Viewpoint What you cannot stand in characters?

[ashwynne]

Attention all people who do this, a normal person with extremely pale, almost white skin is not pretty! She is instead likely in need of some serious medical attention and should be rushed to the nearest hospital!

R00d. Not all of us can be golden skinned beauties, you know. Some of us ARE naturally vampiric

 

[Melpomene]

Attention all people who do this, a normal person with extremely pale, almost white skin is not pretty! She is instead likely in need of some serious medical attention and should be rushed to the nearest hospital!

As someone who has many many pale friends I can say that someone may certainly be that white

Leave the guys and gals with a little less melanin alone

To add my own:

I cannot stand any character that is described as being "Not like other [blank]" at any point. Specifically I really hate the phrase "not like other girls" because it implies some things which are inherently feminine are bad, or it implies that other girls are lesser. I don't like that. And usually the character is very cliche and non-special anyways. I don't mind a character that is cliche, in all honesty, I actually like many cliches, but claiming they are not like others almost comes across as just blah, to me.

To add to this, any character that I feel like I can replace with an inanimate object and still get the same plot

This is a result of a character being entirely reactionary instead of proactive. I have seen it a lot in my years of writing (I say like I am a 60 y/o instead of a freshman in college), and it usually comes from newer writers. One of the worst things to do to a character is basically shoved them to the sidelines while simultaneously attempting to keep them at center stage.

That's not to say it is entirely bad, however. If this is what people are having fun with, as long as their partner is having fun it is all fine and good.

But, I must say, I prefer a character to be very engaging. So one that does as much action as it does reaction (as reaction is also a very important aspect) but they actually do things that impact the story. Thus, being proactive.

 

[laceanddoodles]

Attention all people who do this, a normal person with extremely pale, almost white skin is not pretty! She is instead likely in need of some serious medical attention and should be rushed to the nearest hospital!

But it’s also interesting (and important) to note where this cultural beauty standard comes from.

Racism, classism, and sexism. Pale skin has been a western standard of beauty for hundreds and hundreds of years. Because if you were a pale, fragile, woman, it meant you could afford to sit inside and not work with your husband/brothers/father out in the fields. You didn’t have to be strong, and you didn’t have to be tan. Also, it shows that you’re super white, which was a good thing to be for the past several centuries, given the brutal ways poc were treated.

On a more (morbidly) fun note, tuberculosis was so common throughout the 19th century that the symptoms became beauty standards. A lady suffering from tb, then known as consumption, became very pale, thin, with a flushed face and thin, flowing, hair. The “skin as pale as ivory” style beauty came, in part, from so many dying Victorian women.

So, in conclusion, it’s important to challenge the notion that pale=beautiful, but it’s also worth it to acknowledge where any why that notion came about as we challenge it.

 

[rae2nerdy]

And not to shame people for their actual skin tone while your at it. As the replies have indicated pale white skin is certainly realistic. It’s also not typically seen as beautiful but a sign that the person doesn’t get enough vitamin D.

Beauty is not just one universal trait for all audiences and all cultures.

Which is why it’s not so much the individual traits in and of themselves that are the problem but the fact that the player is trying to force other players to find their character attractive.

It’s the classic show don’t tell thing. You can’t just say “My character is white pale and everyone thinks their hot”.

Cuz attraction isn’t this one size fits all thing.

 

[BackSet]

I admit I might be throwing stones in glass houses.

But then again, I am hardly attractive. I suppose I wouldn't be as white if I went out in the sun more. Imstead I'd be red because the sun lights me ablaze if I'm out there for even a little while.

 

[Melpomene]

I admit I might be throwing stones in glass houses.

But then again, I am hardly attractive. I suppose I wouldn't be as white if I went out in the sun more. Imstead I'd be red because the sun lights me ablaze if I'm out there for even a little while.

*laughs in melanin*

 

[SP3CT3R]

*laughs in melanin*

Check your melanin priviledge it's offensive to those of us who can't go outside

 

[Jet]

When a character has top tier batman equipment to go along with top of the verse skills and physicals. It's an annoying way to circumvent the power cap. Many times weaknesses and drawbacks are a requirement and people will throw in all these devices to mitigate those weaknesses. Quick example is

- Tank character who sacrifices speed for power, they are balanced by this trade off but then the writer adds a bunch of mobility gear like a grapple or some kind of boosters like a power suit, rocket boots (lol) or something else I haven't mentioned. It puts GMs in a tough spot because gear isn't technically part of the character, and in certain universes gear is a common enough thing. However it breaks character balancing. So GMs have to either

1. Force the writer to meta-game the equipment out of their character, because having the equipment might make sense in context even if it's unfair.

2. Accept the character and have someone who's covered all innate weaknesses with supplementary gear.

Strikes me as hunting for the top spot in the power hierarchy. Imo "the strongest" shouldn't exist unless everyone chooses weak characters intentionally, except for one or two people. Outside of that "top spot by default" situation it should be about matchups, but the characters I'm talking about get around that because they have an answer for everything thrown at them.

 

[Whisker]

Check your melanin priviledge it's offensive to those of us who can't go outside

You know you're old when melanin or lack there of suddenly becomes a priviledge.

 

[SP3CT3R]

You know you're old when melanin or lack there of suddenly becomes a priviledge.

In hindsight, it was a tasteless joke, but I'm an upvote whore.

 

[Whisker]

In hindsight, it was a tasteless joke, but I'm an upvote whore.

You are excuses. Have an upvote.

 

[The Regal Rper]

When the character backstory just makes everything else look bad or certain aspects of a character just frankly does not properly fit the setting despite minor adjustments to make the unrealistic work (and said person does not seem willing to change that also).

Ex: you come from a species that can't ever have powers or magic. Doesn't matter if your mixed or a hybrid. You relate to x in anyway it can't work because if you try to make it work, x bad things will happen and the consequences outweigh the merits. Once saw someone have it in their cs that despite this rule for the setting, they still had powers/magic they really really shouldn't have had.

Or

The background is done in a way to try and justify why this character has 700 different abilities and is a master of 7 different fighting styles (something i admittedly have done in the past of my early rp days but try often not to do by researching and checking my stuff) and it just confused you trying to piece that cs together for that one character. Like some kind of weird puzzle you have to figure out, but even when you leave and come back you kinda just stare at it and shake your head like "what *is* this?"

Also that one time i was asked to help a player create a sex scene with another player chara, even though rpn and I wouldn't be into that for a rp with young teenagers and never had any smut elements focused in a war recovering timezome at all. Like I get there were a lot of orphans in it but c'mon- that was just weird man.

 

[ashwynne]

When a character has top tier batman equipment to go along with top of the verse skills and physicals. It's an annoying way to circumvent the power cap. Many times weaknesses and drawbacks are a requirement and people will throw in all these devices to mitigate those weaknesses. Quick example is

- Tank character who sacrifices speed for power, they are balanced by this trade off but then the writer adds a bunch of mobility gear like a grapple or some kind of boosters like a power suit, rocket boots (lol) or something else I haven't mentioned. It puts GMs in a tough spot because gear isn't technically part of the character, and in certain universes gear is a common enough thing. However it breaks character balancing. So GMs have to either

1. Force the writer to meta-game the equipment out of their character, because having the equipment might make sense in context even if it's unfair.

2. Accept the character and have someone who's covered all innate weaknesses with supplementary gear.

Strikes me as hunting for the top spot in the power hierarchy. Imo "the strongest" shouldn't exist unless everyone chooses weak characters intentionally, except for one or two people. Outside of that "top spot by default" situation it should be about matchups, but the characters I'm talking about get around that because they have an answer for everything thrown at them.

I fail to even see the appeal in these types of characters. How is it fun to play an overpowered character with no room for self-improvement? Unless you have someone talented enough to write a Saitama style character (which would be fun as hell imo) it’s going to be so BORING. I can only assume these types of people either need an ego boost or are dealing with stuff IRL that makes them want to feel powerful somewhere else. I can empathize with the latter but it sure makes for dull, uninteresting, frustrating characters.

Big peeve for me lately would be characters that have to “one up” or “out sad” other characters. Happens IRL too which annoys me just as much, but basically it’s that classic scenario where one character is admitting to a struggle and then the next one replies with “I have it soooo much worse than you, you should be grateful,” and does this repeatedly.
Then, when your character no longer wants to have anything to do with them and thinks they’re a self-centred jerk, they get mad either IC or OOC (or both)

 

[Melpomene]

Big peeve for me lately would be characters that have to “one up” or “out sad” other characters. Happens IRL too which annoys me just as much, but basically it’s that classic scenario where one character is admitting to a struggle and then the next one replies with “I have it soooo much worse than you, you should be grateful,” and does this repeatedly.
Then, when your character no longer wants to have anything to do with them and thinks they’re a self-centred jerk, they get mad either IC or OOC (or both)

Christ I feel that so hard. I call it the constant victim when characters always seem to need to one down yours. It just feels like the player just wants to hog the spotlight. I guess it goes hand in hand with my peeve for characters always lamenting over how sad and terrible their life is.

I think my visceral hatred stems from being in an RP where it felt like my character was always shoved to the wayside so theirs could be properly pitied by everyone.

I probably hate it way more than I should tbh, but I can't stand the trait in people either so that is probably part of the problem.

 

[still watching fma]

Tbh, I do rp to feel powerful. Ofcourse there's always joy to be had in a dnd character with 6 in con. Which would effectively make them a cripple wizard. However, if you cant understand why a powerful character is appealing.

Look no further than superman. A long lasting cultural icon that only started to fall off after comics went to shit.

Man what a bunch of snobs. Lets not celebrate mediocrity and sniff eachother's farts lol.

 

[Crayons]

Christ I feel that so hard. I call it the constant victim when characters always seem to need to one down yours. It just feels like the player just wants to hog the spotlight. I guess it goes hand in hand with my peeve for characters always lamenting over how sad and terrible their life is.

I think my visceral hatred stems from being in an RP where it felt like my character was always shoved to the wayside so theirs could be properly pitied by everyone.

I probably hate it way more than I should tbh, but I can't stand the trait in people either so that is probably part of the problem.

I really can't stand this at all. Normally the people who do it in RP are also the people doing it OOC as well. The whole "pity party" thing drives me nuts.

So this one time I was in an RP (it was Naruto universe don't judge, I love me some anime RPs), and I was playing the leader of a ninja team. One of the students was blind and was going on a massive "oh pity poor me for woe! I am a blind ninja and alack! I am sad!" etc. and I had my character tell them to buck up and do his best, and how everyone had weaknesses to overcome, and so forth - a pep talk basically - and ALL the other players were having a go OOC "Whoa, that's way harsh!" "OMG you can't say that!" and it's like ... not only is there a pity party but all these people want there to be one, and want it to continue.

 

[Jet]

Tbh, I do rp to feel powerful. Ofcourse there's always joy to be had in a dnd character with 6 in con. Which would effectively make them a cripple wizard. However, if you cant understand why a powerful character is appealing.

Look no further than superman. A long lasting cultural icon that only started to fall off after comics went to shit.

Man what a bunch of snobs. Lets not celebrate mediocrity and sniff eachother's farts lol.

Theres a difference between wanting a strong character and wanting the strongest who can shit on everyone. A rule of group RPs is that everyone is equal. You don't deserve a character who can shit on everyone else's. If you're finessing the character creation system to wring out every last drop of power, and figuring out ways to have no weaknesses, and writing endless dodges and having the best this and the best that then I think you're playing incorrectly.

No one here or elsewhere has a problem with a strong character who is in the upper tier of a verse's strength spectrum. What everyone does hate is the one player who seeks the top spot desperately by writing trained killers from birth with the best superpower, strapped with gear to cover every weakness who dodges everything and hits like a freight train. If you want a setup like that then look for a 1x1 where you're power playing with a person who wants a weaker counterpart on some Batman and Robin shit; or write a solo project. Alternatively you can boot up GTA and run over pedestrians in a tank.

I don't think anyone expects you to write a potato, but needing to be superman when everyone else is batman? Why does your character need to be a living flex compared to mine. Shit straight devalues everyone else's characters.

Crayon

Edit to respond to your story....

LOL

You're writing as a military officer who has a whining subordinate, and people were mad you did a pep talk?????? AYO the softies man, many officers in the Naruto verse would tell that character to get a grip and stfu. Maybe not some of the goodie goodie leaf Chunin/Jonin, but Cloud, Sand, Mist and Rock ninja would all tell them to stuff it. The leaf ones would do what you did for the most part, some would be much harsher though. They were pissed you wrote realistically which is my main thing, smh

 

[bad wolf]

I feel like you might be able to pull off an overpowered character so long has you're providing equal attention to other characters. Everyone acknowledges the one's power and still realizes that that doesn't diminish any other character's importance in driving the plot or developing. It might make for an interesting story, finding the drawbacks to being omnipotent and realizing the strength in people who are less powerful then you.

I think that's one of the reasons I tend to gravitate toward characters who seem less powerful than they actually are. Hawkeye didn't have any fancy abilities in the Avengers outside of archery, but he was still running alongside the A listers and picking himself up after being beat all to hell. Batman is a human amongst gods in the Justice League but there are other powers to be had outside of one's physical ability.

It also allows for some interesting conflict. I read one fanfic where, because Hawkeye was less powerful, he was obsessed with the perfect shot. He couldn't miss because, if he did, his ability would have a limit. He was in constant fear that no one would find him useful anymore.

And then you have different media forms that like to portray these omnipotent characters. For example, I haven't seen it but One Punch Man is about a character who can defeat anyone with a single punch. In the description I read about it, it says that the show is about his boredom with his own omnipotence. He's seeking the thrill of an actual challenge. That seems like it'd be plenty fun to explore.

Anyways, I went off on a tangent. Hopefully this is still relevant to the conversation. xD

 

[rae2nerdy]

Basically it circles back to Superman. He isn’t interesting because he is the strongest there ever was. He’s interesting because he’s human and he has human weaknesses. Also he has to learn to live in a world filled with people who are so much frailer than he is. It’s one of his major character arcs. That and how he justifies a sometimes naive moral code in a grounded reality.

I think it’s one of those things that falls in line with “power corrupts”. If you make a character powerful for the sole purpose of lording over everyone else than your basically playing Lex Luther or Homelander from The Boys. Your character is a villain basically with varying degrees of hipocratic justifications to excuse their behavior.

If you are trying to work out some kind of power imbalance in real life than a better way of doing that is to write solo projects where you can be God Emperor of reality and make whatever you want happen. You don’t need to shit on other people’s entertainment just because your in a shitty place in your life.

 

[Jet]

bad wolf That sounds fine for the one writing OP character but dreadful for others. Thinking about having a Saitama in a RP just pisses me off. I'll have this measured character who's strong but has his share of weaknesses. He's working hard to improve and is getting better with time, great! But every fight he gets into, no matter what, I know that Timmy's character can come over and one shot my enemy. Maybe he won't because Saitama-light is too bored? Yay! I get to be the B Reel fight.... But how trivial does that make my character seem?

For the big powerful character it might be a wonderful experience of discovery to find the gems among the cohorts. To find the strengths among the weak. For everyone else its shitty because no matter what, IC, they still ain't shit.

Most of the time these characters aren't built in a seperate power scale though, if they're OP its because of Character Sheet finesse work. It's not the plot stuff you're talking about.

Got to love CS finessing! Sometimes it's an ability with ridiculous ramifications; no-limit hack powers that sound fine on paper and then get extrapolated out the ass until it becomes unstoppable. The gadgets to cover all weaknesses is a great one too. Not to mention yee old "trained from birth as an assassin". You mention batman, the bat's balanced because he has all this cool shit but no powers. Imagine someone with powers and the batman gear. That's 90% of the power game characters.

 

[still watching fma]

Theres a difference between wanting a strong character and wanting the strongest who can shit on everyone. A rule of group RPs is that everyone is equal. You don't deserve a character who can shit on everyone else's. If you're finessing the character creation system to wring out every last drop of power, and figuring out ways to have no weaknesses, and writing endless dodges and having the best this and the best that then I think you're playing incorrectly.

No one here or elsewhere has a problem with a strong character who is in the upper tier of a verse's strength spectrum. What everyone does hate is the one player who seeks the top spot desperately by writing trained killers from birth with the best superpower, strapped with gear to cover every weakness who dodges everything and hits like a freight train. If you want a setup like that then look for a 1x1 where you're power playing with a person who wants a weaker counterpart on some Batman and Robin shit; or write a solo project. Alternatively you can boot up GTA and run over pedestrians in a tank.

I don't think anyone expects you to write a potato, but needing to be superman when everyone else is batman? Why does your character need to be a living flex compared to mine. Shit straight devalues everyone else's characters.

Crayon

Edit to respond to your story....

LOL

You're writing as a military officer who has a whining subordinate, and people were mad you did a pep talk?????? AYO the softies man, many officers in the Naruto verse would tell that character to get a grip and stfu. Maybe not some of the goodie goodie leaf Chunin/Jonin, but Cloud, Sand, Mist and Rock ninja would all tell them to stuff it. The leaf ones would do what you did for the most part, some would be much harsher though. They were pissed you wrote realistically which is my main thing, smh

The equal thing is fairly new. Its something i saw develop on many sites after being logic orientated. Before if you tried to tackle(pokemon) against a hyper beam, you were ruled to be blown away. And if you were lets say a steelix, you might be able to argue that your style and type allows you to still continue through and tackle the hyperbeam caster. This was an apporach to rp that required effort, foresight, ans tactics. Nowadays gm will just forbid hyperbeam or make hyperbeam as strong as tackle. Because for some reason, rp'er have latched onto equality as if it were an imperative.

I understand creating a system that promotes equal oppourtunity to be strong, but I'm personally not going to reward a guy who just punches. Vs the guy who right hooks with bronze knuckles under his gloves.

As for deserving, ofcourse someone who works in the system deserves to be stronger wjth more creative powers. Im not saying to award a guy for trying ti do dbz moves in a naruto rp, but i reward the guy who threw two arced shuriken while spitting fireballs toward the other player, then one at the rafters above them to set the place ablaze. If the player on the receiving end didnt think to have enough speed to do two actions because they wanted more strength. thats their bad. These min maxers have their place in rp, but are beibg drownes out by selfish and short sighted people. Who fiegn concern for others by blaming their tough rulings on "equality"

Everyone here is against competition. We live in a participation trophy society. As for superman vs batman, thats just a lack of foresight on the system maker. Not the rp'ers fault. You have to be mindful that people want to gain the most in the most expedient way. So everything has to be equally hard or youll get people taking up super man if theres no downsides.

 

[Crayons]

Crayon

Edit to respond to your story....

LOL

You're writing as a military officer who has a whining subordinate, and people were mad you did a pep talk?????? AYO the softies man, many officers in the Naruto verse would tell that character to get a grip and stfu. Maybe not some of the goodie goodie leaf Chunin/Jonin, but Cloud, Sand, Mist and Rock ninja would all tell them to stuff it. The leaf ones would do what you did for the most part, some would be much harsher though. They were pissed you wrote realistically which is my main thing, smh

Oh hey! Didn't see your edit until just now. Well, yes. XD I wasn't even especially harsh, I just gave him the "gambatte yo!" standard shonen perseverance speech. I would understand that reaction if I had made him do a thousand burpees and then threw a bunch of shuriken at him and laughed when he couldn't dodge them.

I think it comes down to people not liking to feel criticised, but conflict is the essence of drama and if they can't handle something soft like that then what can you do?

 

[Jannah]

I think powerful characters can be an interesting addition if done carefully. I've done them, but usually with significant personality flaws that make it difficult for them to be respected or to successfully use their powers/abilities at all.

 

[Jet]

still watching fma

Your reply isn't really to me but someone else who you had a problem with a long time ago. Steelix is weak to a bunch of shit so if you're RPing as a Steelix and you body a hyper beam because of typage that's fine because there are other weaknesses present. The issue is with power gamers who want to dominate the power hierarchy by any means. This is done by choosing hack abilities that sound normal on paper but have OP ramifications, or by masking weaknesses with gear. What you're talking about in your last reply is fine with me. What isn't is some desperate a-hole who wants to have a disproportionately strong character, as if fellow RPers are just the backdrop for their strongest of the strong protag.

 

[still watching fma]

still watching fma

Your reply isn't really to me but someone else who you had a problem with a long time ago. Steelix is weak to a bunch of shit so if you're RPing as a Steelix and you body a hyper beam because of typage that's fine because there are other weaknesses present. The issue is with power gamers who want to dominate the power hierarchy by any means. This is done by choosing hack abilities that sound normal on paper but have OP ramifications, or by masking weaknesses with gear. What you're talking about in your last reply is fine with me. What isn't is some desperate a-hole who wants to have a disproportionately strong character, as if fellow RPers are just the backdrop for their strongest of the strong protag.

What's with this fruedian psychology stuff lol? I'm not upset at you. Im disagreeing.