I've seen the spectrum on this personally over the past 10 years of RP.
I've had "whole foods organic" relationship RP that lasted for years and was full of ups and downs and was fantastic.  I've also had organic relationship RP that's been a freakin dumpster fire of annoyance and frustration OOC, no matter how well the characters seemed to get on.
My arranged relationship RP? Same thing, only often with less OOC trouble since both parties are going into it with a particular expectation. Sometimes it works out amazing IC and can make for a fun will-they-or-won't-they story of learning to love one another, especially if the arrangement is ALSO an arranged relationship IC, too. Sometimes, it turns out to be the worst idea ever conceived - the characters do not get along well at all despite what you expected (and not in the fun rivalmance sort of way) or even worse, the two characters are just freakin' boring together.Â
These days, I would say more of my RP falls into the latter camp for romance, arranged over un-arranged. I do take chances on the crazy random happenstance romance RP here and there, but usually the ships that I do at least a decent amount of pre-planning OOC for tend to work better and longer for me. The whole "dating and falling in love" segment of romance RP is fun, but I think I have more fun with the part that starts when the Disney movie ends and my characters find out what it's really like to be partners in life. That usually requires an RP partner that's 1) in it for the long haul, 2) isn't living vicariously through their character to the point that they'll be upset with ups and downs, and 3) a degree of trust and maturity that I'm not likely to find out of a random someone whose character just happens to fancy mine.Â
Romance RP is always kind of a gamble, though. No matter how well you take the odds into consideration and count the cards, sometimes you still walk away from the table with nothing because it's a bad hand. While other times you just dump change into the slot machine and it spits out a jackpot out of nowhere. You just never know!
I've had "whole foods organic" relationship RP that lasted for years and was full of ups and downs and was fantastic.  I've also had organic relationship RP that's been a freakin dumpster fire of annoyance and frustration OOC, no matter how well the characters seemed to get on.
My arranged relationship RP? Same thing, only often with less OOC trouble since both parties are going into it with a particular expectation. Sometimes it works out amazing IC and can make for a fun will-they-or-won't-they story of learning to love one another, especially if the arrangement is ALSO an arranged relationship IC, too. Sometimes, it turns out to be the worst idea ever conceived - the characters do not get along well at all despite what you expected (and not in the fun rivalmance sort of way) or even worse, the two characters are just freakin' boring together.Â
These days, I would say more of my RP falls into the latter camp for romance, arranged over un-arranged. I do take chances on the crazy random happenstance romance RP here and there, but usually the ships that I do at least a decent amount of pre-planning OOC for tend to work better and longer for me. The whole "dating and falling in love" segment of romance RP is fun, but I think I have more fun with the part that starts when the Disney movie ends and my characters find out what it's really like to be partners in life. That usually requires an RP partner that's 1) in it for the long haul, 2) isn't living vicariously through their character to the point that they'll be upset with ups and downs, and 3) a degree of trust and maturity that I'm not likely to find out of a random someone whose character just happens to fancy mine.Â
Romance RP is always kind of a gamble, though. No matter how well you take the odds into consideration and count the cards, sometimes you still walk away from the table with nothing because it's a bad hand. While other times you just dump change into the slot machine and it spits out a jackpot out of nowhere. You just never know!
