As I said it's all personal preference, just like pretty much everything else in this thread is personal preference. For example, to cite my own post I will not write in games with a realistic feel and tone if anime FC's are being used. That just breaks the immersion for me, thus I don't like it. I know to avoid games with players doing that.
This is literally my exact reasoning. FC's absolutely should match the tone of the RP.
Perfectly valid my man. The point where we differ is you write for fun. I love writing, alright, I am a literature student and I enjoy what I do, so it's not like I don't think writing is "fun" either....it just isn't my main focus. I think words are powerful and I'd like to use them to its potential. I'm not here to have fun, I'm here to tell a story. I'm choosing not to use an excalibur to butter toast is all, but toasts are great with butter so you should enjoy them if you like uwu
they’re not really policing your preferences, but i think a huge thing to note is that for many of us, rpn and roleplaying in general is a form of escape from the circumstances of our lives and the real world. we live vicariously by writing for our characters and enjoy it. for many of the poc and lgbtq writers on this site, racism and bigotry are common experiences that add onto the stress of our real lives. to then experience it virtually just takes away the joy and escapism of rping.
And people who are affected by racism and other forms of bigotry are not being forced to participate in RP's that happen to include those themes.
hey! i really don’t wanna like, get into any kind of civil or moral debate here, but i am genuinely curious about a couple of your points here. would you care to dm and have a small discussion, especially to avoid an “echo chamber”?
Cosmo
while i get what you mean, i don't think that's the point everybody was making. i understand you're not racist irl for having a racist character - but tbh i don't think that can be compared to making an evil fictional cult. racism is something people face everyday, something that affects our entire society. nobody thinks thomas harris is a serial killer for writing hannibal lecter - and nobody thinks you're racist irl for making a racist villain. what people have a problem with, if i can explain it well, is how it's treated and defended. 
Jannah
you're free to use racism in your roleplays, just as we are free to not agree with it. i don't think anybody is going to censor you or attack you for it, but we are just stating why it makes us uncomfortable.
Yep. It can be genuinely fascinating to explore those themes. I hate how it's automatically assumed that those exploring those themes must be condoning those behaviors.
I should clarify again that any bigoted characters I write are not portrayed in a sympathetic light. They are not characters that the other players and readers are supposed to sympathize with. The one exception is characters who are intended to question their bigoted beliefs over the course of the story. In cases like that often it's a case of them overcoming brainwashing, which makes for great drama and character development.
an evil cult killing people is a real thing, sure, but not as terribly close too everyday life as experiencing racism.
for example, a villain can be sympathetic because they had to kill/etc for survival. a racist villain should not be sympathized in such a way - because they can't show the bare humanity and do the same for poc.
also - i hope you two don't see this as a personal attack. i really just wanna explain why we feel the way we do and why we're passionate about it. thanks for hearing me out!
an evil cult killing people is a real thing, sure, but not as terribly close too everyday life as experiencing racism.
for example, a villain can be sympathetic because they had to kill/etc for survival. a racist villain should not be sympathized in such a way - because they can't show the bare humanity and do the same for poc.
I just want to say we’ve all been making it clear that we understand no one who does this is explicitly OR implicitly racist. we understand you’re not condoning them but it is also unreasonable to expect users on the site to just drop a roleplay because you or someone else chose to create a character that unsettles them. dark themes definitely add much needed spice to roleplays if the people involved are mature or comfortable enough to handle them; I just think when making characters like that, you need to consider that roleplaying is a COLLABORATIVE group or partner activity. you can’t expect everyone to just be okay with it and willing to drop something they’re interested in at a moment’s notice.
Well, I make it very clear in my interest checks that I'm interested in exploring dark and/or sensitive themes. People who try to RP with me only to drop later on probably didn't read in full :/
now see I understand and appreciate the whole “be kind to one another” shtick but as people from minority communities, hopefully you can understand why this is something very important to us- at least for me.
) . It’s human rights, not a pancakes vs waffles situation. And so, when it comes to the portrayal of human rights and the many injustices, traumas both historical and current, you have to approach- that is if you approach- with sympathy, decency. judging someone for not wanting to partake in something so traumatic or sensitive is just as bad as judging for someone for wanting to. That’s what I’m getting at. Moreover, there’s a certain level of respect owed to such topics and it appears at some point in times, that users who write the stories utilize the pain merely for plot, not for homage, not for representation but for the - forgive me for the lack of better word- but the angst of it all. And I for one, do not agree with that. 
And that's the point some of us are trying to make: that there's nothing wrong with portraying these themes as long as they're handled with care.hello! fellow english literature major here!
i think we all know that writing exists outside of RPing. however, this an RP site. and this thread is about RP tropes/topics. it is safe to say that people will naturally handle their RPing differently than they would handle literary fiction. even then, a lot of literary fiction is critiqued for the mishandling of these sorts of issues. heart of darkness? to kill a mockingbird? gone with the wind? from a literary standpoint, it is not unreasonable for people to be wary of this sort of thing.
condescending to people doesn't help any point that you may be attempting to makewe are all readers and writers here.
now see I understand and appreciate the whole “be kind to one another” shtick but as people from minority communities, hopefully you can understand why this is something very important to us- at least for me.
Also, I would like to add that virtually no one said anything to the degree of “think of the children!”
moreover, I think that this is one of those subjects that simply is not debatable nor comparable and it is in fact insulting to see someone downplay it (although I’ve witnessed many similar accounts be dismissed here ngl
However, I do apologize if I offended anyone with my earlier comment, but like most people here I was shocked and in a state of frenzy.
also, may I add that no one is asking for someone to advocate for both sides or maintain the peace? I understand that there are some trying to help but in some cases, when it gets as personal as race or racism- even fictional,,,,, it looks like someone’s trying to tame a fire with a water bottle if yknow what I mean. These topics are difficult and having these discussions are meant to be difficult, in fact I view it as a positive that we’re even having one
Also on the topic of most hated tropes/scenes
I’m sorry I can’t stand sci-if or anything to do with aliens or outer space, I get bored very easily
Oh my god thank you. Not going to lie I am a biiit pissed over here so to hear someone who isn't just calling me racist and white is a blessing. Bless you stranger. I was not trying to be condescending. I acknowledge that it is fine if you want to write for fun, it is fine if you want to escape, it is FINE if you want to write something light-hearted and not touch on realistic topics. But is it so hard to just not let me do my thing? I like social commentaries, I like humanism values in my writing. If you don't that's fine, go find your own flock I'll find mine. But cmon guys.hello! fellow english literature major here!
i think we all know that writing exists outside of RPing. however, this an RP site. and this thread is about RP tropes/topics. it is safe to say that people will naturally handle their RPing differently than they would handle literary fiction. even then, a lot of literary fiction is critiqued for the mishandling of these sorts of issues. heart of darkness? to kill a mockingbird? gone with the wind? from a literary standpoint, it is not unreasonable for people to be wary of this sort of thing.
condescending to people doesn't help any point that you may be attempting to make
To me RP and literature are practically one and the same. I consider RP to be collaborative storytelling and I like stories that offer social commentary.
