Other People
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Most of what I try to do has already been said by better RPers than me, but maybe slightly different is I try to be the one who comes up with the scene premise. I think (hope?) it’s fun to be able to run with something but the “thinking up” part might be more difficult. Obviously no one is the one who does it every time, but I did shoot for at least usually having a concrete idea in mind, even if a scene ended up being something my partner suggested instead.
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@junipersky I literally made Aureth 5’9" and he was 37 when we started and going a lil prematurely gray because I liked posing about his hair. He got… so much ass. Lmao. I can’t remember how old he was when the game ended but he was still doing just fine.
Edit: I looked it up, he was 50.
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Making your RP fun for other people for me is all about reading other people’s poses, responding to what’s actually there and riffing on it. RP chemistry develops from the way you can bounce off the other player so I always want to be both reactive and proactive in terms of giving my partner something to react to. Also my sense of humor is dumb and it is everywhere.
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I also think it’s important if it hasn’t been said, that YOU are having fun in the scene too. While it’s great to run things for other people, if it feels like work, you aren’t enjoying it. That’s going to come across in the writing dynamic. If you are also having fun and they are having fun, then we have chef kiss magic.
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@RightMeow IS it important? I have fielded dozens of ‘why don’t more people want to rp with me’ type questions. I have never fielded "I am not having fun, how can I have fun?’
To answer seriously, I’m somewhere with Sao and Yam. I’d love to always have a scene setting idea, but that’s not me. What I CAN try to do is engage and respond to whatever my scene partner is putting out there. Try to find something about them or what they are doing to be genuinely interested in. I like to ask questions IC that inspire/require character building - that’s probably not fun for EVERYONE but it does work.
fr fr
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@hellfrog said in Other People:
@RightMeow IS it important?
I mean, yes? People aren’t going to have fun with you if you aren’t having fun. It comes out in your poses, or in your attitude, or just in the overall tone of things.
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@hellfrog said in Other People:
I have fielded dozens of ‘why don’t more people want to rp with me’ type questions. I have never fielded "I am not having fun, how can I have fun?’
I mean, I’ve fielded plenty of the latter and fewer of the former. YMMV of course.
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@hellfrog said in Other People:
that’s probably not fun for EVERYONE but it does work.
That part is probably one of the key issues is that fun is not the same for everyone. Part of the collaboration of having fun together is also to identify what is fun for you and also the other person. The more that Venn diagram overlaps, the higher the chance of fun happening, though it still requires efforts from both parties. That’s why communication is incredibly important, even if it can be hard.
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For the purposes of discussion in this specific thread I’m taking it as a given that the player is having fun, and I am interested in investigating how that player then makes sure others are also having fun as well, and shows interest in their experience.
“The player is not having fun to begin with” is kind of a different barrel of fish to shoot.
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@Ashkuri idk I think there is something to be said about having your own fun in order to make fun for other people. I can’t be entertaining if I am not having fun, so I guess I make playing with me fun by having fun myself.
I’m a yes-and person. I do my best to be engaging. Like @Yam I enjoy holding the idiot ball and be funny / do a bit or something. And I always try to pass the ball, which I think is something that a lot of people say they do but aren’t really good at? Like if you give me a plot hook, I’m running to give it to the next person vs holding onto it (since I’ve already got a ball, it’s the idiot ball, that’s my ball).
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@bear_necessities said in Other People:
I think there is something to be said about having your own fun in order to make fun for other people.
There is, but for the purposes of this thread, we’re assuming you already checked that first box, “I am having fun to begin with.” Then the fun for other people can come in, which is the discussion I’m most interested here.
@bear_necessities said in Other People:
I’m a yes-and person. I do my best to be engaging …
Like so!
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This is a good question actually. I’m not consciously aware of anything I do for the specific purpose of making things fun for others.
But I do try to not ignore anyone, and at least acknowledge what others are doing in the scene, if not react to it out right.
I also try to pose something to react or respond to and not make the other player(s) carry all the burden of keeping the scene moving/interesting.
In plot-related RP, I’m always willing to modify or completely drop any super-great-guaranteed-success idea I might have in favor of what’s going to be most collaborative.
In actual practice, the above usually manifests as me being the silliest shit possible and some people have fun with that and others roll their eyes so I hard I can feel it across the country. Can’t please everyone.
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I was def curious about how often most RPers even consider Other People’s fun. We’ve seen “Yes OF COURSE here’s how”, “No, I’m a bit bad about that (kudos for self reflection!)”, and “Yes but what about MY fun”. And then of course there’s the nuance of someone thinking they provide enjoyment but the reality not quite matching up. This hobby is so annoyingly social.
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@Yam said in Other People:
I was def curious about how often most RPers even consider Other People’s fun.
I’m so worried about other people’s fun and happiness that my therapist wishes I would just be a selfish asshole once a month.
