You mentioned a register thing for special abilities which we do actually have something similar to. Although not everyone can see who has a special ability or whatnot all special abilities are supposed to be approved by Kris to stop everyone being the same thing and having outrageous powers. Those that do have way too many abilities probably haven't been approved by her.

I agree with you though on the relation thing. Don't make your character related to the main canon families as there are just too many now. That being said my charries Mei Lin and Sakura are related to the Malfoys. They are also however Japanese which is to me an original spin on it. Try to make your own unique character and don't go around telling everyone I'm related to whoever or that your father is Harry Potter or even Voldemort (it did happen). Half the time when people do that it looks idiotic since the RP takes place in 2071 atm a time when all of us who were born around the 80's and 90's will be old.

^&^^

I completly agree!

And with the being related to a JKR character, I like your twist. I also think if your character is going to be related to a JKR creation, it should be someone who is not so much of a huge deal, or if you still want your character to be related to one of the top guns, make it distant, even change the lastname, as you did . I have seen plenty of Potters and Weasleys(just examples because there are others) and it's quite ridiculous, especially where everyone ties back to eachother in the wizarding families and there are Potters/Weasleys who haven't even come into contact with those other Potters/Weasleys! It's a bit hard to believe, I mean I don't knwo all of my relatives but surely if you live in the same school all year, you're bound to notice you have a surname in common with that kid you sat next to in potions one term. You know what I'm getting at?

Everyone has made points worth following. I would however add one thing more.

If you insist on being or possessing something obscure, do not consistently refer to it. Lords, I cannot count the amount of posts I have read where RPers repeat and repeat their "mystical blue" eyes or their "mysterious expression". Please, we are all individuals here who are self-absorbed in our own amazing personages, we could care less about your amazing qualities and repetitive writing-style.

If you must be special physically, I simply beg you not to cram it down everyone's throats - if others choose to notice the first time, bully for them; if not, take a hint.

Ooooh, just wanted to add something to this bit. Just stating my opinion, not meant to challenge any opinions out there and it's not an invitation for debate [/disclaimer]

The relationship thingie. Yeah xD When I was at school... (that makes me seeem old... I just left school xD) well, the 11 year olds had more relationships than the older kids, who were more comitted. I thought it was frankly hilarious. So in my personal opinion I think that any age in the RP can have a relationship, mature or not.

BUT. <<<<< Big but *snorts*

Again, only in my opinion this is, those kids wouldn't kiss or well I rarely saw them even holding hands in public. Those kids didn't know anything about the relationship thing. It was... well... what I expected. That's what I see as realistic, probably because I HAVE seen it in real life.

My character had a girlfriend when he was twelve... but he didn't know what 'girlfriend' meant... he had no idea he was supposed to be all lovey, and if I remember correctly, he didn't KNOW he had a girlfriend. When he finally worked it out, he dumped her. And she did the reasonable eleven year old thing and slapped him. Bwaha.

But I still stand by the fact that if you can pull it off with superb RPing, then I have absolutely zero issues with it. HURRAH! *frolics in a shower of confetti*

One thing I notice, especially in new RPers on the site, is that everyone wants drama in their characters.

Personally I find it annoying... I mean a little is fine, but every other thing that happens to their character doesn't have to be aweful! I watched one person, each week something happened to their character, and after awhile people started ignoring them. I hate to see that happen, but being unrealistic, gets annoying, fast.

My first year, I had planned out with my first character, and it branched each term from that first year. (Her mom had died, next year - dad found horrible girlfriend, 3rd term - got married, and so on...) Why have bad things happen to your character all at once spread it out, you have 7 terms .

I agree about the names thing. My character, had absolutely no clue that she was related to Hermione, til I believe the 3rd or 4th term, and I hadn't even planned it that way, but it worked out to be that way.

Realistic vs. Nonrealistic RPing is (I think) an interesting topic, and I'm glad it was brought up.

Realistic to me starts with having a character who is like a real person; they have strengths, weaknesses, etc. I try my best to make each of my characters have major flaws, and some strengths. For me it's more fun to make a flawed character and have them grow and improve their personalities over time rather than have them perfect and modeled right out of the gate. It opens up a lot more doors in RPing when your character can change.

As far as the eleven year olds having relationships, yeah, I think it's a little silly...but then again a ten year old friend of my family got a 'boyfriend' so ya know...
It's possible, but when I was eleven years old, it was pure puppy-love and being bestest buddies.

Now for the unrealistic. And I go straight to the characters with special abilities. My first character, Freya, knew at least three metamorphmagus' (sorry for the spelling), a vampire, a werewolf, and a character that nearly blew themself up.
It's fine to have them every once and a while, but when every-other person makes a similar character, the fun kind of extinguishes.
I'll admit that I'm guilty of making my character having special abilities, however they lessened over time and no longer exist (since they were a result of stress).

Perfect characters, as I've stated above, are unrealistic (and for me), very hard to RP with. And not every character can know about, or have experienced everything.
It's fun to find flaws in your own character as well as another person's. Most of us don't want a conversation along the lines of, "I can speak French." "So can I!", "All my classes are easy for me." "Me too!", "My parents were murdered when I was nine." "Mine too!", "I'm a world class pilot and flew around the world." "Me too!".

And I'll comment on something that Esme said, about how characters do and will clash with others.
Not every character can like each other, not everyone is perfect, and not everyone has the same views, even in the RP world.
Personally, I like a little clash every now and then in an RP. As long as it's not just dislike on the creator's side, then rivalries between characters can be followed through quite well and are actually really interesting.

Realistic is when you Rp stuff to do with a character that would happen in real life, and unrealistic is when it's...unrealistic Like if your talkikng about Dragons and Mermaids and such. Or if something happens that is...unrealistic.

Short and Sweet

Well, realisticness is when the first years don't really understand Hogwarts. Like, "What's that over there? What does that door go to?" when they see the common rooms.
And if your charrie is related to someone, like Tom Riddle, in mine's case, don't go running and say, "I'M RELATED TO VOLDEMORT! LA LA LA!" just like keep quiet! Jenny is a second cousin twice removed. So, if you want your charrie to be like you, then go for it! But please don't pester people for it. Like if mine was a Mary Sue, she'd say, "Cool!" a lot. But it might be annoying! ("My pygmy puff died." "COOL!") that's taking it too far! But like, this is about wizards and witches, that's kind of unreal.

well it's unrealistic when a bunch of people post that their characters are listening to iPods... never anything like that appeared on HP books, if only in muggle studies. And... well, a car. And then they sing songs that in our real life are on the radio - well, first of, in RPing, here is a totally different year. Like centuries way ahead of the real life... Those songs are extinct.
And I also find it extremely unrealistic when christians bring their real life into the internet life and use God and Satan in roleplaying. First of, people say here "oh, merlin", instead of "oh, my god".
These things above are more ridiculous than a kid walking around telling that he's greatgrandson of Voldemort, because at least that kid doesn't come up with unrealistic stuff. [I mean, we haven's seen what Voldemort was doing when he was young ].

Well, the reason why there are no iPods/MP3 Players and such mentioned in the books is because they didn't exist back then (or at least weren't that common)...the books play BEFORE 2000 so there wouldn't be any of those devices even in the Muggle World.
If they are supposed to work at Hogwarts or not has been quite recently discussed here.
Concerning the songs, well, we don't know which songs will be popular in the 2070s so...maybe Lady GaGa IS still popular then. Maybe.

THIS isn't allowed on this site. There should be no mentions of religion on here. Saying 'Oh my God' isn't really that religious, people nowadays just say it like that. And I think there's even mention in the 7th HP book...somewhere at the end somebody says 'Oh my God' (I'm pretty sure I looked that up at some point, if not well erm ignore this last sentence).

Gramophones were considered old fashioned in muggle world in harry potter books, YET head of the Griffindor house used it to teach them dance. Ball dance... NOT DISCO. This thing is disrespectful to JKR created world.
And christians do not stop at OMG. I quote what one girl RPed to me "Satan must have taken over you." ... this is just way beyond ridiculous.

This is my first term in RP Hogwarts and my first time ever on this site so I have tried to make my little first year as real as possible. She is basically me. I have found by imagining it is me going to Hogwarts I can keep it a lot more real because everything Alice does is exactly what I would do in that kind of situation. Even her family is my family. And from that I tried to make the first time at Hogwarts like my first time at High school, for example Alice knew her way round quite a bit of the school because her sisters who had been to Hogwarts before her had drawn maps and things for her just like my sisters did for me in real life.

The one thing I have seen others doing though (and I did do it at the start but have now started to correct my mistake) is that First years are far too good in lessons. It is not realistic for a First Year to do a charm or something perfectly first time round. It didn’t even happen that way in the books, Hermione may have been brilliant but other students were not, like for instance in film and I think book one, Seamus made his feather explode when casting Wingardium Leviosa. It makes it much more realistic for First Years to make a lot of mistakes because this would be their first time doing proper magic.

Well, gramophones aren't THAT old-fashioned in the Muggle World...they were still used in 1980s sometimes (we even still had one when I was little, and that would be in the 1990s). So, the MP3 Players came out around the year 2000 which would make them over 70 years old now in IC RP years so they probably would be 'old' already, making them 'new' in the Wizarding World. Who knows what kind of things we'll have in the Muggle world in 60 years.

Yes, like I said, if they DON'T stop at that, please notify a Staff member since this is against the site rules.

I don't see how mentioning certain songs is disrespectful to JKR's world. I love old songs, classics. And I don't just mean in the 19th century. Folk songs and everything are cool.

Either way... that's not my point I'd like to make for the thread.

The whole first year knowing spells straight away... yeaaahhhh... I can understand why people play firsties like that. Sometimes they want to start at 1st year, but if their character doesn't really know magic then it won't be as fun as when there's older characters, you know?

Then again, I agree it's not at all realistic. Also, Jake didn't manage proper magic until he was 14/15. XD I think it's VERY realistic to have your character go through a learning progress for a while *nods*

I have many more ideas but no attention span and I don't to cause any arguments because what I call UNrealistic RPing is stuff I've seen people do.

Well, I guess there's no need to argue about electronics. I just sometimes miss the old-equipment and mean Slytherins. ;/

Sure, I will notify. It's my pleasure ;D

By the tighty-whiteys of Merlin, this is making me twitch in the Potions class. Everyone is like: incendio!, aguamenti!, and scourgify!, and Merlin knows what else they will cast next (I'm hoping for avada kedavra *crosses fingers*) but I think it's so unrealistic. I would say that unless you are a third or fourth year you shouldn't be too comfortable casting those spells. Students don't get to practice magic when they return home and after one year of school I really doubt it's that easy unless you're Hermione Granger but if everyone is a Hermione, then that's unrealistic too.

In addition to that, I always thought of Incendio as mostly an attack type spell not a charm for creating small, potion making, double double toil and trouble boil and bubble fires, which I suppose would take additional training to manage to control it.

I saw that your character used aguamenti without speaking the words, but he's a seventh year so that's realistic. I totally agree with your point, it's more fun to practice and see progress rather than just know everything at once. Plus, I think it's fun to fail at spell casting you can make your target blow up or turn into something else or whatever.

My character spent the morning cleaning his cauldron, used water from the sink (which I don't even know if they exist in the potions class but I suppose now they do), and created a fire using a good old match. I think he's the only one though.

Personally, I don't mind students with special abilities or backgrounds, like veelas, vampires,etc. On the contrary, characters like that can make the RP a lot more fun, but only if they are intelligently developed, with a solid explaination as to why they are that way. Also, a bit of drama is always exciting, and since it's the wizarding world, pretty much everything goes.

However, there must be a limit. I'm annoyed when someone decides to change the canon HP storyline; they should adapt the character to it and not the other way around! Also, I have a huge problem with first years being madly in love or being able to do advanced magic from the moment they set foot in the castle. I think all actions should be age-appropriate, because otherwise, they make up the wrong kind of unrealism.

I think the thing that drives people to RP unrealistically is the need to be noticed to get others to RP with them.

People think that if they have a 11 year old who can do non verbal spells will get noticed and people will RP with them. Or if their charrie has a lot of drama it will give people a reason to jump in and "play" with them.

UNrealistic:
---I have to say, I enjoy RP'ing with people who's charries have special abilities, but sometimes, and I've sorta seen it with the Meta's that they take it a bit too far and get a bit too dramatic about it. I admit, I do that in VC's with an old school charrie, but I personally don't think I take it too far.

Realistic:
---Characters that are secretive. My characters, to me, have secrets that could be dangerous if they spill it. I personally love secretive characters, and to e it makes it more realistic.

I agree. I miss MEAN Slytherins, too.

<-- enjoys being mean and is known for it.

My charrie was recently on a hiatus...because I myself had some things going on...but when she came back, it was quite funny the reaction she got.

IC: I curse someone once...ONCE, I tell you!...and then try to hex my cousin...and it gets blown WAY out of proportion...

Yes, we know. -snerk-

This is great! I agree with so many of the posts prior to mine! And personally, I'm certainly hoping that my charrie won't be sitting in Potions class and the stranger sitting next to them starts going off on being an Animagus. Quite frankly, my character is an ickle first year and is most likely horrendous at mixing potions the first go. She will probably be a bit preoccupied measuring out her ingredients and not letting her potion get too watery...

As for a few hundred veelas, vampires, and other such creatures running around Hogwarts, I think I'd tend to avoid them a bit... I mean, quite a few of us in real life would enjoy being a Metamorphmagus and tend to want to be able to do things with our charrie to make up for it, but how special and fun is it if half the class is also?

Flaws... I can't stress enough how interesting I find flaws. I know, it sounds very odd, but I love seeing something different or just plain wrong with someone. I mean, if I'm going to make a character who is imperfect, as I've done, I'd rather not be eternally overshadowed everywhere I look. I think a charrie's personality development over time is rather endearing too.

First years in relationships that serious... I just would rather not picture it. Crushes and puppy-love, yes, but I just can't see an eleven year old understanding love in that form so well when people far older than them can hardly understand. How many sixth years can tell someone that they like them, nevermind LOVE them as I've seen someone RPing as a first year do before?

As for first years being way above their age in skill and knowledge, nobody who steps into a Hogwarts classroom for the first time is already going to know the subject perfectly. More to the point, Hogwarts is first and foremost a school. You're supposed to practice magic there, yes, but I hardly know anyone who can practice something before they learn it. People can claim all they want that they have an older sibling who taught them everything they learned, but first, it's not exactly easy to learn and control magic without a wand, and second, I'm fairly sure that wandless magic requires learning it by wand first.

Just another add-on to this vent of mine... I don't know how often this problem runs up on SS, but, as a roleplayer, I've come across a lot of people claiming to have an extremely powerful wand, even rivaling the Elder Wand... It's just a bit tiring to me.

Now, I don't like leaving people out, but if someone is going to come in and try to turn all eyes on themselves I'm probably going to be looking in the other direction. Sorry, I'm just like that.

I don't mind charries having distant relations to canon characters to an extent. As long as they're not boasting about it or bringing it up constantly I don't really mind. I'd love to be related to Ron and Hermione, personally, but I'm never going to because I don't want to have to make my character walk around Hogwarts asking people how they are related to her...

Well, I figured I've droned on enough and I realize that everyone makes their own choices. I'm not going to try to stop you if you choose to have a few extra abilities, I'm just asking you not to get too carried away and spoil other peoples' times on here. I hope that we can all just have fun and I myself am looking forward to this so much!

If you've read this whole post, thanks for your time and I hope you don't think I'm too uptight... I just like people to know my opinions in advance so it doesn't lead to awkward moments in the future. Terribly sorry for anyone's time that I've wasted...

You serious? I have lost count of the number of times that people have mentioned religion in the RP. I have never done this, but there is an ENTIRE plotline made by mods that involves priests. It was in the Ministry and it did take place awhile ago, so maybe the rule had been changed.

Except that ADMINS have posted their characters talking about Christians just this very month.

Sorry if this post sounds rude, it is not meant to be that way. For the record, I agree with the rule.

I can say unequivocally that our FAQ states that talk of religion, politics, and other 'hot button' topics are not permitted in the RPG or elsewhere on the site. I'm sorry if you've seen things that have made you feel like there is a double standard, but that is DEFINITELY the rule. If you see specific examples of rule breaking, you should always always let a mod or admin know (and if you see a mod or admin breaking that rule, you can contact Touz or myself directly).

As for the mod plotline, you might be referring to the recent cult plot, but I can assure you that it was definitely not a group of priests. Please feel free to contact me if you want to continue this conversation, but I wanted to make it clear to anyone reading this thread that these behaviors are against the rules.

And I think that maybe some people are under the impression that saying "the Devil, Satan, God or Jesus" or using the words constitutes talking about religion or having a religious discussion.

And it doesn't.

See the difference?

In the first example, the devil is mentioned to point out how evil or bad the two characters think another character is. At no time did they get into a discussion about the validity of the devil based on biblical reasoning. In the second example that was direct religious persuasion.

Which is strictly against site rules.

Thanks for clarifying that nice and clearly, Tisha!

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I think we can move on from that topic now, if anyone else wishes to contribute to the discussion, a reminder that it needs to be on topic re: realistic RPGing.