[quote=@Sierra] I once tried to mentor one of these people. Turned out to be a powergamer, douche, and not understand the fundamentals of continuity (he tried to retcon at every possible turn). He is one of many experiences I've had that have made me be so demanding in my 1x1 checks now. [/quote] This is a problem that is [i]sadly[/i] not specific to new people. Perhaps new people are more prone to it and, admittedly, it'd be useful if it was just new people that did this so we could filter them out. Perhaps that ties into a rant of my own but I've grown really tired of experienced vets from the old age of RPing who haven't changed a bit and are stuck in the mindset that was so prevalent on RPG 4-5 years ago. Where everything was about creating the most badass character with little to no personality that extends beyond sticking their power-dick into every single hole they can find. [b]Sadly[/b] the ways they do this hasn't even really changed. [list][*] Playing a guy that simply is the strongest. Why? Uh, idk, because I fucking wrote that into the character sheet you dipshit. Jeez, it takes real artistry and writing skill to put massive powers into a character. [*] Character who is a genius, never really shows that off in the IC, but somehow knows everything all the time 'because he's a genius' and then use that as an excuse to powerplay or deny other roleplayers' actions. (I'm still of the opinion that people who aren't geniuses just simply can't play geniuses without having to metagame/powerplay.) [*] Leaving descriptions of your moveset/character vague and up in the air to make sure you can later use that vagueness to justify dumb stuff. 'Dude, you can't do that...' 'Yeah I can, it's in my CS, see? It says right there; he can control earth. I never specified [b]how much[/b] so enjoy getting this earth-sized ball of mud on your head. Don't like it? Whine to the GM's, they accepted it!' [*] Ur, whe-whe you found a hole in my post and now I'm gonna cry to the GM who is my best buddy so your post gets denied.[/list] It's sad because, I know these people, RPed with them 4-5 years ago and after that much time you'd expect them to be better but it's just... people got stuck in that mindset and never changed it even when the standard focus of the RP's shifted from power-dicks to story driven characters that had more to them than just being strong. Any level of drama coming from these characters is typically just how brutally strong they were, what kind of tragic things are in their past (that are almost never tragic without also including the same measure of badassery because, dude, it's a strong fucking character and you need to remember that so I'll remind you 20x in 1 post despite giving you no reason [i]why[/i] they are this powerful). I like to think I progressed as a writer but sometimes I wonder whether that's true. Seeing these people removes that doubt - I know I progressed as a writer. /endrant