Experiences People who take RP far too seriously

[Daisie]

LMAO You sound like me arguing with someone when they ask about my opinions on things based on what my characters say! Seriously, I hate the idea that characters = the writer. If that was true books would be so boring with every character in it the same!

Very true. That's the thing about RP and writing in general - heck, basically ANY form of art or entertainment: It's built specifically so that we can get outside our own bodies and explore worlds or characters separate from ourselves and our own beliefs.

Some people like RPing self-inserts, and that's fine. Believe it or not, I understand the appeal behind it. It's fun to plant yourself somewhere outside reality. But please do respect the fact that not everyone is going to want to stick with one character type for their writings. It doesn't say anything about the writer if they want to make a character that's a sadistic mass-murderer and racist mess, it's exploration. I personally find the human mind and its ways of functioning fascinating, so exploring different mindsets is exactly what I love doing most in RP.

Especially redemption arcs. Oh my gosh, small rant, bad people turning good are so great. It's like my own personal crack lol. /rant over

 

[CecilDMMasters]

Very true. That's the thing about RP and writing in general - heck, basically ANY form of art or entertainment: It's built specifically so that we can get outside our own bodies and explore worlds or characters separate from ourselves and our own beliefs.

Some people like RPing self-inserts, and that's fine. Believe it or not, I understand the appeal behind it. It's fun to plant yourself somewhere outside reality. But please do respect the fact that not everyone is going to want to stick with one character type for their writings. It doesn't say anything about the writer if they want to make a character that's a sadistic mass-murderer and racist mess, it's exploration. I personally find the human mind and its ways of functioning fascinating, so exploring different mindsets is exactly what I love doing most in RP.

Especially redemption arcs. Oh my gosh, small rant, bad people turning good are so great. It's like my own personal crack lol. /rant over

Yes, it is quite fun to stick yourself into the head of someone else and just have fun. That's pretty much my main motivation in RP. Get inside my characters head and think like they would.

Like anything else self inserts can be fine, but it gets to where you kind of feel like you have to watch the people that do it to make sure you didn't get the crazy. I don't want to have a character get mad at theirs and then suddenly "Why are you being mean to me!" Or someone snapping at me I'm some bigot because my characters don't cater to theirs simply because they said so.

When I was younger I made many a character with the idea of "If I was able to do this and be in this situation then this is how I would be." Though in my case the characters then developed out of being self inserts quickly and into full characters. I don't get mad when a villain yells at them or someone says something they don't agree with.

I have contrasting mixed feelings on redemption arcs. I love a good vigilante. A thief with morals. A group of outlaws that break the law but will go help the truly needy. Character who had to rise up against a dark past and heritage. Some of my favorite OCs are an ex thief turned monster hunter/peace keeper. A elf who escaped his necromancer family to live with another race in another country. And a vigilante from a super villain family.
But I try to put thought into the way they think to have a real feel to why they change. Why they are different than others in their heritage. Things that led them to want to not be someone who basically treats others like a means to an end.

I hate when people have a villain that they really push as being some evil rapist who enslaves others and enjoys torturing people. Then by some odd logic they try to simply hit a button and set up a out of no where plot that my character is suppose to help them be good? Or they get a bit to attached to a villain I put in.

 

[ShifterOfShapes]

I.... will be legitimately horrified if anyone can beat that story.

Ah...Time for you to get horrified, my good chum! I need to get this off my chest so, here we go.

So, I'm not going to name the site or the discord server for security reasons. I used to take role-play so seriously, that once I got off the computer, I continued it. In my mind, I was this high-level hacker who could take over the world yada yada yada. I literally went into these rants about this on discord and to anyone in shouting distance. Soon, I was banned from the server. I was super mad and extremely hyper all the time, so I got the bright idea to go to [site name here] and rave my head off.

When I was banned from that site, I appealed and was banned again soon after for the same reason. It was then that I felt myself coming down off of this...whatever I was high on. The next month, I fell behind in my work and slept terribly just wanting to control something... I didn't mention that I was sock puppeting on [site name here], playing as a god-mod witch girl and referring to myself constantly in the third person...

Yes, I went on a site and had this profile pretend to be "one of N's friends", referring to "N" (,myself,) as "them"... Finally, I had to shut that account down so no one would suspect that I was "N". It took a full three months for my mood to even out again. Then, I took up even worse habits because of rp...

*Sigh.* Man, I've taken rping too far.

 

[Tove]

Ah...Time for you to get horrified, my good chum! I need to get this off my chest so, here we go.

So, I'm not going to name the site or the discord server for security reasons. I used to take role-play so seriously, that once I got off the computer, I continued it. In my mind, I was this high-level hacker who could take over the world yada yada yada. I literally went into these rants about this on discord and to anyone in shouting distance. Soon, I was banned from the server. I was super mad and extremely hyper all the time, so I got the bright idea to go to [site name here] and rave my head off.

When I was banned from that site, I appealed and was banned again soon after for the same reason. It was then that I felt myself coming down off of this...whatever I was high on. The next month, I fell behind in my work and slept terribly just wanting to control something... I didn't mention that I was sock puppeting on [site name here], playing as a god-mod witch girl and referring to myself constantly in the third person...

Yes, I went on a site and had this profile pretend to be "one of N's friends", referring to "N" (,myself,) as "them"... Finally, I had to shut that account down so no one would suspect that I was "N". It took a full three months for my mood to even out again. Then, I took up even worse habits because of rp...

*Sigh.* Man, I've taken rping too far.

Yes. This is horrifying.

 

[ShifterOfShapes]

Yes. This is horrifying.

I know. *Sobs* I remember that live nightmare... I remember at the time I had this hand trembling problem. And I was constantly tired from thinking about my plans so much. I just wish something could've come of it...

 

[Tove]

I know. *Sobs* I remember that live nightmare... I remember at the time I had this hand trembling problem. And I was constantly tired from thinking about my plans so much. I just wish something could've comr of it...

Well something did, I think. At least looking back on it, you know going through such lengths isn't worth it and you won't do it again. Roleplay can be fun but when you have to do those things it's time to take a long hard look at what is really important.

 

[ShifterOfShapes]

Well something did, I think. At least looking back on it, you know going through such lengths isn't worth it and you won't do it again. Roleplay can be fun but when you have to do those things it's time to take a long hard look at what is really important.

Thank you. I sometimes wonder if I should just quit. To me, rp is just a tool to finally control someone besides myself. That can't be good...

 

[Tove]

Thank you. I sometimes wonder if I should just quit. To me, rp is just a tool to finally control someone besides myself. That can't be good...

Being honest with you, that's not a good outlook to have for roleplay. You are collaborating with another person. You both have fun while at the same time you are dedicated, a bit serious with the storytelling, and together drive the story forward with your ideas-at least that is how I feel everyone has their own interpretation of what it means to them.
While you are entitled to feel as you do, thinking of it as a tool to control someone. I personally wouldn't want a partner like that not over something designed to be a creative outlet. I think you might want to take a step back from it for a bit. See exactly what it does for you and whether you still feel the same way you do.

 

[ShifterOfShapes]

Being honest with you, that's not a good outlook to have for roleplay. You are collaborating with another person. You both have fun while at the same time you are dedicated, a bit serious with the storytelling, and together drive the story forward with your ideas-at least that is how I feel everyone has their own interpretation of what it means to them.
While you are entitled to feel as you do, thinking of it as a tool to control someone. I personally wouldn't want a partner like that not over something designed to be a creative outlet. I think you might want to take a step back from it for a bit. See exactly what it does for you and whether you still feel the same way you do.

Perhaps you are correct. After all, I changed a bit after stepping back from hacking. I still have fantasies and moments where I feel hyper because of them, but now I pour those into rps instead of actually commiting said crimes.

 

[Tove]

Perhaps you are correct. After all, I changed a bit after stepping back from hacking. I still have fantasies and moments where I feel hyper because of them, but now I pour those into rps instead of actually commiting said crimes.

APOLOGIES TO ALL I'VE HURT. APOLOGIES! APOLOGIES!

Drat. Drat. Drat. Drat! Now, my filter is off! Now you see that I'm just a manipulation obsessed fool. I look for nothing besides power. Drat. Now my perfect rep here is ruined and I've been revealed. Snap! You got me feeling all hyper again.
Well perhaps this is good. Now my charisma is lost you'll avoid me at all costs, saving yourself from any form of trouble from me. Good.

I think you should take a break for a bit. Relax and collect yourself together.

 

[Daisie]

I have contrasting mixed feelings on redemption arcs. I love a good vigilante. A thief with morals. A group of outlaws that break the law but will go help the truly needy. Character who had to rise up against a dark past and heritage. Some of my favorite OCs are an ex thief turned monster hunter/peace keeper. A elf who escaped his necromancer family to live with another race in another country. And a vigilante from a super villain family.
But I try to put thought into the way they think to have a real feel to why they change. Why they are different than others in their heritage. Things that led them to want to not be someone who basically treats others like a means to an end.

I hate when people have a villain that they really push as being some evil rapist who enslaves others and enjoys torturing people. Then by some odd logic they try to simply hit a button and set up a out of no where plot that my character is suppose to help them be good? Or they get a bit to attached to a villain I put in.

Oh yeah, of course there are wrong ways you can do a redemption arc. There's a wrong way to do everything, and redemption is no exception - it's never really interesting when you have a 2D, villainous character suddenly try to be the good guy for hardly any reason whatsoever. And then have all the good guys suddenly forget the atrocities our villain has wrought.

But that's why I love an awesomely done one. One that you can really dig your nails into the dirt with and get to know the villain's pain and horrid cognitive dissonance as they sink into the realization that what they've done is actually bad. Like... A full-on shattering of someone's world and the following slow reformation of how they think. Pushing characters to and beyond their limits is something I'm also very fond of, myself.

Anywho, we're getting off-topic. PM me if you'd like to continue this discussion so we don't junk up the thread anymore.

 

[Simon_Hawk]

Wait....RP isn't real? Uh oh...

 

[Jannah]

Very true. That's the thing about RP and writing in general - heck, basically ANY form of art or entertainment: It's built specifically so that we can get outside our own bodies and explore worlds or characters separate from ourselves and our own beliefs.

Some people like RPing self-inserts, and that's fine. Believe it or not, I understand the appeal behind it. It's fun to plant yourself somewhere outside reality. But please do respect the fact that not everyone is going to want to stick with one character type for their writings. It doesn't say anything about the writer if they want to make a character that's a sadistic mass-murderer and racist mess, it's exploration. I personally find the human mind and its ways of functioning fascinating, so exploring different mindsets is exactly what I love doing most in RP.

Especially redemption arcs. Oh my gosh, small rant, bad people turning good are so great. It's like my own personal crack lol. /rant over

I'm currently writing a literal Nazi in a WW II era RP. It doesn't mean I'm a Nazi. If anything, it's a fun way to explore the minds of people who willingly submitted to what is easily one of history's worst regimes. I mean, most didn't just wake up one day and decide they were going to be a Nazi. Something pushed them over the edge. Hell, something pushed all of Germany over the edge.

That being said, I do have big plans for the character that will cause him to be faced with moral dilemmas and perhaps even question Nazi ideology itself. Will he be redeemed? I don't know yet as it's still too early in the RP to determine that.

 

[PaulHaynek]

Stories like these make me a bit glad that very little people want to RP with me.

Can't have roleplay drama if you ain't got roleplays.

 

[Jannah]

Stories like these make me a bit glad that very little people want to RP with me.

Can't have roleplay drama if you ain't got roleplays.

It's okay. I don't have many RP's myself. Comes with having niche interests I suppose >.>

 

[CecilDMMasters]

Wait....RP isn't real? Uh oh...

Fortunately it isn't. I'm sure many of my characters would want me dead for the horrible things I've had happen to them.

 

[FoolsErin]

Fortunately it isn't. I'm sure many of my characters would want me dead for the horrible things I've had happen to them.

Haha, yea. I’ve tortured a lot of my brain children in one way or another. Much trauma has been had.

I even came up with a “burial ground” for all of my dropped, and pre-revision versions of my characters, and have made up scenarios where one or some of them escape and violently kidnap/murder me. It’s more out of guilt for having had them exist in the first place than actually wanting an excuse to keep them, though.

 

[Emotional Enigma]

My experience : I often find people who are rude about RPing and resort to being nasty as a result. When things don't go their way or I try to discuss with them if I'm uncomfortable, with no negative connotations involved, they take it really hard. They don't want to discuss they just dip out and it's annoying because its encouraged to have open dialogue but then you get shut out for it. If you're going to be rude then don't waste my time by starting an RP.

This brings me to seriousness of RPing as people take it too serious when they can't do everything they want the way they want. You really don't need to take it so seriously if the RP doesn't go exactly as planned.

 

[cadence]

This isn't necessarily someone taking roleplay too seriously, I don't think, but I thought it was worth mentioning. Definitely seemed as though they took their character too seriously. Once had a guy on this very website submit a character that was a self-insert if I've ever seen one. He used a picture of HIS OWN face attached with different images of a six pack abs, some tattoos, and basically told me: "(His Character) has this face, this body, and these tattoos, and etc." Decided to enlighten him and continue on with the roleplay for a little bit but quickly left when he became very possessive of the plot and refused to let me have a say and bumped me constantly. People are weird, man.

Oh, and the countless times people have gotten genuinely mad at me for respectfully dropping a roleplay. I understand being upset, but damn.

 

[CrowOuttaHell]

Whew...reading through this entire thread was a doozy. I can definitely guarantee that mine's way tamer in comparison.

My story's not really that much of a "completely obsessive RPer"-- more like a case of RPers that allow their RP to leak into real life. Now I'm just gonna put up a disclaimer than I'm aware that there are individuals who do genuinely like playing their characters even IRL, or even stuff like LARP, but at the time I just found my experience a little odd.

So let's flashback to my more inexperienced days of RP, before I figured out that Facebook was not a very good platform for RP.

RP at the time was just between me and a couple of old friends, and we were roleplaying fandoms mostly. Now, a friend in our group, let's call her C, was fond of using her own kind of multiverse OCs at the time to enter into various fandoms. Our main fandom at the time was Hetalia. I had an edgy OC there based off the Kuril Islands. For that, we'll call him Kuril and call Cat's character...uh...Cat. Because she was one of those nekomimi characters or something.

Anyway, in an RP, Kuril and Cat hit it off and they start dating. Our friend group seemed very supportive of the ship, making "headcanons" about it, encouraging it, openly watching the interactions between the two like a hawk. Since I was a dumb RPer at the time, I just kind of sucked up the attention. C and I liked talking about the ship and all but I always felt like she was the most detached from it, able to distinguish that it was just a ship between original (arguably) characters in a completely fictional roleplay online. All is well with the world.

...Well, until she starts meowing at me in real life.

I'm not going to lie. That was a very, very odd time of my life. Because every single time our friend group would bring up the ship, C would meow at me, paw at me, even crawl over if the place was right (AKA when we're not at school, at school of all places.) At one point I was hanging over at her classroom since we were in different classes and when lunchtime ended, I made to move back to my classroom and she just...she just grabbed me from behind and hugged me really tight and said "I don't want you to go." still in that cutesy voice she'd adopt for Cat.

...A nice sentiment, but I??? I have classes????

What really stuck in my head was the time we were hanging out at a friend's house and when someone knocked on the gate, our entire friend group hurriedly ushered the two of us up to the roof and told us to hide near the water tanks, laughing and saying something about "We need to hide Kuril and Cat!" I went along with it because I was just so confused at what exactly they were trying to do, and we ended up hiding near the water tanks.

The water tanks were like, mere inches away from a corner. They forced us in there so that we were so close, and then they disappeared downstairs. So, trying to regain some sense of normalcy in this situation, I look at C and I'm like, "Well, now, this is awkward."

And then there she goes again! With the meowing! She looks up at me trying to, I guess pull a cute face? And then presses really close. I am a dangerous inch away from freaking out completely. Luckily (or maybe not luckily) our friend group proceed to burst through the door and are like, "WE CAUGHT YOU!"

Anyway...C just pulled away, stopped pulling that cat stuff, and went back downstairs with them with me following. She acted completely normal the entire time. Eventually we outgrew those characters (also because another roleplayer started putting the moves on Kuril, for some reason) and so did her cat habits.

I eventually cut ties with that friend group because they started acting toxic about fandoms at some point, but I didn't stop being friends with C since she's stopped trying to be her character, I guess and behaved a lot more normally. That said friend group also made fun of her behind her back a few times, so I kind of sympathized with her about having to put up with their toxic behavior.

...Looking back at it now, I guess there's also the possibility that for whatever reason, our friend group was trying to set us up with each other, or something, but...that is just such a weird way to go about it. Never use in-game RP chemistry to justify IRL chemistry between players, people.

 

[Emotional Enigma]

Whew...reading through this entire thread was a doozy. I can definitely guarantee that mine's way tamer in comparison.

My story's not really that much of a "completely obsessive RPer"-- more like a case of RPers that allow their RP to leak into real life. Now I'm just gonna put up a disclaimer than I'm aware that there are individuals who do genuinely like playing their characters even IRL, or even stuff like LARP, but at the time I just found my experience a little odd.

So let's flashback to my more inexperienced days of RP, before I figured out that Facebook was not a very good platform for RP.

RP at the time was just between me and a couple of old friends, and we were roleplaying fandoms mostly. Now, a friend in our group, let's call her C, was fond of using her own kind of multiverse OCs at the time to enter into various fandoms. Our main fandom at the time was Hetalia. I had an edgy OC there based off the Kuril Islands. For that, we'll call him Kuril and call Cat's character...uh...Cat. Because she was one of those nekomimi characters or something.

Anyway, in an RP, Kuril and Cat hit it off and they start dating. Our friend group seemed very supportive of the ship, making "headcanons" about it, encouraging it, openly watching the interactions between the two like a hawk. Since I was a dumb RPer at the time, I just kind of sucked up the attention. C and I liked talking about the ship and all but I always felt like she was the most detached from it, able to distinguish that it was just a ship between original (arguably) characters in a completely fictional roleplay online. All is well with the world.

...Well, until she starts meowing at me in real life.

I'm not going to lie. That was a very, very odd time of my life. Because every single time our friend group would bring up the ship, C would meow at me, paw at me, even crawl over if the place was right (AKA when we're not at school, at school of all places.) At one point I was hanging over at her classroom since we were in different classes and when lunchtime ended, I made to move back to my classroom and she just...she just grabbed me from behind and hugged me really tight and said "I don't want you to go." still in that cutesy voice she'd adopt for Cat.

...A nice sentiment, but I??? I have classes????

What really stuck in my head was the time we were hanging out at a friend's house and when someone knocked on the gate, our entire friend group hurriedly ushered the two of us up to the roof and told us to hide near the water tanks, laughing and saying something about "We need to hide Kuril and Cat!" I went along with it because I was just so confused at what exactly they were trying to do, and we ended up hiding near the water tanks.

The water tanks were like, mere inches away from a corner. They forced us in there so that we were so close, and then they disappeared downstairs. So, trying to regain some sense of normalcy in this situation, I look at C and I'm like, "Well, now, this is awkward."

And then there she goes again! With the meowing! She looks up at me trying to, I guess pull a cute face? And then presses really close. I am a dangerous inch away from freaking out completely. Luckily (or maybe not luckily) our friend group proceed to burst through the door and are like, "WE CAUGHT YOU!"

Anyway...C just pulled away, stopped pulling that cat stuff, and went back downstairs with them with me following. She acted completely normal the entire time. Eventually we outgrew those characters (also because another roleplayer started putting the moves on Kuril, for some reason) and so did her cat habits.

I eventually cut ties with that friend group because they started acting toxic about fandoms at some point, but I didn't stop being friends with C since she's stopped trying to be her character, I guess and behaved a lot more normally. That said friend group also made fun of her behind her back a few times, so I kind of sympathized with her about having to put up with their toxic behavior.

...Looking back at it now, I guess there's also the possibility that for whatever reason, our friend group was trying to set us up with each other, or something, but...that is just such a weird way to go about it. Never use in-game RP chemistry to justify IRL chemistry between players, people.

I shouldn't be laughing I'm sorry it was just funny to read

 

[nios]

Ooo my memory is coming back to me...

This dates back to another site around 2012-2013?

Now, I was pretty young, and I just began learning how to roleplay. Along this clusterfuck of a journey, I met a girl who wasn't exactly liked among the rest of the group I was part of. I, being the person I am, took sympathy and agreed to roleplay with her. It was too late for me to back out once I realized WHY the members of the group didn't want anything to do with her. Did I mention I was pretty naive back then?

I don't remember her name; I vaguely remember her profile picture (it was fkn green) but that's beside the point. Our characters were based on The Hunger Games. My OC was male and hers was female. Now, this site didn't bother with character development, plot, etc... It was all about pairing up, making romance, and creating drama. So, you could already guess that the girl just wanted to use my male character to satisfy her own romantic needs. Our roleplay had gotten so irksome that I stopped replying to her altogether... Due to this, she would consistently private message me one-liners of her character calling out for my male character. I'll let your imagination do the rest-

Now you think that isn't that bad? It would be months after my encounter with her, and to think I thought I escaped her clutches. She messages me out of nowhere with:
"Reynold (my character at the time- don't judge me lol) mEeT yOuR dAuGhTeRS *behold twin babies*"

Oh yes. I forgot to mention teenage pregnancy was a regular occurrence on this site and within the group. Idk how it managed to last as long as it did, but I'm glad it's over.

edit: I know this isn't as bad as the rest^^ but being like 12 and experiencing this was straight-up creepy.

 

[CrowOuttaHell]

Now you think that isn't that bad? It would be months after my encounter with her, and to think I thought I escaped her clutches. She messages me out of nowhere with:
"Reynold (my character at the time- don't judge me lol) mEeT yOuR dAuGhTeRS *behold twin babies*"

Ah, yes. When all else fails to get the other end of the pairing's attention...surprise babies.

I admittedly cracked up when I got to this part.

 

[nios]

Ah, yes. When all else fails to get the other end of the pairing's attention...surprise babies.

I admittedly cracked up when I got to this part.

Well, I'm glad I was able to entertain you xD ahaha

 

[Lexiseeksrp]

This has never happened to me but I take much delight in reading your experinces. Now I know what to look out for.