Or, wherein I try to get a roleplaying discussion going.

Obviously, not everyone who plays CF could give a rat's ass what I think of their roleplaying. Hey, it's your birthday, and you're welcome to your opinion regardless of whether it agrees with mine. However, being as it is that I'm in a position to hand out goodies or not depending on my opinion of a character's RP, I thought it might be informative/interesting to share some of the things that rub me the wrong way.

1) "-est ever" type declarations in player descriptions. CF is going on nine years old, and over that span of time I shudder to think how many times I've witnessed the the strongest or biggest giant that I've ever seen, ugliest orc that I've ever seen, or most beautiful elf with the largest breasts that I've ever seen.

2) Characters that exhibit great RP among their friends, but won't offer word one or any semblance of interaction to their enemies.

This is arguable, because enemies are often just that, enemies. I don't disagree that it would be silly for Battleragers and mages to routinely sit down for tea and discuss current events. At the same time, when I look back on playing the game and the characters that were fun to fight, I never remember the "I don't actually have quiet mode on, but I might as well" type characters. A year passes and damned if I can remember their names. It's the interactors that stick out in my mind, the kind of enemies with style that I loved to hate, the kind that made CF a blast even when they were mercilessly whipping my ass.

3) Characters that can quote their cabal/religion's helpfile very nicely, but falter quickly when a discussion/argument meanders away from it.

Maybe that's a player limitation, I don't know. Honestly, if I wanted to read help Sylvan/Battle/Maran/Scarab/etc., I would just read it. (If I didn't like what it said, I might just change it. I'm crazy like that.) Obviously, the basic philosophy of a cabal/religion is going to place certain restrictions on you, but there is always a lot of room to play with, too. Let me feel your character's role come out even in discussing that philosophy. The Tribunal laws, to take one example, are about as cut and dried as any of this gets, but there are a thousand different reasons why your character could believe laws are a good idea, and every one will color how s/he sees the laws differently.

Help file quotation syndrome is frustrating in roleplaying with enemies, but it's a hundred times more frustrating if you're a cabal leader or empowering immortal.

4) Cabal leaders or other authority figure characters who are afraid to reject applicants, toss out existing cabal members, or otherwise be harsh even when it's called for.

I don't know that this is so much a roleplaying concern in all cases, but the previous point reminded me of it.

5) Players who try to bring the concept of game balance into the game.

Yes, you as a player know the game is supposed to balance out in some way, shape, or form. For the most part, your character probably doesn't have that mentality. I have a very hard time even imagining how a statement of the form "X skill/spell/power is too overpowered, that's why you killed me" could be considered in-character.

6) Players who are only capable of playing one type of character.

I have to admit that since we're not yet to a point where every player who logs onto CF is capable of a superbly-roleplayed character, I can really only be so bothered by this. Still, I'm not a huge fan of the players who come up with virtually the same roleplay every time. That lack of versatility makes it hard, from an immortal standpoint especially, to figure out if you're really roleplaying or just playing yourself. If every character you make is subservient and attaches themselves to a more prominent character, how am I to know if that's roleplaying or if the player is just like that? If every character you play is a murderous evil bastard, how am I to know you're not just a sick person who punts puppies through goal posts? If all of your characters go on Tribunal killing sprees, how am I to know you as the player don't just hate law that much? When I can look at a list of characters and see saintly and diabolical, peaceful and violent, dominant and supportive, etc. characters all played with equal facility, it really impresses me.

7) The amazing halting role.

Sometimes I spot a level 1 character with just the most amazing role, with unique RP hooks or an enthralling backstory. Five hundred hours and fifty levels later, I look at the role again and nothing has changed. Granted, I'm thrilled that you wrote such a cool thing to begin with, but would it kill you to add on to it or update it periodically? It's tough for me to know how I should deal with a character with this elaborate role about abuse at the hand of mages, who I then see raiding the village and butchering Battle. Did he abandon his role entirely? Have a series of events gradually changed the character's viewpoint? I have no idea.

8) Players who are only "on" in terms of roleplay for interviews, or when they have reason to believe they're being watched. That one's self-explanitory.

9) Players who don't think very hard about the implications of their character's beliefs/roleplay, especially when it comes to choices in who to kill or what gear to wear.

There sure are a lot of paladins running around murdering sentient neutral mobs for gear without a second thought. Think about that for a minute.

If you're a Sylvan, and your character believes that conjurers/necromancers/etc. are bad mojo, what are you doing conjuring elementals with certain objects, or wearing the gauntlets of living flesh? How is conjuring demons bad, but wearing artifacts obviously containing entrapped demons all right? I don't care how many hit points or damroll they give you, that's weak.

10) Recently mentioned in another thread: Characters that attempt to speak completely or mostly in a 'different language' drive me freakin' nuts. The odd one word here or there for flavor? That I have no problem with, especially if it's for a concept that doesn't really exist in English/common. To try to explain what I mean poorly with real-world examples, words like 'karma', 'machismo', or 'bushido' might succinctly refer to non-Anglo-Saxon-ish background concepts.

That's enough for a start. Chime in and/or nitpick away!