Let's B!tch. I feel it's a healthy release for our roleplay annoyances 2.0

[Prince]

In small roleplay, I find the idea of separate posting to be more detrimental than slow posters or speed posters. If you have five or less people, just use titanpad and you'll increase interaction tenfold, increase quality, refine the end results and encourage every being together or being part of something instead of individual posting. Not saying to do this all the time or to require the entire group, but it is just exponentially more effective.

In larger groups, it's beneficial to actually find a method to separate out the different kinds of posters until they need to interact. If you have 6+ roleplayers, you're gonna kill a roleplay by forcing them to all be together all the time, so it's just a feat of social and literary engineering to get them segregating in efficient little groups.

[Pachamac]

Re: Speedposting or having a post overlap others, in my rp we generally just 'call' the next post within the ooc to allow others to know not to post for the next hour or so whilst we write a post, and/or post a 'WIP' in the IC to obviously let everyone know the IC post is a work in progress.

I dislike collabing or the idea of using titanpad or otherwise within a small group as opposed to just getting on with the IC posting itself. All it takes is for one person to slow things down within a collab and it hinders and slows down the rest too (not to mention the difficulties involved with seperate timezones and the like), whereas if you've got the IC actually continually moving it makes it easier for every other player to respond to.

As for larger group/character roleplays, yeah, multiple groups/scenes are always handy and something I strive to set up. Makes inter-character interaction and scenes better and more interesting whilst also making plot development easier too.

[Prince]

I dislike collabing or the idea of using titanpad or otherwise within a small group as opposed to just getting on with the IC posting itself. All it takes is for one person to slow things down within a collab and it hinders and slows down the rest too (not to mention the difficulties involved with seperate timezones and the like), whereas if you've got the IC actually continually moving it makes it easier for every other player to respond to.

I would combat that simply with the fact you can get a whole lot more done in terms of plot and 'moving forward' in a collab session than you can via IC posting in the same amount of time. I would even say that among good roleplayers, a 2 hour collab session could easily be worth 2 days of inconsistent IC posting. Essentially, if someone is going to stop posting or not be active, it's going to hurt you and the roleplay regardless of what posting style you're using. I would even disagree with the thought that any form of IC posting makes it easier for 'every other player to respond to' when there are only four or five roleplayers. If one has just wrote, there are three or four. If one is inactive, two or three. That means, in any case, there are two or three roleplayers on standby that can post. If one person is inactive, they're going to be equally detrimental to a collab or an IC, but in a collab you can just edit and insert whatever information you need to bypass them without utterly disregarding them, which gives their character a sense of presence when they're actually not and gives the roleplayer an equal opportunity to respond. It also makes it easy to assess just how big of a detriment a roleplayer can be in terms of progress.

The entire dynamic of collabing is far more effective than single posting. It comes at the cost of writing being a shared event. Writing a post suddenly becomes a 'session' over a 'set of time' instead of a little scenario when you're done. You suddenly have to engage with other people actively. The downfall of it is solely that people and their schedules don't often align correctly. Although easy for some, a lot of people aren't active at the same time as others, so creating a 'session' isn't nearly as easy so the benefits aren't fully reaped. Once the actual benefits and dynamic of collabing is established, it is - in my opinion - the single healthiest, most effective and most productive method of text-based roleplay.

However, I will admit that ideally you won't collab 'all the time'. In many cases, character interaction or plot events won't allow it. So, really, knowing when and how to use tools such as collaboration posts is the skill to develop. Every situation in a constantly changing dynamic such as a text-based adventure and/or story calls for a different medium to address it by. Just because a method is more effective in several ways doesn't make it the best suited for the given situation.

[Pachamac]

Except that getting every player available for a collabing session on a daily basis for an rp with daily posting wouldn't work for my rp whatsoever, and would actually slow down the amount of interaction and plot development that could be done by a massive factor. With players from all across the world in different timezones, something like that wouldn't be feasible other then like something on the weekend, and even then the amount that could be done and written within a timeframe like that as opposed to individual posting across the week would be minimal.

It's different strokes for different folks. It can work for some rps and not for others and isn't automatically better (or worse). I personally dislike it.

[Prince]

Prince said The downfall of it is solely that people and their schedules don't often align correctly

I already addressed that. I didn't overlook the conflict of time.

Prince said Every situation in a constantly changing dynamic such as a text-based adventure and/or story calls for a different medium to address it by.

I never said it was the best. I said it was the most effective if it was applicable. I called it healthy and productive when and if it can be used.

I wasn't speaking as if situations changed the state of the medium. The medium will stay the same. Its traits are existential. You can use a pencil to draw, but using it to paint won't be as effective as using a real paint brush. However, you don't always have paint for your canvas. Once the resources are available, it never hurts to have the proper tool to best utilize them.

Edit:

even then the amount that could be done and written within a timeframe like that as opposed to individual posting across the week would be minimal

I'd contest that greatly. Just a few hours of proper collabing can easily result in more development, interaction and activity than IC posting. Not to mention, you created a weekend scenario. If you had just say three hours to collab with.. four people, and somehow all four of you managed to show up for the entire time, nothing is stopping you from continuing your IC posts for the rest of that weekend. The point would be the observation at the end of the weekend to see how much (or much more) was accomplished via either method, and I will boldly tell you that the use of a few hours of collaboration would provide better results.

As for your personal preference, to each their own. Just because you dislike it doesn't mean its existential traits are ineffective. It's not applicable to your situation, and that's entirely different.

[Rayn Night]

My many problems in RPs:

1. Me, Myself and I: Rather it be the character or the actual person, this type of personality simply kills me. For characters, well, I simply cannot grasp the idea of how this kind of character is even possible to RP. What I mean by this is that everything revolves around themselves and do not add any interaction to other characters OR everything that happens IS the character.

PS: I have had it happen too often

2. Unsocial Characters: This sounds stupid, by it is a little like point 1. If I have to force my character to interact in any way, shape or form, well, it is going to piss me off more than anything else.

3. The GM that draws a story and you simply walk in its steps: This… THIS… I am here to have my characters develop in a WORLD, not be an "NPC" In an already written story.

[Prince]

1. Unless they're speedposting, metag-gaming or just doing something intentionally disruptive, I don't really consider if 'fair' to judge a character because of their attitude. You want a self-centered, egomaniac? That's fine. You want someone who believes they deserve all of the sensei's attention and special training? Try that shit. I can tell you right now, people whom are self-centered in person find even more obstacles than if they weren't. Just recently, I covered a shift due to two employees being fired. Normally, I'm management. This time, I was regular crew. One of the new trainee managers thought she would make the entire evening about her and her 'accomplishments running floor' due to the high sale count after I basically kept our grill and back window in line while she gossiped in the front. She tried to brag to our bosses, but she was essentially scoffed at. When she asked for more training in floor to pass her evaluations, she was denied and given the same amount of time as the other trainees. The difference here is that now a majority of the crew dislike her due to her attempt to take the glory for passing sale counts for three consecutive hours without even rewarding or meriting the crew. Situations like that, albeit even worse, will happen in a roleplay. If you're in a D&D as some badass mageblade that thinks they can solo the boss, you might not get heals from the Priest you pissed off after the last meeting. You might die. That's extreme, but an example of the consequences. In any case, I see no reason to bitch about or eliminate those characters. They exist in real life and I personally like having them here and there in a game, if they're roleplayed correctly - and that might actually take a few acts from a GM to intentionally berate their ego.

2, This is really similar to the first, but in this case, I find it more rare. However, if a person wants to play an introvert or an unsocial character, fine. Back when I roleplayed under mentors, I remember my personal mentor had this one pet roleplayer. She only had a handful of character concepts, but she did them well. Very well. One of them, the one we all became quite acquainted with, rarely said anything, and most of the time she spoke it was "Fucking idiot" or something along those lines. Those are character types. Those are valid archetypes. That's personal preference and it's really a dick move to just hate on personal preference.

However, I do see a common trend here, and that is lack of interaction. If roleplayers just aren't interacting, they might just be poor writers. I know you can interact with unsocial characters and narcissists easily. Back from the 2. point, I created a dynamic with a very prominent, recurring character of mine that repeatedly and intentionally hit on the female RPC because, well, it was funny as hell to see an unsocial character be forced to interact in such an awkward way with a character that everyone knew as a half-assed, likeable rebel that was just powerful enough not to get killed by the female, whom notably had what I called "brown-nose power", but whatever. We even ultimately created a very, very interesting and in my opinion fun to play Fruedian trio in the sense that my character was the Id, the female character the Superego and there was another female character and roleplayer later on that became an unrequited love interest of the other female character and acted as the ego. If you consider it from this aspect, there was extremely humorous exchanges where my character would flirt with one of them, get either no response or an awkward one and then intentionally go to the other and one up his game as if he was competing with himself, all just to irritate the originally unsociable female because of her crush. The dynamics and interaction here is endless and quite entertainin.

3. Now, this is a type of roleplay. Actually, it's a type of roleplay common with beginner DM's in D&D and tabletops. Sometimes, to develop a plot, it's just less freeform. Some people actually like roleplaying as a PRECREATED character where a Moderator has fleshed out what's going to happen, and the roleplayers use skill and literary technique to jumble it up some. I actually enjoy these myself, if they're done right and especially if the Moderator is fun with it. You might not like it, but it's just a different flavor.

I'd have to see the individual instances these occurred, but a lot of this just seems like bitching about styles you dislike. If there is anything I personally dislike to a great degree, it's feminazis. One time, I tried to roleplay on a forum full of nothing but raging female (possibly, not too for sure) writers with a lot of androgyny and sexual tension in their lives. Lemme tell ya. I lasted a fewwwwwwww days before being banned, and I shit you not, I was banned not because I broke any formal rule, but because I didn't ask permission to post in the personal forums of each "Leader" of the "Kingdoms" after I had gained approval to create, of all things, a traveling circus. They literally just found a reason to kick me out, and I had under fifty posts, none of which were anywhere NEAR as bad as what I've posted in this thread alone. Point being, what you see here is nowhere near as bad as it gets for clashing personal preferences and you might just need to get used to it.

[Brovo]

#1: Characters who have no motivation to do anything. As a GM this frustrates me, as I have a lot of other stuff on my plate and generally have other players to assist. If your character has no motivation to see the plot through, then your character doesn't belong there and should be a background NPC. Simple enough, no?

#2: Twits who seemingly can't tell the difference between a character and the person who is playing that character. Why, yes, that character of mine happens to be a deluded zealot. No, I am not a deluded zealot myself. Yes, that character is an attractive female. No, I assure you, I am neither attractive nor female in real life.

#3: A player who creates a character for a role play of mine, then refuses to accept assistance in the creation process. Generally, my worlds are very dense and complex, and contain a lot of information to explore that I simply can't squeeze in a single plot introduction without murdering the pacing like a sacrificial lamb. So when I'm offering you advice and criticism, it's not necessarily because I think your character is bad, it's because I'm trying to help you fit that character into the world. Really. I'm trying to help you. If you can't take that, how can I trust that you will take any of the mature concepts presented in the story in a mature manner. Such as a person you like getting killed off, or a love interest you want turning you down?

#4: Role players who walk into a GM's world and start rewriting and adding significant events without warning or asking, and expecting the GM to comply. Something like adding a small village to a large fantasy world is fine, but if you're going to start going on about some massive civil war, the least you could do is get it verified by the GM first so the world isn't plagued by crippling plot holes. This is made worse if this pops up right in the middle of an otherwise ordinary conversation, as it likely derails the entire conversation unless the GM thinks fast and attempts to come up with enough hand wave bullshit to fill the plot holes as they pop up.

#5: "Mature content" does not mean pornography. When my phone at my work place got temporarily banned from the work net because connecting to the 1x1 section triggered a ban filter based on pornography about a month or two ago, that's a sincere problem. One that will prevent me from taking the 1x1 seriously for a long time. Which is a shame because it can be a lot of fun with the right people.

[Rare]

I have started to hate the 1x1 section, due to it's pornography shit. The mods should control the issue before it losses out of control and we get another shut down of the guild. And the fact that they don't read the fucking rules section. That shit pisses me the fuck off -.-

[Prince]

Brovo said #1: Characters who have no motivation to do anything. As a GM this frustrates me, as I have a lot of other stuff on my plate and generally have other players to assist. If your character has no motivation to see the plot through, then your character doesn't belong there and should be a background NPC. Simple enough, no?

#2: Twits who seemingly can't tell the difference between a character and the person who is playing that character. Why, yes, that character of mine happens to be a deluded zealot. No, I am not a deluded zealot myself. Yes, that character is an attractive female. No, I assure you, I am neither attractive nor female in real life.

#3: A player who creates a character for a role play of mine, then refuses to accept assistance in the creation process. Generally, my worlds are very dense and complex, and contain a lot of information to explore that I simply can't squeeze in a single plot introduction without murdering the pacing like a sacrificial lamb. So when I'm offering you advice and criticism, it's not necessarily because I think your character is bad, it's because I'm trying to help you fit that character into the world. Really. I'm trying to help you. If you can't take that, how can I trust that you will take any of the mature concepts presented in the story in a mature manner. Such as a person you like getting killed off, or a love interest you want turning you down?

#4: Role players who walk into a GM's world and start rewriting and adding significant events without warning or asking, and expecting the GM to comply. Something like adding a small village to a large fantasy world is fine, but if you're going to start going on about some massive civil war, the least you could do is get it verified by the GM first so the world isn't plagued by crippling plot holes. This is made worse if this pops up right in the middle of an otherwise ordinary conversation, as it likely derails the entire conversation unless the GM thinks fast and attempts to come up with enough hand wave bullshit to fill the plot holes as they pop up.

#5: "Mature content" does not mean pornography. When my phone at my work place got temporarily banned from the work net because connecting to the 1x1 section triggered a ban filter based on pornography about a month or two ago, that's a sincere problem. One that will prevent me from taking the 1x1 seriously for a long time. Which is a shame because it can be a lot of fun with the right people.

Hit damn near every nail on the head. For #1, I ultimately either kill off or just leave the character behind. I recall, once, in a roleplay setting designed to parallel anime, I created two brothers for RPC's. One was lazy as fuck and the other had this insanely passionate drive. I'm going to skip the fact there was some reality-bending in this specific roleplay and just state that the laziness and thus weakness of one character ultimately resulted in a death, leaving only the motivated behind. It's harsh, but effective. It was a lot less dramatic since I did have two characters, but I would have done the same if someone did such with only one character. As for #2, stupidity impresses me daily. I've had plenty of emergency calls and customer complaints out of sheer stupidity on their part. #3 I completely agree with. I spend ample time assisting roleplayers in every way I can to have them acceptable as I see fit, and there's just a lack of gratitude and/or appreciation for that. 4# irritates me because most of the time I've seen it, really good ideas get shot down because they were introduced in an extraordinarily rude way. Lastly, #5, there's a fucking site called the Bluemoon roleplaying site that's fairly well-populated and literally designed similarly to RPGuild, but is MEANT for sexually-explicit roleplay. I see no reason that RPGuild, which is meant for relatively 'clean' roleplay should be hindered with it.

Literally, there are other fucking sites for that. I don't even see why people do it here secretly in PM's. There are places where you can go and get that kind of roleplay at a quality that, pending on the people, honestly trumps some of the weak roleplays here, whether or not you'd ever admit it. Or, y'know, go to redtube and get your jollies there. There is no point in trashing the image of this site with that material.

[Lillian Thorne]

Rare said
I have started to hate the 1x1 section, due to it's pornography shit. The mods should control the issue before it losses out of control and we get another shut down of the guild. And the fact that they don't read the fucking rules section. That shit pisses me the fuck off -.-

If you find pornography in the 1x1 section or anywhere, please PM a mod and we will tend to it. However, according to Mahz, users are allowed to make interest checks for Mature/explicit RPs as long as the interest check isn't graphic or detailed and the RP happens in PM or elsewhere.

Yes there are better sites for it out there, but the reality is it is allowed in that limited extent. That being said,please do report anything you find that violates the rules we have. When in doubt, report (i.e PM a mod).

[Prince]

I really feel like the line there is just plain not bold enough at times. I would love to lie and say I'm a respectful individual, but I'm not. I could provide a dozen examples or more where verbally explicit content and mature content truly do merit the roleplay (cite 1) and discussion (cite 1) within PM, and I'm not even considering photographic material in this case.

Mahz said I just require them to conduct the RP (or further the Int Check convo) over PM. Hopefully roleplaying over PM is much nicer in this new system!

Citation 1

I'm not going to provide any specific details here, though the reason for such has nothing to do with respect or an intrinsic need for them. I'm sure you're fully aware of just how off-putting the world of kinks and its literary application can be.

If I were to make a suggestion here, it would be to draw a definite line for mature content in regular 1x1's and create another forum similar to it for the specific purpose of allowing higher levels of mature content. Across the board, this complaint is fairly common. It's an issue shared by people like Brovo and I, whom not terribly long ago were at each other's throats with fairly differing views on a variety of topics. If anything, it would be a social experiment to see just how much activity such a place would get and how the removal of what most consider to be a detrimental or distasteful genre from a roleplay type such as 1x1's might affect the forum. I fully understand that the normal policy of the Guild Staff is laissez-faire until a problem arises, but this might have some potential behind it.

In any case, I suppose you didn't intend on anyone actually replying as that statement seemed to have a more informative and final rhetoric to it. If I overstepped some boundary, and god knows I frequently do, I do apologize. Just an idea.

[Lillian Thorne]

No need to apologize, I was simply clarifying a misconception about what it allowed here. As for your suggestion, put it in the suggestion forum or contact Mahz about it since the final call is his.

The lines aren't bold, for certain. Mostly what we want curtailed on the forums is overtly sexual RPing. Fade to black is fine. That's why we use PG-13 as our guidelines. Strong language is fine, in fact the title of this thread is needlessly censored. When in doubt about content, PM a mod. I'm always happy to answer questions if they arise.

[Jig]

New B!tching:

Stock characters: when players have a set of characters they choose from and bring one to a new RP. I know a lot of people do this, but, if I'm GMing, I want people to build a character that will fit my setting, not to use my RP as a means of crowbarring their character into a context. To me, it says "This RP is a great way of me doing a thing I already wanted to do anyway but couldn't make my own plot/setting" and not "This RP has really inspired me to create something new and add to your world."

Again, I know a lot of people do do this, but I personally don't like it.

*puts on crash helmet*

[Prince]

Nah, I hate that shit, too. I know a bunch of people who claim to be insanely good, yet haven't wrote a new character in what seems like years, but also seemingly join a new RP every week.

[Jig]

It's not as though every character is original anyway. There's only so many character archetypes that exist and everything else is a variation thereupon. There might be some more archetypes to be born... but I doubt they'll be born here.

It's just that I perceive the practice as lazy and a bit rude, I guess.

[Chrononaut]

Feel like I should add something here,

Anyone who uses "Would" in instead of past tense or as a strange version of present tense. Example: "Rodrick would stab Jeffrey in the kidney with a shank". Would he do that now? Does that mean he would do something but doesn't? Is that how you tell a story outside of roleplay? "I walked into the club and would dance like a madman and totally would score with all the things, sentient or otherwise.". WHAT IS THIS. I DO NOT UNDERSTAND. JUST USE "STABBED" AND "DANCED" AND "SCORED". IT'S TWO LETTERS, ED. PAST TENSE.

Also full roleplays I want to join. I'm staring down Legends of Renalta right now! Seven people would need to ragequit at once. How do you even get 6 people over populated? WHAT IS THIS

[Kestrel]

Which completely ignores the part where there's plenty of people who reinvent their characters just to be a part of your RP. Liking a character and a setting aren't mutually exclusive either, and pre-made characters can easily add to your RP because that has more to do with the character's actions than whether a previous incarnation existed before your interest check went up or not. Hell, even if someone goes digging through RP's just to find a game where their character can fit, that doesn't automatically their only opinion on your setting is "That'll do." Especially not if they made big changes to your character. Maybe be it's more like "Your world looks so interesting, I want to add to it by inserting something I love and am proud of." And lastly; just like there's only so many archetypes in characters, the same goes for settings and worlds.You're probably not all that different. Oh, oh, or how about rebooting an RP? That is just as lazy and a bit rude as reusing a character!

Seriously, you people and your generalisations :/

[Brovo]

Chrononaut said Also full roleplays I want to join. I'm staring down Legends of Renalta right now! Seven people would need to ragequit at once. How do you even get 6 people over populated? WHAT IS THIS

They'll die eventually, one by one.

New Gripe?

Whenever I see a 'dark' or 'gritty' story, that involves extremely fallible characters, with limited resources and experience, in a situation far above and beyond their capacity to resolve alone... And somehow... Not a single one dies. Not one. It could be six nonathletic, unremarkable, ordinary people, in the zombie apocalypse, surrounded by thousands of zombies, but no matter how insane the odds, they somehow, always, survive.

This murders my immersion faster than a hamster in a meat grinder. It completely kills any suspense or concern I'd have for my characters in that situation. If Jimmy Junior is dumb enough to go melee a few zombies alone with nothing but his trusty baseball bat Stevie, then Jimmy Junior should just straight die. The GM should just kill Jimmy Junior if the player doesn't do it themselves. Otherwise, danger is meaningless, and the plot, no matter how violence and excessive, becomes boring and flaccid as a result.

I'm not advocating that every story needs to contain gratuitous amounts of death and carnage... But any story that contains survival elements should at least have people, you know, not survive from time to time.

[Prince]

@Kestrel: My complaint was solely about the people ehom either don't or attempt to minimally format a character to a setting. Actually putting a character through a valid redesign isn't bad at all. Having character concepts and archetypes to choose and design from is fine. The complaint here was the people with massive lists of premade characters that simply look for insertion. That complaint here isn't applicable all the time, but I can name a few places where it is. X-Men AU, Naruro AU, varying Fantasy levels and anything dystopian. Those settings are often alternate or specifically designed to highlight a central theme or difference. Coming in with a stock character that has no relation to that and wasn't formatted to the world often causes conflict and less than optimal interaction. Reusing a character an recycling character concepts are entirely different things. There are roleplayers that love their characters and are staunchly attached. That doesn't justify them trying to use them in every roleplay they see the slightest chance for them to be maybe relevant for a second.

Rebooting an RP in and of itself is an entirely different endeavor that is hardly comparable. A roleplay is the platform of interaction. You don't compare it to using an NES controller to try and play Soul Calibur 4.

Brovo said New Gripe?

I feel that way from movies where enough people just don't plain die in a situation that calls for it.