For me its putting your heart and soul into a post, even going as far as wriiting something down during your lunch, and 15th minute breaks. Forgetting food, and friends just to get somehing down for that night. Typing so fuiously you will need a new keyboard afterward, thinking man everyones going to live my post, and then after you put it up. No one responds.....

Your post just sinks and sinks.

I absolutely agree. This is also true for making sites - I tend to plot out all of my canons and subplots in a notebook and actually put a lot of time into it since I do them myself. I start advertising - and they sit there.

But the intro thing... yeah, that burns. =\

Something which I find more annoying that no one responding is after spending so much time and effort on a post which is a good four paragraphs long, is for someone to reply with a two liner. Drives me insane.

People can say what they want about minimum word counts, but that's exactly why I find them a necessary evil.

But I agree on taking the time to not only write something you put much soul into, but also think it through, only to not have someone respond because they took off without a word x__X Happened to me couple of times, so frustrating.

One thing I don't like is when you spend a lot of time on a post and you really work on it, and then, in ten minutes, you get a reply and there was clearly no effort put in on the other side. You get this really crappy, short post that barely hits whatever minimum may exist and you can't do a single thing with it.

Another thing I don't like is when you put up an Rp request, you get a reply, and in four posts it's over because the person didn't read your character description and didn't realize that your character wouldn't agree to their obviously stupid idea (and yes, it was stupid).

Ugh... So frustrating.

If someone's a crappy writer (which - obviously - they must be, to write a one-liner [/sarcasm]) I'd rather get one or two lines from them than four terrible paragraphs they forced out because they had to.

Don't do it! Don't put your heart and soul into it. Why bother, when you're here for fun? And try to make acquaintances and RP-buddies before you post, or post in the cbox with a link to your post saying 'hey, I've an awesome post here, anyone up for it?'.

Random topics can sometimes be hard to reply to, especially when they are in isolated area's, in a situation that limits what characters can join etc. We try to pair people up, so then there is always at least one person who can reply to you. As a staff we have area's of expertise, races and regions, so if someone makes an RP with that race, in that region and if they don't get a reply right away then we'll NPC for them or create a minor character to kick things off. Sometimes patience is a plus in these situations though, as after a few days someone might reply and then it becomes a huge plot or RP.

Emma, you totally rock, you know that?

Anyway, my worst feeling is when I write something pretty cool and then it gets overlooked or snobbily turned down because it's not "mature" enough or "advanced" enough.

Or when my characters are made fun of. I'd rather have me made fun of than my characters. I'm just that special, I know. :p

I agree with what you all said. Hate those things, but I'd rather it be ignored than have some shoddy reply where the other player has clearly not put any effort into what they are writing... I'm not the greatest speller in the world so even if I'm not feeling really creative and not overly happy with something I have done, I'll still run it through a spell checker or word just to make sure someone else doesn't have to try and guess what I am writing. And then to get a reply like.

An dhe was lyk satting on a chair bya widow.

^That isn't English and I hate having to ask the person to speak in a language I understand.

((If anyone wanted to know but couldn't read it, you probably could, it isn't hard but still annoying...
And he was like sitting on a chair by a window.
That doesn't even make sense I know... I gave up after that.))

But I think the worse thing for me is when the other person doesn't give a damn about role playing, they just want to hook up their characters with my character that isn't interested in them, then getting really stressed and bashing me at every chance they get because I wouldn't 'date' them... Seriously, this happened... On a HP site no less, she was annoyed I wouldn't let my James Potter fall in love with her freakish, non English ((Gobble-de-gook)) speaking character with a ridiculously Mary Sue name.


Or else when the person you are role playing god-mods, and copies stuff you have said, making their character look like a mind reader so that they can manipulate your character and back your creative writing into a corner...

Good thread, thanks for starting it.

I absolutely despise people who spew my own post back at me and don't bother to try and add anything to the situation. It leaves you floundering and basically posting with yourself with no interaction with the other character.

Have to agree with Deputy there. I hate when you post something and your ready for their cahracter to respond and the rper just totally ignores it. After that I'm ready to just say *#&^ it and leave the topic on it's own.

Or how about when the person your rping with just up and leaves and you don't hear anything from that person ever again. Or if your in the middle of a REALLY good sub-plot and the main person just gets frustrated and drops it.

I just want to throw daggers at them. :angry:

Oh I hate that! It makes me just want to quit. And so I'll go away for like, a day or two, and then I'm back on haha. I also hate it when that happens to a forum. Like mine right now, not many people are joining and I just want to shoot something. I worked hard and got all excited. Hehe.

Oh I have to agree about the premade characters thing. I hate it when the important characters get left in the dust for originals. The premades are there for a reason. They. are. important. I mean I love originals as much as the next person; they're great. I just wish people could understand that plot sort of comes before originals.

Being told I have to play a premade character or a cannon when I've taken the time to write my own character takes the number one of 'sinkage' feeling...

The second comes when I join a board - have a lot of fun - and then the board closses or people just loose interest in my posting until its a ghost board V_V

I'm curious as to why.

I had that the other day. I had a character leaving a building after one thread and going out into the the street, where any character nearby could meet up and interact with him. A couple of days later, someone did finally post something, and it spawned three threads and some fantastic RP stuff I could never have planned. But if that thread had sat there for much longer, I'd have started to wonder what I'd done wrong.

Basically, my biggest irritations have already been mentioned. I hate when I put a ton of effort into a post, or even a few, and either no one responds initially or someone just abandons the thread. Even if there is a reply, I just hate it when it isn't even close to the product of a thoughtful writer.

I understand that people have various levels of writing ability and time frames in which they can post, but I don't want to be the only one putting in a bit of effort. Do I always post masterpieces? No, but I certainly try to match what is being offered to me. If someone wants to write two nearly useless paragraphs in every post, they'll get about four decent paragraphs from me (as that's as low as I can generally go without purposely dumbing myself down). If someone is generous enough to give me 800 words of lovely literature, I'll do my best to offer something of equal quality in return. This isn't to be mean (on the lower quality end). I just don't want to waste time or make life difficult for people that aren't experienced.

This is why I don't usually start random, open threads. Plotting is almost an essential for me these days, and I often go so far as to predetermine major events over a long period of time and the ultimate outcome. I just feel more comfortable knowing that everyone's on the same page going into a thread, and I can generally get a sense of whether or not they're committed to the plot before we begin. Also, I obviously wouldn't desparately seek plots with people who do not share a similar level of writing (although I try to make myself available to as many new members of my site as possible).

I hate when you're in a thread with someone, and it's going great
and someone new pops in all HEY CAN I JOIN?

Well, of course you allow them to, but they decide to leave you with one dry paragraph to which there is no possible retort, and managed to kill an otherwise enjoyable thread with their character's lack of personality.

I hate when people turn thier backs on you, because they don't like your board anymore, yes its sad that this has happened to a friend of mine and myself when we used to admin a Comic Based board.

Agreed on most points, but for me the worse feeling comes from my character's own emotions negatively affecting my own.

I know you're not supposed to take it personally, but if someone else's character is tearing mine to ribbons (verbally, I mean) then I feel just as my character would. Some of my characters can hack it, others couldn't give a crap, but some are REALLY sensitive and then I cry and it's pathetic. T_T I bond with my characters through RP and their hurt usually equals mine.

This only really applies to my characters who lack a thick skin... >_<

Pouring your heart out on a post only to have it unanswered is bad; pouring your heart out on a post only to have it (forgive the term) shat on by a two liner is awful. But it drives me completely insane when I write a post -- doesn't even have to be a soul spilling one -- and have it replied by a folk who didn't care to read what I posted. At all. Like, changing my character's name and everything; or totally overlooking the post's tone and clearly going straight to the dialogs.

Ooooo, or! Leaving you with the feeling they've read just the last paragraph... so the character may have said "I killed your father, slept with your mother and will rob all the money you have you sob!" on the first paragraph, and on the last they mentioned how much they love bananas. Guess what the reply will be? "Oh my gosh! I love bananas too!" Yes, that was a bit dramatic, but the point remains. Whatever the point was.

Also, it really annoys me when I'm lucky enough to fall on an attention whore character's hands. That's just sad, man. Whatever the freaking word you write is going to be twisted on the following post, just so the other character runs away with the spotlight you didn't even want or try to create to begin with. The logical solution would be run away from those types, but sometimes... you can't. They always find you.

And, yeah. o.O

i love you <3

im going to trace every site you roleplay in the future and become said attention whore

Please say that wasn't directed at me... if it was, thank you for the 'I love you' (I love you too) but seriously, no stalkers allowed :lol:

I don't understand length limits. Just because one person can write four paragraphs in one post, doesn't mean that there's four paragraphs worth of stuff to reply with...and I've always been taught that you should try and be concise while writing.

The thing that annoys me is when stuff happens while I'm away. We can hit a very fast pace if enough people are online at a same time (we've hit 100+ posts a day a couple times recently, wrapped up an entire episode of a game in a month...that's insanely fast), and it drives me nuts getting home from work to see that I've missed five pages of RPing.

I agree with the hatred of the one liner replies and the posts that give you absolutely nothing to work with -- five paragraphs isn't so impressive when most of it is describing how perfect the character is, and a brief acknowledgment of your character is squeezed into the last few sentences.

It also really bothers me when you put 'all welcome' or something to that effect in the title/ intro post and someone still pops in with a 'mind if I join?' and doesn't post until you waste space with a 'Yea, sure.' Though I suppose that's more of an OOC issue than an actual RP one.

AND it irks me when people agree to RP with you, but they're clearly only interested in being in a relationship (whether it be a one night stand or whatever) with your character.

I have to admit that I kind of don’t understand the whole, I posted a great thread starter and then no one ever joined it – probably because I’ve never really RP’d in such an open manner like that. I almost always contact players ahead of time to arrange scenes, and if I start one that’s totally open and not preplanned with any player, that ‘anyone’ can join, I already have a goal for my character(s) in that scene. So, if no one jumps in, I’m still fine. I still have something I want to do. I’ll also, as someone else said, make a post in the scenes area to let people know I’ve started a scene anyone is welcome to join. Since all the games I’ve been in have been on the smaller side, preplanning has been the norm, and generally necessary. I’m not trying to discount anyone’s feelings here because of course it’s annoying and frustrating when no one replies to a thread but … why not just draw attention to it with a general post or ask specific players to join in?

In addition to some of the things already mentioned …

My biggest peeve is mods/admins that seem far less interested in the game than the players are, or who disappear for weeks without reason or who are on the board regularly but never post their characters, even when they’re holding a scene up. I think that it’s death for a smaller game, and for any game, if the mods don’t care, why should I?

My next is mods that over-plan to the point where there isn’t really any point to RP’ing out a scene because they have so many specific reactions they’ve pre-decided for each character. “The Brotherhood attacks this group, so and so does this, then this happens and so and so does that, this person gets hurts, then this happens and in the end, this entire group of people loses.” Where’s the fun in that? Mods that plan to this extent are simply having other people write their fan fiction. When I do larger or board wide plotting, I prefer to tell my players something like – for this plot, we need Mr. So and So to be kidnapped, would you guys like to do it? Awesome. Here’s an idea of who he is and where he’ll be. You have to bring him back alive. Anything else is up to you – and then let them have at it.

Conversely, I also hate when there is no plotting made by admins whatsoever. Boards have to have something to hold themselves and all the players together. There has to be a happy medium between structure and freedom. Personally, I never have difficulties coming up with things for my peeps to do. But yes, as a matter of fact, I do want it all.

My next is people that overextend themselves by committing to too many threads. They wind up keeping you waiting for weeks because they have a dozen or more scenes, and very often, they just run out of time before a game day rolls over, or they cut a thread short with you that was rather important for character development and you’re just SOL. Don’t get me all excited about a scene and then expect me to be okay with dropping it because you couldn’t say no to everyone on the board.

Players that hold up large group threads. They really want to be part of the thread, and might even start out like gangbusters, but then just … wander off. Ooooo…shiny. It’s not fair to the other players in the scene. Don’t complain if we had to NPC your ass just to get your guy out of the action when you were gone for umpteen days or weeks.

And finally, threads that never resolve to a conclusion of any kind. Stories have a beginning, a middle and an end, and each thread is a short story. It’s like the erectile dysfunction of RP. Things just go flaccid and you’re left wanting more. Meh.

good lord I think I have found it. The mind reading, mentioned earlier. Big turn off. Example? We shall call this person Sue, mine shall be Bob. ... Bob had hurt himself immensley, Sue wanders over happily. Bob and Sue discuss topics such as beauty, sports and the injuries. Bob "thinks to himself" he should lie about how he recieved said injuries. Sue suddenly tells Bob he should tell the truth about received injuries and not make up some lame excuse.

Result?

Bob gets scared and runs away from Sue. The sad thing was, Sue literally admitted she "could read minds." Gargh.

Thats only one example, as I'm sure we all have them. Although the one liners? Yeah, they suck. You're post getting shat on? They suck too. Being guilty of one liners and shatting on posts in the past, myself? Priceless.

I had just that happen to me once - I came back from an eight hour shift at work to find literally five pages of posts in one thread, and most of the players were still online posting, so it was growing londer as i watched... o_O

That was in an IC OOC forum, but it was pretty weird to see. Fun though!

Kiki101

I found that this is one reason why so many people do not like jumping into the first post a newbie makes. They're not sure if they will stick around long enough to make it through the whole thing. Another thing has a lot to do with spelling, grammer, and puncuation. I know I get aggravatd when I have to read the same sentence over a dozen times because someone didn't put commas or periods. I also get agitated with run on sentences and repetitive ones as well. When they repeat the same line or situation more than once. I'm not saying I am in no way perfect, but some people just don't care enough to type or write the right way. They rush through things and don't bother to proof read before they make their final decision and half of it doesn't even make sense.My point is,.. it has a lot to do with the whole newbie situation and the way they write. If its ledgible, understandable, and interesting. If it's not, why would you jump into it ?


And I hate one liners as well. It's hard to work off of those posts and you find yourself in a neverending battle trying to figure out stuff to right the more it happens. To make a comment on the whole issue of throwing yourself into a post, It can take me anywhere from 15 minutes to an hour to write out a good post, only because I have a vivid imagination. While I read the other persons post, my brain is already creating ideas. It doesn't take long to do a good post, so long as it is a good one.

It makes my heart sink all the way to my feet (okay, so maybe I'm being just a wee bit dramatic) when someone replies to a post I set up for them without actually making any progress in their reply. Like, maybe they answer one question my character asked or ask one question to my character, but almost the entire rest of the post is thoughts... and the post is 800+ words....

Um, my characters are not psychic. In fact, one of my characters who this continually happens to is -oblivioius- unless things are directly spoken to him, so when he's in posts with people who say all of two words but are thinking tons of stuff they expect him to somehow understand I get so frustrated. If they don't mind him standing around awkwardly, then fine, they can spend the whole post in thought, but if they want him to pick up on their inner feelings, then theya re out of luck. The, on top of that, to have players get annoyed at me for that is just like... gah.

Not that characters shouldn't think at all during posts, just give your partner something to work off of, you know? Unless they are a mind reader in which case, well, there you go.

The worst feeling is just when I get to thinking that I'm boring people. I tend to feel that way when I get a reply that has no effort in it after really trying to write something great for someone else. Another situation that makes me feel this way is when I get into a thread with someone and then they just disappear on me.

It all goes back to my belief that roleplaying should be fun and inspiring. If I'm not contributing to that, then I don't feel so lovely about my writing.