Roleplaying Pet Peeves

[Lady B]

What are some details to roleplays that makes your eyes twitch, but may not bother or even make sense to others?

One thing that completely throws me off is characters with English or otherwise foreign names in AniFan (anime fandom) or Japanese-inspired RP's in general. I mean, one or two foreign characters isn't uncommon in anime and stuff like that, and of course it would only be natural for foreigners to have foreign names, but seeing an interesting RP based in Japan or a location based off of Japan and then scroll down to find that most or all of the accepted CS's carry foreign names while all of the characters are native to the place the RP is based in just rubs me the wrong way.

Sooo what are you guys's roleplaying pet peeves? Discuss!

 

[Gwazi Magnum]

Wavering rates of activity (Group wise that is, not 1x1).

Where sometimes it can be really fast/active, and other times it get's really slow.
It makes it hard to stay consistently on top of if life is busy.
And if life isn't busy, it leaves one constantly sitting about waiting for stuff to happen cause you don't know when to expect more posts.

 

[Kagayours]

IC posts written in 1st person. They just throw me off too much.

Also, when a character is clearly bothered by something but insists that s/he doesn't want to talk about it and then acts like a loner, preventing any interaction from happening when clearly you want your little subplot to go somewhere so just let it already.

Edit: Oh and pretty much any post where no one provides anything new for others to interact to and just passively restates everything that just happened.

 

[Dipper]

Filler. I do my best to avoid filler and keep a plot moving, and I know not everyone is absolutely perfect. But when I'm trying to get something moving and my partner(s) is trying to tell me their long depressing backstory that takes up more than two paragraphs, or would rather sit being lonely and emo instead of jumping into this really exciting plot idea, then I just lose interest in the rp altogether. I came here to build stories and have fun, not listen to third-person monologues. Integrate it into the story, don't shove it in my face.

Also, people who blatantly ignore sections of my replies (I know not everyone's perfect, but if it's a consistent issue...). I said hi to you, are you even reading these posts?

 

[Windsong]

Gonna get this out if the way cause no ones mentioned it yet.

MARY SUES.

People that insist on bringing in a character to fit every single new situation. No, I'm not writing character sheets for 20 npcs that will have a paragraph of actions and dialogue.

RP dedicated to character development but then the GM insists players move away from the starting point before we've filled the first page.

Characters that are supposed to be literal newborns in grown bodies yet are perfectly capable of having instant knowledge of others motives and attitudes by their actions.

Anime images for a character. I love anime. But they just feel so generic to me when people use them for everything.

Completely ignoring weather and the environment in a setting. It's hot, your character shouldn't be wanting to run around naked in the sun. It's raining, even animals want shelter.

People that ignore rules when making a character. It says humanoid. No you can't be a spider. But I'm not the GM so I can't argue it.

Slow to respond GMs. We see you're on and looking at the thread. It's been two days. Please respond to our questions, we can't proceed.

Good ideas. Terrible execution. Guilty.

Trying to reply to responses under the influence of anything. Extra guilty. The editing isn't worth it.

 

[Saito Hajime]

People that refuse to learn.

I have met a lot of people that claim to have been roleplaying for several years, sometimes as long as 10 or higher in some cases. It depends on the person, but a lot of these people continue to make huge mistakes. Mistakes like spoiling the details of some plot line without asking for permission from the one who made it, or godmoding someone into an awkward situation for no good reason. I know, people are hardly perfect, but you might think 10 years of apparent "experience" would be ample time to learn not to end up aggravating people thoughtlessly over a mistake you would expect of someone that started roleplaying yesterday.

 

[Windsong]

People that refuse to learn.

I have met a lot of people that claim to have been roleplaying for several years, sometimes as long as 10 or higher in some cases. It depends on the person, but a lot of these people continue to make huge mistakes. Mistakes like spoiling the details of some plot line without asking for permission from the one who made it, or godmoding someone into an awkward situation for no good reason. I know, people are hardly perfect, but you might think 10 years of apparent "experience" would be ample time to learn not to end up aggravating people thoughtlessly over a mistake you would expect of someone that started roleplaying yesterday.

Time spent doing something =\= experience.

You can do something for 20 years and still be doing a poor job of no ones there to guide you.

On your same vein: people who don't take criticism well. We're not dissecting your character to mock you, we're doing it because there are glaring problems that could cause problems down the line.

 

[Gwazi Magnum]

Time spent doing something =\= experience.

You can do something for 20 years and still be doing a poor job of no ones there to guide you.

[2]

I spent my whole life playing video games for example.
But I'm not that good at any game specifically because I never focus on skill improvement but rather simply having fun.

 

[Dipper]

I would think that you would improve at least at tiny bit? I had nobody telling me what to do throughout my seven years, but I still improved a ton. I would say it's all up to the individual. Because over time, you're naturally going to change (if not a lot, in some cases), so while maybe time doesn't equal experience, it will have some effect. Just... possibly not the grand game-changing effect you'd expect.

 

[Gwazi Magnum]

I would think that you would improve at least at tiny bit? I had nobody telling me what to do throughout my seven years, but I still improved a ton. I would say it's all up to the individual. Because over time, you're naturally going to change (if not a lot, in some cases), so while maybe time doesn't equal experience, it will have some effect. Just... possibly not the grand game-changing effect you'd expect.

Highly dependent on the time investment.
I mean let's look at it for a moment, 7 years.

Obviously the person didn't spend 7 years glued to the computer RPing.
How much of that 7 years were truly invested?

Were they a very active poster?
Did they post once a week?
What RP Levels did they do during the 7 years?
Who did they RP with?
How many RP's were they in at a time?

A lot of factors to be considering.

 

[Fluffy]

When people feel the need to suggest our characters have a baby. :| WHY, I ASK YOU? WHY? It's not only because I already have a kid of my own and want to write in a world where I'm childless. I just don't think it's fun to RP in the first place! And it's so inconvenient since most of my RPs involve violence and adventuring.

 

[Dipper]

Highly dependent on the time investment.
I mean let's look at it for a moment, 7 years.

Obviously the person didn't spend 7 years glued to the computer RPing.
How much of that 7 years were truly invested?

Were they a very active poster?
Did they post once a week?
What RP Levels did they do during the 7 years?
Who did they RP with?
How many RP's were they in at a time?

A lot of factors to be considering.

It still amounts to quite a bit of time. I would completely rule out any improvement if all your rping was done with a select group of friends at the same level as you, because that doesn't offer much room for development. But if you're rping on forums, or outside of your circle, you're bound to run into at least a few people above you in skill, and it's likely that you'll naturally learn from them at some point. Learning is absorption, too, not just "Tell me what to do, I'll do it".

Different places, different people. You're bound to learn something, regardless of how long it takes.

 

[Gwazi Magnum]

It still amounts to quite a bit of time. I would completely rule out any improvement if all your rping was done with a select group of friends at the same level as you, because that doesn't offer much room for development. But if you're rping on forums, or outside of your circle, you're bound to run into at least a few people above you in skill, and it's likely that you'll naturally learn from them at some point. Learning is absorption, too, not just "Tell me what to do, I'll do it".

Different places, different people. You're bound to learn something, regardless of how long it takes.

Which is true.
But the amount one absorbs is heavily reliant on said factors.

So they may have absorbed info, just not to the point you have.
So by comparison it looks like they haven't learned anything.

 

[Peter Feels]

@Dipper @Gwazi Magnum This is not a thread about experience and effort put toward skills. It's about pet peeves in RPs. Please move your conversation to PMs.


Personally? I've never RPed enough to develop pet peeves, though the things described here seem like they are annoying. I can sympathize with how you all feel.

 

[Dervish]

Time spent doing something =\= experience.

You can do something for 20 years and still be doing a poor job of no ones there to guide you.

On your same vein: people who don't take criticism well. We're not dissecting your character to mock you, we're doing it because there are glaring problems that could cause problems down the line.

Beat me to it.

Also, consider that 10 years is a long-ass time. A lot of those years were probably starting in pre-teen years and going through emotional development without any serious practice or education in the matter.

Valid point about the criticism, too!

 

[Lady B]

Beat me to it.

Also, consider that 10 years is a long-ass time. A lot of those years were probably starting in pre-teen years and going through emotional development without any serious practice or education in the matter.

Valid point about the criticism, too!

But... But... Butterfly even pointed it out so nicely... :(

 

[BrattyCommissar]

Well, a good deal of my pet peeves make me a huge hypocrite. It bothers me when people take long to post, takes long to post. It bothers me when someone's character purposefully doesn't fit the rest of the characters, does that too. And other things.

Basically, I want players who are better at being players than I am :D

Hrm, other things that bother me that I don't necessarily do. Metagaming? And uh... well I tend to find GMPCs icky. Both when I'm the GM and when I'm not! The players are supposed to be the star, not your special NPC!! Actually, just spotlight hogs in general. In a RP, everyone is a protagonist. As a collective. Your character is not the most super special snowflake protagonist ever goochy goochy goo baby princess get what it wants, fuck you.

 

[Brovo]

But... But... Butterfly even pointed it out so nicely... :(

Here, I'll wrangle it back on track for you.

1. Explicitly Japanese characters named Tom, Dick, or Harry.
2. Explicitly not Japanese characters named Kurotori, Sasuke, Sakura, et cetera.
3. Bringing Japanese cultural motifs into a role play that is explicitly not set in Japan.
4. Katanas being fucking everywhere. I've made a Fantasy RP? Katana is there. I've made a Sci-Fi RP? Katana is there. I once made a post apocalypse RP where Japan ceased to exist and, somehow, someone made a diamond Katana. I'm not kidding. This was a thing.
5. People attempting to describe how firearms work, who have absolutely no knowledge of firearms. It's okay, you can just say "I shot at a thing and the gun went bang." You don't have to pretend to know how something works to use it, just understand what the end product is: Instant death stick go bang, person in the distance cries out "WHY?!" Then falls dead.
6. People claiming experience they don't have, and showing it blatantly in an RP, then fighting with you when you pull out scientific facts telling them how wrong they are. Again, it's okay not to know a thing: Stop pretending to be something you're not. If you've only been role playing/writing for a year, I'm not going to look down on you for making mistakes. I will, however, look down on you for lying to my face.
7. People playing characters they have no clue how to play. For example: Attempting to play as a samurai, then being confused when I ask why you aren't adhering to typical samurai battle principles by staying in the back line and using your Yumi to kill people at a distance instead of suicide charging into them.
8. Most importantly, refusing to learn if you make mistakes, and blaming others for such errors. There's a reason I feel no pity for someone when their RP dies and they start blaming other people: Sometimes, an RP just dies. Deal with it like an adult, and try again if you really like the idea. Learn from your mistakes.
9. People bitching when I don't respond to them within 24 hours of a question being asked. Bro, I have like, a family. I also have like, friends. I typically have this thing called, a job. I also have like, other hobbies. I don't have time to check every hour of every day. If I'm gone for a whole week, then you deserve to get pissed.
10. People not understanding how Spatial Contextual Awareness works. A practical example: No, that Nazi soldier antagonist who has spotted you is not going to sit on his ass and wait for your character to charge 15 feet to cut at them with your katana. In the middle of you doing that historical butchering of a samurai, that Nazi soldier will just lift his gun, pull the trigger, and kill you dead. Did you know that you can't die if you are killed? (Actions happen simultaneously, basically. Stop pretending they don't, that's poor writing.)
11. Speaking of poor writing, Mary Sues who have no weaknesses. The archetype of a Mary Sue can actually be interesting to explore. (Ex: Superman.) In practice with several other characters though? You need inherent weaknesses, reasons to have team mates to work with you. If you can resolve all problems by yourself, that's a problem.

There. 11. I can add more if wanted, I've been doing this for years. I still remember when SBRP on Warcraft III was a thing, so, I've got hundreds. Some funny, some sad, some just plain confusing.

 

[Dervish]

All of @Brovo 's points make me nod my head in absolute agreement. Spot on the money shot.

 

[K3l]

No, that Nazi soldier antagonist who has spotted you is not going to sit on his ass and wait for your character to charge 15 feet to cut at them with your katana. In the middle of you doing that historical butchering of a samurai, that Nazi soldier will just lift his gun, pull the trigger, and kill you dead.