teamtr

I gotta hang out with this Frank guy sometime.

@TwoDee How dare you be funnier and more thoughtful than me in my own thread, sir. The back button is that way. Jokes aside, thank you for your thoughts! Wonderfully said, and I agree wholeheartedly. I also enjoy how you pointed out the apologetics and modifiers some have used in this very thread, which I can't fault them for, as I know I've dropped into that mentality once or twice myself. I think I have a lot of affection for old-fashioned edginess. While I've never been a fan of the 90s and 00s comic book antiheroes with jawlines you could grate cheese on and enormous guns you could also grate cheese on (too much focus on hypermasculinity, and female characters in half those stories were mainly relegated to dying, whimpering, or getting brutalized), I very much appreciate the aesthetics and the deconstruction of its predecessors which that era heralded. I have many fond memories of sneaking into my dad's comic collection and ravenously reading Watchmen when I was way too young to be reading Watchmen. (You can't convince me to like The Dark Knight Returns though, sorry.) Anyway, kudos from me. We were all born in cringe, and to cringe we shall return. The best decision I could've ever made was to just enjoy the things I enjoy and let others do the same. EDIT: All this talk about magical girl anime is bringing back memories. Have you guys watched Revolutionary Girl Utena? You should watch that if you haven't. My favorite anime of all time, hands-down.

If I'm in a group that occasionally RPs, but also does OOC content like WoW raiding, then voice is fine for me, but I try to avoid voice chat in groups that I purely RP in. I just don't like knowing what the people I RP with look or sound like IRL, as you said it differs from appearances in-game and drags me out of the immersion a bit when I'm trying to unwind after a long day of IRL garbage. Maybe I want to pretend all the people I interact with in-game are just magically demons and vampires IRL, thank you very much. As a sort of funny aside, one of my old WoW guilds had a hearing-impaired player who couldn't use voice. We were all quick to post instructions and battle plans in the raid chat for him, and he had other methods of keeping on top of things, which was great. But oh my god, the wails and shouting that happened one time when we all, in voice, decided to call off on starting a boss fight, but we forgot to tell him, so we watched him just merrily continue on and aggro the boss, thinking it was a normal pull like always? Hilarious. We all died so hard.

I agree completely. Much of what appeals to me about roleplay is that it's a chance to experiment with and deconstruct tropes and archetypes that many people might be familiar with, and which I think I could have a refreshing thing to say about. Over the years, I've become much more sensitive to whether or not a given player is self-aware regarding their character, or whether they don't seem interested in any metatextual reading of their character and instead just...sort of exist. Not to say characters need to be perfect Jungian archetypes or anything, but I've found it helps to look at it this way: There are writers who write Batman like Batman. He's an orphan, he beats criminals up, he's got contingency plans, he puts villains in Arkham Asylum. Cool! Okay. But then there are writers who write Batman like The Batman. They explore why he is what he is, what he represents as a symbol, not simply a personality and a body. He is an incredibly wealthy man, arguably driven mad by his parents' murder, who spends much of his time wearing a ridiculous costume to fight villains in their own ridiculous costumes because those villains are damaged by the world in such similar ways as him. But a writer can go deeper still: Batman represents the futility of fighting crime with violence and suppression and the maddening cycle of recidivism that causes; how privilege can completely change the course a person's life may go after ruinous tragedy; the decay of urban life; the list goes on. The same can be said of the Punisher or other famously edgy characters. A Punisher expy, poorly-written, is just an angry, murderous guy with a gun. But a Punisher expy whose player understands what the Punisher is meant to represent? That can be some great stuff. Yes! I love it. My long-winded thoughts above aside, sometimes a cigar is just a cigar and you just gotta give the people what they want.

What would you say impresses you now, if you don't mind my asking? Hey, no worries! This thread isn't meant to impugn anyone, just share our thoughts and opinions a bit. I enjoy some darkness and edginess myself, and I'm also shy, so it's all good. The most important thing to keep in mind is to do whatever interests you and makes you happy, and strive to interest other players and help them have fun along with you. I have a Drow character in a D&D game I'm a part of who is a Pulcinella-style clown with a monkey companion she uses to attack people with, if that counts. (In this homebrew world, I made all the Drow Italian murder clowns. Because I could.) I agree completely. I think almost any character archetype becomes exhausting if the player behind the character only cares about being super attention-grabby or self-serving, rather than wanting to contribute to an interesting story for everyone.

Howdy. I was interested in hearing peoples' opinions on edgy characters, AKA Edgelords. What constitutes an Edgelord? Is it the dark clothing, the grim loner persona, the flashy, violent, or gruesome powers or methods? Have you ever played an Edgelord, or seen one in action that just made you cringe--or even one who you found to be well-written? What traits might redeem a character who first seems like an Edgelord in your eyes? How do you feel about edgy themes in RP overall? Tragic backstories, painful powers, explorations of trauma as a result of the adventures characters go on, all that good stuff. Give me your thoughts as you please! I'll start things off with mine. I'm of the opinion that any character concept can be amazing in the hands of a skilled enough writer. ...I'll also be the first to admit that when I see a character clad in all-black leather and skulls occupying a corner by themselves, I can't help but make a few biased assumptions. In my own experience, my characters are often a little edgy. My main, Swamp Hag, is a zombie plant woman who smokes, drinks, wears a punk leather jacket (with spikes of course), wears sunglasses indoors, the whole shebang. But those traits on their own don't make an Edgelord, they're only surface-level. I think the real key is the sense of...I wish I could describe this any other way, but...desperation, I think? There's some edgy characters who you just know desperately want people to think they're cool. Their dialogue drips with zero self-awareness, they butt into conversations or conflicts for the purposes of 'winning' them rather than writing a good scene, and they seem disinterested in talking about anything other than themselves. They play at being mysterious, until they dump their ten-page backstory on you at first meeting, or they insist upon being loners who push all interaction away, but then complain OOC when they get ignored as a result. They insist upon being aggro with everyone, but won't even entertain the idea of losing a fight. It's this underlying insecurity, the peril of insisting upon being cool, badass and infallible at all times and therefore having no room to be wrong or to grow or learn. Alas, poor Edgelord.

I'm fine with most tells along those lines. I'm even fine with tells that start with "hey cool character, wanna ERP?" because I can simply say no and move on with my day. Where I cross the line is sending anything explicit without initial consent. I'm a legal adult and very few things faze me anymore, but not everyone playing this game is. No one should ever just start spouting off their favorite fetishes, write explicit emotes, include racy information in their bio, or send explicit tells unprompted. Hell, I don't even feel comfortable making dirty jokes, excessive PDA, or using language above PG-13 levels when I'm in more public spaces. If I include anything on the edge, such as descriptions of something people might be squicked out by, then I might put a disclaimer in front of my emote ("(CW: emetophobia)", for example). I see far too many people being frankly kind of way too flirtatious and excessive. I'd be fine with that if they were around players who they know are cool with it, but often times they'll do it upon first introduction. (We've all met at least one demon/catgirl/cyborg who just out the gate starts making super dirty jokes or talking about their past experiences like water out of a faucet.) Sidenote, regarding the debate on whether or not mods should let people know if their report did anything: In an ideal world, I would like if mods told reporters simply whether or not action was taken. Not any details beyond, just a simple message of "Your report factored into the mod's decision, and action was taken against this player." HOWEVER. This is not an ideal world, and Hyperstrike is completely right. The more involved more parties become, the greater the chance of drama getting stirred up within the community as a whole, as well as the likelihood of spurious or vengeful reporting. I know in my experience that when I'm mad enough at somebody's bad behavior to report them, I might be in a very vindictive mood at the moment I write and submit that report. Receiving any response at all beyond the canned "Thank you for your feedback" would only ever feed the flames, not help me feel a sense of closure. The only method that consistently calms me down in those moments is having time to cool off and let it go. You know how celebrities get cancelled on Twitter, and then go on a campaign of apologizing for whatever they got cancelled for, but their response only seems to make the mob angrier and angrier? That's because ANY response means the situation must continue. If the celebrity wants the mob to get bored and move on quickly, the only response is zero response. Comparatively, the best solution the mods can reach to ensure most reporters simply forget about the incident and move on is for their report to disappear into a black hole the moment they submit it. That might mean less closure for the reporter, but it also means less drama, less encouragement of toxic reporting behavior, and a culture of just reporting, blocking, and/or moving the hell on like adults.

I don't think ERP is a big deal, so long as it stays out of public channels, is exclusively kept between consenting adults, and those who engage in it have some self awareness about it. (It can be an annoying obstacle when players who aren't interested in it are trying to dodge the writhing catgirl hordes, but that's just the price we pay for civilized society. Or something.) Anyway, I don't think out-of-the-blue propositions are necessarily bad either, so long as they aren't explicit and the person sending them knows how to behave like a normal human being if they get rejected, blocked or ignored. It's far more convenient for me if people just outright say that they only want to interact as a bit of foreplay to ERP. That way, I can tell them I'm not interested and go merrily on my way without thinking there might have been a chance for some RP I find actually engaging. 🤷‍♀️

I definitely agree with your pro-OOC setup stance @GraspingVileTerror, even though I don't mind spontaneity. I think some of the best scenes I've been in have had at least a little bit of OOC rapport built up first where both parties understand what they're looking for, so I understand completely. (Plus, I can't tell you how many horror stories I have from my earlier RP days where I'd encounter some other player who is exclusively interested in being a little Don Giovanni, but I don't discover that fact until I realize their character is just nonstop trying to steer the conversation into "your place or mine". Terrible tango scraping those people off. Your anxiety isn't unfounded. 🙄)

Your whole post is a great read, but this stands out to me as an absolutely fantastic way of illustrating the concept. (I like to think my RP is like an overgrown junkyard trailer that's just jam packed full of sad, angry women.) Sometimes the real magic is in the stories you tell and the memories you make while you're chasing that unicorn. Most of my favorite scenes have come from the organic, logical conclusions of my character's motivations, temptations, needs or weaknesses. Just about getting your character to a state that feels solid and then starting a fire under them to see what happens.

Howdy! I'm new to these forums, but not to RP or CoX. I was interested in hearing from the community here on what some of their favorite bits of RP advice are, whether it's something they've learned from past experience, advice they've heard from others, or wisdom they've picked up over time! I believe it's important to always keep learning, so I hope both beginner and veteran RPers can benefit from a little shared advice here. I'll start! In my experience, one of the best ways to foster great connections between other RPers, as well as a richer IC world, is by figuring out what the other player is trying to communicate, and letting that impress you. I don't mean your character must always be an easily-impressed fan who fawns over everyone else! In fact, you can also let things frighten you, anger you, perplex you, any number of things! Roleplay is a two-way street, and just because one character is the center of focus in a scene, sharing something about themselves, doesn't mean you need to either steer the conversation back to you in order to keep the 'trade' going or just be a blank slate for them to bounce off of. Letting other characters impress, anger, or perplex yours, rather than being treated as new opportunities for you to exposit more about yourself, not only makes them feel more impactful, but it makes the scene infinitely more interesting, infinitely more real. It forces you to think about every new person your character meets from their perspective, and forces you to pay attention to people's characters in turn. Some smaller examples of this principle I love: Encountering a bookish, scholarly character and letting them impress me by asking for advice or IC questions about their expertise Encountering a highly attractive character/succubus/vampire etc. and letting them impress me by acting a little crush-stupid, being awkward, attempting to show off to them or flirt (in a non-creepy way! IC =/= OOC, but everyone's boundaries are their own no matter what their character concept is). Encountering a mind reader/psychic/empath and letting them impress me by sending them a whisper about how my character is feeling, or having my character react to the knowledge that they're a mind reader by being defensive or suspicious Encountering a ten-foot-tall demon man and letting him impress me by showing nervousness at his presence, commenting on how huge he is, asking what he eats, etc. The bottom line: Let other people's characters have an impact! Because having your character react in a way that's unique and true to your character not only communicates a lot about your character, it also says a lot about you.

I just go Vigilante because my character is about protecting people who don't have the power to protect themselves, not upholding institutions or the law. If people want to rob a bank, loot a supermarket, or blackmail a CEO, it's no skin off her hide as long as people aren't getting killed in the process.

I don't enjoy club RP exclusively, but in moderation, and with the promise of interesting things going on outside the club, I can be happy with it. Clubs are very useful for browsing around and meeting new people. I met my current SG, which I'm very happy with, just going to Black Cat for the first time, getting into a conversation with someone interesting, and being directed to that SG's table. Scenes in clubs can give me a moment to slow my character down a bit and explore more basic social interactions beyond just "Good blazes! Dr. Evil replaced the President's bulletproof vest with a live cobra! We've got to warn him!" That being said, it's definitely not my style to only do slice of life basic social RP, or scenes where nothing gets accomplished or we learn nothing about anyone's characters. I don't have nearly enough time to dedicate to that, but that's just my personal experience, and everyone's entitled to what appeals to them. Another thing I will note is that the setting does not matter nearly so much as the content. I have engaged in some of the most gripping, visceral scenes I've ever been a part of in the middle of a club, and I've been half-AFK in the middle of a crazy high-stakes mission on a team of fellow heroes fighting for our lives and for the fate of the Earth. RP following a plot is not inherently more valuable, respectable, or 'correct' than walkup RP, slice of life RP, giant demon woman harem tickle fight RP, or even ERP. It's just about what keeps everybody in the scene engaged, what develops people's characters in a satisfying way, and what tells a story its participants will remember. (I love clubbing IRL, but only started after I met my partner. It's a lot of fun going to clubs when you're already taken and can dance and have fun together. I've also gone clubbing with my siblings, which is also a great move, because then someone in your group is always ready to slip you an Ibuprofen on the dancefloor or let you be stupid drunk without judgement, and there's no stupid friend politics you have to navigate or some friend-of-a-friend you don't know super well you have to be awkward with the whole night. Would recommend.)

Saying OOC (Out Of Character) things like "I need to turn off my PC now" is fine! Real life always takes precedence over a scene, and if the people you're with are cool then they'll likely understand. However, keeping up with the immersion of a scene, especially ones that might be more emotionally intense, can also be important. It can feel very awkward if John Doe professes his love to Susie Sue, only for Susie to respond with "((oops, gtg!))" before logging off into the ether. John Doe is sort of left hanging, in-character, because the love of his life just evaporated in front of him. So I might suggest some alternatives for your two examples! Instead of responding to a question about your background that you haven't figured out yet, just be vague! Everybody loves a mysterious character. Entice people! There's nothing wrong with hanging a curtain over an unfinished backstory, all anyone else will see is the curtain, and you can figure out what's underneath at your leisure. Besides, when's the last time you strolled up to someone at a bar and expected to learn their whole life's story in one sitting? This is a tricky one, and I would say letting people know OOC, then also resolving the scene smoothly IC is the ideal way to go. How I often do it is I whisper the person if it's a 1-on-1 scene, or I just say in OOC brackets for group scenes, then write something to explain my character leaving. For example: Susie Sue: ((gonna go to bed guys! see you later!)) Susie Sue stretches and stands, shrugging her jacket back onto her shoulders. "Well, anyway, I'm heading out." If, for whatever reason, I need to leave much faster than that, I might simply say something OOC, thank people for the RP, and leave right away, but I wouldn't recommend making that a habit if you can help it. The most important advice you should keep in mind when it comes to RP is that you will always feel incredibly awkward when you first start out! You might find yourself standing around, too shy to talk to people while everyone else seems already wrapped up in their own social groups. That's totally normal! I've been RPing for over 12 years and I still find myself in that situation if I'm on my own surrounded by strangers. The best thing you can do is just put yourself out there, be kind, be willing to learn, and focus on having fun and sharing cool stories with others. Look for people who respect your time, value your contributions, and engage in the style of RP that you enjoy. Join an RP SG and attend an event or two, see how you like it! I hope you have fun! ^^