There are multiple reasons people could be leaving RPs with you, though; do you move the plot too slowly and bore them? Move it too quickly and disorient them, giving them no room to invest in characters, events, and places? Do you chatter too much in OOC, or too little, making them think you're cold and detached? Do you have a foul attitude, or give off an arrogant air?
I've met with other, more selfish reasons, too: someone didn't like my character, but couldn't just man up and tell me that, so they joined the RP with me for about a week and then "subtly" ghosted me hoping it wouldn't make me mad. Two more liked the concept of the characters I'd designed, but not the portraits I'd selected. Another didn't realize that 1x1 is an equal partnership, not a voluntary master-slave relationship, and therefore decided I'm a selfish asshole for wanting to play a character who doesn't immediately, unequivocally fall in love with hers in our first meeting.
But let's assume it's my fault. What am I supposed to do about it? If it was as easy as "introspecting" then I'd have figured it out already, and worked to rectify the problem (because while I'm arrogant, I'm not arrogant enough to assume innocence by default). But these players, while abandoning your project, give you no inkling as to why, leaving you to merely guess, if the answer isn't so obvious. It could be something as subtle and irreconcilable as a misunderstanding of intentions; I wanted the post-apocalypse RP to look like Metro, but she expected Fallout while writing her CS, and she quit the RP when she realized she wouldn't get what she wants out of it.
Blaming the people who whine in the B!tch thread for failed RP projects, while certainly convenient, is not really helpful unless we're willing to communicate our specific grievances with our fellow writers. Simply saying "maybe it's you" helps no one. So until one of my past partners steps the fuck up and finds the balls to tell me otherwise, I'm gonna keep assuming my old 1x1 threads failed because the majority of RPers are fickle, easily distracted, and unable to commit. 'Cuz there's no use in me worrying over problems which could have been fixed in five minutes if they were just willing to communicate their displeasure.
I've met with other, more selfish reasons, too: someone didn't like my character, but couldn't just man up and tell me that, so they joined the RP with me for about a week and then "subtly" ghosted me hoping it wouldn't make me mad. Two more liked the concept of the characters I'd designed, but not the portraits I'd selected. Another didn't realize that 1x1 is an equal partnership, not a voluntary master-slave relationship, and therefore decided I'm a selfish asshole for wanting to play a character who doesn't immediately, unequivocally fall in love with hers in our first meeting.
But let's assume it's my fault. What am I supposed to do about it? If it was as easy as "introspecting" then I'd have figured it out already, and worked to rectify the problem (because while I'm arrogant, I'm not arrogant enough to assume innocence by default). But these players, while abandoning your project, give you no inkling as to why, leaving you to merely guess, if the answer isn't so obvious. It could be something as subtle and irreconcilable as a misunderstanding of intentions; I wanted the post-apocalypse RP to look like Metro, but she expected Fallout while writing her CS, and she quit the RP when she realized she wouldn't get what she wants out of it.
Blaming the people who whine in the B!tch thread for failed RP projects, while certainly convenient, is not really helpful unless we're willing to communicate our specific grievances with our fellow writers. Simply saying "maybe it's you" helps no one. So until one of my past partners steps the fuck up and finds the balls to tell me otherwise, I'm gonna keep assuming my old 1x1 threads failed because the majority of RPers are fickle, easily distracted, and unable to commit. 'Cuz there's no use in me worrying over problems which could have been fixed in five minutes if they were just willing to communicate their displeasure.