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Shippers... let's talk about that.


BillieJoeIsCool
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I hate shippers. I use them as a sort of "advertisement" for my characters that goes all in one place. More like a "wanted ad" for the type of play I'm looking for. It has a blurb about my characters and the types of plots I'm happy and willing to write (which is everything btw).

 

We still call them plotters, but I have a warning in my plotter that says "If you reply  here, I'll reach out via message or chat and we'll talk. Don't be offended if I delete your replies - I just like a clean plotter". I keep all of my notes privately in my own forums, or on google docs or evernote. I HATE throwing up conversations onto plotters/ shippers because they're confusing and bog things down.

 

 

Edited by Zahhy
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My plot area is just that. It's not specifically dedicated to shippers or plotters or whatever. So some threads are plot pages for individual characters, some are plot pages for a bunch of characters, and some are general chat / discussion threads about the plot. One of the threads I have up is a spin-off of a thread I made here on the Initiative in which I'm expressing interest in creating more engaging plots and I'm figuring out people's character goals. So it's a pretty free form area where members can just do whatever they want plotting related.

 

Then there is another area specifically for character lists, in which people can keep track of their characters and threads. This one is nice and clean without all of the other people's replies "clogging" it up.

 

I actively avoid sites that use the "post in one plot page and reply on another plot page" technique. It confuses me and it doesn't follow a logical progression of thought. I'm glad I'm not the only one who doesn't like it because I thought I was getting old and bitter. Ha. I may still join a site that uses it, but the site has to be darned good.

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I personally can't stand the things. Never have been. I would rather plot and all that through messaging, pm, etc. This way if I do have to go back and look at things with _____ or ______ then I know where to go. Also getting the hang of plotting in the Discord channel and it seems to get others involved as well. I like the whole direct plotting. I also feel like Stormwolfe on this one. I have always seen them as distractions from the writing because some people get so focused on them that that's all they do.

 

Now, that all being said, I do have a section for it on my forum and they are completely and totally voluntary. I don't discourage anyone if that's their thing, it's just not mine. Same as templates, if that's their thing groovy! If not I'm good with that too. 

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Im sure it's been said, but I think it's a way to keep everybody's shippers "bumped" in topics, so that a member who does a lot of plotting doesn't end up as the last post on the third page of the shipper section, simply because they've posted in so many others. 

 

Honestly, I'm not a fan of shippers at all anymore. Since skype became big in the RP community, and now discord, I do all of my plotting there. It just seems like one more task I have to complete now - updating a shipper! I'd rather just chat organically instead of trying to write paragraphs about my thoughts. 

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Oh lord, the days when plot pages meant a rainbow cascade of personalized lyrics and the relationships that went with them - I remember those pretty fondly. Of course, it's 1000x easier to plot now without having to make up a plot page along those lines, imo, but I'm still nostalgic.

 

I've been on sites where the policy is to reply to the other person's shipper, and it's a system I'll use if the rest of the site I belong to suits me, but when given a choice about it I'd much rather reply in the same page than have to jump back and forth. Trying to keep track of the flow of conversation with the other person about plotting when it's not linear just makes my head hurt, which definitely leads me to try and take the plotting to a messenger ASAP as opposed to going back and forth. Which is really another reason why I'd rather do things in one thread: Sometimes, my social anxiety makes me terrified of plotting via Discord or Skype.

 

This is honestly why I like shippers - because sometimes, I'd rather use that system of plotting than approach a person directly, especially if I'm new to a site and don't know the other players that well. Plotting over Discord/Skype can be a much more efficient way of doing things once we're down to fine details instead of broad strokes, but I like being able to have that degree of separation when I need it.

Edited by TotheMinamobile
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The 'reply to my shipper' thing, I think is becoming one of those trends that you just kind of deal with? I don't know. I am old and usually like to keep everything in one place. But then again my view on shippers has actually changed a lot over the years. I'm not so much of a personal fan of shippers where you have the whole 'friends, enemies, lovers' break down. I almost like it anymore where I give you a brief run down of my characters personality and how they interact with others and then say 'this is the kind of relationships I am looking for'. I've seen so much where everyone just meets in a bar and is instantly friends. Whether it makes sense or not. (I've seen a recovering alcoholic who doesn't go to bars have plots thrown at him about meeting in a bar and going for drinks lol) Sure a lot of it has to do with the lack of reading, so I guess that is why I prefer to just streamline? 

 

Anyway back to the subject at hand. I will do the back and forth shipper reply initially to get an idea rolling or to see if the other person is feeling what I am laying down at all. If so and I want to expand on it, I'll reach out via pm or discord to cut down on the back and forth. It's just easier for me personally.

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On the topic of "why don't you use Skype / PMs instead?" - I used to think the same, but I've been told that some people are super uncomfortable with that AND that it makes the board look cliquey to newcomers. Plotters mean you know where to start. I dislike the word "shipper", however. Looking for plots isn't all about hooking up.

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I usually don't even use shippers anyway, unless the other person really likes one. I always find it faster and easier to follow to simply discuss it in a chat (thank you Discord). But yeah, I can't fathom how people keep up with reply to the other person's shipper and then them replying to the other.... it sounds confusing just typing out that sentence.

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I have a plotting board available on my site, and I encourage players to make use of it just because I don't require character applications. Even still, most of us plot through the discord channel because everything develops more organically that way. A lot of the time plot ideas crop up during general conversation. 

 

However, there are always those players that for whatever reason don't like to or don't feel comfortable interacting on the live chat. So having plot boards available gives them an option to still get involved. 

 

As far as "shippers" specifically I tend to avoid them. I'm extremely wary of any player that suggests some kind of a ship straight off the bat. Its one thing to plan entirely new characters and determine from the baseline that they're married or dating or what have you, but when it comes to two completely different pre-existing characters I automatically assume that anyone who approaches me with a ship is going to cause me a headache down the line because, despite what people claim, I've very rarely run into another player that can actually handle it if the relationship doesn't pan. So it turns into dealing with some insane meltdown, or you get stuck playing your character in a relationship you despise to avoid it. 

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It makes sense that people would try to keep the conversation in the same place. I've never had that problem because I've not been on that many sites but I can imagine it being very exhausting or confusing to constantly hop from one thread to another. It just seems a strange way of doing things.

 

I'd avoid using the term shipper, too since that implies coming up with romantic ships for people, rather than friendship, family connections, work colleagues, rivals, etc, so I'd call them plot pages or plotters instead. People come into rp with the notion that everything must revolve around romance when it doesn't have to.

 

16 hours ago, Dragon said:

As far as "shippers" specifically I tend to avoid them. I'm extremely wary of any player that suggests some kind of a ship straight off the bat. Its one thing to plan entirely new characters and determine from the baseline that they're married or dating or what have you, but when it comes to two completely different pre-existing characters I automatically assume that anyone who approaches me with a ship is going to cause me a headache down the line because, despite what people claim, I've very rarely run into another player that can actually handle it if the relationship doesn't pan. So it turns into dealing with some insane meltdown, or you get stuck playing your character in a relationship you despise to avoid it. 

 

I agree entirely with this. It's better to get to know a role-player first by having threads where characters are friends, family, etc, than to dive in straight away with a ship. This is why if there are characters that I write that are meant to be married, I come up with both sides of it and have one or both as NPCs. The NPC character is open for someone to take up if they want, but it doesn't matter if it's not.

 

I don't understand this notion that people have about being left out of things if their plotter doesn't get responded to. No. You're left out of things if no one actually writes with you, if people purposely ignore your contributions or don't help/allow you to develop your character and stories.

 

I don't use skype because I'm too self conscious to use it and I'm not sure how discord works when plotting and keeping up with what's being said. What's to stop dialogue on there from getting buried like it does on twitter, for example?

Edited by Icewolf
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