D: How did I miss this thread?

Likes:
*Characters that are complex, and require months to truly unravel their motives. 
*Vulnerability in characters.  Both physically and emotionally.  No person is ever 100% immune to anything.  It's one thing to say your character got such and such battle scar in their youth, and an entirely different matter to RP out them being wounded, or traumatized and to keep writing the consequences. 
*Characters that screw up.  It shows a certain maturity of the player when they can put their character into embarrassing or uncomfortable situations.
*Characters that change over time.  People don't stay the same, neither should characters.  The RPs they are in should change their motives, beliefs and actions over time. 
*Players who take the time to RP with and help new players.  It's not always easy or fun to stop what you're doing and walk a new character around Hydlaa, but if I see someone doing that, I'm a thousand times more likely to seek that person out for RP.
*RP fights between small numbers of players, especially where the characters fight realistically.  My RP fighting motto is to err on the weaker side, and I love to RP with people who don't play as if they have the skill/power of Vodul. 

Dislikes:
*When a player doesn't type anything atall because "their character has nothing to say."  It's just as easy to type "X watches silently" or "X listens intently" or "X falls into a stupor, utterly tuned out to those around him."  It may not seem like much, but simply putting SOMETHING down lets the other players know that you are still paying attention, even if you're not actively speaking, so that they don't sit around twiddling their thumbs waiting for your reply.
*Child characters.  Yup, I have one myself, but I'm not crazy about them.  Most of the time I find them tedious to write, and while some players write them brilliantly, they aren't my absolutely favorite type of RP to be in. 
*Daily tavern RP.  As in, going to the tavern and having a drink, talking about the weather.  I have enough monotony in my own life, and I don't want that to be the mainstay of my "recreation" time here. 
*Players who nitpick inconsequential details OOCly in main/tells.  A little [joking] here and there is fine, but harping on details ruins the whole ambiance.  I've had people send me /tells for literally 15 minutes straight about two typos in my OOC description.  There is no reason atall to make it your personal mission in life to eradicate spelling and grammatical errors on the internet, and if you do, then take it somewhere other than me.
*Large group RPs.  I'm actually fairly shy and uncomfortable in groups larger than 5-6 people.  GM events are pretty nervewracking for me, and markets are a nightmare.  2-4 people is my preferred size of RP. 
*Delusional Ylian males (like Roberet) who think attempted murder counts as cybering attempts.  OH WAIT! This totally is your way of writing a character with sub-par flirtation ability D'OH! Please redirect this up to Like #2. 
*PVP magic duels or attacks.  If a rabid ulbernaut rampages through a market... RP with it it.  Don't mage-spam it.  Sure, it's IC for your character to "instantly and furiously attack said beast with a volley of energy arrows, psychic darts or a few fists of the volcano," but it's more fun for everyone if you TYPE it instead of /shortcut it.  I honestly wish GMs would set their event characters to not accept /challenges or /attacks.
*Unrealistic RP fighting, or lynch mobbing.  Players should respond to attacks, which becomes difficult in mobbing, as the villain cannot keep up.  And I cannot stand to watch one villain being bombarded by 5 or 6 people who all want to Slay the Villain.  Also, just because the character is an enki doesn't mean it can do 15 backflips, 2 quarter turns, land in a split and simultaneously cast 3 flying stones while dodging 9 arrows and their own animated shadow.  Just because kra's a kran doesn't mean they can have an anvil dropped on their head and keep on grinning.  Just because mechanics isn't currently allowing it doesn't mean a klyros can't glide for a short distance. 
*Rolling. I'll do it if the other player insists, but I honestly can't stand it.  I'd rather see a creative RP attempt than a "/roll 6 for 1, darn I lost."

Heh.  I'm sure it won't be taken offensively, Akei.  Computer glitches happen to us all. 

[. . . and that really is like mixing baby's breath and napalm, Dannae. Maybe we should try it... and take over the world... ]

Thanks you guys [even if there was a StarTrek-StarWars double quote  ]



and a bit closer up:


For IC purposes, I won't say who these characters are.

Fire also usually consumes that which it touches.  I was asked specifically to draw bracelets of fire.  Sadly, that was more than I could manage, but I think it's close enough that I wasn't going to risk erasing.

Tigist and Bryn:

Ok, while I understand where this is coming from, here is something that irks me. When did critique become evil? People trying to give constructive criticism can still be taken the wrong way, so what do you do then to give criticism? And why is it more righteous to rip someone to shreds for trying to help than it is to rip them to shreds while trying help?

That, m'dear, is the difference.  When you are trying to help someone, you don't rip them to shreds.  Critique and constructive criticism are not synonymous with complaints.

I'd have to say the majority of characters are relatively In-Character with the settings, simply because they don't do very much beyond ordinary activities of daily life. 

But even the most mundane character tends to die from time to time, and probably 90% of players do not play the curse out per the settings.  I've seen certain players, like Monala, Caraick and Mariana who make a concerted effort to put more emphasis on an IC reaction there, and characters like Travosh who will fuss at other characters who treat suicide and death too flippantly.  It does seem to be making a difference. 

There's also the problems of the race-specifics not being implemented yet.  It may be "fun" to have a Laanx-woshipping, Heavy armor-wearing, dual claymore-wielding, herbalist/master blacksmith klyros, but it wouldn't fit the settings.  People often choose characters for their looks or basic attributes, without thinking of the settings behind the races.

And Candy brings up a good point.  Certain aspects of the settings need to be re-worked or updated across the board to make it a bit easier for players to know just what the current settings are. 

As a note, the devs have been putting a LOT of work into this recently, updating quests, adding new IC information, etc.  It's very much so appreciated.

It is said that there are certain poisons, instant incineration, and certain diseases which are capable of causing true death. 

And sure, hundreds of people have left the game, but it's not simply because there were RPs they didn't like.  There's much more to it: platform, progress on the mechanics, balancing, the GM/Devs, conflicts with other players, computer problems/not good enough specs, etc... There are so very many reasons, that it's not accurate to say "most/lots of/too many people leave because of RPs like this."  I see RPs every day that I don't like, or don't want to participate in.  Guess what, I just keep walking. Or, if it's something that my character dislikes as well, she RPs her dislike, which invariably results in an amusing interaction between characters.

Bottom line: We all need to be considerate and willing to compromise, and appreciative of the people who do go above and beyond to make the game fun and entertaining for others.