Experiences Whats making you angry today? Rp pet peeves

[Murdergurl]

The thing is the villains that I make are not meant to be played alongside other characters. They are for story purposes only. Example, the hero characters have someone that's hindering their progress of their goal. This is where the villain comes in. I would never write an antagonistic character to play alongside someone else's character in the normal sense. That just doesn't work for me and I'm sure the other person would not like it either maybe.

ah, okies. I gotcha. they are more for plot mechanic. See, I write my villainous characters as THE character I play. Of course, its in group RP. They have motivations that can ply them to play along. But their loyalty is ultimately to themselves and they will not look out for others. Kind of an interesting dynamic to have in a group. But I do understand that it would make most GMs wary.

 

[Damafaud]

If I had to point to one thing that's irritating me today, not necessarily making me "angry," but just irritating, it's the fact that it seems to be increasingly common for role-players these days to rush their character development.

They'll start the RP with a CS that states openly, or heavily implies, that their character is dealing with this, and this, and this problems and will have to deal with them over the course of the whole adventure... Only for them to deal with one of those major issues within the first 20-50 posts of the RP.

... Bruh.

I mean, we're all free to develop our characters however we want. But really? 20-50 posts and you're already having your character overcome one of their weaknesses and/or personal issues?

Cause, to me at least, that's way too early to be overcoming a major personal issue no matter how much you want them to progress. I don't think I've ever read a book, seen a film, or seen a tv series or video game where a character overcomes a major personal issue within the first 5-10 minutes. Ever.

Again, I realize everyone's free to develop their characters however they want. But it's still really irritating to see so many role-players rushing their characters through progression so early on in the experience. As a reader/lurker, I want to immerse myself in your character's journey and feel their struggle and their pain before they finally reach that point and earn the positive change rather than it just being handed to them on a silver platter so early on.

After all, the sooner you reach a resolution for your character's problems the faster your character will stagnate, and the faster you'll lose interest in them and the more likely you are to leave the RP they're in cause you have nowhere left to go with them. And you'll have nothing to look forward to other than the promise of watching other people's characters develop at a much better and more natural pace.

Anyway, I'm not "angry" about this. Just irritated. I like reading almost as much as I like role-playing, so it kinda sucks to start a journey with a character that I like only for their personal journey to end within the first 20-50 posts.

Cheers!

- GojiBean

I don't know how you usually RP but 20-50 posts feel like enough time? Especially leaning toward the latter. I'm in a 3-months-and-running RP and I barely have 20 posts into the 2nd arc.

 

[Murdergurl]

I don't know how you usually RP but 20-50 posts feel like enough time? Especially leaning toward the latter. I'm in a 3-months-and-running RP and I barely have 20 posts into the 2nd arc.

shiiiit... I can't even remember the last time ANY RP I've been in got to 20 posts. lmao

 

[GojiBean]

I don't know how you usually RP but 20-50 posts feel like enough time? Especially leaning toward the latter. I'm in a 3-months-and-running RP and I barely have 20 posts into the 2nd arc.

Well, let me clarify something. When I say 20-50 posts, I mean total in the RP. Like even if it's a Group RP with 5-10 people in it all posting back and forth, the total posts is only 20-50. So everyone's done 2-5 posts each. And a major problem or personal flaw for someone's character, like a personality flaw, is already fixed within that time.

That's just way too fast by any standard or metric of storytelling.

Nobody who actually has a personal issue or flaw is ever going to solve it that fast. For example, if you suffer from social anxiety and depression, are you going to suddenly learn to cope with and overcome the barriers they place on you in 2-5 days in real life? Not a chance. If you are a naturally arrogant person who doesn't really care about the problems or interests of others, are you suddenly going to realize you're wrong in 2-5 days of meeting someone new and make a total personality change? Not a chance.

Even if it was 20-50 for one individual among a group RP, that still seems fast to me. It'd be the rough equivalent of a 600 page novel realizing and solving the main character's weaknesses and basically completing their personal journey in the story (which isn't meant to end until the climax, or just before it) within the first 15-20 pages. You've still got ALL that book left, but your main character's personal inner journey is already over.

Imagine reading one of the Harry Potter books (any of them), and the main issue Harry faces in the book is over in the first 50 pages. But the book overall is still the same length as what we know today. What does the rest of the book become after Harry's journey in this particular book is over? Fluff and filler.

Can you imagine if J.K. Rowling did that in her Harry Potter books?

As an example of the RP's I usually run as a GM, on other sites in the past years I've had a few RP's reach 750-1,000+ posts (overall) and not a single character had resolved more than 1 or 2 of their flaws or personal issues. And we still had A LOT of RP left to enjoy before they came to a successful conclusion. I think the longest RP I've ever had was 1,752 posts, or something along those lines. And for almost every character involved, the whole of their personal issues and/or flaws weren't resolved until around post 1,400 at the earliest.

Granted, almost nobody has RP's that long anymore. But I still aim to, even if the RP's die early my goal is 1,000+ posts every time. Call me old fashioned. Lol.

But even if your entire RP is aiming to be complete within 150-200 posts, even 20 posts still seems way too fast to me since the entire purpose of storytelling and having a personal journey for a character to undertake wherein they face and resolve their flaws and issues is to enjoy that journey before the climax. After all, the climax of the story is usually right at the beginning of what would be considered Act III of a three act structure story.

The main reason I get irritated when people resolve their character's flaws and problems so early on is because once they're resolved, the character's personal story is over. The RP's narrative might still be ongoing, but the character will enter a stage of emotional and mental stagnation from which no further forward progress can be made.

Be it physical, emotional, mental, spiritual, or a mixture of all the above, stories exist and are what they are because of the conflict the characters face (regardless whether it's personal or external, as both will play a role in the character's development). Once the conflict is over in a character's personal journey, their story is over as well. After that, at best they can help serve as a driver for the growth of others afterwards, which is fine. But how long can you keep that up when you have no further reason to invest in your own character's development?

Anyway, that's just my two cents. Everyone has different preferences and views on the matter. And I realize that everyone paces their character development differently. Especially if they don't plan on the RP living very long. I guess I got too used to my RP style with the ultimate goal of reaching 1,000+ posts, and where everyone has all the time in the world to fully and deeply explore their character's psyche and solve their flaws and issues in good time.

Still, I would make the argument that it's always better to dynamically realize your character's flaws and issues and overcome them as naturally as possible over time rather than trying to solve them as quickly as possible. Cause again, once they have resolved their problems, their story is over.

Cheers!

 

[Inno]

ah, okies. I gotcha. they are more for plot mechanic. See, I write my villainous characters as THE character I play. Of course, its in group RP. They have motivations that can ply them to play along. But their loyalty is ultimately to themselves and they will not look out for others. Kind of an interesting dynamic to have in a group. But I do understand that it would make most GMs wary.

Let me ask you a question. How many of your characters are villainous?

 

[Damafaud]

Well, let me clarify something. When I say 20-50 posts, I mean total in the RP. Like even if it's a Group RP with 5-10 people in it all posting back and forth, the total posts is only 20-50. So everyone's done 2-5 posts each. And a major problem or personal flaw for someone's character, like a personality flaw, is already fixed within that time.

That's just way too fast by any standard or metric of storytelling.

Nobody who actually has a personal issue or flaw is ever going to solve it that fast. For example, if you suffer from social anxiety and depression, are you going to suddenly learn to cope with and overcome the barriers they place on you in 2-5 days in real life? Not a chance. If you are a naturally arrogant person who doesn't really care about the problems or interests of others, are you suddenly going to realize you're wrong in 2-5 days of meeting someone new and make a total personality change? Not a chance.

Even if it was 20-50 for one individual among a group RP, that still seems fast to me. It'd be the rough equivalent of a 600 page novel realizing and solving the main character's weaknesses and basically completing their personal journey in the story (which isn't meant to end until the climax, or just before it) within the first 15-20 pages. You've still got ALL that book left, but your main character's personal inner journey is already over.

Imagine reading one of the Harry Potter books (any of them), and the main issue Harry faces in the book is over in the first 50 pages. But the book overall is still the same length as what we know today. What does the rest of the book become after Harry's journey in this particular book is over? Fluff and filler.

Can you imagine if J.K. Rowling did that in her Harry Potter books?

As an example of the RP's I usually run as a GM, on other sites in the past years I've had a few RP's reach 750-1,000+ posts (overall) and not a single character had resolved more than 1 or 2 of their flaws or personal issues. And we still had A LOT of RP left to enjoy before they came to a successful conclusion. I think the longest RP I've ever had was 1,752 posts, or something along those lines. And for almost every character involved, the whole of their personal issues and/or flaws weren't resolved until around post 1,400 at the earliest.

Granted, almost nobody has RP's that long anymore. But I still aim to, even if the RP's die early my goal is 1,000+ posts every time. Call me old fashioned. Lol.

But even if your entire RP is aiming to be complete within 150-200 posts, even 20 posts still seems way too fast to me since the entire purpose of storytelling and having a personal journey for a character to undertake wherein they face and resolve their flaws and issues is to enjoy that journey before the climax. After all, the climax of the story is usually right at the beginning of what would be considered Act III of a three act structure story.

The main reason I get irritated when people resolve their character's flaws and problems so early on is because once they're resolved, the character's personal story is over. The RP's narrative might still be ongoing, but the character will enter a stage of emotional and mental stagnation from which no further forward progress can be made.

Be it physical, emotional, mental, spiritual, or a mixture of all the above, stories exist and are what they are because of the conflict the characters face (regardless whether it's personal or external, as both will play a role in the character's development). Once the conflict is over in a character's personal journey, their story is over as well. After that, at best they can help serve as a driver for the growth of others afterwards, which is fine. But how long can you keep that up when you have no further reason to invest in your own character's development?

Anyway, that's just my two cents. Everyone has different preferences and views on the matter. And I realize that everyone paces their character development differently. Especially if they don't plan on the RP living very long. I guess I got too used to my RP style with the ultimate goal of reaching 1,000+ posts, and where everyone has all the time in the world to fully and deeply explore their character's psyche and solve their flaws and issues in good time.

Still, I would make the argument that it's always better to dynamically realize your character's flaws and issues and overcome them as naturally as possible over time rather than trying to solve them as quickly as possible. Cause again, once they have resolved their problems, their story is over.

Cheers!

We got different expectations and conditions in mind I guess lmao

Just a minor pet peeve this time: when the GM has a lore thread but not all of the lore is there and instead spread between there, a discord channel, and the interest check.

Ok so the Lore Thread has info on the country, but if I want to look up about the king I should look at the interest check thread where the king is mentioned on the NPC list.

 

[Murdergurl]

Let me ask you a question. How many of your characters are villainous?

Most of them have antagonistic traits. I'm not saying they are all villains. But if I were to assign the iconic D&D alignments to all my characters, I'd say that most of them would fall between Neutral Evil, Lawful Evil, and maybe every now and again a Chaotic Evil. I do have some "good" characters. Bu they are not at all the norm. To throw a rough estimation out there, I'd say 80% are villains or pseudo villains.

 

[Inno]

Most of them have antagonistic traits. I'm not saying they are all villains. But if I were to assign the iconic D&D alignments to all my characters, I'd say that most of them would fall between Neutral Evil, Lawful Evil, and maybe every now and again a Chaotic Evil. I do have some "good" characters. Bu they are not at all the norm. To throw a rough estimation out there, I'd say 80% are villains or pseudo villains.

Oh. That's interesting. Do you have them in any 1x1's if you do those?

 

[Murdergurl]

Oh. That's interesting. Do you have them in any 1x1's if you do those?

nah. I generally do not participate in 1x1 RP. I look (almost) exclusively for group stuff.
I'm not sure what it is about 1x1s, but I quickly get bored of them and wind up dropping out for one reason or another. I just can't keep myself interested when it's just me and one other writer. There's a lot of reasons behind this, but it warrants a discussion all of its own. So I'll just leave it at that.

 

[Inno]

nah. I generally do not participate in 1x1 RP. I look (almost) exclusively for group stuff.
I'm not sure what it is about 1x1s, but I quickly get bored of them and wind up dropping out for one reason or another. I just can't keep myself interested when it's just me and one other writer. There's a lot of reasons behind this, but it warrants a discussion all of its own. So I'll just leave it at that.

I understand.

 

[AndPeggy]

I'm sorry, I know people like to draw their characters instead of using outside reference pictures but.

Some people just draw sooo badly. I'd rather have a good written description of the character instead of a terrible drawing as a faceclaim.

 

[Murdergurl]

I'm sorry, I know people like to draw their characters instead of using outside reference pictures but.

Some people just draw sooo badly. I'd rather have a good written description of the character instead of a terrible drawing as a faceclaim.

Agree. Like, as an artist, I realize no one starts off doing great. But you also gotta have some prudence in knowing that you aren't display-ready yet. lol

 

[Nicodemus.]

Imposter syndrome.

 

[Lunar Bunny]

Just something I find annoying in group rps specifically; when the gm puts out a list of limited roles but then applies for a bunch themselves.
For example, let's say that there are 4 prince and 4 princess roles available, but the gm takes 3 out of the 4 princess positions. So in reality people can only apply for the 4 princes or 1 princess character lol just rubs me the wrong way.

 

[Inno]

This happened somewhere else but I hope that the latter part of my venting does not happen here.

Anyway, back at it again. First thing that grinds my gears would be guilt trips. Roleplay is just a hobby for me. It does not come before my real life and when real life hits I won't hesitate with a second thought to drop it like a bad habit. I had my work schedule become rather busy as of late and was basically given a guilt trip about me not being online to roleplay. Uh, duh. I WORK for a living to provide myself and my family with the necessities we need. Don't get bent out of shape, accuse me of ghosting, because I am not available 24/7 like you are. And I have proper warning about my posting schedule before we started anything.

Another thing. My characters are people from every walk of life I make them. They are flawed. They speak up for themselves. They can be good, neutral, or bad. That's with any character in any capacity. They also can be of any ethnicity or race I desire them to be. But the color of their skin, although important to a degree, is not what makes them who they are and that is not the focus of them no matter what genre or setting I put them in. With that said and had this happen recently somewhere, blatant prejudice for me choosing whoever I want for a faceclaim under the guise of the person not feeling comfortable with said faceclaim. Actually, with any faceclaims of minorities.

Who are you trying to fool? I decide who my characters will be, not you.

 

[nerdy tangents]

Inno the faceclaim thing legitimately creeps me out. I can’t imagine telling my partner they have to pick a specific face claim.

Unless it’s like “ hey so this is Victorian England and your 2022 insta model is kinda fucking with the aesthetic.”

But yeah telling someone they can’t use a specific ethnicity because it makes you uncomfortable is not only creepy but just bigoted as hell.

Like fine don’t roleplay with me then, I don’t need your racist ass to write a story.

 

[Murdergurl]

Just something I find annoying in group rps specifically; when the gm puts out a list of limited roles but then applies for a bunch themselves.
For example, let's say that there are 4 prince and 4 princess roles available, but the gm takes 3 out of the 4 princess positions. So in reality people can only apply for the 4 princes or 1 princess character lol just rubs me the wrong way.

dude, yes. I mean, I've never dealt with prince/princess or dynamics that seek to automatically pair off the players. But I totally get what you mean where the GM automatically fills some of the key roles. It's like, I get having ONE key role to have the control over moving the plot. But jeez. leave some room for your PCs to contribute.

Another thing. My characters are people from every walk of life I make them. They are flawed. They speak up for themselves. They can be good, neutral, or bad. That's with any character in any capacity. They also can be of any ethnicity or race I desire them to be. But the color of their skin, although important to a degree, is not what makes them who they are and that is not the focus of them no matter what genre or setting I put them in. With that said and had this happen recently somewhere, blatant prejudice for me choosing whoever I want for a faceclaim under the guise of the person not feeling comfortable with said faceclaim. Actually, with any faceclaims of minorities.

Who are you trying to fool? I decide who my characters will be, not you.

I mean, not so much here but on adult oriented sites, people often voice a preference for ethnicity. (I dont dabble in 1x1s too much outside of that, So i dont know how relevant it is in PG venues). I don't see the issue with someone having a preference for that if the RP is one that would have the characters date or have "romance" or otherwise forming a relationship that is more-than-friends. It's the same as wanting a MxM pairing or MxF, of FtM, non-binary, etc. etc. It's all just personal preference of the dynamic you're seeking in the fantasy.

 

[Simon_Hawk]

Murdergurl . Murdergurl is making me angry today

 

[Murdergurl]

Murdergurl . Murdergurl is making me angry today

um okay. Sorry you're angry???

 

[Simon_Hawk]

um okay. Sorry you're angry???

Thanks! Was just looking for an apology.

 

[Murdergurl]

Thanks! Was just looking for an apology.

well, there ya go. lol

 

[Inno]

dude, yes. I mean, I've never dealt with prince/princess or dynamics that seek to automatically pair off the players. But I totally get what you mean where the GM automatically fills some of the key roles. It's like, I get having ONE key role to have the control over moving the plot. But jeez. leave some room for your PCs to contribute.


I mean, not so much here but on adult oriented sites, people often voice a preference for ethnicity. (I dont dabble in 1x1s too much outside of that, So i dont know how relevant it is in PG venues). I don't see the issue with someone having a preference for that if the RP is one that would have the characters date or have "romance" or otherwise forming a relationship that is more-than-friends. It's the same as wanting a MxM pairing or MxF, of FtM, non-binary, etc. etc. It's all just personal preference of the dynamic you're seeking in the fantasy.

Yeah, it happens everywhere including on non-adult oriented sites. I'm not talking about people having any preferences, I'm talking about someone having a problem with me using whatever picture I want for my character. Not only that, basically telling me they're not comfortable with any type of minority picture I use. There is definitely something wrong with that and it shouldn't matter if romance is involved or not.

 

[Murdergurl]

Yeah, it happens everywhere including on non-adult oriented sites. I'm not talking about people having any preferences, I'm talking about someone having a problem with me using whatever picture I want for my character. Not only that, basically telling me they're not comfortable with any type of minority picture I use. There is definitely something wrong with that and it shouldn't matter if romance is involved or not.

I think in general, that when people try to hijack your character creation options it becomes a big turn off to continue to want to participate in any RP. I've had people take issue with my character portraits before. Not because they weren't in a fitting aesthetic to the setting or anything like that. They just wanted a specific look that I wasnt into. But telling you specifically that they arent comfortable with minorities is... well, yeah. that's pretty blatant racism, tbh.

 

[arato.]

I feel unfocused and as if everything that I write today is terrible, low-tier garbage.

 

[Scoundrel]

A big pet peeve of my is when GMs post their character thread without also posting their character.

I can sort of understand why, but the issue is that I like to use the GM's character as sort of guideline for what's acceptable or not.