Viewpoint When do you believe RP has gone too far?

[Coco Adel]

So we all lime to RP and sometimes we like to RP different kinds of characters but do you feel there should be restrictions? Like is there a point where you believe RP has gone a bit too far and even for the sake of story or character it shouldn't be done?

For example, I once RP'd a guy who had a character who was supposed to be a bad guy, like the most awful person imaginable. Now this was on G+ so pretty much anything was allowed, but still, I will continue with my example to illustrates my point. For the record, I feel what he did with this character was indeed taking things too far.

His character at one point and I warn you this will be disturbing and graphic to think about.

Spoiler: You have been warned.

Rapes an fourteen-year-old girl to death in front of her father with a burning hot pyre. His character was also very much sexually attracted to my 16-year-old character (His was in his late 30's). He would say sexual things to her whenever he saw, make no secret that he was checking her out, get a little too handsy during combat if he managed to get a hold of her, had licked and attempted to forcibly kiss her several times.

This just made me very uncomfortable. For the record, the guy himself was not a bad guy he just wanted to make a character who was truly evil and an awful person. At some point, everyone got too uncomfortable and asked if he could stop playing the character or at least tone him down and retcon his previous actions which he did without argument and apologized for going overboard.

But what about you, when do you think its gone too far?

 

[ashwynne]

I would say that the only time a RP goes too far is when one or more participants no longer feel comfortable with it. It’s a flexible thing that will depend on the people involved. Your example is an excellent case of that. Potentially with a different group of people who wanted to lean in to the darker/more horrifying elements of humanity, a character like his might have been very welcome.

I’d even go so far as to say that no topic is really off the table provided it’s done with proper respect, sensitivity, gravity and with the consent and comfort of all parties involved. If any of the above are breached, I’d say the RP has gone too far.

 

[AngelDragon]

Yikes nothing that bad happened in any of my rps but I did once got a guy who asked me to rp as a girl who liked to be peed on and other stuff. I was so extremely uncomfortable I just had to say no I have a line and I shall never cross over it no matter what.

 

[Coco Adel]

I would say that the only time a RP goes too far is when one or more participants no longer feel comfortable with it. It’s a flexible thing that will depend on the people involved. Your example is an excellent case of that. Potentially with a different group of people who wanted to lean into the darker/more horrifying elements of humanity, a character like his might have been very welcome.

I’d even go so far as to say that no topic is really off the table provided it’s done with proper respect, sensitivity, gravity and with the consent and comfort of all parties involved. If any of the above are breached, I’d say the RP has gone too far.

A fair point, but I just wasn't feeling it at the time I'd be totally cool writing something like that in a solo story but in an interactive setting it just kind of felt really weird.

 

[ashwynne]

A fair point, but I just wasn't feeling it at the time I'd be totally cool writing something like that in a solo story but in an interactive setting it just kind of felt really weird.

Oh yeah, I don't think I'd enjoy that either. Just a little too.... gross for my tastes. If he were a big bad that they set out to kill and eventually succeed at doing then maybe, but a recurring character like that would not be something I'd want in a group either, I think.

 

[zippy]

Heads up that you mistyped like as “lime” twice in the first sentence

 

[Crayons]

Yeeeahhhh that's just too far all around.

I feel like, if you're going to put something in the story like that, check that everyone is OK with it first. There was a similar incident on a forum I'm on, but before I joined, where a character did something akin to that but worse, and he got banned. But a couple of years later the mods let him back in. No one wanted to RP with him though, because we'd all heard about this story. Tbh I don't think they should have let him back, it was pretty beyond the pale, and breached the T&C of the site a million times over.

I used to RP with a friend whose default setting was putting something disturbing into her character's back history. The one I thought was too far was a character who was kept locked in a basement for his whole childhood, and tortured in multiple different ways,

Spoiler

including forced incest,

for years and years. I managed to get her to tone it down a bit, but I still wasn't happy about it at all and tried not to think about it whenever I had to read that character's posts. The character also had voices in his head that urged him to kill people in horrible ways. It was pretty unpleasant.

I feel like in general I have a pretty low tolerance for sadistic/nasty stuff in RPs.

 

[still watching fma]

As long as I know what I'm getting into, I wouldn't mind. It's not going too far as long as both parties understand that it's just rping. However, I tend to stay away from romance and sex(of any kind) in rp. I find erotic rping to be cringey and uncomfortable. I would prefer to feed a victim to a pit of hungry rats by slowly lowering them while their tied up if they didn't spill the location of the rebel base. As opposed to say, playing a pedo.

but I find nothing morally wrong about it. The hills have eyes did rape in an acceptable manner and goblin slayer was funny for including it. But yea, I just find it cringey and uncomfortable. Go watch porn before rping if you're that thirsty.

 

[Coco Adel]

As long as I know what I'm getting into, I wouldn't mind. It's not going too far as long as both parties understand that it's just rping. However, I tend to stay away from romance and sex(of any kind) in rp. I find erotic rping to be cringey and uncomfortable. I would prefer to feed a victim to a pit of hungry rats by slowly loving them while their tied up if they didn't spill the location of the rebel base. As opposed to say, playing a pedo.

but I find nothing morally wrong about it. The hills have eyes did rape in an acceptable manner and goblin slayer was funny for including it. But yea, I just find it cringey and uncomfortable. Go watch porn before rping if you're that thirsty.

The Hills have Eyes was a movie and Goblin Slayer is an anime that was trying to pain monsters as well...monsters it kind of doesn't require you interact with other people so I'm not sure if that's a good example to use but the rest is fair.

 

[still watching fma]

The Hills have Eyes was a movie and Goblin Slayer is an anime that was trying to pain monsters as well...monsters it kind of doesn't require you interact with other people so I'm not sure if that's a good example to use but the rest is fair.

To be fair, the hills have eyes was an exaggerated family of cannibal hillbillies lol. And would it make it less uncomfortable if i asked you to do a tentacle scene? XD

But yea, thats just my two cents on the matter

 

[Coco Adel]

To be fair, the hills have eyes was an exaggerated family of cannibal hillbillies lol. And would it make it less uncomfortable if I asked you to do a tentacle scene? XD

But yea, that's just my two cents on the matter

Yes...it was a horror movie and I didn't have to interact with cannibal hillbillies in any way shape or form. Also yes it would make less uncomfortable because I have the opportunity to say no whilst smacking you with a newspaper and it doesn't just come out of nowhere and put me off....so yeah.

 

[still watching fma]

Yes...it was a horror movie and I didn't have to interact with cannibal hillbillies in any way shape or form. Also yes it would make less uncomfortable because I have the opportunity to say no whilst smacking you with a newspaper and it doesn't just come out of nowhere and put me off....so yeah.

As a psych student I find that fascinating. Because you aren't interacting with the hillbillies with an rp(at least online), so it leads me to think that for some reason you're disconnected from media. But you treat roleplaying with more weight if you have to think about the effects of being subjected to such horrors. Tangentially it reminds me of the bystander affect which states that when many people are around, an individual is less likely to help a dying hobo as opposed to if there were less people. I see some slight parallels here and with the milgram experiment.

You see from the milgram experiment they told people.
1. say a string of letters to a guy on the other side of the wall
2. quiz him
3. if he gets it wrong, shock him
4. shock him with a higher voltage
5. keep going higher till the test is done

and what it showed was 60% of people weren't bothered so long as the man in question was not in their field of view, but hearing his pleading voice did nothing to assuage them. but when he came out and said, "haha it was a prank bro", they got angry. Which leads me to think you're able to view unspeakable horrors because there's a disconnect in your head if the event isn't actually happening in front of you. But the moment you put yourself in their shoes, you get bothered.

This may help me make some horror plots. Thanks for the ideas.

 

[Jannah]

This is very subjective, imo, since different people have different comfort levels. Any time those are violated from either side the RP certainly goes too far. I personally don't really have many limits as far as content goes, but I do have a rule where the more extreme content has to be justified by the plot. It can't just be inserted for the sake of edginess. If my partner ever went against that then I would certainly be disinclined to continue the RP.

 

[Simon_Hawk]

An RP has gone to far when the other player shows up buck-naked on the hood of your truck with a shotgun.

 

[Coco Adel]

As a psych student I find that fascinating. Because you aren't interacting with the hillbillies with an rp(at least online), so it leads me to think that for some reason you're disconnected from media. But you treat roleplaying with more weight if you have to think about the effects of being subjected to such horrors. Tangentially it reminds me of the bystander affect which states that when many people are around, an individual is less likely to help a dying hobo as opposed to if there were less people. I see some slight parallels here and with the milgram experiment.

You see from the milgram experiment they told people.
1. say a string of letters to a guy on the other side of the wall
2. quiz him
3. if he gets it wrong, shock him
4. shock him with a higher voltage
5. keep going higher till the test is done

and what it showed was 60% of people weren't bothered so long as the man in question was not in their field of view, but hearing his pleading voice did nothing to assuage them. but when he came out and said, "haha it was a prank bro", they got angry. Which leads me to think you're able to view unspeakable horrors because there's a disconnect in your head if the event isn't actually happening in front of you. But the moment you put yourself in their shoes, you get bothered.

This may help me make some horror plots. Thanks for the ideas.

And I believe you are reading way too much into it, it's really not all that deep or complicated, but glad to help I guess? Have fun with that.

 

[still watching fma]

And I believe you are reading way too much into it, it's really not all that deep or complicated, but glad to help I guess? Have fun with that.

I don't think I am. You are asking if it's possible to go too far in an rp and I'm merely thinking about it. Afterall, I would think that watching rape in a movie is no different than seeing it in an rp. Which is just sort of interesting to me. It doesn't really convince me that there are any taboo rp scenes(so long as both players are interested).

 

[Shivana]

I don't think I am. You are asking if it's possible to go too far in an rp and I'm merely thinking about it. Afterall, I would think that watching rape in a movie is no different than seeing it in an rp. Which is just sort of interesting to me. It doesn't really convince me that there are any taboo rp scenes(so long as both players are interested).

Not really in RP you have to interact with other people and while I can agree it's okay if everyone is comfortable with it there is also the glaring issue of minors being involved and I don't believe that you should RP that explicitly when there is a possibility that the person you are interacting with may not be of age. As OP said on G+ pretty much anything was allowed, but this is RPN and I think it's important to remember this is a PG-13 site overall and at some point, RP explicit topics with other people delves into the realm of cybering or sexting, both of which are super illegal to do with minors and can land you in some serious hot water if their parents find out and the cops would not be hearing we were only role-playing excuse even if it was the truth.

On that note, this could possibly extend to doing it out in the open, so even if you weren't role-playing these plots with minors the fact that it was done out in the open in view of minors may still get you in trouble. Watching an R rated movie won't get you arrested. I think what's most uncomfortable about these plots is perhaps the feeling that someone is doing something wrong rather it be you or the other person and you may be worried someone is going to get in trouble if it continues.

 

[Shivana]

I don't think I am. You are asking if it's possible to go too far in an rp and I'm merely thinking about it. Afterall, I would think that watching rape in a movie is no different than seeing it in an rp. Which is just sort of interesting to me. It doesn't really convince me that there are any taboo rp scenes(so long as both players are interested).

To be clear I'm not saying anyone would technically be cybering but by using the example on the OP it can be seen as very explicit if you are describing an older man, essentially molesting an underage girl in detail or violating a girl to death with a foreign object and if a parent or law authority figure saw it they may not see or care about the difference.

 

[still watching fma]

Not really in RP you have to interact with other people

Hold up, this point makes no sense. That is a fictitious character in a fictitious setting. It's all imaginary. Just because a post evokes an emotional response, it doesn't denote an interaction between two people.

It's fine if you subscribe to this post modern conception of interaction, but it's not something I subscribe to. And your argument and op's is inherently not principled. If you can't stand the thought of rape. Then why is there even a distinction between rp and visual media?

THINK OF ZE KEEDS

This is an issue that has to do with parenting. The parents should have locks. Their kids shouldn't have phones or wifi at home. It should be wired and in the living room with supervision. And to make sure that the kids can't access sites like this, RPN should also require photo id and and be required to take a picture with said id in a selfie displaying it.

Now obviously I'm just being a devil's advocate and being hyperbolic with this bit, but children aren't an excuse. Not saying we should even try on rpn because that'd get you in trouble with the mods. But if we're strictly going off of things like google plus, you can't use kids as an excuse. This is the fault of a parent substituting spending time with their kids with technology. And for consenting adults, it's your fault for not closing the app the moment a thirsty boy starts E-rping like a wierdo.

 

[Coco Adel]

Hold up, this point makes no sense. That is a fictitious character in a fictitious setting. It's all imaginary. Just because a post evokes an emotional response, it doesn't denote an interaction between two people.

It's fine if you subscribe to this post modern conception of interaction, but it's not something I subscribe to. And your argument and op's is inherently not principled. If you can't stand the thought of rape. Then why is there even a distinction between rp and visual media?


This is an issue that has to do with parenting. The parents should have locks. Their kids shouldn't have phones or wifi at home. It should be wired and in the living room with supervision. And to make sure that the kids can't access sites like this, RPN should also require photo id and be required to take a picture with said id in a selfie displaying it.

Now obviously I'm just being a devil's advocate and being hyperbolic with this bit, but children aren't an excuse. Not saying we should even try on rpn because that'd get you in trouble with the mods. But if we're strictly going off of things like google plus, you can't use kids as an excuse. This is the fault of a parent substituting spending time with their kids with technology. And for consenting adults, it's your fault for not closing the app the moment a thirsty boy starts E-rping like a wierdo.

Umm, let's see in the movie it's only implied while in the RP is was described jun great detail quite frequently. So let's see a movie I watched exactly one time, which I was still uncomfortable with by the way, vs an RP I did quite often. If the rape scene in hills have eyes was shown in intimate detail for hours every day I wouldn't keep watching it.

Not liking the thought of something does not mean that you cannot stomach it to an extent and it certainly does not make one unprincipled to do so. I don't like the thought of being stuck with a needle but I can grit my teeth and bear it every now and again. The difference between it being in media and RP, at least in my case is that it was constant in the RP while in the movie it was exactly one scene as far as I can remember. So yes I can sit through and implied rape scene every now and again, but I'm not going to sit through it on a daily basis and not become uncomfortable.

 

[Shivana]

Hold up, this point makes no sense. That is a fictitious character in a fictitious setting. It's all imaginary. Just because a post evokes an emotional response, it doesn't denote an interaction between two people.

It's fine if you subscribe to this post modern conception of interaction, but it's not something I subscribe to. And your argument and op's is inherently not principled. If you can't stand the thought of rape. Then why is there even a distinction between rp and visual media?


This is an issue that has to do with parenting. The parents should have locks. Their kids shouldn't have phones or wifi at home. It should be wired and in the living room with supervision. And to make sure that the kids can't access sites like this, RPN should also require photo id and and be required to take a picture with said id in a selfie displaying it.

Now obviously I'm just being a devil's advocate and being hyperbolic with this bit, but children aren't an excuse. Not saying we should even try on rpn because that'd get you in trouble with the mods. But if we're strictly going off of things like google plus, you can't use kids as an excuse. This is the fault of a parent substituting spending time with their kids with technology. And for consenting adults, it's your fault for not closing the app the moment a thirsty boy starts E-rping like a wierdo.

We, first of all, I never said it denotes an interaction between two people, I think I quite clearly said this came down to how it would be perceived by an outside party. You say this is a parenting issue, but the parents really don't have to care about the intentions behind your interactions with their children. The police are not going to care that these were two fictional characters in a fictional setting. If it were reported then all they are going to care about is the fact that you sent a minor sexually explicit text. Yes it could bad parenting that caused the situation but they're not going to arrest the parents, they're going to arrest you. I've seen it plenty of times when pedos have been caught online, often they would take part in ERP with children and trust me the cops didn't give them any less time because they were playing fictional characters.

Also, we aren't talking about G+ I quite clearly said I was talking about this specific site right here so yes kids are an excuse here and even on G+ technically that stuff was only allowed because the people in the community never reported it official in the official rules it wasn't allowed there either G+ was just lax on enforcing the rules. Had someone actually reported, tons of people could have been in deep shit. It's not so much, think of the kids as it is thinking of your future.

Also, you're assuming I have an issue with rape in RP based on principle, at no point did I say I did because I don't. However, I think it's important to remember what kind of site we are on as well as the law and what can happen if you go too far. From a story standpoint, I agree there is nothing that goes too far but the thread asked when you think RP goes too far and RP isn't simply about story, we are on a website with rules and within a society with laws so I think it goes too far when you are dancing along the line of possible jail time.

Also dude...don't...don't victim blame not everyone knows how to handle those kinds of situations and saying it's their fault for not stopping something immediately is really insensitive and just messed up.

 

[Tove]

So we all lime to RP and sometimes we like to RP different kinds of characters but do you feel there should be restrictions? Like is there a point where you believe RP has gone a bit too far and even for the sake of story or character it shouldn't be done?

For example, I once RP'd a guy who had a character who was supposed to be a bad guy, like the most awful person imaginable. Now this was on G+ so pretty much anything was allowed, but still, I will continue with my example to illustrates my point. For the record, I feel what he did with this character was indeed taking things too far.

His character at one point and I warn you this will be disturbing and graphic to think about.

Spoiler: You have been warned.

Rapes an fourteen-year-old girl to death in front of her father with a burning hot pyre. His character was also very much sexually attracted to my 16-year-old character (His was in his late 30's). He would say sexual things to her whenever he saw, make no secret that he was checking her out, get a little too handsy during combat if he managed to get a hold of her, had licked and attempted to forcibly kiss her several times.

This just made me very uncomfortable. For the record, the guy himself was not a bad guy he just wanted to make a character who was truly evil and an awful person. At some point, everyone got too uncomfortable and asked if he could stop playing the character or at least tone him down and retcon his previous actions which he did without argument and apologized for going overboard.

But what about you, when do you think its gone too far?

Yeah, that example is extreme.
Well....that really takes the lead however when things have gone too far would be when someone can't distinguish between what's real and what is not. Like they've gotten so obsessed with the roleplay instead of referring to their character in a situation, they will be like I. Had a dude once that it took me several hours to decipher his posts but he stopped even mentioning his character and was putting himself in the roleplay. He asked, ooc, would my character wash his feet. Hell no, out.

 

[Delinquent]

The hills have eyes did rape in an acceptable manner and goblin slayer was funny for including it.

That's certainly an odd choice of words.

 

[still watching fma]

That's certainly an odd choice of words.

You took that tripe seriously? Back when anime was still the wild wild west of story telling, a scene like that would have been steeped in story telling value and the culmination of years of writing. Goblin slayer's rape was shoehorned for the sake of shock value. As shown from the subsequent episodes and chapters where it was no longer a factor.

 

[Shivana]

You took that tripe seriously? Back when anime was still the wild wild west of story telling, a scene like that would have been steeped in story telling value and the culmination of years of writing. Goblin slayer's rape was shoehorned for the sake of shock value. As shown from the subsequent episodes and chapters where it was no longer a factor.

Not really the rape was put in for 2 reasons.

1. To illustrate the fact that Goblins were evil disgusting creatures, they wanted you to hate the band see why Goblin Slayer hates them.

2. To explain how Golblin's reproduce when there are no female Goblins.

Also, it does become a factor more than once actually, there is a point in anime and the manga where Goblin Slayer Kills a group of goblins by setting their lair of fire and killing hostages to where he explains there was no point in them living anymore as they had probably be raped repeatedly and were probably pregnant with Goblin babies so they were better off dead it also comes into play when they show how they raped and tortured an elf in a tower and then the meat shields and then there is what happened to Goblin Slayer's sister who was raped and brutally murdered in front of him. It wasn't just shoehorned it and I'm surprised people still think this when not has been shown not have a purpose multiple times.