Not Understanding.

Here's a little blip in my understanding of what..people want to role play on here.

|| Nekos ||

Most men go apeshit for this.
I can't even count how many requests I get.
It's way too many. x3

|| Femboys ||

...
I come up blank.
Nothing.
Should I just make it a guy I want to role play?
Or what?
Why don't you guys like them? ;^;

|| Androids/Cyborgs/Robots ||

I've maybe gotten one request.
Any reason why?
The thought of having a being..
Obeying you 24/7 is pretty awesome right?

|| No Forum? ||

Hardly anyone wants to role play in forum.
Honestly, I would love to show off my work.
Smother it in peoples faces.
I'm kidding.
But I would want someone to read and enjoy it. c:

|| Grammar and Punctuation ||

We're all adults.
Why is it..some of us can't use it?
Blows my mind honestly.



Anywho,
Please answer my curious brain.
I'm just wondering honestly.
I really want feedback.
Thanks. :3

These are all of my thoughts on the issues; I'm pulling it all out of my ass, so take it with a grain of salt.

Neko adds an element of cuteness to the character. An interest in Japanese popular culture can cultivate this interest in a person; it's very common in their media. The already cute/attractive character is drawn with those ears and a tail, which adds a non-human element to the character. That statement seems obvious, very obvious, but it is that non-human that is so attractive. That character can now be cute like a cat, they can now hiss like a cat, they can now be naive, and curious like a cat. All of the adoring characteristics of a cat are now transferred to that "human" character. It puts the character in a position of being adored in a way one might not adore a human. Then there's the animalistic side of the sexual appeal. The character can somehow be more wild, and allow the interested party to enjoy bestiality undertones that may be repulsive with an actual animal. I suppose there are also undertones of master and pet as well.

A man may not like a femboy for various reasons. If they are to play the femboy, it's the perversion of their idea of masculinity. They do not want to play a male that is not, in their eyes, a man. To be feminine is weak, to be feminine implies to be underdeveloped. This sense of being underdeveloped can lead to the feeling of playing an underage character as well-- a boy, it suggests pedophilia. To play opposite of the femboy requires the man to have a perceived interest in homosexuality. For a man that is not a homosexual, or gender-blind, this can be an embarrassing or disgusting prospect. They don't find it sexually stimulating, so they won't want to.

In contradiction to the my comments on Neko, it is the very fact that the andriod isn't human that it can be disliked. It isn't living and breathing, so it is commonly thought that they are lifeless and cold. One can easily think that the android is nothing more than a sex toy. This is unappealing, because the emotional aspect is not there.

Forums aren't private. There are many people that do not want their perversions out in the open. To some people it is embarrassing to allow others to know they are aroused by a woman with a penis, or that they like to spanked with a wooden paddle. Some people just have a strong desire to not allow other people to observe their writing ability as well. Then there are others till that prefer to keep it private, so other partners cannot observe a preference in their writing partner(s).

Some people either don't care about their grammar and punctuation, or their education system failed them.

Time for a TRUE and AWESOME man to speak up.
*cough*
...

Anyway!

Neko:
Mitsu pretty much hit the spot with this one. It's the idea of the innocent yet perverted creature that really makes this race intriguing. <- Using pretty words to seem academic.

*cough*

Anyway, personally, I believe all the more alien races have their own charm and their own creative notch. This is also why I'm a fan of 'monster girls' in general.
Lemme give you an example: A plant girl can control plants. The possibilities could be endless. Poisonous plants that drugs a victim? Strange plants designed just for stimulation? You got it.
Neko's have their own little creative notch as well, especially in relation to yuri: The tail. You know the rest.

---

Femboys:
Except from the fact that the guys are supposed to be feminine... I'm not quite sure what this entails. Like... Are they going to be all-out feminine where fashion and cleanliness comes first, or?

---

Androids/robots:
I like 'em. They've gotten their own charm; especially if they have a self-developing AI installed. It's like going through the birth of a soul; Metaphorically speaking. I'm strictly nihilistic.

---

Forums:
While I don't mind playing in forums, I weakly fear that I'm going to look at someone's post and then forget to reply, thinking you've replied. Probably because I haven't found some nifty feature to stick 'em threads properly as of yet, except from auto-subscribe... Which kinda removes the threads from your overview that you've already checked out. >.<

---

Grammar:
I know my grammar might be off. English isn't my mother language, so some things tend to be super difficult for me. Commas are especially troubling! In my language, you use 'em a loads. In English? Not so much. >.<

Certainly. I'll answer it as concisely as possible.

#1: Nekos are usually cutesy, innocent, etc etc. This is attractive to a lot of men, so it's not surprising that Nekos are often a staple request, because they're a derivative of the all overpowering desire to take what is innocent and either protect it, in a caring and loving manner, or smother it, corrupt it, and twist it to one's own enjoyment.

#2: They're... Odd. To say the least. How to explain. There is a minor difference in how men and women perceive things, and imagine things, and conceptualize things. Men tend to embody themselves in the situation whilst women tend to play it out as a third party whom is merely observing the incident. This is why masculine culture often includes giving personifications to weapons or vehicles; they're extensions of a man's perspective of self when used repeatedly by said man.

How this ties in to your femboys comment is that when a man tries to imagine a feminine male they imagine themselves as a feminine male subconsciously first, and then, through conscious effort, imagine someone else in this position. Being that men identify themselves as masculine by an overwhelming majority, this is off-putting to say the least.

Now don't take this as the rule, there are exceptions as there are virtually no rules in psychology for how people behave (just suggestions and certain patterns that usually prove true), but this is the "golden standard" sort-to-speak, and if I had to take a guess, it's probably because of this.

#3: This can be chalked up to the uncanny valley. Essentially speaking, the uncanny valley is the measuring stick by which we differentiate between three general states on a scaling level: Obviously not human with human characteristics, bizarre and jarring, and human.

The first state is something like... For example, Toy Story. The characters in the story are cartoon toys. They're obviously not human, yet they have human characteristics, which makes them relate-able, adorable, likable, even attractive to some people. This is why we find puppies and kittens and birds and ferrets and mice and all sorts of creatures and animals adorable; so long as they have some kind of human-like characteristic, like being cute, or apparently displaying emotions, or learning, or singing, or any measure of other qualities, we can forgive the obviously not human quality.

The second state, which is often where androids fall under, is the bizarre and jarring category. The category where it's just human-like enough to be not, not human, but it's still not human, so it becomes instantly jarring and disturbing to the mind. A zombie is an example of this: It's a dead human. It's not, not human, but it's not human. The brain doesn't know how to deal with this aside from sending signals of fear, being disturbed, and pretty much the opposite of being turned on.

The third state is where something is so human-like that we mistake it for being human, or it is actually straight up human. A fictional character written well enough can become this: So human-like, that they may as well be human despite being fictional.

The one major note to affix to this is that "your mileage may vary". That is, what is uncanny and disturbing to one person, may be just fine to another... But in general? The more human-like it is without being human (eg: Humanoid form, humanoid voice, humanoid emotions, humanoid desires, humanoid sexual contact, etc) the more likely it is to trigger the uncanny valley effect in some people if it is also explicitly not human (eg: AI).

Amusing fact: This is also why certain alien physical archetypes are absolutely fucking gut wrenchingly terrifying to some people, like the classic tall E.T. if drawn right and left in the darkness for your imagination to fill in the details, or the alien from the aliens series of films (whose entire race is literally a series of metaphors about penises and rape). Now, again, this turns on some people, and that's perfectly fine, but for the majority of people? It's terrifying to think about.

It's also why we attribute humanoid shapes and forms with grotesque mutations to the vast majority of demons and daemons throughout classical fiction. Humanoids that are not human are the easiest things to scare us with.

#4: Because a lot of sex goes on here and a lot of people, while seeking to write out adult fictions, probably aren't comfortable with throwing it out onto the forums. There is a certain level of security when posting stories in PM's, nobody can see them.

#5: Vast number of reasons. Not first language, never studied English well, skirting the rules about minimum age to join the site, not giving enough of a damn to write well in the first place... The list goes on and on and on.

If anyone has any further questions feel free to ask.

Heh, now this is an interesting topic; though it seems people have already reflected some of my beliefs on these topics, I'll give my two cents:

Nekos:
They're pretty fun to play against; myself, I've only done a few RPs with a neko character (never played as one, personally). It's more the curiosity of humanity's quirks that was appealing, especially with the added element of our story in that the neko was a slave for purchase now liberated. Regardless, the innocence factor commonly to Nekos in general is definitely an attractive characteristic.

Femboys:
Like Mitsu and Masquerade pointed out, it's due to the perception that feminine males are weak, timid, and have no spine or ability to stick up for themselves. Now, this is certainly not always the case, but that's how most guys would take it as. Again, this is not the rule; there are plenty of people that like playing as effeminate boys, but all I can say is just keep looking.

Androids/Cyborgs/Robots:
Now these three things are by themselves different, though many people do equate them based on one single fact: They're not organic beings (the exception being the cyborg, as that's a human body that's been mechanically modified). Media has in a way shaped our perception of these beings in that they're often cold, concise and calculating. Me, I personally find them entertaining to play against (or even play as); for me at least, it's the whole awakening prospect that's a draw and to quote Laa: "It's like going through the birth of a soul"

Forums:
Personally, I love playing on the forums; call me a braggart if you must, but I enjoy the fact that people can see my stories unfold. Though this has also been kind of a negative for me (I don't really focus on it, though); people have said that I overwhelm them, one even said I was "too detailed" in my writing. But I can see why people would prefer PMs or even semi-private; it's the comfort of knowing that you won't be judged (other than from your partner, but they agreed to it, so yeah).

Grammar/Punctuation:
Admittedly, I find myself irritated when a lot of errors are present; it breaks the flow of the sentence and makes it difficult to read. I understand that people sometimes do not speak or write English as their primary language, and that I don't mind. It's when people clearly don't put effort into writing a clear sentence that it irks me.

OK, well

Nekos - I didn't know what it meant, seems to mean cats, really odd, I hate anime anyway.

Femboys - My characters whether they are sub or dominant are always masculine, Unless they are actually Female.

Andriods/Cyborgs/Robots - Nope although I do have one idea for a robot but it is kind of different.

Forums - I prefer playing on Forum, I find it easier and like you I also like to show off and see how many people follow it, have even gotten fan mail. Less egotistically I also find people drop off on PM more frequently so I believe forum is preferred by people who are more dedicated and confident and PM by those who are either a little shy or know they won't stick around and don't want their shame recorded where all can see.

Grammar/Punctuation - I like both, I am not perfect and do not demand perfection but it does make things easier to understand when the commas and full stops are in the right places and words are spelled correctly.

*shrugs*

I like a lot of the things you mentioned, not for any one reason but because there's always something alluring about almost anything. Except diapers. Diapers are just too weird for me I've never written or RP'ed a femboy before, so I'm not rly sure how I'd enjoy it. The concept itself just seems naturally less sexy than the counterpart, the dickgirl. I think that's just something to do with the natural sex appeal of a cute girl, with or without a dick, whereas boys have to work harder to be sexy. Robot/android characters need to be played with a certain degree of creativity, which is where a lot of people fall short. Perhaps the idea is intimidating to some people, hence the unpopularity of the roles?


Grammar and such aren't too important...until you learn how to use them correctly. After that, you'll notice every little mistake and it'll bother the hell out of you. So people who have no grammar skills aren't bothered by their own lack of skill in this department and thus feel no immediate need to improve it. I majored in English, so all the little mistakes on forums are like tiny stab wounds in my eyeballs 0_0;

Just to give my thoughts about this:

Nekos: Not really my cup of tea. I can see that they look cute but... if given a choice I'd avoid them as I would most furries.

Femboys: Love them! Love playing them and love playing with them. But as some mentioned I think their popularity is because some males like to explore homosexuality but a effeminate male almost feels like it's not.

Robots (and their likes): I guess the biggest concern for most people is that a robot is just an advance dildo (or female equivalent). That being said, I've played a few games with great robots, but I don't think I could play one myself.

Forum or not: There are many people that want the privacy of the PM. They might not be happy about showing off to everyone. Some might feel that the games they play are too close to what they in RL and thus don't want the whole world to know it. For me personally I respect the wishes of privacy for my playing partners. But I do find it easier to manage playing in threads as my inbox seems to get swarmed.

Grammar: Not being a native English speaker I'd say that grammar and punctuation is of utmost importance. It's very hard for a foreigner to read English if the grammar and punctuation isn't at least decent. I know I can't be perfect myself (it's been many years since I had English in school) but at least I try the best I can (and are always open to hear what I do wrong). The hardest part is often putting the words in the right order - at times when I read my own posts afterwards some of it sounds like Yoda speaking.
I do understand that some people have problems with spelling and if you are dyslexic then a spell checker might even make everything worse. But unless you come to me and tell me that you are dyslexic I'll be very upset if a post hadn't been through some sort of spell check.
The worst example I've ever seen of this was a post that was 10-15 lines long without a single use of punctuation and not one capital letter. On top of this college was spelled collage and whole was spelled hole...... after spending 15 minutes trying to find out what the post was all about, I have to admit that I dropped out of the game.