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

[razorrabbit]

Some things that really bugged me about roleplayers have been stuff like taking control over my character, its not cool don't do it even if they are side characters UNLESS its a character we agreed to both control when needed. Also spot light hogging annoys me to no end, I usually do split style rps so there is no need for that and I've had people just skip over any thing I've had to say or that my character had to say or do just to have more attention on them. For example this has actually happened to me it was during an idea I pitched involving a lab and running experiments on something that meant a lot to my character and the response I got was 'We get x's thing over with and me and z go back to making out. Y couldn't be happier that she had z and all was right with the world'. That is not in anyway okay, now if they had a problem with this idea or thought it needed to be toned down or something they could of spoken up and we could of worked around it but skipping over it all together so your character could face suck with their crush more is in no way okay. Another peeve of mine is the micro manager, I don't mean someone who likes to get into detail with plots or ideas I mean the person that stops the rp every other reply to tell you about how they feel that you missed a detail or ask you to change the way your character is acting because it doesn't fit what they wanted to happen.


As for roleplays I don't like? That's harder since I usually stick to fandoms that I know, I guess originals make me uncomfortable but that is due to bad experience from whenever I've tried them. Once bitten twice shy kind of deal (I think that's how that saying goes) Probably unfair to judge it like that but all my experience with it has been bad. I'm also not crazy on trying fandoms that have actual actors in it, just feels weird to me like I'm being a creeper. Also not fair I know I've tried it a few times but never liked it.

 

[Nobelia]

I can think of plenty of roleplayer types that just set me off:

• Roleplayers who low key think their character is better than everyone else's, and try to get other people's characters to practically worship their character
  

• Roleplayers who (look, I understand, it's Simple or Casual but--) for gods sake cannot have the decency to use proper grammar and punctuation at the very least
  

• Roleplayers who create a character meant to be a special snowflake, and want their character to be pampered as one
  

• Roleplayers who just don't quit chasing after your character, even when your character is clearly uninterested in flirting with them
  

• Roleplayers who romanticize mental illnesses and or handicaps
  

• Roleplayers who make a dark and brooding type for the sake of looking cool, when their character is actually bland, generic, and boring
  

• Roleplayers who use emoticons in their post (Ex. Daniel smiled, "I think that's a brilliant idea Samantha ")
  

I can't really think of types of roleplays that annoy me at the moment, but for some reason I could never get into Sci-Fi based roleplays.

 

[determinator]

• People who think having a Russian character makes them cool. [they don't even RP any aspects of it. they just throw it in there; "IS RUSSIAN."]
  

• People who think having an ex-special forces character makes them cool. [or are otherwise incapable of RPing a character that doesn't have some kind of military/police training.]
  

• People who can't roleplay antagonists without being edgy. [you never see a bandit that just needs supplies to stay alive. he is always going to rape people, torture people, eat babies and make a necklace out of his victims' ears or some shit.]
  

• People who can't roleplay protagonists without being pussies. [they'd let the bandit from above go free if they captured them.]
  

• People who don't show realistic levels of emotion. [character's friends are killed, but they stop hating the perpetrator just because they gave a good reason for killing their friends.]
  

What about a Russian Spec Ops edgy antagonist that is the uguu hero's nemesis?

 

[Sunbather]

...


I've never seen someone just throwing in Russian 'cause it's cool. Is that really a thing? xD

 

[determinator]

...
I've never seen someone just throwing in Russian 'cause it's cool. Is that really a thing? xD

It is. I wish I was kidding but I'm not. lmao


Summary:


-in Russian accent-


HELLO, MY NAME IS ANDRIY KUSHNOV, EX-CON FROM BLACK DOLPHIN


-end all legit russian references-

 

[Sunbather]

It is. I wish I was kidding but I'm not. lmao
Summary:


-in Russian accent-


HELLO, MY NAME IS ANDRIY KUSHNOV, EX-CON FROM BLACK DOLPHIN


-end all legit russian references-

I don't even know why but I am laughing SO f'n heard right now. That's god damn hilarious. I think I made two characters of mine from Croatia and never really referenced it, but, tbf, I also didn't make it a big part of them. They just happened to be from Croatia.

 

[determinator]

I don't even know why but I am laughing SO f'n heard right now. That's god damn hilarious. I think I made two characters of mine from Croatia and never really referenced it, but, tbf, I also didn't make it a big part of them. They just happened to be from Croatia.

It happens a lot in battle or army-oriented plots, I assume because of media (like movies and Call of Duty). I've seen a lot of army and spy-based plots that have a Russian character (usually male, unless it's a female femme fatale super spy or something) as the MC, and they've got a long sordid history about escaping from prison or some shit, or battling the entirety of the Black Dolphin prison when they were 5 and that's why I have these scars


I'm exaggerating but it does happen. I don't know how often it happens here but I've seen it elsewhere a lot.

 

[Sunbather]

James Bond will do that to ya, I guess, heh.

 

[determinator]

Man, writing a cheesy Russian villain that says something to the effect of "No, Mr. Bond, I expect you to die" would be a hoot as a prospective one-shot.

 

[Obsessed]

Aww, some of the posts here makes me depressed and sad. I usually make angsty, grump, rude female characters and cold, pokerfaced, boring male characters because It's much more fun writing their bios and personalities than the sunny, little bunny Joy. I also make the bios usually depressing and sad that reflects the character's personality though sometimes I make it end in a positive way. I can't really write something, especially the personality, that I am not familiar with. Like the adventure, tomboyish, I-dont-believe-in-fairytales girl, I often fail to play those kind of characters because 1st, I'm not adventurous, heck, I hate adventures and trying new stuff, 2nd, tomboyish yes but not really tomboyish, 3rd, I super duper believe in fairytales. So I always make my characters easy and comfortable for me to play, though sigh. I'm so bad at roleplaying am I.


And for me:


** One liners... I mean I don't mind if you send one line if you're just replying to me but "Opens the door and gets inside. Goes to the CDs and buy." What. I send you a paragraph and you send me that.


** When how you describe a certain place and your partner doesn't follow it and makes his own place.


** Using my character


** Time skipping when not agreed or consulting the OP


** Giving the other character a chance to interact but keeps going away. I don't really mind at group roleplays but at 1x1 roleplays?!


** Not realistic enough (Ex. B character gets my character's necklace even though she was meters away.)


** Gets angry to you because you're not into incest or smutty roleplays


** Makes your own roleplay and own setting in an already agreed roleplay (ex. The plot is about A and B hating each other, the setting is on a school. But the player of B is a grumpy, lazy ass boy who doesn't go to school and is just staying at home. How am I suppose to let my character interact with yours?! My character can't just barge in in your house.)


** THIS IS AN ANNOYING PET PEEVE OF MINE:


When you give your imaginary character (your character's appearance) a very beautiful appearance (I usually put realistic images) and then your partner puts an unpleasant image of a person obviously saved from google randomly (and it even has a watermark from this website (shutterstock))


** When character B finds out character A's secret after meeting her and talking to her for 5 minutes. Seriously. I wanted some action and adventure before it but you give me this.


** When you're trying to make the plot go forward and interesting but player blocks it.


** Timezone.

 

[welian]

Gets angry to you because you're not into incest or smutty roleplays

You should totally report those kinds of roleplayers to me so I can set them straight on the site rules.


//cracks whip

 

[razorrabbit]

And for me:


** One liners... I mean I don't mind if you send one line if you're just replying to me but "Opens the door and gets inside. Goes to the CDs and buy." What. I send you a paragraph and you send me that.


** Using my character


** Time skipping when not agreed or consulting the OP


** Giving the other character a chance to interact but keeps going away. I don't really mind at group roleplays but at 1x1 roleplays?!


** Gets angry to you because you're not into incest or smutty roleplays


** Makes your own roleplay and own setting in an already agreed roleplay (ex. The plot is about A and B hating each other, the setting is on a school. But the player of B is a grumpy, lazy ass boy who doesn't go to school and is just staying at home. How am I suppose to let my character interact with yours?! My character can't just barge in in your house.)


** When character B finds out character A's secret after meeting her and talking to her for 5 minutes. Seriously. I wanted some action and adventure before it but you give me this.


** When you're trying to make the plot go forward and interesting but player blocks it.


** Timezone.

Yeah those are pretty annoying too. The incest thing is something I've shockingly had more problems with than I would thought I would of, at least when I was first getting into rping and it was with people I knew pretty well too. Very weird.


I'm having a bit of a different variety of that secret problem right now actually. Very confusing mix messages. 'A talks bout their secret freely in public but clams up when B asks them about it and says it's too personal.' I mean I get that some people have this thing they want to go about in the rp to discuss and explore but don't bring it up until your character is ready to bring it up and talk about it, it makes zero sense to have them talk or show something they are shameful or protective of several times in public chat about it in the ear shot of many with people they just met then clam up and get all broody when they are asked about it. It's very confusing and annoying to sending mix messages like that.

 

[Obsessed]

You should totally report those kinds of roleplayers to me so I can set them straight on the site rules.
//cracks whip

Okay, I'll do when I see someone next time lolol

 

[Kenjinx]

Mary Sues are one of my biggest annoyances when it comes to roleplaying, and often times it's because it comes with a slew of other things.


One one hand, we have the excessive edge (that I was definitely guilty of during my first roleplay experiences, as I'm sure many people were) that tends to accompany Mary Sue type characters, but often times it seems like this can become a bad habit and stick for quite a while during people's RP. I'm all for depressed or jaded characters, angry characters, characters with problems etc. if it's actually done right; unfortunately, doing these right is something that's rarely seen. Making a character whose backstory boils down to "horrible tragedies strike one after another, character becomes super powerful as a teenager and now is alone and angsty" is all too common, but fortunately it can often be changed with time and experience.


Another thing that seems to accompany Mary Sue characters is the "special snowflake" status I'm sure just about everyone here has seen before. It not only is just bland and boring, but it can often ruin ideas or roleplay settings that are genuinely interesting simply by trying too hard to be special and clashing with the setting; it can also cause people to try and shift the entire focus of the roleplay to their character and making him the star of the show. Having unique characters is obviously fantastic, but making them unique by trying to give them every power in the book and making them flashy ends up being less unique than even normal people.


The "Mary Sue" character itself is still definitely one of my biggest pet peeves, even if the things surrounding it can be irritating too. Designing your characters without flaws and making them absolutely powerful in every aspect compared to everyone else in the setting often times ends up ruining the fun for people. How can you have good story progression and character interaction if everyone is perfect and there's no reason for anything bad to happen? Even when I understood why and how this was bad I was often guilty of doing this during my earlier RP experiences, and one of my most common problems was not being willing to have my characters possess any weakness. My characters were different in personality, and I was learning to give them character flaws, but they all shared something in common: they were all young men in their primes, possessing great strength and training and having no visible weaknesses. They all possessed quality equipment at all times and were superior to the average person in every aspect. I would also often times actually ignore experience in my character's story by just brushing it off for power, so my younger characters were still very powerful even for having little experience; it was a problem. Going through this with my own characters is probably why I have such a dislike of it today, and seeing characters that have flaws and weaknesses interests me much more than perfect special snowflakes.


For the types of roleplays that I dislike, I personally dislike school roleplays and roleplays that mainly consist of romance, due to me just not seeing many good romance RPs in the recent times, although perhaps it's just a personal dislike I have and boils down to preference/taste.


tl;dr: Mary Sues that often end up also being special snowflake edgelords, because I know exactly what it's like to be roleplaying as those characters.

 

[razorrabbit]

And now this mary sue and angst talk has me thinking/worried about some characters of mine I really do love even if I'm pretty sure they don't fall in total sue territory and do think it's possible for them to exist in the world. Aside from the dumb names dumb names are dumb. Still yikes now I'm looking at my babies side ways and wondering (<_<)

 

[Saccharine Cyanide]

I hate it when my character is about to throw down some serious fisticuffs with another character and the other roleplayer tries to end the conflict early or run away or have their character vanish in a cloud of smoke or something.

 

[Yennefer]

I hate it when other RPers embody their characters as if its actually them. For example when my bitchy character insults theirs because thats her personality, they believe I did to them as well.

 

[Obsessed]

And now this mary sue and angst talk has me thinking/worried about some characters of mine I really do love even if I'm pretty sure they don't fall in total sue territory and do think it's possible for them to exist in the world. Aside from the dumb names dumb names are dumb. Still yikes now I'm looking at my babies side ways and wondering (<_<)

Me too omg. It's making me conscious.

 

[Thorn Darkblade]

Oh, I can go on a rant for days about bad roleplayers and GMs.


On the Gamemaster end:


-GMs who insert themselves (or a persona of themselves) into their plot line that is nearly all powerful. At this point, it becomes the players being merely a backdrop for their awesome NPC to do awesome things, instead of the players saving the day. Having an occasional NPC that's more powerful than the players is okay, but constantly? No thanks.


-GMs who take out-of-game things personally in game. Had a GM kill a player's character because he voted Republican. You might not


necessarily agree with everything other players in an RP believe in, but keep conflicts out of the game and private.


-GMs who punish players for having a life outside of games. Same GM killed the same player's different character because he had a date that night and couldn't attend a session. Needless to say, that player stopped showing up and the rest of us followed suit pretty quickly.


-GMs who are unwilling to discuss rules whatsoever with their players. Now, this is not saying a GM should allow rules lawyering, but, if a GM has made a bad/massively incorrect call, a player should be able to approach and discuss it with them, maybe after the game/story arc if doing it immediately would detract from the narrative.


-GMs who constantly cheat for no good reason except to cheat. It's a true fact, especially in dice games, a gamemaster will occasionally fub or lie about dice rolls, or bend the rules as not to outright murder their players. Or sometimes to challenge players that have it too easy. These are acceptable, and when done right, can enhance a story. CONSTANTLY lying about every roll, in disfavor of the players, is a no-no


For Players:


-Reaaaaaaally bad cringeworthy characters. So, I'm nearly 30, and most of my players are around that. Had a game on campus where a player goes 'I'm going to play my forum RP character from when I was 12'. Nothing against all of you young'ns, but, please, try to match the flavor of the other players in your group. If it's super serious, do not make an 8 year old who was trained to kill babies by a lumberjack after somehow surviving in the Canadian wilderness on their own (That was a real character I witnessed...)


-ALWAYS playing the same type of character. Whether it's ALWAYS the brooding loner with some dark heritage, the socialite with deadly archery skills, or, even calling out past me on this, always playing some sort of rogue (or another character class ALL the time). Spread your wings, try new types of characters, and new types of games. Never done dice? Roll some! Never done sci fi? Dust off that laser pistol!


-Players who NEED to be the center of everything, even when a plot arc has NOTHING to do with them. Sometimes, in a well written game, there'll be plots that focus on others more than you. You'll get your turn in the spotlight. Just wait.


-Players who can't accept some things are out of their control. Had a player in a game of mine absolutely flip out, because after they were knocked unconscious by an enemy, another player picked up her character to bring her to safety. According to her, he wasn't allowed to move her character without her permission because that was 'cheating', and when I, as the GM, said it was acceptable as her character was unconscious with no way to resist, permission was not needed. Sometimes, things fall outside of a player's control.


-Players who can't pay attention. This doesn't really matter too much on forums/play-by-post, but, if you're ever in a tabletop game, do NOT bring a computer with another game on it. EVER. That is beyond rude to the other players and to the GM who took time to come up with a plotline for the adventure.


-Extreme power gaming/rules lawyering/munchkining. Players who always have to play a certain type not because it's their favorite, but because it's the -best-, should be ashamed of themselves.

 

[Kenjinx]

[QUOTE="Thorn Darkblade]Oh, I can go on a rant for days about bad roleplayers and GMs.
On the Gamemaster end:


-GMs who insert themselves (or a persona of themselves) into their plot line that is nearly all powerful. At this point, it becomes the players being merely a backdrop for their awesome NPC to do awesome things, instead of the players saving the day. Having an occasional NPC that's more powerful than the players is okay, but constantly? No thanks.


-GMs who take out-of-game things personally in game. Had a GM kill a player's character because he voted Republican. You might not


necessarily agree with everything other players in an RP believe in, but keep conflicts out of the game and private.


-GMs who punish players for having a life outside of games. Same GM killed the same player's different character because he had a date that night and couldn't attend a session. Needless to say, that player stopped showing up and the rest of us followed suit pretty quickly.


-GMs who are unwilling to discuss rules whatsoever with their players. Now, this is not saying a GM should allow rules lawyering, but, if a GM has made a bad/massively incorrect call, a player should be able to approach and discuss it with them, maybe after the game/story arc if doing it immediately would detract from the narrative.


-GMs who constantly cheat for no good reason except to cheat. It's a true fact, especially in dice games, a gamemaster will occasionally fub or lie about dice rolls, or bend the rules as not to outright murder their players. Or sometimes to challenge players that have it too easy. These are acceptable, and when done right, can enhance a story. CONSTANTLY lying about every roll, in disfavor of the players, is a no-no


For Players:


-Reaaaaaaally bad cringeworthy characters. So, I'm nearly 30, and most of my players are around that. Had a game on campus where a player goes 'I'm going to play my forum RP character from when I was 12'. Nothing against all of you young'ns, but, please, try to match the flavor of the other players in your group. If it's super serious, do not make an 8 year old who was trained to kill babies by a lumberjack after somehow surviving in the Canadian wilderness on their own (That was a real character I witnessed...)


-ALWAYS playing the same type of character. Whether it's ALWAYS the brooding loner with some dark heritage, the socialite with deadly archery skills, or, even calling out past me on this, always playing some sort of rogue (or another character class ALL the time). Spread your wings, try new types of characters, and new types of games. Never done dice? Roll some! Never done sci fi? Dust off that laser pistol!


-Players who NEED to be the center of everything, even when a plot arc has NOTHING to do with them. Sometimes, in a well written game, there'll be plots that focus on others more than you. You'll get your turn in the spotlight. Just wait.


-Players who can't accept some things are out of their control. Had a player in a game of mine absolutely flip out, because after they were knocked unconscious by an enemy, another player picked up her character to bring her to safety. According to her, he wasn't allowed to move her character without her permission because that was 'cheating', and when I, as the GM, said it was acceptable as her character was unconscious with no way to resist, permission was not needed. Sometimes, things fall outside of a player's control.


-Players who can't pay attention. This doesn't really matter too much on forums/play-by-post, but, if you're ever in a tabletop game, do NOT bring a computer with another game on it. EVER. That is beyond rude to the other players and to the GM who took time to come up with a plotline for the adventure.


-Extreme power gaming/rules lawyering/munchkining. Players who always have to play a certain type not because it's their favorite, but because it's the -best-, should be ashamed of themselves.

[/QUOTE]
Hit the nail on the head with these lists, well put.

 

[razorrabbit]

And now the GM stuff is making me super paranoid about what may happen with a game I have going on despite that everyone seems really cool so far. I am too easily made paranoid it seems. vuv

 

[Thorn Darkblade]

My advice is a lesson it took me far too long to learn:


If a game is no longer fun, it is no longer a game, it's a chore. If you're not gettin paid for it, quit.

 

[Yunn]

/applauds. Congratulations. You guys had pretty much mentioned everything that bothers me. And I thank you for not having me to write them.


(; ● ∀ ●) ゝ "


Though I'm not sure if this was mentioned and I missed it but since I mostly do group role plays, one thing that irks me is when the role play turns into one, or, a bunch of 1x1's, and continues to be so.

 

[call me rae]

Players Who ...

• disappear into the dark abyss of the internet between replies. like literally all they contribute to the story is a post once a week and that's it. (1x1 specifc )
  
• people who make up their own plot twists out of nowhere and completely sideline the plot for their own agendas
  
• people who expect you to read their minds when it comes to wants/needs/limits/ etc. like if you don't communicate with me i don't know there is a problem.
  

Roleplays ...

• that have lots of typos in the description or overview. the ocassional typo is fine it happens to the best of us - but if i can barely read what your writing then no.
  

 

[lafeae]

I'm a pretty laid-back RPer about things. I don't like some of the things mentioned (God-modding, Mary sues, one-liners, overly-angsty characters or 'special snowflakes) all the normal goodies most of us don't like. I do have one probably super-niche one that drives me up a wall:


-If your character gets hurt or sick, especially badly, stick to it for a realistic amount of time. I get it, we all fudge things from time to time (I'm guilty, too) but if your character just got hit by a car and broke a leg or something, they're not running from the cops/spies/villain the next day.


Like I said, super-niche, but has happened more times than I can count.