Roleplaying Pet Peeves

Do you have a roleplaying pet peeve?


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As a GM, "I can't post" gets aggravating. Responsibility deflection doubly so. Here, let me give y'all a basic checklist.

Acceptable reasons you're not to blame for a lack of a post.
  1. My house is on fire/natural disaster: I'll keep your seat warm for you, because yeah, you can't post if your house got battered harder than Rihanna.
  2. I'm not at home for a prolonged period: Vacation? Enjoy it! I'll keep your character safe until you get home.
  3. Since I've joined the RP, I've had to start working 80+ hours a week: Yeah, I got your back brosis. Just let me know when you are available for a post so I can work with you, rather than around you.
You'll notice this list is absurdly short. Here's a list of bad reasons.
  1. I've been busy: Doing what exactly?
  2. I have a life: So do I, and the other seven billion humans inhabiting the Earth. It doesn't seem to stop them from being responsible, why is it stopping you?
  3. It's just a role play: That's nice. Don't let the door hit your ass on the way out of it. You joined it, you have a responsibility to post in it. If you don't, it's my responsibility as the GM to drum roll you out so others who may want to play--and who actually have the responsibility to post--can play.
  4. I forgot: It's not my job to police your life. Once in a while it's fine to forget things, but if this is your go-to response on a regular basis, maybe you need a calender app.
  5. I'm waiting on someone else: Please don't do this. This is deliberately deflecting responsibility for your character onto somebody else. This is kindergartener logic: "If he hasn't eaten the broccoli first, then I won't eat my broccoli!" It's fine to wait, to plan things out with another player, but considering the high turnover rate of role players, are you seriously suggesting putting the fate of your character on some guy named "Gokumasterx64superstars"? Really? Come on now. If nobody has posted in a day or two, stop waiting on someone else and post.
  6. I don't know what to post: Have you tried asking questions in the OOC to resolve your confusion about what to do? No? Then this excuse is complete shit and you know it.
Got it? If your excuse involves deflecting the blame or responsibility onto anything other than an Act of God or absurd working conditions, you're being childish. Now this isn't to say that I want superhuman perfection out of posters, because that's simply not achievable. What I'm asking for is basic maturity and responsibility. It's okay to struggle to come up with a post: It happens to everyone. Ask in the OOC for ideas about what your character can do! Push out a post, even if it's only half a paragraph! Don't blame other people for your failures: Own up to them and try to overcome those obstacles! Just keep posting!

Please! Seriously! I don't enjoy slapping people believe it or not, but when you're deflecting your one responsibility (posting) onto other people/nonsensical excuses, I don't really have any other choice. Just do the adult thing: Take responsibility, write a post even if it's short, and don't be afraid to ask for help from your fellow players or the GM. We're a group, this is a group activity, we're here to have fun, so don't go handicapping yourself and everyone else with shitty excuses for a lack of posts. :ferret:
 
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As a GM, "I can't post" gets aggravating. Responsibility deflection doubly so. Here, let me give y'all a basic checklist.

Acceptable reasons you're not to blame for a lack of a post.
  1. My house is on fire/natural disaster: I'll keep your seat warm for you, because yeah, you can't post if your house got battered harder than Rihanna.
  2. I'm not at home for a prolonged period: Vacation? Enjoy it! I'll keep your character safe until you get home.
  3. Since I've joined the RP, I've had to start working 80+ hours a week: Yeah, I got your back brosis. Just let me know when you are available for a post so I can work with you, rather than around you.
You'll notice this list is absurdly short. Here's a list of bad reasons.
  1. I've been busy: Doing what exactly?
  2. I have a life: So do I, and the other seven billion humans inhabiting the Earth. It doesn't seem to stop them from being responsible, why is it stopping you?
  3. It's just a role play: That's nice. Don't let the door hit your ass on the way out of it. You joined it, you have a responsibility to post in it. If you don't, it's my responsibility as the GM to drum roll you out so others who may want to play--and who actually have the responsibility to post--can play.
  4. I forgot: It's not my job to police your life. Once in a while it's fine to forget things, but if this is your go-to response on a regular basis, maybe you need a calender app.
  5. I'm waiting on someone else: Please don't do this. This is deliberately deflecting responsibility for your character onto somebody else. This is kindergartener logic: "If he hasn't eaten the broccoli first, then I won't eat my broccoli!" It's fine to wait, to plan things out with another player, but considering the high turnover rate of role players, are you seriously suggesting putting the fate of your character on some guy named "Gokumasterx64superstars"? Really? Come on now. If nobody has posted in a day or two, stop waiting on someone else and post.
  6. I don't know what to post: Have you tried asking questions in the OOC to resolve your confusion about what to do? No? Then this excuse is complete shit and you know it.
Got it? If your excuse involves deflecting the blame or responsibility onto anything other than an Act of God or absurd working conditions, you're being childish. Now this isn't to say that I want superhuman perfection out of posters, because that's simply not achievable. What I'm asking for is basic maturity and responsibility. It's okay to struggle to come up with a post: It happens to everyone. Ask in the OOC for ideas about what your character can do! Push out a post, even if it's only half a paragraph! Don't blame other people for your failures: Own up to them and try to overcome those obstacles! Just keep posting!

Please! Seriously! I don't enjoy slapping people believe it or not, but when you're deflecting your one responsibility (posting) onto other people/nonsensical excuses, I don't really have any other choice. Just do the adult thing: Take responsibility, write a post even if it's short, and don't be afraid to ask for help from your fellow players or the GM. We're a group, this is a group activity, we're here to have fun, so don't go handicapping yourself and everyone else with shitty excuses for a lack of posts. :ferret:
For the love of god, all of this.
 
I really hate it when a GM or your partner expects you to put EVERYTHING ABOUT your character into their character sheet, and cannot be reasoned with.

I also have an issue with the balance of sexualities in RPs. I really don't have anything against homo/Demi/pan/etc people, but I don't expect a whole universe to be filled with them. I was once in a Fire Emblem RP where EVERY SINGLE character was homosexual. Like... Damn. Be realistic. A whole school isn't going to be filled with homosexual people. Fire Emblem (and other medieval fantasies) shouldn't be brimming with homosexual people due to the fact there are consequences when it comes to diverging from the "proper, man and woman matrimony" because it's in medieval times and people like that were treated like animals. And then of course, everyone treats them normally. Be realistic; I don't mind if your character is bisexual or whatever, it adds diversity to the RP. But when it comes to having 9 out of 10 people be gay/lesbian/pan... It's pretty annoying.
 
These have happened several times:

As a GM, when a player takes over your RP. Let's say you have plans for something. Huge plans, like a Big Bad, or a guy watching your every move. Then all of a sudden, a player takes over, and removes the tension completely. How am I to work with this? Like seriously!

As a Player, when you use common sense and logic, and get punished for it.

Yes, this happened.
 
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I really hate it when a GM or your partner expects you to put EVERYTHING ABOUT your character into their character sheet, and cannot be reasoned with.

I also have an issue with the balance of sexualities in RPs. I really don't have anything against homo/Demi/pan/etc people, but I don't expect a whole universe to be filled with them. I was once in a Fire Emblem RP where EVERY SINGLE character was homosexual. Like... Damn. Be realistic. A whole school isn't going to be filled with homosexual people. Fire Emblem (and other medieval fantasies) shouldn't be brimming with homosexual people due to the fact there are consequences when it comes to diverging from the "proper, man and woman matrimony" because it's in medieval times and people like that were treated like animals. And then of course, everyone treats them normally. Be realistic; I don't mind if your character is bisexual or whatever, it adds diversity to the RP. But when it comes to having 9 out of 10 people be gay/lesbian/pan... It's pretty annoying.

I mentioned my irritation with the sexuality section earlier on, but I honestly think in almost every instance it's the player projecting themselves on their character via matching sexuality rather than deciding it's an important aspect of their character's personality that's unique to them.
 
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I mentioned my irritation with the sexuality section earlier on, but I honestly think in almost every instance it's the player projecting themselves on their character via matching sexuality rather than deciding it's an important aspect of their character's personality that's unique to them.

That's really annoying.
 
As a GM, when a player takes over your RP. Let's say you have plans for something. Huge plans, like a Big Bad, or a guy watching your every move. Then all of a sudden, a player takes over, and removes the tension completely. How am I to work with this? Like seriously!
TAKE THAT SHIT BACK
 
As a GM, when a player takes over your RP. Let's say you have plans for something. Huge plans, like a Big Bad, or a guy watching your every move. Then all of a sudden, a player takes over, and removes the tension completely. How am I to work with this? Like seriously!

Uh... What?
  • ADD MORE TENSION
  • TELL YOUR PLAYER HE'S NOT IN CHARGE
  • MORE TENSION
  • RESUME PLANS
  • KILL THAT CHARACTER AS RETRIBUTION
 
  • ADD MORE TENSION
  • TELL YOUR PLAYER HE'S NOT IN CHARGE
  • MORE TENSION
  • RESUME PLANS
  • KILL THAT CHARACTER AS RETRIBUTION

Yeah. The current thing is a virus, I'm thinking of having mutate.

Severely.
 
People who are really really blunt on what they want to roleplay, people who say can we rp?, and don't discuss the rp and just start something. people who do rps like father x son, father x daughter, mother x daughter, stuff that basically equals a kid x parent.
 
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I really hate it when a GM or your partner expects you to put EVERYTHING ABOUT your character into their character sheet, and cannot be reasoned with.
Yes, this. Or when later the partner uses this information to metagame. Just because my character can speak French it does not mean your character would instinctually know that. x'D
 
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Yes, this. Or when later the partner uses this information to metagame. Just because my character can speak French it does not mean your character would instinctual know that. x'D
THIS THIS AND MOTHER FUCKING THIS, OR WHEN THERE REALLY BLUNT ABOUT THERE CHARACTER DURING THE RP BUT THEN HAVE A LONG ASS CHARACTER SHEET AFTERWARDS
 
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Asking someone to teach you have to roleplay and they get really really bossy and want you to do things that you don't want to do.
 
Personally, right now people whose characters are flipflopy. They have a set personally, a very clear one and then suddenly they are a whole different person. Just bugs me. Like I know characters shift through time, but not like that. I mean there are moments in rps where a character will act out of character, since all people have moments like that, but it's like that character stays that way after that moment. And it's clear through their writing that it wasn't a planned switch in personality.

Secondly, when you happen to play with someone who plays a few characters and they are all the same bloody person. I know some writers are working on becoming better and I myself am not perfect in anyway. I just find it frustrating.
 
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Secondly, when you happen to play with someone who plays a few characters and they are all the same bloody person. I know some writers are working on becoming better and I myself am not perfect in anyway. I just find it frustrating.
Thiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiis.

Especially when they're all the same "badass" character that scoffs at everything they don't like. Oh, and when they are eerily similar in terms of quirks to the person playing them if you know what I mean.
 
When you've spent over 2 years on a roleplay and only now is it getting some movement, Which the RP in question still hasn't got at least 1 complete arc yet.

Yeah, I'm a patient guy, but my patience is wearing thin right now. I shouldn't have to keep badgering someone to do something, I really shouldn't at all, but sometimes it makes me feel I'm the only one interested in the actual RP. granted, worldbuilding has been done for it, but still...it's annoying.

Wow that came off as a rant.
 
When you've spent over 2 years on a roleplay and only now is it getting some movement, Which the RP in question still hasn't got at least 1 complete arc yet.

Yeah, I'm a patient guy, but my patience is wearing thin right now. I shouldn't have to keep badgering someone to do something, I really shouldn't at all, but sometimes it makes me feel I'm the only one interested in the actual RP. granted, worldbuilding has been done for it, but still...it's annoying.

Wow that came off as a rant.

I've been in a similar situation before. It's actually the reason why I now have a personal rule as a GM that I just won't continue any RP that people no longer have interest in. It came from a period of time when I had multiple year-old RP's and, in the process of trying to get things moving again, I realized that not only was the RP moving at a snail's pace, but hardly anyone else seemed to be interested in it, so it was really only moving at all because I was pushing it forward so hard. The way I saw it, the RP was technically still alive but "on life support", to put it one way, and all the effort needed to force it to keep living was just way too much stress for me to handle.

So if there's an RP that hardly seems to be moving and no one else is interested anymore, I just let it go, because it isn't worth it anymore. Of course, I do ask if people are still interested first, and I'll generally keep going even if only a small number of people are still really with it, but, yeah.
 
The next person to write a post that does literally nothing in the story is getting summarily executed. I really don't care anymore. It must be a god forsaken talent from hell to be able to write four paragraphs of inner monologue. It must be so hard to write multiple paragraphs in which your character does nothing, says nothing, and then the player leaves because, and I quote, "I have writer's block", or, "I don't have any inspiration anymore." Hey, buddy, guy, gal, whatever, I have a secret for you. Just come nice and close so I can whisper it to you to prevent public embarrassment. Ready?

YOU ARE CAUSING WRITER'S BLOCK TO YOURSELF.

This is not rocket science. If you write a post where you do absolutely nothing, you give yourself nothing to continue on later. "It's in character for my character to be a brooding antisocial asshole!" Congratulations then on making a shitty character who actively prevents you from advancing the plot. Again, it's entirely your fault, and I'm really damn tired of these terrible excuses. Some people own up to their failures and try to fix them, and I like those people. Those people get all the help and attention they need from me, because they try. They try. If they make an antisocial asshole, they try to change his or her personality to warm them up. If they create a character with badly done mechanical skills, they try to rework them mid-RP to be more useful.

Do you want to know why I don't generally suffer from writer's block anymore, and haven't in two to three years?

Because I stopped cock-blocking myself with shoddily written posts where my characters do nothing but monologue. Stop with the monologue. Eliminate it. Delete it. Until you know how to use it properly, you are only fucking yourself over. By extension of fucking yourself over, you are fucking over everyone else in the role play as well. Then you probably start to feel awkward as though people are judging you, and sometimes, said players will then delete their accounts and come back on new accounts.

Rule of thumb: Do things in your posts. Speak, with dialogue! Do actions, like flipping switches or punching people! Literally do anything and you'll preemptively stop writer's block! Stop giving a damn if your post is only one paragraph long: One paragraph is enough to at least continue the RP. Nobody worth a damn constantly writes six or more paragraphs constantly anyway, that's just shitty pacing, you probably shouldn't want to clone it. :ferret:

So. Pet peeve today?

Stupid, stupid, terrible habits, that fuck over my players, and myself by extension. :ferret:
 
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