Experiences Whats making you angry today? Rp pet peeves

[Zubyn]

When I'm forced to explain why I play certain types of characters/why my character is what they are, and then get berated for it. And then when I attempt to explain myself, the other person just doesn't listen to the facts of what I have to say. It makes me feel like I'm not allowed to write a certain way and that I'm wrong for even attempting it. It's frustrating when the other doesn't even try to listen as well and makes me question what the point of asking me in the first place was.

 

[jazzz]

dear partner,

please write more than one sentence replies. i’m not asking for much, just more than ‘(character) smiled shyly and looked away’ would be great. and is it that hard to use proper grammar? really? i mean i don’t use grammar ooc but for the love of everything you hold dear please punctuate your sentence

aaargh T-T

ok i got that out of my system, I’m good now xD

 

[Owlbear]

This is more of an TTRPG pet peeve but whatever.

I really wish more people would branch out and try a new system every now and then. I'm getting pretty annoyed that I constantly see people trying to run (or worse, having the fucking audacity to ask someone else to run) a, say, My Hero Academia rpg using DnD 5e.

Like, yeah, let's completely rewrite an entire system even though there's already dozen other games that does what you want and that you could learn instead.

 

[Jannah]

dear partner,

please write more than one sentence replies. i’m not asking for much, just more than ‘(character) smiled shyly and looked away’ would be great. and is it that hard to use proper grammar? really? i mean i don’t use grammar ooc but for the love of everything you hold dear please punctuate your sentence

aaargh T-T

ok i got that out of my system, I’m good now xD

I definitely feel this pain. One-liners are a dealbreaker for me. I like for my partners to provide at least a couple paragraphs. That's really not asking much, considering how much I tend to write in comparison.

 

[Excusemeprincess]

Lucky all the problems I have are me problems and I shoot my foot a lot but I hate when someone makes it all about them. The whole world dances this person and their character's story, fuck your character because they are not made by the person and are different then what the person had in mind for a rp. I had this happen to me on serval occasions where my characters were ignored and not treated as equals because of someone wanting to write a fan fic instead of a role-play.

 

[The Great Sage]

I had this happen to me on serval occasions where my characters were ignored and not treated as equals because of someone wanting to write a fan fic instead of a role-play.

Sounds like a excellent excuse to switch gears from 'collaborative storytelling' to 'trying your best to traumatize this character'.

If buddy doesn't want to play fair, fuck 'em.

 

[GojiBean]

I usually try to stay away from this thread because I don't usually like discussing things that are negative or put me in a bad mood, but unfortunately I'm already past that at this point.

Ghosting

We've all seen this issue before, but I'm seeing it more and more these days and it's really gotten under my skin.

Ghosting is something that's become far too frequent for my taste, so here I am to vent.

It literally costs nothing to be courteous and respectful to another human being. Because that's who, and what, is on the other end of your screen. A human being. Or multiple human beings.

I get that some people have Social Anxiety. I'm one of them. And as one of those with Social Anxiety I'm here to tell you that it's no excuse. Gosting is not acceptable behavior under any circumstances. Period.

Life happens. We all know this. But even if life happens it takes literally 2 minutes, 3 if you're a slow typer, to login to RPNation and send a PM to someone which reads "Hey, I'm sorry but I have to leave the RP for personal reasons," and clicking "Send."

Your day consists of 24 hours, and there's 1440 minutes in 24 hours.

2 minutes is exactly 1/720th of your day, or roughly 0.0014%.

Let me repeat that.

2 minutes is exactly 1/720th of your day, or roughly 0.0014%.

1/720th (0.0014%) of your day to reach out and be a courteous human being to say "Hey, I need to leave the RP for personal reasons." That's it. That's all it takes. It costs nothing, and requires essentially zero energy or calories to burn to get through it. You sit at your computer, open RPN, send the individual a PM saying you have to leave the RP. Done. Move on.

If taking 1/720th of your day is too much for you, then I won't sugarcoat it: you're just lazy. That, or you're too much of a coward to do the respectful and adult thing by reaching out with bad news. It's not going to hurt you. And it won't hurt the person you have to tell. They might be a bit disappointed. But it's on them to also be respectful and acknowledge your circumstances and let you be on your way with no bad blood.

So long as you take that 0.0014% of your day to reach out and say "Hey, I have to leave the RP," we can respect and appreciate that. You showed respect and courtesy to let us know and not leave us hanging. You showed class. And people will remember that class if they encounter you again. "This person at least told me they had to leave," is always better than "Oh, this person ghosted last time." Always.

So if you're a habitual ghoster, kindly do the right thing and knock it off.

Contrary to what appears to be a popular belief among the ghosting side of the community, it's not harmless. And it doesn't do anything positive for you or those you're ghosting.

Habitual ghosters are the bane of the role-playing community. So if you know you fall into that category then it's time to make a positive change. And not just for yourself. But for everyone's sake.

Don't be that person everyone recognizes and says "Bruh, that loser ghosts all the time. Don't let them into the RP."

If you want to be that person, then keep ghosting. Because it will come back to bite you in the end. And we'll all be here to say "Fix your behavior if you want to RP with us."

~ GojiBean

 

[Jannah]

I usually try to stay away from this thread because I don't usually like discussing things that are negative or put me in a bad mood, but unfortunately I'm already past that at this point.

Ghosting

We've all seen this issue before, but I'm seeing it more and more these days and it's really gotten under my skin.

Ghosting is something that's become far too frequent for my taste, so here I am to vent.

It literally costs nothing to be courteous and respectful to another human being. Because that's who, and what, is on the other end of your screen. A human being. Or multiple human beings.

I get that some people have Social Anxiety. I'm one of them. And as one of those with Social Anxiety I'm here to tell you that it's no excuse. Gosting is not acceptable behavior under any circumstances. Period.

Life happens. We all know this. But even if life happens it takes literally 2 minutes, 3 if you're a slow typer, to login to RPNation and send a PM to someone which reads "Hey, I'm sorry but I have to leave the RP for personal reasons," and clicking "Send."

Your day consists of 24 hours, and there's 1440 minutes in 24 hours.

2 minutes is exactly 1/720th of your day, or roughly 0.0014%.

Let me repeat that.

2 minutes is exactly 1/720th of your day, or roughly 0.0014%.

1/720th (0.0014%) of your day to reach out and be a courteous human being to say "Hey, I need to leave the RP for personal reasons." That's it. That's all it takes. It costs nothing, and requires essentially zero energy or calories to burn to get through it. You sit at your computer, open RPN, send the individual a PM saying you have to leave the RP. Done. Move on.

If taking 1/720th of your day is too much for you, then I won't sugarcoat it: you're just lazy. That, or you're too much of a coward to do the respectful and adult thing by reaching out with bad news. It's not going to hurt you. And it won't hurt the person you have to tell. They might be a bit disappointed. But it's on them to also be respectful and acknowledge your circumstances and let you be on your way with no bad blood.

So long as you take that 0.0014% of your day to reach out and say "Hey, I have to leave the RP," we can respect and appreciate that. You showed respect and courtesy to let us know and not leave us hanging. You showed class. And people will remember that class if they encounter you again. "This person at least told me they had to leave," is always better than "Oh, this person ghosted last time." Always.

So if you're a habitual ghoster, kindly do the right thing and knock it off.

Contrary to what appears to be a popular belief among the ghosting side of the community, it's not harmless. And it doesn't do anything positive for you or those you're ghosting.

Habitual ghosters are the bane of the role-playing community. So if you know you fall into that category then it's time to make a positive change. And not just for yourself. But for everyone's sake.

Don't be that person everyone recognizes and says "Bruh, that loser ghosts all the time. Don't let them into the RP."

If you want to be that person, then keep ghosting. Because it will come back to bite you in the end. And we'll all be here to say "Fix your behavior if you want to RP with us."

~ GojiBean

I'm generally pretty ghost friendly because I have done it myself on occasion (haven't done it for ages). However it has been happening to me especially frequently lately. I'm getting fed up since it can often take me ages just to find RP partners, especially for my current cravings.

 

[Hootle]

I usually try to stay away from this thread because I don't usually like discussing things that are negative or put me in a bad mood, but unfortunately I'm already past that at this point.

Ghosting

We've all seen this issue before, but I'm seeing it more and more these days and it's really gotten under my skin.

Ghosting is something that's become far too frequent for my taste, so here I am to vent.

It literally costs nothing to be courteous and respectful to another human being. Because that's who, and what, is on the other end of your screen. A human being. Or multiple human beings.

I get that some people have Social Anxiety. I'm one of them. And as one of those with Social Anxiety I'm here to tell you that it's no excuse. Gosting is not acceptable behavior under any circumstances. Period.

Life happens. We all know this. But even if life happens it takes literally 2 minutes, 3 if you're a slow typer, to login to RPNation and send a PM to someone which reads "Hey, I'm sorry but I have to leave the RP for personal reasons," and clicking "Send."

Your day consists of 24 hours, and there's 1440 minutes in 24 hours.

2 minutes is exactly 1/720th of your day, or roughly 0.0014%.

Let me repeat that.

2 minutes is exactly 1/720th of your day, or roughly 0.0014%.

1/720th (0.0014%) of your day to reach out and be a courteous human being to say "Hey, I need to leave the RP for personal reasons." That's it. That's all it takes. It costs nothing, and requires essentially zero energy or calories to burn to get through it. You sit at your computer, open RPN, send the individual a PM saying you have to leave the RP. Done. Move on.

If taking 1/720th of your day is too much for you, then I won't sugarcoat it: you're just lazy. That, or you're too much of a coward to do the respectful and adult thing by reaching out with bad news. It's not going to hurt you. And it won't hurt the person you have to tell. They might be a bit disappointed. But it's on them to also be respectful and acknowledge your circumstances and let you be on your way with no bad blood.

So long as you take that 0.0014% of your day to reach out and say "Hey, I have to leave the RP," we can respect and appreciate that. You showed respect and courtesy to let us know and not leave us hanging. You showed class. And people will remember that class if they encounter you again. "This person at least told me they had to leave," is always better than "Oh, this person ghosted last time." Always.

So if you're a habitual ghoster, kindly do the right thing and knock it off.

Contrary to what appears to be a popular belief among the ghosting side of the community, it's not harmless. And it doesn't do anything positive for you or those you're ghosting.

Habitual ghosters are the bane of the role-playing community. So if you know you fall into that category then it's time to make a positive change. And not just for yourself. But for everyone's sake.

Don't be that person everyone recognizes and says "Bruh, that loser ghosts all the time. Don't let them into the RP."

If you want to be that person, then keep ghosting. Because it will come back to bite you in the end. And we'll all be here to say "Fix your behavior if you want to RP with us."

~ GojiBean

Yeah, ghosting sucks. It happens to all of us and I am sure at one point or another we have done it ourselves. Kudos to those that haven't. Thing is, not everyone's situation is the same and to be honest we don't really know someone's situation. I think we just see the pattern of ghosting and immediately think "Hey! Why did you do that to me?!" But you have to consider the possibilities. God forbid something were to seriously happen to someone where they physically cannot come online to say they're unable to post or maybe their home situation, which in my opinion is far more important than roleplaying, might not be the best. I've been there myself where I was homeless and the last thing I cared about was getting online to tell someone my personal private business just to let them know why I can't roleplay. Sometimes that is all we see when it comes to ghosting. The outside of it, that it happens to us. I'm not going to say there aren't people that do it for reasons I can't even imagine why: ghosting roleplays to ask for me then dropping those at the drop of a hat and so forth.

 

[Nihilum]

Drinking game: take a shot every time ghosting comes up in a thread

 

[Jannah]

Yeah, ghosting sucks. It happens to all of us and I am sure at one point or another we have done it ourselves. Kudos to those that haven't. Thing is, not everyone's situation is the same and to be honest we don't really know someone's situation. I think we just see the pattern of ghosting and immediately think "Hey! Why did you do that to me?!" But you have to consider the possibilities. God forbid something were to seriously happen to someone where they physically cannot come online to say they're unable to post or maybe their home situation, which in my opinion is far more important than roleplaying, might not be the best. I've been there myself where I was homeless and the last thing I cared about was getting online to tell someone my personal private business just to let them know why I can't roleplay. Sometimes that is all we see when it comes to ghosting. The outside of it, that it happens to us. I'm not going to say there aren't people that do it for reasons I can't even imagine why: ghosting roleplays to ask for me then dropping those at the drop of a hat and so forth.

This is a definitely true and very valid point. I know I was definitely ghosted, though, since the player was able to come online and leave our PM threads.

 

[GojiBean]

I definitely feel this pain. One-liners are a dealbreaker for me. I like for my partners to provide at least a couple paragraphs. That's really not asking much, considering how much I tend to write in comparison.

Respectfully, "a couple paragraphs" might not be necessary given what information comes before their post. It always depends on the situation, really.

Content quality is always more important than volume, and volume doesn't guarantee quality (probably didn't need to italicize that, but still I wanted to emphasize it).

For example: Let's say you write 5 paragraphs describing the aftermath of a battle scene. You set it up that it's raining, blood stains the grass and mud all around, and there's a mist in the air giving it a creepy and unnatural vibe that's making your character specifically feel uneasy. Your character takes all this in and then asks everyone else if they're all right, and if they're getting the same vibe your character is. And you leave it at that so that others can respond.

The following post would be more than acceptable despite its brevity given that it provides the necessary quality by reacting to the information you presented, and helps move the scene forward by responding to the questions posed as well as offering a suggestion for moving on:

"I'm fine." He replied as the red slush squirmed, wriggled, and splashed out from beneath his boots at every step.

"And you're right. This place is giving me the creeps. We should get outta here as soon as possible." He added while shielding his eyes from the rain.

In this post, even though it's only two sentences which is dangerously close to a one-liner, everything worth including has been included. The rain, blood-soaked mud, and creepy vibe have all been acknowledged and a plan of action was put forth to encourage forward movement in the story. A perfectly quality post.

I'm not saying to change how you post. But it would be to your benefit to be a bit more flexible with your RP partners and value the quality of the content they provide over the volume. As stated before, volume does not equal quality.

Cheers!

~ GojiBean

 

[Jannah]

Respectfully, "a couple paragraphs" might not be necessary given what information comes before their post. It always depends on the situation, really.

Content quality is always more important than volume, and volume doesn't guarantee quality (probably didn't need to italicize that, but still I wanted to emphasize it).

For example: Let's say you write 5 paragraphs describing the aftermath of a battle scene. You set it up that it's raining, blood stains the grass and mud all around, and there's a mist in the air giving it a creepy and unnatural vibe that's making your character specifically feel uneasy. Your character takes all this in and then asks everyone else if they're all right, and if they're getting the same vibe your character is. And you leave it at that so that others can respond.

The following post would be more than acceptable despite its brevity given that it provides the necessary quality by reacting to the information you presented, and helps move the scene forward by responding to the questions posed as well as offering a suggestion for moving on:

"I'm fine." He replied as the red slush squirmed, wriggled, and splashed out from beneath his boots at every step.

"And you're right. This place is giving me the creeps. We should get outta here as soon as possible." He added while shielding his eyes from the rain.

In this post, even though it's only two sentences which is dangerously close to a one-liner, everything worth including has been included. The rain, blood-soaked mud, and creepy vibe have all been acknowledged and a plan of action was put forth to encourage forward movement in the story. A perfectly quality post.

I'm not saying to change how you post. But it would be to your benefit to be a bit more flexible with your RP partners and value the quality of the content they provide over the volume. As stated before, volume does not equal quality.

Cheers!

~ GojiBean

I am very much a quality over quantity poster already. However, because I'm a character driven writer rather than a plot driven writer I like to know what the characters are thinking and such too, rather than just how they immediately react.

 

[Nihilum]

I am very much a quality over quantity poster already. However, because I'm a character driven writer rather than a plot driven writer I like to know what the characters are thinking and such too, rather than just how they immediately react.

This seems to be becoming a rarer opinion these days, which is...odd, considering that a story would be very boring without character development. Imagine Harry Potter if the entire book was just a bunch of actions and short dialogue. I've always thought that the plot should just be the hook that gets you in - the characters should be what makes you stay. I don't watch TV series or read comics because I'm interested in "Generic Plot #6853", I do it because I've genuinely become emotionally invested in those characters and sit on the edge of my seat whenever I think something bad's about to happen to them, or have my heart hit with the feels when they finally achieve their personal goal.

Does an RP technically work if the posts are nothing but "character action, your character vaguely reacts, i do another character action"? Yeah, I guess. But I don't see the fun in that. All of my successful RPs have leaned very heavily on how the characters form relationships, how their backgrounds affect their current circumstances, the way they behave and the way that changes as they go through the events of the story. A boring scene can quickly become very charming through the small addition of some banter, or through the way different characters respond to the same thing.

I also think that plot driven RPs just don't tend to have the same emotional effect that character driven does. If there's no development going on, I'm probably just going to blink and go 'huh, that sucks' when an important character gets killed off. But if we've spent the entire story getting attached to them, understanding how they think, what they've been through, how they've changed and grown for the better? You bet your ass I'm gonna sob like a baby over them dying. I've done it before. Sometimes they don't even have to die and I'll still sniffle a little for them if something bad happens.

I do wonder if it's got something to do with the fact that character driven generally cannot be achieved as efficiently in shorter, smaller posts, though. Naturally going through someone's thought process and their emotions is going to take more writing than describing an action or two.

 

[Jannah]

This seems to be becoming a rarer opinion these days, which is...odd, considering that a story would be very boring without character development. Imagine Harry Potter if the entire book was just a bunch of actions and short dialogue. I've always thought that the plot should just be the hook that gets you in - the characters should be what makes you stay. I don't watch TV series or read comics because I'm interested in "Generic Plot #6853", I do it because I've genuinely become emotionally invested in those characters and sit on the edge of my seat whenever I think something bad's about to happen to them, or have my heart hit with the feels when they finally achieve their personal goal.

Does an RP technically work if the posts are nothing but "character action, your character vaguely reacts, i do another character action"? Yeah, I guess. But I don't see the fun in that. All of my successful RPs have leaned very heavily on how the characters form relationships, how their backgrounds affect their current circumstances, the way they behave and the way that changes as they go through the events of the story. A boring scene can quickly become very charming through the small addition of some banter, or through the way different characters respond to the same thing.

I also think that plot driven RPs just don't tend to have the same emotional effect that character driven does. If there's no development going on, I'm probably just going to blink and go 'huh, that sucks' when an important character gets killed off. But if we've spent the entire story getting attached to them, understanding how they think, what they've been through, how they've changed and grown for the better? You bet your ass I'm gonna sob like a baby over them dying. I've done it before. Sometimes they don't even have to die and I'll still sniffle a little for them if something bad happens.

I do wonder if it's got something to do with the fact that character driven generally cannot be achieved as efficiently in shorter, smaller posts, though. Naturally going through someone's thought process and their emotions is going to take more writing than describing an action or two.

Exactly. You summed this up far more eloquently than I did.

 

[Whisker]

This seems to be becoming a rarer opinion these days, which is...odd, considering that a story would be very boring without character development. Imagine Harry Potter if the entire book was just a bunch of actions and short dialogue. I've always thought that the plot should just be the hook that gets you in - the characters should be what makes you stay. I don't watch TV series or read comics because I'm interested in "Generic Plot #6853", I do it because I've genuinely become emotionally invested in those characters and sit on the edge of my seat whenever I think something bad's about to happen to them, or have my heart hit with the feels when they finally achieve their personal goal.

Does an RP technically work if the posts are nothing but "character action, your character vaguely reacts, i do another character action"? Yeah, I guess. But I don't see the fun in that. All of my successful RPs have leaned very heavily on how the characters form relationships, how their backgrounds affect their current circumstances, the way they behave and the way that changes as they go through the events of the story. A boring scene can quickly become very charming through the small addition of some banter, or through the way different characters respond to the same thing.

I also think that plot driven RPs just don't tend to have the same emotional effect that character driven does. If there's no development going on, I'm probably just going to blink and go 'huh, that sucks' when an important character gets killed off. But if we've spent the entire story getting attached to them, understanding how they think, what they've been through, how they've changed and grown for the better? You bet your ass I'm gonna sob like a baby over them dying. I've done it before. Sometimes they don't even have to die and I'll still sniffle a little for them if something bad happens.

I do wonder if it's got something to do with the fact that character driven generally cannot be achieved as efficiently in shorter, smaller posts, though. Naturally going through someone's thought process and their emotions is going to take more writing than describing an action or two.

I'm a bit lost in the dark here.

What does "character-driven" or "plot-driven" even mean in regards to roleplaying, or any kind of storytelling for that matter? It's kind of like talking about cake and asking if you're egg-driven or flour-driven; they're both essential for achieving the end goal: a cake (or a story).

A plot defines a character's raison d'etre. Without it, character development doesn't even really exist in the context of roleplaying or storytelling since plot encompasses a character's conflicts, motivations, growth, history, and future. You use Harry Potter as a good example of what character development can do to a story while de-emphasizing the impact the overall conflict with Voldemort had to that effect. For example, it was highly unlikely Ron and Harry would ever be friends with Hermione Granger if Quirrel didn't let the troll in the dungeon in an attempt to get the Sorceror's Stone for Voldemort. By losing this thread of plot, you lose all character development that came through his interactions with Hermione.

And it isn't just restricted to her.

Harry's thoughts, feelings, and interactions with Snape, Dumbledore, Ron, Sirius, Draco Malfoy, Peter Pettigrew etc are all connected to the plot. You're right that 'Generic Plot #6875' isn't something most people care about, but it still matters because the CHARACTERS care about it. They literally exist because of it, and everything they do is part of some kind of plot. That being the case, it seems very natural why some writers would pay special attention to pushing plot when designing roleplays. Especially given the shelf-life of some of them.

In my 20 odd years of roleplaying, I've seldomly encountered plot-heavy rps where people were just writing actions at each other without any kind of character input unless they were very, very, very inexperienced. Most "plot-driven" roleplayers I know are often weaving sub-plots with each other and tailoring the main around the various characters created for the story. I'm aware that "slice of life" and "sandbox" still exist, but I don't think that's what's being referred to through the division.

Sorry if I'm misunderstanding here.

 

[The Great Sage]

Some of the most compelling characters ever written come from extremely action-oriented narratives. I'm not following the current logic of the thread here. Achilles, for example, the world's saddest emo comes from a story where the bard sings in a way that might be distilled down to: "Event 'A' happened, then event 'b'. Swift-footed Achilles then did 'c' and resulted in 'd'."

I don't think readers need to snort a character's internal monologue like cocaine in order to become invested. Sometimes it's better to leave things up for interpretation. Perhaps this is why the 'Iliad' is going to be studied for generations to come and 'Harry Potter' will likely suffer the same fall into obscurity that the 'Narnia' series did.

 

[Jannah]

Some of the most compelling characters ever written come from extremely action-oriented narratives. I'm not following the current logic of the thread here. Achilles, for example, the world's saddest emo comes from a story where the bard sings in a way that might be distilled down to: "Event 'A' happened, then event 'b'. Swift-footed Achilles then did 'c' and resulted in 'd'."

I don't think readers need to snort a character's internal monologue like cocaine in order to become invested. Sometimes it's better to leave things up for interpretation. Perhaps this is why the 'Iliad' is going to be studied for generations to come and 'Harry Potter' will likely suffer the same fall into obscurity that the 'Narnia' series did.

I get that, but earlier comments sounded like a justification for one-liners and such. I feel like they make RP shallow and I lose interest quickly. At least that is my opinion. Others are free to do that sort of RP if they enjoy it. I personally do not. To me, RP is very much a form of collaborative storytelling and most stories, good stories at least, describe internal monologue and whatever else is going on in the scene.

 

[Nihilum]

I'm confused by the "YEAH BUT YOU STILL GOTTA HAVE PLOT" statements flying around. ....Duh? Nobody's advocating that you forgo a plot completely, lmfao. We're saying that character development is an important feature of a good story that a concerning amount of RPers tend to overlook in favor of rapidly advancing the story and "one-liners".

 

[The Great Sage]

...earlier comments sounded like a justification for one-liners and such.

I see what you're saying. I would agree that in this format, writing one liners is rude given that you're not just adding exposition to the project, but providing material for your partner(s) to work with.

I don't agree with notion that a character's action and behaviours cause less 'characterization' than their internal thoughts.

As a reader, I sometimes even resent something being spelled out in black and white. Let me draw my own conclusions! That's half the fun.

 

[Jannah]

I see what you're saying. I would agree that in this format, writing one liners is rude given that you're not just adding exposition to the project, but providing material for your partner(s) to work with.

I don't agree with notion that a character's action and behaviours cause less 'characterization' than their internal thoughts.

As a reader, I sometimes even resent something being spelled out in black and white. Let me draw my own conclusions! That's half the fun.

Different strokes for different folks. I enjoy the heavy characterization. Detailed characters are really what make me invested in a story. This is all very subjective of course like any form of art is.

 

[ABetterNickname]

A pet peeve for me, but something that has been something very discouraging, is the fact that almost everyone who I roleplayed with in the past, idk, 3 to 4 years are people who seemed determined to not give a single fuck about wanting to talk like friends or, you know, be kind of sociable.
And I kind of get it, I'm not very sociable too, and I don't like to give much information about myself, I think thats unnecessary. But like, if I asked someone how are they, or how their day has been, it's like I'm being invasive or something, which really shouldn't be. I have no other way to put it, its like people who I start to RP are scared to become my friend or something, and this is so bizarre because I feel like it happened too many times.
Why should I feel like I'm being inconvenient if I'm just trying to share a joke or ask someone how they are?

I don't know, when I started to RP, I was used to become friends with everybody. And I don't mean like I want someone to share feelings or something, not at all, but just like, act normally, I guess? At least pretend that we are human? It is so weird to me how everyone recently seems to prefer a complete disconnect: just give me my posts/replies and lets get this over with. This made some experiences with very capable partners not as enjoyable as they could have been.
Maybe I'm just super unlucky. Maybe I'm getting old.

 

[Merciless Medic]

I'm a bit lost in the dark here.

What does "character-driven" or "plot-driven" even mean in regards to roleplaying, or any kind of storytelling for that matter? It's kind of like talking about cake and asking if you're egg-driven or flour-driven; they're both essential for achieving the end goal: a cake (or a story).

A plot defines a character's raison d'etre. Without it, character development doesn't even really exist in the context of roleplaying or storytelling since plot encompasses a character's conflicts, motivations, growth, history, and future. You use Harry Potter as a good example of what character development can do to a story while de-emphasizing the impact the overall conflict with Voldemort had to that effect. For example, it was highly unlikely Ron and Harry would ever be friends with Hermione Granger if Quirrel didn't let the troll in the dungeon in an attempt to get the Sorceror's Stone for Voldemort. By losing this thread of plot, you lose all character development that came through his interactions with Hermione.

And it isn't just restricted to her.

Harry's thoughts, feelings, and interactions with Snape, Dumbledore, Ron, Sirius, Draco Malfoy, Peter Pettigrew etc are all connected to the plot. You're right that 'Generic Plot #6875' isn't something most people care about, but it still matters because the CHARACTERS care about it. They literally exist because of it, and everything they do is part of some kind of plot. That being the case, it seems very natural why some writers would pay special attention to pushing plot when designing roleplays. Especially given the shelf-life of some of them.

In my 20 odd years of roleplaying, I've seldomly encountered plot-heavy rps where people were just writing actions at each other without any kind of character input unless they were very, very, very inexperienced. Most "plot-driven" roleplayers I know are often weaving sub-plots with each other and tailoring the main around the various characters created for the story. I'm aware that "slice of life" and "sandbox" still exist, but I don't think that's what's being referred to through the division.

Sorry if I'm misunderstanding here.

A plot-driven story is about using characters as tools to drive the plot with their actions and the basic reasons why they do it, while a character-driven story is about using the plot as a tool to drive the characters and influence their behaviors and getting into their psyche and how they deal with interpersonal relationships.

A character-driven story is focused on studying the characters that make up your story. It usually deals with inner transformations or the relationships between the characters and the plot and actions of other characters serve to make these characters grow from who they were when debuted to who they will become by the end. Telltale Games' The Walking Dead (mainly because I don't watch the TV series) is very much a character-driven story. While there is the plot of a zombie pandemic, there are a bunch of characters within the story you have to side with or go against as Lee. Protecting your own and figuring out how to help those around you. It focuses on how and why characters arrive at a particular choice, whether that be yourself or those of your comrades, who can leave or die you if you do something stupid. There is always a reason as to why those characters do the things they do in that game, ally or not. They even throw in horrible ideas like a two-faced sweet, yet cannibalistic family that gives the group a false sense of security that ends up killing a friend and learning how they'll react to that stressor. That is a character-driven game. Of course, the pandemic started and the characters had to come together to survive and if the plot wasn't there, then they wouldn't see each other. The plot is still there, but it takes more of a backseat. It's simple, while it focuses on the struggles of the characters.

Personally, that's my favorite style. Have an overarching plot that the characters have to struggle through and find themselves. The plot has a means to an end, but it is usually used to develop the character.

A plot-driven story focuses on a set of choices that a character must make and the events within the plot, like Michael Bay action movies. They are fast-paced, exciting, and hook the readers and RPers to see if the characters will survive. The plot becomes the focus, as you are now tieing together plot points and character actions to create a story, and your characters, while they do develop, now take the back burner as far as internal development as they go through the plot and figure out what's going to happen before it does and stop it or find a way out. They are forced to make quick decisions, and characters may not develop into someone different by the end of the story, but they do learn a lot from their struggles. They must move the plot forward with their actions instead of figuring themselves out, trying to find a way to survive in their new circumstances and giving them the option to stop or leave the event.

Of course, a lot of things use these two focus points. A story or movie or what-have-you isn't always going to be focusing on one the entire time. But the prevalence of one over the other is the reason why these categories exist.

For me, I like to weave these into each other. I like to drive the plot because I like it when the story is fast-paced. My characters push the stories forward, their backstories influence their decisions, and their motivations keep them going on that path they want, or they change it after learning something and go forward. I also like making detailed characters, letting their environment and the situations they're in change them and warp them, making them into vigilant heroes or blighted villains or misunderstood vigilantes. That doesn't mean I want to weaken the story for my characters. I like putting them through pain, and the more struggles they go through, the more they'll grow and the more interesting they'll become in both talents and flaws. I don't like making perfect characters, and I often like making them make mistakes in judgment or say something wrong that can oftentimes make or break a relationship they're in with someone or cause someone's death. I want them to go through pain so they can grow.

This is probably because I view both a plot and the characters as integral, as tools for each other to bounce off of.

A very long-winded explanation to answer your questions. XD LOL But hey, hope this helps

 

[Whisker]

A plot-driven story is about using characters as tools to drive the plot with their actions and the basic reasons why they do it, while a character-driven story is about using the plot as a tool to drive the characters and influence their behaviors and getting into their psyche and how they deal with interpersonal relationships.

A character-driven story is focused on studying the characters that make up your story. It usually deals with inner transformations or the relationships between the characters and the plot and actions of other characters serve to make these characters grow from who they were when debuted to who they will become by the end. Telltale Games' The Walking Dead (mainly because I don't watch the TV series) is very much a character-driven story. While there is the plot of a zombie pandemic, there are a bunch of characters within the story you have to side with or go against as Lee. Protecting your own and figuring out how to help those around you. It focuses on how and why characters arrive at a particular choice, whether that be yourself or those of your comrades, who can leave or die you if you do something stupid. There is always a reason as to why those characters do the things they do in that game, ally or not. They even throw in horrible ideas like a two-faced sweet, yet cannibalistic family that gives the group a false sense of security that ends up killing a friend and learning how they'll react to that stressor. That is a character-driven game. Of course, the pandemic started and the characters had to come together to survive and if the plot wasn't there, then they wouldn't see each other. The plot is still there, but it takes more of a backseat. It's simple, while it focuses on the struggles of the characters.

Personally, that's my favorite style. Have an overarching plot that the characters have to struggle through and find themselves. The plot has a means to an end, but it is usually used to develop the character.

A plot-driven story focuses on a set of choices that a character must make and the events within the plot, like Michael Bay action movies. They are fast-paced, exciting, and hook the readers and RPers to see if the characters will survive. The plot becomes the focus, as you are now tieing together plot points and character actions to create a story, and your characters, while they do develop, now take the back burner as far as internal development as they go through the plot and figure out what's going to happen before it does and stop it or find a way out. They are forced to make quick decisions, and characters may not develop into someone different by the end of the story, but they do learn a lot from their struggles. They must move the plot forward with their actions instead of figuring themselves out, trying to find a way to survive in their new circumstances and giving them the option to stop or leave the event.

Of course, a lot of things use these two focus points. A story or movie or what-have-you isn't always going to be focusing on one the entire time. But the prevalence of one over the other is the reason why these categories exist.

For me, I like to weave these into each other. I like to drive the plot because I like it when the story is fast-paced. My characters push the stories forward, their backstories influence their decisions, and their motivations keep them going on that path they want, or they change it after learning something and go forward. I also like making detailed characters, letting their environment and the situations they're in change them and warp them, making them into vigilant heroes or blighted villains or misunderstood vigilantes. That doesn't mean I want to weaken the story for my characters. I like putting them through pain, and the more struggles they go through, the more they'll grow and the more interesting they'll become in both talents and flaws. I don't like making perfect characters, and I often like making them make mistakes in judgment or say something wrong that can oftentimes make or break a relationship they're in with someone or cause someone's death. I want them to go through pain so they can grow.

This is probably because I view both a plot and the characters as integral, as tools for each other to bounce off of.

A very long-winded explanation to answer your questions. XD LOL But hey, hope this helps

A pretty good answer! Thanks for that. Most of the stories I encounter can and do weave both of these styles together which is why it was confusing me that they were being treated as two entirely separate entities -- particularly with one style apparently being associated with one-liners.

 

[Merciless Medic]

A pretty good answer! Thanks for that. Most of the stories I encounter can and do weave both of these styles together which is why it was confusing me that they were being treated as two entirely separate entities -- particularly with one style apparently being associated with one-liners.

You're welcome

Weaving both of these focuses together are really common in the RP world. But the one style that is particularly about one-liners is the plot-driven one and it's because they just have their characters act. They don't go into the psyche of their characters, so they just write a simple few lines about what their character does, reacts, and have a hook (hopefully) for the other to go off of. This can be longer than one sentence.

While more detailed posts (not bashing anyone on playstyle) tend to focus on character monologues as they do their thing, which is more about character-driven posts and possibly the RP. They aren't exclusively synonymous, but it can happen. I've seen simple posts do character monologues and character-driven posts as well, so it just depends.

One-liners for me is basically someone gives a reaction and that's it. XD I've seen that before, so I'm not sure if that's entirely accurate unless they put everything in one sentence. XD

They can be written as two entirely separate entities, but most people can get them confused with each other and think there's only one going on and not both (which is usually the case). Most group RPs are usually plot-driven while most 1x1 are a combination of character-driven stuff or having both plot and character stuff. At least, that's the majority of each from what I've seen. Of course, you can still have character development and plot development in both of these, they are usually just not looked on as much depending on what's going on and it's usually up to the player of that character to make those character-driven decisions in a plot-based group RP. In a 1x1, I do expect RP partners of mine to put care into their character's development with my character's development in mind while I do the same for them, but it's not a deal breaker. I do like bouncing off plot ideas to see how the characters react while also figuring out what actions my characters can do to make the plot (or side-plot) move. XD