Likes!
Plots - I like when things happen, bad or good or otherwise. I like little character generated private plots and big game-wide plots. I like when there's some kind of resolution and evolution of characters because of it. I like when things aren't quite static. I like when things are shaken up and everyone reacts. I like it when there is something to work with, and when there are consequences for bad decisions and good ones too.

Romance/Smut - Sap? Corny? Mushy? Bringing tears to the eyes of sentimental fangirls everywhere? Sign me up!! Hot, steamy, pushed up against the wall sexxors? Bring on the smut! If I don't know you, then I might fade or black out, but I like romance and kissing and flirting. I like relationships - and I also like when characters break up. When it's just a fling. When someone is using someone else. I like broken hearts and happy hearts and realism. I like het, I like femmeslash, and I like slash, but het is my default and is the easiest for me to write, and generally produces the relationships I'm most interested in writing.

Complexity - I like rounded characters. Character who have depths and thinky thoughts and more going on that just whoever they happen to be screwing at the time. I like layers, even when they aren't ogres or onions. I like hidden depths and realistic inner conflict and tough decisions. I like things to not always be as they seem.

Fun - I like games that have a mix of drama, angst, romance, smut, plot, and humor. Not everything is serious, there should be some silly, too, now and then. Group threads make me a little insane, but they can be a fun sort of insane. If it makes me giggle, I'll probably want to do it.

Maturity - I like when the people I play with write and act as if they are older than sixteen. I expect that they are, and will not play adult themes with people who are not of age. I like when players can conduct themselves and their RP with dignity and maturity and not bring it down to OOC dramallama attention-whoring teen-emo tactics. Those sorts of things tend to make me run for the hills. After the ass-kicking.

Initiative - I like players who don't sit back and wait for plots and play to come to them. I like people to show initiative. This is a little hypocritical of me, as I'm really shy and I tend to do that very thing. Which is why I like it so much when people approach me first!! That said, there are limits, and I don't like players railroading plots without telling the mods or involving other peoples' characters without permission. I like creative people who aren't afraid to come up with new ideas to work around old concepts.

IC-ness - If it's a fandom game and you're playing a canon character, then I expect that character to sound like a reasonable facsimile of themselves. Everyone has a different take on canon, of course, and if you can, through development of your character, push your character toward being gay, or being more evil/less evil than some might think them, or if in-game events have evolved them into a somewhat different place than in canon, then that's all well and good. However, any sort of indication that the majority of the characters are smoking the gay fairy dust and partaking in the emo!sue pie I'm not going to stick around. If it's an original character, I expect consistency. The shy bookworm by day can not turn into the seductive femme fatale overnight. Characters grow and change in play, of course, but a reasonable amount of consistency is more then reasonable.

Organization - I like games that are reasonably well organized, moderately sized, and have active & friendly players and mods. These things are NOT that easy to find. Cliques don't interest me, and you should probably just close your game to new members if you don't actually want any.

Supernatural - I tend to like games with a fantasy/unreal aspect to them. It just adds to the fun and creativity. I don't have a lot of interest in games that are just people living in an apartment building or going to high-school and such. I already have one real life. I don't need another. Historical storylines are an occasional exception.

Enthusiasm - I like when people get excited about RPing. Not just with me, but in a game. Games where people are enthusiastic and in love with their characters and storylines are wonderful, and yes this IS possible, I've seen it! I like when people are invested in characters ASIDE from their own and will get excited about a storyline they're just reading. It's a very cool thing to see in a game.

Kink - Been there, done that. I'll do it again, if it's relationship appropriate. I like reasonable kink. No extreme stuff. But some good-natured sub/dom, dirty talk, light bondage, threesomes, roleplay, etc. These are fun, when done in moderation and with a mature writer.

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Likes-Not!
Non-Con/Really Dark - It happens, and if it's hinted at in a history, then I may be okay with it, if I trust the author. But I don't play out rape. I don't like rape/pedophile/molestation storylines. Period. I also don't like blood fetishes or people who like to torture puppies or whatever to get off. Sick and twisted is not my thing. I don't CARE if it's 'realistic'. I deal with the realities of these things in the day-to-day of my job. I do not want them in my roleplay which is my ESCAPE from my job. In most cases I will refuse to interact with characters that have these things in their backgrounds unless I trust the player to deal with them responsibly.

Blood-Play/Cutting - In small amounts with vampires, it's acceptable. Unless it's for actual torture. I don't find cutting people up arousing or a way out of pain. And none of my kids will- ever.

MPreg - Under no circumstances. No male breedings. I don't care if it's through scientific uterus implants or magic butt-baby fairy dust. The same goes for vampire pregnancies. YOU CAN NOT IMPREGNANTE a corpse. Period.

Extreme Emo - Angst is the chocolate in my RP. I love it. I crave it. But there is too much of a good thing. If your character whinges constantly. If he's a cutter and a goth poet and bi-polar and has been abused and molested and is the miserable w00bie, I will mock you and then I shall ignore you. Small degrees of some of these things, yes. Fine. But there is a line. Frankly, my real life job slaps enough of this sort of reality in my face. I don't need it in my RP.

Extreme Fetish/Dark - There's a time and place for these things. My RP isn't it. Save it for the Harry Potter fic. *shudder*

Incest - There are only two people I would trust to do an incest pairing with, and they know who they are. If you're not sure, it's not you. I don't mind it, but it's a borderline situation that requires a lot of planning, forethought and a delicate touch to do it well.

OOC Emo/Drama - If you have stuff going on in your life, you should probably tell your friends about it. That's what I do. If we aren't friends, I'm probably not going to have much to say about it. I like to get along with people I RP with, but as a general rule, if I don't talk to you except to play now and then, I don't want to know when you're having mood swings, on your period, just got dumped, etc.

Hanging Threads - If it's a threaded game, and the thread goes unfinished, it will bug me. So I'd rather tie something off than leave it going for forever. It's not unreasonable to expect a response within a non-ridiculous amount of time. If I poke you once or twice and get nothing, I'm going to assume you've lost interest and move on. On the flip side, I do work a lot and some weird hours, if I don't reply in a day or two, please feel free to nudge me for a reply!

OOC Reflecting IC - I love talking/chatting and getting to know the people I RP with. I usually indicate OOC with [] or (()). However, PLEASE be able to seperate OOC & IC. If my character is a bitch to yours, that doesn't mean I am too. If my character is in love with yours, that's not an indication of my feelings either. If you can't seperate your role from yourself, we're gonna have issues. If you've have a bad day or you're pissed off at someone or something, RP is probably not a good idea. Go play a nice violent game and blow things up or hit a pillow and come back when you've calmed down. 80% of the time, your mood will affect your gameplay. No matter how good you are. Know your limits.

Insanity - Characters with multiple personalities, schizophrenia, sociopathic tendencies, extreme mania or anything along those lines. These are complex mental disorders and for the most part, are overused as a means for attention and unnecessary drama. In the hands of a writer I trust, I would be willing to overlook some of these, but really a character does not always need to be crazy to be interesting.

Relationship Wranglers - Nothing annoys me more then people who make their characters specifically to revolve around another & the smut they hope it will generate. It's stalkerish and creepy and it makes me squick. So don't do it to me without my express permission beforehand. Unless it is between thebodypolitic & I. Because we win.

Duplicate Characters - It is the very very rare occasion that I will ever play two of the same character actively at two games at the same time. Even if they are written differently, for different games, it's a difficult headspace for me. I could, say do young Remus and old Remus, but playing young Remus at two different games at the same time is not appealing to me. It's an organizational mess and I'd rather not try it.

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Personal RP Conventions:
AIM logs and/or Journal Threads - At this time I prefer threaded (journal) logs or AIM chatlogs that are posted at a later date. Email logs to be posted later also work for me. For the time being, I am not interested in PbP, IRC or PbEM games.

Third person, past tense (i.e. "storybook") only - I don't RP in *asterisk* except when goofing around and I don't use either first or second person in logs or threads. For journal entries, I will obviously use first person, but that is the exception to the rule. If you don't know what third person, past tense is, then chances are we're not a good match.
•I don't use italics to differentiate between speech and action. I use quotes. I don't care which other people use.
•I DO use italics when indicating a foreign language & provide an OOC translation most times at the end of the log/entry.
•Telepathy, when applicable is usually differentiated by ::this:: with, or without italics.

English Only - I am a dumb American and not multi-lingual. If my character speaks another language, I have to look it up. Don't expect me to know what they're saying. Also, I am aware that the Google Translator is far from accurate. Please don't bother to tell me how wrong my translations are.

Proper Grammar - Everyone makes mistakes, and I'm hardly a nazi. But no netspeak or horrific butchering of a language that I'm really rather fond of, please. I make spelling mistakes. I try to catch them. I don't always. Live with it.

Reasonable Length - I don't demand a book each post, but I put thought into my replies. If I'm giving two or three paragraphs a post, and you're giving me one sentence, I will get immensely frustrated. I need something to react to, and two sentences are rarely enough.

Plot - I like to have some kind of storyline and not just random scenes and/or smut. It can be large or small, but there has to be something there for me to work with. Generally, I like to work with a general outline and if things don't go exactly that way, that's the fun of RP. But I like a basis to work with. If we've agreed on something, stick to at least an approximation of it. I don't mind surprises, but doing a complete 180 on what was previously agreed to will ruin it for me.

Smut - I like smut. I like het, slash, and femmelash and have written all three. However, I have to be comfortable with a player to write smut, and if I'm new to gaming with you, chances are if we get to a smutty scene, I will want to fade to black until we get more comfortable with one another. As a general rule, I prefer het or femmeslash over slash, but I will go where the character wants to go without any trouble.

Communication and Politeness - RP is essentially a creative endeavor, and like most creative people, RPers tend to be a sensitive bunch. When I write with someone, I want us to be able to get along OOC cordially. (We don't have to be best friends, but I'm not going to play with someone who can't stand me or is rude.) If someone is unhappy, I expect them to come to me to discuss it, and I fully intend to do the same. I will be polite, friendly, and as helpful as possible, and would like the same courtesy returned to me. That said, if we don't get along, I'm still perfectly capable of roleplaying with someone without bringing OOC conflict into IC interactions. I expect the same in return.

PSL (Private Storylines) - I will sometimes pursue a PSL if it's with a writer I am familiar with, know that I write compatibly with, a storyline I'd like to write out, and a person I know. If I haven't written with you before, you're welcome to ask, but chances are I will not be interested.

Availability - I tend to be online a lot. I work nights and can sometimes be online to RP at work, as well as before work, and on my days off. If I'm online, chances are I'm up for RP. Even if I'm not, I never mind anyone pinging me to ask. For more information on when I'm around, you can see my schedule post.