Experiences It seems like a lot of people are looking for...

[Unchosen]

It seems like a lot of people are looking for someone to fulfill some mundane idea they had about a show they watched or a book they read. I can't say there's anything wrong with that, but it just makes me wonder.

Roleplaying is amazing for creating memorable stories with others, or exploring worlds that you overwise wouldn't be able to see. Unfortunately, it's as if people aren't so interested in the idea of creating a character to explore worlds, or write stories in ones already fleshed out, like our own. Instead, it seems like people are just looking for something they dont need roleplaying for.

Like I said, my opinion is merely that. But maybe there's something I'm missing.

 

[Idea]

Instead, it seems like people are just looking for something they dont need roleplaying for.

Well, I raise you the question: What does someone need roleplay for? Don't worry, I'm not gonna argue "oh roleplay isn't necessary to survive" or anything that pedantic. However, I will argue that the distinction between, say, exploring an idea through a book, and exploring an idea through roleplay, falls precisely in the answer to your question: Other people.

If you write a book, and assuming you manage to publish it somewhere, you will probably get a couple readers, maybe- many of which are likely to be people who will stop at the first chapter or even first lines after determining your work not to be up to their standards, and maybe a few more who will read in to review or just by coincidence. This is a limited, impersonal type of contact with other people. On the other hand, the roleplaying experience is much more involved and direct- you are writing together as partners, exploring an idea together, jointing efforts to its creation and exploration. Sure, some ideas are less developed or creative than others, but they are nonetheless ideas they want to share with one another and work together with one another through.

For instance, I am a passionate worldbuilder. I love the crafting and development of my own worlds, from how the species are, to how the magic works, to how their society developed and what its current cultural and technological state is. I can craft it on my own, but there's something missing there if I can't truly share it. I love getting to talk to other people about them, having them ask me question or propose their own ideas about those worlds or those that inhabit them, love the idea of people creating their own characters and stories in those worlds.

The point I'm trying to make, in short, is, there's an element of sharing and interaction to roleplay that makes it a fundamentally distinct from solo writing. On the other hand, it does have the aspect of writing your own story, together with someone else, of fleshing out the scenario rather than just posing hypotheticals, which makes it distinct from simple conversation about the topic. Roleplaying is what it is because it makes the encounter of those two things, with the added aspect that you are taking on the role of one of the characters. This is a unique way of exploring any given idea that is roleplayed.

People want to roleplay their ideas because they want to explore them in that unique way that roleplay offers.

 

[Onmyoji]

You can't really assess what someone *needs* roleplaying for. If anything, it would be a higher-scale reason like 'collaborative writing' or 'sharing experience with others', 'making friends' or whatnot.

To one, the most pleasure is in creating original stories in original worlds, but to someone else, fulfilling their fantasy of one canon character meeting another canon character in a fandom universe can lead to just as amazing stories and experiences. People are different and have different ideas of fun.

 

[Zipper Man]

It seems like a lot of people are looking for someone to fulfill some mundane idea they had about a show they watched or a book they read. I can't say there's anything wrong with that, but it just makes me wonder.

Roleplaying is amazing for creating memorable stories with others, or exploring worlds that you overwise wouldn't be able to see.

Maybe this is just me being an idiot, but I don't see how that's mutually exclusive in anyway.

 

[NeonFlow]

Well, I raise you the question: What does someone need roleplay for? Don't worry, I'm not gonna argue "oh roleplay isn't necessary to survive" or anything that pedantic. However, I will argue that the distinction between, say, exploring an idea through a book, and exploring an idea through roleplay, falls precisely in the answer to your question: Other people.

If you write a book, and assuming you manage to publish it somewhere, you will probably get a couple readers, maybe- many of which are likely to be people who will stop at the first chapter or even first lines after determining your work not to be up to their standards, and maybe a few more who will read in to review or just by coincidence. This is a limited, impersonal type of contact with other people. On the other hand, the roleplaying experience is much more involved and direct- you are writing together as partners, exploring an idea together, jointing efforts to its creation and exploration. Sure, some ideas are less developed or creative than others, but they are nonetheless ideas they want to share with one another and work together with one another through.

For instance, I am a passionate worldbuilder. I love the crafting and development of my own worlds, from how the species are, to how the magic works, to how their society developed and what its current cultural and technological state is. I can craft it on my own, but there's something missing there if I can't truly share it. I love getting to talk to other people about them, having them ask me question or propose their own ideas about those worlds or those that inhabit them, love the idea of people creating their own characters and stories in those worlds.

The point I'm trying to make, in short, is, there's an element of sharing and interaction to roleplay that makes it a fundamentally distinct from solo writing. On the other hand, it does have the aspect of writing your own story, together with someone else, of fleshing out the scenario rather than just posing hypotheticals, which makes it distinct from simple conversation about the topic. Roleplaying is what it is because it makes the encounter of those two things, with the added aspect that you are taking on the role of one of the characters. This is a unique way of exploring any given idea that is roleplayed.

People want to roleplay their ideas because they want to explore them in that unique way that roleplay offers.

When idea puts it like this, it makes me wonder..
think of all the people you don’t want to rp with and who don’t want to rp with you.

It seems like a lot of people are looking for someone to fulfill some mundane idea they had about a show they watched or a book they read. I can't say there's anything wrong with that, but it just makes me wonder.

Roleplaying is amazing for creating memorable stories with others, or exploring worlds that you overwise wouldn't be able to see. Unfortunately, it's as if people aren't so interested in the idea of creating a character to explore worlds, or write stories in ones already fleshed out, like our own. Instead, it seems like people are just looking for something they dont need roleplaying for.

Like I said, my opinion is merely that. But maybe there's something I'm missing.

My opinion here is that people take inspiration from what they have seen or read. I myself have been inspired to make a rp from a song alone once aha

I prefer to take inspirations from things that make me imagine more of said scenario.

I could only call one or two of my many rp’s and stories “original” in the sense someone before me has probably written something similar along the lines of a character facing hardships, overcoming them through comedic or unconventional means or stomping whatever is weaker then them.

But most of my plots settings worlds whatever, are inspired or stolen from various forms of media I enjoy. From that blend of shit I try to make a original story I feel others can get behind or understand.
But the characters of other people however inspired or created are what makes role playing enjoyable.

Making a story where you don’t control every aspect is fun to me

 

[Idea]

When idea puts it like this, it makes me wonder..
think of all the people you don’t want to rp with and who don’t want to rp with you.

Your point being?

 

[NeonFlow]

I’m on the phone right now so I can’t post the gif I want to... it’s actually annoying me how much I want to post it

 

[Idea]

I’m on the phone right now so I can’t post the gif I want to... it’s actually annoying me how much I want to post it

I'll wait for it then.

 

[NeonFlow]

I'll wait for it then.

 

[Nue]

I'm not really sure I understand what exactly OP is getting at. I mean, exploring other worlds through writing, creating memorable stories - you don't necessarily need roleplay to do that, either. You could just write a story. The only real reason people chose to do it in roleplay format is 'cause.. well, they like the roleplay aspect, y'know? So it doesn't really matter whether you're using roleplay to do some high concept original fantasy idea, or just wanting to explore your Harry Potter headcanons - none are more or less valid than the other, I guess is what I'm trying to say.

 

[Cicatrix]

One thing I haven't seen anyone bring up in here: The people you're talking about (people who roleplay canon characters, people who like realistic/modern and mundane roleplays) probably aren't interested in roleplaying for the sake of world building or power progression or... whatever. They're in it for character driven stories. These people want to play out various kinds of interpersonal conflict and drama, and when you think about it for a second, this can be a primary draw for TONS of different stories. I love the character driven and philosophical aspects of stories more than I usually care for the "action" of it, and having another partner to explore these things gives you a whole new world of opportunity, because they can probably think of ways to push the characters in your roleplay in ways you wouldn't have considered. So that's one element of this down.

Another one is familiarity. We have a basis for understanding things in our world, or in the worlds of other settings from pop culture. We can be grounded in these worlds. That's what I prefer, since you can keep things sensible while also giving you room to surprise others by subverting the expectations of the known setting. Like, I can switch this around on you: a lot of "worlds" in roleplay end up being some dime-a-dozen fantasy world with a simple vocabulary shift and little else to set it apart. When I see these kinds of settings I ask myself, "Why should I care? What's the point in engaging with this setting? What makes it different from the others? What does it all mean, anyway?" Plus, if you're throwing around a lot of terminology and stakes without explaining why they matter in the first place, then you're probably going to lose people's attention. When the setting is familiar, the rules are already generally understood, and people are already fairly invested in it from past exposure? Things are a whole lot easier, and a whole lot more relateable!

When it comes to canon stuff, I guess I can offer some sort of explanation... Since I like roleplaying canon characters, I've come to think of it like this: I want to put this character in a difficult situation that hasn't been explored in canon. I want to break this character down to it's essentials and challenge them. I want to pose a "What If?" situation that recontextualizes this character's role in canon. I want to play them against another character that they either haven't met, or have had limited contact with, because I want to see their ideals clash.

I'll be honest, a lot of my views on these things come from me reading a lot of superhero comics. Multiple people have worked on famous comic book characters over the course of their lifetime, and have really put them through the paces. I seriously admire what this means for storytelling, and trying to break these characters down have lead to some of my favorite stories in the history of forever. I enjoy playing canon characters against others for the same reason I said above: other people have ideas that I don't, and that's amazing and fun to me.

 

[rae2nerdy]

It seems like a lot of people are looking for someone to fulfill some mundane idea they had about a show they watched or a book they read. I can't say there's anything wrong with that, but it just makes me wonder.

Roleplaying is amazing for creating memorable stories with others, or exploring worlds that you overwise wouldn't be able to see. Unfortunately, it's as if people aren't so interested in the idea of creating a character to explore worlds, or write stories in ones already fleshed out, like our own. Instead, it seems like people are just looking for something they dont need roleplaying for.

Like I said, my opinion is merely that. But maybe there's something I'm missing.

So could you an example of what your talking about? Based on my second read through of your post I don’t think your issue is what people think it is.

As I understood your point you don’t like cliches and want people to come up with more original ideas. Not necessarily in the sense that they have to make an original world (as you make mention of people doing realistic roleplays) but that they need to do roleplays that are beyond what I’m guessing are cliche story beats.

I’m just not entirely sure what your counting as cliche story beats as your opening post is a little vague.

 

[Unchosen]

So could you an example of what your talking about? Based on my second read through of your post I don’t think your issue is what people think it is.

As I understood your point you don’t like cliches and want people to come up with more original ideas. Not necessarily in the sense that they have to make an original world (as you make mention of people doing realistic roleplays) but that they need to do roleplays that are beyond what I’m guessing are cliche story beats.

I’m just not entirely sure what your counting as cliche story beats as your opening post is a little vague.

Its true that my main argument is generally people tend to have unoriginal ideas/plotlines when roleplaying, but cliche isn't quite the word I would use. I posted this in hopes that others would either feel the same way, or give me their opinion, which they have. I'm happy with the replies even if I dont agree with all of them. If I had any other hopes for this post, It would be to encourage people to think a little more.

 

[rae2nerdy]

Its true that my main argument is generally people tend to have unoriginal ideas/plotlines when roleplaying, but cliche isn't quite the word I would use. I posted this in hopes that others would either feel the same way, or give me their opinion, which they have. I'm happy with the replies even if I dont agree with all of them. If I had any other hopes for this post, It would be to encourage people to think a little more.

Well what would you consider original plot lines?