RPG annoyances/pet peeves

[James West]

Also Mr West, could you please take that pic down now. It's just too distressing!!!

-B

Who was it that I told the other day; "Watch, the first person who says 'take that image down' is probably the one who submitted the application! LOL"

Just saying, whoever smelt it dealt it! That's all...

[Bry_Sinclair]

Also Mr West, could you please take that pic down now. It's just too distressing!!!

-B

Who was it that I told the other day; "Watch, the first person who says 'take that image down' is probably the one who submitted the application! LOL"

Just saying, whoever smelt it dealt it! That's all...

Why would anyone want that to be how they were perceived in the ether of the interweb?

I've not Simmed in a while, but I prefered statuesque Andorians, or rugged Bajorans.

I might have to bring Zhaan out of retirement again...hmm...

-B

[mandarhobbit]

My personal pet peeves are as follows:

* Fleets in general. Now if I'm going to join any sim in a fleet it has to be a friend commanding and assurances they'll never get into politics.

* Actions without consequences. Start a fight? Get a pat on the back, a beer and a dermal regenerator. Tell an Admiral where he can go? Get a commendation. This includes getting ilseverely injured and spending thirty seconds in sickbay before bolting

* Having more than one specialized position. Recently, I encountered a fighter pilot who was also an MD.

* Undermining the in character authority of another character for no good reason. For instance: I played a Chief Medical Officer. Had a pt who was a security risk because his brain was booby trapped with explosives(not my idea, but I wasn't GM). The fighter pilot MD who outranked my character ordered the pt to be transferred to the brig and treated by the EMH, And autoed the Captain's character into approving it. That made it useless for me to play, because it steals the tension and drama I could create with my character, and gives it to...an NPC. What was the benefit?

* Breaking the laws of physics. I'm a stickler for if not plausible at least possible, with known technology OR good technobabble. If it seems too fake or too easy, I'm not going to enjoy it. This means Starships with a million photons and the ability to kill the Borg, to a 12 year old fighting off a hundred aliens with her bare hands and master karate skills.

Things I am guilty of:

* THAT annoying hybrid. I played a half-Klingon half-Vulcan named K'Vok. He was completely and utterly mentally unbalanced, and the only thing that saved him was strong family ties. He had some mild telepathic abilities that were the strongest root of his insanity, too uncontrolled for him to make them useful. He had violent mood swings, and was fairly deadly with a blade, but only because it was the only way to survive. And then he fell in love with a Catian and stalked her for the rest of the time I played him. I was 12 when I created K'Vok, but he was a damn fun character and good comic relief. He was also never promoted from ne'.

* Aliens with human names - when I was younger. At least they were adopted

Pet peeves I disagree with:

* Playing the opposite gender. I am a very butch woman, I am not girly girl at all, I know several lesbians who say I'm more butch than they are. My female characters aren't all that great, because, well, I don't think like most women. Men on the otherhand, I really understand. I can play the tough guy, the smart guy, the sensitive man, and most combinations therein. Nice women? Not unless they've got a major quirk to focus on. It's just something I don't get, I don't understand women.

[CamSPD]

I don't see anything wrong with a character having two specialties---there are engineers with doctorates, after all. In one of my fanfics I have a starfighter squadron, and two of the pilots hold senior positions on the staff: one of them is both the CAG and the Conn Officer, and the other is the Marine Company Commander. The rest of the pilots hold junior positions on the crew, and I did it that way so that all members of the fighter wing would be occupied and productive when they're not actually in their fighters.

Of course, there's always a chance I'll change that. I do sometimes change my mind about my characters...

[mandarhobbit]

Your examples are at least somewhat related. Now, fighter pilot and Marine Commander. Slight stretch, but there are fighter pilots in the Marine Corps, and every Marine is a rifleman first. That at least makes sense. He's still probably a better fighter than a Marine or vis versa. Fighter pilot and CONN, TOTALLY makes sense, just don't let the fighter pilot take a Galaxy into a triple G spin and play chicken with a planet or something like that. Even going so far as fighter pilot and engineer, since a fighter pilot has to have a very good grasp of engineering and usually looks over the repairs of his own ship.

BTW, most Engineers with doctorates have doctorates in Engineering, not in a completely different field.

What I'm getting at are the ones that don't make any sense, and just aren't logical, feasible or plausible. Especially if it's just not necessary.

Medical and Marine, Medical and Fighter pilot, Ops and counselor...

Alright, so, let's see if I can explain. I'll use this particular annoyance as an example

To become a medical doctor it takes 8 years of university, plus 3-8 years of residency, plus on average 50 hours of continuing education annually. During the last 4 years of university and the 3-8 years of residency, a med student/MD spends no less than 60 hours and usually over 100 a week doing school or residency related work. This leaves, literally, no time to do anything else, until the end of residency.

To become an advanced fighter pilot takes several years of steady dedication and training. Hundreds of flight hours, and simulator hours, and in class training hours. It takes two years just to become a regular fighter pilot.

So, in order to take the time to become a medical doctor, and an advanced fighter pilot, you would need: No less than 7 years dedicated solely to becoming an MD(as a general practitioner with no specialty), and no less than 5 years dedicated solely to advancing enough in your piloting career. That's 12 years. Now, even if you do take these 12 years to do both, you're going to suck at one due to having abandoned it for several years, and in order to actually be good at both, it would take another three or four years of working at both constantly to be able to do both with any sort of proficiency, and still not as well as anyone who specialized in just one or the other.

Somehow, also, I doubt Starfleet would take the time and energy to train someone in two specialize in two completely different things for no good reason, and with no clear benefit.

[CamSPD]

Okay, reading that, I totally get where you're coming from.

[JM1776]

With the permission of the group's founder, I tried to establish a time-line. For some reason I still do not understand, this did not go over well with some of the group's members.

I wonder if it was interpreted as an attempt to adroitly manipulate events to your liking—not that I'm stating or even implying such was your intent: As a matter of fact, I'm sure it wasn't. In addition, some may have thought doing so would eliminate wiggle room in the time-line.

Well, to make a long story short, they raised a big stink about it and took off with their characters, which is why the sim was comatose for a very long time.

This is the kind of stuff that happens in games with GMs who haven't yet evolved into vertebrates. [Alternately, see below.]

I've had a number of people express interest in the campaign I'm developing for d20. It's entitled Holy Land: A Tale of the Crusades. [I posted a preliminary title pic here some months ago, actually.] In conducting research on the current state of this hobby, though (I haven't run a game for anyone besides on rare occasion my wife, a few friends, and, briefly, Jay Hailey, for nigh unto a decade, after nearly twenty years of regular DMing), I've found common, nigh ubiquitous, an extremely distasteful sense of entitlement and contentiousness among contemporary players—especially those teens and twenty-somethings who cut their 'role-playing' (and I use the term looser than an opportunistic dabo girl) teeth on MMORPGs. The hack and slash of fantasy video games, coupled with the Christmas Tree School of magical item acquisition, have left many players wildly uninterested in gaming subtleties like characterization and plot. In addition, this ridiculous (and laughably mistaken) egalitarian sensibility—one which asserts that DMs are little more than facilitators—irritates me no end.

I'm beginning to think that the game has passed me by, and I'm better off simply consigning D&D to my past, enshrined with honor as one of my fonder memories.

[RichMerk]

Word.

[JM1776]

Word.

I wasn't aware you'd played, Rich.

[RichMerk]

I wasn't aware you'd played, Rich.

I played D&D back in the day. Mostly just with my brothers, but for a little while a few of us played after school. We even got one of the teachers involved.

Mostly I was just recognizing that attitude of overwhelming self-entitlement you describe. Bugs the hell out of me.

[RIP]

Nicely put, Joe.

And you too, Rich.

[justrain23]

Let's see...I have so many new pet peeves to share!

My first is a Captain who won't lead. I hate it when people either start a ship or take control of one, they're the Captain, but they don't post and are rarely on. That just boggles my mind. You accepted the position, DO SOMETHING! I've unfortunately encountered this way too many times for it to be okay.

My second are the characters that won't go with what an XO says. I told a guy to do something and he replied with, "Well...I'll wait for the Captain to come online and ask him." No. I'm the XO, I give orders, too, you aren't Mr. Special Captain's-Only Orders guy, you're just another player.

Third are people who just do one line replies in every single post. I understand every once in a while they're necessary especially if you just have a banter going on between characters. But EVERY SINGLE POST?!?!?!?!!?!?! How is that okay?

Finally, I would also like to say that after, I'm going to say 6 or 7 years of RPG's, I'm tired of meeting up with the same people. There are a few I'll follow to sites cause they're good players or have turned out to be friends. But it always ends up as the same group eventually and it all goes wrong. It just gets boring.

[Shiarrael]

The last one's name was "Gucci Pucci" and was just over 3' tall; Of half Klingon and half some species I've never heard of with some flying saucer thing over it's head that "extended" when the character got angry or horny (Which one is worse, I don't know).

...I know that person. The flying saucer thing bugs me too. >.<

Anyway...

Star Wars/Star Trek cross overs. I'm sorry, but that just does not work. One is set in the future of this galaxy, evident in that it has Earth. The other is "a long time ago, in a galaxy far, far away". Yes, Star Wars has "humans". But you cannot combine it with Star Trek. It simply doesn't mesh up.

People who continually join and then resign from an RPG are another big one. Especially if they play a major character (such as a senior staff officer).

People who constantly misspell the most basic of words or Who Type Every Post Like This. The former is simply irritating; the latter is painful for me to read.

"Mixed breed" characters that don't make sense. Like...anything "half Caitian". I mean, come on. Not that there's much canonical information on Caitians, but do we really need that mental imagery?

Stealing. Whether it's stolen from another RPG, a TV show, a movie, whatever...just no. Have some pride and use your brain to create something that's yours. Inspiration is one thing; plagiarism is another. Particularly blatant plagiarism? That's grounds to get kicked off my board and most of the ones I belong to.

Players who write the same character everywhere. Seriously, what is the fun in that?

RPG boards with ridiculous rules. Some of the boards I've seen - even some of the ones I've played on - had some really strict, unnecessary rules. I can understand asking for a minimum number of posts a week and a certain post length. I can understand insisting on a certain tense and point of view to avoid confusion. What I don't get is boards where there's no freedom to be creative. Where people can't so much as post something like "She shut down her console and got up, stretching as she did so. Her back was sore from sitting in the chair for so long, so she decided to walk down to the mess hall for a cup of coffee. (etc.)" because "Oh, you can't leave the bridge during duty hours. And you're always on duty in mission posts."

Genetically engineered characters for the sake of having a genetically engineered character. Genetic engineering is illegal in the Federation. If someone wants to use it, they had better have a really, really good story behind it.

Super powers. Yes, it's cool to be telepathic, telekinetic, super strong, etc. But a character doesn't need all of that to be a good one. Now, if it's a species norm, sure. By all means. But that only applies to canon species or species already established for the RPG. If someone comes to me with a species write up where every member of the race is telepathic, telekinetic, super strong, able to speak multiple languages without studying, super fast, able to shape shift, and super intelligent...yeah that is not going to fly.

Characters that do not grow or change and that have no flaws or problems. We call that "godmoding". A character should be "real". By that I mean they should have flaws - maybe serious ones! - and have fluctuating emotions, maybe even medical or mental problems.

Players who make their character have "PTSD"...but they have no idea what PTSD is. This applies to any medical condition. If they don't do the research, it's going to irk me.

People who don't ask before introducing plots or plot twists that will affect the entire crew or all members of the board. This is a major turn off; it means they are not team players, and I don't want to deal with that.

Players who do not know what their role actually entails. For example, if you play a nurse then you do not diagnose patients, prescribe medication, or release patients from sickbay/the hospital. If you play a psychologist, you do not prescribe or dispense medication (that's psychiatry). So on and so forth.

Players who jump in and do another person's "job". This may very well be the biggest. If I am the Chief of Security and you are a civilian, you stay out of it and let me do my job. If I am the Chief Science Officer (say with a degree in planetary science) and you are the Chief Engineer, butt out and let me do the science-y technobabble.

[JM1776]

Players who write the same character everywhere. Seriously, what is the fun in that?

As individuals we each have the right to decide what constitutes "fun."

Some enjoy the challenge of portraying a different unique and exactingly-detailed character each time they begin a new game. Others prefer an old reliable stock personality, or even playing themselves in a fantasy/sci-fi setting. Any of these is a valid play style. Most meet emotional needs when gaming ... but those differ from person to person.

[Other than this point, I enjoyed your post.]

[Shiarrael]

Players who write the same character everywhere. Seriously, what is the fun in that?

As individuals we each have the right to decide what constitutes "fun."

Some enjoy the challenge of portraying a different unique and exactingly-detailed character each time they begin a new game. Others prefer an old reliable stock personality, or even playing themselves in a fantasy/sci-fi setting. Any of these is a valid play style. Most meet emotional needs when gaming ... but those differ from person to person.

[Other than this point, I enjoyed your post.]

I'm just saying the practice doesn't make sense. Particularly when you're in a "fleet" and the same person plays the same character on all of the ships. That's not even possible. lol