Roleplay Basics - RP 101

The "RP 101" class is given because all of us were new to RP at one time and all of us are still growing and improving in our roleplay. We should always remember that and be patient with those who are brand new to RP.

We give this class to help equip every players so s/he has the tools needed to enjoy RP here in Erie. We go through some of the very basic things you need to know to be a good roleplayer and to navigate RP here in Erie or anywhere else for that matter.


Terms:

Role-Playing (role-play, RP, RPing): The concept where one acts out scenes and stories with others around a particular theme by assuming a "role" and taking on the personality of a particular character. It is your character acting out or telling his or her own particular story. Everything that you post is to that end. It refers to a situation of fictional context whereby you portray yourself as someone you are not. It allows you to be whatever you want (within sim rules/limits of course) as though you were playing a part in a large multi-leveled interactive movie.

Out of Character (OOC): Anything that occurs/relates to things out of the game, e.g. OOC knowledge (you know a character is evil, but your own character does not). This means you are speaking with your OWN voice and not the voice of your character. In local chat this is often denoted by a set of double parentheses on either side of your statement. eg ((My computer just stuffed up...sorry guys)) or by using your RPCS ooc function by typing /9ooc before your text. Use of excessive ooc comments is frowned upon while RP is going on and forbidden in large group RPs.

In Character (IC): Anything that occurs in/relates to what happens in the game (to/by the characters). If you are talking "IC" it means you are speaking with the voice and words of your character. When making IC posts, you should NEVER use abbreviations (how r u?, lol, rofl, etc.) or emoticons ( :), ^.^, :P, etc.). When you are IC you should not uses gestures either - they distract from RP.

IC/OOC Line: The line between ‘in character’ and ‘out of character.’ Players are not their characters, are not necessarily even like their characters, and vice versa. Realize that everything that is happening when IC is just that - a character someone is playing in a game. Do not take IC actions, insults, fights, etc. personally.

Emoting: to make a post that expresses emotion, action or inner dialog, thoughts, ponderings, etc. of your character. You indicate this by typing /me before your text. Example: "/me smiles" posts as "Journey Maertens smiles." When expressing inner thoughts or emotions, your should always *do* something observable so that others can react to it. For example:

Not-so-good Emote: Journey Maertens feels sad at her past.

Better Emote: Journey Maertens thinks back on her past, a look of sadness coming across her face as she appears lost in thought.

The first example cannot and should not be commented on by other players; the seconds can and should be commented on by other players.

Some good player definitions of emoting:

-Blitz Salamander: adding a depth to the roleplay by indicating action, focus, emotion

-Syngen Sohmers: Emoting is Scene color. While the 3-d Aspect of SL gives us a LOT to go off of, there's ten thousand subtleties going on in conversations that animations, or appearance may not cover perfectly. Emotes are there to expend the senses and make up the difference, to enhance the environment and the story

Metagaming: Bringing OOC knowledge into an IC situation, e.g. knowing that a character really likes ice cream, when it has never been mentioned, and your character has no basis for knowing this fact. Any knowledge discovered through “out of character” means may not be used “in character.” The practice is considered “meta-gaming”, which is a strict no-no. This includes, but is not limited to: conversations ‘overheard’ in avatar chat range when your character could not reasonably overhear it due to “physical” constraints (i.e., through walls, floors, ceilings, or the ground), and using information gained through looking at the RPCS or Avatar Tag (including race or class information). Don't use information/knowledge your character hasn't earned - only things discovered/learned through roleplay can be used ICly.


Godmoding (godmoding, moding, godmodding etc.): Where a character does something they are not capable of/do not have permission to do to another character, e.g. moving another character (without actual physical intervention by the godmoding character) by stating they are somewhere they are not without the other player’s permission, mindreading without permission, stating something about a character's storyline without permission. Godmoding can also refer to the case where a player definitively describes the outcome of their own actions against another character. For example, if player A states, "A strikes B and B takes damage", they could be considered to be godmodding. See http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Godmodding for more information.

Powergaming: Roleplaying is a give and take experience. No one is invincible, no one has all the answers to any problem, has all knowledge, etc. - everyone has weaknesses, so let your enemies know yours and take turns battling and exploiting each other. It makes roleplaying with you a lot more fun. If people start to groan when you're around or avoid roleplaying with you, you might want to try and change your tactics. If in doubt - IM the people you are RP'ing with to make sure you're all in agreement about what is happening.


BE SURE TO CHECK OUT THE CLASSES TO DISCUSS RP FURTHER AND GET YOUR QUESTIONS ANSWERED!

Page last updated Oct-22-2009 12:00 AM by Colleen Marjeta