Other What attracts you to an interest check?

[Psychonaut]

I've got one up at the moment and I'm genuinely confused. Mine's hardly a novel, but far less detailed posts often net far more applicants.

What makes you want to join a role play? Is it the genre? The premise? The fancy formatting?

 

[rae2nerdy]

If you could link and let me know if your looking for group or 1x1 partners that might help

 

[Tove]

I am only speaking for myself. I could care less about fancy coding, however, if it's too distracting I won't even look further. I personally enjoy a thorough request thread that have some established plots that allow me to throw my ideas into the mix or a listing of pairings and genres that way I can see if the person's interests match my own like maybe if the plots don't hit home we're able to brainstorm together. Known genres are big plus for me too.

I'm not going to lie I do like seeing writing samples. If I provide one I would like to see one. Some people are comfortable writing a few sentences others like to do paragraphs, I feel having a sample kind of helps clear it up.

Everyone is very different though.

 

[lucidforests]

Information is concise, organized well with easy on the eyes coding....and no tabs I should need to search for information.

 

[marshmarrow]

I'm talking strictly group RP's, so I like to see some level of effort put into communicating an idea for a world or story and the expectations the GM has of applicants. Regardless of the nature of the plot, the information on the thread has to be concise and the GM has to have a general idea of a story they want to tell, not just the character they want to play. The interest check is a reflection of the GM and their idea. it shouldn't be afraid to sell itself but it also shouldn't be too arrogant or long-winded.

I enjoy interest checks with BBCode that's easy to read; it has a simple layout without hidden scrolls or rollover text. I also like textures and colors that fit in the context of the idea to make it more stylized.

 

[Idea]

My personal philosophy when it comes to interest checks is that an interest check is a sales pitch where the currency is time and dedication and the product being sold is your roleplay and yourself. This has a few implications that I will not get into too much detail about, since I'm planning on making a tutorial thread about it soon. The important for this thread, however, is that I expect an interest check to do X things:

1. Sell me on why I should be interested in that roleplay over others
2. Give me basic information on whether my style of roleplay and roleplay preferences match what the person seeks
3. Show me that the person proposing the roleplay is someone I'd be into working with and having a friendly relationship with. Their priorities, general attitude and passion are very important factors to me.

These are basic requirements, but of course, to compete an interest check will have to go a bit beyond that. Things I look for in an interest check, beyond the obvious of having ideas I'm interested in, are things that show that the person is willing to put in the work and take innitiative. If you're "ok with anything" you're probably not my type. If you're, however, so obsessed that you can't be light-hearted about things, we'll probably not gel well either. Same for people who are too sensitive to criticism or mistakes or have a generally angry stance...

Though this is where we get into the hard part. What attracts me to an interes check is for the most part pretty vague. The more concrete criteria are all about what turns me OFF from a roleplay, but if I started with that I'd be here all day.

Now that I laid out my general preferences, I'd like to discuss the secondary purpose of this thread, and give you some feedback on your interest check. Considering your group roleplay already got plenty of interest, I'll be solely focusing on the 1x1, though the group one also has it's share of problems. Feel free to read the feedback or not at your own discretion, as I do have some harsh things to say.

Spoiler: In Regard To Your Search Threads

i consider myself notably above average as a writer and role player.

I feel like this tidbit really settles the generall issue I have with your interest check as it reflects your demeanor and stance throughout. I do want to preface what I'm about to say by highlighting that I am not refering to how you actually are, but rather to how what you've written in your interest check makes you seem, which is to put simply, as unfriendly and extremely arrogant.

Your first line pretty much states you think you are better than most other roleplayers, and if followed by a paragraph about how great your writing is. The goals you set for yourself, later on, are also quite the ambition and you heavily imply you despise playing with anyone you find subpar (for example when you say: "i'm looking for someone who can say the same, because to me role playing is like chess - if you're good at it, playing with a newbie sucks".

It's also relevant to mention that, while most people are pretty ok with cursing and foul language around here, that goes for a context of fun. People like cursing to make a point, in certain characters or when it's banter between friends, however, because of the general tone of your thread, your cursing does not come off as banter, it comes off as you being genuinely incapable of having a filter.

When you put all this together, you've already turned off pretty much everyone- The large portion of RPN who isn't as confident in their writing (regardless of their actual skill) will feel intimidated by you. Those who are more casual will find your attitude overbearing. Those who do want to cooperate to create something better are likely to be turned off by the impression of arrogance you create, as it will feel as though even if they ARE good, it will never be good enough for you. Those who have similar standards to your own will be turned away by the lack of evidence in your interest check, seeing how there was no writing sample or really ideas of your own provided from the getgo, not to mention how short the interest check was. The nail in the coffin is that you come off as so unfriendly that it doesn't even make it worth the try.

Put simply, rather than a problem with your preferences or style or skills, your biggest issue is that you give the impression a really bad partner, the bottom of the barrel kind of elitist to be exact, regardless of whether you actually are.

The cherry on top of the cake here though is that the impression is further cemented by the lack of concrete information. Your goals are high but pretty vague, which will lead some to imagine the worst and others to find your claims unfundamented. Basic information like post rates and requirements, general genre and tonal preferences if any, preferences in character sheets, etc...

There are other issues, mainly in the fact that you narrow potential roleplays to fandoms (though I am not certain on that one) and eliminate one of the biggest genres out there from the getgo, plus anyone whose first language isn't English. By how it reads, it seems these maybe have room for negotiation, other than the romance part, but I'm not certain and as I hope what I said before showed, I don't think these are by any means the real problem with your interest check.

My recommendation in this case is threefold.
1. Replace your vague statements with more concrete ones. Don't say "high concept", try giving out a few examples of plots you like. Also, add the info I mentioned, regarding your concretes averages and preferences.
2. Decide on an actual tone- do you want to be serious or do you want a more tong and cheek kind of interest check? You don't seem to be handling a mix of the two very well, so maybe things will work out better if you choose one. If you choose to be serious, make it professional. If you choose tongue and cheek make it a bit more digestible AKA more friendly and less like you're trying to evaluate me.
3.Consider how it'd feel like if someone else was telling you what you are telling other people. Can you imagine what it'd be like if someone's first words to you were "I am better than average at writing"? This one may not be as effective, because evaluating our own stuff is always difficult due to bias, but it is an important one to try to do to the best of your ability. Don't forget: An interest check is not for you, it's for everyone else.

Anyway, I hope this helps! Best of luck and happy RPing!

 

[2inchlich]

More than anything, I like flexibility--but not at the sacrifice of structure. Can I use my own characters or do I need to make a new one? Is it an ARPG or just a standard RP? Is it geared towards a small group or a large community? How many people will I be required to interact with at once at minimum? These are just questions I like to see addressed in the interest check. I like well thought out premises with a lot of detail, but that don't spoil any mystery involved in the setting. Tell me exactly what I'm getting myself into, you know? I like knowing if my own preferences will be respected as an individual or if I'll have to adhere to the preferences of either the collective or the group owners or some other involved person.

 

[JadeGreen17]

The Genre: Normally I can work with anything fantasy, scifi, nation states or supernatural based. I haven't done much realistic RP, but I will admit to bias toward fantastic adventures over relatively mundane life.

The Premise: I have been known to slog through a lot of RP with lackluster premises. Normally a lackluster story has a background thats less detailed and restricted and gives me more room as an RPer to flex my muscles in creating interesting characters and I have more fun RPing an interesting character through a boring story. But I can say an interesting premise helps to hook me into a story.

The Fancy Formatting: I honestly don't care for BBcode one bit. Its fine if its easy to read and can add a little flavor to certain RPs, but I get along without it.

What I really look for is the people. The community. I want to take stock of the GM or the partner I'm getting involved with, not so much the specific role play. I want to see if they're the type of person I'd want to associate with and that could get along with me. I'm fairly lax on genre, format, premise, and quality of writing. My best buddy RP partner has less-than-great ability to spell, makes really wordy posts and the story and tone all over the place. But he's a good friend, he keeps the story moving consistently (don't think theres been a gap of more than a week since we started six months ago, and sometimes we get 10+ posts a day) and listens to my critique of his ideas, and offers fair critique and avenues for exploration for me to consider. Our RP involves a lot of inter-character combat and we always try go to great lengths to ensure both characters are accurately represented. He doesn't try to win just to make himself better or his characters stronger, he fights to progress the story.

Likewise I have left an otherwise really good group star wars RP because I overheard several people being assholes to the owner of a character who was a friend of mine IRP in voice chat and making fun of her for roleplaying slice of life stuff. Their insults weren't even directed at me, but I didn't want to associate with that community after hearing that.

The issue is ofc its hard to pick up on that as most people put on a front when they make an interest check, and you get to know them to find out they run the gamut from "a nice person but not your style" to "huge jerk" or they just ghost you out of the gate. Usually I look for someone who proclaims to be consistent and reliable in their posting and who seems friendly from the outset.

From what I hear this is similar into how a lot of jobs preform hiring. Jobs tend to look for people that are polite and agreeable over people who are fully qualified. This isn't to say qualifications aren't important. But sociability can beat out lackluster, if passable qualifications.

 

[Onmyoji]

1. Themes / concepts / plots / fandoms / characters etc.
First of all, I look at what does the person in interest check wants to rp. Because if none of the topics correspond with what I want to rp it's pointless to read interest check further.

2. Clear rules
If any of the themes get me interested, I check the rules and expectations. They don't need to be very long, but they need to be clear. And most importantly, they need to match with my own rules and expectations. If they don't match with mine - it's likely we won't match as rp partners.

3. Everything else
if the first two things got me interested, then I already look at everything else. For example, overall tone of the thread. Is the tone friendly? condescending? etc Sometimes the overall tone may be a turnoff, if everything matches my interests but the person sounds too arrogant or condescending for example, then it's likely I won't enjoy the rp if such attitude is persistant. Excess BBcode can also be a huge turnoff because I'm often reading from my phone and if I can't even read the interest check - I can't know if I'm interested or no.


There are lots of other things that may or may not spark my interest but they're mostly subjective. The main things are the first two, the rest is evaluated on case by case basis.

 

[Damafaud]

First and most importantly for me, an organisation of information. This usually means the use of BBCode to separate different information into different sections, so I guess I do need BBCode to exist, though it doesn't have to be fancy. I'll be glad if someone just use tabs or divide to separate his information into several sections. It also shows that the GM makes effort to organise everything neatly.

I usually skip interest check that has no coding at all, but that's just me.

 

[Bone2pick]

Effort, talent, and passion.

 

[elextrified]

one that i can actually read on mobile. you don’t know how many interest checks i’ve flat out ignored because i open it and see all of this over the top coding with no non-coded spoiler.

otherwise, i just like to see that it’s well thought out and organized. not a billion rules, but not a free-for-all either.

 

[apolla]

There's a few things, for me, personally.

1. Aesthetic. Even though at first I had no idea what this word meant, now I pretty much understand. It's gotta be pleasing to look at. For me, looking at uncoded huge walls of text makes me a) not wanna read it, and b) feel like you aren't going to put effort into the rp. Again, that's just me.
2. World building. I hate it, plain and simple. If you're going into detail about a world that I have to learn, I hit the back button. I'm perfectly content using a modern world.
3. Detail. This one's tricky-- too much is too much, too little is too little. I need to know what the plot is, the characters you're looking for, etc. Things like that.
4. Basic grammar. I prefer 'literate' rps, and I need to know the GM at least can write.
5. Realistic face claims. Again, this is my personal preference, but I hate anime face claims. (I also hate rps that just say 'korean only').

That's mostly all I can think of. ><