RP Pet peeves. What's yours?

[K'hatos]

People who put into their character's bio that they are witty, and then aren't.  Or even if they are, it's still poor form.  Wit should be apparent.

 

"Don't let this conversation fool you, I'm actually very interesting."

[Zhavi]

When someone repeatedly misses dialogue, actions, or expressions to the point of not responding to what my character is doing in their replies, even after a gentle nudge towards what I've posted. Eventually it feels like they don't really want to rp with you, just a reflection of themselves.

 

It's super super rare (and everyone misses something time to time), but when it happens I get twitchy.

[Gaspard]

My biggest pet peeve in FFXIV RP has to be seeing people complain about Japanese influence / Anime realism | Physics.

 

When I started playing XIV, there where many people wholly embracing FFXIV as a sort of European, medieval gritty realism thing. Picking apart things towards it's 'medieval plausibility' and realism as such. 

 

When you mentioned that 'yo, it's final fantasy. People deflect bullets with swords in this franchise / genre' You had people riled up within seconds, either brushing it off as weeabo madness inspired by animu and mango, and seemingly ignoring the very fact that all that they mention to hate / dislike about anime and manga is not just present in Final fantasy and XIV itself, but it's present in spades. From black mages 'charging their laz0rs' to Swordsman / Ninja's with unrealistic reflexes and abilities to jump from heights that'd be otherwise lethal = FFXIV is 'not' realistic, and shouldn't be measured in gritty European Medieval standards.

 

I mean, from the cutscenes, to the emotes, to the obscure Hentai-trope hints in this game; You're simply playing in the wrong medium if some Anime-esque moves and motions upset you.

 

..Ironically, on the flipside I also get irked when people take this notion of Anime physics and tropes being present and run with it way too far, playing  the FFXIV version of magical girl lyrical nanoha or Dragon Ball Z.

 

 

Which leads me to another pet peeve ; The 'I'm paying for this game / I do what I want / If you don't like it don't play with me " Ideology. It's an inconsiderate, bullshit stance. Especially in Roleplay, there's nothing more important (In my opinion at least) then to be on the same page when it comes to lore / having the same 'vision' so to speak in the shared world you roleplay in. if what you play is in stark contrast to what lore / the story dictates so far, and you go 'pfft I pay for this I do what I want'.

 

Ofcourse you have to be flexible in an Open World / RP setting, but that doesn't mean I have to accept magical girl lyrical nanoha material or that I'm an ass if my peers and I shun you out of roleplay because you wont even entertain the notion that, infact, your playstyle is disrupting the RP atmosphere / established lore.

[Max]

When the person I'm RPing with is only reacting to stuff and not contributing to the scene at all. It's boring as hell to be stuck leading things always.

 

You take the wheel too -- I ain't the only one here drivin'!

[Nanaki]

I've never been a fan of book RP. When players tell me what their character is doing as an author, it annoys me. Let them speak and convey it, not the person playing.

 

I understand that people do it to try to be immersive, but "All it does is remind me that the player is there and in control" she said with an annoyed tone... <--ugh

[Jaran]

I've never been a fan of book RP. When players tell me what their character is doing as an author, it annoys me. Let them speak and convey it, not the person playing.

 

I understand that people do it to try to be immersive, but "All it does is remind me that the player is there and in control" she said with an annoyed tone... <--ugh

I'm confused by what you mean by 'book RP'. 

Do you mean a post made in the past tense as opposed to the present?

[LadyRochester]

LOL, this  isn't an attack to individuals, more to an RP style. RPing a healer can be annnoying, and one of my pet peeves is how some people allow your character to save them from the brink of death, while others are just like:

 

"WELL, your character might be a good conjurer, BUT only this OTHER character can heal mine because [insert bullshit excuse], but your character should still fuss over mine and try to heal them."

 

As in, they make your character absolutely useless, but they get offended if you don't want to involve yourself just to have your character fuss over them.

[Magellan]

.

 

~ When it is obvious, so so obvious, you are only roleplaying to be in a romance. Look, we all like Romance - My character is even in one. But if your walking into a group of characters and scoping out which one your character can fall in love with, it's almost insulting. Some people go so far as not even wanting to RP with you if your character is taken or not of the gender they prefer. You don't care about my character, you only care about their sexual orientation/relationship status. And I'm not talking about people who leave their characters open for romance later down the road. I'm talking the people who immediately crush on your character first meeting, make proclamations about love in a week, flirt with a bunch of people just to see which one sticks (Not flirty characters, different thing). You all know the type I'm talking about. It's frustrating, because friendships and familial ties can be just as important and some people take "I want to see where it goes in the story." as an insult. Please don't treat my character as a potential love interest, treat her as a person.

 

That's it.

This. I get pretty offended when people seem interested in Claire, find out she's in a committed,  monogamous relationship, and are OOCly like 'oh uh... Claires neat. I gotta go.' *never hears from them again*

 

On the subject of IC romance, people who meet, fall in lovs, and get married within two weeks of knowing each other. What exactly have you built this 'marriage' on. ERP? It's one thing if your character is very impulsive. That'd make sense. But shouldn't characters typically show a little more restraint?

 

Finally (gosh all my pet peeves seem to be romance related, and yet I love romance rp) people who find a SO for their character, and then pretend like no one else exists. Even at events they only have eyes for this one person. God forbid you have a single character around them. You're no going to be able to get much conversation out of them as they are jamming their tongues down each others throats.

[Sylentmana]

I dislike it when others try to force ERP on me, even after I've made it clear both IC and OOC that I'm not interested.  At that point its more sexual harassment than RP.

[Gegenji]

I've been thinking for a bit as to what qualifies as a pet peeve for me in RP. I like to think that I'm pretty open and try to roll with anything that gets thrown at me. I'm not that great at it yet, but I'm trying!

 

That said, I think my biggest issue is when someone mindlessly throws out something that is rather dramatic or life-changing with no real thought about it or the aftermath that comes from it. This comes from an April Fools day RP where Chachan had to deal with someone he cared about apparently having changed into a different race and being completely obvious to the change. He was, understandably, unsure how to handle and deal with the situation... but that wasn't the problematic part about it.

 

In the end, the "surprise twist" was that it was just some delusional person and the actual character had been away visiting family. So how did they get rid of the delusional character? Have them slip and crack their head open and die. Right in front of Chachan. I... was not very happy with having to deal with this character that had spent the entire RP believing they were someone else (and trying to convince him of the same) just... killed like that. And, in my mind, Chachan would not take such a result too well - I ultimately waved it off as a bad dream on his part, because that was not something I wanted to deal with... especially as the capper to what was supposed to be a more goofy, silly RP.

 

Other than that? I suppose people running events that have exact solutions to issues in their minds and have no flex on the matter. Like, if you don't do this exact thing in this exact manner it doesn't count. Especially when it gets to the point that it looks - to the participants - that they have no other option but to lose or retreat. I like to try and be flexible in my obstacle solutions and work with the participants... and I would just like to be extended the same courtesy.

 

I suppose you could just generalize both things into just disliking a lack of communication and cooperation between RP parties. :blush:

[LadyRochester]

Hmm... Another minor pet peeve. People who take "you can do anything you'd like to my character." as a green light to completely fuck her up and get her into extremely hurtful and traumatizing situations, far too many people seem to be a tad sadistic if you let them. I am open minded and can take everything, but to this day I feel a bit uncomfortable with some of the things they have done t my character, as the psychological effect on her has been rather difficult and inconvenient to RP.

 

But that's not exactly the pet peeve. The pet peeve is that they then don't want to deal with the consequences ICly and avoid RP interactions in fear of this. IC actions --> IC consequences. You fuck up my character, expect her to attempt to strike back.

[Steel Wolf]

My pet peeve is my own personal character indecision, which kinda leads me into a self-destructive little ourboros of self-doubt, shyness and uncertainty about character. I'm pretty sure it's caused me to strike as flaky and jerkassed to people who were otherwise welcoming and wonderful to the point of percieved ostracism, which further speeds up the spin cycle.

 

Hate that one.

[Verad]

I have two pet peeves. The first of them is the word peeve. Sound it out. Say it until it loses meaning. It's an ugly, annoying word. Grates at the ear. Lends itself towards the nasal. I'm usually a fan of alliteration and all, but "pet peeve" itself is a real teeth-grinder.

 

The second is that RPers have all unconsciously adopted the stylistic quirks of late Victorian realists and modernists in their writing styles, at least as far as Strunk and White condensed and repackaged them in that awful style guide, and taken them as givens. No purple prose, be concise, don't tell the other character what yours is thinking in internal monologue, so on. These aren't universal truths of writing; they're culturally and historically-situated literary tastes which have somehow managed to live beyond their purpose for the aesthetic movements which spawned them. The sooner they die, or the sooner they are recognized as tastes and not as fundamentals, the better.

[Blue]

On the subject of IC romance, people who meet, fall in lovs, and get married within two weeks of knowing each other. What exactly have you built this 'marriage' on. ERP? It's one thing if your character is very impulsive. That'd make sense. But shouldn't characters typically show a little more restraint?

 

I echo this sentiment as well. When Eternal Bond came out, there was a burst of RP couples suddenly marrying left and right. I get it, it's new, it's cool, you want that chocobo as soon as possible but... do it OOC then. Or make it a set-up marriage. Romantic weddings are still pretty modern and take a lot of time together and much consideration. Set up weddings were quicker, because it was set up by your parents and very often with someone you hardly knew, so in that case it's justified. But I've yet to see a set up wedding happening on XIV RP. It's mostly romantic weddings, and those, to me, should take a good amount of time to be settled. Like, years, possibly.

 

EDIT: Possibly the most serious pet peeve I have in this, and the one I'm most afraid to share.... I really wish there was less discrimination towards us MSQ RPers. I never mention MSQ or being a WoL when in open RP, and yet I've had people walk away from me soon as they OOCly knew I'm in a MSQ RP LS. I just don't get it. It's as if I avoided ERPers in normal conversation roleplay. Just because they do ERP, doesn't mean they can't have normal RP with me. Likewise, just because I RP MSQ, doesn't mean I can't open RP without talking about the MSQ. But I guess people just don't want to take the effort to try and find out...

 

On a related note, I wish there were more MSQ RPers. There's still too few of them.

[Arik]

My pet peeve is my own personal character indecision, which kinda leads me into a self-destructive little ourboros of self-doubt, shyness and uncertainty about character. I'm pretty sure it's caused me to strike as flaky and jerkassed to people who were otherwise welcoming and wonderful to the point of percieved ostracism, which further speeds up the spin cycle.

 

Hate that one.

 

^ This. So much, this.

 

My primary RP pet peeve is, most likely,  myself. I don't even want to think about how many potentially awesome connections and new RP partners I could've made in all my years RPing if only I hadn't been so paranoid and otherwise had myself convinced that I was being a nuisance. I'm sure to some people I must come off as an elitist, clique-ish jerk because of how often I wind up sticking with people I already know, twiddling my thumbs and waiting (hoping) other people would approach me for RP. I realize it's totally counter-intuitive to finding new RP, it's best to be proactive, but yet I have to fight this constant wall in my brain that tells me that if I were to do so, I'd wind up just being obnoxious. |:

 

Damn you psychological walls. I'll tear you down-- Some day.

[Nebbs]

That we have 5 pages of peeves?

 

By that I mean that when people see what is not there in the people they RP with, they miss what is there. So I choose peoples' pet peeves, my own included.

 

The pint glass is not half empty or full, it is just closer to your next pint.

[Caspar]

I have two pet peeves. The first of them is the word peeve. Sound it out. Say it until it loses meaning. It's an ugly, annoying word. Grates at the ear. Lends itself towards the nasal. I'm usually a fan of alliteration and all, but "pet peeve" itself is a real teeth-grinder.

 

The second is that RPers have all unconsciously adopted the stylistic quirks of late Victorian realists and modernists in their writing styles, at least as far as Strunk and White condensed and repackaged them in that awful style guide, and taken them as givens. No purple prose, be concise, don't tell the other character what yours is thinking in internal monologue, so on. These aren't universal truths of writing; they're culturally and historically-situated literary tastes which have somehow managed to live beyond their purpose for the aesthetic movements which spawned them. The sooner they die, or the sooner they are recognized as tastes and not as fundamentals, the better.

It's been a while since uni. Do your refer to grammatical control or descriptive style? I thought purple prose was overly descriptive and figurative, rather than concise and literal as I thought Realism implied.

[Hammersmith]

No purple prose, be concise, don't tell the other character what yours is thinking in internal monologue, so on. These aren't universal truths of writing; they're culturally and historically-situated literary tastes which have somehow managed to live beyond their purpose for the aesthetic movements which spawned them. The sooner they die, or the sooner they are recognized as tastes and not as fundamentals, the better.

 

There's a reason this style sticks as a default.  Purple prose takes a lot of time to write, and inflates an RP time of say, 30 minutes, to an hour to hours depending on how many people are getting fancy with their wording. 

 

Internal monologues are normally avoided because, well, RP is a group effort, a conversation in process, and you don't NORMALLY see what's going on inside someones head.  You see their face, their body language, you hear their voice.  You don't know that that bundle of flowers reminded our protagonist that he needs to visit his mother, she's been ill lately.

 

The style is default BECAUSE it's practical and concise.  It also has it's place, and YOU ARE FREE TO VIOLATE it, but keep in mind time constraints because this kind of writing and metaphysical engagement hooks more time onto the already length RP process.

 

Edit: As you might tell, Extreme Length Typing Roleplay when I'm time constrained is a concern of mine. ;_;

[Verad]

 

There's a reason this style sticks as a default.  Purple prose takes a lot of time to write, and inflates an RP time of say, 30 minutes, to an hour to hours depending on how many people are getting fancy with their wording. 

 

Internal monologues are normally avoided because, well, RP is a group effort, a conversation in process, and you don't NORMALLY see what's going on inside someones head.  You see their face, their body language, you hear their voice.  You don't know that that bundle of flowers reminded our protagonist that he needs to visit his mother, she's been ill lately.

 

The style is default BECAUSE it's practical and concise.  It also has it's place, and YOU ARE FREE TO VIOLATE it, but keep in mind time constraints because this kind of writing and metaphysical engagement hooks more time onto the already length RP process.

 

Writing quickly in any form takes practice. The style of the prose doesn't much matter in this regard - a novice roleplayer is going to struggle with post-length whether they're writing in strict, just-the-facts modernism or not.

 

As for internal monologues and being unable to see what's going on in somebody's head, well, this is also part of the aesthetic of the literary realists and the modernists, and your justification is their justification. It is arguing that the goal is the most accurate possible representation of the real. This is not my goal. I have a different one, and it benefits more from internal monologue and narrative voice than it does from keeping my character's emotional cards close to their chest.

 

To suggest I am free to "violate" this practice suggests that there is something wrong in the act of deviating from it. Rather, I ignore it.

[Verad]

It's been a while since uni. Do your refer to grammatical control or descriptive style? I thought purple prose was overly descriptive and figurative, rather than concise and literal as I thought Realism implied.

 

Descriptive more than grammatical control. Henry James is one of the foremost literary realists, and his sentences are grammatical torture. That's more the result of him trying to avoid ever suggesting a hint of anything like a third-party narrator describing events as they occur, though.

[Caspar]

 

There's a reason this style sticks as a default.  Purple prose takes a lot of time to write, and inflates an RP time of say, 30 minutes, to an hour to hours depending on how many people are getting fancy with their wording. 

 

Internal monologues are normally avoided because, well, RP is a group effort, a conversation in process, and you don't NORMALLY see what's going on inside someones head.  You see their face, their body language, you hear their voice.  You don't know that that bundle of flowers reminded our protagonist that he needs to visit his mother, she's been ill lately.

 

The style is default BECAUSE it's practical and concise.  It also has it's place, and YOU ARE FREE TO VIOLATE it, but keep in mind time constraints because this kind of writing and metaphysical engagement hooks more time onto the already length RP process.

 

Writing quickly in any form takes practice. The style of the prose doesn't much matter in this regard - a novice roleplayer is going to struggle with post-length whether they're writing in strict, just-the-facts modernism or not.

 

As for internal monologues and being unable to see what's going on in somebody's head, well, this is also part of the aesthetic of the literary realists and the modernists, and your justification is their justification. It is arguing that the goal is the most accurate possible representation of the real. This is not my goal. I have a different one, and it benefits more from internal monologue and narrative voice than it does from keeping my character's emotional cards close to their chest.

 

To suggest I am free to "violate" this practice suggests that there is something wrong in the act of deviating from it. Rather, I ignore it.

I guess your previous post confused me. You advocate visible internal monologue or wish to move away from it? Touchscreen typing is hard, ugh.

[Verad]

I guess your previous post confused me. You advocate visible internal monologue or wish to move away from it? Touchscreen typing is hard, ugh.

 

I would love visible internal monologue. I enjoy narrative asides, meditations on things that are unrelated directly but nevertheless thematically related to the action at hand, and other such markers that break the illusion that we are characters in a real world. In this regard I admit I'm a bit reactionary because the realists and modernists were a break away from this sort of thing.

 

On the other hand, I'd also thrill to see anybody attempting postmodern writing aesthetics in RP. Somebody attempting Burroughs' cut-up style in roleplay, however successful, would have my respect, as would anybody who figured out how to take House of Leaves and turn that into a character. Either possibility or others I haven't considered would be welcome.

 

Important note: This is not to say I won't play with people who don't do these sorts of things, and I do so with some frequency. I've long-since had to reconcile myself with the fact that most people working in genre writing like fantasy RP are a bit stuck in this particular style, in part because they're more interested in content than aesthetic. That's why it's a peeve and not a dealbreaker.

[Tiergan]

I guess your previous post confused me. You advocate visible internal monologue or wish to move away from it? Touchscreen typing is hard, ugh.

 

I would love visible internal monologue. I enjoy narrative asides, meditations on things that are unrelated directly but nevertheless thematically related to the action at hand, and other such markers that break the illusion that we are characters in a real world. In this regard I admit I'm a bit reactionary because the realists and modernists were a break away from this sort of thing.

 

On the other hand, I'd also thrill to see anybody attempting postmodern writing aesthetics in RP. Somebody attempting Burroughs' cut-up style in roleplay, however successful, would have my respect, as would anybody who figured out how to take House of Leaves and turn that into a character. Either possibility or others I haven't considered would be welcome.

 

Important note: This is not to say I won't play with people who don't do these sorts of things, and I do so with some frequency. I've long-since had to reconcile myself with the fact that most people working in genre writing like fantasy RP are a bit stuck in this particular style, in part because they're more interested in content than aesthetic. That's why it's a peeve and not a dealbreaker.

 

I am a completely uneducated dork and I have no idea what kinds of writing styles you're thinking of when you mention specific authors or the styles of certain eras. I'm super curious on what you're talking about though just from a 'how majorly different are those styles of writing" stand point. Could you PM me examples? If it's too much of a hassle, it's okay. o/

[allgivenover]

Good ones posted already, more than once.

 

Here's one, roleplayers who are drama "arsonists". They log on every night with a new completely dramatic situation that demands everyone's attention RIGHT NOW, over and over again. Until nothing is going on except whatever tragedy is going on with that person in that given moment. They put their character in life threatening danger over and over again to remain the "star of the show". First night it's a broken arm, next they started a fight that nearly got them killed, a third they're in trouble for stealing the Sultana's nightcap and need you to break them out, and so on and so forth.

 

Another, roleplayers I call "appropriaters". They never noticed how interesting a certain part of the lore could be in roleplay until they see you using it for your character. Suddenly they're incorporating the same thing into their own character, except there's is way more better than yours at it. They don't just interpret the will of elementals, elementals follow them around and chat about the weather with them, or intervene to protect them from harm, leaving something you've been roleplaying a year as an insignificant footnote.

 

I guess my "pet peeve" can be summed up as selfish people who role play.

[Marisa]

As an Ishgardian RPer, there are a few tropes that, while there is nothing wrong with them by themselves, they've become so common as to be painfully cliche. In my opinion, anyway. 

 

Basically it will go something like this: Paco Taco was born to an Ishgardian noble family where he learned to read, have infinite wealth, be an azure dragoon, and also be super edgy. After having a family member accused of heresy, while simultaneously failing on a mission of utmost import, Paco was sentenced by the Holy See to make the decision to put himself in self-exile. Normally they'd just have you hanged or push you off a cliff, but Paco was too important! Paco then joined a mercenary company which just happened to work for the Holy See, performing missions that mostly involve sitting in the Quicksand. The mercenary group had great influence over Ishgard, giving all of the benefits of being a Temple Knight but with 20x the pay and 0 of the rules. But then Vishap attacked, and the mercenary company was called upon to slay the dragon! Yet Paco Taco didn't want to move forward in the timeline yet, so he used his infinite wizard magic to freeze time until 4 weeks later when he organized an FC even to run Steps of Faith and claim that yes, it was the great Paco who had slain that dragon. As such, Paco was welcomed back into Ishgard with open arms, with no regard for his past indiscretions. And now he's both a mercenary and a temple knight! 

 

I mean, don't get me wrong, I'll still play with you even if a bunch of those things apply to you. I'm not upset about it or anything. Just know that when you tell me you're an Ishgardian exile, I'm always thinking, "Man, how does anyone still live in Ishgard when 99% of the population gets exiled every day?"