Why I'm Not Fond of Creating Roleplays

[NUSKI]

My Explanation
I must admit, creating roleplays can be quite fun and enjoyable, especially done with other people. My problem isn't that it takes a lot of work (or well it should). I find that when you are the GM of the roleplay, it isn't as fun. Why is that you ask?


Think about it; when you are the creator of the roleplay, you know exactly what's going to happen. There isn't any surprise or excitement, at least that is how I view it. You control everything so your character knows exactly what to do. Sure, you can act like you had no idea of this and your character is having some trouble, for example.. fighting a water serpent or giant. The fact is, YOU are the one that's controlling the mob/opponent. Imagine if your character was the one that was fighting these beasts. The conversation would mostly likely be a one-on-one chat with yourself. Even if other players are contributing to the attack, you would most likely have the longer post since you are controlling not only your character but the opponent. Plus, you could have more than one character.


If I were to create a roleplay, I would do it with others and assign each a part of the story without telling me. Or they could, I doubt it would matter. Or I would make it a DICE roleplay so the power of my attacks and defense would be surprising. Of course, this only applies to roleplays with combat- specifically Fantasy, Futuristic, Fandom[?], and DICE[?].


That's all I wanted to say for now. Let me know what you think.



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-Brook

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[Skelo10]

I really have to say it depends on what the roleplay genre/topic actually is about. But if I were to choose between Yes or No, I'd have to disagree.

 

[Chordling]

Creating a roleplay definitely holds more responsibility than participating in a roleplay, but I have to disagree with you on some aspects. Knowing what happens in the story's plot is very important. Even in one on one situations, if users don't know where they're going, then the roleplay is very susceptible to failure. Knowing a course of action does not mean that there is a lack of excitement, however. When I roleplay with my partners and in groups, we may know factors X, Y, and Z, but we can't say for sure how our characters will react. There's always a mysterious element to group writing. Of course, if you dictated what everyone would do during that moment in the roleplay, then yes, perhaps your roleplay would lack the element of surprise, but why bother planning with so much detail? Why ruin it for yourself that way?


It's almost like planning a long trip. You're going to a place that you really love, and you already know which places you'll visit, what you'll want to do there, and who you might want to meet up with. You know your course of action, but your trip is still fun and exciting at the same time. Collaborating in a roleplay separately can be dangerous. I know for a fact that if someone were to put me in that situation, my imagination would go crazy. I think you would have more difficulty trying to put the pieces together if you were to go that route than if you were to do all of the work yourself.


Creating a roleplay is an art and is certainly hard to master. It's why I love one on one roleplays so much because you come up with something together. Group roleplays can be managed in the same way, although it becomes more difficult as you add people.

 

[NUSKI]

Creating a roleplay definitely holds more responsibility than participating in a roleplay, but I have to disagree with you on some aspects. Knowing what happens in the story's plot is very important. Even in one on one situations, if users don't know where they're going, then the roleplay is very susceptible to failure. Knowing a course of action does not mean that there is a lack of excitement, however. When I roleplay with my partners and in groups, we may know factors X, Y, and Z, but we can't say for sure how our characters will react. There's always a mysterious element to group writing. Of course, if you dictated what everyone would do during that moment in the roleplay, then yes, perhaps your roleplay would lack the element of surprise, but why bother planning with so much detail? Why ruin it for yourself that way?
It's almost like planning a long trip. You're going to a place that you really love, and you already know which places you'll visit, what you'll want to do there, and who you might want to meet up with. You know your course of action, but your trip is still fun and exciting at the same time. Collaborating in a roleplay separately can be dangerous. I know for a fact that if someone were to put me in that situation, my imagination would go crazy. I think you would have more difficulty trying to put the pieces together if you were to go that route than if you were to do all of the work yourself.


Creating a roleplay is an art and is certainly hard to master. It's why I love one on one roleplays so much because you come up with something together. Group roleplays can be managed in the same way, although it becomes more difficult as you add people.

Thanks for putting in your opinion. You have surely cleared some things up for me

 

[Flutterby]

The only true reason I dont like creating and running roleplays, is it seems I always end up with one or two players who dont really follow the plot or respect the world that has been created, no matter how many nudges (or polite PM's) they get. Im all for creative freedom and collaborative development, but it goes beyond that, and then the roleplay completely derails from what it was meant to be. At one point, I had a fantasy roleplay that was meant to be about finding and fighting the bad guys turn into something more like a slice-of-life game. I find that very difficult to deal with (because its a little upsetting, to be frank), and it has happened more than once, so I havent made a roleplay of my own in quite a while.


So if you can find one of those characters, it at least solves the problem of knowing what will happen xD

 

[Circus]

I'd rather not have a character in an RP that I'm GMing. It would allow for greater separation.

 

[DemonKitten]

I'd say that most my roleplays, I only create the roleplay and leave the creativity to the players. I am not strict with my boundaries so it allows surprise for me as well. You can always make a roleplay that is created by the roleplayers and not just yourself. That is what I did for my roleplay ZAO

 

[Lexielai]

I enjoy the authoritative aspects of GMing > muahahaha, but I also find that roleplays I'm in don't go anywhere unless I give them a direction.

 

[Chordling]

Im all for creative freedom and collaborative development, but it goes beyond that, and then the roleplay completely derails from what it was meant to be. At one point, I had a fantasy roleplay that was meant to be about finding and fighting the bad guys turn into something more like a slice-of-life game. I find that very difficult to deal with (because its a little upsetting, to be frank), and it has happened more than once, so I havent made a roleplay of my own in quite a while.
So if you can find one of those characters, it at least solves the problem of knowing what will happen xD

I think this can be solved simply by creating a strong method to collaborate with other members. You can always set boundaries to what users add to your plot. Finding people who are willing to conform to those boundaries may be hard, yes, but I think that is the whole part of the creation aspect.

I'd rather not have a character in an RP that I'm GMing. It would allow for greater separation.

I'd say that most my roleplays, I only create the roleplay and leave the creativity to the players. I am not strict with my boundaries so it allows surprise for me as well. You can always make a roleplay that is created by the roleplayers and not just yourself. That is what I did for my roleplay ZAO

If find these two ideas rather interesting. I've never simply GMed a roleplay before. I've always involved myself. Maybe it's because I feel like there would be too much separation between me and those who have joined my roleplay. I love getting to connect with people and sometimes I feel the best way to do that is through my characters. I've also never let people have full reign in fear of something happening similar to what Flutter had explained. I do enjoy people showing their creativity however because it can be very inspiring.

 

[Icerex]

Well, if you're someone like me who enjoys the thrill of creating the story, such as DM'ing a D&D session. You like creating role plays, even if you know what's going to happen.

 

[Archie]

@Brook


Some GMs just let off and have players take the drivers seat for a bit unless things spin out of control. Also some don't know what will happen but just simulate events as they go along. You can have fun while GMing again, just let your players use their creativity and see what they come up with

 

[Grey]

I tend to run things loosely enough that the players can lead the story in interesting directions.


Mainly because I adopt a sandbox approach - if I want to write a story, I'll write a story. Roleplaying is more simulationist, for me.


Here is a world, here are the events and people in that world, what do your characters do?


Watching players speculate about the plot or setting elements is also fun.


As an oldschool tabletop GM, I do not have characters in RPs I've created.