rantrpt

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the only problems in the rpc are ones imagined, change my mind

i hope this is sarcastic but in any case, this is my short personal condensed list from my experience as a writer in the rpc.

to start with, it's not imaginary that some people think there's no problem at all. not you specifically unless it applies to you. maybe you're lucky if you don't have any issues. maybe you're denying it for some reason. maybe you are the problem.

communication is poor. any problem that can be solved 80% of the time by talking to someone? gets ignored and festers. friends stop being friends over little things that grow into bigger things cause that first incident went unchecked. people delete blogs instead of saying they don't want to be in a group anymore. don't like a fc or know they can be banned if you say something? get petty instead and hate post. the list goes on and on. add the fact that you actually have to be open to listening and communicating with others.

let's talk about the fact that misogyny and sexism is rampant. you have better luck 90% of the time writing male characters than you would if you wrote a female. anyone who tries to tell me they've never had this issue is a liar. unless you find a great group to write in, you might as well not write a female. let's also point out the fact that some groups go on bans cause the ratio is completely off balance with 8 females to 3 males (and sometimes no non binary at all).

people of color and indigenous people are still underrepresented in the rpc. yes they have packs being made and i see people taking suggestions for them but unless people actually use them there's no point other than appearances. i also want to point out that some ( not all. ) people posting about suggestions still make the ratio out of whack with the resources they make. suggest all you want but you'll never see them make all of them.

rps are a double-edged sword. admins bite off more than they can chew. some dip two days after opening. some hear concerns and ignore them. i've seen them ask for help and then die cause they never actually allow anyone to help them. then there's members who hoard fcs, join a group and dip a day later or never post at all, write anons that can destroy groups, complain no one writes and then complain the dash is only filled with certain people's writing, etc. people complain about no good groups, too many groups, activity, etc, but then don't put any effort into things. it makes the people who actually do hate the rpc a little bit more. people who pour their hearts and souls into a group are the same ones that get shit on for it.

the anonymous button is a lot of the issue. most of us were raised that if you don't have anything nice to say, don't say it at all. get on tumblr and you can say all you want cause you won't get in trouble cause no one knows who you are.

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ive said it once and ill say it again some of yall are the reason rps dont last more than three days

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i'm a person. and if you choose to follow me, you are choosing to follow me first and foremost. i'm just sick of trying to be positive and kind only to feel like i'm an accessory or a side product.

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Why not message these people and actually talk things out like adults if you have a problem with them? Half of the time people rant but never face these people. Just say your peace and move on or simply block them

yeah. a lot of people on here are conflict avoidant while weirdly choosing the most public, abrasive way of inevitably confronting people when they can't hold it in anymore. there's a rule of thirds. one third of people aren't going to like you, another third feel neutral about you, and the last third think you're great. that also goes the other way. it's unrealistic to think you're going to vibe with everyone here just because we call ourself a community. you wouldn't hesitate to block people on the cesspool that is twitter/x and i think people need to realize the same rules apply here.

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T.G.I.F.!

need to get something off your chest about the rpc?

well come over here pun’kin and sit next to me. talk my ear off while you’re at it!

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some people really need to learn to let go of certain fcs/muses. Either they pick a fc because they’re aesthetically pleasing to them and never actually write anything, or they just write the exact same character so specifically over and over again.

i can say i’ve personally witnessed this over the many years of being part of the rpc.

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As a trans man in this community, I have been bullied by the holier than thou cis muns on more than one occasion, while those same muns run around being offended on my and other trans’ peoples behalf about terminology and faceclaims. but the truth is… I couldnt give a rats ass about whether someone is using a trans actor for a trans muse or whether someone says trans male or man. What matters to me is how these people who claim such higher moral ground wont even think twice about hurting a minority ooc and then stealing their voice to cause mayhem in a dusty corner or the internet.

I know for a fact that i am not the only one who has experienced this and this rp community weaponizes minority statuses, like being trans, when they arent even trans themselves. and they even weaponize it against actual trans people.

Dont get me started on taking one word out of context and rolling with it to bully someone. Some people in this community should really be so so SO ashamed of themselves. They are the reason nobody is in this rpc anymore. everyone left because of all the mean cis girls who wanted to bully everyone around them to make themselves feel better.

thank you for speaking up and voicing this issue. i deeply apologize that this has been your experience in the rpc!

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what is the problem with writing a character who's deaf, autistic, trans or poc like you would write a straight white cis? you don't need to make their diversity their only trait. // this so much. especially in a group setting, i've noticed that the characters that wind up polarizing and getting ignored the most are the ones that come in way too baked. i've seen this in both diverse and white/cis casts –– the ones who take their diversity, their autistic traits that wouldn't be considered very cute or charming irl, and/or their traumatic background and blow those things up to 500 in their rp character and think it'll gain interest. i can't speak for one on one experiences, but in a group setting where there are multiple characters and multiple writers, very few are going to take to this level of main character energy.

especially in the case of autistic characters displaying their autism traits –– a good rule of thumb is if you as a person wouldn't do or say things irl because you know it's not acceptable then it's not acceptable behavior for a character with autism to do to another character. this is coming from someone with audhd who's learned how to cope and mask and puts some of this in their characters. sometimes my characters like myself react in certain ways explained by their disability and yeah sometimes it's a little extra lol. and sometimes my partners and i will make fun of it because it's how we communicate, we like shitting on our own characters when they do stupid things and it's nothing personal. a lot of groups operate this way too. there's often a difference between playful teasing amongst friends and acquaintances and straight up bullying someone in rp, and i think that communication via text really can blur the lines on tone being transmitted vs being received.

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it's really important for people who want to promote diversity to remember that diverse characters are more than just their identities or disabilities or their physical appearance // more people need to understand this! what is the problem with writing a character who's deaf, autistic, trans or poc like you would write a straight white cis? you don't need to make their diversity their only trait. i have various autistic characters since i'm also autistic, and they all have interactions and meaningful connections. their austism is just 'the cherry on top'. some are aware of it, some dont. their diverstiy don't define them, it makes them who they are yes, but it just one part of them the only problem i had in a group was with my nonbinary character in a twitter rp. not in the general tag, but in the rpc of my language. overall my babies were always accepted just the way they are

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i think we should discard faces altogether. // YES! YES! if we really need a face, lets just use a single 2d picture to describe the character's appearence. just that. or let's start using anime and manga characters for our ocs. way better than having to remember who supports palestine, or voted for trump, or anything else that makes a fc acceptable or banned.

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i think we should discard faces altogether. having irl problems with said faceclaim intrude into a hobby where we write fiction, no matter how realistic, causes way too many problems - especially in groups. just ban them. don't bother having them at ALL. i'm saying this as someone who doesn't use them anyways, and i end up being unable to apply for groups because you'd have an entire list of People I Don't Know banned from being used as faceclaims and then You Must Use A Faceclaim is a rule. just fucking kill me already dawg i've been here for a decade and more & i wish fiction could be fiction without irl intruding on roleplay.

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for the anon complaining about people ignoring/making fun of their disabled characters: how are you writing your disabled characters? are they characters with thoughts and feelings and a personality while also happening to be deaf or autistic? or is their entire character personality "i'm deaf" or "i'm autistic" and that's it?

because as someone who also writes characters with disabilities and/or coming from different racial/sexual/gender identities, there's very much a difference in how the two characters will be perceived by an audience. i've learned that the former gets more attention than the latter because creating a character whose main quality is essentially "i'm different from the norm and therefore totally unique and special and that's all i need to do to gain interest" isn't going to work. it more often than not comes off as annoying and no one wants to write with a character that really doesn't have a lot for others to work with.

i guess this also ties in with the overall diversity conversation too because i think it's really important for people who want to promote diversity to remember that diverse characters are more than just their identities or disabilities or their physical appearance. i hate saying it because i really do try to make diverse characters feel involved in a group setting but i find it so frustrating when the writers who come in with a non-white, non-cis/het, and/or mentally/physically disabled muse and make that aspect the character's entire personality with no other depth behind them. to me this feels like shallow diversity because these characters don't feel like real people to me, they just feel like carbon copy stereotypes to check a box.

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would love to be able to write using faces i want instead of people scrutinizing them. i'm talking if i play a fcoc, they have to be a certain one or i'm being too mainstream. good example: if i want to use someone like zoe saldana, or zendaya, i'm told they're too mainstream and not bipoc enough to count. and that's not racist? in the rpc, with the way things currently are, you can't even play a bipoc without catching some sort of flak for them not being "ethnic enough".

i feel like the phrase “can’t please everyone” is highly applicable in, not just the rpc, but life in general.

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To go with what the previous anon said, which was greatly worded, the same goes for characters who are not cis het. There is a reason some things are called out in the RPC, and yes, it’s supposed to be a hobby. But it doesn’t mean that we have to suffer from micro aggression and often full aggression in what is supposed to also be our escape. Saying it’s just a hobby and not that serious is just brushing things off when someone says they’re hurt by something done.

i see where you’re coming from and validate everything in this message.

this question is more so for clarification - and a bit of my own curiosity - what do you consider as a micro aggression versus a full aggression?

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this doesn't have to do with nonwhite fcs and muns and such so feel free to respond to this later, but in a similar vein of diversity i am SICK and TIRED of the way that disabled muses are treated. my Deaf muses get a fraction of the interest my hearing muses do, and my autistic characters?? forget itttttt. the amount of groups ive been in where muns thought it was perfectly acceptable for their grown characters to mock and bully my autistic characters for traits and habits directly impacted by their autism? even AFTER i've explained ooc that the trait they're mocking has to do with the character's autism? unreal. as an autistic mun it's not only upsetting but it's downright triggering lmfao if i wanted to see someone be mocked for being autistic i would unmask in public more. and don't even get me STARTED on plus sized fcs oh god the rant i could launch into about how they're treated. and ESPECIALLY when any of these points intersect. the rpc talks about wanting diversity of all sorts but as soon as it's someone they don't find attractive or a muse they find "weird" it's a different story.

i’m very sorry your disabled muses got rejected. that’s so disheartening to hear as someone who also has disabilities. but i can share that i’ve had a similar experience with my own disabled character. the rpc needs to do better.

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at the end of the day it's a hobby, and if you want to see more diversity (general you), be the change you want to see. and if people don't like it? you can find somewhere else to rp that is more inline with your wants and needs out of rp.

unfortunately, this isn't how things work. to use a real world example: if a large company refuses to diversify their employees and hire people of color, telling potential employees of color to just 'apply somewhere they do have it already' isn't how you fix that issue either. most of us played fcoc in rps without diversity rules and it led to them getting ignored. yes, we can make poc only groups for ourselves, but jesus christ, why should the only options be 'accept a lack of diversity' or 'segregate the rpc'. some of you are acting like writing a person of color is the equivalent of sisyphys rolling his boulder up the hill every day.

!!!!!

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agreed with the last anon, "filling a quota" is way too broad a term. from what i know, diversity guidelines were created not to "fill a quota" but because a lot of the rpc is white and played white faces, which led to rpers of color and fcs of color being ostracized or sometimes even ignored because they didn't fit in with that group.

i remember years ago, my muses of color were constantly othered, whereas my white muses were accepted and interacted with without issue. by making it so that more people branch out and play faceclaims of color, the issue has improved so much for us.

despite what the original anon might think, racism is still incredibly prevalent in roleplay communities, and branching out your fc roster just a bit to make roleplayers of color more comfortable isn't a huge sacrifice like some people are making it out to be.

everyone in the rpc needs to read this!!