So yeah, this could be considered by some as a rant, but I consider it as a question to fellow roleplayers as to whether they've had such ordeals in the past.

What I mean by roleplay pairings is someone that seems to want to be on at least one forum with you, because they love to roleplay with you. This can always have it's downsides, of course; eg. them claiming your characters as best friends and final relationships and having their babies and being buried side-by-side and sharing a cell in jail should they ever have to go. But yeah, maybe not all of those. But they take up the places that you like to have a little variation every once in a while, whereas they have the same roleplaying style, so really you're only replaying what you've gone through before.

But there would also be upsides: knowing that you have the reliability of a good friend that you can rely on for a post because you know how often they'll be online. You know what kind of posts lengths you'll be having to work with, and won't feel bad if yours are too short or too long compared to others peoples, because you know that one of you will try and keep up with the other. You know that between the pair of you, you always seem to come up with amazing plot ideas, even if you never work them all the way through. You can always bug them to post and they will, just because you're bored.

So far I've been roleplaying with the second half to my pair for just over a year, I'd say. I can't exactly remember when, but I can remember the first thread we had, which is pretty sad. xD And since then we seemed to be on the same forums, and our characters were always plotting together, because we'd force them to no matter what their personalities. And it's always fun, so long as she has muse. Because she can be known to run out of muse frequently. But when she does have muse then she can make amazing posts.

So basically, all this way just to ask: do you think people who always want to roleplay with you are welcome or a burden to your roleplaying life?

I think they very easily can be both. On the good side: role-playing is about having fun, and you're guaranteed a thread or plot or whatever that you can have fun with. On the bad side, though, you're not stretching your boundaries by writing with people you don't know, and people like this tend to take it very hard (or not at all) when you'd rather not make your characters be attached at the hip, again. It can be a very stifling environment.

What I tend to do is make a plot that's flexible; that way I can still roleplay with my friend, but I can still make way for other people to take part, and new people can come along that I've not roleplayed with before. [=

Er... I think I sort of forced my character onto someone else's (with whom I got along) and in the end it yielded a good plot when she left him. I also always wanted my char to the best friend of another (and I got along very well with the player) but in the end, it just wasn't like that. Even thought there were more than enough reasons for them to be friends, in the many threads they've been together in, I don't think they've ever been really close. They're not hostile or anything, but they're just friendly, not friends.

Ironically, I have not RPed much with the player whose characters my character is best friends with. Although we get along well, and we do have tthreads planned! But I personally think that just RPing friendships and loveships is boring. I never just say 'let's have them talk', theyre's always something special or important to do.

That said, RPing with people you know is always good, although you shouldn't bend your character's persona in order to do it. RPing with new people is also a lot of fun! Variety is key!

I don't have any person that I role play with all the time. I tend to drift between people and always make sure that no one is left out (I'm nice like that). There are people who I post with more often than others and we tend to influence each other and try and match out posts to each others.

Having a friends to roleplay with can be awesome, but RP'ing with just one person can get rather dull, so I prefer to spread the love as much as possible. Of course, I'll still RP with my friends, but I'll also do open threads for anyone to reply to, and I'm always up for anything concerning plottage, as long as it's not wildly uncharacteristic for my characters.

Hm honestly it is somewhat annoying when it's always the same person. It makes everything too predictable, although it does come in handy when you have someone to fall back on if you're lacking someone to rp with.

I have a small group of people I like to rp with, because they're good players. When we find good games, we tend to invite each other to join, but we don't play exclusively with each other. And I don't recall any of us ever 'shipping, at least in the romantic/sexual sense. Though we'll often be friends/allies, that isn't always the case, either. In the one game I'm currently on, my character hasn't met any of the other people's characters yet -- and is actually their enemy.

I think, as long as you don't confine yourself to one little clique, there's nothing wrong with rp pairing. It also helps ease new people into a game if they know somebody already there, IMNSHO.

I have one person that I seem to end up RPing with a lot, but not because either of us force it, it just turns out that way. Though that's not to say neither of us will play ith anyone else; we've both started and joined threads specifically to play with others. I think it's partly because StC is so small at the moment and it's the way we're getting action, and making the place more active.

Though I don't think either of us would follow the other to another site just because we know each other, and know how the other person writes.

I've experienced that several times, especially on a particular RPG, I have a good friend on there and for a long time he was the only person I rped with at all and after awhile I started to get bored with him, his characters, plots ect. all seem so bland and repetitive, so when he asked me to RP I usually turn him down, it's not that I want to hurt his feelings but I just got worn out rping with him.

There's only so much you can do with one character.

Hmn. I'll get back to you when I get bored.

I'm self-entertaining. ^^; It's my job to entertain me.

That aside! I spent a lot of time writing with only one person at a time before I got into forums. It's a habit of thought and action. Having people who challenge your ability as a writer is a refreshing, satisfying experience. Not many people do it for me. I stick to them when I find them and hope they tolerate my presence.

Usually a burden. I have one girl in mind who used to always want to be my characters' love interest (if they were males). ALWAYS. She made interesting characters but I hate the way she roleplays; basically, she writes like 8 paragraphs responding to my character, and then her last sentence will be original, additional action. I don't know how to explain it, but basically her posts are 99% nothing and 1% interesting. So I'm carrying every single thread, which gets annoying because she always complains if I don't write as much as her. So, eventually I just stopped telling her about my new characters or told her that I didn't want them to have relationships before playing them. We're not really friends anymore so luckily she's not a problem. :p

Usually, I'll plan with another player that our characters should be love interests, but then I feel caged in soon after because the fun of finding someone "naturally" is gone. And then, if they disappear, you can't find someone else for your character because they might come back and complain that you weren't giving them enough time (which has happened to me before).

If they just wanted to plan to be friends or enemies, that would be different. But having pre-planned love interests is a burden for the most part. =/

I like having a friend to "fall back on" a whole lot. I feel, when you're close with someone, you can make up some AMAZING plots, and get very complex, without worry that that person is going to make a plot with you that you've fallen in love with and then... end up with one of those "where'd they run away to?!" scenarios. I hate those.

I also love creating characters with someone else (as Carbohydrated can tell you, for instance), and working the characters into the others history in interesting ways. It just adds new dimension and believability, and opens all kinds of doors for interesting stuff.

On the other hand, I know I also tend to... get very caught up in playing with just one person and, because I have zero restraint, I tend to end up in like five threads with one person, leaving me no energy to be in threads with someone else at the same time. :sweat:

Well,one person just loves to be my characters girlfriend,or flirt,or w/e....though i cant say that shes ever said anything about having a babie! LMAO! but yeah,i guess it is always a good/bad situation.Shes a really good writer and RPer,but like you said,sometitmes i want those spots for otehr people,and otehr ossibilitys.