Single player plot-lines

Sometimes, in a role-play, you lose a partner or two. Sometimes you are left controlling all of the characters in a particular plot-line of a role-play by yourself. Sometimes, though, you start out on your own, finding a way to integrate yourself with the other players at some point.

How do you feel about single player plot-lines in role-plays? Does it break rules, in your opinion? Is it a big no-no, or does it add to the role-play in a way, by helping to establish or flesh out a character, or by advancing a part of the story without worrying about collaboration or player interaction?

I know that in Sephiris, I started out the character of Barthon Camlin (my most successful role-play character, I think) by himself. I created a couple of side characters and just went with it. It wasn't until later that I actually starting interacting with another player. But now, as far as I know, that player has left and I am now back to just myself with that particular plot-line, as well as an extra character. What do I do...wait for him to come back before continuing? What if he never comes back? How long might it take for me to get those characters to another player's characters?

I have another plot-line that I established with a side character that was initially just...well, a side story. But he became a character I liked, and one to replace my halted plot-line with Barthon and Simion. Again, I was starting him out just by himself, but this time Blackrock joined in immediately, so it won't stay that way.

But what do you guys think? Should players be interacting from the very beginning, or is it o.k. to go solo for a while?

Role-playing alone is BKA writing a story.
Role-playing with someone else is a collaboration. If you want to role play with people, then you should only have a single person plot as a segway to the other people. Otherwise you might as well just do nothing. A single person plot should only be if relevant to the whole plot.

Ie. Split up and search for clues, scooby doo-esque. It makes logical sense that you'd have your own thing.

Contrarily, if you person has a feud with a feudal lord, whom you defeated in single combat to claim the suitor but then left to guard a princess, and if you have him come back and attack you while you are now defending a princess, that is bad. In someone's words, save the drama for your mama. Tangents are fine where needed and part of the storyline; side stories detract from the MAIN story.

I think solo parts depend partly on the status of the main plot and, more importantly, on the character's personality. I'll use my Viemera character, Eri Kiryakov, as an example. I wrote her to have a cold shoulder personality and to initially dislike working in a group, which made for interesting character interactions since the story consisted of our characters traveling in a group. I had her go solo for the first couple of posts instead of immediately interacting with one of the other characters. And then, once she joined the group, the next few rounds of posts consisted of her mainly going along with the motions but making very few moves to interact with people of her own free will. But now we've gotten to a point in the story where everyone's characters are developing dramatically, and she's starting to open up more as she's rediscovering her emotions. I had to walk a pretty fine line of keeping her with the group and working within her personality. Basically, her solo tendencies at the beginning gave me the freedom to have a lot of character development down the road. Now, if I had had her go solo as much as possible, that would have worked against the plot and detracted from the group dynamics. But a little bit of solo action here and there can work depending on the character and as long as it doesn't detract from the main story, like Moira already mentioned.

I agree with Silvanarrow. It's entirely dependent on the character and the current plotline. Sometimes it's much more acceptable in others. Let's go with Emoria as an example, because we all know it's a big thing now.

If someone were to go off and do their own thing in Emoria, I'd say that it's fine, as long as it led to development of that character. I have no problem with that (in fact, in some cases, I would encourage it). However, if that side thing led to something that affected other people's characters, like giving proof of the dark lord's intentions or killing some important NPC, then there would probably be talks. In Emoria, we seem to have overarching plotlines, and that's great, but you shouldn't mess with them unless you have permission from the person that you're interfering with.

This works the same way for other RPs. In a sci-fi RP, you shouldn't stage a coup and take command of the spaceship on your own. You should go more into why you're torn up because you abandoned as a child and experimented on by the evil government. Rule of thumb: characterization is good, plot development is bad for single plot-lines.

I agree with what everyone has said so far, but what about the situation where your role-playing partner disappears? You have a separate plot-line going witht that person, away from the other groups (in Sephiris their are numerous separate groups), and that person disappears. Your only choice then is to get that group to another player group in that role-play. But to get to that point, unless you just timeskip (which is a lousy idea in my opinion), you have to have some plot development. How do you get around that? I don't want to just offer his character to some other player, though I guess I could do that if someone wanted it.