What makes you fall in love with an RP you're playing?...Or makes you want to hug the player/s?

[Terranova]

We all have that wish that we could find the perfect RP partner. What makes you excited about playing an RP? What makes you want to play over and over with that person? What makes you engrossed in the RP you're playing?


For the RP:


I love it when there are a lot of twists and turns in a game I'm playing. Like, it always keeps me on my toes and really think about how to roll with a monkey-wrench in the characters' plans. The element of surprise and crap you have to pull yourself out of (when done well, with style and within the agreement of both players) makes me want to continue the story we're playing.


Also, I love it when the story has in depth characters who don't metagame. Who, when faced with a challenging choice, goes with their character's personality rather than what they think is the best outcome for the character.


And I love a story when the characters resolve a problem without the use of deus-ex-machinas. It shows how involved in the plot both players are.


For the player:


I love it when a player collaborates and builds a story with me. I don't have to know everything s/he has planned, but I want to know what direction in general we're going to take. Together.


I also love it when players give me notices like clearing up stuff or telling me if they think something doesn't feel right for them. I don't want to be the only one enjoying the experience. If the other player is enjoying, I would be too.


Best of all, I love it when a player has a great balance between story-telling, descriptions, dialogue, etc. I don't need lengthy posts and I'm not bothered with one liners as long as they're done in good taste and is really called for by the narrative. I love it when they move the story and develop the characters with their writing and sometimes, that comes out with one perfect line like someone I RP'd with long ago whose only reply out of the myriad of paragraphs we were writing was: "Oh, shit."

 

[Jay Fox]

A level of unpredictability is important to me, I get bored if it's too obvious where things are going. I also love clear, distinct personalities, where a player's characters are all unique individuals. I've had RPs where it was two of us taking like ten characters each and it felt like I was RPing with ten different people because each one was written so distinctly.


I think the most important thing is just a level of equal give and take, of both (or all, though I tend to stick to 1x1 or 1x2) keeping to the same pace. I'm a big fan of slow burns, of realistic, month-long building of relationships and plots. I'm more character based than plot based and I love getting to know somebody's characters. That's the main thing I guess: a deep, fleshed out character, whether canon or OC. I've had threads in the past of nearly a hundred pages of just two characters talking, in a room, and been utterly engrossed in that.

 

[call me rae]

Let's see the number one thing for both is simply - Check Your Ego at the door. Nothing turns me off a person or a roleplay faster than having to deal with other people's egos or starting meaningless drama.


But specifically things I like ?


Roleplay


Keep moving forward. I don't mean that you have to rush through story arcs or posting or anything like that. I mean that no matter how many times people come and go or how long a hiatus you have to go on - you can always come back to the roleplay and find the story progressing in such a way that you can join back in.


A strong connection between roleplayers. If I consider the people I'm roleplaying with my friends than I'll stick with something through thick or thin.


Roleplayers


Be willing to call me out when I get scatterbrained or too tangety. Be willing to accept that sometimes real life things come up and I have to be gone for some period of time without posts. And above all else - have a sense of humor. If I can joke around with you and chat with your outside of the roleplay than chances are I'll stick with whatever we're dong a lot better than if your just kind of this empty shell on the other end of the keyboard.

 

[P U R I T Y]

I agree with the ego/drama bit touched on above so much!


Story


Honestly just chemistry. Even when a story falls apart, be it some longer breaks than expected, lost muse or perhaps even poor planning, you can always pick it up and put it back together, or even toss the idea aside and start anew, because your partner is up for anything and just enjoys the art of writing. Concepts and genres are crucial to figuring out what it is you're writing, but when two people just love the art of writing you could literally go from the underworld to the star wars cantina and not have an issue. Mutual passions keep the flame ignited! That was really lame!


Partner


Absolutely love it when my partner actually collaborates with me. Reciprocated efforts, honesty and punctuality, originality on their part, and the ability to keep the story progressing. It's such a rarity to come across someone who's willing to discuss the essentials of story making, and doesn't mind a lot of questions nor do they hold back with their own. Chemistry is such a huge part in collaborative story writing, amazingly most individuals I've come across seem unaware of this; I'm not asking to get a peek into your personal life and become life long friends, but being a little more open and attempting to relate be it through humor, mutual interest or enthusiasm regarding, at the least, the story itself, is wonderful. "Ok" "Yea" and "Whatever you want to do" Are not proper answers, these will kill any project a group is aspiring to finish. Genuine knowledge of what you're pursuing, especially when it comes to fandom related content! Love when my partner knows what I'm talking about, gets the references, it's just refreshing and is a sort of safety net that neither of you will come to a screeching halt because the other is unfamiliar with basic content.