Roleplaying Rants

By CSK

Roleplaying. It's a pastime in which one indulges in pretending to be another person in another world. And it's quite nice.

Please keep in mind that when I refer to "roleplaying" I'm referring to the decent moral kind, not the kind that has given one of my favorite pastimes a bad name.

But, as in all things, there are certain things that are just… just… very very annoying. And I'm posting them so we can all commiserate. And possibly reform some people.

Note: Please don't be offended if you do any one of these nasty vices. Please don't join my roleplaying sites either.

Pet Peeve Number One: 'ood D'y, 'e 'e'a'ties! (Being Comma-tose)

Did that make sense to anyone? This particular vice is very annoying and makes it hard for other people to read what ever you just wrote. (that was 'Good day, me hearties!) It involves taking out select letters according to some divine code beyond the scope of us ordinary mortals , and putting a comma (') in their place. This makes no sense. If anyone could tell me why people do this, I will be very glad, for I will have unlocked one of the mysteries of the universe as we know it.

I suspect that people do this because it is cool. But they are wrong. According to them, it is ''ool.' I fail to understand why people do this. It is annoying. Instead of looking like a suave person with a working knowledge of the English language, you come over as a p'rson 'h' c'n't s'el' 'orth a c'ap.

People may do this because their characters have an accent, which is entirely understandable. But what ISN'T understandable is when you continue it into your non dialogue part of roleplaying, such as 'she says' or 'he walks slowly.'

I just don't get it. Why people choose to be comma-tose I have no idea.

Sorry, I mean 'd'a.

Pet Peeve Number Two: Auds and Orbs, Mascus and Femmes.

These are some of the abbreviations that make no sense to me whatsoever. Actually, they aren't even abbreviations. Auds (which is ears) is just as long as 'ears.' Orbs (eyes) is just as long as 'eyes.' Mascu (guy, bloke, lad, person of the male gender) is longer or just as long as anyone of the words which it means. (Except for the last one, that is.) Femme (lady, girl, girlie, lassie) is just as long, or very close. Using these terms may get you into a situations where nobody has any idea what the heck you are talking about.

Of course, these terms may be accepted lingo in certain circles, in which case I guess it may be ok to use them.

But it still really annoys me.

Pet Peeve Number Three: Manga/Anime Roleplaying!

Don't get me wrong, I love manga as much as the next manga reading fool, (which I am),and certainly manga type roleplaying has its place in (keyword) MANGA/ANIME FANTASY ROLEPLAYING SITES, NOT ON MY TOLKIEN TYPE FANTASY ROLEPLAYING SITE.

Thank you.

One of my roleplaying sites (my user name is EsrohaFenixfeather, and the address is ) is Tolkien type fantasy roleplaying- elves, dwarves, swords, etc., etc.

Not katana, ninja, samurai, anthros etc., etc. This all belongs in the category of- MANGA/ANIME ROLEPLAYING!

Not Tolkien roleplaying.

This rant also includes non category roleplaying, I guess, too (ei spy roleplaying in a medieval roleplay) but Anime/Manga Fantasy roleplaying in a Tolkien type setting is the one I've had the most trouble with.

For all the outraged 'I'm going to take my katana bearing ninja character and plop him into a forest with elves' people, think of this.

What if I took MY sword bearing, magical, nomadic, slightly elvish characters and plopped them down into the middle of Inuyasha? Would that annoy you?

That's what I thought.

Pet Peeve Number Four: WeLl, i lUv cHaTsPk iTs cOoL.

Ummmm, okay. See Number One. This mode of communication is hard for other people to decipher.

This by no means includes the abbreviations we all use sometimes- peeps, etc. when we are in a hurry. I get angry when they are used like this:

JoHn pixs up his $wrd n runs his n-eemies, y3llin omg! i will get u! u r scum! i h8 u!

Okay. This is really hard to understand and to read. Keyboards have Shift and Caps Lock keys for a reason, they really do. Also, they have punctuation keys for a reason as well.

This reason may shock some: to communicate in the acceptable mode of English know as 'English.' Not 'Chatspeak.' (or even worse, chtspk.)

The bottom line is that otherwise it's very hard to know what the heck you are trying to say is you don't make use of the proper keys at the proper times.

The Rants are over. Whew.

If anyone thinks that is really cute to respond to this essay in any of the forms above, it's not.

If anyone wants to flame me, go ahead. I'm too lazy to use matches to start a fire anyway.

If anyone agrees with me, then tell me so.

If anyone wants to get the addresses of my roleplaying sites (I have a scifi and a fantasy one) then tell me and I will email you with the addresses.