litphoria

Mandatory, for me is an extremely small list, because more or less all of those things must happen in a scene with my character... at some point. I have both story and sex in that list, for example, because I need both in a decent scene.

Core for me is more like.... facts about my character, things that can't be gotten to eventually, but are just there. Yasu is something of a buttoned up individual. He will court someone that he is interested in, bow down, kiss their hand, etc. This is not something I will choose to have in a scene or not, but the very nature of the character. I am fairly certain that core is literally the core character interests, the things that make your character who he or she is.

@Skkukuk: Well, what inspired me to make the char was the Bobby Dollar novel it is based on. Especially the love affair between the lawyer angel and the demon girl. What I would happily base an entire RP around is already under mandatory.

@Yasu: Interests are player interests, not character interests.

The main problem with character interests is, that they don't work for nonconsensual stuff. It's a difference if the character wants to be spanked or the player wants the character to be spanked. Likes and dislikes are for traits not for interests. Even there, which post length my character likes makes not much sense.

Desdemona, what makes you think that interests are player interests? I have many different characters, what is no for one may be core for another. Are all of your interests the same across characters?

Interests are treated as either/or in terms of player or character interests, but they function best as "things you are interested in involving in a play with this character". Those are player-level interests that vary per character. (And it works things out neatly for consensual and nonconsensual.)

@Yasu: The descriptions. "Adventure: Expresses an interest in adventure-based play and stories, wherein characters will embark on a journey together in pursuit of a common goal." This doesn't mean my char is a fan of D&D and adventure novels. Interests are player interests with a specific character. My interests what to play with Desdemona are different from what to play with another char - they are still my interests not hers. As Samus explained very well.

Our help article on interests says:

'Will try' are interests the person or profile would like to use in a play, but is either unsure if they like it, or are otherwise inexperienced with it.

We could use a definition like:

Will try: Interests which the player would like to use, but is unsure if they like it, or otherwise inexperienced.

"the person or profile would like to use in a play" sounds strange to me since a profile can't use something in a play. I'd suggest something simple. Will try: Interests the player would try out with this character. Anyway, if there is no tool tip probably nobody will remember what was written in the help.

"Interests belong in one of four lists: Mandatory, yes, will try, and no." There are five lists.

Will try: Interests the player would try out with this character.

That describes yes as well though. The inexperience or uncertainty plus desire are the distinguishing characteristics of Will Try, and need to all be mentioned.

"Interests belong in one of four lists: Mandatory, yes, will try, and no." There are five lists.

We didn't have core in the beginning. It looks like that help page needs updating.

And if I have no desire?

Skukkuk, from the help article I posted above, it's uncertainty whether they'd like it — not enough experience to decide.

It says unsure if they like it. With enough experience we would know whether we are sure we like that interest.

It is not about whether I'm unsure I'd like it in any given roleplay. The reason we don't have a maybe list - and I'll let Avent confirm or contradict this - is because every interest in Core, Yes, and Will Try is in the situation where we might not like them in every roleplay. So a list for Maybe all on its own is redundant, it's already baked into everything else.

The main reason for not having favorite or maybe is to make the lists easier to categorize on the people filling it out. It can be hard to distinguish something which is liked, versus something which is liked as a favorite, and can be further compounded by a desire to make the lists balanced and even. A general maybe list is not clear if it's more of a list of "no, unless" versus a list of "yes, but". It might even have both, which is even more difficult to deal with.

So the core list makes it easier to identify what is really important by removing the idea of how much it is liked entirely from the concept. Instead, it is meant to house interests which are critical, or core, to your enjoyment of the character in scenarios. These will often be your favorites anyway, but it makes a lot easier to smell test which interests belong in that camp, since something you like a lot might not be all that relevant to the profile. This also can house interests which you might not like all that much personally, but are important for use when playing with the profile.

Similarly, the will try list makes a maybe concept less ambiguous by not having the "soft no" and being more of "yes, but". This list should be easier to identify since you can rule out anything which you're just not sure of in general, or interests which you won't play in all but one very specific and rare situation. These should be interests that there is some kind of desire to try and utilize in a play, but some hesitation due to inexperience with it, or prior bad experiences that have tainted your expectations of it. So they should still be things that you want to try, even if you are not sure you like it.

Additionally, every list has more nuance built into it with the additional details you can put on each interest. It's possible to really like an interest except in one scenario or something, and the additional details allows you to express that nuance, while still being visible to others. In this way, it is correct to say that every list is maybe, but I think the maybe lists on other sites indicate a much higher probability of no than what should be there if an interest is sitting in the top 3 lists. You should still be good to use anything off of your yes list in most plays you do.

But I have a feeling that people will use them however they want to, so having more concrete definitions being displayed on the UI is a Good Thing, particularly to new users, and on the edit states.

Additionally, the mandatory list is meant to indicate interests which interests should be used in every play. It should therefore be a pretty small list, or maybe empty to some people, but 99% of the time all of them should be present in plays you do.

"No, unless" and "yes, but" seems almost the same to me. There are interests which are neutral for me, I have no special interest in them, but I will do them. There are interests I dislike but will do them as a quid pro quo. And there are interests I like but only under certain circumstances. These I would put under maybe.