Ooh boy, this should be a fun chapter.
So, as anyone who follows my account or just pays a small amount of attention to my activity feed can tell, I greatly enjoy roleplaying. The endless possibilities for outcomes that depend solely on the individual character's actions can lead you to an experience that can be addicting. Most of the time this feeling of excitement and inspiration can lead to good things, as it can teach young ones the best methods of spreading across a character's inner thoughts and desires and prepare them for the wonderful world of writing. But unfortunately, as with all things, there is a downside as well.
Now, if I were to go over each specific fault with roleplaying or roleplayers in general, I would never finish this chapter, so I shall just speak about one specific issue that I have more immediately noticed.
And that, of course, is roleplay forms.
For those reading this that may be unfamiliar with this term, roleplay forms are what is used to line up your character's individual traits and give the owner of the roleplay a notion of what sort of person your character is like. Think of it like a book description; you want to provide some idea what the story inside your pages is like, so that others will actually become interested and start to read it.
So, what's wrong with them? Nothing really; except sometimes they happen to fall in what I tend to refer too as, "the Trap of Two Extremes." This is when an inherently good idea or project is tarnished because of two extremes that make up the vocal minority. (i.e. people who are obsessed with shipping, people who hate on every single ship)
The two extremes in roleplay forms are the Overly Detailed Analyzer, and the Illiterate Idiot. These are two types of people that probably aren't the majority of roleplayers, but are seen often enough in all types of roleplays that by now, their forms can't be escaped.
The Overly Detailed Analyzer may be seen making forms that take up ten posts, and smugly criticizing all those that don't do the same. They will purposely join smaller roleplaying books which may just be starting out, overwhelm everyone by posting an entire novellic post for each response, and thus drive out the active members who feel like they can't compare. I haven't seen as much examples of this, but the times I have infuriate me. There are several literate roleplays on Wattpad they could join, so why do they feel the need to shame smaller roleplayers with their skills?
Now, for Illiterate Idiots, there are several examples readily available. These are usually the types of roleplayers who will join a Literate roleplay, or one where some sort of English comprehensive skills are required, and write their forms in broken grammar and one sentence descriptions. Now, when the roleplayer who started the roleplay sees these, they will usually not even accept them because reading a form is all it takes to judge someone's literacy skills.
Here's an example of a bad form they might employ:
Name: penelopE v0nschwEetz dejuliUs buttercup
Age: 1,405 but l0oks 8
Gender: rainbowsexual!!1!!
Appearance: pelope has gorg3ous bwond hare wif gren eyes & whoreglass figure
Personality: pelops is charmig swet sassi smert & kid
...Most of them won't be that bad, but you get the idea.
And then there are forms where they make the dumbest of things mandatory information. Why is my character's blood type, sexual preferences, and favorite flower important wisdom? Forms should help you understand a character enough to visualize them in your head, but I don't comprehend how some forms think knowing whether my character likes blondes or not is influential in how I think of them as individuals. I might judge them as shallow, but information like that is best learned in the actual roleplay!
I suppose, to wrap it all up, I don't like forms which are provided with as little effort as possible, or forms which reveal every little secret about the character before I even get to know them.
What are your thoughts on roleplay forms? Is there something I didn't cover here? If so, don't be afraid to tell me in the comments below!
Top 3 Recommendations:
1. Inkheart by Cornelia Funke
I was wondering for a while whether I should include this one, as it's not really a new discovery I found and is a book I have known about for some time. However, even though it has received it's own movie and has a decently large fanbase, I didn't see any harm in talking about it any more.
Cornelia Funke has a unique and beautiful writing style which differentiates her books from any other authors. The amount of detail and world-building she is able to easily seem into her pages gives J.K. Rowling a run for her money, and throughout the book I found myself connecting with each of the character's, even the antagonist's. In Inkheart she takes a concept most people would probably love to participate in; that is, the entrance of characters into books and the possibility of taking things out of them as well. The main characters, Mo and Meg, are both Silvertongues who possess the ability to bring words to life, which causes a lot of trouble as a storybook villain who exited his world now seeks to take over ours, and has even captured Meg's mother and father.
Each chapter ends perfectly as well, with just enough information that it doesn't seem like a cliffhanger, but too much suspense to put the book down and get back to doing your chores. Re-reading it for the third time last week, I found myself in that age-old predicament where you know you have other obligations, but the pages call out to you in an entirely enticing manner which barely any can say they have escaped from.
This is why I recommend Inkheart, to lovers of fantasy and books in general.
2. John Michael Talbot's Album The Birth of Jesus
In this Christmas season, many of you are probably getting sick and tired of all the same old Christmas carols being played over and over again on the radio stations, malls, and retail stores you visit. Winter Wonderland and Jingle Bells are all well and good, but when you hear them being rehashed continuously, the songs start to lose their sparkle. However, this album is full of songs you will certainly never hear on a radio, and thus retain their magnanimous glory.
Now obviously, this won't be for everyone. The name alone reveals it contains highly religious songs, and for those who aren't Christian, it may just grate on your ears. Nevertheless, I still recommend it, as it flawlessly blends the symphony of a choir with the deep voice of John Michael Talbot to produce tunes that seem to float through the air almost hauntingly. Whenever I hear it's first song on our old family CD player, I am instantly transfixed in awe of the magnificence of each hymn, so I'm slightly curious whether anyone else will be struck by the music within it in a similar manner.
3. Kimi no Na Wa, or Your Name
For anyone who pays attention to anime, or just animation in general, mention of this movie has probably been inescapable. And this is for good reason, as the film is so amazing that I am having trouble trying to describe it.
The main synopsis is that two people, a boy and a girl, mysteriously begin to switch bodies after the fall of a comet, and while they pretend to be the other in this strange situation, they begin to fall in love only for the boy to realize that the girl may be harder to find then he had originally assumed.
Now, before you be like my immature friend and think that's pretty trans (looking at you, Dan) this is not just your typical slice-of-life movie featuring a romance. I don't want to spoil the main conflict, but one of the main characters almost dies twice and a city may or may not be wiped out. I'll let you piece together the rest of the events by researching it yourself or actually WATCHING IT.
All of the film is beautifully animated as well, so if anime in general disinterests you and you hate romance, you can always just go online and look up aesthetic images from different scenes in the show.