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

[Katie Bell 1]

Story for sure! Romantic relationships are usually the last on my mind and if they happen I prefer it to be organically. Two characters that really build a story together and find romance along the way.  I can't 'ship' characters, it feels to forced to me and it's just not something I find inspiring. Especially if its just on the basis of these characters would look good together. 

 

I like focusing on all the other aspects. I tend to choose sites with really interesting lore or a great world that invites adventure, shenanigans & maybe a little mystery. 

[reznik 4]

Story. Not only because I'm not a romance RPer in general, but I find with the nature of people dropping out of sites, if you hinge everything on relationships then you're bound to be disappointed when someone leaves and blows up everything you had going on. If you focus on a story first, centered around your character's goal/development, it's easier to continue on even if people drop out.

[Shade 0]

Story has to be the most important thing. But my characters are usually open to forming relationships along the way, and that has led to some great ships forming-- which are fun to write and add depth to the story. 

[Vindictus II 3]

I actually prefer the story telling to roleplaying, but am totally for the relationships as well, as they both add a lot to the story in my honest opinion. 

[Attatar 2]

Story for sure. I also think relationships (platonic and romantic) can add a lot to the story, but it is more meaningful to me when both characters have their own character arcs and conflicts that are separate from each other. Especially if romance is involved, I prefer there to be a balance, where the characters can stand on their own in such a way that hypothetically removing the relationship wouldn't remove all characterization, plot etc. and for me, at least, it tends to be a little harder to strike that balance if the focus is on relationships alone

[Rie 4]

I would like to say I'm more story focused but I feel like lately it's been more relationship centered (platonic and romantic). I was just conversing with a RP partner today about how I'd like to focus more on developing stories for my characters so they're not so dependent on the relationships. 

 

Of course, this also impacts your RP partners, so if they're focused more on one thing, it's more likely I will be focused on the same.

[Lani394 4]

Generally, I prefer to focus on the story as well. I like exploring romance though, don't get me wrong. I really just like to flesh out my characters, or put them in testing situations to see how they handle it, then develop as a result. A friend once said that they like to break their characters to see the beauty within, and that has kind of stuck with me. 

[RedPandaBear 14]

story all the way. im not a big romance roleplayer and like those to happen within the story as characters interact with one another. i find fun in seeing how a character would handle certain situations, or dangerous moments that maybe they didn't handle in a tv show 

[birdorcages 3]

I think growing up I focused a lot on things that I wasn't experiencing in the real world, like exciting story and deep relationships. I know people have said a lot that roleplaying is a bit of an "escape" and it still is for me in a sense, but perhaps not as intense as it was when I was younger. I still very much enjoy writing those stories, stepping away from my real life problems and the like. I think the deep relationships not so much anymore, but they tend to go hand-in-hand with the storywriting. Stories are typically at the forefront when I'm looking to rp, though.

[mint 1]

I try to balance both though the tendency to focus on relationships (platonic, familial, or otherwise) too much is something I'm guilty of. When you do slice-of-life RP, that seems to be the norm. But I'd like to have a visible story arc for my characters in an ideal world!