You Know You Overthink RP When....

[Capheira]

... the time it takes to RP a scene sees the weather change from stormy to sunshine, so you play audio tracks of thunder and rain to keep the original mood whilst typing.

[Teadrinker]

...when you spent an immense amount of time planning out how an injury is going to affect your character not just on a physical level but on a mental/emotional level as well.

 

Not enough people do this.

 

+1

[Klynzahr]

When....

 

...... you have a diagram drawn of every scar and tattoo on your character's body...

..... you know the story behind each injury, who gave it too them, and in what year....

..... you have done extensive research into the after effects of each injury just so that you can emote your character's back being sore or her shoulders being stiff.....

...... each of their fourteen tattoos has a specific meaning, and you can relate each backstory from memory.....

..... the combined markings are so numerous that you can't possibly fit a fraction of them into an emote and no one ever bothers to ask but you keep track anyways.....

 

....... you know your character's family so well that they become real characters and you level them all to 15 to get them some basic crafting gear.

[GhostlyMaiden]

I thought of more!

When you.....

 

Try to think of a good character reasoning behind everything your character does, and I include the little things (choosing to pick X drink over Y drink, standing up instead of sitting down)

 

Observe other RPers who have an accent and try to "copy" it so you wont mess up.

 

Use your own personal preferences and make it your characters preferences even though it may not make sense, you find a way. (Why they wield a sword and shield when they obviously are a better caster)

 

Spend hours looking at the millions of tvtropes that apply to your character, even if it's just a little bit.

 

Make a post that could easily been a line or two into something much longer because you don't want people to think you're a bad RPer.

[Warren Castille]

Reverse bleed! Used to use identifying words when starting a sentence. Don't anymore. Blame my character for being somewhat short-spoken.

[Misharu]

You know you overthink RP when...

 

You plan lore-appropriate outfits for your retainers, give them backstories, and how to integrate them into your character's backstory for further fluff.

[Kinono]

When you get upset over a song referencing real-life locations because now it can't be your character's theme song.

[Klynzahr]

When you get upset over a song referencing real-life locations because now it can't be your character's theme song.

 

.... or when you painstakingly rewrite all of those locations with Eorzean names just to make yourself feel better about it.

[Kaiya]

When you want to give your character a belief that is acceptable in the setting, but also makes your character look like a jerk to actual players in general, so instead you drop the belief or downplay it heavily. (Example: Xenophobia towards the Beastmen, all of them).

[Dravus]

...when you spent an immense amount of time planning out how an injury is going to affect your character not just on a physical level but on a mental/emotional level as well.

 

Not enough people do this.

 

+1

 

I may have taken it too far though. My character stepped down from his role as a diplomat and I've retired him for the time being in favour of playing his uncle instead. I'm a huge fan of intrigue and consequences though...and my RP is heavily inspired by the likes of Final Fantasy Tactics and FFXII. 

 

Though for me it's just a natural progression. Back when I devoted my RP time to WoW I retired characters there as well when it felt like their story had ended on a decent note. I killed some of them when I felt it made sense or they'd backed themselves into a corner that they wouldn't realistically get back out of. Others were lucky enough to be granted happy endings though!

[voidVirago]

...you go on Teavana's site to figure out just what kind of tea your character is serving ICly.

[TK Hikaru]

When you tear google apart trying to find how tribal tattoos were done historically to figure out which method your character had her's done.

 

Bonus points for the fact that the character can't reveal said tattoo for plot reasons.

[Coda]

...you try to extrapolate the base effects of Eorzean crafting components based on what they're used to make in the crafting menu just in case you ever have to make/explain an item in character. And then you realize goddamn, I'm not a fucking alchemist.

 

...you don't RP a character until you're 100% sure you have their mannerisms and/or speech patterns down because the mental anguish of goofing your own character makes you want to sepukku in shame. So you have a conversation with yourself while pretending to be this fictional person you made up.

 

...your character begins to bleed into real life. Not emotionally, but you begin to react to things and situations and things twice: once as you, and once as your character.

 

...you write solo and the banter isn't good enough and you delete it out of shame, but you don't have the balls to share it in the first place.

[TK Hikaru]

When you worry about how much your character can do after nerve damage becomes a thing.

[Tara]

....When you have your character all planned out and you've spent four days tweaking their face to be just right and you have the perfect name and their backstory all planned out and then you get to the Patron Deity screen. And....you can't decide on which to give them...

[Caspar]

I've been considering making my first alt. It would be some time to bring the character over to Balmung. And yet even though I have no pressure or sense of urgency, I cannot make the character, because I must tease out the appropriate balance between the right sound, ease of remembering, and period appropriate nature of the name. On top of that, I also want it to be meaningful on some level, as if that wasn't enough.

[Delilah Scythewood]

When you're worrying about the stutter pattern for your timid character and whether you over use it or not.

 

When you play a darker character and start trolling YouTube 'Top 20' videos of villains to find which ones are best to use as a role model.

[Aaron]

When you emote your character actually saying Laugh out loud....

[Momoka]

when you give your character near prodigy skills in something and worry constantly that theyll be considered a mary sue, regardless of any rhyme or reason for their skills, and how little their skills even come up.

[AeolianMode]

That feel when you overanalyze your own writing to be sure it's not too out of character... >.

[Chip]

...You describe a character's thought process as you RP to ensure that every little thing they do makes sense.

 

...You want to start a plotline so you spend numerous weeks planning every meticulous detail so that each character has a specific place and time for each event that will happen in rapid succession. Every NPC has a name and a purpose. There's no room for error, ...or apparently those annoying moments whenever your character suddenly has a will of their own and totally throws off the plotline you planned for weeks in advance. Shit. And then you're scrambling to straighten out what will happen in future events of the plotline now that your own RP characters screwed it up... and it just keeps snowballing. :cactuar:

 

(Moral of the story: flexibility is key :thumbsup: )

 

...You create a google search history worthy of a criminal record because you have to make sure a character who's been inflicted with a poison that causes organ failure behaves appropriately, and it is imperative that you know the stages of a decomposing body in detail or else the murder victim's identities will get discovered and your character becomes SOL.

 

It's just the little things

 

Basically, I am very guilty of overthinking just about anything whenever I am RPing. I regret nothing! /o/

[ZoktaiKhor]

You actually learn various degrees of hard levl math (like phyiscs) so  you can teach it in character.

[Tex]

When it's raining in Limsa, and you say, "Ah, hell, I gotta go to the store."

 

So you close down FFXIV, grab your umbrella, open up the door, and... it's sunny outside.

[TK Hikaru]

When you come up with an entire roll system for your own character...concerning the permanent nerve damage in her right arm.

 

 

((That said it's made roleplaying the injury quite fun.

[Kilieit]

 

 

And so on and so forth. >_>