Pros and Cons of Roleplaying

VIA Pinterest--(isn't everything?)

   For those of you who are not familiar with Roleplaying, let me give you a quick overview of what it is. A group of people associate via an online group, and write a story together using paragraphs per individual. For example:

Player one: Caroline rips the sword from the beast morphing before her, glancing over at Peter. "We have about ten minutes 'till this place lights up like Pompeii during doomsday."

Player two: Peter wipes his brow; beads of perspiration mixed with onyx blood trickling down his face, "you think I don't know that?!" He bellows across at her, wondering if this will be the last time he has the chance to speak with another human being.
   They're coming now, faster than ever. Through the shattered window to his left, he sees them flooding across the landscape below. Spreading like a dark spill across a pristine canvas.
   Coming to take their humanity from them.

    As you might imagine, Roleplaying is incredibly fun if you can get the situation right. Instead of just writing with your own pool of ideas, you are able to loop others' creativity into your plots in a seamless manner!
   Putting aside all the glitter and gold however, it's the darker side of Roleplaying that has urged me to write this post. You can say it's my way of both warning and inviting, future prospects looking into the tumultuous networked world of Roleplaying.

(Though you can find roleplays anywhere, I've always used Goodreads.com; just because people are more literate there, and tend to be aspiring authors.)

_______CONS:

   ✘ The Addiction
   I think the hardest part of getting into a fantastic Roleplay, is that it's hard to separate real life from fantasy. I'm super guilty of repeatedly refreshing my Goodreads tab to check if anyone replied to my post over the course of a few seconds. Which is not a great thing for those who actually have lives, and in particular: schoolwork.

   ✘ The Excessive Amount of Pansies
   When I say pansies, I mean people who melt down every three seconds with some fit spurred on by some serious background problems. The amount of people who are overly concerned with intentionally getting their feelings hurt so they can start a drama fest is just ridiculous. I've been tempted to quit Roleplaying several times because of the preschool tantrums that go on there. Let me tell you, It's excruciatingly aggravating.

   ✘ Getting Looped Into Roleplays With People Who Can't Write 
    Everyone has their own style; I get that. However, there are quite a few people whose style happens to be:

Player one: caroline blinked
Player two: Sam at on da prk bench
Player one: Ur not sittin on da chair rit Sam like stop
Player two: ok
Player one: Caroline blinked
Player two: he sighed
Player one: "what is wrong Sam?
Player two: nothing
Player one: ok then"
Player two: I like you
Player one: Kisses Sam me to

   I am NOT joking right now. This is literally the dialog that some people waste time Roleplaying with. You'd think that the individuals writing this tragedy would get bored, but no! They have more diligence in hammering out their two word responses than I have for spewing out praises for Brandon Sanderson and Lindsey Stirling; and that is saying something! I wouldn't mind this situation so much if these people didn't tend to end up in 1x1s with me. (It makes escaping harder.) I can live with one liners doing their thing amongst each other, but when they try and reply with one word to my arduously detailed passages--things do get messy. 
   
 ✘ Roleplayers Who Take Three Years To Reply
   Oh wait... I'm one of them.

 ✘ Character Templates That Require You To Write A Novel
 This gets really aggravating. Some groups become so infatuated with the concept that if people are willing to write ten pages in pre-background for a character, they'll surely have some skill in actual writing. Ironically, I've found this not to be the case. For some reason, quite a few individuals seem more adept at making character templates look fancy, than actually turning those templates into characters.
   *It's also my firm opinion that any group requiring more than basic information from a template isn't taking into account that characters are born while writing, and not while planning. 

_______PROS:

ღ Amazing Roleplayers
   There is nothing on this earth quite like getting into a great Roleplay. It's nearly as exhilarating as riding on a euphoric moment while writing your novel; that moment when suddenly the world at your fingertips just comes alive. Not only that, but there is someone with you to share your passion for the story, and who can give it the inspiration needed to carry the plot over rough spots that would usually leave most sitting at a desk overcome with writer's block.
   To be quite honest, this is the sole reason I Roleplay at all.

ღ Getting To Know Other People
   There really is so many flavorful personalities out there, and over networks such as Roleplaying, that becomes very evident. I find that people generally are very accepting of who you are as a person when you share writing in common; and not just who you are as a Roleplayer. You can just drop into chat threads, and start up friendly conversations with strangers as though you've known them for years. 

ღ Having Something To Do That Isn't Incredibly Wasteful
  Though Roleplaying itself really has no point, the writing practice that you can gain through it IS helpful. Getting to read experienced writers posts, can in some ways enhances your skills as a writer too. 

___________________________________

   I hope those of you who are familiar with Roleplaying were able to empathize with this post, or at least have a good laugh at some of the items addressed here. Do understand that I intended no offense to anyone in writing this; this is just some of the things I find annoying/enjoyable about a particular hobby.
 Thank you your support, and for sharing these posts with your followers! 
 It means a lot!