How do you all look at those two prefixes? When you see someone open to "Mature RP" or "Dark RP" what do you interpret that as?
For me there isn't any difference. But this is talking entirely in an 8x8 cell. And when I go out of that bubble, I start to differentiate.
For me, Dark RP is anything grim or R-Rated. Violence, torture, war, etc. But I don't exactly exclude "NC-17" from the list either. It's just a part of the list. I usually these days consider "Mature RP" to not have much difference from "ERP" except "ERP" may just be "ERP for ERP's sake" while Mature may still have a reason for the ERP.
These days I kinda... completely ignore almost every RP Descriptor Tag. Most of em are so subjective that I can't really have any idea what intent is there.
The two tags that I don't just gloss over are:
Casual - This tells me they are much more receptive to scenes like "Trying Marmot Meat Because Of Peer Pressure" and just not that interested in scenes like "Theorizing The Effects of Void Influence On The Vylbrand Watershed" or "All Of My Friends Are Dead"
I wish the word "Casual" wasn't a curse word in videogameworld.
Erotic - A very clear descriptor. They want the <body parts>. I appreciate this. It really sucks to strike up some RP and realize each party wants something way way different out of it.
Dark and Mature and Heavy all don't really mean much to me.
Dark could mean detailed descriptions of gore, or it could mean someone who attempts suicide any time the word 'wife' is mentioned. Or it could mean comedic antihero brood-offs!
Mature, I can never tell if it means they want cerebral stuff or traumatic stuff or are just using it to mean ERP but without the stigma, or if they're just really interested in RP about doing the dishes or dealing with budgets.
Heavy could mean several of the above, or could mean they want to commit to a year-long story, or it could mean that they spend 8 hours a day in-character. Those are all very different things!
I am easily befuddled.
I always thought "Mature RP" meant there was an age or height requirement. Like 18+ which slick sounds like a erp invitation.
I made a quick diagram.
![[Image: MgVBK4S.jpg]](http://i.imgur.com/MgVBK4S.jpg)
(TBH neither mean anything to me and sound a bit silly, but I know people use different words to mean different things, all are valid and this is tongue in cheek!)
My RP is rated M for mature.
I think the distinction primarily lies within whether it will have explicit details of +18 content, violence or sexual. Maybe that's just the impression I got? I think it's pretty vague and ultimately is myriad variations on "Not for young impressionable players."
Dark just has plot elements that come from horror, drama, war, etc. Other themes that some might consider depressing.
"Mature"
![[Image: the-sopranos-2_7524.jpg]](http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/the-sopranos-2_7524.jpg)
"Dark"
![[Image: jinx_unicorn_by_kyle23emma-d7tc45u.png]](http://orig05.deviantart.net/5d0e/f/2014/214/7/a/jinx_unicorn_by_kyle23emma-d7tc45u.png)
Emphasis and portrayal play a big part for me. All of my characters have backstories and roleplay centering around adult themes and concepts, surely enough to be classified as mature, but Edgar and Aradial definitely have darker elements to them. There's emphasis on how those aspects are awful to deal with, and there's a general sense of lack of control and hopelessness permeating their backstories. It's never something where there's an obvious light at the end of the tunnel, it's just mountains of heavy shit and suck everywhere.
At best, they're trying to make the best of a bad situation.
 At worst...
![[Image: Shadows_Over_Innsmouth_(1994_anthology_-_cover).jpg]](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/2/23/Shadows_Over_Innsmouth_(1994_anthology_-_cover).jpg)
Back on WoW EU, ''Mature'' was literally just another way to say ERP. So when I first came to Balmung and inspected a lot of people I was like; ''Woah, so many ERP'ers here!''
Generally none of these terms mean anything to me. They were used back on WoW in the old days, but after like.. 2010? Nobody used them anymore. They become a laughing joke really, especially the term ''Heavy Roleplayer''. It basically just meant a roleplayer that does not break character at any give moment. No OOC chat in public channels, no times-skipping with OOC teleports and all that. Responding to every approach IC and adhere to the lore of whatever universe you were playing in.
It's not something many people can or want to do, hence why the ''HevRP'' joke become so popular. In my opinion nobody is a real Heavy Roleplayer in any MMO I've ever played.
Not doing weird OOC things during RP and following the lore of a game/keep common sense where lore is unavailable, is pretty much self-explanatory really. To me you're either a roleplayer, or you're not. There's nothing in between in my books!
Obviously can't speak for everyone, but I tend to use Mature RP as anything that'd be rated 18+ if it was a movie. So anything from graphic injuries and violence to steamy hot romancey action. If people do ERP for OOC sakes then I'd call that cybering, not ERP. I don't tend to use the dark label, but my understanding of it is that it includes some specifically harsh things like torture - a way to ask for more than your "standard" mature stuff.
I tend to think any such label means that the RP pushes the theme over the role-play. That is probably not the intent but that is my experience. Then again, I have found mature-RPers to be quite childish.
Relating to age I think that most things are still relevant to someone under 20 as to someone over twenty. What changes is the degree, depth and graphic nature, and probably the emotional resilience to appreciate it.. though to be honest I don't see older people being more mature.
There is the legal issue and wtf you are actually doing!!
The other aspect is one of attitude, and while the stereotype of the young being frivolous and un-serious while the older are serious and restrained it does not play out in reality. I know many younger players that are more "mature" in their attitude than older ones.
In short, if someone labels their RP type expect them to want specific things and focus on those over others. But then I'm a cynic.
Generally, I assume "mature" to be some sort of buffer as opposed to out-and-out saying "ERP". "Dark" usually has Gaia Online connotations, so I tend to ask before I jump in, see exactly what I'm getting myself into, hope it's war/violence/etc. as opposed to miqo'te flipping their hair back because no one "gets" being a Nunh.
Taking the piss here, #notallmiqo
What I hear when people mention those words:
Dark RP: Fuck the world and the government, man...
Mature RP: oh you mean normal conversation between adults like topics about their sex life with others, opening controversy and racisism, also throwing in some jokes, making fun and so on?
I consider the term mature RP not for ERP but a more natural character from age 21+ like any real human. Dark RP makes me groan hard with a passion. I get some appeal but it sometimes makes others look less mature than legit RPers.
Usually, it'll be :
Dark - Expect stacks on stacks of clichéd backstory - Voidsent? Check. Rape? Check. Voidsent rape? Check.
Mature - Expect stacks on stacks of sexually charged roleplay that has expectations to lead to described lewd things (no fade to black). Heavy possibility of futa.
* * *
To be fair, that doesn't mean the person is bad at RP or whatever. Just that the person feels that these tags are so pervasive in their RPs that they need to warn you beforehand.
Which would mean I need to preface my tag with "weird" or "stupid".
Sliding away from the more snide definitions...
Dark RP - I think people usually mean for this to describe plots and elements that one would find in the Dark Fantasy genre. Elric, The Black Company, Dragon Age, Berserk, stuff like that. Expect a bit of forefront of violence. Expect moral shades of grey. Expect protagonists rather than heroes. This can get tied up in cliche as much as anything, most typically it gets wrapped in a "gothy" package, but it is a bit of a misrepresentation of the style. While gothy elements can exist, there are plenty of places to go without everyone being dressed in black. A Song of Ice and Fire/Game of Thrones is a prime example of Dark Fantasy. Oh yeah, last defining feature, expect bad guys to possibly win.
Mature RP - I tend to think of this tag dealing with more mature subject matter. Sex and sexuality are certainly there, but the net also catches things like racism, class issues, and religion. The general intent is to approach and explore said issues and not shy away from the more controversial bits. Each subject handled with maturity and open minds. This gets a bit strange because this is really more of a subject matter tag than a genre tag. So there is a lot of bleed over between the two.
So, to me, one is a genre tag the other is a subject tag. Wheee!
Hope this has been helpful, yar.