I seriously love rp's, and I haven't been able to for years! All role plays grab my attention, whether it be the name, the plot, or how descriptive people are. But, unfortunately, it seems that people simply drop out when they get bored of it, or some of my friends who are on my rp say that they are too busy with rl, and have a hard time with coming on.

For me, I usually join an rp and try it out (then again, I haven't really joined many). If I don't like it, I don't just drop out of it, I just try to post only the minimum so that the rp doesn't fall apart because of one player! All rp's should be given a chance to show that it can be one of the tops out there, otherwise, they just pile up to become a garbage pile hiding in the back of the listings. In truth, I don't see why people just simply... drop out of an rp, that's something I'd like to know.

((Sorry, it's kind of short))

I tend to join an RP if I notice literate players, a good setting setup and something I think I could have some fun with. I tend towards fantasy and sci-fi RPs, but I've had a real itch for a modern/period shoot 'em up story lately. (Reverse trap butlers would also be pretty cash. Cute girls dressed up as cute guys acting all kuudere is very, very endearing.)

But I'll be frank that my likes are far outnumbered by my dislikes. I tend to avoid vampire RPs like the plague just because I really can't find anything that differentiates one from any of the others, and the characters I find in them seem flat and boring. No matter how much I like a concept, as a player, I'm ultimately going to have to interact with the characters of other players, and a good concept spoiled by bad players is enough for me to want to join in. Easily though, my biggest turn off is probably being ignored because of clique formation. I understand, that it's inherent in RP sites as a whole, or any place where people congregate because of common interests, but it feels like I'm wasting my time if people would rather not get involved with a new person.

(Inb4 "ur not aggressive enough". I've always thought that it makes a lousy story if the same character is being glomped by four or five people, and that it's not very good characterization if a person who is supposed to be shy is constantly interrupting conversations.)

Speaking as something of an unknown face, I've always felt that I'm much more likely to be ignored by other players, especially if the GM has a 'hands off' approach and is only really there to nudge the story a little in the right direction. On sites where the GMs are extremely active and involved in the progression of their plots, I tend to have an easier time because they actually take the time to get you into the story in a timely and appropriate manner.

Hmm... When looking for new roleplays I pretty much just go through all the forums and new posts, I'm not very picky when it comes to the actual genre so I pretty much try reading any new roleplay that comes out and a couple of old ones that don't seem to be moving very quickly. But of course, a catchy title would definitely get my attention and I look for some degree of thought and literacy. Sometimes I don't mind a laid-back RP with just one or two paragraphs per post, but a solid idea/storyline is a near must.

Some personal 'repellents' are probably RPs that have like 3 tiny sentences (or less) as an easy plot explanation, ICs with only one or two sentences per post, something that's extremely cliche without any twists to make it more interesting, and roleplays that seem to attract people revolving around romance. The latter most is pretty much just from previous bad experiences; any RPs that centralize what I call 'instant romance' is just... I have no problems with having romance develop as time goes on, it actually adds a bit of interest if done right, but I cannot stand it when all the characters are like knock-out models and fall in love with one another for no particular reason and such.

What makes me drop out of a roleplay? Rarely do I myself drop out of a roleplay, I'm one of those people that continue hovering around the dead threads for months before giving up completely. The biggest factor is probably just stuff happening RL, but usually I find time to post or negotiate with the GMs. And though it hasn't happened to me in Roleplay Gateway yet, rude and cheeky people will probably make me stand back with a gigantic white flag.

However, I might suddenly stop posting as much and have a huge decrease in the quality of my posts if I feel that I'm 'trapped'. Honestly, I try my best to put something (even if it's a very insignificant event) in every post that another person can act on but I often end up in a situation where I'm wondering if I just post that tiny paragraph for the sake of replying, or write a bunch of useless details to try to make the post a little more interesting when my character's actions can only be summed up in a few sentences because the post(s) before me leave(s) little room to do anything. In this case I'm feel to timid to do anything to make the situation better/easier for me... -___-"

A great idea, Crim, to offer people the chance to give general feedback about RPs. Well, here comes my two cents' worth...

When looking for a new roleplay to join, there are a few things I want to see:

*A high level of literacy. Not just a request or requirement for it, but a demonstration of literacy in the opening post. If someone whose first post is full of spelling and grammar errors, I will know that they aren't going to keep up to their own, and my, standards of literacy.
*A well thought out plot. I don't mean just an in-depth description of the world and its history and races, but a thought-out plot that looks like it's going to go somewhere. The poster needs to demonstrate to me that they have more than just a "this is the current situation, we'll take it from here and see what happens" mentality.
*Visible signs of effort. Information is important, and so is presentation; the first makes it easier to RP the game correctly, and the second makes that information easier to digest. A show of effort makes me think the person is not only serious about the game, but also dedicated.

A few things that put me off:

*Absence of the above three points.
*A requirement for character profiles. Personally, I hate writing character profiles, never read anyone else's, and much prefer to explore my own characters, and find out about others', as the roleplay progresses. The presence of profiles makes meta-gaming all the more tempting.
*Other accepted players: If I see players joining who do not meet my desired level of literacy and what not being accepted, it severely puts me off. I know this sounds a little elitist, but I roleplay for enjoyment, and I don't enjoy reading 'txt-tlk' and the like.
*Cliches. Vampire/Werewolf schools; Angel/Demon academies; High Schools; all of that just turns me off. A bit of originality is nice, which links in with my point about well-thought-out plots. But, not just cliched RP genres, also cliched plots, characters and worlds.

What makes me drop out of a roleplay:

*An RP that ends up having all the above four points.
*A high post rate. I don't get a great deal of time to post nowadays, so can really only make one or two posts a day (apart from on Sunday, if I'm at home), coming home from work to find eight or nine, or more, posts to read generally means no time to post after catching up. Which is a waste of time, really.
*Attention seekers. They can't always be seen at the beginning, but you all know them... The one player who wants his/her/its character to be the centre of EVERYONE'S attention, and will do everything in his/her/its power to make sure this happens. No thank you.
*Lack of direction. If the person running the game isn't able to keep a direction to the RP, and just lets the story stagnate, I'm going to get bored. Being bored isn't enjoyable.

A few general comments for you now...

I don't particularly mind what genre an RP is in, as I'm able to write in all genres. I do, however, have a massive preference for fantasy; while my least favourite is sci-fi/futuristic. But, as long as the idea and plot is strong enough, I'll join just about anything, considering my own time restraints etc.

Perhaps a few tips should be given? Hm, I'll write up an RPA article about it later on today, or tomorrow. I had one on here before, I'm sure, but can never seem to find it. Darnit.

Crimmy Said..
* When looking for new roleplays, what do you look for? Like, do you look for a certain genre (fantasy, futuristic etc..)? Or is it to do with literacy? Or is it simply a title sometimes that catches your eye?
* What stops you from joining a roleplay? Is it that there are moderators in it? If so, why? Or is it there another factor, the players, the idea, etc.
* And lastly, what makes you drop out of a roleplay? Is it because it's too slow? Illiteracy? What exactly?

Shaken Answers...

One!: I tend to look in fantasy/ modern or something like that- just because I, personally, suck at any sort of technology or any of the like. For me, it's just easier to stick with fantasy or other such things. Sometimes it's to do with literacy, I like to, at least, be bale to hit the green- as well as have everyone else in the thing hit the green. =3 It just makes me happy then. I don't, generally, tend to go off titles- but more how many pages the OOC has, even if it was just started (or espically.)

But, my biggest thing for picking a RP is if someone I know, who writes well, or what not, is making one- If I like it, I tend to join.

Two!:Iletiracy, or people I have problems with/ noticed they are not..that..good at Rping. (Still can't backclick and too lazy to put through a doc.)

Three!: Dropping out, for me, is a rare thing- sometimes. I tend to drop out if I feel i can't post, or have more things going on. Or, if I end up going to visit my mom's for a bit and find myself totally lost- since I need to/will be doing that- I don't want to hold up the Rp or just can't seem to post.

Last, sometimes, I do find myself mad at the creater of the Rp, I sometimes drop- if I feel they don't think I am 'good' enough for their Rp, or don't adress any issues that have been brought up/need to change then I drop ( RL plays a huge part,too).

When looking for new roleplays, what do you look for? Like, do you look for a certain genre (fantasy, futuristic etc..)? Or is it to do with literacy? Or is it simply a title sometimes that catches your eye?

Short Answer: Literacy and Originality.

Long Answer: My mood actually reflects what I look for in a roleplay at any particular time, though I do have a tendency towards high fantasy (magic, dragons and what not) and low fantasy. Saying that, I have joined futuristic, modern and fantasy roleplays recently. A good story and plot tends to grip me though I have to see it leading somewhere interesting or I can't conjure enthusiasm and yes, I do prefer roleplaying with people who know where to put their commas, paragraphs and speech marks. I totally get that not every piece of literature is perfect and have found some funny typos in actual novels in the past but I like to be able to feel like we're creating a story, and not just killing time.

I have been known to wander into plots because of titles as well, namely 'Allow Me to Complicate Your Life' as demonstrated by the awesome Monroe herself. We threw ourselves into a wicked idea following that topic, and I can honestly say it was some of the best fun I've had on here. I tend to go for actually titled things instead of 'Vampire Romance' or anything to do with a school or academy in the title. Why? Because they're not going anywhere fast and someone's just bored and wants something to do for a day or so.

What stops you from joining a roleplay? Is it that there are moderators in it? If so, why? Or is it there another factor, the players, the idea, etc.

Short answer: Survivability.

Long Answer: I've never stopped myself from joining a roleplay because someone I didn't like/didn't want to associate was in it and I think it's daft to do so. The reason that I'm not joining anymore roleplays at the moment is because I have my quota but I take it this question means 'why do you pick some roleplays over others?', ne? Well, I don't go for generic stuff and things with specific plots and driven stories don't really come along that often, hence why I don't join many roleplays. I have a pechant for joining roleplays that are already a few pages in and show good signs of weathering the storm to survive to become a long term thing.

Most of my characters are in depth; I know nearly everything about my two most developed current characters, Hilanta Ancalime and Sophia Peryonai and wouldn't have placed much effort into them if I didn't think the roleplays wouldn't survive, so I think I look at a roleplay and judge its survivability mostly when I consider joining.

And lastly, what makes you drop out of a roleplay? Is it because it's too slow? Illiteracy? What exactly?

Short Answer: Nearly never.

Long Answer: The roleplays that I have stopped posting in have died of their own accord; I can't recall ever abandoning a roleplay. I'm currently picking up a roleplay that had been dead for months, so yeah, can't fault me there! Generally I tend to stop checking the thread after a month of total deadness. I've never stopping posting because of illiteracy, that's a stupid reason to stop. Also, I've noticed with some people if you keep posting at your level, they seem to learn some of it, which can never be a bad thing!

Slowness is something I am prepared to wait for to post on an average roleplay, otherwise, I wait impatiently for good ones!

• When looking for new roleplays, what do you look for? Like, do you look for a certain genre (fantasy, futuristic etc..)? Or is it to do with literacy? Or is it simply a title sometimes that catches your eye?

When I do look for a role-play I do look for certain genre games. But I am open to all games provided that they have writers who make me want to read and collaborate with them. I do like someone who does know proper grammar and uses the spell checker. I want to be engrossed and entertained with those whom I role-play with as I am sure they also want to be entertained by my contribution.

• What stops you from joining a roleplay? Is it that there are moderators in it? If so, why? Or is it there another factor, the players, the idea, etc.

Well what stops me usually is when I scan the other participants. If there are people who are blatantly bad role-players (god modders, power players, attention whores) I tend to shy away. I am here to enjoy myself, collaborate and write great fiction, not have an OOC fest or worse yet a combination OOC/IC thread because of something that happened at school/with friends/the newest band or movie clutter up the role-play.

• And lastly, what makes you drop out of a roleplay? Is it because it's too slow? Illiteracy? What exactly?

I get bored easily when people produce sub-par work. I also detest when two people get on a role and post every second advancing their own little plot but not allowing anyone else to partake in the group event. Mostly I just hate having to read either over blown purple prose or one line crap.

Usually, I try to give some of the more obscure idea's a chance when I can spare the time. Sometimes people need a chance to develop those skills in plot creation and GMing and I feel I have the patience and experience with new RPers to help them along. I wont outright reject someone just because their writing is bad or short. So long as they have something to say, which is the important part. The rest is just mechanics.

I actually shy away from people who are too elitist in their rules. If someones going to bash it into my face every time I violate the laws of grammar, I think it turns a fun RP into English class. I left highschool 4 years ago and I don't want to repeat it. I don't want to have to sit here after work and forge a carefully scripted and twice edited monstrosity of a post just to appease said people. I think a paragraph per post is plenty if you know what your doing with it and anyone who demands 2-3+ paragraphs per post is asking too much.

I also have a thing against character bios now that I've had some time on the forums. I find people throw out their bio once they start playing the character anyways. So I'd rather be learning about people through the RP. Of course, I also realize it's more of a GM tool to make sure people create characters who have a reason to be in the story line and they don't god mod. However, telling me I have to develop a 3 paragraph personality and bio doesn't appeal to me. I've done it just because I liked the story a few times now. But it urks me to no end whenever I see it.

Oh! And I don't want to have to be posting every 5 minutes just to keep up with the story line ><

But of course, this is life related and changes on occasion.

And I stay away from fanboys/fangirls doing anything as well as vampires and warewolves, which have been done to death, resurrected, died again, then pulled from it's freshly packed grave and tossed about some more. That's just IMO anyways.

When looking for new roleplays, what do you look for? Like, do you look for a certain genre (fantasy, futuristic etc..)? Or is it to do with literacy? Or is it simply a title sometimes that catches your eye?

Usually I look for semi-lit or literate RPs. I am fine with writing long, lengthy posts, especially if I have two characters to bounce off each other. Anything with vampires is going to attract my attention, because I have some good vampire characters I like using. Also, asylum RPs or RPs with crazy people are nice. I usually make characters for school-based RPs because I like making characters, even though in my experience those usually die early on. Although, I definitely look for something fantastical, out-of-the ordinary, or just plain cool. (RPs about a bunch of normal friends in high school, for instance, are not so great. I'm in high school; I have friends; I don't need an RP about it.)

What stops you from joining a roleplay? Is it that there are moderators in it? If so, why? Or is it there another factor, the players, the idea, etc.

The thing that most often stops me from joining an RP is requiring pictures of the characters, because I usually know what my character looks like, and I don't know how to go about finding a picture that looks just like him/her. (Or because I'm basing their appearance off a person I know who won't let me use a picture of them.) I also have some people who I don't like RPing with for one reason or another (I don't like them, I don't like their style, I don't like their characters, they have a reputation of being in RPs I don't like, etc.), so I'll just avoid RPs that they're in. Also, advanced RPs (which tend to be RPs with mods in them) tend to steer me away, because they tend to end up requiring hugely long posts. I'm fine with writing hugely long posts, but reading them is a bit of a pain. So I kinda do steer away from RPs with mods, but just because their presence is often an indicator of long-postage.
Also, when people ask for really detailed bios, just because I don't feel like making one up.

And lastly, what makes you drop out of a roleplay? Is it because it's too slow? Illiteracy? What exactly?

I usually don't drop out of RPs unless they die first, but when I do, it's because there are too many characters posting too fast, and I either don't like the direction it's going in, or I don't think my character/characters would fit in with it. Or because the posts get too long and I don't feel like reading them.

EDIT: Also, writer's block and losing control of my character will make me drop out of an RP.

* When looking for new roleplays, what do you look for? Like, do you look for a certain genre (fantasy, futuristic etc..)? Or is it to do with literacy? Or is it simply a title sometimes that catches your eye?

I personally go for anything besides reality. I find that boring and dull and doesn't challenge my creativity one bit. But even though I love anime RP's, it's not the one I'm mainly in because of the same old ideas or concepts. I don't care about titles, I always click on it to see what it is.


* What stops you from joining a roleplay? Is it that there are moderators in it? If so, why? Or is it there another factor, the players, the idea, etc.

I don't care if a Moderator is in it. What stops me is how the plot is written (Too long, too boring and failure to be creative are my top three deal breakers) and/or other players. If I see the GM seems waayyy too bossy or too receptive (As in, accepting EVERY single sign up, even if their character is clearly overtly powerful) I save myself a headache and the attitude trip and look the other way.


* And lastly, what makes you drop out of a roleplay? Is it because it's too slow? Illiteracy? What exactly?

1. When the GM lets people freely RP without a specific goal or motivation for the characters to actually do something progressive with the story. Free styling RP is really boring. No, like seriously. (ZING!)

2. When the douche meter reaches red. I have played with a douche or two before (I'm sorry. You guys may know them as "MARRRYYY SUUUUUEEE") and nothing sets off the exit button more then a douchebag. When the douchebag is overbearing and the GM refuses (or even goes along with, in some situations) to put a stop to it, that is when Baby says good bye. Don't like it? Play fair and don't be a douche.

3. Participation! Here I am, posting as fast as I can to get a speedy reply, because I am SOOO into this RP...and it slows. So now my flaming hot excitement is nothing more then a blown out match under water. I initiate a battle with a character and you don't post in 3 days? I don't know about you but that just makes my eyebrows twitch. I try to stay in, but it's like a domino effect. One person slows, everyone else takes forever to post. Fantastic.

When looking for new roleplays, what do you look for? Like, do you look for a certain genre (fantasy, futuristic etc..)? Or is it to do with literacy? Or is it simply a title sometimes that catches your eye?
I really join most RPs that have a REALLY creative story-line, not something from a movie or a series. That's really what I look for, something that has just started but it's something you've never seen before.


What stops you from joining a roleplay? Is it that there are moderators in it? If so, why? Or is it there another factor, the players, the idea, etc. Hmm, probably because it's not interesting or mass-produced, such as vampires. Or that it's too far in, I only sign-up for RPs that have something like under 20 posts in the IC.


And lastly, what makes you drop out of a roleplay? Is it because it's too slow? Illiteracy? What exactly? I NEVER drop out of roleplays

Honestly I get turned off when the requirement for literacy goes to far, I mean, I love coming up with things but when it comes to writing them down I'm horrible at putting my thoughts into written word. I'm OK with writing a paragraph but but I fail pretty hard at writing long stories, I'm just not the best creative writer, now if you give me something based on fact, i.e. historical, well that's an entirely different story (Christ i wrote a seven page paper over the history of the Netherlands in 11th grade and i only stopped because I felt my paper was getting too long).

As for settings I look for I'm pretty well up for almost anything but I'm not huge into the romance scene, at all. I do like for rps to be active though with people posting more than just once a day because it keeps the rp moving and makes it more fun. As for dropping the rp, I don't do that very often and if i do its only because the rp is getting to be stupid for any reason, i.e. ridiculous things start happening that don't belong in the rp setting or just don't belong in rps in general

A good RP, imho, is all about finding the perfect balance.

Some GMs build their plots with too much consideration to their own charaters, or have a stone-set plot already. I'm probably a culprit here. There has to be some room for adaptation of the plot depending on the characters. I once played under a GM who was insulted if the players did anything he didn't want to happen and all we ever did was talk between his plot movements. I dropped out.

At the same time, though, a plot needs to be quite firm so we actually know whats going on. I bet most people have been in a plot where the GM has absolutely NO control nor idea where any of the other players are. I dropped out.

Another balance is length. I skim read everything in an RP and only look in detail if something was mentioned that I need to know. I know its perhaps rude to do so, but I don't have the patience to read through fifteen posts to know where everyone is. So when everybody is posting novellas per post, I get a little bored. I would never drop out of an RP for this reason, though I may not join one if I haven't already. I'd probably post less if I have.

But on the flipside "Bob walks out of the door and looks around." as post content is a no-no. I kicked out a player who did this excessively. I would never join an RP that has a lot of this.

Has anyone else ever recieved that argument "Cliche only means it works"? ...Works at what? If it works at allowing me to tell exactly whats gonna happen, then they have a point. The vampire who would die for his love. The assassin who lost his memory (god bless Jason Bourne, though). We've all seen it before. We've all PLAYED it before. I tend to avoid any thread with 'school' in the title. God knows theres a lot of them...

Now, I like vampires and wanna join a vampire rp and I gotta ask. Whatever happened to the days vampires didn't interact with the outside world, except to suck its blood? Or when they looked hideous and frightening? And why do they all fall in love these days? I resorted to making my own for lack of the good ol' kind. Anyway, the point is, those cliches mean I won't join, hands down.

Baby wrote:1. When the GM lets people freely RP without a specific goal or motivation for the characters to actually do something progressive with the story. Free styling RP is really boring. No, like seriously. (ZING!)

People claim it's creative but they fail to realize, even the word 'creative' is an adjective. An adjective has a subject, it cannot exist on it's own. If you story has no backbone, how do you expect people to be creative about anything?

Baby wrote:3. Participation! Here I am, posting as fast as I can to get a speedy reply, because I am SOOO into this RP...and it slows. So now my flaming hot excitement is nothing more then a blown out match under water. I initiate a battle with a character and you don't post in 3 days? I don't know about you but that just makes my eyebrows twitch. I try to stay in, but it's like a domino effect. One person slows, everyone else takes forever to post. Fantastic.

I undestand what you mean, baby. I understand *looks down*, seriously.


•When looking for new roleplays, what do you look for? Like, do you look for a certain genre (fantasy, futuristic etc..)? Or is it to do with literacy? Or is it simply a title sometimes that catches your eye?
•What stops you from joining a roleplay? Is it that there are moderators in it? If so, why? Or is it there another factor, the players, the idea, etc.

I plain mainly fantasy, for the reason that I can get everything else out of real life. That makes me want to explore concepts, making my characters part of the world and not some avatar of myself in there. Literacy is important, I want my character's actions and my modification of the settings to be fully understood and utilized.

I can speak for everyone when I say this, I don't want to be ignored. Also there is a tendency for literate people to be better posters, grammar issues are for most part fine with me. Everyone has their own style of writing, their own adjectives and synonyms. But it's when people type sentences with hideous mispellings and start 'mind reading', it makes me want to throw my shoe through the screen.

A catchy title is always needed, ALWAYS type in perfect english for titles. The first thing I look at is the 'host''s capability in storyweaving, it is the first thing to turn me off as well.




•And lastly, what makes you drop out of a roleplay? Is it because it's too slow? Illiteracy? What exactly?

I don't ever drop out of roleplays until it has died or something is seriously wrong with it, when revived though I often do not rejoin unless it's in a new thread. Likewise, I don't ever make characters in threads I do not intend to pursue till the end.

I may pause in the middle for sometime but the players will know why, I don't make posts unecessarily. If my character is in a coma or is doing something already mentioned in my last post, then I won't post till a trigger event occurs at which my character will do something else. No point making dreams up which have no relevance to the story, just for something to post. It wrecks the whole feel of a thread, I will always explain in the OOC thread that this is what I am doing.

Sometimes if a thread becomes too slow, which the one in my signature is right now. I consider it dead, no posts for more than a week is considered dead to me. Unless I really want to carry on with it, which I am and is discussing with the 'host' whether or not to recruit more people to replace the irresponsible ones.

Oh, in reference to my earlier post, I found the article I wrote some time ago. Click here to view it.

Although I am new to posting on this site, I do believe I have been able to format a good response from past RP'ing experiences.

One of my biggest problems with RP's is that many of them, for whatever reason, tend to attract writers that simply aren't. Meaning they may have great imaginations, because anyone can have imagination, but they just truly aren't good writers. Whether their skill needs to be honed, or that they just have not had the education to type in a literate way. I think internet speak has a lot to blame for this. Like always these are forums, quick internet relay for the exchange of ideas; which means you get stuck with people that use internet shortening techniques or pull out the timeless idea that "this isn't English class".

I for one am an English major and plan on teaching English at some point in time, so for me literacy is an enormous part of why I choose to join an RP. It irks me if even one player in the RP isn't up to code on literacy. Sure, I may be being a bit holier than thou, but in reality it all just flows and reads so much better when everyone in the RP can type well and know at least basic techniques for character development, plot creation, and spur-of-the-moment changes in a story that can really throw things for a loop. Players that can adapt to those situations are where I want to be at.

Another problem for me is a lot of the fantasy. I love fantasy, I truly do. I do not love vampires, neko's, anything to do with Twilight, Harry Potteresque stories, or anything to do with high school. Those plots all feel extremely contrived to me. Way too narrow to really offer a solid plot, and I lived through high school. I do not need to write about it all over again.

I also have a huge problem with passive GM's. This is your baby. Please, please, please breath life into it. Be active within your own story. Create your dictionary if you want new terms. If you're giving us a brand new world, give us a map. If we have plot ideas be open to them! If you want people to respond well enough and stay active in your story you need it to be a world. You need to be open-minded. Let people experiment with your story. If you keep a tight leash then players get bored, events get stagnant. Another thing I love is a solid event list; it really allows the story to stay fleshed out and it allows people to look back quickly to look something up.

Maybe I'm just a bit picky but I want to be part of something epic, something experimental, something abnormal. This is fun to me. Stepping away from the conventional. Take an existing idea and make it your own, but let your RP'ers help you along with it. We are your tools GM's, but we also are the ones breathing the life into your story. Breath some back into us.

When looking for new roleplays, what do you look for? Like, do you look for a certain genre (fantasy, futuristic etc..)? Or is it to do with literacy? Or is it simply a title sometimes that catches your eye?

A bit of all the above. I'm a hughe fan of fanasty simply because to me it allows a wide-range of ideas in a setting. Spelling ability plays a part as well simply because having to constently wonder:' What the hell is he/she/they/it doing?' or trying to do gets kinda old. Not saying that everything has to be perfect, hell I mess up more often then I like to admit, but when words are suppose to support ideas and actions I want to know what is going on so I can react to it.

Also what I look for in RP's is active GM's and more to the point GM's who aren't afried to challenge or be challeneged by the players. Sure, its fun to go ahead and fight a horde of (insert generic mob monster here.) But having to do so when already cut and bloody, building falling around your ears and your fighting down vomit for some reason or another( damn, you knew something about that chicken didn't taste right.) I don't won't a GM to take control of my character, but if its a desperate situration then make it just that more desperate to my character. And in return I'll do my best to surprise the GM. Give a little to get a little. These are the RP's I like.

What stops you from joining a roleplay? Is it that there are moderators in it? If so, why? Or is it there another factor, the players, the idea, etc.

Generic, run-of-the-mill characters/stories. Almost anyone can run a 'defeat the evil wizard' RP. Set yourself apart and mix things up. Then there is the Vampire/Wolves/Werewolves/Ninja/etc. I'm not going to bash in peoples taste, do what pleases you. But on the same note don't be surprised when people don't take a second look at the same old plot line as the 500 other topics. Also you can put in god-modding and inflexibility here. Hell, I can deal with god-modding if the GM can in some shape or way explain why 'Bob' just turned into 'Super Bob, eatter of childern and destroyer of Worlds!' and what does this sudden transformation have to do with the story.

As for being inflexible...Granted you have a plot, story and timeline in place. You want the characters to go to point A,B and C. where events D,E and F are suppose to happen. Giving the players time to get to those marks is half the fun, the other half is what happens once we reach that point. If there is a rush, make it apperant for my character to have the need to rush. Give me a reason to immerse my character into the story instead of being forced marched. Also do realize that things do happen in real life

And lastly, what makes you drop out of a roleplay? Is it because it's too slow? Illiteracy? What exactly?

I don't like dropping out. But there comes a time when waiting becomes a issue. As well as making it harder for me to fall back into character, this becomes doubly so when I may have other RPs/other characters in the same RP. This and this alone is the only reason I may 'fade' or drop out.

Hopefully this has answered your questions. I could go on, however this isn't a rant, but a disscussion. May this infromation help you in finding answers.

-SZO: Thrill Seeker

To answer the above in as straight up and honest opinion as possible both personally and what I believe. If this is an incorrect assumption about the person currently reading this then don't sweat it. You aren't a part of the "public" category in that case. Now I suppose I should stop dragging out this first paragraph until it reaches the lovely seventy five words required to make it a passable post. See? That was seventy one words. You didn't notice that I bumped it up to seventy eight words now. Or was that seventy seven? Doesn't matter. Getting back to the point.

"When looking for new Roleplays.."
I tend to look at the genre, the plot, and the detail of the first post. If it only has like one or two paragraphs I figure it'll probably die quickly. If it has far too many paragraphs I get lost in it and sometimes depending on the wording wonder if it is an Elitest Roleplay. I'll also avoid Roleplays if they tend to attract a lot of one lining illiterate creeps and they get accepted upon applying.

The public generally appears to leap at whatever the popular stereotypes are. EG: Twilight, School RP's, etc etc. However recently with the addition of chat Roleplaying and of course time passing the zealotry towards these stereotypes has sharply declined.

"What stops me from joining a Roleplay.."
To be more precise than what I typed above: Abused Stereotypes, bland plots, anything to do with "slave and master" "magic Harry Potter school" "Twilight" etc etc. Lack of detail (Less than two paragraphs) too much detail (More than fourteen paragraphs is pushing it) etc etc. I also tend to drift away from Roleplays which do not fall under either the Fantasy or Sci-Fi categories as Fantasy is a "tried and true" love and Sci-Fi is simply so strange, unique, and out there that if you can manage to make one it's pretty hard to turn into a stereotype.

"What makes me drop out of a Roleplay.."
I hate leaving Roleplays however what will cause me to gravitate to leaving is if the people I am Roleplaying with tend to push my character away from the group or themselves, complete one lining illiteracy, and lastly if everyone types up posts the size of chapters. Either they are filled with enough filler to describe the same bush using three paragraphs or they move so far ahead of everyone else around them that it makes you wonder: Does he assume that my character sat there awestruck with is beautiful looks for five minutes while he walked off into the sunset, leaving me behind while slaying the entire bandit encounter and saving the damsel all in the length of one post? After all Roleplays are like children: Underfeeding has the obvious side effect of starving them, but overfeeding can kill them too. It's just a slower death.

The public tends to just drop out of a Roleplay when the initial "buzz" dies off. Example of "buzz" effect: Child gets a Batman figurine for Christmas. Child is pleased. Child runs around and plays with Batman figurine for a day or two or maybe even a week. Child gets bored. Batman figurine left and never touched again.

About sums it up for the five Roleplays I posted on here months ago. Though some of the reason they died was my own fault--- See: Overfeeding.

Yeah. To sum it up: I like Fantasy and Sci-Fi written at a good length with decent Roleplayers. That's it. I don't really care if the plot is stereotypical to be honest because that can grow to be something different, something more. Hell I don't even care if it doesn't even have a plot. As long as it shows promise I'm in.