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Post by NULL on Nov 28, 2019 15:13:50 GMT
DISCLAIMER: I'm not throwing shade at any site, style of writing, or what people enjoy out of roleplaying. I'm simply sharing my thoughts.
So for some background knowledge is that I've been RPing for close to ten years now, starting out on proboards during the days when applications had stupid requirements of word counts for appearances, personalities, powers, you name it. The days when if you hit below 1000 words in a post, it was generally considered bad form. I despised it, and lil ole me was in the fourth grade (way too young to start rping to some people), but I absolutely loved the stories that were being told at rp sites because they were so well written, complex, and I had practically read everything interesting in my school library at that point. So why bring this up? Well, maybe I'm just out of the loop, missing something, or just not reading deep enough into it, but one thing that always stood out to me was the conflict of rp sites, the epics that characters went on to become who they were. Yeah, sure, I'm glad perma-death enabled rp sites are gone, and what I'm talking about conflict wise isnt necessarily fights in the roleplaying setting.
What I'm referring to is that I generally miss rivalries and competitions in rp. I'm a sucker for ships, and budding bromances like everyone else, but rarely do I see genuine ire between characters. Yes there are bad guy characters, evildoers and naysayers, but (maybe I'm talking out of my own ass here and I'm just old) no one really wants to have an antagonist / protagonist relationship. Most of the time now when I see evil characters, they just, exist??? Without purpose. Yeah, I've fallen into that trope of "murder the npcs, wreak havoc across the city, evil, rawr xD hahaha" who hasn't? But when was the last time (at least I havent seen it in a while) where characters were actually poised against each other aside of friendly rivalries? I'm talking about your Belmonts and Draculas, your Links and Ganondorfs, Joestats and Dios. Protagonists that were actually inspiring and antagonists that had purpose as opposed to being stagnant. Rarely do I see characters completing their stories anymore but more or less continuing their existence the exact same as when their application was written. It seems like its Character vs Site, or Character x Character, as opposed to Character vs Character and Character vs Self.
To reiterate this is to NOT throw shade, or spite at what people enjoy from roleplaying. I may be wrong in believing this aspect is lost in sites, I am simply sharing my thoughts of what I miss from roleplaying.
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Post by Deleted on Nov 28, 2019 15:54:59 GMT
I think the main reason we don't see your typical "good guy" vs. "bad guy" in sites is because it's sort of hard to implement, or because it's difficult to get people to remain interested. I think it's very easy to fall into the cliche of the good guys winning, while the bad guys (eventually) lose, and very few people are interested in playing on the losing side.
Or you get those kind of situations where people want to take it further than what the admin is interested in/the site is ready for, which can make the site stale, or make members feel restless. There's always going to be that balance issue between people who want to build things slowly vs. those who require something more quick paced.
HOWEVER.
That doesn't mean these sites don't exist, or that someone haven't been able to find the balance. I've just never seen it myself, so I can only pitch my opinion from personal experience, haha.
I generally think implementing character vs. character plots is easier to do through personal plots. Personal rivalries between two (or more) characters. Instead of having it be a site plot thing, make it a personal plot thing — of course, you'd lose the whole "world being a part of it all" ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
Another way to handle rivalries is not using the typical "good" vs "bad" trope. Vampires vs. werewolves vs. witches, or jocks and mean girls vs. nerds and geeks — there's no real bad or good guy, just people dealing with their own stuff, and dealing with prejudices. This opens for a more "oh hey, your character is a vampire and mine's a witch — we're supposed to hate each other, so let's plot something out!" Or maybe there's two witches who are both remarkable in their own way, but both wants to be the very best, that no one ever saw, which fuels a feud and rivalry between the two, and huh, look at that, guess their friends and family got dragged into it too! Guess the one witch went talking behind the other's back and started a rumor, or maybe they cheated to get ahead?
I personally love rivalries and I wish there was more of them going around. Gotta love that angst.
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Post by NULL on Nov 28, 2019 16:15:22 GMT
Yeah I completely agree. Though I wasnt even necessarily considering a site wide rivalry that'd influence the plot (granted that would be pretty fire to see) but even character v character rivalries on a personal level seem to be disappearing? I could be entirely wrong, but the scope of those interactions arent as grandiose as they could be imo. It's just to me that the rivalries that do exist are only surface level, "we hate each other so death glare, u suck, name calling" and yeah good vs evil is hard to play out without any meaningful depth to it.
(I'm on mobile rn so typing out my thoughts is a bit tough) but like. Sites used to be flexible and open ended enough that huge rivalries were allowed to exist without admins having to really change any aspect of their site. But even then outside of npc vs character its often rare to see characters even influence anything outside of their own bubble for events. Like. Yeah losing sucks, and everyone (most anyone) is afraid, or doesnt want to be on the end of that stick. But isnt that what pulls our heartstrings or excites us as an audience in media? Characters just seem to exist in their own weird bubble as opposed to interact with -everyone and everything- which deters some of the fictional aspect. Open threads are great for that but rarely do I see characters that work badly together, and moreso characters that share a commonality even in an open environment. Rarely are actual stories "The hero sought out the man in black," but rather encounters that force organically. Granted most look at their characters as precious babies that must be protected, which they are, but compelling character development needs an outside organic force questioning it and pushing it (to me at least, and im not saying plots to change a character cant happen and roleplaying is a hobby, no one wants to be uncomfortable doing what they love)
Yet... pushing ourselves as writers and outside of that comfort zone is important too I believe. Accepting and portraying a character lose that unexpected (when was the last time anyone expected to fail a test, for example) only to have that character rise from the ashes makes for a much more compelling story line, and purpose to the particular character. We dont want to lose, and when we do we want it to be in a controlled environment, but is there any real weight behind that lose?
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Post by Deleted on Nov 28, 2019 16:37:24 GMT
Honestly? I couldn't agree more with you. These kinds of relationships between characters (platonic or romantic) are incredibly interesting, and to me, a lot more giving. While I don't mind a little fluff, fluff tends to get incredibly boring in the long haul: Give me rivalries, give me hateships, give me "I don't like your face, so I'm going to punch it", give me "I hate your guts so much, I don't know what to do". Or people forced to work together in some way, while hating each other so much it makes the task so much harder than it needs to, because at the end of the day, the chances of someone liking everyone they meet or being liked by everyone they meet is very slim.
Which allows for a whole lot of character growth. In both good and bad ways. This, to me, makes a more "well rounded" or even more realistic character. No one is perfect, nor is our characters. Win, lose, do the unexpected or disappoint everyone is all part of life, as it should be our character's.
So yeah, I wish there was a whole lot more of this out there, but alas, as you say, chemistry is incredibly important on both sides. If the chemistry isn't there, it will quickly feel forced and boring. But that doesn't mean one shouldn't try!
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Post by Deleted on Nov 28, 2019 19:36:26 GMT
I'd like my characters challenged on their faults, not just played to their strengths or forgiven their flaws.
When I started roleplay around two decades ago, there was a site that faithfully recorded the consequences of threads.
A delinquent who habitually sets fire to the trees will see his actions reflected when the Garden sub-board's description is adjusted for it, with a site-wide announcement tallying the events:
Someone set fire to the Garden, turning the Empire's pride and joy to shame. 100 gold to whoever finds the culprit.
Also, someone sorted all the library books in alphabetic order. Bang up job, except we want it by author, not title. Please come fix it.
The scion of the McSue family scored 100% on their aptitude test. Again. That makes the fifth month in a row.
The knights are missing a horse. And a sword. But somehow they have a spare spear. Please return our sword.
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Post by NULL on Nov 28, 2019 19:50:28 GMT
I'd like my characters challenged on their faults, not just played to their strengths or forgiven their flaws. When I started roleplay around two decades ago, there was a site that faithfully recorded the consequences of threads. A delinquent who habitually sets fire to the trees will see his actions reflected when the Garden sub-board's description is adjusted for it, with a site-wide announcement tallying the events: Someone set fire to the Garden, turning the Empire's pride and joy to shame. 100 gold to whoever finds the culprit. Also, someone sorted all the library books in alphabetic order. Bang up job, except we want it by author, not title. Please come fix it. The scion of the McSue family scored 100% on their aptitude test. Again. That makes the fifth month in a row. The knights are missing a horse. And a sword. But somehow they have a spare spear. Please return our sword. Yesss, I loved this aspect too! Where your character actually had weight to what they did! The no consequence mindset makes it feel as if your character is unimportant. The world should be alive and active around them, what's the point of having ambitious or active characters if I get 100 post with ICly and all I get is a sticker? Maybe interactivity is a good word to describe this. And while admins do own the sites they have made, and have every reason to be allowed to shape it how they want, but isnt that the point of what we're doing? Collaborating with each other to tell interesting stories with people we love, characters we love writing, and in worlds we love imagining our characters being in. |
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265 posts
bits
she/her
I open up my heart, you can love me or not
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Post by endless on Nov 29, 2019 2:05:25 GMT
In my experience it's actually a bit more of a social problem that makes this than it is anything else.
Somewhere along the lines most everyone had these kind of heavy, actually between player characters, conflicts go astray in a very not good way. We all know of the people that have a bitch fit because of something like say, my character told their's they are a vile piece of poop on my shoe and nothing else to me and they take that personally and it blows up outside of the site instead of just being an IC thing.
And while you can avoid those kinds of people a lot of people already have enough going on in their lives they don't want to deal with this, a lot of people use rp not just as a hobby but also an escape leading them to go for lighter genre's or topics which is fine and dandy because to each their oen but those that want to have a character be challenged or questioned might quickly find themselves lost on the wayside because the general atmosphere (again, just in my experience with pb animanga) doesn't support that or, frankly, is afraid to step down those paths.
Personally i like characters going at each other not just in a genuine negative or otherwise manner, even positive relationships are going to have bumpy roads and i feel it's more realistic or natural for them to have moments that aren't just geared towards drama for the make up sex but actually just them going ateach other over soemthing and having to work through it.
So i think the want for these kinds of things is there but the community has had such an issue with drama for so long people have become used to positive spins for social safety+just their own needs and prefer to leave the big bad guy to being an npc/going after npcs so no one steps on any toes.
I'm on mobile though for so i may not have explained this as well as i would like to.
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Post by NULL on Nov 29, 2019 2:21:53 GMT
In my experience it's actually a bit more of a social problem that makes this than it is anything else.
Somewhere along the lines most everyone had these kind of heavy, actually between player characters, conflicts go astray in a very not good way. We all know of the people that have a bitch fit because of something like say, my character told their's they are a vile piece of poop on my shoe and nothing else to me and they take that personally and it blows up outside of the site instead of just being an IC thing.
And while you can avoid those kinds of people a lot of people already have enough going on in their lives they don't want to deal with this, a lot of people use rp not just as a hobby but also an escape leading them to go for lighter genre's or topics which is fine and dandy because to each their oen but those that want to have a character be challenged or questioned might quickly find themselves lost on the wayside because the general atmosphere (again, just in my experience with pb animanga) doesn't support that or, frankly, is afraid to step down those paths.
Personally i like characters going at each other not just in a genuine negative or otherwise manner, even positive relationships are going to have bumpy roads and i feel it's more realistic or natural for them to have moments that aren't just geared towards drama for the make up sex but actually just them going ateach other over soemthing and having to work through it.
So i think the want for these kinds of things is there but the community has had such an issue with drama for so long people have become used to positive spins for social safety+just their own needs and prefer to leave the big bad guy to being an npc/going after npcs so no one steps on any toes.
I'm on mobile though for so i may not have explained this as well as i would like to.
I genuinely appreciate this response, and all responses I've gotten so far in this discussion. I ate way too much food to reply with anything in depth currently, but wow. Everyone actually bringing together logical answers to an aspect I find lacking In the animanga community to just be nice. And I do somewhat agree that it has pushed quite a few role players to the wayside over the years (I mean, there use to be a lot more of a presence of competitive writing in the shounen side of the community that just disappeared imo) So yeah, thanks so much everyone for bringing together your own thoughts on this discussion <3 !!! |
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241 posts
bits
she/her
If you are reading this, I am beautiful.
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Post by Mizo ❅ on Nov 29, 2019 2:55:21 GMT
Conflict and character rivalries use to be more prominent in fighting sites or delinquent sites, but the reason why those died out is that the role-playing community generally proved themselves to be incapable of doing well in a site where conflict is so prevalent.
To preface, I've run two fighting sites, the first for a few months, and the second for two years and more. I've observed that sites where you have to learn how to properly fight (fight rp) with other characters obviously tend to have more rivalries and conflicts, but it also translates to a lot of real life drama. It's common to see characters shallow enough to go around trying to punch any new characters they see, or worse, or roleplayers that just can't accept the idea of losing.
For me, the reason why conflict die out isn't because it's dead, but it's because it's often replaced by angst. For conflict to occur, it has to be either be PvE, or if it PvP, its difficult for any players to just accept that their characters are evil and doomed to die. Characters are much more multi-faceted, after all.
Another reason why conflict might no longer exist is because most rpers going into fighting sites often want to play shounen protagonist kind of characters and assume that the world - just lowkey revolves around their characters. I often observe a common thinking that goes : "how can my character be bad in any way? There's no way someone can find issue with my character, I'm the main character!", and because of that, conflicts either break out into shallow fight rping or solved easily.
That said, moving on, I want to address another thing; when a site is PvP conflict heavy, players often end up taking things personally. If a character has such a huge issue with your character, after a while, amidst the abusive language and resentment, etc. it's common for the rper to ask themselves "does this rper have a problem with me? Why do they keep actively seeking out my character and saying all these kind of things?". This translate to a lot of ooc fighting that is unfortunately quite common even in adults as opposed to the usual assumption that it's limited to teenagers. I've seen adults in their late 20s rip into each other for a certain move their characters make, and even adults that opt to actively grief someone's character (IC) because they didn't like the rper themselves.
At the end of the day, (and it's not wrong at all), I believe that rpers have a certain level of attachment to their characters. They don't mind seeing their character suffer for growth, but having another character have such an issue with theirs - in the long run, kind of implies that their characters are just somehow a villian, and I believe that majority of the rpers don't want such a flat 2D character and would prefer a more nuanced personality that makes it difficult to tell.
I would like to add that generally, sites that are conflict heavy also die faster if the conflict is among the characters. It's too easy to feel like the conflict is somehow personal eventually; the conflict will just fall into the rl sphere and cause issues for everyone else.
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phantom of the black parade
3,000 posts
bits
she / her pronouns
silver and gold won't save my rotting soul
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Post by Kuroya on Nov 29, 2019 3:07:37 GMT
i kind of want to second a lot of what endless and Mizo ❅ said because a lot of it was v on point, but i also wanted to add some of my own takeaway, both as someone who is primarily outside pb animanga rp and as someone who transitioned into a rper who is highly allergic to plot-driven sites and conflict-driven stuff as i aged.
there is definitely some variance according to both genre and community - i myself am actually kind of living proof of the exact opposite concept (i run two more casual relationship-oriented light-hearted superhero sites amidst a huge variety of sites that focus on large-scale plots and actual world consequences), and i would imagine that the same kind of thing goes down for like... if you're on a naruto site versus a more general supernatural site, for example. genre matters and community matters.
endless and Mizo ❅ hit pretty thoroughly on a lot of why i think those kinds of sites and plots lost popularity from the member side of things, but also i want to bring up that just. i think a lot of the other push away from that comes from the staffing side of things as well. because i remember exactly how frustrating it was as a staffer to try to get a site plot up and running and then watch as it peters out and no one seems to really care about it, regardless of how much you try to emphasize "hey guys, ignoring this event will have actual super negative consequences for you icly!" it's also a struggle to start actually implementing hard consequences in a meaningful way (ie, if there's a town that's going to be burned down by a dragon but the event to stop the dragon fizzles out when you weren't expecting it, you're suddenly going to have to go back to the drawing board for how to plan events around that and also now you have to deal with trying to get people to be affected from that town suddenly not existing, if not from the fact people probably died and that probably included played characters, and it starts getting really stressful), and that's without getting into just... how exhausting it is to run a site period, never mind when you start throwing in having to read all of the threads for 100+ characters across the whole site in order to know that so-and-so is doing x thing that you can build into the site proper and also how to keep that going after said player flakes off the site, especially if they were playing some major canon like the king or captain of the guard or something (which is why, as annoying as it can be, i absolutely understand why staff tend to prefer relying on their own chars over the general site population).
like, if you can do it, hey, that's a massive achievement to be proud of! but it can definitely be draining and exhausting to deal with as a staff team, and it's a whole heck of a lot easier to just... not, especially when you throw in the added bonus of not having to mediate the more problematic people you tend to find that are attracted to sites with those kinds of possibilities (i remember all too well my days of mediating powerplaying disputes and trying to foolproof the systems so minmaxers couldn't break the site and crying when they did anyway........... i hated it so much and i don't think i would go back to that even if i was actually getting paid for it, and i say that where i still deal with a decent amount of them because of the genre i rp in, so do with that what you will). and it's something that gets increasingly problematic to deal with as the site gets bigger, and since it's really rare to find a site that's content to be smaller if it means they can do a lot of things and are generally satisfied with what they have, so it's pretty understandable why some people might want to push it to the wayside, especially as a lot of the rp community has gotten older and free time has become more of a luxury.
on more of the member side as well, i also want to add that kind of.... villains tend to be more generally harder to play. and i mean that both in terms of they're hard to play well (because it's really hard to make a compelling villain over someone who's evil just to be evil since honestly those kinds of characters tend to come off as super one-dimensional) and that they're hard to play on the site (because it's really hard to plot them more widely on the site). because people don't tend to like a lot of permanent negative consequences to their characters, for obvious reasons, and like... just as i don't think it's fair to ask a villain to always lose all the time, i also don't think it's fair to ask them to purposefully muzzle themselves to avoid attacking a character who refuses to take a hint that they're crossing lines. but also like... consider my hero academia. while yes, you can play a villain... the majority of threads on the site are going to be social threads because the majority of characters on the site are going to be students, so it's going to be a whole lot harder to pick up threads and plots outside of those social interactions with the students. and if the site asks for some p strict activity rules, it can be really annoying to try to keep those villains, and obviously if you're starting out with a villain, it can be crushing to a new member who really needs all the help they can get to integrate into a new community.
again, more generally, i also think a lot of the community that likes that more purpose/conflict in their rps may have fallen into dnd (or largely out of rp now that naruto is over, sao is less popular, and bnh is... not a popular rp thing so much rn), but that's just my two cents.
anyway like. i know that sites like that do still exist - they're more common in real life, ofc, but the pond is bigger for real life in general, so it's not entirely surprising, though again, i do think this will vary a lot by genre for very obvious reasons. and i do think that there would be a community for it if you wanted to make a site for that yourself. and yeah, it might not be as big or popular, but honestly, that would probably work better in your favor for all the reasons i outlined, so uh. yeah. |
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265 posts
bits
she/her
I open up my heart, you can love me or not
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Post by endless on Nov 29, 2019 4:57:33 GMT
endless and Mizo ❅ hit pretty thoroughly on a lot of why i think those kinds of sites and plots lost popularity from the member side of things, but also i want to bring up that just. i think a lot of the other push away from that comes from the staffing side of things as well. because i remember exactly how frustrating it was as a staffer to try to get a site plot up and running and then watch as it peters out and no one seems to really care about it, regardless of how much you try to emphasize "hey guys, ignoring this event will have actual super negative consequences for you icly!" it's also a struggle to start actually implementing hard consequences in a meaningful way (ie, if there's a town that's going to be burned down by a dragon but the event to stop the dragon fizzles out when you weren't expecting it, you're suddenly going to have to go back to the drawing board for how to plan events around that and also now you have to deal with trying to get people to be affected from that town suddenly not existing, if not from the fact people probably died and that probably included played characters, and it starts getting really stressful), and that's without getting into just... how exhausting it is to run a site period, never mind when you start throwing in having to read all of the threads for 100+ characters across the whole site in order to know that so-and-so is doing x thing that you can build into the site proper and also how to keep that going after said player flakes off the site, especially if they were playing some major canon like the king or captain of the guard or something (which is why, as annoying as it can be, i absolutely understand why staff tend to prefer relying on their own chars over the general site population).
I kinda just wanted to showcase this really quick because it reminded me of awhile back when this same topic came up on other site.
Often times a site with a predetermined plot or at least a plot direction may find themselves struggling for participation or even just recognition of the plot type depending on the type of people that have wound up on their site. Just because you set up that the plot exists and will move forward doesn't mean people will take it to heart and you can easily end up with a crew of people that want to rp in the MIDDLE of that plot and essentially explore the plot point more as a setting than as an actually moving plot causing the site that is meant to be conflict heavy and active to turn into a slice of life site without that actually being your goal.
This not only causes a bit of a rift between the site goal and the members but it's pretty disheartening for staff to realize they're vision for the place is being essentially ignored by members and often leads to a decline in staff interest and the eventual death of a site, the repeated nature of this (which is likely caused in part by many of the variables mentioned in this thread) tends to trim the fat pretty hard when it comes to staff willing to even try.
So next thing you know you want those kinds of plots but you don't really have a great place for them either simply because the nature of those plots may be best geared towards a certain type of site that can be a struggle to find because even if the staff aren't aiming for a slice of life site they may end up with it anyway because of the community that is attracted to.
I'm not really sure what else to say though, Kuroya just reminded me of the topic point from awhile back because this seemed to resonate pretty strongly back then as being a problem people encountered a lot when trying to push forward with conflict heavy plots.
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Post by Deleted on Nov 29, 2019 6:08:05 GMT
I feel like people are equating conflict to combat. When I write about conflict, I mean narrative conflict, which is also two people talking about wildly different things but believing they are not, e.g. Jim and Sally are dating. But Jim believes Sally wants to break up, so when she invites him to have a good talk, he's nervous the entire time. Sally actually wants to talk about his bad habit of sending dog pictures when she's a cat person.
The first thing she says is, "I love you, but this needs to stop."
"Sally, please, I can change."
"I've been waiting for you to change, but I don't think you got the hint."
"Just give me one more chance?"
"Look, Jim, no. No more. I can't take it anymore."
"But why? I've been good to you, right?"
"Jim, it's not you, it's me. I'm sorry."
"But I love you!"
"And I love you, just not those dog pics."
"So if you-- wait, what? Dog pics?"
"Yeah. You keep sending me cute dogs but I hate them."
"... Sally, we have to talk about your way of broaching these things."
This sort of stuff also introduces conflict (after all, Jim is massively nervous over being dumped by the love of his life and Sally doesn't get why he's so reluctant to stop sending unsollicited doggos), but there's no palpable conflict where there is hate and dislike.
Fights and combat aren't the conflict I would look for.
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140 posts
bits
sorcerer
we feel it with our whole body and soul
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Post by troye saivon on Nov 29, 2019 6:17:04 GMT
i would say that at the heart of it is that people dont want to roleplay or be roleplayers.
they want their character, or some character they've been recyling for however many years, not adopting it to the site's setting or story, and rebooting some plot and story line that is as old as the character.
i dont know what the point of this thread is, is it a discussion about how things have changed or just to vent and reminisce? or is it just the occasionally, can i go back in time to when i enjoyed rping because of blah blah blah.
what i will say on the matter of missing purpose and conflict from your plots, is to not jump head over heels into a 100 plots and threads that will ultimately go nowhere. be more aware about what it is you want from the character, what it is that will keep you interested and invested in the story that will form from that pursuit.
additionally id encourage you to get feedback on your writing - critical feedback. ask people what it is they like about your writing, what are your strong points, weak points? where they would like to see improvement from you and vice versa. this was a big thing when i started rping, a lot of people got into rping to improve their writing. and at this point that sense of progression isn't there anymore, it's just words and words for the sake of it.
tl;dr: dont look for purpose and conflict from others, put it forward and those that want what you want will come to you. it may not be immediately, but as long as you dont give up or settle for less, you'll find what you're looking for.
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Post by NULL on Nov 29, 2019 12:07:51 GMT
i would say that at the heart of it is that people dont want to roleplay or be roleplayers. they want their character, or some character they've been recyling for however many years, not adopting it to the site's setting or story, and rebooting some plot and story line that is as old as the character. i dont know what the point of this thread is, is it a discussion about how things have changed or just to vent and reminisce? or is it just the occasionally, can i go back in time to when i enjoyed rping because of blah blah blah. what i will say on the matter of missing purpose and conflict from your plots, is to not jump head over heels into a 100 plots and threads that will ultimately go nowhere. be more aware about what it is you want from the character, what it is that will keep you interested and invested in the story that will form from that pursuit. additionally id encourage you to get feedback on your writing - critical feedback. ask people what it is they like about your writing, what are your strong points, weak points? where they would like to see improvement from you and vice versa. this was a big thing when i started rping, a lot of people got into rping to improve their writing. and at this point that sense of progression isn't there anymore, it's just words and words for the sake of it. tl;dr: dont look for purpose and conflict from others, put it forward and those that want what you want will come to you. it may not be immediately, but as long as you dont give up or settle for less, you'll find what you're looking for. Honestly it was more or less a "Yeah I miss this particular aspect of rp because it was the biggest reason why I started roleplaying. " Characters seemed to have goals and aspirations that spanned beyond just twiddling their thumbs waiting for their pizza to arrive. The point of the thread has been primarily to receive a discussion from others about the particular topic and see that they felt about it. "Am I wrong for missing these things in rp and should I just quit???" Because I know a lot of the people here have also been around the scene for a long time, so maybe folks do enjoy that aspect that's just disappeared from sites to me. And following your last paragraph, (maybe I'm just a shite writer), most of the time when I've suggested conflict in plotters, open threads, etc. I get a vibe of "stop trying to fight everyone" despite wanting a narrative conflict, as opposed to a physical ic one. /shrug |
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12 posts
bits
they/him
this is war
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Post by gmot on Nov 29, 2019 17:30:24 GMT
people seem to be more adverse to the idea of their character actually disliking another. i make certain characters to have these sort of relationships with others and instead i get plots like ohmygawd, my character thinks yours is sweet! like, this is not what i wanted just because my character can hold a civilized conversation does not mean i want friendship plots.
even if your character is overly aggressive or angry, people tend to "try find the good" in them instead of fucking hate them. and if their character actually can't stand yours, they tend to never want to rp it out.
i think it comes from people thinking that characters are more reflections of their writers (which a lot of them are) over characters and trying to keep civility.
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