Issues With Role-playing

[LunarScorpio]

What’s the hardest thing for you to do when it comes to role-playing? Do you have issues with creating a character, making posts, coming up with a plot, or something else? What sorts of things do you do to help you get past the issues you encounter? Let us know! Who knows, maybe you’ll help someone else who has the same issue as you do. Or maybe if you don't have a solution, someone else will be able to help you out!

Me? Well, with me, I’m really bad at making character profiles. I like to watch them grow with the role-play, but some role-plays require a character profile. So, what do I do? In a way, I kind of go ahead and play out some scenarios in my head. I try to figure out what my character would do in different situations. I get into my character before the role-play even begins. It seems to help me even when I’m having the most difficult of times.

[Lara]

What I have trouble with varies depending on how much of an idea I get for a character before joining. Generally, I have the hardest time writing out a history (though there have been occasions where history is the first thing I can fill out) and personality (again, unless I have an idea from the start). I also have trouble with names, since I'm the type of person where the name needs to fit the character. Thus, it tends to be the last thing I fill in, unless I come up with one while writing other parts.

Similarly, I have issues with profiles in general. There are times, like right now, where I really want to join a roleplay, but can't for the life of me convince myself to create a full profile. It's awful.

Aside from profiles, my other problem with roleplaying tends to be sticking with the ones I join. >.> I hate to say it, because I really get into most of the storylines, as well as the character I've created, but at the same time there always comes a point where I have zero drive to write up a post. This point in time varies depending on how many roleplays I'm in (the higher the number, the quicker I lose drive for the earliest ones I've joined, so I try to not join too many at once in hopes of preventing this), how much I like the characters mine is interacting with, what's going on in the storyline...

[Fate Flyer]

This is a good question.

I think that's smart that you sometimes think of different scenarios in your head for your characters, Lunar.

I think I have similar problems to you guys.

The hardest thing for me though is simply just working up to writing. I treat role-plays the same way I treat writing stories; I get so self-conscious about my writing, wanting it to be absolutely perfect, that I get apprehensive when it comes to actually starting to write. My posts usually aren't anywhere near as great as I would have liked them to be, so that doesn't help. I really wish I had a larger vocabulary. It just takes me forever to make a reply, since I'm trying to work myself up to writing well enough to where I can at least be satisfied.

[Dio the Awesome]

I'm not sure how experienced some of you guys are with roleplay. Myself, I've been doing it for about 5 years now, maybe 6. Over the years I've had many different characters, with different names, background, and in different settings. So I'm good at making a profile, and who I want my character to be. And sometimes the character surprises me, and jumps off the page.

(There's a point to this)

But now I've got to where I look at an RP and say, man that's interesting, time to make a character, and then I realize I have no originality left. The character I have in mind is so similar to another character I have. And that's where I hit the roadblock, because I don't want all my characters to be 'me' with different hair.

I also have problems with dialog sometimes, but that's a different story.

[Guest]

Finding people who don't suck to rp with *LOL*

I think in terms of introspection, the hardest thing for me is to keep it interesting and keep the story from being something that's been rehashed again and again and again *LOL*

[vitamin_kitten]

This is a good question.

I think that's smart that you sometimes think of different scenarios in your head for your characters, Lunar.

I think I have similar problems to you guys.

The hardest thing for me though is simply just working up to writing. I treat role-plays the same way I treat writing stories; I get so self-conscious about my writing, wanting it to be absolutely perfect, that I get apprehensive when it comes to actually starting to write. My posts usually aren't anywhere near as great as I would have liked them to be, so that doesn't help. I really wish I had a larger vocabulary. It just takes me forever to make a reply, since I'm trying to work myself up to writing well enough to where I can at least be satisfied.

I have a friend who has this exact same issue. Something important to keep in mind is that, while it's okay to take RPing seriously, it doesn't have to be srsbsns. It's supposed to be fun. Do the best you can, and if it's not perfect, no one will care. We all have our bad writing days where all we can really come up with is the bare minimum- it usually has to do with alot of factors. Perhaps there's a lull in the plot, maybe no one's interacting with your character, maybe your allergies have got your head so stuffed up you can barely stand without tottering, let alone think of what to write about someone else's life. Since we can all relate to this though, I think it's fair to say that no one's judging your writing. If you put effort behind your words, people will be able to tell, and as long as you have fun, I think that's all that matters.

Now, as for the issues I have with RPing, they're pretty similar to the ones that have already been stated. I have a hard time coming up with new characters for RPs, because I'm already so attached to the ones I've been using for the past ten years. I can't just take them out of their element, because that would change them and it just ... feels wrong to me for some reason, so I force myself to create a whole new character. I also hate profiles. Like Lara, it's frustrating when there's a really interesting RP you want to join and you can't, for the life of you, fit a brand new character into a tiny little profile box. Personally, I think profiles are unfair. ^^;

I also have a hard time RPing with people who ... don't seem to know how to put words together to form a cohesive, understandable sentence. It seems like I won't have that problem here, thankfully, but it's just so uninspiring when all you have to work with are three sentences of dialogue and no description. ><

[Fate Flyer]

Oh, do you? That's a good point, vitamin_kitten. I think it's true that sometimes I need to kind of let loose and go with the flow to just enjoy it, rather than thinking over it for too painstakingly long. (LOL yes! My allergies do act up at times when I'm trying to write, hehe.) Thanks, hun.

I think that's pretty understandable that you've become attached to your characters that you've already had for so long. I can feel that way too, that I don't want to put them into a setting that they're not intended for. Maybe you should make a poll in the Polls and Surveys subforum and see how others feel about profiles too, or something. I haven't thought about not using profiles before, but that does make sense that they're not always needed.

I most definitely have a problem RPing with people like that too (in your last paragraph). xD I really don't like looking through role-plays in which everyone responding posts a line or two, and all it is is dialogue with no description or details at all. (I've been going around finding people to promote FOG to, so I've had to read a ton of RPs like this in recent times, lol.)

[vitamin_kitten]

Man, I feel for you- I've definitely had the experience wading through crappy thread after crappy thread in Barton Town on Gaia, trying to find a decent RP, and then, when a good idea comes up, the thread is littered with sparkles and pictures and obnoxious, eye-assaulting colors, and a profile, and everyone is using pictures for their characters that they stole from MySpace (because apparently attractive = scene kid). >.o DO. NOT. WANT.

[Fate Flyer]

Lol yep! That's what I've come across frequently in Barton Town too, haha. It seems to be a trend. I've resorted to looking through role-playing type guilds instead, and I've had a little better luck there. Haha scene is in. I'm not into the style so much for scene kids, but I definitely love the teased hair, call me crazy. I just enjoy the volume (especially since I have my parent's thin hair, which falls flat xD). That's hilarious though that they find pictures of people on Myspace. Wouldn't that be crazy/weird if you were looking through RPs on Gaia and saw that someone was using a picture of yourself that you had posted on Myspace?

[vitamin_kitten]

I think I'd have to kill myself. XD Especially if it was because I was scene.

I have an RP guild on Gaia that's ... well, we could use more members. It's called Mindscape and you're more than welcome to check it out. -nodnod-

[Fate Flyer]

Oh, very nice! It looks like a well-made guild. I like the front page. Thanks, I'm looking through it right now. ^_^

[vitamin_kitten]

^o^

[Sunwolf007]

I have the hardest time with the names of anything. Be it places or characters I have a hard time with it. I usually go to a name definition site and look up a theme for the character (like if he is a ruler then Eric [which means ever ruler] would be a name I would look at) in name meanings. This usually takes a while but during that time I think about the other things for the character like background and what they look like. Once I settle on a name then I can sit down and write the character profile.

Usually I have a hard time picking plot points to achieve before getting to the end of an RP (like that ever happens). To get around this I outline in a very basic way so that I still leave room for other writers subplots but have a direction for the RP to go in. Then when one of the outlined points is reached I sit down and write about what the specifics are to keep the plot moving.

Most people said that they hate using a character they have used before but I am the opposite. I actually copy from my previous characters all the time. I guess it’s the draftsperson in me because we copy something and make it different to make something new at work. I don’t see what’s wrong with this because then you can use previously unused parts of the old character for the new character. Then the two become completely different.

I have no difficulties when it comes to actually writing the posts if I know the theme of my character and what they do for the story. I do have to take time and check my grammar and spelling though so I take longer to write than most people.

[Sponsored content]