Slash is serious business, so says Yeshua (first report! Plz R&R, no flamez!11!)
Acresofhope doesn't want OOC slash in her Teen Titans genderswap game!

Edit the first: This post has been deleted, alas.

Choice tidbits:

"Just for the record, I don't hate gay people. I know there are people who assume that because I'm a Christian, but I don't. I used to be gay, and people will attack me for saying that too, because they say there is no "used to be." I can understand why they would say that, if they are making their feelings part of their identity."

I hope this doesn't turn into one of those flames I keep getting on this issue, but I felt the need to explain myself, I guess. I'll remove the comment option if things get out of hand.

Another player wants to back out of the game, and asks the folks at bad_rpers_suck if s/he should send a "your post offended me and I'm leaving the game before it really gets going!" message before s/he quits.

Comm-locked post here, excerpts below

To the moderator, respectfully:

I'm sorry to say that I'm rethinking my position at this role play community and I would like to get out of it. I know it just started, but I've already gotten signs that maybe this isn't the community for me. This is in no way about me not having any time to do so or about me not thinking I can live up to the rules. I don't think I can gain much fun out of this role play from where it stands now.

I feel especially that your post about changing the rule of slash crossed the line between personal opinion and what a role play community should be based on with the rules and regulations. I myself am a Catholic, but I'm also contemplating my own sexuality at this very moment and the post and opinions by themselves made me feel very uncomfortable and a tad bit offended. I didn't mind the "no slash/no OOC slash pairing" at first because I joined a role play to have fun with things.

I do respect your opinions on a certain level and I would never ask you to change your mind, but I don't see why everyone's feelings (and yours) about the Constitution and separation of government and religion have anything to do with a cartoon slash pairing if you're against out-of-character slash rather than slash itself. As a mod I think you should've just left the pairing short and brief rather than letting your personal feelings get involved so heavily, because there are people that are going to come into the community and feel just as I do on the subject in the future and it might turn them off from the role play itself.

I hope that you understand what I'm trying to say, because I'm not saying your opinions are wrong in any way and I would never ask you to change your views. I do apologize for getting involved in a community too soon without realizing what I was getting into, and I hope that you find a new player for Gizmo. If you still want the journal, I'll erase the user pics and just leave the account open for anyone else.

I and a few others encourage said player to just quit the game and move on. There are other genderswap Teen Titans games out there...which just makes me go 'bzuh?', but that's another rant in itself.

However, some people can't leave it alone.

Edit the Third: This thread has been screened. *emo tear*

It's a small wank, but chock full of "fundiesayswhat?" and "omgslashobjectifiesgays!" despite the size.

But wait, there's more! (aka Edit the Second)

The one who was so proud to be wanked has something to say!

My name is David, and I am a bad role player.

**waits for the obligatory 'Hi David!'**

There are probably a few of you out there, who are probably yeah, he totally is a bad RPer, he plays Stus, his characterization is shit, blah, blah, blah, etcetera, etcetera. But alas, that is not why I am here, admitting that I am a bad RPer. I am actually admitting that I am a bad RPer because I have become something I hate; I have become a pretentious, elitist prick.

I will fully admit that I have played some pretty big Sue's in my time. My first character was so over powered, and such an obvious self insertion that it's not even funny. But I was a really naïve and easy going guy, and not to mention pretty ignorant in the ways of RPG. I was 21 years old, and I didn't know what a Sue was, I didn't know what meta-gaming was. I didn't know what any of that stuff was. I had honestly never RP'd before; I had never even done tabletop before until this past New Years Eve. (and for the record Changeling is a really awesome game)

Did I make mistakes? Yes, I did. But no one ever told me what I was doing wrong. In fact the mod of the game didn't even do this. That is until his game imploded because everyone was pissed off at my screw ups. I even made BRPS quite a few times back then. But I was new, and we were all new once were we not?

Well unfortunately for me, this first RPG experience of mine was with some of these pretentious, elitist RPers, that I have since emulated. Here I was, totally ignorant to everything RP related, and I am being blamed by every player as to why this game fell apart. Could this all have been avoided? Sure it could have been. But none of these players came to me about it; in fact all of them were very polite to my face. They just spent a lot of time bitching about me in another chat window.

But I am not here to bitch and moan about how horrible they are, and the only reason I bring that all up is to let you know where I'm coming from. Because after the post that recently was put up over at fandom wank, I have decided that the best thing I can possibly do is just forgive these people.

I forgive them, for being human and making mistakes. And I apologize to them for doing whatever it is that I did that made them feel that I was incredibly unapproachable.

I have spent so much of my RPing career, trying to emulate these people. So their harsh words wouldn't bother me as much. But I didn’t just stop there, I joined right in the ‘fun’. Bashing so called ‘bad’ RPers and coming here to dwell in the horribleness of it all. I did the same things that those people did to me. It was a pretty fucking stupid thing to do.

It took a lot for me to realize all of this, and it was a combination of things, but the trigger incidents occurring this weekend.

The first thing that occurred, was actually a good RP friend of mine IMing me and bitching me out about my reaction to my recent appearance in fandom wank. She told me that it was pretty god damn stupid thing to be proud of, I wasn't so much proud though as I as just apathetic about what was going on. It no longer phased me, it no longer hurt, and in fact the whole thing was pretty god damn ridiculous from beginning to end. From me trolling that ex-gay's Teen Titan community, to the wank, and to the pretty stupid wanking that actually went on in that thread. Not to mention my whole reaction and post I did about it in my LJ about it was also pretty damn stupid. I still don't care, I still find it amusing, but in a different light.

Someone said in the FW thread something that actually really made me realize something. And I quote:



My intro into X-Men RP was at an AU game where, within ten minutes of sending in an application for Jean-Paul, I was IMed by the girl who has become one of my closest friends. I don't like telling people that, because I think it looses me cred. Everyone else has such awesomely horrible roleplay stories!


Is that what this had become? Are we actually just playing these games to see who can encounter the worst RPer and humiliate the hell out of them? Must we always celebrate the worst?

I find it quite sad that this community is so much busier then good_rpers_rock. Since GRPR started in July of 2004, there have been 165 posts. That is about 8 entries a month with almost 400 members, which isn't too bad for an LJ community. Since bad_rpers_suck started in 2002, there have been 9 121 posts. Over the period of 44 months that this community has been opened, that's 207 posts a month.

We're suppose to take the bad with the good right? So why are we focusing so much energy on the bad? Is it a sign of the times? Do we all need to take anger management classes? I don't know, but it's something that's got me thinking of why I even bother with all of this.

The next thing that really got my thinking of all of this, was something incredibly stupid that I did. I quit a game last night, now that in itself wasn't that stupid thing. I would have eventually quit this game anyway, because I found it frustrating when I worked so hard on a narrative, which ended up being two pages long after I was done with them. And to get two sentences in response was kind of insulting. Now I have been guilty of doing this in the past, so karmic payback? Probably.

But I didn't just leave it at that, in fact I ranted and raved about it to someone that I had just recently met, someone that I actually really got along with OOCly, we had a lot of things in common. This is actually one of the great things about RP's: all the friends that you make along the way. Well this person called me on my shit, and was basically like, you're being a fucking idiot, and when I was quitting the game and talking to him about it. He just got fed up with it all, and was basically like, you're an asshole, I don't want to talk to you anymore.

And to be quite honest, with the way I was acting I wouldn't have wanted to talk to me either, I was being a pretentious elitist prick, and I'm sorry I didn't see it sooner. Because I lost someone that good have been a really good friend out of it.

In the end though, I left things off on good terms with the mod. I quit the game, because their style of RP did not mesh with mine. There was nothing wrong with how they were playing. Why do I say this? Because they were all satisfied with what they were doing. They were having fun, and that's what this is all supposed to be about right? I mean they are Role Playing GAMES not 'Rip into People with Ginsus! Games are fun right?

So to that person I apologize for being a dick, and I forgive him for flipping out on me. Because it was actually called for, I needed the reality check.

Now, I'm not saying that we should all quit this community, but I think we should all actually take a good long look at why we're actually here. I understand that some of you probably won't take me seriously, but that's alright. I didn't write this for you, I wrote it for me. I just felt that it needed to be shared.

So in closing, I am washing my hands. I am cleaning my slate and starting fresh. I am going to go out and play in my fandom, and I’m going to stop taking all of this stuff so seriously. And if people don’t like my style, well that’s okay, we are all different people, and we all have different wants and needs. I am just going to be myself and have fun. Because after all, that’s what games are all about.

Signing off of BRPS for the last time, it's definitely been a slice.

Much love,

David AKA northstar83