For me, the biggest red flag is when IC interaction is taken to the OOC sphere and used to generate a problem or uncomfortable situation. This could be people pulling the "I have a crush on you because your character is nice" to metagaming, emoting in "me/you-form" and assuming that because a character dislikes yours, then the player does too. All three of them will lead me stepping away from the roleplay, wrapping it up or otherwise find a way to move on that is respectful but firm. Another red flag is if people end up in drama-llama situations a lot and do not visibly handle it well, and it's simply because I don't have any interest in getting dragged into anything drama.Â
I've become a touch careful with people who put an emphasis on finding one solid "RP partner" (I really dislike the word, overall, but that's another rabble) - It ties in with the IC/OOC bleeding, especially if a person is obsessed with finding a roleplay partner that they can have a character relationship with, I simply end up questioning if they're not just out to fill an OOC need. Secondly, because I've seen and heard of so many stories where this kind of roleplayer turns abusive, needlessly controlling or a good combination of both - leaving their "partner" with low self-esteem and guilt for not being able to meet the roleplay needs of the abusive person. It's a kind of thing that's bad in a simple friendship too, but can really be amplified in the roleplay world. Thirdly, and this is sort of a style-issue as well, but personally I wouldn't want to become someone's only source of roleplay, or end up in a situation where I can't RP or play the game without the other being around and always being involved. It's not a big red flag, but it could (especially if anything of the abusive-type-traits show up) be a smaller red flag.Â
Otherwise it's all down to style differences, but I wont include those since that doesn't really belong in this topic.
I've become a touch careful with people who put an emphasis on finding one solid "RP partner" (I really dislike the word, overall, but that's another rabble) - It ties in with the IC/OOC bleeding, especially if a person is obsessed with finding a roleplay partner that they can have a character relationship with, I simply end up questioning if they're not just out to fill an OOC need. Secondly, because I've seen and heard of so many stories where this kind of roleplayer turns abusive, needlessly controlling or a good combination of both - leaving their "partner" with low self-esteem and guilt for not being able to meet the roleplay needs of the abusive person. It's a kind of thing that's bad in a simple friendship too, but can really be amplified in the roleplay world. Thirdly, and this is sort of a style-issue as well, but personally I wouldn't want to become someone's only source of roleplay, or end up in a situation where I can't RP or play the game without the other being around and always being involved. It's not a big red flag, but it could (especially if anything of the abusive-type-traits show up) be a smaller red flag.Â
Otherwise it's all down to style differences, but I wont include those since that doesn't really belong in this topic.
