Experiences Whats making you angry today? Rp pet peeves

[nerdy tangents]

jump. I find that doing slow burn is a good compromise. As the people are usually fine with platonic roleplays.

As that’s kinda the point of a slow burn that the characters are friends first and that *maybe* they might end up in a romantic relationship if they have the right chemistry.

And usually if you say “hey I would prefer to focus on the non-romance first and see how things go.” they’re fine with it.

 

[saniachan]

Character's personality: why does it have to be stated upfront?

Spoiler: Some context

The thing is, it is hard for me to verbally describe a character's personality unless it's either a canon character (in which case I try to do them justice) or an OC I've previously played (whose actions I can refer back to). This is why I find it easier to do backstories before personalities in a CS -- and bonus point if the personality part is optional. Even then, if I absolutely have to do the personality part (as it is the case in most RPs here), I'd rather keep it as vague as possible to allow some flexibility to act it out.

 

[Murdergurl]

obsession with romance in 1x1 rps. pretty much every 1x1 interest check is romance centered. it's hard enough finding people interested in my fandoms, let alone finding anyone who'd be interested in a non-romantic/platonic plot like i usually stick to group rps because of this, but there's been such a lack of threads im interested in ive considered branching out.. though at this point i might just end up thinking of some other group plot again because it's just do hard to find things that interest me

I totally get where you're coming from with this. I dont really care for 1x1s to begin with. But the fact that 9 out of 10 1x1 ads are for some kinda romance thing puts me off to it that much more. I'm also an avid group RPer, and also have not been seeing anything in my groove for a long while. I'm not much for pitching my own ideas. But even when i get up the motivation to do so, they always go unanswered. So I'm not particularly inclined to pitch my own ideas anymore.

It really is hard to find good ideas ideas that interest me out there.

 

[nerdy tangents]

saniachan i used to be the same way then I discovered a hack. I picture either someone I know in real life or a character from a series whose personality I want to copy.

Then I just describe that person/character.

So like using an example from Harry Potter ;;

Let’s say I want to make an OC who has Percy’s personality. I will just describe Percy in the personality section (obviously with a different name).

 

[AstroBeans]

People who can't separate fantasy from reality, I see this in a few forms but it always comes down to people not being able to separate people from their characters and somehow think it's a basis of how that person is irl. Just because my character is an asshole doesn't mean that I am, just because my character is in love with yours doesn't mean that I have feelings for you, just because my character believes a certain thing doesn't mean that I do, your inability to separate fact from fiction is not my problem.

I had problems like that in the past many times. I was quite gulity of it when I was started out but I can separate fantasy from reality now. Expect for the one time someone put my character in jail for no reason, I was confused.

 

[nerdy tangents]

AstroBeans tbf if someone takes control of your character that’s a different problem. That’s not really anything to do with reality and more your partner hijacking a story without permission.

I hope you made them either change their post or explain why they puppeted your character without asking.

 

[GojiBean]

Character's personality: why does it have to be stated upfront?

Spoiler: Some context

The thing is, it is hard for me to verbally describe a character's personality unless it's either a canon character (in which case I try to do them justice) or an OC I've previously played (whose actions I can refer back to). This is why I find it easier to do backstories before personalities in a CS -- and bonus point if the personality part is optional. Even then, if I absolutely have to do the personality part (as it is the case in most RPs here), I'd rather keep it as vague as possible to allow some flexibility to act it out.

I can understand the sentiment to some degree.

However, for the sake of playing devil's advocate and helping spread an understanding between both lines of thinking, there are numerous reasons why people may request the personality section to be written out, regardless of the degree, in the CS. Such reasons can include, but certainly are not limited to, the following:

(These are just the four most common reasons I've gleaned and found worth sharing)​

1) The GM may have a personal preference for having at least a basic understanding of who the characters are who are about to occupy the world they've worked hard to create, so that they can make sure they all fit within the worldbuilding and guidelines of the RP's rules.

2) Someone might want to tailor one or two of their own character's traits to either be in direct cohesion or direct conflict with that of yours for the sake of drama/tension in the group.

3) The GM specifically might want to know so they can tailor a few of the RP's events to challenge your character's personality and facilitate character growth and development.

4) Someone might be hoping to find a romance candidate in the RP. And because first impressions from the CS are often the biggest factor unless something in the RP's events drastically changes things down the line, they may base their decision on who to potentially pursue strictly on the CS.


Additionally, the idea that leaving the personality or bio sections vague (or leaving them out entirely) provides you with more flexibility when acting out the character is a total myth.

Your flexibility when writing for a character, and what you can accomplish for and with them, has absolutely nothing to do with how much information you do or do not include in the CS based on its requirements. What you can do for and with this character is rooted very firmly within your understanding of who your character is, and is limited only by your own creativity and adaptability within the RP's narrative as it progresses.

Personality traits are traits which reveal certain characteristic patterns of thoughts, feelings, and behaviors about your character in the here and now, as well as help explain why they take action and why they say the things they say. These traits are in a constant state of flux throughout the character's life. For example, the character's personality at the start of the RP is not going to be the same as what it was when they were a child. And their personality at the end of the RP is not going to be the same as when it started.

This ever shifting nature of personality, and the fact that they are shaped by a character's experiences, gives you almost limitless possibilities and opportunities with how you choose to portray this character based on your understanding of who they are. The less you actually understand your own character, the less creative you can be with them. And the more restricted you will feel when writing for them.


Last section, and I'll shut up. Promise.

As was implied in the first section, the primary purpose of even having a CS at all is typically to ensure that all participants in the RP, more specifically the GM since they're hosting the RP world, have at least a surface level understanding of what other characters are going to be in it.

No matter how much information the CS asks for with respect to personality and/or bio (which feeds directly into personality) really shouldn't matter.

What matters is your understanding of your character.

For example:

- Do you know what their first memory is, and what impact that moment had on their early development, and whether it still holds meaning for them today whether it's a conscious or subconscious meaning?
- Do you know who their first friend was, and whether or not they ever experienced bullying before, during, or after that meeting?
- Do you know who their first teacher was in school, and what sort of person they were and how that affected your character during their time in that class?
- Do you know what sorts of foods they ate, or had access to, which developed their taste in cuisine which may or may not affect how some people view them depending on how deeply rooted cuisine is in the local culture?
- Do you know whether or not their living conditions early on influenced how they viewed the world around them, such as if they lived in poverty and whether or not they were regularly, rarely, or never even given the time of day by the "average" person, let alone the nobility?
- Do you know what kinds of animals they like, and how their love for such creatures shaped their understanding of the food chain and their respect, or hatred, for the creatures which prey on the ones they love?
- Do you know if they're phobic towards anything? And if so, why? How has this developed the way they view the world, how they act, and how far they'll go out of their way to avoid any situations that may expose them to their phobia?
- Do you know what their first experience was like with the doctor, and how this changed their view of the medical realm and whether or not they are trusting of doctors and nurses?
- Do you know what their political views are, and how those views shape their view of the world and the people in it, as well as how they interact with them?
- Do you know what their relationship with their family is like, and how it's shaped their views of the world, the idea of family, how they trust or do not trust others, etc?

This list barely scratches the beginning of the surface of the kinds of questions I could list which challenge one's understanding of their own characters.

And the best part is that absolutely none of this information has to go in either the personality or bio sections of your CS. These kinds of details can all stay safely locked inside your head and revealed piece by piece, and at your own pace, whenever you feel that you're ready to reveal them throughout the course of the RP's journey.

Your character, and your understanding of them, can/should be likened to an iceberg floating in the ocean. What goes on the CS is represented by the small tip that's visible above the surface that everyone can see. And everything not on the CS, representing all the information you plan to slowly develop and reveal as the RP goes on, is the actual body of the iceberg hiding beneath it.

If you think of the CS and its requirements as either a limitation or some kind of obstacle to your writing process, then you will inevitably become a self-fulfilling prophecy and be limited and obstructed by them.

So, set yourself free. Focus on understanding your character and go as far down the rabbit hole as you want. Ask and answer all the questions that you can feasibly come up with regarding all the details that go into their backstory, and which help shape their present day personality, and store it away somewhere safe in your mind, or on a word doc on your desktop for reference later.

Do that, and you'll breeze through CS requirements without a care in the world because your confidence in what you know about your character will exceed any level of anxiety born from the false notions that the requirements are in any way limiting to your progress.

Cheers!

 

[Edric Blight]

Probably similar to what someone said I think on the previous page, but colored text and fancy fonts.

Personally I just like to stick to default, unless there’s like a special circumstance.

 

[Nicodemus.]

I can understand the sentiment to some degree.

However, for the sake of playing devil's advocate and helping spread an understanding between both lines of thinking, there are numerous reasons why people may request the personality section to be written out, regardless of the degree, in the CS. Such reasons can include, but certainly are not limited to, the following:

(These are just the four most common reasons I've gleaned and found worth sharing)​

1) The GM may have a personal preference for having at least a basic understanding of who the characters are who are about to occupy the world they've worked hard to create, so that they can make sure they all fit within the worldbuilding and guidelines of the RP's rules.

2) Someone might want to tailor one or two of their own character's traits to either be in direct cohesion or direct conflict with that of yours for the sake of drama/tension in the group.

3) The GM specifically might want to know so they can tailor a few of the RP's events to challenge your character's personality and facilitate character growth and development.

4) Someone might be hoping to find a romance candidate in the RP. And because first impressions from the CS are often the biggest factor unless something in the RP's events drastically changes things down the line, they may base their decision on who to potentially pursue strictly on the CS.


Additionally, the idea that leaving the personality or bio sections vague (or leaving them out entirely) provides you with more flexibility when acting out the character is a total myth.

Your flexibility when writing for a character, and what you can accomplish for and with them, has absolutely nothing to do with how much information you do or do not include in the CS based on its requirements. What you can do for and with this character is rooted very firmly within your understanding of who your character is, and is limited only by your own creativity and adaptability within the RP's narrative as it progresses.

Personality traits are traits which reveal certain characteristic patterns of thoughts, feelings, and behaviors about your character in the here and now, as well as help explain why they take action and why they say the things they say. These traits are in a constant state of flux throughout the character's life. For example, the character's personality at the start of the RP is not going to be the same as what it was when they were a child. And their personality at the end of the RP is not going to be the same as when it started.

This ever shifting nature of personality, and the fact that they are shaped by a character's experiences, gives you almost limitless possibilities and opportunities with how you choose to portray this character based on your understanding of who they are. The less you actually understand your own character, the less creative you can be with them. And the more restricted you will feel when writing for them.


Last section, and I'll shut up. Promise.

As was implied in the first section, the primary purpose of even having a CS at all is typically to ensure that all participants in the RP, more specifically the GM since they're hosting the RP world, have at least a surface level understanding of what other characters are going to be in it.

No matter how much information the CS asks for with respect to personality and/or bio (which feeds directly into personality) really shouldn't matter.

What matters is your understanding of your character.

For example:

- Do you know what their first memory is, and what impact that moment had on their early development, and whether it still holds meaning for them today whether it's a conscious or subconscious meaning?
- Do you know who their first friend was, and whether or not they ever experienced bullying before, during, or after that meeting?
- Do you know who their first teacher was in school, and what sort of person they were and how that affected your character during their time in that class?
- Do you know what sorts of foods they ate, or had access to, which developed their taste in cuisine which may or may not affect how some people view them depending on how deeply rooted cuisine is in the local culture?
- Do you know whether or not their living conditions early on influenced how they viewed the world around them, such as if they lived in poverty and whether or not they were regularly, rarely, or never even given the time of day by the "average" person, let alone the nobility?
- Do you know what kinds of animals they like, and how their love for such creatures shaped their understanding of the food chain and their respect, or hatred, for the creatures which prey on the ones they love?
- Do you know if they're phobic towards anything? And if so, why? How has this developed the way they view the world, how they act, and how far they'll go out of their way to avoid any situations that may expose them to their phobia?
- Do you know what their first experience was like with the doctor, and how this changed their view of the medical realm and whether or not they are trusting of doctors and nurses?
- Do you know what their political views are, and how those views shape their view of the world and the people in it, as well as how they interact with them?
- Do you know what their relationship with their family is like, and how it's shaped their views of the world, the idea of family, how they trust or do not trust others, etc?

This list barely scratches the beginning of the surface of the kinds of questions I could list which challenge one's understanding of their own characters.

And the best part is that absolutely none of this information has to go in either the personality or bio sections of your CS. These kinds of details can all stay safely locked inside your head and revealed piece by piece, and at your own pace, whenever you feel that you're ready to reveal them throughout the course of the RP's journey.

Your character, and your understanding of them, can/should be likened to an iceberg floating in the ocean. What goes on the CS is represented by the small tip that's visible above the surface that everyone can see. And everything not on the CS, representing all the information you plan to slowly develop and reveal as the RP goes on, is the actual body of the iceberg hiding beneath it.

If you think of the CS and its requirements as either a limitation or some kind of obstacle to your writing process, then you will inevitably become a self-fulfilling prophecy and be limited and obstructed by them.

So, set yourself free. Focus on understanding your character and go as far down the rabbit hole as you want. Ask and answer all the questions that you can feasibly come up with regarding all the details that go into their backstory, and which help shape their present day personality, and store it away somewhere safe in your mind, or on a word doc on your desktop for reference later.

Do that, and you'll breeze through CS requirements without a care in the world because your confidence in what you know about your character will exceed any level of anxiety born from the false notions that the requirements are in any way limiting to your progress.

Cheers!

Very well said.

 

[Murdergurl]

So, I've been working for over a month on a galaxy build for my space pirate OC and surrounding characters, etc. I have a ship, I have galaxy lore, I have a couple of Docs as Primers, the list goes on. And I've been trying to pitch her in so many RP venues and have gotten absolutely nowhere.

(I can't advertise it here on RPN for reasons)

And now I'm just kinda starting to get tired of waiting and I'm leaning towards putting the whole thing away for later. This "later" will very likely never come, because this very thing has happened to me quite a few times over the years. I spend countless hours developing a setting, I try and find a place for it, I look and look, and wait and wait, and then I inevitably put the idea away and it just sits there. Then I start in on a new idea. Ad infinitum.

So yeah... getting pretty angry about that. I really had my heart in this particular OC, and it sucks to depend on a community that is flakey and uninterested in my particular flavor of genre and setting to get anything going on.

FML, right?

 

[.MAELSTROM.]

And now I'm just kinda starting to get tired of waiting and I'm leaning towards putting the whole thing away for later. This "later" will very likely never come, because this very thing has happened to me quite a few times over the years. I spend countless hours developing a setting, I try and find a place for it, I look and look, and wait and wait, and then I inevitably put the idea away and it just sits there. Then I start in on a new idea. Ad infinitum.

So yeah... getting pretty angry about that. I really had my heart in this particular OC, and it sucks to depend on a community that is flakey and uninterested in my particular flavor of genre and setting to get anything going on.

Sounds like you just need to write something solo, then. I mean, you already have all the foundational parts there, soooo wouldn't it be better to do it yourself than to let it go to waste? Yeah, sure there's the whole 'but I shouldn't have to! I wanted to RP!' thing, but it's better to not fall into the sunk cost fallacy.

I've turned many a failed RP storylines into solo writing projects for filling the time in-between when I have actual successful RPs. Hell, I'm working on one now and it's about 15-20k words in. I'll say that it's significantly more satisfying to have those solo endeavors come into fruition than it is to keep beating my head against a brick wall when an RP pursuit is too niche to ever work out.

 

[Murdergurl]

Sounds like you just need to write something solo, then. I mean, you already have all the foundational parts there, soooo wouldn't it be better to do it yourself than to let it go to waste? Yeah, sure there's the whole 'but I shouldn't have to! I wanted to RP!' thing, but it's better to not fall into the sunk cost fallacy.

I've turned many a failed RP storylines into solo writing projects for filling the time in-between when I have actual successful RPs. Hell, I'm working on one now and it's about 15-20k words in. I'll say that it's significantly more satisfying to have those solo endeavors come into fruition than it is to keep beating my head against a brick wall when an RP pursuit is too niche to ever work out.

been there, tried that. I have this issue with being self-motivated. I've started up ... I wanna say hundreds of my own stories in all my years of serious writing. And I've finished literally ZERO of them. It's one of the reasons I really hung onto roleplay over the years, for the collaborative writing. But, it just isn't happening anymore.

Without anyone else to kinda push me along or keep me interested, my own notions just wind up stagnating. My brain gets tired of only being able to bounce ideas off of myself, and I inevitably find myself in a sort of fatigue. I've been there too many times to not understand that it is exactly what will happen if I attempt it.

And yes, I've taken breaks. I've even taken breaks in a string without any successful RPs between them. Taking breaks doesn't really change anything except my being absent from the forum. When I come back, it's the same thing all over again.

^And I'm not complaining about RPN specifically. I'm on a slew of RP sites: I've cast a wide net with a specific catch in mind. RPN is actually the most communicative. People here actually speak up and respond in these chats more so than other places. So, I'll give y'all that one. :-)

 

[nerdy tangents]

Murdergurl have you considered looking up beta readers? Cuz that seems to be what you actually want. Someone to look over your stuff, keep you on task, and maybe help you iron out plot points.

Waaaay back in the fanfiction.net days I know they had specific profiles for people who did exactly that as beta readers. I also see beta readers mentioned on AO3.

Admittedly I don’t know how you would go about finding one but AO3 might be your best bet. If nothing else it doesn’t hurt to ask other people in a similar genre where they found their own beta readers.

I listen to a lot of podcasts on romance novels and sometimes it’s very much just “I basically took a chance, reached out to someone, and I got a break.”

If what you are doing now isn’t working then it might benefit you to try a different tactic.

 

[sevyn]

So yeah... getting pretty angry about that. I really had my heart in this particular OC, and it sucks to depend on a community that is flakey and uninterested in my particular flavor of genre and setting to get anything going on.

idk what kind of genre you do, but why not like… expand? like, if it’s such a big deal then obviously your only solutions are to try different types of rp, or to just write a story on your own. if you can’t find any groups to do your plot, why not try 1x1’s? in my experience, doublers are usually down for whatever as long as the exchange is fair. and even if not doublers, have you tried interacting with 1x1 players? i see pirate stuff all the time lmfao

 

[Nicodemus.]

When an interest check has multiple cool ideas and you can’t decide which to contact them about

 

[nerdy tangents]

Nicodemus. ya can always contact them about more then one idea and let them pick the one they are most interested in.

 

[Damafaud]

Me: Hello I read your interest check you want to RP in *setting*? I'm interested!
John: Hey cool! Here's my OC X. They are chatters
Me: Cool! Here's my OC Y. I think they will go well with X since the setting is-
John: X is so cool LOOK AT HIM!
Me: Nice. I think for the plot-
John: Here's X little sister! She's actually not X' real sister but she's so fond of X since she got adopted-

I understand being excited for a character but I'm not a praise giving machine. Also that sounds like 'will murder me if their smol precious bean is hurt' waiting to happen so I nope out.

Geez - __ -'

 

[nerdy tangents]

Yeah I feel you, having good fleshed out characters is important. But this is a co-protagonist kinda medium. Your character can’t be the center of the roleplay universe or else what the heck am I here for?

 

[Damafaud]

Yeah I feel you, having good fleshed out characters is important. But this is a co-protagonist kinda medium. Your character can’t be the center of the roleplay universe or else what the heck am I here for?

Yeah, no matter how well fleshed a character is, it won't work in a roleplay setting if attention is not shared. The character isn't even bad. The character is interesting, the NPCs around them are well fleshed out, the setting and plot point they put out is exactly my cup of tea... but the RPer doesn't really want to share the spotlight.

The whole thing will work greatly for a standalone story, but not a roleplay.

 

[nerdy tangents]

Damafaud exactly it’s the attention part of things.

I usually get this with people who are on the opposite extreme. They don’t want to contribute anything to the roleplay. No plotting, no character development, no world building or nothing.

The only thing they care about is their character and it’s usually not even a particularly well written one.

I mean I guess kudos on this person for at least fleshing out their character. But even still it still gives me the same vibes of “I’m just here to write out my own fantasy and you have to read my mind to figure out what that is so you can ghost write it for me.”

 

[Murdergurl]

Murdergurl have you considered looking up beta readers? Cuz that seems to be what you actually want. Someone to look over your stuff, keep you on task, and maybe help you iron out plot points.

Waaaay back in the fanfiction.net days I know they had specific profiles for people who did exactly that as beta readers. I also see beta readers mentioned on AO3.

Admittedly I don’t know how you would go about finding one but AO3 might be your best bet. If nothing else it doesn’t hurt to ask other people in a similar genre where they found their own beta readers.

I listen to a lot of podcasts on romance novels and sometimes it’s very much just “I basically took a chance, reached out to someone, and I got a break.”

If what you are doing now isn’t working then it might benefit you to try a different tactic.

I've actually have an Archive account. Been there for a couple of years now. But I've never contributed anything there because the site seems geared purely to fandom writing. And I'm not really a fandom writer. I got invited there. Which, I always thought it was weird that you had to be invited to get in. Like it was some kinda gatekeeping to a hot underground club. I joined it in the hopes of finding some good stories to read and maybe an audience to share with... but, omg the fanfic people write there is SO bad. I'm not sure of this is just a fanfic thing in general, or if Archive is just a magnet for shitty writing. I don't understand what the gatekeeping is for. because if Archive was a dance club, the drinks are watered down and the music sucks. lmao
It's also very difficult to blindly search for things on Archive and all I've ever really found there is not worth the time it takes to read it. So just on an interface level, the site is kinda meh.

 

[nerdy tangents]

Murdergurl if I can be a little blunt? I think a common theme here is negativity. If everything you try is started with a negative viewpoint then it’s kinda no wonder it all ends up failing.

Cuz you are either deliberately setting out to find writing that supports your negative mindset OR you are in such a negative mindset that literally all forms of writing are terrible to you.

And either way it’s the same problem, your stuck in some extremely negative mindsets.

I would actually try to combat that by compliment sandwiches. I know it sounds dumb but it’s very good for making you actually challenge your negative assumptions.

So for every negative thought you have for something you have to think of two positive ones.

And if you need help finding original works on archive send me a PM I can show you the tag (it’s original works I believe but I would need to double check.)

 

[Murdergurl]

OMFG... I'm hating Stranger Things right now because some character named Max from the show is trending on the internet. and because of that, my searches for Mad Max stuff has totally been plugged up by this Stranger Things horseshit instead.

​

 

[nerdy tangents]

How are you searching? (Lol former librarian here and I’m trying to figure out how your getting cross fandom results in searches).

Can you not search through specific fandoms on the site your on?

 

[saniachan]

I have a friend who bases their character on themself (they did mention this part, so... a self-insert?) in a(n?) RP focusing on a particular school club. This particular character is a female. While she has some problems with her parents, she tends to have others do stuff for her to the point that it's too illogical for a school-themed RP imo (e.g. having like 10-15 NPC students rushing to lend her a pen when she needed one for signing up for the club -- a normal student would've rummaged their bag for their own pen instead). Does such character count as a Mary Sue? Or are there any other terms to describe it instead?