meme posting

[great balls of fire]

Reading the discourse that's followed, I think I had a knee-jerk reaction to what I usually see as unnecessary roleplay policing. But -- something keeps digging at me, so I guess I'm going to pick another fight.

There were a few mentions of likening roleplay to work and effort and insisting that memesters don't put in the effort to create good roleplay, and I think maybe this is sort of framing the issue incorrectly. Some of those memesters people complain about are actually pretty adept roleplayers who know how to contribute to a good tale. What's happening is, when they're relaxing and chattering in hub-areas, they're dissolving the atmosphere for other people, right? Sucking the immersion out of the room. Like a vacuum. Or a jello salad. And that sucks and that's no good. It doesn't really mean that they're terrible roleplayers, though; just means they've learned that certain behaviors are fine because they've not been told to knock it off yet, and there's a burgeoning culture of it that's gaining traction.

By labeling these memesters -- I'm gonna call them that -- as low-effort roleplayers, and furthermore, as some of you have in this topic, by putting yourself on a higher pedestal and implying that you're more creative or more dedicated to roleplay, you're drawing some pretty hostile and unnecessary lines, and assuming opinion as objective fact. As a person motivated almost entirely by spite in several compartments of my life, I can assure you, there's no better way to get someone to dig their heels in and become stuck in their ways than insist they suck and that you're great.

So to sum up, excessive memeing bad, but it probably doesn't reflect on someone's ability to roleplay nearly as much as you think, and you probably shouldn't call those folks terrible roleplayers, because it'll probably just piss them off and make them dismiss your points entirely. Instead, like what I think a lot of folks have been doing here anyway, just call out the specific behavior and why you hate it. I think that's been done pretty eloquently already, but I do think that there is an urge to other people that is, at best useless, and at worst, actively harmful to achieving the goals you'd like to achieve.

comrade.

For the most part we are in agreement. Except, I would provide a counter point.

The reason why the IC meme posting is so frustrating is precisely because it is perpetuated by people who are more then capable of quality roleplay when they care to be.

That's the crux of it. They don't care.

Meme posting indicates that in that moment, the meme posters do not care about the RP of the public around them. They don't care about the RP of strangers, nor do they consider the public stage enough to warrant their creative attention. There's no shame or guilt because their effortful participation in our communal story is a privilege they give to the server; not the other way around. They'll put in the effort when it's with their friends or with characters with established pedigrees. But for the common public? I guess we can get bent. We aren't worth the effort.

And that sucks. It really sucks for everyone else who is putting in their labor to put on a show, who might be wanting to engage with these people who can write well, but simply don't care.

There's no negotiating with apathy, or spite. And so I (and some fellow players) chose to make a big stink about it as to prompt some private introspection and quiet course adjustments.

edit: oops deleted a part out I meant to keep
I think most people do care about the RP and just need to be reminded that just because they don't care doesn't mean everyone else feels the same. Since the bar is literally on the floor, they can't really get much worse, they can only improve.