What makes you want to join a role play?

Alright, this is a weird question, but I'm genuinely curious. ​

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There are some of you who literally seem to only join role plays with your friends. There are others who seem to only join role plays that have to do with a favorite fandom of theirs. Then there are the people who join role plays if someone asks them to. Or people who join role plays based off of who's actually posting the role play.​

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It goes on. So I'm wondering, what inspires you to join someone elses role play?​

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Spoiler: My personal feelings

Personally, I really do wish there was more variety. I feel like I'm constantly role playing with the same people (not that I don't love you guys), and it'd be nice to RP more with people I don't normally talk to.​

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But, my actions aren't reflective of what I want. Lol. I usually end up role playing with my friends. I'll join other people's role plays, with a friend. It's either that, or I feel like personal feelings get in the way of just role playing. Like, "Oh, it'd be awkward to join this person's RP because they don't like me." etc.​

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I can't bring myself to RP in Kingdom Hearts RPs (I just can't), which is probably part of the reason I feel so detached from that entire sector of role players. And sometimes, people make fandom-based role plays, and I'm genuine not that into whatever the RP is based on, and won't join.​

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When it comes to original RPs, I'm pretty shallow. I'm trying to get better, but I'm usually not interested in role plays where the opening post is squished together in a block of text and not organized at all. I just can't even bring myself to read it (not a lot of people do that, unless it's their first RP or something). I usually don't like joining RPs that I can't understand. I mean, the super literate something-or-other. When the RP creator has this super complex world, storyline, character pattern that they've come up with over a long period of time, unless it's laid out in a way that's comprehensible. ​

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But, I usually end up joining role plays when people ask me to, regardless of who it is (unless it's not an original RP and I dunno the show/game/book/etc. it's based on). Unless I'm swamped and buried under a bunch already. I'm also more willing to join role plays when the RP creator explains it themselves to me. ​

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Oh, and I don't like joining RPs that have already started, haha. I usually don't join an RP midway through. Unless someone's like, "HEY JAYN, COME PLAY THIS VILLAIN FOR ME AND GET KILLED OFF." or something. Which has happened. :c /endrant​

 

I usually try to look at the whole picture of an RP when it's presented before deciding whether or not I want to join it.

Naturally, I start by giving the plot outline a good read through, and for the most part, I just iconsider the possibilities, and the worth of the idea. Is it really something I want to commit myself to at this point in time? Will I be able to actually create and play a character through this RP? Where can that character get to from being played in this RP? Will they have to die, or can I use this as an opportunity to start building something up from scratch? Will I, as an RPer, benefit personally and creatively from being a part of this? To be honest, if I can't give myself a definitive "yes" on most of these, especially the first one and the last two, after four or five read throughs and consideration periods, then I typically just tell myself to forget about it these days. I just can't bring myself into an RP if I know for a fact that I'm not going to get anything out of it, or even be able to put anything into it for whatever reason.

I also have a tendency to avoid RPs on the basis of the characters that I see being played in them, and the people I see playing them. As old as it gets for me, I can't quite pull myself away from the KH RPs for too long (just to use those as an example). I always have to at least check them out and see what's going on with them, because I might want to join. But I always go in preparing myself for what may or may not be the in the thread. All too often, I find myself wandering into KH RP thread that's pretty much the same deal as the one before it. Not that it's necessarily a bad thing, but there is a limit, and sometimes, I see little effort put into making one different from others. But the most discouraging thing I see when I look into most KH roleplays is when I see everyone in their grandmother is wielding a Keybearer, and esepcially when I see that they're all pretty shallow in their details, it just makes me cringe a bit. I'm not opposed to Keybearers in RPing (in some cases, liek Keyblade War RPs, it's pretty much required to have them in some larger numbers), but it's a bit discouraging to see them everywhere when it's not a necessity.

I don't really care too much as to whether I have personal ties with someone in an RP. Typically, I don't have any real bond with anyone that I see posting in, or creating an RP, especially around here at this point in time. Of course, I would certainly consider joining one with a friend, whether IRL or from a forum, if nothing else, for the sake of collaboration on characters and creating some cool subplots with them. I've only ever been asked to join an RP once in my recollection. Unfortunately, I had to turn it down due to lack of time. However, I will always give due consideration to an invitation. So I guess you could say that I like to measure up the worth of an RP to my RPing above anything else.

 

For me first of all is: does it have a good plot, whenever I see a new rp up I'll read through it to see if it's any good because it's the foundations for any good rp. Personally, I much prefer fantasy ones though I will join other types like ones based on things as long as it is explained well and you don't need to have seen/read whatever to understand it. Also I only tend to join where you can have OC characters as with exising characters, I have the added pressure to make it live up to the character. Although admittedly I don't even consider joining KH ones, as soon as I see it's of Kh I tend to leave it and it needs to have a really good story to convince me otherwise.

On top of I also go by the standard of the rp, you can normally tell by from the first post and who has already joined how detailed the rp will be. By this I mean if the majority of posts will be just a few lines, a paragraph or about 3 paragraphs. At the moment I like to join ones in the middle, where you put in a fair amount of detail but not too much. I'll join ones with less if there's a good story as they're fun too but I don't usually join rps like Jayn's, even though they usually have good plots, as I feel like I cannot keep to to the general standard of posting. This is also the reason I avoid extended rps. However I am always working on improving this and gaining more confidence. I can confidently write a paragraph each post which is a lot better that when I first started.

Other things I look for is I don't like survival rps where my character is likely to get killed off, I like ones where you stick with one and develop them over time. Generally I don't judge it on who's rp it is or who is in it but on the rp itself. Another thing is I don't like joining rp's mid way through, I like to be there from the start so I know exactly what's going on. So yes, for me though it's mainly on having a good plot and ones where I find myself working out my character before I get to the OC form, I will just about definatly join. ^^

 

I've joined many different Role-Plays now...
Currently in like over 20... although some have been locked recently... :/
But regardless, there was a good mix of those that have started, and those that haven't.
If I'm joining a role-play, or am interested in joining one that has already started, I will read every single post up to the most recent.
YES! This has resulted in me reading through and entire 100 page Role-Play on occasion or whatever the length. I just feel it's common courtesy to be caught up before joining. Or for that matter, I find it just helps me... I mean, I learn a lot about the style of Role-Play it is... or the characters etc...
It also helps me decide on whether I want to join etc.
I'm getting side tracked anyway.
I've on occassion joined RPs I've had no idea about.
One example is Supernatural. And RP by LilBueno. I specifically read through every post and did a little research myself, and tada... I just fit right in.
For me... I need to find a good story... or a good theme or something that interests me.
Also... it depends on some cases who is in the RP.
I mean, I'm not being funny, but sometimes there is the occassional RP where you see a certain Role-Player and just think... oh..
Although, I don't let that deter me.
Even if I know nobody, I'll try joining anyway. I mean, it's the only way you're gonna meet new people right?
After all, when we first joined the site, odds are we knew no one anyway. etc XD

 

THAT IS A VERY INTERESTING QUESTION. IT REALLY JUST DEPENDS ON HOW INTERESTED IN THE ROLEPLAY I AM. THERE HAVE BEEN TIMES WHERE I'VE JOINED RPS BECAUSE PEOPLE HAVE ASKED ME TO, OR THEY WANTED HELP WITH THEIR ROLEPLAY AND SO I JOINED SO THAT I COULD ASSIST THEM. I'VE NEVER JOINED A ROLEPLAY JUST BECAUSE ONE OF MY FRIENDS CREATED IT OR I HAVE FRIENDS THAT ARE IN IT. THAT SEEMS SILLY AND I DON'T FEEL LIKE I WOULD NECESSARILY BE INTERESTED IN IT FOR VERY LONG, NO MATTER HOW MANY OF MY FRIENDS ARE PARTICIPATING.

IT HAS TO DO WITH WHETHER OR NOT I PERSONALLY LIKE THE STORY AND SET UP THEY HAVE. IT DOESN'T HAVE TO HAVE LOTS OF FANCY GRAPHICS OR MUSIC OR LENGTHY PARAGRAPHS OF DETAILED INFORMATION IN THE OP. HELL, SOME OF THAT TENDS TO JUST DETRACT MY ATTENTION. IF I HAVE A NOVEL TO READ IN ORDER TO FIND OUT WHAT I AM EVEN JOINING, ODDS ARE I WILL GET BORED FROM THE OP AND MOVE ON TO THE NEXT ONE.

THERE REALLY IS NO DEFINITE ANSWER AS TO WHAT INSPIRES ME TO JOIN SOMEONE ELSES' ROLEPLAY. I JUST CHECK TO SEE WHAT'S NEW, IF IT SOUNDS INTERESTING THEN I JOIN. IF IT DOESN'T SOUND ALL THAT INTERESTING TO ME THEN I CHECK FOR OTHERS TO JOIN.

THE ONLY FOR SURE ANSWER I CAN GIVE YOU IS THAT IF IT IS A KINGDOM HEARTS ROLEPLAY OR A CROSSOVER, I WILL NOT JOIN.

 

I like it when I have the ability to roleplay as a few of my OCs, in fact I prefer it over a roleplay that only lets me rp as existing characters. However, if the roleplay lets me RP in a universe I am extremely familiar with it's more likely i'll join it. Whether i'm friends or not with the person doesn't affect whether or not i'll join.