[Talk] Why not?

We've talked about what we want from an RP in various ways recently and it's got me thinking, what dissuades you from joining an RP? Are there any things that put you off from something you otherwise find looks really promising?

((To me, it's lengthy RP posts. I've never been good at writing pages. Plus, english isn't my first language, and that would make writing long posts even harder for me.))

Fancy rp posts. They quite literally crash my browser, so if RP posts are fancy with tons of CSS, I have no interest.

Ok, time for a confession <3

I saw long posts being mentioned as a potential turn-off but I'll just spin that around and mention... huge player lists and lots of chapters already being established. Seeing a lot of hype around a roleplay is heart-warming and generally nice, but the additional pressure of having to catch up on what's already been done, keep track of a lot of players, and trying to fit into the story / stand out in general, that can be overwhelming... I may not give those things much thought at first, but they sure add up and may often dampen my momentum. That's just something to keep in mind there. Also because... did I mention I'm still terrible at reading stuff?

While I haven't RPed in a while, some things that have always been a massive issue for me are these.

CSS - While I don't mind and I know they aren't required. When you don't have one, it feels like you are writing less than you actually are. And when you pose without one, it stretches a line of words to around 25 or more words depending on the website layout you use.

Amount of people - I don't mind having a lot of people in say Pokemon Trainer Academy RP from way back when. You didn't have to worry about traveling in large groups and you couldn't really get behind because classes didn't matter too much. They were just their to add to the RP. But when there is.... let's say more than 7 in a travel based rp, that gets hard to catch up.

Story - If I am honest, the story is almost always the same for pokemon. There usually isn't many unique ones other than one off events that we have which are small. While I like sandbox, I feel like a story should be present. While I do like a journey rp, why does it have to be secluded to a single region? Make arcs where you can go between regions and explore more. And while we are using old regions, make some unique places to visit.

Idea of not finishing - And might just be me, but I just know at some point the RP is going to die. I don't want to join an rp when it is going to die within 3 to 4 months of it going on.

Post Restriction - While I understand this is mainly so people don't get behind, when everyone ends up waiting for a single person ,who is slower at posting because of a post order, it kills the momentum of the RP and people begin to fall off.

And I know this last ones are very controversial and it is different for other people, but....

Elitism - I know people don't expect everyone to be perfect. But there is a such thing as being too picky when you are DM/GMing. You have to allow characters to grow. If they don't have a fear yet, then it is the DM/GM's job to throw something at them during their posts. If there fear is water.... then just let it be water.... maybe if there isn't a reason yet, then perhaps they can come up and reveal it as they go through. If someone doesn't have a goal yet, why force them to make one? Maybe they haven't encountered someone in their life to give them a goal. If someone wants to catch a pokemon, then let them catch it.... Obviously you can't god mod and catch everything, but if you have to do a good battle scene every time you want a pokemon, it is going to get old fast. Let the players have a bit more freedom. I know a lot of rps do give people freedom, but sometimes and just feels like gate keeping.

Realism - This is for fantasy and pokemon mostly, but while I like realism... you can't be 100% realistic going by our world. The characters live in a world of creatures who can do all sorts of things... or is a magic world where most logic is non existent. While there should be some realism, you can't be too realistic in a fantasy setting.


Oh one more.

Entry Length - I don't think a single post should take more than 2 posts each. Just save some for later. When someone posts 2 or more pages and it is just that character, it makes people feel alienated who can't write that much in a single post. A JP is different, especially if there is more than a few people. I feel like that this, and I've done it before when I first began RPing, is a way to stop people from interacting with your character. It also just makes people not want to read three pages worth of writing. So if they are interacting with you, they might miss details. I mean I've had trouble rping with people in video games because they don't want to read 3 to 5 sentences and completely miss stuff.

I haven't joined RPs recently, but I can at least think of the reasons why I haven't done so.

Basically it amounts to three things: amount of people (too many to get comfy thoughts of inter-player camaraderie), too fast pace (I think slow, I write slow, that's fine with me) and a cordoned setting (the "you all start in an inn" kind of thign except we stay in the inn).

It's been a long time since I last RP'd.
By all means, I've kind of given up on it mostly. And theres three reasons for it,


First and foremost, I've never been part of an RP that actually finished, and honestly at this point, the scope of a project with no clear ending does not really appeal to me anymore.

A handful of RP's came to a halt whenever I made my post, apparently my writing style confuses people into being too stumped to reply appropriately. Which I honestly don't blame anyone for. I know my writing can be very jank and confusing to read.

Lastly, I've had a chain of RP partners for smaller sessions that had very poor RP etiquette when it came to godmodding and powerplay. And something in my mind just snapped at some point... And not in a graceful way...


That said, I lost most skills I used to have for RPing, mainly being able to improv quickly on the spot. And even if I just humor the thought of RPing again. I'm mostly just worried that I can't appropriately respond to any given situation in a decent timeframe.

sometimes i'll wait to see the other su's of people who want to join and nothing dissuades me more than seeing mary sues. creative writing should be original, not a carbon copy of other media that is more than just slight inspiration.