Advice/Help What's the Best Way to Break Up Soap Opera Drama in an RP

[Malkav]

Doesn't matter the genre or theme, there's always someone whongeta pregnant out of nowhere, has an evil in-law, or decides that they have two super special Mary Sue boyfriends to choose from. So I ask the community: whqt is the best way to take the piss out of these situations?

 

[rae2nerdy]

Treat it realistically.

Literally every time if you apply real world consequences to the soap opera the person gets in a huff and leaves.

Pregnant out of nowhere ___ Sluuuuuut also how about that Nausea, swollen ankles, etc ( google side effects of bad pregnancies and mock them with them. Where ur pregnancy diabetes tho Karen ? U need to lie down to stop the nausea?

Also Hey do you have a plan for the kid? Adoption mmmkay so u just gonna chuck ur responsibility. Alright then. U gonna keep it. Guuuurl babyproof also nappies also a million other things I gotta buy.

Evil in law is valid tho.

Mary Sue Boyfriends? Honey do I need to call the cops? Cuz it’s legit unhealthy how he controls your every move. Or else I guess? I mean if giant dock hole is YOUR type. I guess ( / side eye )

 

[Idea]

If it's happening out of nowhere either the person is breaking the flow of the plot by magically creating these things or you allowed it to pass in the character creation stage. The best advise I can give you on this matter is pay attention and don't jump to accepting a character which is likely to develop these traits. And if they just do it out of nowhere anyway, tell them to take it back because it came out of nowhere there was no reason for it to be that way.

If you are not running the RP or 1x1, are just a player, then don't give them the time of the day. Do everything in your power to ignore them and to have the others do the same. This may seem cruel and bullying, and if the person is innocent it kinda is, but if the person is just attention-seeking there is probably no better way to get them to at least compromise.

 

[rae2nerdy]

respectfully I think you have that reversed.

If you are in a 1x1 or the GM then you try to give them a heads up or chuck them out.

As a group member you won’t have the power to control other users or to stear around the user.

So instead point out the flaws in their character design (in a productive way of course).

or Simply ignore them on your own if you are the confrontational type.

But I wouldn’t attempt to grab control of the roleplay if it is not your roleplay.

Because then you are causing a second tier problem for the GM to deal with.

Not only do they have to deal with Drama Llama trying to take over their roleplay. But they have to deal with YOU trying to take control as well.

 

[Idea]

respectfully I think you have that reversed.

If you are in a 1x1 or the GM then you try to give them a heads up or chuck them out.

As a group member you won’t have the power to control other users or to stear around the user.

So instead point out the flaws in their character design (in a productive way of course).

This is basically taking the control you

The reason I disagree with that is simple: Consistency.

If you are a player you have no power, but you can voice your concerns and you can avoid interaction with a person or two if necessary. If you have a good enough reason you may even be able to convince others.

Now a GM probably should have thought it through before. If they did and the person is still doing what they did, that person is likely violating the rules. However, if they are not violating the rules and the GM approved them, it's in bad taste to then turn around mid-rp and go "oh hey by the way, you can't have that after all"

that's what I think anyways

 

[rae2nerdy]

The reason I disagree with that is simple: Consistency.

If you are a player you have no power, but you can voice your concerns and you can avoid interaction with a person or two if necessary. If you have a good enough reason you may even be able to convince others.

Now a GM probably should have thought it through before. If they did and the person is still doing what they did, that person is likely violating the rules. However, if they are not violating the rules and the GM approved them, it's in bad taste to then turn around mid-rp and go "oh hey by the way, you can't have that after all"

that's what I think anyways

But again it’s not for you to be ( for lack of a better word ) a backseat GM.

How would you feel if Susie had a problem with Jan in one of your roleplays.

Susie ignores Jan which is valid. No worries there and if Jan has a problem with it you can say hey Susie isn’t disrupting anything. Let’s keep our OOC issues out of the roleplay.

But if Susie is ignoring Jan AND tells you to kick Jan out because Susie thinks Jan isn’t being a good roleplayer. Well if you don’t agree and say No. Jan is fine. Whatever issues you have please keep them out of the roleplay.

Is it okay if Susie then turns around and makes this huge deal? Tried to get other people to ignore Jan ?

Or for that matter if Jan is breaking YOUR rules do you want Susie to take it into their hands to discipline Jan? Or do you think that’s up to you as the GM.

Like in my mind it’s not your business how a GM runs their own roleplay. You see/ have an issue than bring it up to the GM. After that it’s out of your hand. From then on how you handle it should be specific to you alone.

If you want to ignore the rule breaker / drama llama. That’s up to you. If that is how you wish to handle conflict that’s fine.

But don’t bring other people into your issue with X person. Because then you begin to cause a second disturbance.

Sorry I probably wasn’t clear about that the first time. Hopefully this makes more sense

 

[Idea]

But again it’s not for you to be ( for lack of a better word ) a backseat GM.

How would you feel if Susie had a problem with Jan in one of your roleplays.

Susie ignores Jan which is valid. No worries there and if Jan has a problem with it you can say hey Susie isn’t disrupting anything. Let’s keep our OOC issues out of the roleplay.

But if Susie is ignoring Jan AND tells you to kick Jan out because Susie thinks Jan isn’t being a good roleplayer. Well if you don’t agree and say No. Jan is fine. Whatever issues you have please keep them out of the roleplay.

Is it okay if Susie then turns around and makes this huge deal? Tried to get other people to ignore Jan ?

Or for that matter if Jan is breaking YOUR rules do you want Susie to take it into their hands to discipline Jan? Or do you think that’s up to you as the GM.

Like in my mind it’s not your business how a GM runs their own roleplay. You see/ have an issue than bring it up to the GM. After that it’s out of your hand. From then on how you handle it should be specific to you alone.

If you want to ignore the rule breaker / drama llama. That’s up to you. If that is how you wish to handle conflict that’s fine.

But don’t bring other people into your issue with X person. Because then you begin to cause a second disturbance.

Sorry I probably wasn’t clear about that the first time. Hopefully this makes more sense

Hmmm... I guess you do have a point.

 

[rae2nerdy]

Hmmm... I guess you do have a point.

Yeah to be clear ignoring someone is a good tactic. Especially if they are focusing their drama lama ways on you specifically.

I tend to be more sarcastic but your right that trolls thrive on attention.

I just get leary of taking things further than that.

But then I have been a GM in situations where players tried to take control of things when I wasn’t around. It was always more drama than I wanted to deal with.

Cuz I get bitched out from both sides and who likes to be in the middle of drama?

 

[Malkav]

Okay, so I'm a participant in all of this. I'm in a fandom RP and suddenly a guy who was gone comes up with god knows how many characters (I can't make it out and the flow and structure is too piss-poor for me to get it,) and suddenly there's some cliche evil judge in-law of one of his bajillion characters with a small child and this other character who is a prototypical Mary Sue wants to adopt thr kid.


I got roped in as an agent of sorts to the Mary Sue and I'm just essentially posting "what the fuck?" while also pointing out issues in the inner monologue like how the legal age for adoption is 25. Then she goes to Starbucks and orders a latte while commenting on the quality of the latte. For some reason I keep sticking around, but I was wondering if this was the best approach to things.