I generally don't like to mention if I have any problems with my rp partner. I don't want to be rude, so normally if a rp isn't really going the way I would have prefered, I still try to finish the session and then that will most likely be the end of that.
Although, it really, really sucks when you can just tell that a rp is going to be bad early on and you'll be stuck for at least an hour or two (Maybe more)
I had one of those not too long ago where basically nothing happened but just went on forever and most of the time my character would just getting complained over and such. Not only did it not meet any of the things I like in my rp's, it was overall just a very unpleasant experience. Still I finished the session, but was then getting schooled over my posts (4-6 paragraphs) not being long enough, even though I had almost nothing interesting to work with, and the next time I basically got told that I was a idiot for not showing up the next day for more, even though I had work and never promised that I would -__-;
That is probably my worst rp experience, but generally when I rp, I'm not too picky as long as my partner knows how to tell a good story or have an interesting character, and I generally like multi-sessioned rps.

I don't think I have ever staight out left an rp with someone without saying, I have turned people down a lot of times before we even started but those are usually people that I don't share any preferences with, so I don't really get why they even bother to write... Usually their grammar also tends to be really bad and they usually open with "wanna rp!?" or something. So maybe that explains it

On a case-by-case basis I'll do any of the above.

In the case of a partner being completely belligerent to me or doing or saying something that I actually find truly offensive I will simply end the RP with a "Goodbye" and put them on an ignore list. There have been people that are just aggressively mean IC and OOC and they defend it with "Oh just ignore that, it's just who I am," but, well... No. I shouldn't have to take their BS and they shouldn't be dealing it. These people are insta-blocked, and usually not in a polite way.

If it's something like posts that don't make sense or there are really blatant consistency errors or something I'll whisper them OOC and ask them to clarify politely. If this continues happening then I'll steer the RP towards a very quick ending and just not accept an RP from them anymore.

I don't like waiting until the end to mention a complaint because it's so passive aggressive. If I don't get a complaint until the end I'm blissfully unaware that my partner isn't having fun. And if I don't know they're not having fun I can't change that, so finding out at the end is a huge put off. I am very unlikely to RP with a person who just "toughs out" an RP. It's supposed to be fun for both parties so what's the point in wasting both our times? In short, I don't like it when it happens to me, so I don't do it to others. If there's a problem I will tell them about it so that we can come to a compromise for the better.

For minor things like grammar and spelling mistakes, as long as they're not terribly frequent, I just get over them and move on. Continuing from the point about a post making sense, as long as I don't have to spend time interpreting what they thought they meant, I'm fine. I ignore it.

I can't really add to your poll without a fifth "all of the above" option, because I don't feel I fall into any one of those categories.

Normally I grit my teeth and bear the horrible RP until it's over. I don't complain to my partner, but I don't RP with them, especially if the RP was that bad. I'm picky about my partners, but usually if they have interesting characters, we hashed out a compelling story, both of us communicate, and respect is given, then I'll RP with just about anyone. I get a little agitated when my partner posts one liners (gives me nothing to work with), when they jump right into the sex/vore without a storyline, don't read my profile, having nothing in common with my likes and refuse incorporate what I want, approach me in character and Rping with me even though I didn't agree to it, harassment, and overall disrespect towards me. Grammar and a little typo here and there don't bother me, I'm just glad that my partner knows the basics of the English language.

I also know that life gets in the way, and I don't want to be the type of person to hold a RP over someone's head if they can't make it on to Eka's everyday, because that's just silly. I don't expect my partner to be on Eka's everyday just to Rp with me. I would like to finish the RP, but if the person can't get on, they can't, there's not much that can be done. In the mean time, I can always RP with other people.

The only complaint people have against how I RP, is that I RP my characters to a T. I don't know how playing a character well can be a cause for a complaint, but that's what my partner said. Then again, my partner wanted to rush the RP and get to the sex/vore, not taking in consideration about my character's personality quarks (though I mentioned time and time again about how my character would react, and asked if he really wanted to RP with her). So, long story short, he didn't want to finish the RP because "It took too long for my character to to be willing to vore his".

SomeGuy1294 wrote:

zigzwag1243 wrote:(I have had someone ask openly if I was dyslexic, I know that I don't have the best punctuation in the world, but my stories are fun, at least I would like my partner to think so.)

(Had other people routinely tell me to change my posts because it wasn't exactly what they were expecting me to write, I find that as very distracting, and frustrating likely leading to me terminating an RP)

Sweet merciful Jesus. You actually finished the RP's with these idiots? You deserve a Nobel Prize in Transcendence. You deserve to be fucking knighted by Queen of England.

I could never have finished an rp with dick-heads that dickish.

It's one thing if a player doesn't capitalize and makes no attempt at spelling or grammar. Asking if somebody is dyslexic because they misplaced a comma or two is just plain rude. Don't let douche-bags like those make you doubt your writing abilities.

Locking somebody into writing exactly what you want, in an RP kills the whole point of rp'ing. If they want to micromanage every detail of the scenario, they can write a story themselves. Having a partner to give you surprises and twists you weren't expecting is half the fun of rp'ing!

Ahem your second post you just shot your own foot off.

First off: this thread is not designed to condemn RP'ers you don't like. I have never had a truly bad RP partner, except for those who never finished the session and vanished without a word.


Good day to you.

Moon_Princess_Yue wrote:The only complaint people have against how I RP, is that I RP my characters to a T. I don't know how playing a character well can be a cause for a complaint, but that's what my partner said.

I can kind of see how that might happen: "it's just what my character would do!" can very easily come across as a cheap attempt to disclaim responsibility for one's own actions. (That's certainly exactly how some of the less mature members of the tabletop RPG crowd have almost traditionally been known to use it; no reason to think it couldn't happen in chat RP just because people play less for XP and imaginary loot there.) And that just doesn't work. If I create a certain character and insist on portraying them a certain way, warts and all, then it's still fundamentally me behind the wheel and I deserve both the credit and the blame for all their actions as normal -- unless, perhaps, I can actually prove that somebody else was forcing me to do all that against my will at gunpoint or the like all along, and speaking just for myself I haven't really ever had a valid opportunity to use that excuse yet.

Of course on the other hand it'd be just as unreasonable to expect somebody to allow their character to be completely bent out of shape at somebody else's slightest whim. (Unless perhaps they've defined their character as that flexible in the first place; their call.) But how much to compromise and where to draw the line in that regard is something for the players, not the characters, to hash out -- even if it means putting an ongoing scene on hold for a bit --, and it sounds like in this case your and their expectations ultimately just ended up clashing too badly.

In my case, I'm probably just repeating what others have already said, but I do tend to try to stick it out until the end of the RP, and then either mention some points of contention or just don't RP again; depending how it went.

That said, I don't really like to ignore people, or to block bad RPers as I'm of the opinion that they won't get any better unless they have the opportunity to do RPs with people and to improve their skills through practice - practice makes perfect after all.

The only exception I make is if someone just randomly starts violating the preferences and boundaries we discussed before the RP session (And if I'm RPing with you, we will have had this discussion for both our sakes.) Or if they seriously offend me. In that case I tend to make my excuses and leave, and then add them to the 'block' list.

Felinix wrote:\
I don't like waiting until the end to mention a complaint because it's so passive aggressive. If I don't get a complaint until the end I'm blissfully unaware that my partner isn't having fun. And if I don't know they're not having fun I can't change that, so finding out at the end is a huge put off. I am very unlikely to RP with a person who just "toughs out" an RP. It's supposed to be fun for both parties so what's the point in wasting both our times? In short, I don't like it when it happens to me, so I don't do it to others. If there's a problem I will tell them about it so that we can come to a compromise for the better.

I think you nailed it, right here. If the partner is a mature person, you should be able to shoot them an OCC whisper and request they change something without them getting their feelings hurt and running off. And if the change makes the RP more fun for everyone, why wait untill the end for something you can make better now?

Hagen wrote:

SomeGuy1294 wrote:

zigzwag1243 wrote:(I have had someone ask openly if I was dyslexic, I know that I don't have the best punctuation in the world, but my stories are fun, at least I would like my partner to think so.)

(Had other people routinely tell me to change my posts because it wasn't exactly what they were expecting me to write, I find that as very distracting, and frustrating likely leading to me terminating an RP)

Sweet merciful Jesus. You actually finished the RP's with these idiots? You deserve a Nobel Prize in Transcendence. You deserve to be fucking knighted by Queen of England.

I could never have finished an rp with dick-heads that dickish.

It's one thing if a player doesn't capitalize and makes no attempt at spelling or grammar. Asking if somebody is dyslexic because they misplaced a comma or two is just plain rude. Don't let douche-bags like those make you doubt your writing abilities.

Locking somebody into writing exactly what you want, in an RP kills the whole point of rp'ing. If they want to micromanage every detail of the scenario, they can write a story themselves. Having a partner to give you surprises and twists you weren't expecting is half the fun of rp'ing!

Ahem your second post you just shot your own foot off.

First off: this thread is not designed to condemn RP'ers you don't like. I have never had a truly bad RP partner, except for those who never finished the session and vanished without a word.


Good day to you.

Some people deserve condemnation.

Mark wrote:

Moon_Princess_Yue wrote:The only complaint people have against how I RP, is that I RP my characters to a T. I don't know how playing a character well can be a cause for a complaint, but that's what my partner said.

I can kind of see how that might happen: "it's just what my character would do!" can very easily come across as a cheap attempt to disclaim responsibility for one's own actions. (That's certainly exactly how some of the less mature members of the tabletop RPG crowd have almost traditionally been known to use it; no reason to think it couldn't happen in chat RP just because people play less for XP and imaginary loot there.) And that just doesn't work. If I create a certain character and insist on portraying them a certain way, warts and all, then it's still fundamentally me behind the wheel and I deserve both the credit and the blame for all their actions as normal -- unless, perhaps, I can actually prove that somebody else was forcing me to do all that against my will at gunpoint or the like all along, and speaking just for myself I haven't really ever had a valid opportunity to use that excuse yet.

Of course on the other hand it'd be just as unreasonable to expect somebody to allow their character to be completely bent out of shape at somebody else's slightest whim. (Unless perhaps they've defined their character as that flexible in the first place; their call.) But how much to compromise and where to draw the line in that regard is something for the players, not the characters, to hash out -- even if it means putting an ongoing scene on hold for a bit --, and it sounds like in this case your and their expectations ultimately just ended up clashing too badly.

The whole 'It's not me, it's my character!' dilemma can usually be solved by drawing a clear-cut line between IC and OOC actions, as well as IC and OOC feelings about the action. If my character is the biggest asshole in the universe, I am expected to play them that way when I am speaking in character. Furthermore, even though my character is an asshole, I can have them do things specifically geared to please the other RP'er, even if they are also meant to torment the other RP'er's character. Maybe the prey doesn't like your pred taking a dump on them, but that doesn't mean your partner doesn't.

Troll the character, not the player.

My 2 cents...if they do something annoying, like the classic "Oh sorry I just came ok bye", I don't cut them off, but just whenever they try to chat, never show any interest in roleplaying.

That gives them an opportunity for reflection and possible reform, while not causing drama directly.

I have had a few where as soon as we start they just stop and that has happen not just on here for me. That can really push my buttons at times just when it has happen to much. The normal I aim to please my partner more then me no matter the form so i dont have a problem is they leave because they were done with themselves which has happen many of times as well. Hmm. Tho what really bothers me i would guess as a bad partner is i would guess is if they want you to completely chance A character of yours like how they act and such just for the role play. I put a lot of work into my Characters so that really bugs me that they want that to happen. I thin to not do the role play all together when that happens.

I have had this experience recently but it turned into a positive experience on the whole, i haven't rped properly and heavily for a long while but on occasion i have the urge to when i need to flesh out a story idea and i can find a willing partner for it.

In the case of this rper, i had seen him about before and contemplated contacting him but he doesn't like macro/micro which has been a bummer in the past because my primary character is a devoted micro, but ive had the urge to play some same size with my secondary character so i contacted him, i tend to put a great deal of thought into my posts, indeed, the character i create are often embodiments of my own personality,i try to keep the personalities the same as my own when ever i can because i feel that the rp will always be better when the players have an invested interest in the life of that character while only creating the barest base storyline so that the rp can evolve naturally.

In the past i have had a hard time with some partners, those who are unable or don't understand that a few lines of text is off putting but i try to help them understand and improve, i had one rper who was fun to work with and still is but during a decent session all of a sudden his normal everyday human developed some crazy ass power out of the blue without any explanation or build up and after that i found myself unable to take the story seriously and it broke down after that, i do still rp with him from time to time and have fun.

I'm guilty of some problems myself, i am dyslexic myself, i reverse letters or words when typing or i suddenly stop because i know the word i want to use and how its supposed to be written but when i come to do so i cannot, either that or i will repeat a few words without meaning to, for a writer and rper like me it is the most frustrating thing of all, and since it takes some concentration to keep it in hand i tend to make the most mistakes when excited, which of course is inevitable in most rps^^.
I'm not using the disorder as an excuse, in fact i began writing and rping in order to practice and control it but it is an issue.


Anyways, me and this young gentleman began an rp, in a rather fun setting that i rather like (a steam room with blindingly thick steam^^great for surprises), he wrote well but after a short time i noticed something which he did in a few posts, he began controlling my reactions to things, instead of giving me the option to accept a proffered paw, he would decide for me control my actions, of course since im prey and he is pred controlling the actions of the prey makes sense, what doesn't is choosing how i react to what he is doing.

I played along dropping subtle hints in character but he did similar things in the next few posts, so i completed my post and before he could begin writing i asked for a pause and explained the situation and that i thought it was a little rude for him to do these things and if he understood what i meant.

He said that in truth he hadn't even notice he had been doing it and apologized, we continued and the rp went smoothly(in a literary sense XP) we ended it part way through and are going to continue where we left off because it was late, later he said that he had enjoyed the little rp immensely and that most of the people he rped with didn't put so much effort or work into what they wrote.


My worry and question is that perhaps there are some really good rpers out there, naturally good ones who are being affected and are falling into the same poor habits as partners that they play with who are poor quality.
Calling some rpers poor quality makes me sound like a tremendous ass but its accurate i feel.


Has anyone else been wondering if this is so?

ttfn

Vega

Vega wrote:Anyways, me and this young gentleman began an rp, in a rather fun setting that i rather like (a steam room with blindingly thick steam^^great for surprises), he wrote well but after a short time i noticed something which he did in a few posts, he began controlling my reactions to things, instead of giving me the option to accept a proffered paw, he would decide for me control my actions, of course since im prey and he is pred controlling the actions of the prey makes sense, what doesn't is choosing how i react to what he is doing.

I played along dropping subtle hints in character but he did similar things in the next few posts, so i completed my post and before he could begin writing i asked for a pause and explained the situation and that i thought it was a little rude for him to do these things and if he understood what i meant.

He said that in truth he hadn't even notice he had been doing it and apologized, we continued and the rp went smoothly(in a literary sense XP) we ended it part way through and are going to continue where we left off because it was late, later he said that he had enjoyed the little rp immensely and that most of the people he rped with didn't put so much effort or work into what they wrote.

My worry and question is that perhaps there are some really good rpers out there, naturally good ones who are being affected and are falling into the same poor habits as partners that they play with who are poor quality.
Calling some rpers poor quality makes me sound like a tremendous ass but its accurate i feel.

Has anyone else been wondering if this is so?

This is a very valuable anecdote, Vega, in that it demonstrates that a mature rp partner is willing to take a little criticism or complaint, pick themselves up, and improve what they are doing. It also goes to show that one should not remain silent about things that bother them in an RP: the squeaky wheel gets the grease.

I will agree that there are a lot of bad rp habits one can pick up; controlling the partner's actions is a big one. I will also agree with your partner that many people do not put much effort into their rp's, and when you find someone who does work hard at their descriptions, it really makes for something special.

Mark wrote:I can kind of see how that might happen: "it's just what my character would do!" can very easily come across as a cheap attempt to disclaim responsibility for one's own actions. (That's certainly exactly how some of the less mature members of the tabletop RPG crowd have almost traditionally been known to use it; no reason to think it couldn't happen in chat RP just because people play less for XP and imaginary loot there.) And that just doesn't work. If I create a certain character and insist on portraying them a certain way, warts and all, then it's still fundamentally me behind the wheel and I deserve both the credit and the blame for all their actions as normal.

I get where you're coming form with this, but I disagree to a point. I agree that it's me that's controlling the character and I don't have a problem with taking responsibility if I, or my character does something wrong, or unwanted during the RP. However, me acting as my character and me talking as me are two completely different things. It's one thing if I troll the player, or deliberately ruined the RP by purposely making my character be horrible. It's completely another matter if I play my character how they normally are, without purposely trying to ruin the RP. If someone tells me that they want to RP with a certain character of mine, while knowing what their personality is like, and tells me to change their personality, then I get agitated. I created my characters for a reason and I put a lot of work into them to be the way they are. I'm not going to switch my character's personality over because my RP partner doesn't it. When I RP as a character, I'm portraying them exactly as I created them. In a situation like this, it's exactly the case of "It's just what my character would do", and if they didn't like the personality, then they should pick someone else from my roster that's compatible with what they want, and their character.

Finish the RP, don't say anything except that you don't want to RP with them again, unless they ask you specifically why. The only exception is if they're God-modding or something very specific is wrong, in which case, go ahead and make an OOC post telling them, and possibly redoing one or more previous IC post. It may even be that they aren't really a bad RPer so much as just someone who wasn't a good fit for you.

I had one partner who I got NOTHING out of the RP, but it wasn't because she was bad, it's just that she's very very far to the nonlethal, willing, unrealistic, hypersexualized, extrasoft side and I'm more to the extra hard vore side - I need at least fatal and slightly brutal malicious soft vore really under most circumstances. The only thing we had in common was liking sexuality with our vore, and even that wasn't exactly the same because she liked consensual, normal, decent, unromantic, unattached sex, and I liked nonconsensual, BDSMish, manipulative, slightly evil, but perhaps darkly romantic sex. The Marquis De Sade/the Lady Susan and Cat Stevens/Snow White are probably not the best RP partners, and it's not because either one of them is bad, just because they aren't a good MATCH.

Personally, I think it depends. If I'm against the character and they show interest in RPing with me, I'll straight up tell them that their character isn't something I'd be interested in. If the partner does first person or the *Blah blah* thing, I usually don't mind and deal with it. If the partner doesn't respond in a bit I'll poke em and question a bit if it persists. And if they just aren't that great at RPing, I try helping them by giving constructive criticism while helping them get better. Usually the only RPs that I don't like that I tend to keep my trap shut about are when friends are involved as that becomes a whole other thing all together for me.

Post got up out of its grave and got moving again. Was an interesting read none the less.

If there's a problem with whats going on, i would talk about it OOC. It's important to cover what you like, what you dislike. Ect ect. It helps if your treating the person as a friend, wanting to get to know them.

Corse you still run into dicks.. block or ingore them as needed.

I make it very apparent before a roleplay even starts about the level of literacy and ability I expect - even in my postings looking for roleplay. Has scared off anyone sub-par to what I require so far.

It's kinda a mix of 'leave the role-play without a word and never reply to them again' and 'ignore their faults and keep playing'. See, I like to think of myself as a nice person. At least I hope I am. So, I generally don't like to tell someone if they're bad. Yes, honesty is the best medicine and it's basically being the nicest you can be, due to being open and honest, but deep down it still hurts me to call someone out, regardless how gentle or polite I am. So, if someone is really just sucking it up and making me really, REALLY get angry, I sometimes will just push through and get to the end without saying anything. But if they're giving me one or two-word responses, sentences that have over a dozen errors, and pretty much can't type at all, I will just stop playing and not say another word and save both myself and them the humiliation of going onward. Yeah, it's kinda "rude" to just leave and not say anything, but at the same time, it can also be considered "rude" to type like you're two-years-old. I get it, some people can't help it, but good grief at least TRY! If you're fine using a computer and getting to this website, I'd THINK you can type well enough to not make yourself look really, really pathetic!

I prefer to leave an OOC complaint...No, that's not the word. I prefer the term 'critique'. Y'see, I feel that ignoring the problem only continues the problem; not mentioning a flaw in an RP only leads to the same flaw being committed in another RP by the same person. Yet I prefer to be kind and respectful about it, and I expect others to do the same. Don't leave without a trace, and don't yell at the person. Simply discussing some issues and offering good-natured advice helps immensley: try using 'I feel' comments ('I feel that you could do a bit better with post length/grammar.'), while offering suggestions ('Maybe, instead of simply writing what you're doing, you could add some thoughts?') and adding a compliment ('I do love the originality you just used there.'). Most likely, the RPer will leave the RP happier and more skilled.