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Roen · **10-04-2017, 03:00 PM**

(10-04-2017, 02:47 PM)Drunk Cat Wrote: Yeah, those dirty para-rpers like Roen! Who needs them and their well written plots and well constructed sentences and clever use of adjectives and...

NOTICE ME SENPAI!!!!!

Seriously though I know what you're talking about Warren XD Nothing grinds a scene like 30 minutes between posts)

Wait-- Wha?? Why you mention me here?

I've never labeled myself as a para-RPer. Put that label some place else! Although sometimes, yes, my posts during RP can be longer than others. And sometimes I respond with a "...." and nothing else. Whatever the situation calls for, really. And I don't mind long posts as long as they have some kind of a narrative point to them, and it is written out in a timely fashion. I don't like waiting five minutes for a response. I start getting paranoid and start sending tells going "Did you see my last post? Did it get lost...?" Although I doubt (I think) that Warren was referring to my style of RP...

As for orbs and hues, yes, they do often make me take note of it, but I have yet to avoid playing with those players for that reason. But if certain personality traits like those that were mentioned above about those players emerge, I run for the hills. It just makes RP no fun!

Let's see, to contribute to the original purpose of thread.. I sometimes take a look at their style of combat RP (not that I do a lot of those) if it comes up. It kind of shows how cooperative the player is when interacting with another. I take note when it is a give and take, and cringe when it isn't.

Lydia Lightfoot · **10-04-2017, 03:00 PM**

A big red flag for me is when players present characters or stories which push hard against lore, and the individual(s) involved have an intricate Viet Cong tunnel system of reasons why their idea is totally okay and you should be on board with it - and if you question it even a little, you immediately become the worst and you can go die in a fire.

I don't mean to say we should never tolerate bending the lore - on the contrary, the lore bends itself often enough even without our input, so why not, with some restraint. The point is when it becomes obvious that the player isn't actually even looking within the lore for ideas for a character or story, but rather, they've come up with a character or story concept which obviously isn't very reasonable in this setting, and their exploration of the lore is instead used to seek every tiny morsel of anything which renders the concept remotely plausible.

As I see it, there's heaps and piles of really great characters and stories that could be enjoyed that are wholly within the lore, or perhaps edging slightly against it, and so the only rational justification to behave like that is that the player is "stuck" on a concept. Sometimes this might only be a matter of writer's block, but most of the time, at least in my experience, it's due to the player's obsession over a particular theme which at an almost (or sometimes literally) fetish-like level they need to have or else they just can't even get interested in roleplay.

Maia · **10-04-2017, 03:02 PM**

(10-04-2017, 02:55 PM)ExAtomos Wrote: But I do wonder why folks who paraRP often have a strict requirement that their rp partner also does it... Anyone can enlighten me?

I don't have any such expectations of my own RP partners, but I figure that it's one part personal preference, and one part fear of receiving a reply post like "D'ranmaia Shenn smiles."

I think that when a response doesn't give your RP partner anything to interact with, it can create a frustrating situation. I know this can happen whether a post is long or short, but it might be a more common occurrence with short posters? Maybe those people have had too many bad experiences with people who give them nothing to play off of, which makes the RP feel burdensome and one-sided?

Warren Castille · **10-04-2017, 03:04 PM**

Roleplay is like tennis. You have to serve the ball back to your opposite. People who don't, or people who juggle the ball on their racket to show off how great they are?

Yeah, fuck 'em.

Aya · **10-04-2017, 03:07 PM**

I hope this thread doesn't devolve into weighing the value of different writing styles XD

Shakespeare or Hemmingway, or anywhere in between, people are going to enjoy both reading and writing in different ways!

The only thing that bothers me is when the style is clearly inappropriate for the venue. For example, dropping multi-post paragraphs into the rapidly scrolling chat of a busy public place.

Warren Castille · **10-04-2017, 03:09 PM**

That's why I tried to emphasize that the medium isn't the problem, just people utilizing it "wrong" is. I guess in my old age I've grown cynical in how people use writing to try and inflate themselves.

ExAtomos · **10-04-2017, 03:09 PM**

(10-04-2017, 03:02 PM)Maia Wrote:
(10-04-2017, 02:55 PM)ExAtomos Wrote: But I do wonder why folks who paraRP often have a strict requirement that their rp partner also does it... Anyone can enlighten me?

I don't have any such expectations of my own RP partners, but I figure that it's one part personal preference, and one part fear of receiving a reply post like "D'ranmaia Shenn smiles."

I think that when a response doesn't give your RP partner anything to interact with, it can create a frustrating situation. I know this can happen whether a post is long or short, but it might be a more common occurrence with short posters? Maybe those people have had too many bad experiences with people who give them nothing to play off of, which makes the RP feel burdensome and one-sided?

Aha, that could be. And I think someone mentioned upstream how awful it is to be the only one carrying the RP. I've been there and it was so bad I had to basically take my character OOC just to keep the convo moving (At the time, the folks I was trying to RP with also just stood there and insulted my character the whole time [even though lore-wise I was in the right] and claimed it as an IC personality thing)(<Thanks for the offer, but I'll have to pass.>). ; ; I've used a few sentences to fill in the little motions/body language that is half of how we communicate irl since our character models don't move besides breathing, but I don't consider myself a paraRPers since I try to keep things simple and conversational otherwise.

ExAtomos · **10-04-2017, 03:16 PM**

Emoting one's thoughts that are hyper-critical/rude of their RP partner. Has this been mentioned? (I'm not keen on RPing with folks who do the emoted thoughts thing, but that's just a writing style difference.) I've seen this in action and it was really horrible for all of us present since we just had to watch this person write this shit and no one was able to respond ICly.

Warren Castille · **10-04-2017, 03:19 PM**

(10-04-2017, 03:16 PM)ExAtomos Wrote: Emoting one's thoughts that are hyper-critical/rude of their RP partner. Has this been mentioned? (I'm not keen on RPing with folks who do the emoted thoughts thing, but that's just a writing style difference.) I've seen this in action and it was really horrible for all of us present since we just had to watch this person write this shit and no one was able to respond ICly.

Fucking YES

If you emote your thoughts, that's great for letting people around you know how you feel, and incredibly ineffective to let people know how to respond to you. It's awful. People shouldn't do it unless it's followed by body language or something to allow a hint of insight, but hey.

I've actually, legitimately watched someone post a 3-part "roleplay" post that was ENTIRELY INTERNAL MONOLOGUE and while it was certainly something to read... No one could do anything with it.

Akeno Asukai · **10-04-2017, 03:19 PM**

I'm learning so much about this community...

To be fair, I'll admit that I only read the first page of comments/replies. I saw a few that more or less grind on me, but don't necessarily stop me from engaging in RP with someone "guilty" of that particular peeve.

So, onto my personal red flags.Â

My number one red flag for potential RP friends is who they associate themselves with. I am aware of how much of a prejudice this is however, over the years and numerous games I've come to learn that birds of a feather flock together and you can learn a lot about someone based on the company they keep.
Â Â Â Â Â That being said, I won't immediately write the person off as being problematic, but I do find myself a little more vigilant around them -- especially if they rub elbows with a number of people I consider to be problematic.Â

Second on the list of enormous red flags are people who, right off the bat, want to get to know more about you on an out of character level. If it's the first time we're interacting and I'm suddenly under fire from a barrage of questions asking the personal stuff (generally, my gender, my timezone, etc) I tend to get a little queasy.Â

Â Â Â Â Â I much prefer people to wait for a consistent dialogue to be present before starting to get to know me as a person.Â

The third highest flag for me gets a little more "personal" (for lack of a better word) and is in regards to someone's search info. Generally speaking, I always read a characters search information before attempting to interact with them; it often gives me an idea of what to expect without having to scroll through whatever is clogging my chat log to read through their emotes.Â

Â Â Â Â Â I've come to find that Balmung specifically has a very direct line between search information and the kind of RP one can expect from that person. Most people I've come into contact with (again, I have to emphasize that this is my experience) who use an excessive amount of auto-translate tags, any version of "E" RP and (as Warren pointed out) "Para" (specifically this word in my experience) aren't usually long-term story seekers. For me, it lets me know to be wary of them as the chance for them sticking around long-term aren't exactly in the double-digits.
Â Â Â Â Â I was going to make this it's own "thing", but decided against it. It should probably be a lot higher on the list, if I'm honest. The phrase "D-MRP" or "Dark" or any combination of that particular "genre"/"trope". This is something I have encountered in a number of games and it's almost always lead to characters whose sole purpose is to be a bad-ass as possible. I believe many communities use the label "Edge Lord"; they're often villain characters whose only real form of torture is adult in nature. They tend to ignore in character consequences and simply prance around attempting to "torture" and maim and murder anybody they don't like. I don't find them to have a lot of substance, or haven't I suppose would be a better statement.Â

As far as language and using a thesaurus, I don't mind either. There are a few "triggering" words, but the forums are no place for those. Generally speaking, I don't mind waiting an eternity for people to respond unless I waited twenty minutes and your response is, "...". Then I want to bash my face into my keyboard and uninstall the game in its entirety.

Maia · **10-04-2017, 03:27 PM**

Tap-dancing back to the topic of my own "Red Flags," I think my perspective may be a bit skewed. I've been the leader of an RP guild for a number of years, and I've screened hundreds of applicants in that time. It's unavoidable that I've noticed certain patterns over this timeframe which invariably lead to members with some bad juju. I'd say my mental list of Red Flags is a bit exhaustive, so I'll just quote a really broad one that I have kind of a chuckle over.

Namely, when someone badmouths their previous guild during the screening process for entry into my guild, that's a Red Flag. I'm not talking about lamenting a poor RP experience -- we all have those, I'd say, and I think it's perfectly understandable to share at times. When I say "badmouthing," I'm mainly talking about taking an active campaign against a former guild over an objectively personal dispute. Calling for boycotts, trashing them on Tumblr, repeatedly bringing up how terrible their former guild is in public chats, that sort of thing. In my view, those antics don't really make one's former guild look bad - it just makes the potential applicant seem kind of unhinged and obsessive. So there's my Red Flag for the Red Flag pile!

Lydia Lightfoot · **10-04-2017, 03:40 PM**

(10-04-2017, 03:16 PM)ExAtomos Wrote: Emoting one's thoughts that are hyper-critical/rude of their RP partner. Has this been mentioned? (I'm not keen on RPing with folks who do the emoted thoughts thing, but that's just a writing style difference.) I've seen this in action and it was really horrible for all of us present since we just had to watch this person write this shit and no one was able to respond ICly.

That's the thing, right there - if someone's meant to be able to reply to it, then yeah, they definitely need to be given something to reply to. That said, emoting thoughts alongside actions can sometimes lend a tone to the action. Consider:

Franco gasped in surprise and ducked behind a pillar as he saw a contingent of Garleans come around the corner of the ruins.

...differs in tone from...

Franco gasped in surprise and ducked behind a pillar as he saw a contingent of Garleans come around the corner of the ruins. It was his youth in occupied Ala Mhigo all over again, and his mind raced in a battle of will to resist fleeing for his life as he'd done when a boy.

And of course, there's also internal posts which aren't actually meant for anyone to respond to at all, which could be said to be wholly unnecessary if that's the case, but in most novels you'll also find a lot of functionally-unnecessary inner monologue stuff which serves only to give the readers insight into the character.Â

Franco drew a swig from his mug of mead as he idly contemplated the old man at the bar who was flirting with his mom. Had he truly just said his name is Dick? Old though he may be, surely he wasn't unaware that he might be better off going by Rick or Richard, all things considered.

A post like that does nothing for anyone's RP - but nor is it meant to. Neither Dick nor Franco's mom were interacting with Franco, so he's done them no RP disservice by giving them a response to something which hasn't substance for them to react to. However, Franco's player did just give Dick and Franco's Mom's players some insight into his character, which isn't inherently bad.

ExAtomos · **10-04-2017, 03:44 PM**

(10-04-2017, 03:19 PM)Akeno Asukai Wrote:
I'm learning so much about this community...

To be fair, I'll admit that I only read the first page of comments/replies. I saw a few that more or less grind on me, but don't necessarily stop me from engaging in RP with someone "guilty" of that particular peeve.

So, onto my personal red flags.Â

My number one red flag for potential RP friends is who they associate themselves with. I am aware of how much of a prejudice this is however, over the years and numerous games I've come to learn that birds of a feather flock together and you can learn a lot about someone based on the company they keep.
Â Â Â Â Â That being said, I won't immediately write the person off as being problematic, but I do find myself a little more vigilant around them -- especially if they rub elbows with a number of people I consider to be problematic.Â

Second on the list of enormous red flags are people who, right off the bat, want to get to know more about you on an out of character level. If it's the first time we're interacting and I'm suddenly under fire from a barrage of questions asking the personal stuff (generally, my gender, my timezone, etc) I tend to get a little queasy.Â

Â Â Â Â Â I much prefer people to wait for a consistent dialogue to be present before starting to get to know me as a person.Â

The third highest flag for me gets a little more "personal" (for lack of a better word) and is in regards to someone's search info. Generally speaking, I always read a characters search information before attempting to interact with them; it often gives me an idea of what to expect without having to scroll through whatever is clogging my chat log to read through their emotes.Â

Â Â Â Â Â I've come to find that Balmung specifically has a very direct line between search information and the kind of RP one can expect from that person. Most people I've come into contact with (again, I have to emphasize that this is my experience) who use an excessive amount of auto-translate tags, any version of "E" RP and (as Warren pointed out) "Para" (specifically this word in my experience) aren't usually long-term story seekers. For me, it lets me know to be wary of them as the chance for them sticking around long-term aren't exactly in the double-digits.
Â Â Â Â Â I was going to make this it's own "thing", but decided against it. It should probably be a lot higher on the list, if I'm honest. The phrase "D-MRP" or "Dark" or any combination of that particular "genre"/"trope". This is something I have encountered in a number of games and it's almost always lead to characters whose sole purpose is to be a bad-ass as possible. I believe many communities use the label "Edge Lord"; they're often villain characters whose only real form of torture is adult in nature. They tend to ignore in character consequences and simply prance around attempting to "torture" and maim and murder anybody they don't like. I don't find them to have a lot of substance, or haven't I suppose would be a better statement.Â

As far as language and using a thesaurus, I don't mind either. There are a few "triggering" words, but the forums are no place for those. Generally speaking, I don't mind waiting an eternity for people to respond unless I waited twenty minutes and your response is, "...". Then I want to bash my face into my keyboard and uninstall the game in its entirety.

Hi... I can't see your post to read it. ; ; Font is too small and there is little contrast of the rose against the grey of the background.

Verad · **10-04-2017, 03:52 PM**

"I'm writing a novel based on what happens to my character in roleplay."

ExAtomos · **10-04-2017, 03:55 PM**

(10-04-2017, 03:40 PM)Lydia Lightfoot Wrote:
(10-04-2017, 03:16 PM)ExAtomos Wrote: Emoting one's thoughts that are hyper-critical/rude of their RP partner. Has this been mentioned? (I'm not keen on RPing with folks who do the emoted thoughts thing, but that's just a writing style difference.) I've seen this in action and it was really horrible for all of us present since we just had to watch this person write this shit and no one was able to respond ICly.

That's the thing, right there - if someone's meant to be able to reply to it, then yeah, they definitely need to be given something to reply to. That said, emoting thoughts alongside actions can sometimes lend a tone to the action. Consider:

Franco gasped in surprise and ducked behind a pillar as he saw a contingent of Garleans come around the corner of the ruins.

...differs in tone from...

Franco gasped in surprise and ducked behind a pillar as he saw a contingent of Garleans come around the corner of the ruins. It was his youth in occupied Ala Mhigo all over again, and his mind raced in a battle of will to resist fleeing for his life as he'd done when a boy.

And of course, there's also internal posts which aren't actually meant for anyone to respond to at all, which could be said to be wholly unnecessary if that's the case, but in most novels you'll also find a lot of functionally-unnecessary inner monologue stuff which serves only to give the readers insight into the character.Â

Franco drew a swig from his mug of mead as he idly contemplated the old man at the bar who was flirting with his mom. Had he truly just said his name is Dick? Old though he may be, surely he wasn't unaware that he might be better off going by Rick or Richard, all things considered.

A post like that does nothing for anyone's RP - but nor is it meant to. Neither Dick nor Franco's mom were interacting with Franco, so he's done them no RP disservice by giving them a response to something which hasn't substance for them to react to. However, Franco's player did just give Dick and Franco's Mom's players some insight into his character, which isn't inherently bad.

True. But while it does give your RP partners more details, it is not something they would actually see icly. If your dude is hiding due to trauma, rather than from wrongdoing, how am I at that time able to tell the difference? If, however, you were to type something along the lines of: "Franco dashed behind the pillar at the sight of the oncoming Imperials. Sweat popped out on his forehead and he shook with fear. His eyes seemed to be unfocused, as though reliving nightmares of his past." All of this is stuff your RP partner can actually see ICly.

But, back to the internal monologue being a problem thing... it would be more like "Franco took a drink of his ale. 'Dick? Really? Only someone as ugly as this guy could be given a name that would make him the butt of jokes at every bar. And he seems nervous... what a useless coward.'" There is nothing for their RP partner to respond to and they just got insulted without being able to say anything about it.

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[Discussion] Red Flags in RP/RP Partners?

RPC has moved! These pages have been kept for historical purposes