How do you deal with Roleplay ruts?

[KomodoTheCashew]

We all hit them.
Whether it be people wanting you to RP but you're not enjoying it anymore, the want to RP but the lack of motivation to carry it out or even the lack of nerve to ask if you can join in an RP.
Getting yourself into a roleplay rut can be pretty frustrating.

I'm sort of stuck in one myself at the moment. I log on, I talk with some other players for a bit, I find some sort of roleplay, My character shows up... and I have absolutely no idea what to say or do. It's really frustrating for me and I usually just end up logging out. This is frustrating for me particularly because I used to inject my characters into any roleplay at any chance I had and sometimes it went kind of rocky but a lot of times I really enjoyed it.

I've ran into this little rut a couple times before and I found that either adding something new to a character or even making a new character usually helps this out for me.

So, what do you all do? I figure this could be a good thread for people either in my current position looking for suggestions of how to get out of their rut.

[mangaboy111]

My suggestion is ask if you can DM a scenario and improvise from there.

[flammos200]

Rather than creating a character and then injecting them into a universe, setting or situation, I tend to like taking people from -inside- the goings-on and characterizing them, giving them a personality and agency.

In that way, I find characters meld more organically with the events going on in their lives. It's essentially just taking an imaginary NPC that's living in the world, and taking control of them.

I used to get stuck in ruts too, but all it really took was a change of perspective to get out.

[Sorum]

It's not that complex for me.

Sometimes I just don't feel like RPing.. so I don't. And then it comes back to me and I do. Not rocket science for me.

[Jonoth]

Reading helps me quite a bit. Music and movies too, in that they keep my mind fresh, and can set the mood for me to get into wanting to tell a story. Sometimes, though, I just gotta wait a rut out.

[Rosencrat]

It's not uncommon to lose interest in role-play. And everyone handles their own ruts differently.

I think you need to figure out why you are struggling to role-play before trying to find a solution. I know that my frequent absences are because of anxiety over public perception. If you can nail down what is holding you back, you'll have a better chance of coming up with a way to get back into the game.

My recommendation, however, as a general fix-all: Go cold turkey.

Stop role-playing for a little while. Whether it be a day or a week or a month. A break does the body (Or, in this case, the writing muscle) good.

[Joe2618]

When I hit a rut with my characters I feel it is because I am limiting myself to how they act, so in this case I make a new character that isn't afraid to be 'out there'. It is often quite fun and kicks me out of a rut.

And if that doesn't work I write a storyline for a character that gives them there only personal drama from there past. (Perhaps an ex-Warlock Orc is trying to reform but the temptation of fel is still there? This adds a certain edge to a character I believe.) Anyways those are just my suggestions, I hope I helped.

[SachikoMaeda]

I usually handle my ruts by cycling through hobbies. If I can't seem to want to draw, I RP. But if I'm overall lacking in creativity, I usually run over to Crunchyroll and binge on anime. I look into creative works of others and different stories to get inspired.

I also reach to other creative friends so we can discuss ideas and compare characters to other fictional characters. It's a fun little game. I like seeing some similarity in my characters with others. Helps me draw a little inspiration on what direction I may want to take them.

[Geoni]

A lot of people have already suggested what I might suggest: refrain from RPing for a while and if you suddenly have a desire to RP something, then write down what it is and how you can expand upon that and make it last.

But personally, I like to figure out what the best RP I've ever had was and study why I felt like that was the best RP I ever had. Personally I've experienced only four to five truly good RP sessions out of the hundred+ sessions I've had in my four year life on this server and what makes me want to RP again is working towards having another great RP session. What produced these sessions? The right kind of character chemistry on top of the kind of RP that I currently wanted to have.

Watching drama movies (or maybe games/short films) with really good characters with really good conflicts and really good actors. Getting in touch with your emotions and figure out how you can inject them into your characters. These are also good things to do if you want to take a break from RP.

Figure out the character that you really want to play or have enjoyed playing the most and find somebody to create a backstory with their character that can generate some sort of interesting chemistry between the characters. Personally I like conflicts that can't just be resolved just like that - that way it prolongs the potential RP that surrounds these conflicts.

I'm sure I'm making no sense here but I thought I'd share from my own experience.

There's also that one thread Piroska made about character planning but I forgot where that was. It's pretty good for finding out the characters that certain players have thought about the most. I recommend giving that a read and not being shy about poking people who you think might have storyline/whatever potential with your own character(s).

Edit: I will, however, clarify that the kind of RP I prefer is very anti-escapist so if you don't want that the suggestions I made might not work.

Edit 2: Here is the thread I was talking about.

[Jonoth]

I forgot one other tool I enjoy using: the IC forum. I find it helpful for developing characters outside of the game, as well as writing characters that don't end up working in server RP but whose backgrounds I thoroughly enjoy.

[cartoonkarl]

Few things really get me out of a Roleplay rut. Sometimes I get the want to RP, and then I lose it or RP.

The only things that have really got me to consistently roleplay were a few things:
When I first joined I created my character and wanted to RP with everyone.
I joined a guild and then roleplayed because the guild was rather active.
Certain things prompted me to roleplay certain characters because it would be interesting.
And then there is also when you get friends that also roleplay on a regular basis.

Really the only thing that keeps me around is when I can actually RP in a guild or group that I enjoy a lot. Ive had a few of them, the big ones being the Grey Militia of House Thelwind (Not to toot my own horn). Their activity kept both of them going everyday was something new or fun. (For better or for worse) Stories did feel rushed, but it beat the standard social rp.