Roleplay Online with RolePlayGateway

I read this on the forum for fiction-based roleplays.

"For those who don't want to spend extra time developing an original world. "

Frankly, as an avid IZ roleplayer, I'm offended. I put just as much--or even more--work into my theories about the Invader Zim universe than many other roleplayers. It is simply a matter of personal preferences, not a matter of being too lazy to make up one's own universe.
To those who are skeptical, I will elucidate.

Playing Canons
Playing canon characters isn't any easier than making up one's own. That is, if one wants to do it well. To play these characters well requires careful analysis of their behavior in the shows/movies/books/games they exist in. One must find correlations in their behavior so that one can find their most believable reaction to a new experiences in roleplaying. You can't just decide that the character has a fetish for Chinese food if, in the show, it's plainly evident that the character loathes Chinese food.
My Experience: I've been developing Dib for over five years, slowly building a psychoanalysis that I've compiled based on my observations. Although it's not only a matter of copying my research--I also found areas where Dib was not developed in the series, and I filled in the gaps accordingly. Every good Dib roleplayer may fill in these gaps differently, so his development doesn't turn over the same results for everyone (and that doesn't mean anyone is necessarily wrong). He was no easier to develop than any of my made-up characters, but it certainly took more research to learn how to play him right.
As proof, this is where my Dibology can be viewed: http://z10.invisionfree.com/Phelixas/in ... wtopic=192

Setting
Again, playing with a premade setting isn't just a matter of using someone else's idea due to lacking one's own. People get a choice as to whether or not they want to tweak the settings (subsequently being creative) or study the pre-existing setting and following it. In other words: if one is doing a Harry Potter roleplay, they can either decide to make Harry move to a different house for some creative reason, or they can look up screenshots of his surroundings to figure out where everything is. Creativity is not 'better' or less lazy than research. It's simply different.
My Experience: My experience has been with Invader Zim. One time, I had to know exactly what Dib's room looked like, so I purchased the series on iTunes and went through every episode in search of scenes in which we see his house. I didn't want to create my own, even though that would have been the easy way.
Similarly, my roleplay partner and I have been developing a setting that is only mentioned in Invader Zim: Vort. Vort is never shown in the series, but it does exist. We've analyzed every scrap of information about Vort, and now we're creating it based on those foundations. We know what Vortians look like, so that provides clues. For example, we've observed that Vortians have thin, stilt-like legs with no feet. Thus we have concluded that there is less gravity on Vort, and that subsequently it is likely a smaller planet than Earth. But there is no information about why some Vortians are pink and others are gray, so we've made up our own--we've created nine races within the species, worked out their culture, genetics, physiology, law, and everything else you can think of.




So I end my 'complaint' here. I simply want others to understand--as it is a common misconception--that roleplaying fandoms is not a lazy resort.
Thank you for reading. =)

Vexar wrote:"Anime based, book based, movie based. For those who don't want to spend extra time developing an original world. "

You didn't quote the whole statement. The second part simply implies that people who don't wish to make their own settings, they don't have to; they are allowed to use other peoples settings. It's easier and shorter to use a statement like that. The beginning lets EVERYONE know, that hey, this is for fan based stuff. It's already clarified so there is no need to to be offended.

First off it has nothing to do with your character development, or setting. The originality and creativity of what you use isn't being questioned; however you ARE using someone else's world.

Now, if it just said. "Fiction Based Roleplay: For those who don't want to spend time extra time developing a role play" Yes be offended, but it doesn't. It means you wish to dedicate your role play to a fan based setting.

No one considers the players in there to be lazy or any less good, everyone wants to make a fan based role play now and again. This is the quickest and easiest way to get the point across.

Understood. I did see the rest of it, but I believe there is somewhat of a bias. In any case, you are right that the description gets the point across.
I've said all I need to say though.

The person who posted before me explained it quite well. An Invader Zim universe/Batman universe/Transformers universe already exists. You didn't invent it, though you may be making up details about it. It's a simple description for the forum it names, pointing at the setting and not necessarily the contents. Don't be so upended about, really. It's just RP, yo.

More to the point, even if you are offended, don't whine about it. This really hasn't helped you at all.

There is no need to take insults personally. Whenever my eyes cross that particular forum, I don't assume that the people that RP in there are any better or worse than the others. It is tougher in some ways to roleplay using premade characters, for the reasons you mentioned. However, the character is already created, so going through the lengthy process of refinement doesn't exist in premade universes like it does in custom made ones.

Gabriel wrote:More to the point, even if you are offended, don't whine about it. This really hasn't helped you at all.

Sorry but, I think he did the right thing making a thread about it so the staff of this site would know. Even though he was a bit overly sensitive about the subject, he did not whine.


And yeah, I guess this thread is pretty much discussed and done. o__o

Sneakers wrote:Sorry but, I think he did the right thing making a thread about it so the staff of this site would know. Even though he was a bit overly sensitive about the subject, he did not whine.


And yeah, I guess this thread is pretty much discussed and done. o__o

Actually, it makes more sense to me to contact an admin privately if a board feature is unsatisfactory, rather than create a thread to complain to the admins. I dunno, maybe that's just me.

Estatic.

To all of the above.


Learn to make your own idea's, this will allow you to grow as a role-player.


Case closed.

- .Dot