A Short Letter

[Garris Shrike]

This will be swift, and simple. If you have arguments, present them. I'm not trying to offend anyone at all, so if you are offended...
Sorry 
[I'm sure most of this may have been already said. I would like to keep it fresh in your minds, perhaps do a bit of inspiring. Get nitty gritty, folks! This is real-fake-life!]

Hokay. Players are slowly dwindling on PlaneShift. Perhaps not population-wise, but those that actually roleplay in any given situation are. Too many newer players, or even myself at times, will refuse an RP based on that we don't want our character involved. While this is fine, try and make it fun. A little killing won't hurt your character in the long run, and there really should be no reason you avoid it for OOC reasons.
What I mean here, is simply:

RP in any situation. I'm rather tired of people who step beyond real-life boundaries through quirks, and either separate themslves from general roleplay for some reason, or simply refuse to get involved.
PlaneShift has an incredibly strong core of talented, imaginative, and literate people who DO still RP. If you are one of them, I congratulate you. If you are not, become one, and I congratulate you anyways for simply becoming involved with this game. That is the very first step.

Another way to look at this is, don't leave new players hanging. Continue to bait their interest with RP's involving their character, as they learn the ropes of what they truly can or cannot do. Precise and accurate RP is not taught instantly, it is a learning process. It's a process that has taken my brain a long time to comprehend.

If you want PlaneShift to survive, and roleplay to continue, you absolutely MUST teach new players. There are no ifs or buts about it. The only way we will slow our dwindle is NOT huddling together in some veteran's group.
It is through associating with, and taking a good chunk of your time out, to teach the new players. Those who have no descriptions, those who meander aimlessly, and those who shout emoticons when they can.

I myself have not followed this principle. On occasion, I take a tidbit out of my time if I am on an alternate, to educate a player. Very rarely will I dedicate my time, not to pursuing roleplay, but to teaching it so that others can benefit. I plan to change this, and instead give myself a little bit over to that.

To the New Players who may or may not read this:
Take some of your time to listen to those who are telling you things. Yliakum is a large, imaginative land. But even such a place as this has boundaries and ropes that, if you are to be respected, must be learned. A player who truly wishes to experience this game at its addicting finest will take a chance at learning what the core is about. It is roleplay, restricted, yet unboundaried roleplay. You are only limited by the rules of the universe. It's like having a million legos and building what you want, only limited by the color or shape of said legos.

There are INFINITE possiblities. Go out, and learn.

Go out, and teach.

[enderandrew]

I'm not sure how many people have done table-top or pen-and-paper roleplaying, but there is often debate between players of different games over style of play.  For instance, some accuse the D&D crowd of simply being "roll" players, as-in they just roll dice all day long.  And the end of the day, while I prefer story-based play more than dice rolling, all that really matters is that people have fun.

I think the best way to show players the virtues of roleplay is to engage in good RP, which people will observe as they pass by.  Someone asks you an OOC question in the Main tab, just find a way to respond IC.

I think harping on others and telling them that their method of play is "wrong" won't convert anyone.  Let people enjoy the game as they see fit.  Likewise, I think those that aren't into RP all that heavy should be considerate and not fill the Main tab with OOC chatter when they can use /tell.

If you want to grow the RP community, then tell your friends.  Recruit some new players.  Email old players that you know haven't been around in a while.  However, I can't personally advocate trying to force other players into an RP just because you want to.

[zanzibar]

Even in AD&D, you have alignments and personal objectives and all that.  You aren't just playing to be "number one in the server".

[Kangold D]

A valuable message from Garris. Thanks.

[Akkaido Kivikar]

Previous to PlaneShift, I was a dice-rolling Warhammer/LotR/FoW person. Though for me, the battle itself was a drag, unless it had a decent setting, backstory, and consequences. Alot of the time, I would stick to a minority group of players and we would plan out our own "kingdoms" and have month-year long chains of battles for war (that said I have since forgotten most of the game rules). We based our stuff mostly on the Border Princes campaign ideas in Warhammer.

Often, we would add experience to our surviving generals and units, and in battle sometimes our commanders would meet for challenges and peace conversations.

For me, the struggle in PS is RPing as one person rather than a small country/state. That is why I have so many alts.

If there's an RP your character wouldn't get involved in, consider making an alt for it. It only leaves you with more RP options.

[Bamko]

Re: making an alt; Huzzah!  Well said.  I often had an alt to do certain kinds of activities, including certain kinds of rollplay.  Gerta was the "govt. kiss-up" for example, would aften refer to the Octarchal Decree, and be there for such RP (remember the riverlings?). Bamko would help those learning a trade, or needing to find new areas.. and some, not to be named characters would do the less than savory tasks needed to keep things balanced.  I think I enjoyed gerta the best, Played Bamko the most, but sometimes too many do-gooders and I thought that maybe the other side would need a few more lowish level guys ...

well, I digress... you get the idea.

I also agree with Zanzibar's point.  I believe that PS should not (and is not) trying to be a massively populated leetspeak server, but rather is trying to remain a RP centered game.  While I am taking a break from it, due to many reasons, I am watching and cheering you guys on.  I look forward to where this project will go in the next few years.

oh, But I also think one should not force their character to go OOC (do something they would not do) for the sake of making it fun for someone else, though again.. that is what alternate characters are for.. but meh, people call their "main" their MAIN for a reason.  That is the one they MAINLY play.  So I guess we should conversely not expect someone to log out and back in and run accros the world, just so your RP can have more participants in it, eh?

Even though, I have been known to do just that... On occasion.

[Garris Shrike]

The replies thus far have been encouraging!
Thank you all for your valuable input.
In-depth RP guides are actually valuable I'm sure, and I may try and write them, with aid.

@Kangold: Apply it now
@Bamko: Agreed. If for some good reason your character does not need to or wish to be involved, then you should wisely, not get involved. But if there is no reason why you cannot do it, then you really should. Don't be too overprotective of your character, just as odd twists happen in real life.

[Akkaido Kivikar]

Well, I generally keep my main in such a way that he could partake in any RP necessary.

My alts are where I form my interesting characters.

[Garris Shrike]

That's a good way to do things. The way I view it, if my character gets involved in something, they go through with it. That means if one of my feminine characters ended up being killed, so be it. If there is a roleplay going on and my character somehow gets involved, then I really won't shy away from it unless it goes totally against the settings.

[Elvicat]

teach me your wisdom oh ye old one

[Garris Shrike]

Elvi you're older than me! 

[Elvicat]

i am?  well no wonder my memmory goes so often then

[ravenrise]

I agree completely. when I was new not a single person helped me for quite some time. I know how it feels and try to help now but I still need to do more

[Dermathil]

Wait, does that mean the RP-part of the tutorial serves nothing in most cases?

[Garris Shrike]

Yes, unfortunately most noobs who make it through the tutorial zoom through that part and ignore most of it.