Roleplay Biases

[Dragon 673]

As roleplayers and writers, we all have our preferences, likes, and dislikes. For this topic, I'm curious about people's biases when it comes to various elements of roleplay. Things that you just don't like for one reason or another. 

 

This isn't to be confused with 'red flags' that people see in players - though there may be a bit of cross over. However, having a bias toward a certain thing doesn't necessarily mean that one views it as a red flag.

 

Alternatively, have you encountered any seemingly common biases - whether you agree with them, or see them as unfair?

 

Example:

I, personally, have bias against irrational/nonsensical character shipping within fandoms. There are plenty of 'well what if x and y' scenarios that could hold water, and circumstance just never allowed any sort of connection there; those I don't mind. The Walking Dead's Shane and Andrea from seasons 2 are a good example of this -

Spoiler

granted, they did hook up the one time; but prior to that there was also a chat between them about striking off together, leaving the main group behind.

I could see where some great story element could have come from that pairing, even if it didn't ever work out in a romantic sense. There was at least some smidgen of common ground and chemistry between them. 

 

It is the absolutely absurd sort of pairings that bug the shit out of me. Like Walking Dead's RickxBeth, RickxNegan or from the Harry Potter series, things like HarryxVoldemort or SnapexHermione. The ones that not only make no fucking sense, but also ignore and undermine the characters in all possible facets from their base personalities to moral cores and structures... never minding the ah, skeevier aspects of some such couplings. 

 

Please in mind that this is NOT a discussion thread. Confessions made here are not up for debate or criticism. 

[Huskerdust 625]

I consume a lot of Asian media. As such, I am more familiar with Asian celebrities and tend to use them more often than others. So I have a huge bias against boards/admins/members that have an issue with that. I've been on a few sites where I definitely feel the hate or the general dislike towards the use of say, Kpop idols. I don't even just use Kpop idols but use any unfamiliar Asian and you still get the same hostility. So I'm really biased against sites that have rules against their use or get on people's case for using them even when it's NOT a rule. Or members coming to my sites and commenting that there are too many Asians. Eh, take your casual racism elsewhere. 

 

...that's my biggest bias, as it is a huge dealbreaker. 

 

But tbh I also have a bias in general towards most face claim rules. (Like not using children, dead people, or within 5 years of the PB's real age.) 

[moony 21]

Characters that are bitchy for absolutely no reason.  Like if you can give me some reasoning behind it that makes even a little sense I will probably love the character. But the one who’s just a huge dick for either nothing, or something that is super common in the world? Screw that. It’s boring and lacks real effort. 

[jenneral_jennson 154]

Players that lack the ability to separate OCC from IC. I get really annoyed when players self-inserts or attempt to self insert into a situation/character. I get some people use RP as some kind of, I don't know, therapy but leave other people out of it. 

Edited February 13, 2019 by jenneral_jennson

[Huskerdust 625]

7 hours ago, moony said:

Characters that are bitchy for absolutely no reason.  Like if you can give me some reasoning behind it that makes even a little sense I will probably love the character. But the one who’s just a huge dick for either nothing, or something that is super common in the world? Screw that. It’s boring and lacks real effort. 

 

Or when they are perfectly civil up until

your character thinks an unfavorable thought about them. Like, unless they’re a mind reader, how do they know?!

 

Or characters that know your character is a murderous sociopath just because the player knows. SIGH. 

[Jones 177]

This thread makes me realize how much of an rp snob I am 🤦‍♀️so I will just give you my biggest bias, instead of the list my mind started to make: 

 

Roleplayers that jump at every want ad they see but never actually write any of the characters they are hogging. I make ads so I can write with the characters not write around all the interactions they are now never going to get. That just kills my muse for my own characters so hard. 

[Cyn 52]

Players that don't ;like any actual plot development! They want their character to suddenly be dating yours without any build up whatsoever!

[Blondie 98]

My bias? Give me the plots. I am greedy. lol

[River 57]

I'm biased against playing with "manipulative" characters because nine times out of ten, it ends up being done poorly and either the character isn't nearly as charismatic and smart as the player thinks they are, or it immediately falls into metagaming so that said character can manipulate the other. I'll admit I used to be guilty of this, but my one current "manipulative" character recently moved more towards seeing and exploiting power vacuums instead of trying to coax people into following her.

 

On a similar note, I'm also biased against characters that the player stresses are too OP from a physical standpoint. I remember once I suggested a fight between my superhuman FBI agent and another character's vampire and was told that my character would immediately be beaten to a pulp. I'm all for letting my characters take damage, but if I want to play a fight, it means that I'd like to get a few good hits in, and every character has a weakness.

[Dragon 673]

On 2/4/2019 at 4:18 PM, Zozma said:

But tbh I also have a bias in general towards most face claim rules. (Like not using children, dead people, or within 5 years of the PB's real age.) 

 

Gonna second the dislike of dumb face claim rules. Especially the 5 year rule, its so stupidly limiting when you've got actors out there like Betty White who've been working for 80+ years. I use her as the PB for my werewolf matriarch largely for that reason - because I can play her at just about any stage in her life from about 10 years onward and have visual representations to work with. 

 

And exactly what standard is there to define what any certain age actually looks like to justify that rule to begin with? I could probably list 20 celebrities off the top of my head that haven't aged a lick in the last 25 years. 

[CovertSphinx 710]

Auto-Romance. Nope, nope, nope, steering full clear away from THAT. Won't do it under any circumstance. 
_______Same with Auto-Relation, although less strictly. I have a huge bias against somebody coming up to me and going "Hey can I make a char that's X's long lost [Insert Immediate Family Relation Here]?"

[Penny 27]

On 2/4/2019 at 2:18 PM, Zozma said:

I consume a lot of Asian media. As such, I am more familiar with Asian celebrities and tend to use them more often than others. So I have a huge bias against boards/admins/members that have an issue with that. I've been on a few sites where I definitely feel the hate or the general dislike towards the use of say, Kpop idols. I don't even just use Kpop idols but use any unfamiliar Asian and you still get the same hostility. So I'm really biased against sites that have rules against their use or get on people's case for using them even when it's NOT a rule. Or members coming to my sites and commenting that there are too many Asians. Eh, take your casual racism elsewhere. 

 

...that's my biggest bias, as it is a huge dealbreaker. 

 

But tbh I also have a bias in general towards most face claim rules. (Like not using children, dead people, or within 5 years of the PB's real age.) 

hm big mood

 

BUT.... I have a bias against canon pairings. Like don't get me wrong, there are some that are wonderful and go super well! But I do personified RPs for crack - it's really funny to smash characters who are from completely different types of media together. Some of my ships right now include:

 

Nagito Komaeda (Danganronpa) x The Warden (Superjail)
Freddie Lounds (Hannibal) x Celestia Ludenburg (Danganronpa)
Princess Kakyuu (Sailor Moon) x Mulan
Ralsei (DeltaRune) x Rapunzel (Tangled) x Baymax (Big Hero 6) x Tomoyo (Card Captor Sakura)

 

....yeah. And you know what? They're super fun and interesting and unique and offer a much wider range of player and plot than you get with just recycling characters who've interacted in canon! So I'm biased xD

[HanSoulo 15]

On 2/13/2019 at 8:38 AM, moony said:

Characters that are bitchy for absolutely no reason.  Like if you can give me some reasoning behind it that makes even a little sense I will probably love the character. But the one who’s just a huge dick for either nothing, or something that is super common in the world? Screw that. It’s boring and lacks real effort. 

 

I'm going to have to totally agree on that. I can't stand, and I hardly see threads lasting for them, especially where I'm concerned. I will "nope" the fuck outta there because all I see happening is just a back and forth of insults without actually doing anything in concerns to development. To be honest, it makes me feel like some players actually use these types of characters to take their OOC frustrations out on other characters.

 

I'm also biased against condescending characters. Most of the time, when I come across these types, neither the player nor the character realize or acknowledge that other characters actually have skills. These other characters aren't here for just nothing except roll out a red carpet for you. Shut up already.

[Dale Bozzio 30]

On 2/4/2019 at 5:18 PM, Zozma said:

But tbh I also have a bias in general towards most face claim rules. (Like not using children, dead people, or within 5 years of the PB's real age.) 

On the deceased face claims thing as @Dragonwonderfully covered the whole issue about the stupid 5-/5+ rules, apparently an explanation from tumblr dot com is that using deceased face claims is disrespectful as it's basically "exploitation."

 

That's such a major reach. It's just about as much exploitation as using a face claim that happens to be living. Is it exploitation for Old Hollywood films to be rereleased and rerun on television to generate the studios more profit?

 

For the longest time, face claims was just a reference to a character's appearance, but now there's just so many strange and unnecessary ethic codes regarding face claims that you might as well play the face claim itself.

 

I totally understand a mourning period, but don't tell me I can't use someone who's been deceased for decades even though they fit the character I had in mind the best.

 

---------

 

Anyway, I'm also totally biased against roleplays that focus on the aesthetics more than the content. Yes, I like pretty things. Yes, I like a lot of writing. There needs to be a balance to it.

 

I do wonder when all the tumblr influence in how RPs are carried out will dwindle down 'cause I imagine there might be a backlash to all of these current trends in the RP world at some point. It's just a matter of when a majority will tire of this new status quo.

[Nevermind 64]

I have a huge bias against certain pairings or genres, particularly furry or futanari. While I have zero issue with smut, I write because I want to develop characters and watch them and the plots they're involved in grow, and from my experience a lot of times those pairings are more fetishized than actually written for the character development. This isn't to say everyone who enjoys those genres/pairings do that, but I'm just never, ever interested. 

 

I also hate when I'm actively engaged in an RP with another writer and their character is just unnecessarily difficult. I don't mean that a character is rude, pushy, reserved, etc, but that my partner actively makes their character as uncooperative as possible to the point that it inhibits the plot from actually moving forward. In order for things to happen, sometimes characters have to say "yes." Constantly shutting my character down isn't going to lead to productive writing.