(05-24-2017, 08:37 AM)Hathaway Wrote:(05-23-2017, 09:23 PM)Lydia Lightfoot Wrote: For others, it's just one element of a fully-realized story arc. Our literature and media are replete with tales in which, even if the overall story has nothing to do with the pursuit of romance, nevertheless include characters who fall in love and deal with relationship turmoil (even if they really ought to be waiting for all of that until they've finished impeding the imminent resurrection of Carnage Emperor Zoglorth).Â
Your mileage may vary, but my experience has been that I get out of RP more-or-less what I put into it. That means if I want long-term character friendships and story arcs wherein the acquisition of love is but an aspect rather than a priority, I must be prepared to take it upon myself to provide that story arc, to seek out others who are of a like mind, and to keep at arm's length those who too readily seem willing to try and attach their character to mine in a manner which as her storyteller I'm not yet prepared to accept. I can't expect that others will change their behavior based on my own interests and expectations - we don't lack for roleplayers, so let them find their needs met with someone else, as I will.
This is pretty much spot-on. I figured I'd add my two cents, especially seeing as I've, uh, flat out stated my character's a prostitute. Personally, I didn't want to restrict myself to just doing "vanilla" roleplay scenarios, because I enjoy watching a relationship form between two characters over some period of time. I didn't want to box myself in and remove sex/ERP from my character's story entirely. Also I think watching him struggle with it makes him more interesting, since there's plenty of Miqo'te out there.
And yeah, I'm open to quick, one-shot scenarios. But does that mean that I'm trekking down to the Quicksand every night and getting lewd in public chat? Of course not. If it isn't private, if my partner doesn't fit, or if the scenario isn't written well, then I'm going to be less inclined to RP, no matter what kind of content's involved. But I like doing short little scenes occasionally, so I created a character where that was possible.
I can't say if it's become more prevalent, but I think in the past good writers might have been dissuaded from it because it was sort of looked down upon. I wanted to be upfront about it because I think there's a lot of writers/roleplayers who might want to try it but haven't, and I want people to know what they're potentially getting into. ERP's always been here. It's just more accepted now.
These two posts are pretty much on the nose, and like Hathaway, I'm writing as someone who is playing a prostitute who has no reservations about saying that she's exactly that.
In my experience, nothing has changed over the years. I can't think of a time where I have not seen or had a romantic or erotic aspect to a roleplay. I learned rather quickly that I preferred such things to happen for a reason rather than be the focus of it - it is the same even with Tsukiko, and much like Hathaway's own experience, if things don't line up the right way then they just don't happen. Having a character with a sexual aspect to them doesn't mean that is all they do - though I will never discount that there are characters who are made exactly for that.
I think that the only thing that has really changed is how common the role-play hobby is these days, and you can often see that more and more people are using it as a method of escapism. How or why a person uses role-play is up to them, just as much as it is up to an individual on where they stand on certain aspects of role-play.
But, generally? If you keep looking for something, especially if it is something that annoys you, you are going to find it. I would much rather see and encourage people to learn to 'live and let live' rather than see people continue to complain that the role-play they are seeing isn't to their taste. It is very easy to say 'this isn't to my taste, no thanks' and move on.
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