When you roleplay, is your focus on story or relationships?

[Behemoth 1]

On 2/21/2021 at 4:28 AM, August. said:

I don't mind discussing ships but I really need to make sure that the story is there. So story first, ship second. 

 

Pretty much this! I can't focus on one without the other... and usually it's the story that's keeping me hooked! 

[DivineRabbit 64]

I have to say the story first. If there is an organic relationship of any kind that happens that is great-but the meat of the story matters to me. That is what I build on good or bad.

[KellenDeming 29]

Defiantly story first  

[unfairest 8]

For me, the two are intertwined. Relationships — regardless of whether or not they're romantic — inform the plot for me, and interesting character relationships make the story way more interesting. I think many of my favorite plots have originated from throwing two characters together and seeing where their relationship leads.

[Lawman 88]

I'd be part of the gang who tends to focus on the story. Focus on the story, and perhaps a relationship might organically develop along the way. If it doesn't... so be it. If I want a ship, I can always write another character for shipping purposes.

[Black Flag 12]

I'm definitely of the group of people who believe both to be of equal importance.  While the story and driving it is always of utmost importance.  Relationships absolutely enhance it for me.  And help to fuel my muse.  Whilst I'm just as happy to not have a 'ship' as such. I do find, for me personally. When one is interwoven into a plot, it holds my interest more.  But I don't think there's a right or wrong answer here. It's pretty much down to everyone's own personal preference. 

[Morrigan 1,826]

I think people neglect to notice that all character interaction is a relationship. Good, bad, neutral or otherwise.

 

Dating/romance is not the only type of relationship that a person can have.

• I have acquaintance relationships with my coworkers.
• I have friendships with my... friends.
• I have professional relationships with my bosses.
• I have a loving relationship with my kids.
• I have romantic and sexual relationship with my boyfriend.
• I also create superficial relationships with random people in shops for a few minutes.
• People can despise one another and have a rivalry relationship.

 

When you interact with other humans you are forming a relationship with them. The problem is that people put too much weight on romance being the driving factor for their character. While humans in general are sexual beings (I mean we do think about sex a lot) it doesn't mean that sex is the only purpose to having a relationship. In fact this is why I pre-ship my characters with existing romantic relationships with players that I trust, even if they aren't on the site that I've joined, so when that the focus won't be on establishing a romantic relationship when I encounter other players characters. It gives a more story oriented reason to connect with people.

 

So at the end of the day I think relationships might be MORE important but not necessarily the "romantic" sort that everyone thinks of by default.

[Hades101 10]

I want to preface this with the fact that I am heavily immersed in stories that are story driven, but the stories themselves will always include a romantic baseline along with whatever cataclysmic events are taking place within whatever world is around the be is original or fandom based. 

 

I am a "romance" rper, a "shipper", whatever you want to label it. 98% of my stories are based on the concept of a relationship developing between two characters. I don't have the brain for political stories, heavily strategic warfare, or the depths it takes to control multiple characters all belonging to the same story in a single post. I find myself the greatest joy in seeing how well, or not well, two individual will develop, grow, and evolve emotionally and psychologically around one another. Be they enemies, frenemies, best friends, or strangers. It doesn't matter, but the psychological connection development with the promise of romantic heart strings is my jam and jelly. I cannot get enough of it, but I will say that I refuse to write any story that has no meat to it beyond that substance. Romantic feelings are apart of the meal, not the entire entrée. 

 

I've found it increasingly difficult over my 2 decades of writing to find partners who are open to the concept of romance evolving in a story, because they're too busy assuming that the romance is the only focus before I can even get them to begin plotting properly. It's disheartening, but certainly hasn't stopped me from finding exceptional partners over the years. 

[Nightingale 3]

I tend to base my roleplay around the concept of developing relationships. But for me, that doesn't necessarily mean those relationships are romantic in nature -- several are, but often they happen organically over time after the characters have spent a lot of time ic doing other things and not being romantically involved. Often what drives narrative, imo, is the relationships between characters. Your character develops personal traits and goals that build over time based on who else they've interacted with and the types of things they've experienced in the rp. And those things are what end up driving the character's story. So my style is to approach it from a relationship-driven perspective, because relationships (friendships, kinships, familial, romantic, etc) form the basis for the direction of the narrative and ultimately fuel your story with complex developments and meaningful interactions/decisions.

[DivineRabbit 64]

For me a relationship should organically work out in the story so the story comes first then if that is what grows from it that is golden.

[Prophetess 137]

I can be of two minds here. While I agree the story in the end is most important, I like organic romantic relationships. Those that grow out of a/the story. If they happen great! In respect to other relationships (familial, friend, working, etc) those are ones that I prefer to pre-ship as it were. If I'm writing about two sisters for instance that are very close, I want someone that will write it that way that I'm comfortable with. While this goes back to the story in the end, there is that little bit of things that bring the relationship out front first. For me story first, but it is heavily based on what the story entails.

[reuwille 4]

I am absolutely a relationship-driven writer. I genuinely don't think I've ever been on a site that had a clearly defined site plot and stuck around — unless I'm coming in from the very beginning, I tend to feel like I'm missing out on too much that I can never go back to and that's just not fun for me.

 

The stories I'm trying to tell with my characters usually involve a relationship of some kind. Often it's romantic, but it can just as easily be familial or platonic as well. What generally ends up happening is that characters and interactions I never could've imagined show up along the way and shape my character and their story in ways I likely wouldn't have predicted on my own, which is my favorite part of rping versus writing: there's someone else who also has ideas, and their ideas are usually really fun to play with.

 

What I love is when a larger site plot evolves out of a character-driven one. Stick a bunch of characters together and see what they do, rather than fit characters to a narrative plan. What I often find happens when I plan too far in advance is the ideas I came up with in the past end up being much more boring than the ones that naturally come up via interaction, so I try not to.

 

That isn't to say I don't preplan ships because I definitely do, but the terms "finals" and "endgame" are a bit tricky to me. I like to think of preplanned ships as your character is the only one I am currently considering for endgame, however I cannot predict what will happen months or years down the line. One of my most surprising rp moments was when my main writing partner and I broke up one of our ships we'd had since the day the site opened because my character naturally found someone else they had much greater chemistry with. It made for an amazingly complex narrative of two best friends turned lovers who found out that they were really better as platonic soulmates.

 

tl;dr I prefer the slice of life/character-driven sites.

Edited May 18, 2021 by reuwille

[Squirrelly Merriweather 13]

As a romance novel lover, I am a sucker for a Ship with a story. 

 

I've tried doing RPs without any kind of romance involved, but I always, sadly, lose interest. This isn't to say that all of my character have to be shipped, but if I don't have at least a little bit of romance in my plots, I get so bored so fast. I am a hopeless romantic, so I live for those big, grand, sweeping gestures that us married ladies rarely get in the real world. 

 

Give me all the fluff. And all the dark and twisty romance too. Just. Romance. I need romance.

 

as @reuwille above me said, I don't only rely on romance. I love to explore familial relationships too! Almost all of my characters have living siblings, or other family members, who are an active part of their life story. Having all of these characters with these rich and living relationships gives way more depth to the story. When you see a character make a guest appearance in a thread, you get recognition of who they are. You find out snippets about them from the current poster's perspective. It adds so much depth to the game, IMO.

 

And that, for me, is why I prefer Character Driven sites as well. Let your members figure out where they want their own stories to go. It works out for everyone in the end, IMO. Everyone's happy! 

[Arduinna 1]

I'm not a big "shipper" I actually kinda hate the phrase. I want a story that's interesting and something that I can sink my teeth into. If romance happens then that's great but I don't need it. Tbf I am a bit of a romantic cynic even in rp.

[psychodrow 10]

I agree with so many other well-thought out posts previously put here.

 

We, as humans, are shaped and impacted by our relationships and interactions with other humans - it doesn't matter what they are. 

 

As a matter of fact, half of my landmarks for the history of my personal story are marked by the people that were in my life and the things we did together - or the bad things that happened between us or around us.

 

If we want our brain babies to be half as fulfilled, half as realistic, half as passionate as we are, then they need those kinds of relationships, too. They don't all have to be about romance or sex or or anything else, but they are integral to what they were and what they become. They will shape the path of their lives and the way their minds work and the way they react to other people's actions and even form an essential part of their personal morality and compass.

 

So, yeah - I'm an author who creates worlds and stories that are centered around people and their relationships with each other.