away many frustrated players from wanting to experience it ever again. Further draining the talent pool.

 

[JadeGreen17]

I'm very grateful for the hug, thank you but now I can feel my blood pressure rising after reading the rest of what you've written.. Why you do this to me? xD Giving me good news and then the bad

Now, I ain't the world's perfect GM - nor will I ever be. However, I do have a firm belief in doing things myself because then I know for sure that the RP will be done to a standard that I find acceptable - Thus i've always struggled to share power or it being shared with me. Why offer me the Co-Gm when I could run the entire thing myself? It's moments where you have multiple people in admin positions that cause the most trouble, lack of communication, co-operation and common understanding have torn apart RPs by the minute and driven away many frustrated players from wanting to experience it ever again. Further draining the talent pool.

I personally could never shoulder the responsibility of GMing myself. I've tried in the past but considering the number of RPs that die on the operating table, I'm probably not that good. Maybe If I didn't have school and a job to worry about things would be different. And yes, lack of communication is killer particularly in combat RPs.

I have an RP partner on discord in where we are RPing a full scale war. In doing so we've found it works best to plan battle scenes in advance, communicate which units, commanders and tactics will be at play in each battle and what the expected outcome would be. For every paragraph of IC posting theres probably 10 or 20 times as much OOC planning that goes into it. Though there does seem to be some mentality of the in-it to win-it mentality between us and both of us placing civil arguments for why we might attain victory, but there is also quite a lot of us just setting up cool and creative battle sequences with little regard for who wins as long as its exciting. If anything in some battles I've actually downplayed my own strength if it leads to a more interesting sequence.

 

[Gowi]

I was challenged to write a nordic accent in one of my roleplays once and I took a lot of time of the day researching swedish, norwegian, as well as trying to write out how the accents change how words are interpreted. A good writer researches and is nuanced with their approach.

 

[Senedor]

Too much peeves me. Maybe because I'm old (I say this as a joke. I'm only in my late twenties)

But my biggest peeve (and I'm sure its mentioned here a dozen times) is not getting the same effort you put in returned (For replies that is). Mega level of no thank you.

Alternativey: Another RP peeve is having that writer's block but you really want to give your partner a SMASHING reply.

 

[Bells of Nevermore]

Oh, I have one.

It drives me apeshit banana sundae with screw that sprinkles on it when I have someone wanting me to hit their plot points while they do pretty much nothing to move the plot along themselves. Like 'Make him bring her to his house.' And then they do noooothing, leaving me to feel like I am basically writing the whole damn thing and getting no reciprosity or spontaneity. This is especially annoying if I am doubling. Add some 'Arrgh' whipped cream to the apeshit banana sundae if I am playing one or more canon characters. Being the one playing a 'cast of thousands', I can cope with. But throw me a goddamn bone here!

 

[Tove]

Had this happen before, many times. When someone messages you asking if you're open to start a roleplay you politely tell them you currently aren't taking any but maybe later on when you have time to take on more you both can write together instead of saying "sure!" they don't say a word and just end up leaving the conversation. Sounds like a damn tantrum to me that someone couldn't get their way.

 

[Bells of Nevermore]

Seriously!! My thing is, if we're not a match for a RP or I am not looking or something, where's the harm in just being friends with the person? And if someone tells me 'no', I suggest the same thing: maybe we can just be friends through the site and maybe read each others' independent stuff or something. Not like I mind having some new folks to natter with when I am as new as I happen to be on this site.

 

[Lenaara]

Had this happen before, many times. When someone messages you asking if you're open to start a roleplay you politely tell them you currently aren't taking any but maybe later on when you have time to take on more you both can write together instead of saying "sure!" they don't say a word and just end up leaving the conversation. Sounds like a damn tantrum to me that someone couldn't get their way.

Oh, this hurts. I did that once. But I forgot to reply to that person and figured since they weren't interested in brainstorming something together, they wouldn't mind if I didn't respond. Chances are, after that "sure!" no one will go back to that conversation anyway.

As far as what pissed me off today - and this isn't an attack on anyone - but if I get sent one more character sheet of another generic shy princess that's loved by everyone for no reason whatsoever, I'm leaving RPNation. Please just stop.