MUST HAVES (Went through WTF with these, because I couldn’t think off the top of my head)
1.1: I must have enough time to dedicate to it.
1.2: It has to be open to new players, of course.
1.3: I want to see recent activity from story and host, even if it is just the host making sample intros and plots or just RPing with itself. If there is a complete lack of possible RPs to choose from, including those in my head, then I would check for something older than the most recent year and then try to woo the host into playing again. It would make it easier, if the dates were written Day-Month-Year.
1.4: My mood and stance, so important for internet and role-playing, because it an undertone and thought pattern when reading affects an atmosphere. If I am irritable, then I might think that another is irritable in its post and that’s not fair. If I am thinking about modern culture, then that might not assist in an ancient foreign land. All in all, it’s not unlikely for me to reread RPs to see if I might be interested again and it’s never the host’s fault. Also, I do not do fandoms or certain sexually-oriented Adult RPs. Sheep-shagging is not something I want to dream about—dirty deeds! Even if I wouldn’t be playing those characters, I would have to read and that’s personally what I choose to avoid. If it is non-Adult or I wouldn’t have to worry about reading about those particular exploits, I wouldn’t mind as much.
1.5: If the character I am inspired to play, even if the host agrees to it, would piss people off and end up making OOC drama, then I would avoid that RP and not make a name out of disgruntling gamers. I can understand why kicking someone to keep the rest happy would be a solution. I don’t desire to be the reason why an RP fails, even more so when it is not my RP to kill.
POSSIBLE PREFERENCES PERSUADED BY PRESENT DISPOSITION (Not necessarily in this order)…
Peter Piper Picked a Patch of Pickled Peppers
2.1: The attitude, writing and character(s) of that host, inside and outside that RP. I certainly want to understand what’s going on, what s/he wants and what that RP’s in-story struggles are.
2.2: Intentions to have OOC conversations, whether through WTF or other media, at least for the start of the RP and at first to new RPers, so that things can be established and thought out before interests fade.
2.3: An understanding of what is allowed or at least that I will be corrected politely, if too far.
2.4: If Adult, a relationship with more focus on the plot than on the Adult aspects of it, since that would be just a part of the story, but carry on conversations about it as it is perfectly natural. I do not want to feel like I’m stroking someone’s ego (or other head-euphemized things) in writing, but I do want to know what brings out those emotions, because affecting those is a sign of a good writer to me. If it’s an intellectual discussion, then stir a connection of agreement or of surprised revelation. If it’s a sex-based RP, then I want to make you blush and lust for more. This does not mean that I want to read fifty pages of intercourse and five pages of plot. The suspense and back-story make it real and preciously rare.
2.5: Lastly, the attitudes, writing and characters of the other RPers overall, including abnormal disproportionate amount of females or feminized characters in RPs which clearly should not be dominated. If it is an all-girl school, understandably set. Office, eh, whatever, I guess. Normal towns, where did all my bros go? This can go for villains and/or conflictions between characters.
o.O You don’t like wha…?
GENRES/CREATURES: I understand that some things are overused or romanticized, making them probably unfavorable to play after so many fails, but would original or unusual versions of these make them more appealing? For instance, mixing perceived genres or viewing genres under different outlines. Maybe instead of the usual, elves are actually aliens or vampirism is a condition of a society, not a prerequisite to assume sexuality, power, mystique and vore? Maybe lycanthropes are scientifically hybridized killing machines with only that interest, or gods, devas, angels, demons, fay, fairies, pixies and sprites are all just different terms for psychics manipulating themselves into their own fantasized versions of superiority. Sorry for the length of this; I just hate things being disregarded because of a few bad examples and hope to never contribute to that.
ESTABLISHED: Darn it, I thought that the amount of activity in an RP might influence others to join, not scare them away. I don’t like slots or using orphaned character or anything, but is there any way to assure to new players that they are more than welcome to join and bring in some of their own flare?
PERSONAL: Don’t leave the RP, because of others, pleeeeease! The host can’t possibly prepare for that.
DESCRIPTION: I am a rambling man; first step to recovery, but I like it, too. It’s fun to challenge one’s self to write more, including history, sensory aspects and beneficial plot information or impressions of many other things. If one sentence or even one word would create that perfect umph to a post, then I’d still try to more while keeping that same feeling. Better something than nothing. (I erased half of this.)
MARY-GARIES: I’d sooner qualify them as all-good, some type of God-mode. Anyway, because they do exist, I think they shouldn’t be automatically rejected. Consider the author; maybe there is more to them than you think. Perhaps it’s meant to be exposed as imperfect or rejected from their crush.
