Go ahead- I don't mind. It's the truth, and I won't deny it. And I do my best to surround myself with others of the same exclusive breed.
I am an elitist because I require a lot of those I choose to roleplay with, at least for more than a moment, and when I have the choice. I'm an elitist because I am easily perturbed by roleplayers with very bad habits, and I don't mean the obvious ones- godmodders aren't tolerated by anyone with an ounce of gaming sense, and it hardly marks one as Elitist to refuse to have anything to do with them. Conversely, I'm not troubled much at all by what one would call "power-gamers". You know the ones- Those guys whose characters must have the biggest, the baddest, the best, and the most, they min-max, then twist and cheat until the characters they play are unbeatable, or close to it. Those guys don't trouble me, because their badassery has little impact on my Rp. I'm not "in it to win it", as the saying goes, so I don't really care how powerful other pc's are. Honestly, though I don't condone that kind of behavior, those people can be a delight to play with, for several reasons. First, they are usually astonished to interact with someone who isn't even trying to one-up their power. Second, they're also often delighted to find someone who doesn't feel the need to argue that power with them. Both of these things leave them in a surprisingly good mindset to actually roleplay. So I'll call power-gamers a strange little guilty pleasure.
What do I like to see in a roleplayer then? First and foremost, a reasonably strong grasp of the English language, and the ability to write (and speak) fluently therein. There are things I consider pet-peeves, of which many Rp'ers are guilty, and which I do my best to accept, despite how very raw they may rub my fussy, elitist sensibilities...
Matters of tense drive me quite mad most often- those who insist on couching their descriptive scenes in the past tense, or worse, who slip back and forth between past and present, within a paragraph, or even within a single sentence- this makes me scream. Yes, I am shrieking at my screen when you do that, people, but I try very hard not to complain.
Consistent abuse of homonyms and homophones is another that will have my molars grinding, and steam rising from my staring eyeballs. I don't object to the occasional slip- we all are guilty of them now and then, and there is also the horror of auto-correct which imposes this nonsense on us from time to time. But one who cannot seem to actually learn the difference between a plural-possessive, a locative noun, and a contracted verb are indeed likely to eventually send me into a homicidal rage. Still- I do try to afford patience and overlook these things.
Typos, for the record, hardly rate a mention. No one is innocent on that score, no matter how elite.
The habits which will send me packing- and mostly incline me to avoid interacting, are more behavioral. Any repeat of any of these offenses is likely to get an elitist stamp of extended or eternal disapproval. The player who monopolizes my time actually falls into several categories- those who enjoy interacting with me so much that they stop playing with others, and will actually sulk, complain, or even leave, when I am busy with someone or something else. (I'm flattered, but seriously. Share the love, people.) The player who will make every effort to box my character in by the end of a scene, so that I am obligated to wait for their return before I can continue to play the character in question- this can be anything from a casual arrangement which leaves me dangling, (ie; Sorry, man, I gotta go- can we pick up this conversation next time?) to one which uses actual tangible means to confine the character in question, (ie; leaving a character imprisoned, bound, or otherwise without any means to contact/interact with other characters.
The player who takes IC interactions way too personally, and/or, way too seriously. It's a game, in the end, however much we may adore it, and it's a game in which we play roles. Hence the term, "role-play" after all. If I am playing a druid who hates fire-weilding elementalists, then I'm likely to hate on your fire-weilding elementalist. And if you and I frequently play characters who are diametrically opposed, then we are likely to be at odds more often than not. That's not personal, it's the nature of the game. Likewise, if my impressionable young priestess bats her eyes and blushes a few times at your Fabio-haired paladin, it doesn't mean I, as a player, want to play house, or doctor, for that matter. Now, I do understand that occasionally, that kind of interaction leads to more serious character relationships, and I can see how some players might get overly attached in such situations. Never the less, even were my blushing priestess to marry that paladin and build a house, and a family, (another personal pet peeve- just me, but it's not likely to ever ever ever happen- just sayin'-) it would not for one moment mean that I was planning my real, non-game life around that character's player. Folks... learn to draw lines between what's real and what's fiction- however interactive- for everyone's peace of mind.
"Trigger" players. These are people with lots of no-go areas, which they don't make clear well in advance. These are folks that will suddenly flip out because someone did something that was perfectly reasonable to expect- and see coming well in advance, but they fail to mention, and rather than simply politely bowing out of the interaction, get some level of hysterical, often pointing fingers of blame at other players, and stomping conspicuously out, as soon as they've made certain the interaction has been thoroughly ruined for everyone else who was involved. As above, people- know your boundaries, and be prepared to find new ones now and then, without a lot of the wrong kind of drama.
All-In-The-Family players, AND It's-All-About-The-Sex (-or the-Love) players. These two deserve their own categories, really, and they will get their own descriptions- but they're kissing cousins, and deserve to be referenced together as well.
All-In-The-Family players, or Soap players, are folks who seem obsessed with building family relationships with everyone they know and interact with. These are the ones who walk into the local tavern or town square, and must greet more than half the people there by nickname, like to use words like Honey, Dear, Sis, Mom, Dad, etc. These are the folks who are inclined to stage in-game weddings, and worse, to have in-game extended pregnancies, because we all need to know that they and their in-game-wedded-bliss is bearing familial fruit, don't we? I realize that this is a very LARGE part of the gaming population, especially in virtual settings. This is why I'm an elitist. Because that annoys me, and I'm not afraid to say so. Relationships in rp are lovely, within reason, and maybe I'm just a maladjusted sociopath or something, but I just do not, and will never, see the fascination with such mundanity. Your mileage may vary, I suppose. But this is my list. ;)
It's-All-About-The-Sex players. I should say right up front, I have absolutely zero problem with adult interaction when the rp happens to lead there. But with these folks, it's always going to lead there. And pretty much only there. These folks are often quite competent rp'ers apart from this bad habit, so they aren't always easy to spot.And worse, once they know that another gamer isn't offended by adult interaction, then they don't even bother to pretend they're actually about anything else. Get off. Seriously. Go play on the internet. Porn sites abound. Some of us have better things to do.
All-About-The-Love players are looking for true romance, and, much like the -Sex players, aren't really interested in anything else... except possibly evolving into All-In-The-Family players.
Enough Elitist pet-peeves for now, but I fully plan to revisit this list, because there are categories as yet untouched. Still, if any of the above categories seem familiar and annoying to you, you might be an Elitist yourself. If so, then hopefully, I'll see you in a tavern someday, or we'll meet over the steaming corpse of a mutual foe!
