Roleplay Pet Peeves

[Umbrie]

You misunderstood the point of that post. People roleplay high school because it's universally familiar to pretty much everyone. Sure the exact setting will vary but everyone is familiar with the basics.


not everyone on this site is an adult nor did every adult in the world have the opportunity to go to college and have that experience.


high school on the other hand is mandatory to a certain extent. Even if you don't graduate you've experienced enough to understand the concept. Plus look at the media ( books, movies, tv shows, anime) how many of them take place in high schools versus college or the real world?


personally I flunked out of college twice so it was hardly a fun experience for me. Granted high school wasn't either but I don't do roleplay in the real world. It's pretty much urban fantasy all the way where a school is a place people go to learn to use their abilities. And it's the setting not the focus.

i had issues with my college teacher, so i dropped out and never returned to any college in that district. but while high school is relatable, because it is mandatory, i wouldn't want to relive my high school phase, i hated it, all i got to do was twiddle my thumbs for 3 years while waiting on insurance to kick in for counseling because i got all my credits by the time i was 15 at a work at your own pace disabled high school that had never more than 30 students split amongst 2 classrooms with no more than 15 in one room at a time, that shared a campus with a military school despite being its own separate academy, it was supposed to be a low stress environment for disabled students, but it felt more like a dumping ground for students who were one step away from being incarcerated on a 5150 and was on tight lockdown cuz the district representatives were bigots.

 

[call me rae]

i had issues with my college teacher, so i dropped out and never returned to any college in that district. but while high school is relatable, because it is mandatory, i wouldn't want to relive my high school phase, i hated it, all i got to do was twiddle my thumbs for 3 years while waiting on insurance to kick in for counseling because i got all my credits by the time i was 15 at a work at your own pace disabled high school that had never more than 30 students split amongst 2 classrooms with no more than 15 in one room at a time, that shared a campus with a military school despite being its own separate academy, it was supposed to be a low stress environment for disabled students, but it felt more like a dumping ground for students who were one step away from being incarcerated on a 5150 and was on tight lockdown cuz the district representatives were bigots.

This is not a thread for discussing your real life issues about school. The only reason I mentioned it previously to further bolster my point about why people play in high school roleplays vs. college roleplays. As that argument has seemingly hit a stalemate I'd appreciate it if we could move on so we do not derail the thread.

 

[jinkx]

*changes subject*


i don't like people making roleplays revolving around one character?? 

 

[Umbrie]

This is not a thread for discussing your real life issues about school. The only reason I mentioned it previously to further bolster my point about why people play in high school roleplays vs. college roleplays. As that argument has seemingly hit a stalemate I'd appreciate it if we could move on so we do not derail the thread.

sorriesies. i play nearly exclusively loli, well, exclusively legal loli by US standards. mostly out of personal preference and for a sense of attachment to the character. it bothers me when people try to dictate that i change my characters proportions to fit their specific lewd desires. i agreed to RP Umbrie the small and cute legal loli. i didn't agree for some creep to turn Umbrie into a 6 foot tall 90 lb Calvin Klein model with a Pectoral Basket Ball Sized Lump of Fat under each arm.  i don't expect my fellow roleplayers to change their character's established proportions for my preference, why should i change my character's established proportions for theirs? if they didn't want to do a roleplay scene with a small character, why did they go to somebody who plays a small character in a thread they were playing said small character?

 

[Umbrie]

*changes subject*


i don't like people making roleplays revolving around one character?? 

i don't like roleplays revolving around one character either, just as much as i don't like it when one specific person comes by and expects you to change an established core aspect of one of your long used characters. or when they try to control and dictate that your character is wearing something they would never be feasibly caught dead wearing.

 

[Windsock]

*changes subject*


i don't like people making roleplays revolving around one character?? 

I don't like GMPC's that the entire story revolves around either. I have central characters that start off the plot, sure, but they're designed to fuck off and let the PC's do things at the end of the first 'act'.

 

[jinkx]

^^ dude, if anybody is asking you anything lewd then they are breaking site rules and you should just report them and move on. plus, while i don't suggest you change your entire character, you may have to flexible about them now and then. 

 

[Umbrie]

I don't like GMPC's that the entire story revolves around either. I have central characters that start off the plot, sure, but they're designed to fuck off and let the PC's do things at the end of the first 'act'.

there is no such thing as a GMPC. i understand what the term is used to reference, but i prefer to call them the Tagalong NPC. Tagalong NPCs aren't bad on their own, the issue is when they are built to be of equal to or better spotlight than the player characters the GM is running the game for. the Best Tagalong NPCs are Henchmen, Hirelings and Servants, which are best played by the player whose payroll they happen to be a part of.

 

[call me rae]

@jinkx I actually had this happen once to me specifically and I saw it again on a rp search thread.


So to keep from naming names i'll use the basic concept to illustrate how frustrating this was.


RPer : I want to do something in a fandom or using this idea I have.


Idea :  Girl 1 is best friends with Girl B. Girl B betrays Girl 1 in some manner involving possible cheating with Boyfriend.  Years pass and Girl 1 returns to town and is trying to reconnect with Boyfriend and Girl B. I think there was a sub-plot in there where Girl B might also have a new Boyfriend but that was likely just for fairness.


So far not horrible right. A little cliche but whatever.


Here's the kicker. I was playing everyone but Girl 1. And Girl 1's player got to dictate exactly which characters in the fandom everyone else was and I was like... um no.


Like they pretty much built a fanfiction around Girl 1 where everything revolved around this character, everyone only did things as it related to that character, and I'm like.. honey no.


Then I saw something on a search which was basically a four person family unit roleplay. Parent A, Child 1, Child 2, Parent B. Only again the person only wanted to play I think in that case Child 1. Everyone else had to be played by the other person. And I'm like... why do you make a prompt that has like four or five people when you only want to play one person? And then you expect your partner to play the 3+ people that fawn over your special snowflake? No.

 

[Umbrie]

^^ dude, if anybody is asking you anything lewd then they are breaking site rules and you should just report them and move on. plus, while i don't suggest you change your entire character, you may have to flexible about them now and then. 

if i wanted to roleplay a big stupid fighter, i would make a character who happens to be a big stupid fighter. if i wanted to roleplay a small and clever rogue, i would make a small and clever rogue. i wouldn't try to shoehorn the small and clever rogue into the role of the big stupid fighter. not that all tabletop fighters are intellectually challenged or anything, but these are just tabletop stereotypes.

 

[Windsock]

there is no such thing as a GMPC. i understand what the term is used to reference, but i prefer to call them the Tagalong NPC. Tagalong NPCs aren't bad on their own, the issue is when they are built to be of equal to or better spotlight than the player characters the GM is running the game for. the Best Tagalong NPCs are Henchmen, Hirelings and Servants, which are best played by the player whose payroll they happen to be a part of.

>no such thing as a GMPC


I'll respect your opinion, but I'm sorry, that's total bullshit.


Anyway.


I hate it when people use pre-made characters for stuff. Okay, I get it, you like your super-special snowflake guy you made once, but I do my damnedest to make characters that fit the story, and I don't try and force my character to fit in someone else's story. It's like a square peg and a round hole, and it pisses me off. I use archetypes, sure, but they're so generalized and easily re-molded, and I make sure of that. I have a tendency to make curious, stupid, or super-anal and aggressive dudes in general, and sure, most of my PC's would probably lose their shit when confronted by spooky skeletons or some gummy bears, but they're not all total clones from eachother.


The last two RP's I participated in, I played a well-intentioned southern-fried-private with an auto-flagellation fetish, and a hyper-genius engineering lady with a drug addiction due to sheer boredom who basically gained a JJBA stand based on her vices of manipulative tendencies and sloth.

 

[jinkx]

@A Nerd Named Rae it's like self-insert fanfiction. just don't. 

 

[Umbrie]

i admit, i recycle characters a lot. mostly because i hate coming up with names and personalities because it is hard for me and i am picky.

 

[JujuBee]

I don't like GMPC's that the entire story revolves around either. I have central characters that start off the plot, sure, but they're designed to fuck off and let the PC's do things at the end of the first 'act'.

there is no such thing as a GMPC. i understand what the term is used to reference, but i prefer to call them the Tagalong NPC. Tagalong NPCs aren't bad on their own, the issue is when they are built to be of equal to or better spotlight than the player characters the GM is running the game for. the Best Tagalong NPCs are Henchmen, Hirelings and Servants, which are best played by the player whose payroll they happen to be a part of.

I'm with Umbrie on this. If the GM knows how to handle their NPCs then it can do a lot more help than harm. Sometimes they're needed to keep the roleplay going and create more drama within it. It gets more annoying when ideas have run out and no one knows what to do for conflict between the players. Sometimes having that random pop up NPC to cause drama can be just what was needed. For me, NPCs are a huge tool within my role-plays and while they don't take away from the various subplots that may happen between the characters, they help move the main plot along.


But if this isn't what you two are talking about I am so sorry lol. 


But another thing I hate are those who don't understand that there is literally a thing called 'Life'. I cannot respond to you every 10 minutes. I made it very clear what my reply times will be like. Either understand that and accept it or keep it moving. Don't send me messages trying to get me to respond. That's just how you ruin a potential friendship and an rp. Though it's perfectly understandable to send a reminder if they've disappeared for like two weeks and nothing was ever said.

 

[Windsock]

I'm with Umbrie on this. If the GM knows how to handle their NPCs then it can do a lot more help than harm. Sometimes they're needed to keep the roleplay going and create more drama within it. It gets more annoying when ideas have run out and no one knows what to do for conflict between the players. Sometimes having that random pop up NPC to cause drama can be just what was needed. For me, NPCs are a huge tool within my role-plays and while they don't take away from the various subplots that may happen between the characters, they help move the main plot along.


But if this isn't what you two are talking about I am so sorry lol. 


But another thing I hate are those who don't understand that there is literally a thing called 'Life'. I cannot respond to you every 10 minutes. I made it very clear what my reply times will be like. Either understand that and accept it or keep it moving. Don't send me messages trying to get me to respond. That's just how you ruin a potential friendship and an rp. Though it's perfectly understandable to send a reminder if they've disappeared for like two weeks and nothing was ever said.

Nah fam I'm talking about when GM's make 'special' NPC's that acts, looks, and smells like a player character, mainly because the GM is jelly that the players get all that kind of fun.

 

[JujuBee]

Nah fam I'm talking about when GM's make 'special' NPC's that acts, looks, and smells like a player character, mainly because the GM is jelly that the players get all that kind of fun.

... You've lost me. Aren't NPCs supposed to be people???

 

[Windsock]

Yeah, they're supposed to be 'people' and have their own hopes and dreams, but its about 'spotlight', in addition to how they 'act'. If they don't have a spotlight, but they act like a 'player character' would, that's good stuff for an NPC to me, alongside the opposite. They're probably off having their own adventures and quests, but the players control their own player characters; the story should be about those guys, so the other guys are just heard about sometimes. But if they're controlled by the GM (like a 'standard' and/or 'true' NPC), have a certain 'player characteriness', and have a certain amount of 'spotlight', that's usually really bad in my opinion.

 

[call me rae]

Yeah, they're supposed to be 'people' and have their own hopes and dreams, but its about 'spotlight', in addition to how they 'act'. If they don't have a spotlight, but they act like a 'player character' would, that's good stuff for an NPC to me, alongside the opposite. They're probably off having their own adventures and quests, but the players control their own player characters; the story should be about those guys, so the other guys are just heard about sometimes. But if they're controlled by the GM (like a 'standard' and/or 'true' NPC), have a certain 'player characteriness', and have a certain amount of 'spotlight', that's usually really bad in my opinion.

lol whut?  Do you mean essentially when a GM makes multiple characters and just calls them NPCs when in reality they're no different than any of the playable characters?

 

[Windsock]

lol whut?  Do you mean essentially when a GM makes multiple characters and just calls them NPCs when in reality they're no different than any of the playable characters?

I don't get why the point I'm getting across is so difficult to understand. But yes, that's exactly what I mean.

 

[JujuBee]

lol whut?  Do you mean essentially when a GM makes multiple characters and just calls them NPCs when in reality they're no different than any of the playable characters?

I don't get why the point I'm getting across is so difficult to understand. But yes, that's exactly what I mean.

I think it was because you were adding too much. Like over-explaining it to the point where it didn't necessarily make any sense lol. But I understand what @A Nerd Named Rae said so yeah, completely understandable. You just have to remember that not all NPCs are used like that.

 

[call me rae]

I don't get why the point I'm getting across is so difficult to understand. But yes, that's exactly what I mean.

Your using too many repetitive words to explain it. The way you wrote it seemed to contradict itself in a few places.

If they don't have a spotlight, but they act like a 'player character' would, that's good stuff for an NPC to me, alongside the opposite.

like that just seems like a sentence that should be a double negative of some sort. like it seems to be saying that an npc should act like a playable character should but also the opposite.


don't worry i have the same tendency to vomit words when like a sentence would do. it's why i asked for the clarification - i understood basically where you were going you just got kind of turned around at a few points.

 

[Windsock]

Oh, right, I speak funny when I'm talking about shit I hate.


Sorry about that fam

 

[call me rae]

Oh, right, I speak funny when I'm talking about shit I hate.

That wasn't a dig. Like I said I do the same thing. I'll go on whole nonsensical tangents and at the end realize what I was trying to say was essentially a sentence long. It's a fault I have myself so it makes me quick to see the same thing in others.


But hey you still got the basic point across you just went on a bit of a scenic drive to get there. there's no problem with that.

 

[Windsock]

That wasn't a dig. Like I said I do the same thing. I'll go on whole nonsensical tangents and at the end realize what I was trying to say was essentially a sentence long. It's a fault I have myself so it makes me quick to see the same thing in others.


But hey you still got the basic point across you just went on a bit of a scenic drive to get there. there's no problem with that.

Yeah, you gotta smell the roses and huff some paint along the way sometimes.

 

[CalamariDaddy]

Ok another thing. 


So I don't mind if a character has a tragic backstory. I do mind when such a tragic backstory seems to have absolutely no effect on the character. How are they still happy and upbeat when they saw their parents get murdered in front of them? How are they still completely open to relationships after years of abuse?  How does this dude not have some form of PTSD, depression, anxiety, or anything of the sort of after going what they went through?


Honestly, it's kind of a dig in the ribs when you see dudes like that because I personally have a character with the Tragic Background™ but I put so much research into the after effects and impact that his backstory would have on him at the present. Like weeks of research, months of development, and a lot of emotional projection (shush, my characters are totally not coping mechanisms, no they're not)