Forums » RP Discussion » Realism in art and literature

Beware, the first portion of this is just thoughtless rambling about my feelings.

I have a love/hate relationship with realism. Often times a certain level of realism can be helpful for immersion, and I'm a huge fan of researching certain subjects for that extra touch of realism when portraying certain kinds of settings and people. However... I usually tell people I don't like realism.

Hyper realistic drawings don't really appeal to me. They're impressive of course and I'd be a hypocrite if I said I never went through the trouble of learning how to draw realistically (in fact I think that's an important step for all kinds of art) but my true love is stylistic, cartoony, and whimsical art that plays with crazy colors and shapes. I'm the same way about roleplay. Although I think it's important to understand reality, I don't care for too much of it in my roleplay.

I don't make human characters anymore. They're usually humanoid, sure, but not human. I also don't bother with real names anymore. In fact, very few of my characters have last names, much less a family. Lately I prefer to take an abstract concept like... A broken pen and try to make it into a person. With that said, I'm not to the point of making a character that's like a literal dream that somehow came to life (even though that sounds cool to me) my characters are still people with physical bodies and personalities.

The problem is, I'm worried that my more abstract characters will steer people away because they're either too strange or too difficult to fit into certain settings. I'm planning on flat out naming my favorite character "Bunny" and part of me is wondering if that'll be a detriment. She's a whimsical and bizarre character but she's not a "crack" character by any means. In fact, she's a character built on a lot of serious and dark themes. I don't want people to assume I'm all about cartoony nonsense because my character is named Bunny, you know?

Maybe I'm paranoid, I don't know. It's just that after perusing the LFRP posts, I get the feeling that characters like mine are rare and probably not welcome. So many RPs, especially group RPs (which I prefer) are set in modern day with either no fantasy elements, or very limited fantasy elements like ONLY vampires or ONLY LOTR inspired fantasy.

Sorry for the word dump. Thoughts?

Honestly, I've been getting a similar feeling. Everyone wants a high school romance, sexy Vampire: The Masquerade-crossed-with-Twilight-type vampires, a mostly-human medieval fantasy with dashes of Tolkien Lite, post-apocalyptic grunge, or furry stuff. Not to say there's anything wrong with all of that...but it's not my thing. It's not what I'm here for and it's not what I like to RP. I've been fortunate enough to find someone with similar interests to mine and started a couple of RPs with them, but I can't shake the feeling that my interests are in the minority here.

I find humans and the modern world to be boring in an RP when I could be playing as a weird alien or a unique fantasy race. I want excitement and adventure in my plots, not so much the life of a feudal noble or an apocalypse survivor, and especially not a love-struck school kid or a seductive supernatural being who totally drinks human blood but, like, not in a gross way or anything. And even on the non-adult LFRP forum, all anyone seems to want is romance. (I've also seen some decidedly adult prompts leaking out into the non-adult forum, but that's another conversation.) Maybe it's my own bias being on the ace and aro spectrums, but...really? Can't people think about anything else? Can't we have a plot where the characters don't feel any sort of attraction towards each other? Where are my in-character friendships?

I dunno. Maybe I'm complaining too much. But the sentiments you've expressed have crossed my mind more than once.

I can relate to so much of this. I don't have a problem with people who like a good ol modern high school RP, but I am not looking to replicate real life or its limitations. I want to experience a new reality packed full of amazing, fantastical things that you can't find here on Earth.

I think a school RP would be more appealing with some fantasy elements thrown in, however, I don't have much faith that I'll ever find one that isn't based on a canon universe and puts effort into story. As amazing as Hogwarts sounds I feel that once you remove Harry and all of his plot drama from the picture, it's not that different from a real school. School RPs tend to follow the same trends regardless of what anime or book they're based on. Without a plot or something that really shakes up the whole concept of education, the posts seem pretty much interchangeable.

I like romance but I am picky and so are my characters. I rely so much on genuine character chemistry to form a relationship that I can't promise anyone that there will be romance, nor can I force/plan it. Plus, I really like to explore other dynamics! Rivalries are a favorite of mine.

I guess I'll have to just live with the fact that people like me are few and far between.

I feel like I relate to this also. I dont use canon characters, I put an effort forth into creating original races and characters. I have made an elf for a forum rp because it sounded like fun (and my other rps tend to be slower to respond) but other than the one I endeavor to make everything as original and fantastic as possible. The whole idea of slice of life is just lost on me, and while everyone is welcome to rp how they want, I simply dont understand why anyone would want to take real life and put it into roleplay.

I never have done romance, I'm always too nervous it will devolve into smut or sex scenes and the honest truth is I currently dont think I have a character that could do a romance.

I have, however, noticed the same on LFRP....high school and romance seem to be the clear winners in the forums for what people are looking for and I sit myself with you both as one of the outcasts from that play style