Rules of Tumblr RP:
- NEVER EVER SLEEP. YOU MISS THINGS. LIKE DRAMA.
- Don’t go to cons. You miss EVERYTHING during the time you’re pretending to be the character you RP
- Just sit on the computer and RP. Nothing else is important.
- You must laugh maniacally when you realize you are keeping your RP partners from replying because you’re too busy talking with them on skype.
- Ship multiple ships? AUs are the way to go!
- You don’t have ships anymore, you have an armada. Your OTP is the captain of your fleet.
Open Rp...my problem: Jo-Jo
Joseph sat on the green seat, the seat warming up underneath him. All the seats were scattered everywhere, no proper roll call.
“oh god why?” he sighed looking on to the white walls. The door outside said nothing, but it was actually a therapy session where all the people could just randomly talk and work each other’s problems out.
Okay I want to start out simple here guys, I’m pretty upset. Today alone I think I saw 5 different roleplayers go on hiatus. Normally I wouldn’t say much but each one specified that they were going on hiatus because of conflicts with others. Now I’m not known for my way with words. Yes I can write a decent amount, but I’m not the most eloquent so please do bear with me as I make my point. It makes me sad to see that this happening, it really does.
Now we all roleplay for our own reasons. Whether it be to better our writing skills, pay homage to a favorite literary character, or simply to get away from the life we are stuck with. For me the reason is all 3. I’m not going to get into it but things aren’t the best for me at home. Now I know many people can say that, and for a lot of people things are much worse, but this is my escape. And it pains me to see people giving up on something they love because they want to get away from conflict. So I think the best place to start this will be here….
I really do. Now that gif was mainly to lighten the mood before I start getting to the heavy stuff. As most of you know, my friend Mike, who would be right about here, is a great guy. He and I got to talking a few nights ago because I was feeling insecure. In response to something he had said, I responded the following:
I feel rping allows us to connect with someone on a deeper level than most friendships. Because we get to see a persons true self, who they want to be and who they can be. We can see the person they truly are without anything in the way to skew our own opinions and form bias. It’s something truly intimate that most people don’t experience with someone they aren’t romantically linked with. But that’s just my feeling.
Now really, you might think, what does that have to do with where I am going. I don’t quite know yet as I write this, but please again, bear with me here. Now the biggest part of roleplaying is taking a character and making a presentable replication of said character. Now some enjoy being more canon than others, which I don’t have a problem with as long as they specify. But what I think it boils down to is this, some people enjoy being more canon than others, whether or not they are is none of your business. It makes me physically sick seeing people being attacked because they are getting in the way of something an anon wants. If you really have a problem with that, unfollow and find someone else.
Going back to what I said, roleplaying is something truly intimate, because you see the person as they truly are. Yes we are canon or not, but every character contains a part of us that we want to express. Most of the time this is a part of us that we can’t express in real life. Whether it’s a poetic side, or a romantic side, or gay, bisexual, pansexual, asexual, etcetera. Now I’m going to come right out with it, I am a closeted homosexual male. Does it matter? No. Should it matter? No. But to some it does. I like to believe that I built my character in such a way that his feelings for his friend are in fact believable. He isn’t really one of those characters that are suddenly just, “Oh, I’m inexplicably gay.” He was lost and looking for companionship and found it in his best friend. If you think I didn’t do a good job, please, my askbox is open for suggestions. Before I get off topic too much I’ll make my point. If a character bothers you so much, don’t interact with them. There are almost always multiples of them out there, just go find them.
The attacking characters for deciding to stay canon or not needs to stop. I’m putting my foot down and saying enough is enough. Does it really have to get so bad for them that they have to turn off anon or go on hiatus? No, it doesn’t. But there are those of you out there that are determined to turn their paradise into hell. So please, next time you decide to go to their ask box, do this instead:
Back to my main argument, in character things coming out of character. It really upsets me to know that because of things that a character does, it causes people to fight out of character. Now I’m not calling anyone out here but I’ve seen about 4 separate instances on my dash in the past 5 days or so. Guys please, please please please, people are there to talk to. If something is happening you don’t like, go and talk to them. Take a minute to pause whatever plot you are in and just send them a message. Whether it be on skype, a messenger service or what have you. Just say ‘Hey, can we talk about where this is going? I’m not sure I like it very much.’
Now sure, everyone is following their character to the best of their abilities. Yes it is their own interpretation, but they still will follow their character. Something that happens in character does not necessarily mean that it’s how the roleplayer feels. Sure, Batman and Flash may get in a fight, but do you think I’m mad at Lex? No, of course not, she’s the Max to my Penny. (Happy Endings reference folks sorry)
Now you might read that and think, okay, but if their character is already acting that way, how anything I say change the outcome of this plot we are working on. It’s really quite simple, allow me to demonstrate. Say the Flash is chasing after Lex Luthor, and after a bit of fighting he has the ability to deliver the finishing blow. But hey look at that, a little message just popped up in my askbox and they don’t want to end the fight with Lex getting hurt. Alright awesome. Continuing the thread Flash is about to knock him out and boom, one of Luthor’s goons wasn’t actually unconscious and he just started firing at him. Flash goes to take out the gunman and Luthor escapes.
It’s easy folks, there is always a way around a specific outcome. You can still be in character and at the same time respect the wishes of your fellow roleplayer. That’s what it really comes down to right? Respect. Each of us roleplay the characters we do for specific reasons. For me Barry Allen is my baby. When I see him attacked in the tags I most often defend him. We would all do that for our character right? Why? Not only are we partial to them, but there is a bit of ourselves in them.
So yes, we can be canon or not. We can allow our personality to come into our characters partially or fully or not at all. We can all get a little defensive. But when it boils down to it, it’s for fun guys. Please try and remember that. Sure some of us take it more seriously than others, but we’re here for a reason. Everyone has their own reason for roleplaying, so can we please not let trivial manners get to us and just enjoy it?
Afterthought: But please, do try and keep in mind what I have said. And If my post is too long refer to this in the future.
- Step 1: One-line a gif chat with someone
- Step 2: Feel slightly concerned that it's hit 150 words per reply
- Step 3: Scream and tear out your hair because this isn't even your ship and it's 1K rounds and everyone is crying and you're swearing at each other in the tags and you're about to get fired from work and you have perfectly matching headcanon and they pick up every one of your tiny fucking hints OH GOD what is life
Hey RP people who are freaked about the update
castiellery.tumblr.comHere’s a fantastic tutorial by castiellery about how to deal with this fuckery for now!
PSA for RPers
Lately there has been a surplus of “irks” from people that I would like to address. I’m not targeting anyone because these problems are everywhere.. But they are showing up on my dash every other day in RPs
- Reblogging threads tagged for other people and making your own commentary is generally rude. That post was meant for the person it is tagged for that person and that person only. If you want me to do a starter for you, by all means, shoot me an ask. Just please don’t just take over someone else’s starter because you want one.
- Inserting yourself into already ongoing threads without asking is interrupting a conversation That thread is between those two characters and unless you ask both muns if it is okay for your character to jump in in the middle of it it’s not really okay. It’s courtesy to let people have their own threads. If you want to comment on it, you can do it in another post or send an ask to the character you want to talk to. But please don’t jump in the middle of a thread that has nothing to do with your character just because you want to talk to them. And if two characters are getting introduced, or discussing matters your character really has no part in, you have no reason to be in that thread. It’s courteous to both if you please just don’t interrupt ongoing threads.
- Please don’t think that because your character knew a version of another persons in their universe, that the other person’s muse will know yours. Please don’t push your headcanon relationships on other people and assume they’ll go with it. This goes for all kinds of relationships not just romance. If they go along with it, that’s fine. But please don’t get overly offended when people don’t go along with it because you either didn’t discuss it with them first, or their character isn’t the one yours is friend with.
- On that note, if your character is friends with one character, don’t assume another person playing that character will play theirs the same way. Or that their version of the character will even like you. People play characters differently. And if you interact with a person playing the same character you play, dont expect the muses to get along because they share similar DNA. People are their own worst enemies after all. The differences between the way you play your characters, and the differences in universes may make it so your characters are too different to get along. So please don’t just going into RP assuming you’ll have friendships with everyone. Relationships don’t happen, they develop. And that relationship could be good or bad depending on how it’s handled.
- If your character is from another time period than the one you want to talk to, please don’t just randomly go “Oh wow I’m in the future” and expect them to go along with it. It works in some cases but sometimes it is best if there is an actual reason for how your character got to this location. Either that, or simply ignore the time problem because a character randomly achieving time travel isn’t really likely.
- PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE acknowledge when your character is being an asshat. I do not mean if you play a villain constantly point that out. Of course if you play a bad guy they are going to do bad things. But if your character does something horrible or offensive, don’t defend it like they did nothing wrong. Your character isn’t exempt to bad behavior just because it’s RP. Don’t just expect it to be ignored… And on that note:
- If your character kills someone, hurts someone, or even insults someone, don’t expect others to act like it never happened either. If a character is hurt by yours in any way, don’t expect them to take it well. If yours insults them harshly for any reason at all, especially a really bad reason, they are going to be offended. If it’s IC for them to be angry, they are going to be angry. Don’t act surprised when it happens. And because your character says “sorry” doesn’t mean they will stop being angry. An apology is acknowledgement of a bad deed. It doesn’t fix it. In character actions have in character consequences. So if your character does something to push another muse away from them they are going to be pushed away. They won’t always just go “it’s okay” and go back to being buds like nothing happened
- Also please don’t assume that other people’s characters will always continue to talk to yours just because you follow them or talked to them once. If it is no longer IC for them to talk to you, they won’t. If, like the above, something happens where my muse has grown to hate another person’s for some reason, they will not want to talk to them any more. And they won’t. Don’t assume that it’s an OOC thing. If it’s IC for my character to ignore someone or never talk to them again, that is what I’m going to do. I would not be portraying my character the way I feel is proper if I just made him forgive every little thing and never remember when bad things happen. It’s not likely anything the mun has against you.
- Don’t assume your muse can know what goes on in other people’s threads. Just because you the mun are reading the threads, doesn’t mean your character knows what is happening in the private lives of other people’s muses. Other muns shouldn’t have to watch their words in a private convo between muses because they’re afraid you’ll godmod and know their plans before they even tell you about them. Please don’t treat tumblr RP like it’s the characters actually scrolling through tumblr. There are special memes like the arrows that are silly and fun to play with, but generally those aren’t serious threads and they’re mostly for the muns anyway. So please, don’t just make it so your character can know everything about everything just because you read it in another thread. You need a reason for that, and one better than “he was listening in” or “he was spying”.
- Just because you want to see certain events happen, doesn’t mean others do also. Please don’t try and steer other people’s roleplaying toward your plots and try and control the entire plot. People like freedom and the ability to do what they want with their writing. That way the threads are more natural and less forced and contrived. And if you want to plot with people, it is courteous if you message them about it first rather than just show up with a character and try and bring them into your story. People don’t tend to like being led that way. And sometimes they don’t want to be a part of a plot at all and that is okay. Don’t expect everyone to go along with it and don’t try and force them to. Let what happens happen and don’t try and control it. It’s more fun that way for everyone.
Have fun people! Don’t try and force people to like you or even RP with you. The easier you take it the more fun it will be for everyone.
101 on how to Tumblr roleplay.
You must’ve at least once seen an advertisement for a Tumblr roleplay in the tag of this celebrity or that ship or the show you just cannot stop watching. For some those are ever so annoying - believe me, I’m a roleplayer and even I get annoyed some times - and for others it creates this weird urge to maybe, just maybe try it out once.
