Viewpoint Recruiters who post no prompts or hooks.

[Edythir]

Interests checks should be your best foot forward. I know nothing about you, you have one post to explain your interests, your preferences and what you are looking for. You need to establish all of that in one post and make someone interested enough to give you a go. I don't mean this as a knock to other people but why do I come across so many recruitments that can best be described as dispassionate laziness?

I posted this before in Pet Peeves but the more I think on it, the more I wanted to say and add on it. I am talking of course about people that just say "A x B" And give no further context, no further plot hooks, no ideas of their own. Just "These are my rules these are my pairings". Or worse yet, "This fandom".

I don't mean to sound gatekeep-ey. Maybe it's just me nearing thirty and having RPed for half my life, maybe it's the autism, I don't know.

But take for example "Vampire x Vampire hunter". Okay... are we talking Victorian? Elizabetan? Modern? Postmodern? Pre-expansion Colonial American? I assume there is a preference from the author, because if there isn't that's almost worse, I'll get into why later. So I would need to send a message, ask what sort of period they like and if I like Elizabetan and you like Colonial American we won't be meshing well together. And all of that hassle and waste of time could have been saved with three words or less from the author. "Vampire x Vampire Hunter (Elizabetan era)". Like, sure, yeah, you can establish all of that during setup, but why would I reach out if there is a greater than normal chance that we won't get along because "I like cake" was the only thing I got and when I bring Red Velvet it goes untouched because you really like Chocolate cake and didn't bother to clarify.

The same goes with "This fandom". I don't RP fandom stuff anymore but I used to a whole lot back in the day, and even still then if people just post "Naruto" as a list of fandoms, Like sure, maybe they were just saying "Pre Time Skip Naruto, as in the OG Naruto, the Naruto called only Naruto". Or maybe they mean the fandom in general, which includes Naruto, Naruto Shippuden, Boruto and Boruto Two Blue Vortex. Just saying "Naruto (Original series)" would be enough to dispel this ambiguity.

Which brings me to the last point in this rant. "I'm fine with any" as a response is likely the biggest red flag to me, let me explain. "I am fine with any but I usually do X", "I am fine with any but X is my favorite", "I'm fine with any, X is what i've been thinking about but i'd love to hear what you think" would be 100% fine with me, more than fine. But just saying "I'm fine with any" and nothing more is just passing the buck off to the other person, making them do all of the work.

Have you ever watched a movie and there is an actor that is obviously just there for the paycheck? They're just phoning it in and giving the minimum possible engagement to not get fired and it starts to affect your enjoyment of the film? I've had that feeling with RP partners before and all I got to ask is... why are you even here? Like this isn't a job. This is a hobby, something you do for fun. If you're not having fun writing, if you don't have the creative drive to pitch your ideas, if you pass every decision off to your partner... what are you even doing here? Again, not to sound like I am gatekeeping, I am just genuinly confused. To engage in a hobby you're not passionate for is like going to work you don't care for and not getting payed. Because this is work, this is effort. People get payed to do this professionally and we do it for fun and enjoyment. So if I read a text and I get the sense you're "phoning it in" or you don't have any interest to contribute creatively... I am honestly just really confused.

So i'd just like to know. People who should be putting their best foot forward in attracting people but give the barest of minimums, the absolute least that can be possible to still be counted as an interest check... why? Like does it actually work? Do you get many RPs you are passionate for and are having a blast writing or is it a lot of "No actually I like chocolate cake"? It doesn't even need to be high effort novella style. My own interest checks are often just skeletons with a few different ideas within a generic-ish world thrown at the wall to get the ball going and see if it sparks interest in someone else. That's the only thing i'm after really, having people show their passion in this hobby.

 

[Daisie]

I don't mean to sound gatekeep-ey. Maybe it's just me nearing thirty and having RPed for half my life, maybe it's the autism, I don't know.

I certainly don't mean to offend by saying this, but... I think this might be the problem! The over-familiarity with roleplay. This is a hobby you are passionate about, and a hobby that you have explored for nearly fifteen years! But mot everyone is going to have the same vast well of experience.

A couple reasons that come to mind for me are...

First, like I said, inexperience. If you're new to RpNation, and ESPECIALLY if you're young at the same time like I was, you're just not going to know what the culture is like. You're not going to know exactly what works for interest checks, what hooks people, how to advertise yourself, etc.
You say that interest checks should be putting your best foot forward, but maybe that "passionless" interest check IS their best foot. Advertising ANYTHING is something that requires actual skill. In order to make a nice, structured, and appealing interest check, you have to learn how to become your own salesperson. And just like how some people suck at math, or some people struggle with the structure of grammar, advertising yourself doesn't come naturally to everyone.

Secondly, maybe they just ACTUALLY don't take the hobby as seriously. Listen, the vast majority of the population on Earth has absolutely no clue what RP even is. Generally when I bring it up to people in real life, it takes some explanation. Considering the fact that so few people even know what it is, I think it's reasonable to say that a lot of folks (again, especially those who are just trying it out, or who are looking to only keep from getting bored on work breaks) aren't going to even be THINKING about the most efficient, optimal, informative methods of catching the most compatible partners. They just wanna lay back and have some fun. It's OKAY to not have approach every hobby with a fiery passion, and hey, if their barren interest check is eventually successful in finding a partner they like, then they've achieved their goal, and that's all that matters! It legitimately doesn't harm anyone else.

I think it's incredibly easy to forget that there are VERY DIVERSE personalities here on RpNation. People who delight in BBCodes galore, making their RPs visually stunning. People who write novella replies every single post, and will sink multiple weeks into doing so. People who only like to focus on fast-paced combat rather than character development and worldbuilding. People who are stoked about making everything as historically accurate as possible.

Well... It isn't totally crazy to think that there are also people who are just looking for a quick, fun fix of writing. Just a paragraph or less for each response, no fuss over proper syntax, no plans ahead of time, just fun. There is nothing wrong with having a bit less passion in a hobby.

There are a lot less of those people here on account of the fact that it's a website DEDICATED to roleplay, and not some chatroom where people come casually. But still, those people exist here!

Gatekeeping is defined as "the activity of controlling, and usually limiting, general access to something". I understand becoming upset when people aren't taking your passion as seriously as you are, but to ask people like this "why are you even bothering?" and calling their work "dispassionate laziness" is... kinda exactly gatekeeping. Just the same as saying "you aren't a REAL fan of Star Wars, like me" to someone who hasn't seen all the movies, but still really enjoys what they have seen.

Their devotion (or lack thereof) to their hobby makes them no more or less worthy. It just makes them incompatible with you. That's okay.

I doubt you'll get any of those less passionate folks responding to this thread and providing their insight, though. If you take a quick peek for just a second in the active roleplay lists, you'll probably find hundreds of names you've never seen before. That's because only a dozen or two passionate RPers have the level of interest that would lead them to regularly check Rp Discussion & Advice. We're kind of a loud minority over here, with the rest of RpN being a very silent majority, too busy enjoying their hobby to really care. And that level of passion is working for them, so rock on, dudes.

 

[Paradox9]

As my 2-cents,

When trying to get an rp going with a niche fandom character, you get whatever you can get (Usually end up in a panfandom rp). So laying out some novel about what you're looking for with a bunch of terms only 1% of people will know, will only alienate those that don't want to read all that and just want to give you a go.

In those cases, you have to just say, whatever works, and if others show more and more interest you can start going deeper into what you would like to do.

 

[Garrett.Hawke]

Sometimes the fandoms you're interested in are just so niche you can't really write anything restricting it if you wanna rp it. For example I will clarify what I won't do and will do for fandoms like mha and hp but some fandoms I'm so desperate for I don't care what happens as long as I get to roleplay the fandom (ex. GTA or mass effect).

Sometimes it's hard to write a hook, not because of 'laziness' but because of something like 'not understanding social cues' or you're a people pleaser. It's not because we're lazy, it's because we're genuinely scared no one will rp with us if we make it restricting.

And just because someone's hook 'isn't good' that doesn't mean they're lazy or dispassionate. Maybe they're just trying their best but have more ideas the more specific the rp becomes. Maybe they don't know how to write a hook but their writing is actually great. Maybe they have no idea on how to code or are just beginning rping.

And fyi, a lot of people do reach out to people like us, even if you don't see it often in threads

 

[Nu Epiq]

I'd like to say, never judge a book by its cover. Just because a request thread might not be what you consider putting your best foot forward, does not mean they aren't having fun or doing what they feel is best for them. There's no sure right or wrong way to do a request thread unless a person is just being really openly hostile and offensive with it then that's another story. I have written with plenty of people who had pairings and no plots. When it came to plotting, we both came up with ideas to make something great. In some instances, you need another person to bounce something off of.

If that's not your cup of tea, just skip it. It's not hurting you. Look for whatever interests you and let others find what interests them.
I don't think people would be here if they weren't passionate about writing in some way or another.

 

[chaotic cat cutie]

I think it's important to remember. People do this for a hobby and not a job. It's something to do for social enjoyment.
I think justice thinking is a huge deterrent from anyone enjoying roleplay in general. < ( by that I am referencing one of my favorite youtubers who is a strong advocate for those with autism and even works therapeutically with people who have autism. They talk about it in specific social situations I'm not talking justice as a whole. Just wanted to clear that lol more information their name is Kaelynnism and I love their advice.)
strong sense of justice isn't always positive