What're your red flags?

[Robyn 54]

• People who make character profiles that have crossed the line from 'tragic back story' to 'let's torture this character in every way possible'. Every relationship went bad (through no fault of their own), their parents either dead, abusive or otherwise absent. Their foster parents, same thing. They probably have various other dead partners and/or relatives... You know the ones I mean.
  • Bonus points if they're an asshole because of it but other characters are still supposed to like them and be understanding. Double bonus if other characters know nothing about said tragic past and are just supposed to guess "something bad must have happened" to justify their terrible behaviour.
•  
• People needing to hear their posts are ok all the time, that their characters are great... The attention fishers. Yes, I get you might be anxious and unsure about your writing. In that case, you ask for feedback. You do not cram comments about your character into every conversation going on fishing for attention.
•  
• Those who question that have been asked and answered in the FAQ. It usually shows how lazy you're gonna be in the RP.
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• Those who complain about the RP but don't offer solutions and/or ideas for it. Yes everybody should have fun. However, whining will get you nowhere and will just make you look like a child. If you have feedback, great! Let's hear it, I'd love to work with you and incorporate your ideas and suggestions (provided they fit into the world / storyline etc). Constantly telling others what they're doing wrong in a negative way without offering how you think it could be improved... Not so much.

[Deacon Frost 196]

The people I get wary of tend to be the idea thieves. Now; I understand how you can see a character on TV and be inspired by them. We all get inspiration from books, TV, movies, etc. But when a month after Jessica Jones comes out you see three characters with Kristen Ritter's face who are antisocial alcoholics who are great at hand to hand combat and private investigations and suffer from PTSD because of a tragic moment; you have to question if the person playing is going to make you do all the work in a thread. 

 

It's not even that they're bad writers. In fact some of them write beautifully. But their stuff is either all lifted from source material; or they're subtly putting all of the heavy lifting of the plot onto your shoulders. They REACT to the thread but they don't do anything to DIRECT the thread. Unless what they're doing allows them to demonstrate some kind of facet of their character that makes them look good. 

 

And what especially drives me crazy about these types of players is they so often think of themselves as incredibly clever. They'll feel like just because they made THEIR version of the character a Cop instead of a Private Eye, it's a completely new character and they won't acknowledge the copy at all. Then they'll feel completely justified in trashing other people's original content because they don't feel like the OTHER player has put as much work in developing their characters. They never acknowledge that it's EASY to develop a well fleshed character when you're basically stealing the concept from a TV show. 

[King Huey 11]

To be honest people who interject in every conversation and make it about them.  People who express that they're the absolute expert in every single thing they speak about. People who overcomplicate their character and also those who over simplify. Also for some reason, I dislike character descriptions coupled with photos. It's just a pet peeve of mine. I prefer photos.

[Penny 27]

People who ask really invasive questions to me or other members, or bring up sexual things immediately (or constantly, if they've been there a while). Certain other things put me on edge but those are more personal - these are more universal I think?

[fruity20 19]

• person comes off as a massive asshole to everyone, even to the mods.
• creepy pms 
• extremely mary sueish characters who are super perfect no matter what. bonus points if they're narcissistic or a self insert. 
• out of place characters. albeit, this depends on several factors. if this is a common thing where characters from other worlds manage to find they're way into this setting, then maybe i'll allow. but having little to no context about the setting makes it feel like you barely read the lore or the rules.
• another thing, giving your character traits that are unusual for their species. and i don't mean like birth defects. flat out having a werewolf have demon powers for no reason besides it's cool. (unless this is justify to some degree, i can tolerate it)
• crazy hybrid characters. ya know your 1/3 human, 1/3 demon, 1/3 vampire mary sues who are ultra badass by this fact, ignoring the realities of this. 

Edited January 23, 2019 by fruity20

[Rhindeer 217]

-People who use "snowflake" as a pejorative, people who proudly claim to be "anti-political correctness", snark about "social justice warriors" and feminism, make "triggered" jokes, etc. Yikes. Go away. Far, far away.

 

-Super moe anime avatars and/or face claims. Like, no judgment, I like anime, even some fanservicey brainless shit. But I get instantly twitchy when I see that because in my experience, there's usually a man behind the avatar who is immediately creepy and cringey and inappropriate.

 

-Dudes (it's always dudes) that are super military obsessed and start critiquing people for historical inaccuracy/improper use of weapons, whatever, in my goddamned medieval high fantasy game where literally no one cares. Like, we're here for the story, no one cares that such and such armor wasn't invented until such and such date especially since this isn't Earth and magic is real.

 

-Gals that always wanna play the damsel that your male characters have to rescue. Usually from sexual assault.

 

-People that join as a group. Now, this isn't the same thing as people that join, get established, and then invite their friends to join. I've always seen the latter work out fine! But when a group of friends joins, they just...always tend to stick to themselves, talk over everyone else in the Discord while talking only to each other, get through a few posts together, and then poof.

 

-Tumblr-speak. I like tumblr fine, but can't deny there's a certain brand of toxicity in certain niches there that I'm very cautious of.

 

-People where it's never ever their fault. They were banned from multiple places, places that are magically ALL toxic. It's always someone else's fault, and they never take responsibility for their actions. And they tell you about these toxic hellscapes the instant they join, or before they join. Eek.

[Gothic 307]

Like @Viscount Rhi-Rhisaid, the historical accuracy people who like to try to bully or constantly nitpick every little thing. Especially when they bring it up to make another person feel bad. Especially if they make snarky comments about the site itself not being worthy or up to their standards in the process. 
 

- People who act like relationship plots (romantic, familial, friends, etc) make you a less worthy RPer. Usually these people are like the people who are above. 

 

- Someone who doesn't respect boundaries that other people have. Or otherwise controlling behaviour is usually a massive red flag for me. 

 

- People who blame other people for their shitty behaviour. 

 

- People who try to claim other people's work as their own. 

[Foxypaws 44]

As an admin? To keep things looking smooth, I ask that my entire board stick to roleplaying in past tense. I have NEVER had a member that breaks this rule not become a problem. I audibly groan when I see that my new member is writing in present tense, because I know that no matter what I say, they're going to ignore me and keep doing it because 'that's just their style' or 'that's who they are' or even promise me that they're going to change it when they have no intention of doing so.

As a player? When I pop into the chat to talk or offer up characters for plotting only to find that no one is willing to speak to me, but the moment one of the popular crowd enters and says 'hi' then everyone leaps in to kiss their feet for existing.

My worst example of this: It made national news that several kids that I'd grown up with were murdered in their sleep by a family friend. One of them was pregnant. I was shocked. I mentioned it in chat and no one answered me. A few minutes later the beloved admin popped in and said she had a headache. Cue five people gushing about how they hoped she would feel better soon. Not a mention of my murdered friends.
I was already feeling like I was sitting on their sidelines before that, and that was the straw that broke the camel's back for me.

[Gothic 307]

People who constantly say how much they don't do drama or mention drama out of the blue. If it is happened after something has gone done, fair enough, although in my experience it has been a massive red flag that they are usually the ones who cause a lot of drama. Or want people to stay silent when they pull shit on people. 

[Rune 1,099]

The only topic they have is either how shitty they have it or themselves in general. If you can't talk about something that isn't directly related to you maybe you need to expand your interests. 

[The Seven 32]

I started this thinking of just posting one red flag but then I realised I have a lot of arbitrary flags.

• In describing their character appearance in a profile they only tell you what clothing they wear.
• They chuckle darkly
• Their backstory ends with them being born.
• They chuckle in general.
• People who just post "hmmm..." in the cbox and wait for people to inquire as to what they're hmming about.
• People who are sort of like me but not me (I feel threatened)
• Any mention of troop counts.

[fruity20 19]

On 2/4/2019 at 12:44 AM, Foxypaws said:

As an admin? To keep things looking smooth, I ask that my entire board stick to roleplaying in past tense. I have NEVER had a member that breaks this rule not become a problem. I audibly groan when I see that my new member is writing in present tense, because I know that no matter what I say, they're going to ignore me and keep doing it because 'that's just their style' or 'that's who they are' or even promise me that they're going to change it when they have no intention of doing so.

As a player? When I pop into the chat to talk or offer up characters for plotting only to find that no one is willing to speak to me, but the moment one of the popular crowd enters and says 'hi' then everyone leaps in to kiss their feet for existing.

My worst example of this: It made national news that several kids that I'd grown up with were murdered in their sleep by a family friend. One of them was pregnant. I was shocked. I mentioned it in chat and no one answered me. A few minutes later the beloved admin popped in and said she had a headache. Cue five people gushing about how they hoped she would feel better soon. Not a mention of my murdered friends.
I was already feeling like I was sitting on their sidelines before that, and that was the straw that broke the camel's back for me.

 

 

wow, a headache may be bad, but seeing your best friends murdered should get more attention. who just glosses it off like nothing?

[Shades 676]

What I call the Eeyore player. They usually don't post, or if they do, it's 10% of their time on the site. The other 90% of the time, they're so down about something. Either they have the hardest of lives ever (TM) or they have an okay life, but we're all making them miserable because we don't worship their character, or don't compliment every post they write, or we said something completely unrelated to them that was obviously a personal dig at them (even though the person who said it didn't even have them on their radar), or someone 'took their playby' - a playby they didn't reserve or was already taken when they joined the site, or this, that and that other thing. The only consistent thread about this person is that they're always so upset about something they will bring everyone's mood down (or die trying).

 

And the 'so woke' player. Now, before you all get your pitchforks out, let me explain. I'm not talking about someone who's conscious of problematic things. I'm talking about that person who is very conscious of problematic things everyone else is saying or doing. You can always hear them pointing out how this is racist, or that is sexist if it's directed at them (or they're just in a bad mood) while they're engaging in the exact same behaviors they're quick to point out in others. Yeah, just go sit in your self-righteous corner and feel superior to us all, nobody cares if you talk the talk when you're not gonna walk the walk, child.

[Penny 27]

On 2/3/2019 at 9:44 PM, Foxypaws said:

As an admin? To keep things looking smooth, I ask that my entire board stick to roleplaying in past tense. I have NEVER had a member that breaks this rule not become a problem. I audibly groan when I see that my new member is writing in present tense, because I know that no matter what I say, they're going to ignore me and keep doing it because 'that's just their style' or 'that's who they are' or even promise me that they're going to change it when they have no intention of doing so.

As a player? When I pop into the chat to talk or offer up characters for plotting only to find that no one is willing to speak to me, but the moment one of the popular crowd enters and says 'hi' then everyone leaps in to kiss their feet for existing.

My worst example of this: It made national news that several kids that I'd grown up with were murdered in their sleep by a family friend. One of them was pregnant. I was shocked. I mentioned it in chat and no one answered me. A few minutes later the beloved admin popped in and said she had a headache. Cue five people gushing about how they hoped she would feel better soon. Not a mention of my murdered friends. 
I was already feeling like I was sitting on their sidelines before that, and that was the straw that broke the camel's back for me.

 

TBH... a headache is much easier to deal with. What you read about was certainly traumatic an I am very sorry for your loss. But - it is also not something everyone is equipped to handle either reading about or comforting someone about, especially if it was brought up out of the blue. I don't know how you might have brought it up there tbf but!! That could be a factor rather than someone disliking you 😞

[Jaxx 317]

Expressing interest in a character and not being told someone else is interested or even working on an app. 

 

Admin green lighting a section of an app only for the app to be pended because "we feel we've made it clear X would be unacceptable." 

 

Admin revealing personal information about a member and mocking that member when they express concerns for their safety. 

 

Being told posts with a ship doesn't count toward meeting activity requirements. 

 

Being told it's unfair that I write with another person more when the only character the complaining person has is an enemy of mine. 

 

Someone messaging me out of the blue to tell me about drama. 

 

Someone repeatedly asking if I/my character would be all right with their character's ethnicity or sexuality. 

 

"My character would be into yours even though they're X"