Not that any roleplayer, including and especially myself, is perfect, or devoid of mistakes, or entirely without fault, but if you were to nominate someone (no names, please) as an ideal roleplayer, what qualities would you look for in them?

Here are mine.

1.) Good English skills. They are a must. These include, but are not limited to, good grammar, spelling, punctuation, and capitalization.

2.) Able to work with others. Whether one on one or group roleplay, the ideal roleplayer, in my book, would be able to work well with others. They would communicate effectively, be reasonably polite and respectful, be able to add their own ideas to the plot, as well as add onto the ideas of others. They would be able to give up certain things for others.

3.) Prompt, punctual, and reliable. Logging on at least every other day, unless otherwise specified. It shows that you care not only about the roleplay, but also about the other roleplayers.

4.) Good characters. By good I do not mean good/evil good, I mean well-developed, round, well-thought-out, non-archetypical characters. And the roleplayer would also be able not only to create these characters, but also be able to portray them effectively, and well over long period of time, and to further develop them appropriately.

5.) Good writing skills. They wouldn't have to be a professional; but merely have some idea of how to write an effective passage, whether only one or two paragraphs or several. Writing in such a way that engages, intrigues, and interests the reader/fellow roleplayers, and also allows for the others to continue in like manner.

For me, I'd think "good English skills" goes hand in hand with "good writing skills."

Bob turned to Heath and said, "Well then, see you Thursday." Then he grabbed his gun and walked out to his car. He drove to a Starbucks and ordered a coffee.

Perfectly grammatically correct. But bad. Real bad. For one thing, it takes a space of about ten minutes and sums it up in two lines. Uber lameness. This would be better:

Bob turned to Heath and said, "Well then, see you Thursday." He wasn't looking forward to seeing Jake again, for the blonde man irked him by his very nature, but Bob tried to sound pleasant. He took his gun off the table next to him and sat up, pocketing the firearm, and opened the door. As he stepped out into the dim light of early morning, Bob could barely see his car, a nondescript sedan, through the thick fog that hung in the air.
After locating and entering his car, Bob thought about what he would do. He wanted to find Dora Charlotte, because he knew she wasn't looking forward to the meeting with Omar and the others on Thursday. Bob and Dora could talk things over without having to fight about them. He knew Dora would most likely be at the nearest place to get coffee, so he headed to a Starbucks.
Dora Charlotte was not at the Starbucks. Although, it was very early, and she was probably not out and about yet. Walking up to the cashier, Bob asked for a coffee. He couldn't tell what all the different kinds of coffee were, because he didn't frequent Starbucks, so he just ordered the cheapest thing on the menu. He thanked the cashier and took the drink to a table. It wasn't bad, for the cheapest drink there.

Better, no?

For another thing, it is impossible to reply to if you're playing Kevin. That isn't so easily fixed, but that ties in with Treali's second point.
As for punctuality...I don't know. If an RP has three members, and two are on at once, the third character is going to be left out of things until his or her player comes back. That happened a lot in another RP I was in. So yeah, even though we each logged on at least once every other day, that wasn't nearly enough.
As for good characters...meh. A good RPer can play a partially-developed character well, because they develop them as they go. You don't need to start out with a well-developed character, because the RP is designed to be one of the most, if not the most interesting thing that will ever happen to said character. A good RPer can also play a flat character well, they just won't be able to be that important to the plot. Since each character is controlled by a single person, and each person views their character as the main protagonist, unless otherwise specified, their characters would round themselves out by the skill of the RPer. If I know what an archetype is (like a stereotype, right?) then one of those could be played well, more for humor than anything.
Bad RPer + good character = bad posts
Good RPer + bad character = so so posts
Good RPer + good character = good posts.

Oh yeah, and no giant walls of text.
No hypocrites either.

add to that
6.) Unique ideas. Bring something to table! Making the initial author of the rp or the other players drag your character through the storyline like a dead deer- noo. Put in with something besides the same predictable things in animes and whatnot that everyone already knows and uses.
I would think that's a given in a good rp'er, but anymore it's becoming apparent less people want to think for themselves. ^^

The ability to weave a story with words is incredibly important. Anyone can describe to me a step by step explanation of someone's actions. If I wanted to read a screenplay, I would. No no, this is RP. The game requires you allow me to explore your character and the setting and the activities taking place therein, all based entirely on your description of them! People manage to make their "worlds" awfully boring.

The ability to make realistic characters is also important. "Realistic" does not equate to "only able to exist in the modern world." A character can behave realistically for his/her situation, history, and personality regardless of placement, and can have realistic features. Not everyone can be perfect and beautiful and cunning and angelic/badass. However, realism requires so much more than simple accuracy and believability. Realism demands that you (again) help me to envision every detail about this character. What does his/her face do when he/she is speaking? Do they pace? Are their steps even or shuffling or off-beat? Do they wring their fingers, and does this action make their knuckles white? Perhaps the crows feet at the corners of their eyes are quite pronounced when they are thoughtful. A real person displays countless examples of body language and environmental interaction.

Also important? An RPer who does not ignore things I have described in the previous post. It sounds simple enough, but folks overlook the most blatant stuff sometimes.

Now, on to English skills. Muy Importante! Writing does not equate to English skills. There is a direct correlation, yes, but they are not the same. There are tons of authors, and most of them know their English pretty damn well. Most of them are NOT great authors, however. Point being, pay attention to the window. It has a spellchecker. And if your browser sucks, you have a word processor. And if you lack this basic software, you have the internet which has dictionaries. Come on, people.

What I find increasingly important lately is the combination of these attributes to give romance a purpose (I.E. stop cybering, plz) and make it worthwhile. Newsflash, this is lame: "he looked at her and he thought to himself damn how beautiful. he kissed hre and she felt sooo good. he kissed her for a long time, and then stopped. She aroused him and he felt embaraced."

Okay okay. One: an Rper who does not strictly RP romance/smut is a key priority in my searches. Two: if you're going to RP romance, at least do it well! Does no on even remember the definition of the word "Romanticize"? To idealize! To make better than it is! Fluff it up, make it awesome, make it fantastic, make it appealing! I don't want to read your doofy middle school daydreams about cute girls and how cool it is to touch their boobies. That crap makes RP an embarrassing hobby, for reals.

Those are my requirements for good RPer. *huff*

I can sum up the last two paragraphs of TNP's idea: 7.) Maturity.

I agree. Maturity to not only know intellectually how to create a realistic, well-rounded, dynamic character with flaws as well as strengths, but the willingness to take on such a character, who is challenged in some way. Maturity to let yourself fail sometimes. Maturity to let your character lose the fight (whether a physical one or otherwise)...and maturity not to gloat OOCly if your character wins. Maturity to know when to do which. Maturity to understand that a well-developed character is not static...but has the potential for change - in any millions of possible ways. Maturity to understand that good writing is not based on a word count or a paragraph count... but on the ability to express oneself eloquently, effectively, and within the rules of the roleplay in question. Maturity to treat other roleplayers according to the Golden Rule and common standards of decency and etiquette....and not based upon in character feelings or spats. Maturity to accept criticism, and maturity to give it, constructively, to others.

One thing I would like to add in addition to accepting criticism and all that is to be teachable. This to me means you are willing to continuously look for ways in which to improve not only your writing but your attitude and reliability. Look at posts you have written and try to rewrite them, each time improving on them even as just an exercise, if not in the main rp. Make characters and try to come up with interesting flaws, fears, and talents. Ask for advice from people with more experience and listen to it and try your best to implement it. This and more is what I mean by teachable. Which basically means even if you feel you do a decent job, never settle with that a true artist's work is never really finished so never stop asking how you can improve.

One, three, two, and five have to be my biggest pet peeves when role playing with people, if someone could be punctual, work with others, have good english and writing skills I would be happy.

1.) Good English skills. They are a must. These include, but are not limited to, good grammar, spelling, punctuation, and capitalization.

I've had some horrible grammar in Unseen recently, I Pm'd the player and asked what was going on. Apparently they say dialogue is hard to write. I do not understand how it's hard to write, there are great resources out there for grammar; especially dialogue. Also when people use spell check, sometimes it screws with the grammar of your post, don't use spell check! Use a dictionary or theasaurus, my mac has one built into the OS and has saved me a lot of trouble.

2.) Able to work with others. Whether one on one or group roleplay.

Flexibility is great.

3.) Prompt, punctual, and reliable. Logging on at least every other day, unless otherwise specified. It shows that you care not only about the roleplay, but also about the other roleplayers.

The constant AFKing and expecting you to wait around is annoying, it's not fair and it's really quite selfish. There is someone on the other side of that screen who has taken time out to do something. Then there are also the people who go through the character creation process, then want nothing to do with the roleplay. I think that's probably on the same topic?

5.) Good writing skills. They wouldn't have to be a professional; but merely have some idea of how to write an effective passage, whether only one or two paragraphs or several. Writing in such a way that engages, intrigues, and interests the reader/fellow roleplayers, and also allows for the others to continue in like manner.

I really wish I could do this. I've seen so many good writers here on this site, I've also seen some really bad writing. If the post is well written it's a pleasure to participate in a round or two with someone.

My biggest things are:

1) Spelling, grammar, etc. If you're not going to write properly (or atleast TRY to) then you might as well not participate. People don't realize how much it detracts from their writing when there are multiple mistakes. Of course eventually I'll understand what you meant, but isn't it more important that I spend my time reading and getting into your story rather than trying to decipher what you meant by "The man are wwas fiteing aganssed his borther." I read this kind of stuff from time to time. Even if you're terrible at spelling and grammar, just ONE proofread would tell you something was wrong there. What would you do if you saw things like that in an actual novel? It's terribly distracting and makes you less inclined to want to read anything that person wrote.

2) Active. Good roleplays die out due to inactivity. Don't join if you don't ever plan on posting even once.

3) Team-player. Roleplaying is a group effort. This means:

-Your character must interact with other characters or somehow affect other people in the story. I HATE it when people make what I call a "selfish character". They're usually born from really good ideas, but what happens is people give them this huge background that has nothing to do with the actual plot of the RP. Then they "do their own thing", going off on quests, trying to accomplish their goals, making for a very interesting story... that has nothing to do with what everyone else is writing about. Seriously, if you have such a good idea, don't just look for a roleplay that fits the catergory of your character and stick them in it, write YOUR OWN story or start YOUR OWN roleplay, because you're not contributing and being pretty selfish.

-You must be willing to let bad things happen to your character. I can understand not wanting your character to die, but come on- they can't lose a fight, EVER? They can't be the "bad guy" EVER? Making your character the pinnacle of excellence is not only boring but unfair to everyone else trying to participate.

4) Able to separate himself from his character. Many people go through great length to make this giant character sheet with a very detailed description of their character's personality and past... then continue to behave only as he/she would behave in the character's place. I mean, it's good to know that an entire childhood of misery can be so easily overcome >_> Do what the character would do, which is not necessarily what YOU would do. This goes hand in hand with part two of my third reason; it's usally because the person doesn't want something bad to happen to their character, so they step totally out of character to save them from ever getting hurt or doing something wrong.

5) A good writer. This is the least important to me, because when you get into a story even poor writers can be interesting. However, the ideal roleplayer is definitely a good writer and can get everyone really into their posts.

Meh there's the basic ones like Ylanne's 1, 2, 4 and 5 but there's a few other ones:

Patience and reliability. RP's die because people lose interest. People lose interest if nobody posts. People sometimes stop posting for a plethora of reasons. But when people leave the RP or claim it is dead if there hasn't been a post in a week... Yeah, let's not get into that. I don't want everyone to refresh the page all the time. It is annoying like hell. Some of the best RP's simply move very slowly, but nobody cares there's no post for several weeks because everybody knows everyone is going to post eventually anyway, and not only that; these posts will be good posts too. Now that is motivating. Add to that; fast, impatient people tend to have really nasty attitudes and rush their co-players into posting below their own level. I'm really glad I'm not RP'ing with any of these people atm.

Effort. You can often read whether people do or do not put effort in their posts. I'd rather wait two weeks for a good post than get a half-assed one every day. Even if people aren't good writers, if they put in effort, it's okay. I've had someone trying her most utmost best, even though we had some writers way 'above' her 'level' and it simply made me feel good to see how hard she tried, no matter the result. I've also had players that put posts up that read like way less in comparison to their introductions. That is plain annoying. Even if it is still 'better' than another roleplayer's contribution.

Leave GM'ing to the GM. Little annoys me more than mini-modding. If someone oversteps a boundary, inform the GM and leave it at that. If it involves your character personally, it is okay to ask what is going on, but for more general matters; avoid making a fuss.