Maya's Roleplay Ranting

MayaHuskee · **Posted:** Wed Apr 18, 2007 11:35 pm

I have seen a few rants on roleplaying. But not one quite like this. If the mods think that it isn't worth staying open, then let them close it. ;] But here goes anyways.

The roleplay boards on the forums. I hate roleplaying here. I used to enjoy it. But now there isn't a point. What ends up happening, I join a roleplay, it gets maybe two pages, and then everyone stops posting. So then, I end up with a new character, and no real point for them now. Now, I have re-used characters before. And I will in the future. But these roleplays just die, and then what am I to do? Join another and pray that it doesn't die after a page of replies? Now, I understand people cannot post everyday. And I understand that people have lives. I know this. And I wait, and wait... and hope, and hope. But no - it just stays dead.

And you know what the owner of the roleplay generaly does? Makes a new roleplay and focuses on that. I have heard people say "All my roleplays died!!!!11"... Only if you let them die. They just dont care about them enough to bring them back from near death. But no one does that. And it saddens me. Because I want to roleplay, and want to keep roleplaying in the same roleplay for more than a week or two.

And you'd like to know what else these 'new' roleplays are about? Probably near the exact same thing. So first, they let it die - letting down many people. Then, they make a new roleplay to replace the old. When I say replace, I mean it. Its nearly the same thing. I know some people want to have more than one roleplay going - thats fine. I've had two roleplays going on at once that I started, and thats fine - if they differ. But some of these roleplays are the exact same thing over and over and over again. Its boring!! No one cares. The roleplay sections are spammed all the time with useless topics of roleplay. And when it doesn't work out - they make yet another. Take a hint - and make something a little more interesting. I mean, seriously.

Oh, not to mention what they are about. If not only the same thing over and over again - many of the ideas are just the same. Nothing new, nothing interesting. Nothing to make some of us want to roleplay. I am not going to say I am an advanced roleplayer, but I put a lot of effort into my roleplays. My mind only remembers roleplays that really brought new ideas, and that are very in depth. I have only had a few of those with some people who really did know how to roleplay. I would give anything to have roleplays like this again. But those seem to be no more.

When I go to join a roleplay, I expect something to the point where they want to see my skills at roleplaying. Here, you dont get that. You could be anyone and get to play anyone. When people join my roleplays, I do expect them to give me an example of what they would be posting - or in other words, their 'first post'. What do I get? Nothing, generally. I am lucky if they post a bio on there character for me. I have also had people just drop out, or never reply, if they did not do what I asked. It says it in simple plain text for them to read what I am asking. Is it really to much to ask for? I mean really. It doesn't kill you to take time on a roleplay.

Oh, and the Roleplay Shoutbox. I find this even worse than the roleplay boards. Its terrible. You can hardly call it roleplay. I mean, really. The way they roleplay. I am sorry, but using aristics is not actual roleplay. Thats more like just simple actions. Not roleplay, not at all. I mean, some of it is readable, but then you have these really strange ways of so-called 'roleplay'. Here is an example. And I am not kidding - someone actually said this (or something very close to it).

*looks down oh gets up*

Now. In translation, I think this would be something like this.

The wolf looks down to see themself sitting upon another wolf, who was to weak to push the wolf atop it off - or possibly that the wolf was simply not as strong as the first. "Oh," The wolf said, slightly embarrased to see itself upon another wolf. At this point, the wolf got up, and off of the weaker creature it had been sitting on.

Better? I supose. At least you can tell what is going on now. Before, it was like... Where did you learn how to 'roleplay'? Out of a cracker jack box? Mmm. Yes. It bothers me so how poorly it is in there. I attempted to roleplay in there a few days ago, and was fed up with it.

What makes me more sick than anything, is what I (and some others) call 'God Modding', or 'God Roleplay'. Where everything that happens, is one sided. People love to make characters who have amazing strenghts, and no weaknessess. Those who can kill you in an instant, and you have no chance to defend yourself. Well, this may not be the 'real world', but if you want to be a real roleplayer, then you are going to have to be more realistic. There is one person I recall in particular who is known for this. Her characters are ruthless, all of them. No diversity at all. All of them are like Superman. They dont die. They dont get hurt. They dont ever loose a fight. She never gives the other roleplayer a chance to let there characters be real. Who ever roleplays like that, is insane. Its rude, and horrible.

Roleplaying used to be fun. Now its dying. There are a lot of great roleplayers here. But none of them want to roleplay, because most of the people here can hardly roleplay. And what has to bother me above all else is how a lot of the 'roleplayers' here dont even care to improve. It someone asks to much of them, they just forget about it. And find someone who wont test them to do better. I guess some people will never learn, but hey - I can rant. I want to know what you all think on this.

Flame me, Hate me, Love me, whatever. I am free to rant.

(deleted user) · **Posted:** Wed Apr 18, 2007 11:43 pm

I don't like to roleplay often, one because I don't like it in the RP box, and i have an RP guild on neopets, and it gets boring.
Anywho

You do have a point, i mean, honestly.

May i add, that the lion king RP is more of a 'depressed box' let alone a ROLPLAY box.

On track....

People don't roleplay corectly, most of what iv'e seen is:

Hey, *looks* wats up? *smiles* how is every1?

^ one problem is, there is SMS, (a big annoying problem)
and that,People question> What are you looking at? WHO are you talking to?

Correction: *(characters name) looked up at yupik* Whats up? *she smiled at everyone* How is everyone?

People, we need Roleplay rules.

Sushi Roll · **Posted:** Thu Apr 19, 2007 5:31 am

I tried not long ago but, I couldn't take it! They ignored my posts, their spelling was worse than a cow's and it's not that much of a Roleplay when they keep on trying to kill each other all the freaking time....

steet · **Posted:** Thu Apr 19, 2007 11:36 am

Maybe the forum mods and the mods from these sections could add a rule to limit the number of roleplay topics someone can create within a limited time. (for example, a member is allowed to create only one roleplay topic by week)

MayaHuskee · **Posted:** Thu Apr 19, 2007 11:41 am

x_X_Emily_X_x wrote:

I tried not long ago but, I couldn't take it! They ignored my posts, their spelling was worse than a cow's and it's not that much of a Roleplay when they keep on trying to kill each other all the freaking time....

Mmmm. Yes. Indeed. There spelling is atrocious(sp?), even though I cannot spell myself. :lol:

And yeah - I have noticed this. I went onto the roleplay shoutbox playing two of my newer chars, a wolf and a human, and within moments a wolf came, threatened my wolf, and then attacked my human, putting him to 'near death' within seconds, and no way for my wolf OR human to react. I really hate that.

Stone Paw wrote:

The main reason I feel most RP's die these days are because of lack of experience. Most people who create multiple RP's never really practice RPing... they don't know the basics that come after typing the Super Awesome Introduction they spent 4 minutes typing, like adjusting scenarios, introducing Non playable characters correctly, and overall making sure the RP makes sense all the time.

Indeed! This is exactly what I am saying here...

Quote:

When I go to join a roleplay, I expect something to the point where they want to see my skills at roleplaying. Here, you dont get that. You could be anyone and get to play anyone. When people join my roleplays, I do expect them to give me an example of what they would be posting - or in other words, their 'first post'. What do I get? Nothing, generally. I am lucky if they post a bio on there character for me. I have also had people just drop out, or never reply, if they did not do what I asked. It says it in simple plain text for them to read what I am asking. Is it really to much to ask for? I mean really. It doesn't kill you to take time on a roleplay.

These 'lack of experiace' is terrible. Do you want to see what a first post really looks like? Probably not, but this is what I believe is a good start...

Quote:

A black and white lone wolf trudged through the snow, still thick and deep, but with the weather warming up slightly, within a week it would begin to soften. She huffed as she tudged through, hoping not to hit something hidden beneath the snow. She dodged around a few trees, before breaking out into an open field. She paused, and huffed again, looking to the north. She sighed, and then looked forward. A confused look came over her. She seemed to have forgotten what she was doing. She soon regained herself, and plunged out into the open.

As she ran through the snow, it looked almost as if she where hopping through it - which she just about was. Here, the snow was very deep. This was not a good sign. This ment that the Elk and Caribou or other large game had not been through here. She keep on going, the open clear skys making the snow shine bright in her eyes. But she tried not to focus on that. She was forced to stop for a moment, to catch her breath, and close her eyes to shade them from the bright snow. The snow was nearly past her chest now. She could not wait for it to begin to soften. Spring, and warm weather, always promised more game to hunt.

The wolf, Azor, could not pick out any of the big, but could easily kill the swift little creatures in the forest. She was heading towards the forest on the otherside of the large plain. She figured it might have more game to hunt.

She re-opened her eyes, and huffed once, before taking off again. She had nearly made it to the middle when she saw something move. She looked over, but saw nothing. She perked up her ears and looked forward. She set her eyes towards the spot she had seen the thing move. She took in a deep sniff, raising her muzzle up a little to get the scent - but she didn't smell anything. She grunted, and began to move forward. Wih one 'hopping' leap into the snow, she saw it move again. But this time her eyes locked on it. It was a snow shoe hare. She seemed to be smiling, as her ears perked, and she looked at it. It stood extremely still, and if she took her eyes off it, she would not be able to see it again unless it moved.

For a moment, she seemed to question what a hare was doing so far from the safety of the forest. There was no place to hide - or was there? She grunted, and then finally took off. She leaped in the snow, weaving in and out of it, coming closer to the hare. But the hare spotted her, as for it was clearly obvious for her pelt being mostly a ebony colour. The hare took off, and Azor let out a growl. She picked up her pace a little - but not very well. For her body being heavy, although lighter than most wolves, it crunched down in the deep snow - where as the hare was lightly, and didn't 'cause it to do so. But even with this at the hare's advantage, Azor would not let the hare go. They raced towards the forest, Azor slowly picking up on the hare. But as soon as it was there, it was gone.

Azor stopped, agasp. She then ran forward to the place where she had just been chasing the hare. There, was a deep dug hole. She growled, and snapped down into the hole. Once she realized this would not work, she pulled out, and began to dig. As she dug, she let out these high pitched yapping sounds, in fustration and anger. Suddenly, something lashed out on her paw, leaving this stinging feeling. She yelped loudly, pulling back, unable to step on her paw that had been hit. She looked back down as she hopped back to see a furious porcupine. Its beady red eyes lashed harder than the quils stuck in Azor's paw. He let out a hissing sound, sending Azor off, yelping. She had gotten closer to the forest, where the snow wasn't so deep - yet it was still hard for her to get by.

She tumbleded down into the snow at the edge of the forest, by a tree. She whimpered loudly, looking at th quils in her left paw. She looked back out, her ears folded tightly against the back of her head. She did not want to believe that such an animal had gotten to her. Hadn't the snow hare gone down there? And yet this beast comes out and waps at her? She did not understand this. She whimpered more, the painful stinging running all through her paw. She looked it over. The spines where in deep, and would be painful to take out. She would possibly break them, so it would be stuck in her paw. Around where the quils had been stuck in, were little red rings - stating that it was going to possibly also get infected. She whimpered more, licking around her paw, only to realize this hurt just as much.

She sighed, and laid there for a few moments longer. She was very unsure of what to do now.

This was from my roleplay that I started that never really got any feedback. No one joined, and it just died; just like you mentioned Outlaw...

Outlaw wrote:

I agree with everything you just said, but what makes me even madder is when the good RP's, with a real, well thought-out plot never get ANY joiners, but the RP's with two sentances for a plot gets plenty of people, many of which they don't even need because it dies right away anyway.

I get this a lot. I spent tons of time working on this roleplay, and then no one joins. Such as if you click here you will see the topic where I had taken that incredibly long post from. I take much time and pride in my roleplaying. Yet most of the time it is blown away.

Stone Paw wrote:

That and the fact that I feel people are now creating RP's for attention and soon we'll be hearing "Why Won't anyone join my RP?" (Eerily similar to "Why Won't anyone fave my art?")

Yes yes yes!! This is exactly what I think it will come to. And they want to know WHY they aren't getting people to join? Because they can't stick to a roleplay, and they cant create good ones. Those who spend two-three minutes on the topic of it aren't going to get a good roleplay going. So then they just go and say "It died!!!11" I believe this is more annoying than when someone says it on the shout box. Because it truely is.

Outlaw wrote:

The people in the RP shout box on the main site don't even roleplay, and when they do, all they do is fight. They don't even use proper grammar, this is what most of their posts look like:

sighs looks up i hate my life lays down

No ponctuation or anything, it drives me CRAZY. Even this is MUCH better:

*sighs and looks up* "I hate life.." *lays down*

Atleast we can UNDERSTAND what they're saying and what they're doing, when they type it like the first example it could mean anything:

"sighs looks up i hate" *my life lays* "down"

Due to this I don't RP anymore, even when I DO go there for a bit, someone always wants to "fight" me or they throw cookies at me or something..

Indeed, Indeed! I've seen it first hand, and experianced it first hand. A lot of people on the Roleplay shoutbox are very particular about having everything their way. If something does not go there way, they cry about it.

The other day when I was in the roleplay, I actually told someone I would not roleplay with them, because I had no idea what they were saying - and they probably didn't either. They could not even tell that 'Amara' is short for 'Amarantha'. It was really pathetic. Oh, and then their wolf attempted to just talk to my human. Umm, hello? This is not Aladin, okay? I am very particular about having my roleplays as real as possible, but also have a twist of magic. But 'magic' does not include wild animals walking up to humans and just... talking to them. That is not at all how it works. XD

Outlaw wrote:

"sighs looks up i hate" *my life lays* "down"

Sadly, I have seen this too. Once again, I take my statement from before...

Quote:

Where did you learn how to 'roleplay'? Out of a cracker jack box?

steet wrote:

Maybe the forum mods and the mods from these sections could add a rule to limit the number of roleplay topics someone can create within a limited time. (for example, a member is allowed to create only one roleplay topic by week)

Its more than just that steet. But perhaps. Or perhaps they are only allowed two active roleplays, and if one perposably 'dies', then they must then wait a week to make a new one. I am not really sure, but give me time and I could think of something grand for the roleplay sections. :]

Anayu · **Posted:** Thu Apr 19, 2007 2:24 pm

I understand where you're coming from, Maya. And no one here will probably believe me when I say that the roleplay forum actually is better than it was when I first came here. People are starting to at least try to be polite and follow the rules now. I haven't run into any one-liners lately, when I skim through I actually see a minimum of at least a small paragraph and generally the grammar and punctation is getting better. I see some SMS is the little ooc messages near the tops and bottoms, but I suppose you can't completely get rid of that trash.

And I know how much you care about roleplaying and that you want to help people learn, to teach them to be better (and not to mention more orignal >.>) and I agree with that. I'm seeing growth (it's agonizingly slow, but at least it's progress

) and I'll continue to keep encouraging growth of the roleplayers here, however I can. I'm open to any and all suggestions to make it work.

As for the rp box...not much I can do there

I don't usually like to roleplay there (I've been lurking more, lately thought) because they are so simplistic, not to mention impatient. I try to type out a decent little post and as soon as I hit enter it's usually ignored or missed because they love to punch out little ones and bury longer posts. Lately I've tried again and I've kind of been encouraging people to put description in, but I haven't seen a lot of promise. However, I'll keep trying to encourage improvement there to. Can't hurt to try ^.^

steet wrote:

Maybe the forum mods and the mods from these sections could add a rule to limit the number of roleplay topics someone can create within a limited time. (for example, a member is allowed to create only one roleplay topic by week)

I actually thought of doing that Steet, but I didn't think anyone here would agree with it, so I waited for a little bit. Now that I've got at least two second opinions, I'll definetly consider a limit (2 is a pretty round number, so I think that'll be good enough. Maybe 3, but I think that might be pushing it until people know how to manage there time and balance themselves more.)

So, if anybody has any other ideas to help make the roleplay forums much more elite, please feel free to pm me. I don't bite, I promise! ^.^ I'm just here to try and help.

MayaHuskee · **Posted:** Thu Apr 19, 2007 2:40 pm

Aniu Caelestis wrote:

I actually thought of doing that Steet, but I didn't think anyone here would agree with it, so I waited for a little bit. Now that I've got at least two second opinions, I'll definetly consider a limit (2 is a pretty round number, so I think that'll be good enough. Maybe 3, but I think that might be pushing it until people know how to manage there time and balance themselves more.)

I also agree that three might be pushing it. Maybe not for people who take two seconds to type something out, but that is not what is wanted from them. Discription and such is needed. I do not see why people wish to 'rush' through roleplays and such. Let it take time, dont rush it. Enjoy them while they last; I know, because soon you'll be like me - complaining about how terrible it is. :lol:

Lonewulf · **Joined:** Mon Jul 10, 2006 7:55 pm **Posts:** 578

I totally agree with you on this Maya.(I don't know what else to say. :lol:

.)

Quote:

The roleplay sections are spammed all the time with useless topics of roleplay. And when it doesn't work out - they make yet another. Take a hint - and make something a little more interesting. I mean, seriously.

That is the exact reason why I don't roleplay as much anymore. It really annoys me, but I can't seem to do anything about it...My roleplays die after some time, but I actually TRY to bring them back to life.-_-

~Lone

steet · **Posted:** Fri Apr 20, 2007 12:23 am

Then one (or two) active topics by week. But people would probably make their topics die on purpose, this way...

MayaHuskee · **Posted:** Fri Apr 20, 2007 12:27 pm

steet wrote:

Then one (or two) active topics by week. But people would probably make their topics die on purpose, this way...

Well, then make them wait a week to make a new one. :] (Unless it is the continue of the last). I know some people will like.. make a new topic at 30 something pages. So yeah.

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Maya's Roleplay Ranting