Types of role plays and things role players do that annoy you

[call me rae]

• @welian yeah i don't think i've ever had things happen to that extreme once the roleplay started - but then i would have probably left too early for it to get to that point. case in point i had some guy once tell me that he wanted me to make a characters whose sole purpose was going to be to gaze at his character adoringly and basically pine after his god like oc. this in addition to the character i was actually playing who he made me change the gender of because he only played against female characters.
  
  my character was a re-animated cat skeleton who was supposed to be like a mentor to his character so like why it being a female was so important but whatever.
  

• another thing that burns my buttons is when people act like being on the internet gives you some kind of weird telepathy and the ability to read their minds. like i think the most famous example of this i ever experienced was with a email magical girl roleplay. i mean i spent days setting everything up ( largely by myself as the other person was all like 'whatever you want.' ' that's fine.' etc ). then after i get both the plot, the character sheet, and the intro for my character all put out nice and pretty and what happens? the person is like oh i thought this was a sailor moon roleplay. and basically leaves because apparently i was leading him on for a week when i asked him continuously if he was okay with the direction the plot was going and after i specifically asked if he wanted to do a sailor moon roleplay and he was all..."whatever."
  
  like i can't read you mind guy if you have something you want to see added to the plot, or an idea for the story your gonna have to speak up.
  

 

[Snallac]

I don't particularly hate any types of role-plays - if I'm not interested or dislike the premise I just don't get involved. A thing I really hate that other RPers do occasionally is powergaming. It bugs the hell out of me whenever someone is nigh omnipotent, especially in combat, because I find it annoying and a real pain, but raising a fuss over it makes me feel like an ass.

 

[call me rae]

@Snallac my thoughts on things that annoy me is if you don't tell people when something bothers you then you can't expect anything to ever change. I will tell someone if I think there character is overly-powerful, nonsensical, or metagaming. The way I figure it it's better to be honest then just seethe quietly on the inside or do something that I'm not enjoying just because I don't want to hurt someone else's feelings.


I know personally I'd rather you be honest with me. I can't fix a problem that I don't know is there. Not saying my feelings might not get hurt. Because sometimes they do - but I'm a big girl and I'd rather risk a little hurt feelings and at least know when I'm doing something that offends you than have me think everything is fine and dandy and your miserable.

 

[Captain Asshat]

1 - When people passive aggressively input their opinion by saying things like "But...oh nevermind." Instead of speaking their mind. When people do that in real life, it's understandable, because you're moving in real time. But when you're on a forum, and you're typing something, if you REALLY had a "But...nevermind" moment, you wouldn't have posted "But...nevermind." People do this so that people can personally ask for their opinion about something on the RP instead of saying it outright.


2 - When people state their opinion in tiny font as if they're saying it in a quiet voice because they don't want to agitate anyone, when really, it's agitating to squint and read tiny font and again, if you're posting it, it's not something that you're too shy to say in a normal volume, otherwise you wouldn't be posting it. You're just being a passive aggressive dilweed.


3 - When people don't tag everyone involved in the post. If you're directly interacting with someone, you should definitely tag them. If you're in the general vicinity of other characters but not necessarily interacting with them, you should still tag them so that player knows what's going on in the environment right now and writes accordingly. The biggest dick move is to write "@ don't feel like tagging you all, sry lol"


4 - Over use of Japanese characters or white characters. People tend to overthink making a character of a different ethnic background, UNLESS IT'S JAPANESE. NO ONE OVERTHINKS MAKING A JAPANESE CHARACTER and yet they end up doing culturally unacceptable things with their Japanese character. Yet when it comes to characters of other backgrounds, people are like, "I don't wanna be racially insensitive." Here's how you avoid being racially insensitive. Make a white character. Finish the profile. Change what the character looks like. Bam. You don't have to base a character's entire identity off their race. If you're really that concerned about it, do some research. God forbid people put a little bit of effort into something.


5 - When people rename a canon character and use them as their character. I always thought that part of the fun of RPing was making an original character, unless of course you're doing a fandom.


6 - People who make moody, emo, loner characters, and then complain when no one interacts with them. I wonder why that is? Could it be because your character is anti-social?


7 - When people make two characters, but make them really close friends or siblings and then they end up roleplaying with themselves and avoiding interaction with other characters. Go write a book.


8 - When people don't formally drop out of an RP. When they just fade away, or worse, keep promising to post but never do. It's not a big deal, but the longer you procrastinate and hold others up, it is.


9 - Shit grammar. Why you would write something and not read it over is beyond me.


10 - When characters always make themselves into some kind of victim.


That's about it for me.

 

[call me rae]

7 - When people make two characters, but make them really close friends or siblings and then they end up roleplaying with themselves and avoiding interaction with other characters. Go write a book..

omgah yes i just can not even. i hate this. like look if i wanted to watch you write your own story i'd subscribe to your works on a fanfiction site or i'd buy your book. the whole point of roleplaying is for collaborative story-telling.


how can i do that when my characters are forced to be total dickweeds constantly just to interact with your self-obssessed clique-y characters.


another thing when people act like a character's profile is common knowledge. no just because i put that my character's mother died when he was six years old in his profile doesn't mean every random stranger in the world is going to know that.


i mean unless she was brutally murdered or our character's were childhood friends they're not going to just walk up to him out of the blue and be all "yeah sucks that your mom died."


like seriously if that happened in real life you'd be freaked out and think that person was stalking you.


but oh no i'm supposed to act like it's totally normal for a complete stranger to know intimate details about my character's life.


fuck that.

 

[J0ker]

Metagaming.


Your. Character. Isn't. Real. They. Don't. Read. The. OOC. Thread.

 

[Xyshurondor]

This seems like a great thread! A lot of you have had the same pet peeves I've had over the years, and that's reassuring coming to a new site.


I used to RP in a fantasy video game (my avatar is my anchor character from that setting; she was asexual, which really confused a number of pervy male players, but that's a story for another day). There was one particular player who wanted to be the center of attention so badly that she would:


1. Show up and cut herself.


2. Show up injured and refuse to allow herself to be healed.


3. Show up with a different alt and attempt to mentally invade the other characters. The rest of us did get some mileage out of this one as she went around trying to mind-rape everyone and others reacted with the kind of anger, trauma, etc. that would logically result from that. She teased us with allowing the character to be killed, but sadly, did not go through with it when she realized no one felt she was "misunderstood" and that no one would defend her.


This RPer could not write and could not spell and, I suspect, did not try - she couldn't be bothered capitalizing the letter "I" or properly spelling words like "bother" and "want" (not exactly college-level vocabulary). All you can do with these players is block them, ignore them, or move to where they aren't. There's no teaching them anything and there's no playing with them if you want to stay sane.

 

[Huor Spinks]

Personally, I get irritated when people are unable to separate IC from OOC and then cause all manner or drama resulting from a character's action within roleplay. I like to roleplay characters that are different from me, especially manipulative, ambitious characters who backstab to get the upper hand and I do this stuff to your character not because I dislike you as a person, but because it's what my character (not I) would have done to progress. That's also the main reason why I dislike family roleplays, because there's no room to play the manipulative character because everyone would end up hating me OOCly.


I'd also definitely prefer roleplays in which I get to play my own character. There was this one time that I was in a roleplay with another person (not on this site) in which he kept giving me characters from fandoms to play; fandoms that I'm not even familiar with. And then he proceeded to leave the chat because I refused to let my character be in a relationship with his. Now that I'm typing this, I believe I've noticed a pattern; the character he gives me to play would always be a character in an established relationship with him, which made me wonder if that was the reason why he was roleplaying in the first place. I admit, I was disgusted.


From that same site, most people also thought an interest in roleplaying was the same as 'sexual roleplay'. I had to keep reminding people that nope, it was not. And it was frustrating.


And yeah, meta-gaming and godmodding.

 

[SpookySableye]

Ah, this topic. Normally, I'm not one to get easily and overly pissed off with things. However, I do have a few personal pet peeves.


1. Godmodders/metagamers: No explanation needed.


2. Mary Sues/special snowflakes/overpowered characters: Again, pretty self-explanatory. I'm a person who tries to balance their characters with others to make sure I don't make one of these, so these types of characters especially piss me off. To add onto the list, let's talk about the copycats. Has anyone else played in a fantasy rp, and someone else has all the same powers your character has plus one? This pisses me off to no end. What is the goal in doing this; to make their character just plain better than someone elses?


3. One liners: I don't really expect people to go 6+ paragraphs per post, but surely anyone who puts in effort can go more than two sentences.


4. Bad grammar: Of course, nobody's grammar is perfect, and minor grammar errors aren't really that horrifying, but if it looks like the RPer rolled his/her face on the keyboard and hit "post reply", just... no...


5. The mysterious GM that leaves their own rp: Strangely, I have encountered this situation quite a few times in the past, and just find it really weird. I'm not even talking about real life getting in the way here (because real life comes before RPN), I'm talking about those GMs that only post once in their rps lifetime, or even not at all. Seriously, why wouldn't someone want to participate in their own rp?


6. Dumb CS requirements: Ok, I get that nobody wants a lazy rper in their roleplay, but isn't requiring 8+ paragraphs of personality and history a bit too much? I don't have a problem with people who like making their character sheets long, but it shouldn't be a requirement. After all, creating a character shouldn't feel like writing an project for English class. Hey GM, what grade did I get on my character?


While we're on the topic, I always thought theme songs were a weird requirement some rps have. I don't have anything against people using them, but it feels odd when it's a requirement. Then again, the only music I listen to frequently are video game soundtracks and anime openings/endings, so that's probably why I don't like it when rps use that requirement.


7. Lastly, we have rps that dictate your character's personality. Now, I don't know about anyone else here, but rps that force my character to be *insert personality trait here* really turn me off. It's one thing to dictate what species the character can be (it would be a bit weird to have a cyborg with laser guns in a medieval fantasy) , but if my character is forced to have a certain trait, or even forced to have a certain personality altogether, the chances of me wanting to stick around are very low. Out of all of the character traits, I feel that at personality should be where the creator expresses his/her creativity. With requirements on said trait, creating the character just doesn't feel as fun to me.

 

[Xyshurondor]

I think #2 is also lazy writing. Many settings have enough different powers and combos that you can have a large cast and no overlap. Of course, that means everybody can't be Drizzt or Wolverine, and some people basically only roleplay so they can do that very thing.


I've been reading a lot of RP threads this week, and I think #5 is caused by the GM looking at their setup and saying, "I was hoping for a different result." They started with a mature setting and it was colonized by two flirty teenage characters, or they started something light and funny and it was colonized by angsty vampires, etc., it just didn't go where they hoped, so they didn't want to go on.


I just don't join #7's. But that's personal preference, because it's something some people really want - I've already seen popular 1x1 query threads that contained a list of plot hooks like this. I guess some people are less into character creation and more wanting to jump right in?

 

[SpookySableye]

@Xyshurondor yeah, I totally agree with you on #2. I remember a few months back, I joined a fantasy adventure rp, and my character's power was weather manipulation. I kid you not, 2 hours later, someone posts their character sheet, and their character has weather manipulation and shadow manipulation. Yeah, I was a little irked by that, to say the least.


With #5, I'm not even talking about an overtime thing where the GM quits overtime. What I'm talking about is when a GM makes a character(s) and doesn't post in the IC at all, or just posts once and never again. It may seem a little strange, but that specifically has happened to me at least 4-5 times.


Yeah, my hate for #7's is mostly a personal thing. With 1x1 rps, it doesn't bother me quite as much, but with group rps, it really irritates me. I tend to avoid them as well (obviously), but seeing as I'm one of those people who likes to have at least a slightly different personality than the other characters, these annoy me nonetheless.

 

[SpamBot]

I have way too many things that get on my nerves. I guess that happens when you've been at the hobby for awhile.


Elitism is definitely one of those things, because I really can't stand when people are patronizing about the actions I take in a roleplay. It's just a hobby. If something isn't 100% realistic, or something was done that might not have been the best method, so what? If something is done differently, who cares? Writing is just a hobby. Some people seriously needs to calm down.


However, I definitely agree with lazy writing being annoying. I don't think it's that difficult to put in even a little bit of effort... Back to elitism, it's worse when the person you're writing with doesn't even bother with grammar and punctuation, but wants to be a patronizing little bitch.


People unable to separate OOC and IC, taking things way too personally.


It also bothers me when people go around saying how bored they are, even going to the extent of spamming the chat just to get attention because they know, even if it's just the mods telling them to cut the shit, they are still getting some kind of reaction. Just like babysitting... To get that out here, I am use to sites that are a slower pace than this one. But either way if people spent more time utilizing the PM system and communicating than they do whining about not having any replies, wow, there would be more activity.


it just baffles me when people don't bother to PM one another.


"I'm bored." Is an easy way to get me to drop a roleplay. It just seems, to me, like it's no longer worth the effort. I try to make all of my roleplays entertaining (one of these days, I'll put up or shut up on this site...)


As for rps... I never got the appeal of school/academy things. I've been through high school already, I'd rather not live through it in someone else's shoes.


Romance. Don't get me wrong, I don't hate romance. I'm such a sucker for a good, tragic love story (I mean... Shadow Hearts is one of my favorite games of all time), but I hate when people just shoehorn it in for the sake of having it.


Just to name a few things... I think I've said enough.

 

[Dnanyu]

Like a lot of people here have said, it really does bother me when people have poor grammar. I always try to write in a way that is pleasant to read, and when people don't it does really bother me. I feel bad for having this sentiment since I feel like I'm being elitist, but I want people to at least try. After all, if you picked up a novel and it had grammar and spelling mistakes throughout the entire thing, would you really enjoy reading it?

 

[call me rae]

So I feel like I might have mentioned this before but like people who expect you to read their mind. And not only that they get super snippy with you when you offer suggestions that don't line up with their view of what the roleplay should be....all the while they haven't told you diddly about what they want.


Example - Person A - I want to do a magical girl roleplay.


Me - awesome do you want to do it like Sailor Moon or an original?


Person A - whatever you think is best.


Me - okay does this sound good? [ types idea ]


Person A - I guess if I have too... But I want to do something different.


Like just because I offer a suggestion doesn't mean I'm trying to force my opinions on you. It's called - brainstorming.


I can't read your mind so if you don't see something you like - here's an idea. Why don't you actually write what you want to do in the first place.

 

[Coward]

My pet peeve is conflict avoidance. Like, when people will deliberately manipulate any situation that is making their character uncomfortable until everything is hunky-dory again. It leads to absolutely the most boring RP possible. I've had RPs before like this:


Me: Oh no! [insert bad guys] are coming! Whatever shall we do?


Them: *reinforcements arrive and kill all the bad guys!*


Me: ...


Or in a more subtle sense, having their characters completely fold under any kind of social pressure, even when it's not at all in-character. I mean, I understand that people identify with their characters, but you have to be willing to let some bad things happen if you don't want to fall asleep on your keyboard. I think this is probably the core of why most god-moding is annoying, which is a subset of conflict avoidance. You just make your character powerful enough to avoid all problems, and then use it to twist everything to your own liking.


If someone god-modes in order to create more conflict it's almost never annoying at all, for example creating an overpowered NPC enemy to threaten the main party is a great time for everyone.

 

[Catharsis]

Things that generally piss me off...

1. Say I make an interest check for a roleplay called "Fairy magical space" or whatever, then a few moments later I'm refreshing the page and look! Sally sue has come up with a very original plot called "Fairy magical earth"! That just so happens to be very similar to mine... Like dude.. JUST JOIN MY ROLEPLAY OR TELL ME IF YOU WANT SOMETHING ADDED/CHANGED
   
2. This is an actual thing that happened to me, so... Person A created a character.. alls fine and dandy.. EXCEPT THE FACT HE DIDN'T FOLLOW THE CS AT ALL! So I tag him in the OOCC to discuss it, and he like "Omg ur so mean this is casual u shouldn't expect me 2 rite moar than a sentence." Then he went to THE STAFF and reported me for it. I now have a strike against me due to this. Like man, just fix the cs, don't have a heart attack.
   
3. I HATE when I'm doing an rp and most the group is together or in the same general location.. say Las vegas. *Le random person signs up* I'M IN CANADA! Dude.. I hope you're prepared to be left out.
   
4. I hate when people try to hijack my position of GM and tell other players what to do. I hate it so much because it's like they're trying to scare everyone away from the roleplay I put my days sweat into.
   
5. I hate when players get upset with ME when another player begin lacking. Then they go all "if you don't fix this I'm going BYE BYE". Like look, I'm sorry you have the patience of a twig but don't take it out on me.
   
6. My absolute favorite is when someone tries to be over powerful. For example, I was holding a The walking dead themed roleplay, well this guy signs up " Allen was a marine... Allen has a grenade launcher 4 throwing knives, a AK-47, pistol, truck full of amo, 83 grenades on hand, oh! Did I mention Allen is a perfect shot?" IT'S SO ANNOYING JEEZ!
   

 

[Muffinboi]

The same RPs being made over and over, but on separate threads. For instance, there's another site I go on in which the overwhelming majority of RPs are either werewolves (the Twilight kind by the way), anime, love, anime love, schools of any kind, wolves, Warrior Cats, vampires, shapeshifters, zombies, etc. Also, the majority of the people on the site never play as an exotic type character, and some never use uppercase letters. The only reason I come back to that site is because I'm curious to see what roleplays people make, but the majority are the same.

 

[call me rae]

Things that generally piss me off...

1. This is an actual thing that happened to me, so... Person A created a character.. alls fine and dandy.. EXCEPT THE FACT HE DIDN'T FOLLOW THE CS AT ALL! So I tag him in the OOCC to discuss it, and he like "Omg ur so mean this is casual u shouldn't expect me 2 rite moar than a sentence." Then he went to THE STAFF and reported me for it. I now have a strike against me due to this. Like man, just fix the cs, don't have a heart attack.
   
2. I hate when people try to hijack my position of GM and tell other players what to do. I hate it so much because it's like they're trying to scare everyone away from the roleplay I put my days sweat into.
   

Number 2. OMG Yes. I hate it when random people in the roleplay tell me what to do. Like I'm sorry but who died and made you God of Roleplaying. Like stop trying to get me in trouble just because you want to prove what a all knowing d-bag you are. Like I had someone actually try to get me kicked out of a roleplay that I HELPED SET UP just because they didn't like my character. And the GM was such a doormat that they let it happen.


Number 1. I wouldn't worry about this guy contacting the Staff. From what I gather if anyone is getting a strike against them it will be Him for wasting their time. It even specifically states in the rules

RpNation Staff will NOT get involved in a roleplay dispute on behalf of players unless the Roleplay Creator is violating RpNation Site Rules. the Staff

Personally he sounds like a bully to me and your better off without him in your roleplay anyway.


If it ever happens again I'd be like look if you want to go to the Staff your welcome to but as I have not broken any rules chances are your going to be the one with egg on your face. Then link them the part in the rules where it says Staff doesn't get involved in disputes. Then if they go through with it - well you can't control what other people do and you've at least stated your peace.

 

[call me rae]

People who think that being friends with the GM gives them automatic privelages in a roleplay. Like I had this one guy straight up tell me - your characters are crappy knock offs and don't belong in this roleplay and how dare you harrass my bestie with your crappy questions.


All because I clarified a question the owner had on a character concept.


And when I told them to mind their own business. - Cuz dude did you make this roleplay? Did the owner say you could speak for them?


They come back with some b.s. that boils down to - I'm their friend so I can say whatever I want and they'll back me up because we're tight like that.


And I canNOT stand that kind of roleplay poltics. Like if you want to do a roleplay with your friends than fine - make a private roleplay and knock yourself out.


But don't be letting your friends go around harrassing people in a public roleplay just because you guys happen to hang out.


It's really alienating to newcomers and frankly kind of rude.

 

[Lorsh]

I don't like it when people have the inability to lose. I'm fine with letting my characters get killed/injured if somebody springs a clever trap for them, but some people always think they have to win.

 

[Nero Kunivas]

Godmodding, Nonsensical happenings, WAY overpowered characters, eternal loners, perpetual winners, unable to die etc etc etc.


I could go on. xD

 

[Muffinboi]

Also school RPs. Can't you just simply go to school/college?

 

[Xyshurondor]

I've never gotten the school thing either. The best thing about school for me is that it's over. Maybe because a lot of the RPers who really like those settings are still students themselves?

 

[Coward]

I don't like it when people have the inability to lose. I'm fine with letting my characters get killed/injured if somebody springs a clever trap for them, but some people always think they have to win.

This most of all. I once played with someone so terrified of losing that she would godmode completely inconsequential things. Like once the characters went to a restaurant, and mine got pissed because the wrong food came out. This was only meant as a little minor development. Anyway she god-moded the restaurant NPCs and made them bring the right food.


Like, no one is impressed by your ability to solve fictional dilemmas or beat up fictional characters. I really wonder what these people are thinking.

 

[Mirol]

I have role played many characters of anime, and now I am preparing for the coming show, but have no idea of Black Butler Costumes, don't know which is best