Opinion The Elite OC-Only Rpers (Why even argue?)

[Crayons]

Life's too short for elitism of any kind, especially in a hobby like this one.

I may be am guilty of being snobbish about one-liners and Sues, and none of us are perfect, but I think a bit more live and let live around the RP community as a whole would be nice.

 

[Phantom Thief of Hearts]

Life's too short for elitism of any kind, especially in a hobby like this one.

I may be am guilty of being snobbish about one-liners and Sues, and none of us are perfect, but I think a bit more live and let live around the RP community as a whole would be nice.

Amen

 

[Murdergurl]

Life's too short for elitism of any kind, especially in a hobby like this one.

I may be am guilty of being snobbish about one-liners and Sues, and none of us are perfect, but I think a bit more live and let live around the RP community as a whole would be nice.

If putting peeps who post in one-liners on my ignore list is elitist, well... guess I'm an elitist afterall. haha

 

[Crayons]

If putting peeps who post in one-liners on my ignore list is elitist, well... guess I'm an elitist afterall. haha

Ignoring people isn't elitist. Running around and yelling "PEOPLE WHO DO ONE LINERS ARE SUB HUMAN!!!! WHY DO THEY EVEN EXIST?!!" at every opportunity is elitist.

 

[Murdergurl]

So there is a huge difference between preference and elitism (and gatekeeping).

It is 100% okay to say that you prefer to use OC for Fandom settings. It is 100% okay to say that you prefer multi-paragraph replies. These statements do not make you an elitist or a gatekeeper. It is just preference.

Preference changes to elitism when you state that one form is better than the other. As a hot example: I am a better mother than mothers who use formula because I breastfeed my child(ren).

Preference turns to gatekeeping when you say that other forms are not even considered as the same hobby or profession. As an example: Real moms breastfeed their children. You are not a real mom if you use formula.

Elitism and gatekeeping does exist but most of what is expressed is just preference. You should not feel shamed by people telling you otherwise. I typed this on my god damn phone. I hope you are all proud.

Here's the thing... if someone has been in the RP scene for a long enough time they will remember that all this roleplay business started off on venues that pretty much functioned on quick reply of a few sentences. One-liners were common then because you had five, six, seven people that logged on to the messanger host and were waiting on each other round-robin style. People would come in and out of any given rp and have to play catch up by scrolling back up the feed. We called this drop-in/drop-out. Stuff was pretty basic back then. For those that wanted something a bit more relaxed in pace and with more detail involved, we had PbE (play by Email). Here, you just group mailed the party with each successive response. You could add all the detail you wanted at your leisure.

As the years went on, forums started to cater to roleplayers more and more, got better organized, got better page layouts. VERY user friendly when compared to the styles and venues of yesteryear.... but I digress. Simple, quick replies weren't just common, they were THE method back when. So I by no means think that roleplayers are lesser for preferring that way. Because once upon a time, that WAS the way.

Now, I don't roleplay like that anymore. I don't have to. Because of the stage that is set in forums now, I can do my multi-para stuff comfortably. I explicitly ask for mutli-para responses. I also require a degree of literacy, and find that via writing samples so as to ascertain an applicant's level of competency. So if anyone comes at me with the polar opposite of that (one-liners that sometimes don't even make sense) that's like a blatant disregard of what I asked. It's the equivalent of saying "no gore" in an RT, and then they open up with a post of their character dismembering a homeless guy in an alley. That earns anyone an Insta-block!

 

[tuxedo-fish]

Here's the thing... if someone has been in the RP scene for a long enough time they will remember that all this roleplay business started off on venues that pretty much functioned on quick reply of a few sentences. One-liners were common then because you had five, six, seven people that logged on to the messanger host and were waiting on each other round-robin style.

Aaaaand now I'm having horrible flashbacks to MUD/MUCK clients and hecking with DOS and and and--

 

[Idea]

I'm just gonna say in advance let's keep this topic civil and friendly.

So, I've noticed that a lot of the threads in this section of the site tend to harbor a lot of people who tend to have a high and mighty view of themselves for exclusively roleplaying their own original characters. While I'm fine if they don't like fandom roleplays (as it's within their right to not like it) I am not fine with them belittling those who do. I am all for criticism on people's posts or writing style but I draw the line when people try to make it a moral issue or some unrelated BS.

Also Mods, I'm sorry in advance if this thread sparks some headaches for you.

This seems to be borderline implying you can’t enjoy fandoms if you don’t like using cannon characters or other people in them using cannon characters.

 

[AndPeggy]

I don't see why people would care about this. Everyone likes rping different things.

 

[TPBx]

This seems to be borderline implying you can’t enjoy fandoms if you don’t like using cannon characters or other people in them using cannon characters.

I get what they mean though. There are a few people that I've encountered that have been like, "YOU HAVE TO PLAY AN ORIGINAL CHARACTER. I CANT STAND ANYONE NOT ORIGINAL. IT RUINS MUH EXPERIENCE," Like okay chill, I will. For some people it's really that important that all characters are OC even in non-fandom RPs

 

[Phantom Thief of Hearts]

I'm honestly just thankful that everyone seemed to have listened to the bit where I said keep everything civil.

 

[Murdergurl]

I'm honestly just thankful that everyone seemed to have listened to the bit where I said keep everything civil.

I've only been in one altercation in the forums since I joined. It was in my first week. Otherwise, this site seems pretty tame overall.

 

[Idea]

I get what they mean though. There are a few people that I've encountered that have been like, "YOU HAVE TO PLAY AN ORIGINAL CHARACTER. I CANT STAND ANYONE NOT ORIGINAL. IT RUINS MUH EXPERIENCE," Like okay chill, I will. For some people it's really that important that all characters are OC even in non-fandom RPs

what do you mean “that all characters are OC even in non-fandom RPs”? What would be an example of a non-OC character in a non-fandom RP?

 

[TPBx]

what do you mean “that all characters are OC even in non-fandom RPs”? What would be an example of a non-OC character in a non-fandom RP?

This is going to be an exaggerated case but let's say like I wanted to play a Shiro Emiya in a Fantasy RP. And I'm doing this because I honestly don't feel like playing an entirely original character. So I give them the Weapon Copy Magic that works in the context of the RP and a final attack like Unlimited Blade Works. Get roughly the same personality, and make a biography that fits into the lore of the RP and use Shiro as the FC. Something like that. Of course to anyone who hasnt seen Fate thats going to look original but to anyone who's watched F/SN:UBW they're gonna be like, "that's just Shiro lmao."

 

[Idea]

This is going to be an exaggerated case but let's say like I wanted to play a Shiro Emiya in a Fantasy RP. And I'm doing this because I honestly don't feel like playing an entirely original character. So I give them the Weapon Copy Magic that works in the context of the RP and a final attack like Unlimited Blade Works. Get roughly the same personality, and make a biography that fits into the lore of the RP and use Shiro as the FC. Something like that. Of course to anyone who hasnt seen Fate thats going to look original but to anyone who's watched F/SN:UBW they're gonna be like, "that's just Shiro lmao."

Ah I see. Thanks for the example. I guess I can kinda see both sides there, I don't think there's anything particularly wrong with being greatly inspired by a character, but at the same time I can also see how copy-pasting a character would come off as rather lazy, not to mention fall into some problems with attachment that I worry about in canon characters.

 

[Phantom Thief of Hearts]

Honestly, in retrospective... I prolly should mention the people who get mad at illustrated faceclaims in RPs that makes it rather impossible to portray certain mutations with "real people" faceclaims

 

[Crenando]

what do you mean “that all characters are OC even in non-fandom RPs”? What would be an example of a non-OC character in a non-fandom RP?

Characters that occupy the same kind of space as myths but aren't, like Dracula, I think you can get away with if they aren't the focus.

 

[Idea]

Characters that occupy the same kind of space as myths but aren't, like Dracula, I think you can get away with if they aren't the focus.

Yeah, but I would say at the point where you take a character like Dracula- a character which had many different versions as it blended into our cultural landscape as an idea moreso than a character, in this case the icon of what a quintessential vampire is- the line starts to blur on whether you're even playing as defined as, say, Captain America or Goku or Princess Peach... Much fresher characters whose specifics are more prevalent than the way in which they reflect something wider.

 

[Phantom Thief of Hearts]

Yeah, but I would say at the point where you take a character like Dracula- a character which had many different versions as it blended into our cultural landscape as an idea moreso than a character, in this case the icon of what a quintessential vampire is- the line starts to blur on whether you're even playing as defined as, say, Captain America or Goku or Princess Peach... Much fresher characters whose specifics are more prevalent than the way in which they reflect something wider.

I had people be weird with that. I mean if it's an original setting, I see what you're saying. Like it would be nice if people try to do something original with their pastiches.

 

[Murdergurl]

Honestly, in retrospective... I prolly should mention the people who get mad at illustrated faceclaims in RPs that makes it rather impossible to portray certain mutations with "real people" faceclaims

I just don't like people to use anime faceclaims on account that they are (imo) cheaply portrayed and 'not in the mood of my RPs'. But I also don't like photos. I prefer ppl use artwork. just not anime artwork.

As far as depicting mutations and scars and whatnot. I will add those in myself via an art-bash. I think I do a pretty good job of it, if I do say so myself.

Spoiler: Original art

Spoiler: My art bash

 

[Phantom Thief of Hearts]

Idea
Also I've seen people get pissy when a character in a super hero RP is just moderately comic booky in origin. Which is weird when they almost always cry about needing Kryptonite-esque weaknesses for a cyborg of moderately impressive strength

 

[Phantom Thief of Hearts]

I just don't like people to use anime faceclaims on account that they are (imo) cheaply portrayed and 'not in the mood of my RPs'. But I also don't like photos. I prefer ppl use artwork. just not anime artwork.

As far as depicting mutations and scars and whatnot. I will add those in myself via an art-bash. I think I do a pretty good job of it, if I do say so myself.

Spoiler: Original art

View attachment 770210

Spoiler: My art bash

View attachment 770211

Dude, I hate real people photos because it's kinda creepy. Mostly they use weirdly sexualized pouty pics of the person in question that makes the character feel more like a gross kind of fantasy.

Weirdest thing is that they mostly insist on it in Comic Book RPs... The thing that is known for illustrated work

 

[Idea]

Idea
Also I've seen people get pissy when a character in a super hero RP is just moderately comic booky in origin.

Yeah. I think taking inspiration from a character is perfectly fine, even if the character ends up significantly similar, so long as one still does their own thing in the end of the day.

 

[Phantom Thief of Hearts]

Yeah. I think taking inspiration from a character is perfectly fine, even if the character ends up significantly similar, so long as one still does their own thing in the end of the day.

That's what I do with my characters in a comic I'm working on... They actually do end up very different from their source inspiration. And it's perfectly fine. Just don't unironically use their photo for a face claim. Put a wee bit of effort in changing it up. And yes, I have seen people do that before. 'Tis annoying... Even in Fandom RPs where they allow you to play as the established canon characters because it kinda defeats the point of making a pastiche.

 

[Murdergurl]

Dude, I hate real people photos because it's kinda creepy. Mostly they use weirdly sexualized pouty pics of the person in question that makes the character feel more like a gross kind of fantasy.

Ugh... tumblr girl pics are the most cringe. I hate it. I try to avoid making model-esque characters whenever possible. My hubby actually pointed it out to me a while back, that I have a tendency to make females that have been mauled, burned, amputated, or otherwise physically damaged in some way or another. I try to make it hard for males to want to sexualize them in the typical fashion.

I have a particular aversion to people wanting to use celebrity photos for their pics. I see Tom Hardy used a lot for guys... and I can't help but think of his character in the multitude of movies he's been in, instead of their character.

Weirdest thing is that they mostly insist on it in Comic Book RPs... The thing that is known for illustrated work

That... actually makes no sense at all. Like, I don't do these RPs, but I would think that they would WANT comic book styled pics. Would better suit the mood. But i guess we can blame hollywierd for all the movies and series that have cultivated that following.

 

[Phantom Thief of Hearts]

Ugh... tumblr girl pics are the most cringe. I hate it. I try to avoid making model-esque characters whenever possible. My hubby actually pointed it out to me a while back, that I have a tendency to make females that have been mauled, burned, amputated, or otherwise physically damaged in some way or another. I try to make it hard for males to want to sexualize them in the typical fashion.

I have a particular aversion to people wanting to use celebrity photos for their pics. I see Tom Hardy used a lot for guys... and I can't help but think of his character in the multitude of movies he's been in, instead of their character.

Actually it's worse... I've seen a lot of E-Boy pics that look like they came from a beach summer photo shoot.

That... actually makes no sense at all. Like, I don't do these RPs, but I would think that they would WANT comic book styled pics. Would better suit the mood. But i guess we can blame hollywierd for all the movies and series that have cultivated that following.

Thank you for being reasonable in that assessment.