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Forums » RP Discussion » Kamizombie Thinkpiece: Patience

Hello people of RPR, Kamizombie here. I was previously known on other mediums as Chaotic World of Orochi. I am here today to give one of my many think pieces that I do from time to time. Because this is a new site, it means a grand new adventure on these with new minds and new experiences all around. As such, I'm looking forward to this.

Within these, I simply lay out my thoughts about certain aspects of role-play and sometimes writing in general. I lay these out in a range of subjects from interacting with others in the community, to how to perform certain aspects of role-play (i.e. Character development or reply structure), to even how to tackle touchy subjects (such as romance or erotica in role-play).

I was debating about what to make my first think piece about on here. Usually I start with a polarizing subject and bring it down to Earth. This is usually erotica, which is one of the most misconstrued and polarizing subjects there is on both ends. However, because of the fact this is a PG-13ish forum, I still need to discuss with the higher ups what can and can't be said on that regard.

As such, I decided on a simpler subject this time. This one comes from the fact I've run into my largest pet peeve in role-play multiple times on this site now... a lack of patience.

When it comes to role-play, I am admittedly a busy man. I've been role-playing for 12 years; within that time frame, I've probably had THOUSANDS of roleplays that come and go. Those role-plays have gained me fond friends that give me consistent and reliable responses. On top of that, my love of role-plays ensures I continue to look for more potential friends and fellow role-players to create role-plays with. As such, I put myself in a situation where I have quite a bit of role-plays. At the moment of this writing, I have 51 replies to get to. Keep in mind, this has been nowhere near the maximum I've had to get to, which capped at 87 back when I was on Roleplayer's Guild.

However, this has created an interesting dichotomy between following a consistent narrative and wanting friends who are patient enough to wait on me. Some people are great in that regard, but there are some who can't wait. These folk either inform me that they can't wait (the option I'm comfortable with), pester me (usually in the RP message) about when I'm going to respond (the more irksome option), or just up and decide not to respond when I do reply to them (the VERY irksome option).

As such, today's subject is about patience.

While how patient one must be is a gray area, there are some unexpressed rules of role-play involving patience that many may not know.

1. Communication is key. Personally, I keep everything one needs to know about my role-playing on my page, including my grievances. Like everything, being able to properly communicate your wants to your role-playing partner is mandatory. How patient you are and what you expect is no exception. With my own criteria, I can respond anywhere between a few days and a few weeks. Some folks might be less busy than me, some people might be more. However, the point is to know.
2. Be respectful of people's limitations. One of my largest pet peeves is people who get angry with me even though I'm abundantly clear in multiple areas that my replies may take awhile. The people who irritate me with this lose out on more than just the RP, they lose out credibility with the people who may potentially ask about said role-players. When it's someone influential like myself, that can be a death sentence to someone's role-play capacity. As such, it should go without saying that you should respect those you communicate with, including patience.
3. Do not assume. Make no mistake, being ignored sucks. In my 12 years, I've started THOUSANDS of rps... most of which didn't go anywhere. Yet, I recognize it is a damning thing to assume the intentions of the fellow role-player. Like before, it can be damning to jump to conclusions. Yes, they could be ignoring you, or life could have simply happened. Roleplaying is a hobby, after all. It can, and will often times, be put on a backseat to necessities in life.
4. Be consistent. This one is crucial. If you cannot maintain a steady reply rate of 1 reply a day every day, you should not be demanding it of others. It's oft that I see role-players whom believe themselves to live in a vortex where they can subject people to consequences, but exempt themselves from the same thing. Demanding consistency in others must be consistency in oneself.

So now that the rules are underway, what is my thoughts on a proper patience time? Well, as I said before, there's no right answer. How long you can actually wait depends on your own consistency as well as what keeps you committed. If you yourself believe you can't be committed to a 1 reply a week roleplay, then explain that. However, you'd best be able to meet that demand as well.

Myself? I have a personal reply rate maximum of 3 weeks. If I don't a reply out to someone within 3 weeks, assume my real life has tragically overtaken me or I'm dead.

Conversely, I have a wait period of 4 months with a 2 month check in period. I'm incredibly patient, and always have other roleplays to get to. Even that said, my patience is not infinite. I figure that if someone can't get back to me in four months, even to check in, they've either lost themselves in life completely or has lost interest in the roleplay (if not roleplaying all together).

However, that's just me though. For this forum thread, I want to ask what other people's thoughts are on this.

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