Roleplayers are, at their core, driven by vanity. I know that sounds harsh, but consider: If we weren't attempting to have any sense of recognition or popularity or integrate into any larger community we wouldn't be RPing in public. Unless you only write in a private blog (at which point you won't see this post) or you only RP in party away from the public eye (hello, ERP and lurker friends) you're doing things in public. You're acting. Actors and actresses need an audience.
There's nothing wrong with this! People are social creatures - we want to fit in, we want to be accepted. That's sort of the crux of all of this, though: When we do things that might not be accepted (or off-canon, or a little out there, or any other RP-specific term) we get worried. We get defensive. We put a lot of thought into our characters and what makes them people. When someone you don't know comes in out of nowhere and tells you that no, your character can't be This Thing because of This Reason, we don't want to have wasted our time. We don't want to be "wrong." In the court of public opinions, which all communities are ruled by whether we want them to be or not, we don't want to be guilty of being "wrong."
So we argue. We argue about validity, we argue about veracity. We find our opinions, we root our characters in them, and we defend those ideas regardless. Sometimes we find we were incorrect and change. Sometimes there's no real reason for it, so we tell the world that NO, we are NOT wrong, YOU can't prove it. We tell people reasons why they shouldn't like That Thing and we point out that This Other Thing is a better choice. We attempt to iron out the parts that stick up.
I don't believe in the Populars Illuminati. I don't believe in there being any sort of intentional motive to force people out, or to stonewall new players. I understand there's a feeling of... Well, I can't quite articulate it. I will say I cringe a little when the word "celebrity" gets brought up, though. It has a lot to do with 1) Join Date and 2) Those stupid green numbers that don't really mean anything.
I'm getting a bit rambly a sort of far of field here... I think that ultimately the arguments come from either wanting cohesion amongst all of us roleplaying (impossible, for the record) or we want to at least mesh with the people we find agreeable. Most of the time I try to keep my tone to respectful in the face of disagreement, but lately my tempers been... Well, it's been. It's ugly and doesn't belong here. I worry a bit about the tone here, and reading that some people have been scared away or just found it distasteful? I'm a vain person, and I worry if (how much) my bluntness (and dickitude) has contributed to making this place less welcoming. For my part I've always tried to have rational discussion, and that's slipped a lot as of late.
At the end of the day we're all writing fan fiction. We shouldn't take it so seriously.
There's nothing wrong with this! People are social creatures - we want to fit in, we want to be accepted. That's sort of the crux of all of this, though: When we do things that might not be accepted (or off-canon, or a little out there, or any other RP-specific term) we get worried. We get defensive. We put a lot of thought into our characters and what makes them people. When someone you don't know comes in out of nowhere and tells you that no, your character can't be This Thing because of This Reason, we don't want to have wasted our time. We don't want to be "wrong." In the court of public opinions, which all communities are ruled by whether we want them to be or not, we don't want to be guilty of being "wrong."
So we argue. We argue about validity, we argue about veracity. We find our opinions, we root our characters in them, and we defend those ideas regardless. Sometimes we find we were incorrect and change. Sometimes there's no real reason for it, so we tell the world that NO, we are NOT wrong, YOU can't prove it. We tell people reasons why they shouldn't like That Thing and we point out that This Other Thing is a better choice. We attempt to iron out the parts that stick up.
I don't believe in the Populars Illuminati. I don't believe in there being any sort of intentional motive to force people out, or to stonewall new players. I understand there's a feeling of... Well, I can't quite articulate it. I will say I cringe a little when the word "celebrity" gets brought up, though. It has a lot to do with 1) Join Date and 2) Those stupid green numbers that don't really mean anything.
I'm getting a bit rambly a sort of far of field here... I think that ultimately the arguments come from either wanting cohesion amongst all of us roleplaying (impossible, for the record) or we want to at least mesh with the people we find agreeable. Most of the time I try to keep my tone to respectful in the face of disagreement, but lately my tempers been... Well, it's been. It's ugly and doesn't belong here. I worry a bit about the tone here, and reading that some people have been scared away or just found it distasteful? I'm a vain person, and I worry if (how much) my bluntness (and dickitude) has contributed to making this place less welcoming. For my part I've always tried to have rational discussion, and that's slipped a lot as of late.
At the end of the day we're all writing fan fiction. We shouldn't take it so seriously.
![[Image: yEROfKO.png]](http://i.imgur.com/yEROfKO.png)
