I agree with u so much. The RP community could benefit so much from just... not doing FCs. I promise it's not that deep!

That being said I kinda get it when it's panfandom

I'm going to post my unpopular opinion but obscure face claims are my favorite, so I'm not really affected by hoarders. I don't want to be influenced by the canon or for other people's interactions with my character to be influenced by it. As long as I can find 2-3 usable graphics of a character and I have no idea who they are I'm all good.

i’ve had maybe one or two cases of fc “sniping” happen to me over the years of rp, so it baffles me whenever i see it being this widespread of an issue.

The only person who I ever knew to be fc possessive was someone i knew personally and they were an extreme case of “even if on a diff site i will throw a temper tantrum if I know you used a fc i have even if I have 0 interest in the site youre using it on.” We havent been friends for years.

Like i knew it was an issue, just didn’t fathom how bad of one it was until it stated being complained about on here every few months or so.

That being said, the most possessiveness and jealousy i’ve ever seen was still by and far Panfan cattiness.

Agreed! 

This might be an unpopular opinion, but as a member, I really enjoy when a site has very intense plots between multiple characters and multiple members. Plots spanning months, if not years, with ripple effects from previous relationships between characters. And I don't find that common on sites where I see every player with 10+ characters, most with 5 posts on them. (not saying its impossible, or that people with multiple characters can't have enriching plots. I just don't see it realistic to have the far reaching plots across multiple players and multiple characters, like i mentioned, when its commonplace for people to have massive casts under them.)

Of course, I'm not here to dictate anyone's hobby. But for ME personally, I find it a bit frustrating to feel inspired when I try to plot with someone only to have to shift through their characters to figure out which one is actively posting 






This is a bit in the past, but I guess I was just curious about this take. Because, to me, it feels a bit much to join a site and expect the staff members to be okay with you bending the world they've spent time and effort building.  For some sites, it can be easy to mass accept apps, but for like Super hero or power related sites, I feel like a lot more would go into ensuring balance between characters that doesn't fit the two questions you mentioned. 

Like, of course, in a perfect world everyone would make characters based off of narrative alone, but I feel like reality is there is a good chunk of the community who likes to mid max, whether it be by making their character a random noble or have blood bending abilities, or rushing canon slots or fc hoarding etc etc.  That's fine. Have fun however you like. But, as a staff member, it creates a need to be more cautious during acceptance, especially if we're talking about a narrative driven site. 

I don't know. Of course, this is a shared hobby, so we should able to do whatever creatively fits our interests, but at the same time, this is  a hobby for the staff members running their sites, no? So if people are making 10+ characters, or app-and-dashing, I find it totally be reasonable to place limitations. Even if staff members have unlimited time, its not like app approval is the most riveting experience. And you can only have the "slow down" conversation so many times with so many members. Neither of which makes said staff person wrong. 

I just feel like the simpler solution is: join sites that support your writing styles/creativity. Whether that be unlimited character creation, or limited. FC exclusivity or no-fcs at all.

This is my biggest issue really. It's frustrating when you look at a directory and you can't tell which characters will actively thread with you. If you see someone has fifty characters but they're currently only writing ten, the extra forty creates a skewed idea of population and activity for a new member. Granted, activity checks do solve for that.

I also saw this re: leadership often too. My old RP communities struggled immensely with canon stagnation. People didn't want to give up leadership even if they were inactive, and would go out screaming over being contested. It created drama and slowed stories that hinged on their participation, weakening overall plots that could have done better with an active presence. Again, that experience has made me a huge, huge proponent of activity checks.

I probably didn't explain my point eloquently enough, so I get where the confusion comes from. One of the mindset differences we have is that I consider most roleplayers to come from a place of inherent goodness, i.e. they do not set out to change the entire setting to their needs, but they may introduce details that you hadn't thought of.

From that point, if you create vagueness in a setting, you either have to run a tight ship, or just accept that writers collaborating means new creative ideas get introduced. There's nothing wrong with that. If I create a fictional town and don't specify it doesn't have a bakery, I shouldn't be upset if someone writes a bakery into the setting.

Exceptions to the rule are the lifeblood of many stories, so it's not weird to consider there are roleplayers who will introduce exceptions to the rule as their focal character.

You can either take a prescriptive approach ("you can only write what is specifically in the setting"), or you can just...chill out a bit, assume some good on people, and let them introduce new things to the setting or bend things a little. If all nobles are spellcasters, let someone play the magicless noble. If monsters are ferocious demons, let someone have a monster that's docile for some reason. When everyone woke up with a super power on 17 July 2025, what's the harm in letting someone wake up with them on 21 July 2025 instead?

If it's important, define your setting, explain why a particular detail is set in stone. All nobles are spellcasters because the king immediately confers nobility on anyone who can cast magic, and he has a magic device that pinpoints magicians. All monsters are ferocious demons because they are the embodiment of chaos and are driven by this singular force of destruction. People woke up with their super powers on that specific day because aliens unleashed an experimental device that modified people's genes on that exact day, and its effects are instantaneous.

Most sites don't have an overarching staff-ran plot anyway and run with "character-driven" (i.e. we provide the setting, you provide everything else) plots.


It's fine, you know? Trust other writers.

I’m also someone who always assume good intention from others when they bring up ideas. A site i left assumed had this impression i was trying to cheat the system. Even despite thr clear evidence i had only been following what the mod who approved my app told me to do, they were very insistent i was on the wrong for “not making sure” (like 4 months later in the site and 200+ posts later from me.) i was very active and using my currency for dumb funny things. It really sucks to be treated like a criminal. It was fandon-based too, so the lore i was following was in-line with the adaptation they take inspiration from but they really attacked me just bc they had this horrible assumption about me

mind you i was asking for permission, and i wouldnt have minded or even cared retconning or just forgetting about it. But they be mad i was “ruining their hard work” on their site lore

Im still not over how i was treated honestly. Was just so uncalled for lol. I’ve just been big chilling and doing my best in the community. Doesnt help i was going through times with my dog a too

Edit: i should add that they also really hated me lmao so probably doesnt matter but the accusation of trying to cheat or whatever still hurts

Maybe I just lack empathy but I just cannot understand why people in the roleplay community are sometimes so obsessed with ascribing malice where none exists.

I heard that feeling angry is as addicting as feeling happy. 🫠

Must be an exhausting way to live. Embrace Buddhism.

One thing I've see sites try to do to solve this is by requiring the canon in question to include a summary in their ac post of things their character is doing to move site plots forward. This feels kind of "off" to me (like... assigning homework?) but I don't really have a dog in the fight as I tend not to play site canons nor write plots that involve big sweeping changes to the site. (Not that I'm opposed on principle, but I've yet to play on a site where a site plot actually manifested past the pre-plotting stage, so I prefer to keep my expectations low.)