Viewpoint What are red flag(s) in Roleplay ads for you?

[A Sparkling Zombie]

What I think are true red flags:

* Negativity, snobbiness, or anger in the tone of the ad.

* Any suggestion of issues or judgment around homo/heterosexuality or cis/trans/nb. There's stating a preference, and then there's treating a type of pairing or identity as lesser/gross/uncool/boring/whatever. Even when it's strictly about roleplay, judging what people like in their play pretend is kinda gross.

* Any suggestion that the partner will be overly critical or is very sensitive, where walking on eggshells will be necessary...or where a truly flawed character or IC conflict is likely to be taken personally, but this part is probably more personal than universal, depending on how much fantasy fulfillment vs plot a player prefers.

* If the advertiser has been heavily present on the pet peeves thread or one of the other negative threads. No one wants to be fuel for the next public rant. In general, when I have been active on RPN, I check a person's post history when it's available, to see how they conduct themselves OOC.


"Red flags" to me:

* Use of yaoi or seme/uke. I haven't seen them on here much, if at all, whenever I've perused the boards, and maybe the genre has improved since it's heyday, but these terms carry connotations that are frustrating to me as a gay man whose tastes don't at all align with those connotations. I don't mind if someone is pursuing what they want in a roleplay; I just won't cater to it.

* When the advertiser uses the literate tags. I acknowledge some people use it because it's commonplace, but I'm still inclined to suspect an ego or an obsession with post size.

* Being ghost friendly. The context around the statement can matter, but I value communication, and I wouldn't trust the advertiser to not also be inclined to ghost.

 

[clostridium]

The most glaring red flag that I frequently see is harping on a potential partner’s grammar while making basic spelling/punctuation errors. Holding other people to standards that you don’t meet yourself is the quickest way for me to tell that you are not someone I want to invest time in writing with. I have nothing against very high standards and I have nothing against people with imperfect spelling, but when those are combined I back away slowly and close the tab.

 

[Tsaia]

* Any suggestion of issues or judgment around homo/heterosexuality or cis/trans/nb. There's stating a preference, and then there's treating a type of pairing or identity as lesser/gross/uncool/boring/whatever. Even when it's strictly about roleplay, judging what people like in their play pretend is kinda gross.


* Being ghost friendly. The context around the statement can matter, but I value communication, and I wouldn't trust the advertiser to not also be inclined to ghost.

Both of these.




Some red flags.

Whenever I see the word must in a RT's rules/expections/about me section, I go the other way. I see it as you must play this character, you must be okay with this, you must do that. I see this an instance of an unwillingness to compromise or come to a happy medium.

The I'll roleplay anything bit. It never works out.

 

[MissNyquil]

Saying one is 'Ghost-friendly'. Mostly because I prefer to be told if my partner just isn't vibing with the roleplay. It's not fun to sit around waiting on a reply that won't come.

 

[kawaii_k1tt3n]

A poor attitude in the rules/RP requirements list will immediately turn me away. Things such as, "500 words minimum! If you can't meet this number, which is very easy to do, don't even bother!" or "Proper punctuation and spelling are a must! I like to know that my players have at least graduated elementary school!"

An explanation for the rules is fine, but there's no reason to be a jerk about it.

Yes! I’ve had that! It’s a teeny bit irritating to deal with.

 

[kawaii_k1tt3n]

Saying one is 'Ghost-friendly'. Mostly because I prefer to be told if my partner just isn't vibing with the roleplay. It's not fun to sit around waiting on a reply that won't come.

Ohh, that’s too sad.

 

[Lyrae]

I find it fascinating how folks find "Ghost friendly" as a red flag. I've always thought of it as the opposite. Ghosting is just a part of Roleplaying and I'd rather not hunt somebody down if they don't respond to me. I genuinely appreciate the opposite perspective though and I'm considering changing that part of my interest check now.

 

[A Sparkling Zombie]

I find it fascinating how folks find "Ghost friendly" as a red flag. I've always thought of it as the opposite. Ghosting is just a part of Roleplaying and I'd rather not hunt somebody down if they don't respond to me. I genuinely appreciate the opposite perspective though and I'm considering changing that part of my interest check now.

To be fair, some people will probably appreciate it. It maybe most depends on what kind of people you want to attract: the people who will like to have that assurance, or the people who value communication. I would also imagine no more than 10-20% of RPN's active user base are active on this board, so you're only get a small sample size of input.

 

[Matty]

The GM's post history.

 

[Idiot Doom Spiral]

People have gone over a lot of red flags that I share, but one thing I look for is the ratio of in character to interest check posts. If I see someone who posts in a ton of interest checks, but is comparatively inactive in their roleplay threads I am inclined to think that they aren't the type to stick around.

The exception to this is if someone states that they roleplay via PM or off-site.

 

[Wildcard8880]

People who constantly bump interest checks and are constantly online, but ghost you when you actually want to role play

 

[StrixDesmodus]

• "18+only!" as a rule in a roleplay in which the majority of the characters would be minors themselves. Nothing irks me more than seeing a high school as the rp's setting with this rule in place. I don't have a problem with people stating reasonable boundaries like not wanting to rp with minors, but if you're not comfortable roleplaying with minors, then how are you comfortable roleplaying as a minor?
• "Quality over quantity! But I still demand a hard minimum of [insert standard here that is more than would be needed for someone to be able to respond to.]" Do you want a long post or do you want a quality post? Which one would you actually prefer? You can't always have both.
• Hard quotas on word or paragraph count in general.
• Treating the rp ad like it's a job ad (non-stylisticaly) in general. Sorry, but this is a hobby, and it's supposed to be for my and everyone else's enjoyment just as much as yours. By definition, it stops being a hobby when the participants stop enjoying it.
• Posting orders. It breaks realism, stalls rp progress, and doesn't account for ghosting.
• Only allowing one power per character in a setting that would otherwise seem to behoove the characters having multiple powers. Like, on one hand, it makes sense in settings where everyone is otherwise a normal human. On the other, when you're basing characters after mythical creatures, then such a rule would usually force the character's creator to cut powers from the species's usual repertoire.
• "What kind of powers do vampires in this rp have?" "standard vampire powers." As an enthusiast of folklore and speculative fiction, especially that which contains vampires, I can confidently say that there is no such trope as "standard vampire powers." Even Count Dracula, who is often name-dropped in explanations of what standard vampire powers are, has different powers in the original novel versus adaptations versus what the other roleplayer usually actually wants for their setting. And that's not even counting the differences between the pre-novelization lore of different vampire-type creatures from different regions.
• Any of the rp taking place offsite. Even if it's not mandatory for participation, at best I worry that I'm missing a big part of the conversation by not joining the discord. At worst, I've found attempts to bypass personal boundaries which would otherwise be protected by RPN rules.

 

[ThAtGuY101]

I also like quality over quantity. Gimme a post. Doesn't need to be great, just put effort in. I will actively avoid RPs that require 3 paragraphs, no thank you. 1 paragraph is fine and dandy to me. Consistency is a lot more important than size length as far as I'm concerned. I don't mean every day, but at least once a week.

I will avoid anything that utilizes real face claims. I don't like them, but I will respect people's choices to enforce it for their RPs. I've heard valid arguments for them, I still respectfully disagree. I don't care if its descriptions or a ai drawing or a sketch someone made. 9/10 in my experience the looks are never relevant and I just don't want my character looking like a real person. just personal preference to be honest.

Lack of out of character communication. I usually expect people to ghost these RPs without a single word. I like this. It can be RP plans, it can be stupid jokes. anything to let me know the others are still hanging around is helpful and appreciated.

Lastly... Roles... kinda... I think these are really cool. The problem is multiple things. one, any time I get in these RPs they die before they anything even happens. but also you gotta be quick if you want a specific role and with work, sleep and everything going on we can't always be quick. This lady one is more of a yellow flag...?

 

[LustrousFox]

this is just me but honestly when a lot of people are looking at it because then I feel like I'm stalking....I look at the see if I like it and then leave, especially don't like it when too many people join at once because there's so many people saying I will because then I get overwhelmed because I don't know what's going on, I will see what is the hype about and I will say it is hard to get me to join from interest alone, a lot of the times I will look at it and it doesn't interest me and then I'll leave.

I will say this right here and now it's not a red flag but to me for some reason it is.