RP Covenant.

[Apnew]

 "something right here"  that ia all well and good. However,
The point is:
"What does THIS community think"

This is an opportunity to be heard, to share what you think.


Sanwga, what is the most important thing in Roleplaying to You? What Personal RP wisdom, have you discovered along your RP journey, can you share with the community?

Prolinx: yes just like real life, Characters do get set in their ways. It isn't generally any better for real life people as it is for characters. And we do need the cranky old man or the crazy groffel Ladies.  However while the character develops the personalty stays the same.  

[Prolix]

Those, specifically, do not, neko but sometimes when you start to make rules it is hard to stop. however

If it were left up to me.  The rule would be, you all work for me and must do whatever I want you do do, or else I send your character to permadeath by sending them into the crystal.

would tend to limit my character

If you want one specific rp rule to be gleaned from my comment I guess it would be: if you are going to play a child or adolescent character do not spend all the character points allotted to an adult character.

[Mythryndel]

I will try to get some of the people I interact with in-game to chime in here. Most are not hard-core RPers, so it might give a little insight from that side of the community. From what I have read so far, nothing sounds unreasonable or overly restrictive. The only part that is a bit murky is "staying within settings". Most players I know, including myself, do not spend a lot of time in-game just pouring over books. I quest quite a bit, and get insights into characters and events through doing them. I don't know anyone that specifically tries to do things in direct violation of known settings... but maybe if a little more of the settings were available outside of the game... just some general guidelines and such. Both expecting people to stay within settings, and hiding the knowledge in books that will take hours to read... it may be a bit difficult to reconcile the two.

[Raekh]

[..] "staying within settings". Most players I know, including myself, do not spend a lot of time in-game just pouring over books.

I have to agree here. Parts of the Setting, and if its only the ones that describe the basic situation, say basic design of the world, about the levels, idea of the government etc. - generally all that every character would have learned while growing up automatically - needs to be put on the website.
Players have to be provided with basic information if they are meant to play a valid way, respecting the Setting that is.

[khoridor]

Some advice on what a character should be and shouldn't be are fair, although they are pretty obvious and already stated in many places (stay in setting, try to be consistent, etc.). A reminder at character creation, in the tutorial and in loading tips would do no harm.
However, I'd concentrate my etiquette thought and questions on how to use the PS tools in a common manner. The tools themselves can always be improved later to reduce the burden that an etiquette can be. Such tools include:
- the chat tabs, as already described
- the Auction tab, which is supposed to replace an IG message board, so could be used as one
- the description, which should be short, purely descriptive, and exempt of any OCC information
- the /challenge command, which I admit I have a hard time dealing with, lacking an appropriate protocol.
- the /away command, which could be set in a more visual manner; maybe we turn to face a wall before going away, or something. In the future, the command could turn on/off some snoring automatically, but presently, I just feel silly to talk to someone who isn't even there.
- ...

For the Main and Auction tabs, I'd like people to refrain from using thing like 10K and q300. (The latter would actually disappear if quality figures were never visible, although still there). For those who really think that q300 is much better than q299, I suggest the use of /tell for the OOC details of their transactions. Actually, same thing for merchants' catalogs of products.

We could also try to agree on how we deal with the parts of PS which are not implemented yet, as well as other sources of potential conflict. To agree on a line of conduct may avoid constant arguing later. With such a previous agreement, one would stick to it even when, some day, one happens not to be happy with it. By not reacting to frustration according to one's mood, but instead to a pattern chosen in a thoughtful moment, the game flows smoothly and the atmosphere is kept playful. It is after all, the basic rule of a table RPG: the GM has the final word, and one doesn't insist on arguing with the GM during the game. In PS, this final word can be ours, if we spell it beforehand.
The most common sources of conflict are law enforcement and free PVP zones. There are probably others that I'm not aware of. For PvP zones, my conduct is simple: anything that happens there is fair game. For law enforcement, some devs made very clear statements, and I'd sign the agreement right away. In a possible situation of disagreement in game, I'd stick to the contract regardless of being right or wrong, for the sole purpose of not being disruptive, keeping the debate for a more appropriate time and place.

Also, since crafting does require some OOC explanation in game, crafters could come up with an improved approach to the problem by sharing their experience, and teach that as well to the beginners, for they will also be called for help some day. Not sure if that was clear, so, basically, as crafters use less OOC to answer newbies, they also teach the newbies how to teach.

[Apnew]

"Settings" Is the World of PS it isn't a long read.

Overview: 15 min read
http://www.planeshift.it/setting.html

races: 2 min read
http://www.planeshift.it/races.html

history: 20 min read
http://www.planeshift.it/history.html

Government: 2 min read
http://www.planeshift.it/government.html

economy: 2 min read
http://www.planeshift.it/economy.html

[Raekh]

My fault, didnt see those direct links, but supposed there was only the Player Guide which I read was outdated (thus I didnt consider it a valid source of information).
That collection of links like you posted it, Apnew, I think would be a useful inclusion to such a roleplaying Guideline.

[Orgonwukh]

Whatever covenant/guidelines will be created, they need to be short and simple, so people will look at them and remind them. Maybe it should be in the help so people can access it in-game easily and everytime. It took me a long time period of several months to learn about simple things as for example what godmoding means, how to talk about mechanics ICly etc. And still there is a lot of disagreement on how roleplay should look like.
The rules should also apply to all players: Roleplayers, PLers, etc. to enable a way of dealing with each other instead of separating into groups. It is not a problem if a char is mainly talking about how to become more skilled while another char has no interest in this. They should be able to communicate with each other without any problems.
I see the biggest problem in supervising/moderating this. The game mechanics' restriction is quite narrow. Roleplay established by natural language is very difficult to supervise. Because of this the rules/convenant need to be as specific as possible (and simple at the same time).

[Xillix Queen of Fools]

Perhaps if fitting in with settings is part of some player's concern perhaps a minimum amount of settings reading or a condensed settings guide to read could be considered part of the covenant.

I won't accept the idea of pushing the responsibility for hundreds or thousands of people agreeing with my positions on roleplay.

I am asking the community to use this thread to TRY to propose a set of values they can comfortably agree to on Laanx.

[Marqsaynt]

edit: Added a rule 10x

Marqsaynt's 10 Planeshift Roleplaying Commandments (to be expanded to 613 at a later date)

1. All OOC chat must be enclosed within a type of brackets.
Examples: [OOC comment], (OOC comment), {OOC comment}

2. A person’s name is not known until it is heard in character.
Just as there are no floating nametags over our heads in real life, there are no floating tags in Planeshift from an in-character perspective.

3. Using /me or /my to indicate what your character is thinking is poor form.
Your thoughts are your own in RL. Your character’s thoughts are their own in PS.

4. Bald exposition is lazy roleplay.
Don’t cheat yourself with exposition you don’t need. It is unrealistic and removes a lot of the mystery from your character. (See example at bottom)

5. Don’t try to grab the spotlight; you’ll burn yourself.
An excellent way to turn-off fellow players to your roleplay is to constantly insist on being the most tragic, most loud, most dramatic character in the room. Not only is it obnoxious, it leaves zero room for anyone else to talk to you about their own character’s events or story.

6. Leave the official guarding to the government (and GMs).
There is no RP badge you can invent that will ever mean you are officially affiliated with the Hydlaa Guards, Sunshine Squadron, etc. If you strive to protect the citizens of Yliakum, do it under your own banner not the government’s.

7. In general, do not exceed your character’s race traits.
This includes extremes like attempting to RP a 7-foot tall dwarf or a Kran made entirely of vanilla ice cream, to less obvious faux pas like playing a character much older than any other of his species to ever walk the realm.

8. Every great roleplayed strength should have an equally great weakness.
No weakness means no conflict. It also ensures more thoughtful RPers will largely avoid you since it is no fun playing a game with someone that can never lose.

9. Stick with what is known about the PS world.
A person must know the rules before they bend/break/add to them. All back stories and character abilities should still be firmly aligned with what is known about the settings.

10. Your character only has as much power as the PS community accepts.
Just because you say you are a “powerful” mage/warrior/etc. does not mean others will treat you like one. A reputation is something that must be earned.

10x. Character descriptions are only for what another person's character would see.
Books are for autobiographies, character descriptions are not.

---

Example of Bald Exposition


Bad:

Bubba says: Is it still raining outside?

Explainsa says: Yes, and it makes me sad since when I was 7 my parents where both struck by lighting then carried away in a flood while I watched helplessly from the roof of a neighbor’s house. That neighbor then took me in, her name was Linda, and raised me as a blue way mage though I am still scared by water spells, but, not as much as I am freaked out by that lightning glyph.

Bubba says: Uh... So it is still raining then? I think I’ll just go outside and try to catch some raindrops on my tongue now… Bye.


Good:

Bubba says: Is it still raining outside?

Unexplainsa says: Yes.

Unexplainsa looks at her reflection in the window.

Unexplainsa says: Rain always gets me thinking about my parents.

Bubba says: Really? Why is that?

Unexplainsa says: It’s a long story.

Bubba looks at the door, and then turns his attention back to Unexplainsa.

Bubba says: I have time.

[Apnew]

* Apnew HUGGS Marqsaynt.

Nice !

[zanzibar]

As I'm what Xil would probably call a hardcore rp'er and also an open source nut so I am more than a little concerned that people should say leave it to the mods to decide, we're supposed to be a community so act like one.

I agree with Mordraugion.  I think the community has a lot of good stuff to offer.

[Xillix Queen of Fools]

I don't think we have heard from a broad enough cross-section.

I would like everyone to ask friends in game if they have things they want to add.

Include things from other threads here, and combine all the thoughts into one agreement here.

Marq did well so far, maybe the thread viewers can nominate him to draft the covenant.

[Caarrie]

a thread that has a bit of valid input to add here about one specific topic imo is http://hydlaa.com/smf/index.php?topic=25257.0.

also one other thread that is a bit more general on this topic http://hydlaa.com/smf/index.php?topic=28895

also it might be possible as suggested in the above thread to add the "rules" to the character creation process at some point where you do have to agree to them before entering the game and that would make it possible at some point for the gms to ban players that dont follow the rules as they did agree to them. But this would not be any time soon as the player gms and staff would have to agree on the rules and how to inforce them.

To those of you that came from forum or live action rp's what rules have you seen that might work well in ps?

I know many of you came from other types of rp before ps what did your gms or dms do that helped your rp become better?

Would anyone be willing to attend RP workshops ingame/irc or somewhere else that would help to teach players how to rp better and fit better into the settings? These would have to be hosted by the settings or gm teams and would also help to answer questions about how settings does fit into how your character does things.

We have lots of players here some that are more active then others, but we all have a voice come on and let it be heard good or bad let us know what you have to say. You want to see change make it known what you want to see happen or not happen.

[Apnew]

* Apnew seconds the motion to nominate Marq.