I'll probably be in the minority but I've never really been afraid of that, so the only thing that really turns me off joining a role-play is there being an incredible amount of focus on formatting/style/"flair" over actual hard [i]writing.[/i]

I don't really care about character sheets. I'd rather you just describe him/her/they/them in the role-play. I don't care about Pinterest images. They're nice, but I can take them or leave them. I don't even care if you use AI to generate something. As a writer by trade AI doesn't worry me at all. All I want to see is a genuinely good, hard pairing/concept. Show me something I can sink my teeth into; something obsessive, something gritty, and I'll show up every single day to contribute.

I also don't like cliques or rules. More often than not on RP sites (though not this one, as far as I can tell) groups of people form groups and gossip about others. I just don't care about that at all. Toxicity sucks and I just can't get on board with it. I don't care about ego or getting points for following the crowd. 

In terms of genres, I like:

Fantasies, mysteries, world-building, or gritty noir dramas. I like lots of conversation. Lots of talking back and forths and accusations. I adore love and romance especially when it doesn't involve any level of OOC. I like gushing with my partners about how incredible the RP is going as we see the characters come to life. Mostly I like drama.

That's it. Truthfully I think most of this is very "head noise" and difficult to pin down. The honest way to say it is: I want the role-play to be genuine. I want to go in for something someone is excited about. If it doesn't have any heart and soul in it, I'm not there for it.