Just a quick and small rant, I guess.

291 views
Created

I just wanted to get it off my own chest about how people are constantly ragging on the way RPR is lately. I've been rping for a very long time. In a few years, it'll have been 20 years since I started roleplaying. I did not start here on RPR and, on top of that, I have gone through many platforms, which means having to alter how I roleplay and the format of roleplays. When I first got to RPR, I loved it specifically because I could see as well as create my own roleplay and create/participate in a world without it being too difficult to understand the rules and makeup and so on. It took some learning, of course, but I eventually got the hang of descriptions and all which had to be formatted differently here compared to other platforms/sites that I've used.

Over the years, a lot of those that I used to rp with have had to go for one reason or another because reality just did its thing. Whether it be family life or school life or so on, something got in the way. Some of them I think just outgrew it. Those that I've seen still around do still hold that strong storyteller urge deep within them but, much like them, I've grown weary of trying to keep up with rps that more so drain than help fuel my creativity. The abundance of matchmaking rps and things of that nature didn't seem to help. When I started roleplaying back in my young teen years, we roleplayed OCs all the time. It wasn't until around college that I discovered different muses and such, sort of like an actor filling a role is how I see it. My thing is that in watching this site, I've seen the storytelling decrease and the need to just write overwhelm everything else. People just wanting to rp hard, fast and aggressive as long as they can get it out of their system. Don't get me wrong. I enjoy grown and y rps. The ability to just be more adult with more mature themes and all BUT the emphasis on story has faded.

Something else that I don't think has helped is the incredible need and desire I've seen so many people have for things to just be active. I understand that an active rp can make it more fun but there really should be an emphasis more on quality than quantity and I say that to mean that there should be more weight on what is being written rather than how often. Always trying to fit an activity schedule is like trying to fit a deadline. People think it's easy, I guess, but I just can't. Activity should be more on just interacting with others than whether or not you've just posted something to say "I'm here." 

I have to leave work now so I'm dipping out for now but I just kind of wanted to get that off my chest.

Take care, loves.

Comments

You must be logged in to comment.

0e3f97d30391478699bf 2 years ago
I mentioned this on my blog and just saw your reply back to my comment so I figured I would just reply and type my thoughts here? It might be long sorry ;; You're absolutely correct about everything you've said, as another user who has been rping for the majority of my life, even when I probably shouldn't have been I've gone between a lot of platforms and had similar experiences to yours. I mean, I started on myspace and now I'm here lol

RPR was amazing when I first discovered it. Name me another website where we can have multiple characters and profiles as easily as we can here? We can create an rp for any mood within minutes?? It's insane. We don't have to fuss over adding accounts or having a main admin account and we can get to rping quicker??? A lot of the features we have now are incredible, thinking back on the multiple accounts and logins you'd have to do just to sign into different characters. A lot of people say that the early time on rpr gets romanticised but in all honesty? It's because people were simply better at taking of themselves. We all had dumb goofy nicknames, it was like a bunch of theatre kids making up ridiculous stories and trying to have fun, you know? But nowadays there's this emphasis placed on being real, on ooc relationships, and on making genuine friends rather than just making friends along the way - all the while maintaining a sense of being perfect, following the rules down to the letter and "proving" you're a good person. People vent about their irl issues through their characters, but instead of using these feelings as a means of creative expression they use it to get any sort of attention in a chat because it's what they're lacking in their real lives. I get that feeling of being powerless and wanting a place to be yourself but honey, a website of make believe isn't it. The most we used to do was say when we just got up or when we were eating, but now people just share their entire life stories in character and it's like... what happened to creative expression?

I've been thinking about this a lot because I'm pretty scared to express myself creatively and I've realised rather than feeling like rpr is "dead" (which I'll go into more later) it was more about me having trust issues. Say for example doing an angst plot because it's like watching a sad movie. Sometimes it's fun to drag our characters to hell and make the impossible seem possible but it's like, writing a pinch of angst in public and your pms get bombarded with "Are you okay?" or "What's wrong?" when it's not /me/ I'm having fun over here. But then I feel bad for worrying people or have people analyse my writing as if it's a reflection of who I am as a person. It's why a lot of users shy away from writing horror too because the relationships between themselves and their fc is parasitic they can't stand the thought of hurting them, of getting hurt, or are unable to trust another user into not maiming their character lol

I really do miss the times where ocs were more popular and some of us (coughs me) just used to use the same person and it was never an issue, it was like picking on your favourite actor lol sometimes it just used to be one photo of a random model from google who had a y face and evoked a mood lol but nowadays you have to know your fcs every move and fart before you can apply with them. Trying to find info on some idols who are either 1) mysterious in their idol image, 2) hermits that fiercely defend their privacy or 3) older groups that lied on their profiles, it's sorta like you get indirectly punished for that when the less I know about someone the better tbh. It's wild too when you use the same fc and people accuse you of having the same character like, as if by joining another rp with the same fc I'm cheating on someone else from another rp. It's so weird to me.

I think a lot of these issues and stuff you've mentioned boils down to people putting a need to feel secure above everything else because even when you have an rp relationship you both go inactive because it's ing boring let's be honest. If you're not having babies the next day no one cares, then people just sit around and talk about their rp babies all day and their character becomes that. No one does cheating plots anymore because that's "wrong" and the characters who do cheat do the shadiest in pms rather than plot things out consensually between all the parties involved. Even if you try and spice the plot up it's too late the muse is all gone because the muse was just in the chase and now the chase is over it's onto the next chase. I'm sick of it, like couples need obstacles it's real life. Make the gay couples fight to adopt, make the mpregs fail sometimes, make the couple have a misunderstanding and argue. The problem is when we used to say rping was our comfort space people took it literally and thought it meant a bubble. You can still be comfortable writing a difficult topic, but since no one has the time to build the tension the reward is less satisfying. I guess it's a mirror of dating apps and the fast pace of social media nowadays.

What really bothers me about the concept of rpr being "dead" is by now most of the users on this site are reoccurring, there were etiquette rules put in place like having one account and being honest about it but no one does it and no one is willing to be honest about it because it was some mutually agreed upon thing but other etiquette things have died out? Why not just admit it. Everyone is too busy trying to pass off some charade that they're polite and have etiquette but really they're out here doing the most. If people just took a minute to think about what they're doing and what they wanted idk maybe this site would be less toxic. The problem I find is everyone is aware of the issues and does nothing to help it. It's just, oh rpr is like this, damn you rpr - rather than specifically blaming bad habits we've all grown into. We all have lazy days where we want to rp in the ic room but at what point do we hold ourselves accountable and say, hey maybe I'll go develop a plot instead today. What you mentioned about this emphasis being placed on activity levels is why I feel like sometimes I need to post in the ic room (or I guess you could call it the instant attention rooms like ic, spam, instagram etc) to show I'm doing something because if I'm plotting something complicated in pms and don't post in the rp I go inactive and it looks like I'm not doing anything. I think that's why not many people bother to sit down and actually make a decent profile anymore because people don't take/have the time to sit and read through another's profile anymore. I still run into people being shocked that I read their profile and it's like whoops was I not supposed to?

Users complain that there are no aus, no exciting themes, but will refuse to join a place because there's someone they don't like in it, we've all done it lol because the drama is so prevalent you know that s going to go into ooc immediately and your character is going to get iced in the main chat because people hate you. It's like why do I even bother anymore. I used to be able to disagree or dislike people without it affecting my character and still write with them, it's just a factor of life. You're not going to get along with everyone and you shouldn't either, it would be weird. But instead of recognising that and being polite/mature about it people have to make it a huge ordeal with callout posts and in directly venting in character and man I have a headache just thinking about it.

anyway now it's my turn to apologise for the long rant, whoops. orz
megaverse 2 years ago
❤️
-Faeya 2 years ago
UrdxBelldandy 2 years ago
justanothername00 3 minutes ago Reply
Rpr era 2015 to 2018
Glorious years

x3
ashflower 2 years ago
justanothername00 3 minutes ago Reply
Rpr era 2015 to 2018
Glorious years

x2
schnuggldiwuppdich 2 years ago
smoochies ♡
justanothername00 2 years ago
Rpr era 2015 to 2018
Glorious years
377b53a0b23901e3572f 2 years ago
quality >>>> quantity
Log in to view all comments and replies