What Makes a Good RP?

[Lifeguard]

• Comfort. If I am comfortable in the situation and the RPer(s) involved, I can guarantee I'll enjoy it. But to clarify what comfortable is to me, it basically translates being able to communicate with them freely and openly, exchange ideas and suggestions, and most importantly respect and work off each other's material, all without feeling intimidated, inferior, or sub-human.
  
  
• Relaxation. If a thread is forced on me, or someone takes the fun out of it and the topic transforms into pure chaos, it can really kill it. I like a thread which doesn't force anything upon someone - a party crasher or one track mind (someone who ONLY wants fight threads for example) easily ruins it - and allows for a respectable pace.
  
  
• Quality. I'm not a sucker for long, lengthy posts. An introduction, explaining your powers and history, fine. But you do not need to spend 5 paragraphs describing the logo on your corn dog's stick! I used to think longevity meant quality, but now I sum everything up and go on with my life. I live by the phrase: "I post short enough not to bore, and long enough not to disrespect", which means I'll post to include everything needed and thats that. No 1,000 words per post every single time (like some websites demand)!
  
  
• Threads. I'm not a stickler for cliche threads (the #1 being the thread based entirely on the question "What Is Your Power?", or WIYP [pronounced whip] as I like to call it), you know, the ones where it is always just fighting or always just socializing. Of the two, I much prefer socializing because - to me - it demonstrates your understanding of the character better. You have to know their lingo, their wit, and their vocabulary, but even more important you have to respond appropriately. In a fight, you do what you have to to survive and make it out in the best condition as possible, and that isn't too difficult.
  
  For example, ANYONE could be Superman in a fight. But could they nail his personality? Not everybody, I guarantee it! I've seen so many Superman RPers and more than half (in the 70% range, if I had to take guess) of them get the powers, but only about 25% get his personality. To me, if you CAN'T do the personality, you shouldn't be doing the character - even if they have kick ass powers - at all. Because I at least, fell in love with the personality and the powers are just secondary; and could you imagine Batman without his attitude? He wouldn't have half as many fans if people went strictly by his abilities.
  
  Naturally this doesn't apply to Alternate Universe characters who get tweaked, but don't go too far or else you may as well have made an original character.
  
  
• Communication With Staff. You HAVE to be open and willing to talk, but you also need to be willing to compromise, negotiate, and work stuff out. I cannot count the number of times a staff - or a single administrator - has shot down things because A ) they have no role in it, B ) they do not like it, or C ) they do not understand or want to. It is one thing to deny a topic that involves blowing up the world, but if someone wants to go and fight a few drug smugglers, why deny it? It doesn't make sense!
  
  Also about this, I detest staff who approve their characters and let them slide, yet hold a different standard to others. I've been on a good number of forums where the staff will have canons and OCs - ESPECIALLY OCs - and not do much in the way of detail. Yet when someone else wants to make a character, they get drilled for DETAIL, DETAIL, DETAIL, DETAIL. Detail is fine, but why do you get to have a vague, open to interpretation limitation on strength but someone else does not?
  
  I can sum this up in four words: DON'T. ABUSE. YOUR. POWER!
  
  It turns people off, it creates unnecessary tension, and it can lead to a RP slowing down or even dying off. Cut that out, and hold yourself to the same standard!
  
  
• Powers. This one won't be too terribly long, as it doesn't need to be. Basically, I like seeing all kinds of powers, but what bothers me is when people take a power and don't know how it works. They just want it because it is cool or powerful, which is fine, most people do that, but if you don't know how it works you're asking for trouble.
  
  Also, I'm not a stickler for 50 people with the same power. Marvel canons are already bad enough, but with an original character - be just that, original! If 20 OCs have telekinesis, try and do something else... or at the very least have a secondary mutation.
  
  
• Original Characters. I like making OCs as well, as do others. In fact, I believe they outnumber canons on most any site, most particularly Marvel-based ones.
  
  Many OCs are good, clever, and well crafted. My two issues with OCs can be divided into two things:
  
  Personality. If an OC is full of angst, hates the world, and their entire family was slaughtered - stop there. You're only going to be making someone who has been done a million times.
  
  If your OC was a government experiment, stop there. You're only going to be doing something that has been done a thousand times.
  
  Now I'm not saying these won't work, but they've been done to death. I do encounter folks who make them stand out, but many times they fall flat. But if you're going to do something that has been done many, many, many times, you'd better bring something unique to the table.
  
  Carbon Copies. This doesn't need an in depth explanation, and people should know what it is.
  
  If your character has claws, a healing factor, is from Canada, and was given an invincible skeleton by a government agency... you're Wolverine, even if you named your character Logana (Note: An actual OC name, and with these same traits).
  
  There is a difference between a tribute and a copy, and if you're going to go so far as to copy something else, you may as well be that canon.
  
  Finally, no gender swapping a canon. Logana, a female version of Weapon X created with Wolverine's DNA to have the exact same past, powers, and memories is not going to fly - or shouldn't.
  
  
• Relationships. I don't mind people hooking up and pairing off, but when there is more dating threads than any other type, there is an archetype labeling that grows as a result of that, and it makes it hard to do anything else, especially if that what everybody only wants to do.
  
  On a similar note, I've seen people bypass key threads in favor of playing snuggle bunny with their significant other. That's fine, but if you have the effort to post 5 posts in half an hour there, why not at least one where everyone else needs you?
  
  I, and this is just me, prefer relationships to be built up over time and not in a few seconds or a single thread. To me that's a little silly, and kind of selfish in a way...
  
  To sum it up, like with drinking, you have to handle relationships responsibly. Too many people do it, that's bad, as somebody needs to be the designated driver to keep things on the straight and narrow.
  
  
• Sex. There is a difference between a couple having an intimate moment and a quicky. If your character is having more sex than development, you've made a waste of a character because even the generic prostitute in comic books has dialogue outside of sex. So to get out classed by a nameless hooker, wow, that is totally sad and epic fail, I'm sorry.
  
  Even with a hooker you have to haggle a price with them, and convince them you are trusting enough to give them a ride. So yes, even with them you have to do something! Apply logic!
  
  Now sex threads in themselves I don't mind, but if you're going to include anything important, post it at the top or something. Some folks don't want to read through smut to find key components, or as a result see the "R" or "M" and turn away, denying themselves of a critical plot element. It is common courtesy and the few times I have had a sex thread on a public forum, I do this.
  
  I've mentioned this before... if your goal is to get physical affection or sex in EVERY thread, get away! I've seen characters tainted and ruined by people behind the computer who use them for sex, because it tickles their fancy. If you want it that bad, work for it. You don't just get sex by talking to somebody for a few seconds, you have to do something more - the same should apply for RPs!
  
  Well, that about sums it up for me.

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