ROLEPLAY What's a 'red flag' in roleplaying?

[Smiley]

Title describes my question, and I'm asking you all. This is not meant to attack or offend anyone.

 

[Ocha]

When you add a particularly important piece of information about your character in text or in their bio and it's completely ignored

For example if someone says they were an orphan and a character that's supposed to know them talks about how loving their parents are.

 

[Smiley]

Not fully reading or ignoring parts of your RT.

For instance, I've said multiple times that I don't do fandom RPs that aren't in my RT, and I've gotten multiple PMs from people who want to RP fandoms I didn't list. It shows what kind of person you are, and it's straight-up annoying.

Another thing is when someone uses art or a faceclaim of a popular figure or character for their character. Personally, it tells me that you aren't creative enough to make up your own unique character or character design.

 

[Queen Tink]

The most frustrating thing for me is when people message me "hi" and then "do you wanna rp?" Like... Come at me with ideas people, please

 

[rissa]

Another thing is when someone uses art or a faceclaim of a popular figure or character for their character. Personally, it tells me that you aren't creative enough to make up your own unique character or character design.

eh, tbf sometimes the aesthetic is just right and there's also the chance that despite the popularity, folks don't recognize them! ik i've done that several times, esp with anime-esque face claims

my red flag? the term "literate" in search threads. it just don't sit right with me. errybody on this site is literate. there's a better way to describe yer expectations hereeeee

 

[densagara]

My red flag is when in posts you start noticing that the other person is just responding to what your character does, instead of adding to it with their character's action or dialogue.

This isn't necessarily bad, and there are times when just responding and not adding more is fine. But if they do this all the time, and you end up having to drive the entire RP, it gets tiring and you can't help but wonder if it's really still a collaboration or more of a Game/Dungeon Master type of deal. Or maybe they're no longer interested and are just responding out of obligation. I don't like that. You might as well just write a book yourself. If you and your partner agree to collaborate on an RP, I expect them to do their best and help push the story forward their own way.

 

[Nemopedia]

Spotting the word 'literate' is a red flag for me as well. Just as seeing people ask their partner to be of a certain gender and age before they are willing to rp.

Originally came in to joke around that seeing searches state they want a response frequency of once a day, but that's because those people scare me.

People with overly detailed descriptions of what their partner must play for them also are a red flag. Sounds like someone is asking me to be their co-(ghost)writer.

 

[Smiley]

Just as seeing people ask their partner to be of a certain gender and age before they are willing to rp.

When I ask for age in my RP ads, it's based solely on comfortability and experience. Usually, older people have a LOT more experience than me, and it's daunting.

 

[Reliance]

I will be taking the red flags of Densagara and Nemopedia as my own and will raise those flags with care

 

[Lyrikai]

Oof 100% using the word "literate" here. I mean "literate" literally means being able to read and write, so, by definition, aren't we all literate in just being here on an rp site? XD
I guess I sort of understand what those ads are asking for, but the word "literate" doesn't seem the right word to use.

And also YES to asking their partner to be a certain gender. I don't hide my gender, but I've run into too many people online that find out I'm female and immediately try to flirt... so having someone ask that in an rp setting where we'll be writing romance and possibly smut scares the daylights out of me

 

[firejay1]

I'm surprised i didn't see this one already but my biggest one is pestering. When someone early on in the RP asks "why haven't you posted" or "can you give me an estimate of when you're going to post" or makes comments like "because I've been waiting for a while" or "cause you're much slower than I am," if it's once or twice it's one thing, but if it goes on, it usually suggests to me that they're tying something deeper to how quickly I respond and that drains me of all life. Especially if they are passive aggressive about it, bc I really can't with passive aggressive ppl.

Tbh, the age requirements bother me more than the gender requirements. At least if its "older than 18 only" bc I've met a lot of great writers who can handle mature and nuanced themes who are young, and a lot of not very great writers who are a lot older and have been doing this for a while. I started writing when I was 11, and true I wasn't the best you've ever seen, but I hate to think that if I'd started writing on a site like this instead of on my own, how discouraged I would've been by people assuming I'm not worth their time bc if my age.

Whereas gender is just... I've never set a gender requirement myself, but my worst experiences with other writers clearly being checked out of what's going on and just writing their own thing as if I'm not there and no ones characters can be more interesting than theirs have been with guys. For the most part I find it really creepy if they add a "bc I want my partner to be a real girl" bc that suggests they're here to cyber, but when it's a non sexualized RP request, I kinda get wanting to RP with someone your own gender sometimes. Again, not a thing I've ever actually done bc I've also had a great time RPing with at least one guy who I'm now quite good friends with, but I've considered it at times.

 

[Catspear]

I avoid threads that say 'literate' in the title, not because I think they're being arrogant or something, but because I feel like I won't be able to meet their expectations so why bother looking at it and reaching out

as for the gender thing, I also don't understand that.

and then for the age thing, id like to justify having a limit of avoiding rps with minors myself. I don't count them out completely, I have a limit cause the rps I generally do have romance, and that can obviously lead to more. While I don't do written out smut, the implication of the characters being… intimate, it would just make me uncomfortable with a minor. It's not cause I don't think there are plenty of talented writers under 18. I know there are.

 

[Ardent]

I avoid threads that say 'literate' in the title, not because I think they're being arrogant or something, but because I feel like I won't be able to meet their expectations so why bother looking at it and reaching out

as for the gender thing, I also don't understand that.

and then for the age thing, id like to justify having a limit of avoiding rps with minors myself. I don't count them out completely, I have a limit cause the rps I generally do have romance, and that can obviously lead to more. While I don't do written out smut, the implication of the characters being… intimate, it would just make me uncomfortable with a minor. It's not cause I don't think there are plenty of talented writers under 18. I know there are.

I agree with you. I don't rule minors out, but as a general rule I prefer to rp with adults. Some experiences can only be had with time, and these experiences seep into our writing and how we interact with people. Someone still in high school might not be able to understand why an adult would only be able to post once a month, for example. And if you're big on OOC communication, it is generally easier to converse and relate with people within your age range. For some people this might be a deal-breaker.

Anyway, I guess some red flags off the top of my head would be:

1) When they have a crapton of rules / requirements for their roleplay
2) When they constantly, constantly complain about role-plays dying and that "nobody ever wants to roleplay with them". It makes me think that they don't have anything else going on in their lives, and that they are completely reliant on one niche hobby for their happiness. It's too much pressure. Nobody likes that kind of desperation and negativity.

 

[LuckycoolHawk9]

I got two.

1) RPers who try to godmod the encounter in a fight with the nameless NPCs without asking for the GM input. In the same vein, their character can body the NPCs without checking anything about it.

2) Long posts where 90% of it is their own two characters are talking. I used to like matching for length and that's when I stopped because somebody wrote a whole scene but about 10% was to advance the plot.

 

[Diana]

I'M GOING TO TAKE RED FLAG TO MEAN SIGNS THAT SOMEONE IS A BAD PARTNER FOR ANYONE and not just my personal prefs!

When you post for someone else and your partner gets mad/angry/jealous/possessive because you haven't posted for them yet and they are actively fussing and guilting you for it. That is NO NO. It's okay to be jealous cause your fav person hasn't posted yet, but it' NOT okay to harass and guilt them about it.

And when a partner ONLY wants to plot and discuss sex scenes, kinks, and flirt OOC. I'm not out here trying to cyber sext and have emotional affairs. I'm trying to write stories. >:[ Leave ME THE WRITER out of it.

And the final one "I can never find an rp or a partner!" and I can EASILY see they're not even trying, with request threads, or reaching out to people themselves. We all struggle to find partners sometimes, especially when we have a hyper specific thing we wanna play and no one is available yet. It takes effort on our end to look like a good potential partner and do that hunting!

 

[Smiley]

It makes me think that they don't have anything else going on in their lives, and that they are completely reliant on one niche hobby for their happiness.

Uh..

HEY! Don't call me out like that!! It's not my fault I'm a socially stunted theater kid who had no friends and had to resort to roleplaying as my only form of entertainment.

/j

(Please laugh)

 

[Spammy]

Emphasis on the the person behind the account is kind of a red flag. I can somewhat understand feeling like some people are not going to be able to write something well, and maybe probably my own experiences are limited but I feel like that will self-select out or not pass the sniff test at some point.

I don't know how to tell you where the line is, but there is a line between "I would like to include this subject" and "Being weird about this subject" and if I think you're being weird about things I'm just gonna close the tab.

 

[Queen Tink]

It makes me think that they don't have anything else going on in their lives, and that they are completely reliant on one niche hobby for their happiness.

Uh..

HEY! Don't call me out like that!! It's not my fault I'm a socially stunted theater kid who had no friends and had to resort to roleplaying as my only form of entertainment.

/j

(Please laugh)

God, me!
I was a theater kid and all of that in high school.

 

[ImaginationGoneWild]

If the roleplay they're looking for is too specific. It leaves very little creative room for me and I have a feeling that whatever it is I do it won't be good enough for them. In that case, just write the story yourself if you have so much detail of it already.
Or if they want you to play a specific character, that also leaves very little creative room and doesn't make me feel in touch with my own character.

 

[Kiryu]

When I look through a person's post history and all I see are one-liners. I love putting a lot of detail into my posts, so it just bores me if I'm the only one who's actually making that sorta effort.