RP basics - Do and Do not of roleplaying for newcomers

[MishkaL1138]

This is just a compact guide containing some basic rules and tips for RP.

DO:

• [Optional]Write a short description in the IC tab, make it simple, short, but explain things as best as you can. Eye color, overage build, voice, most prominent features, and maybe even scent is good. If you're an enki, there's no need to explain how your fur looks like in this tab. This is just to keep in consideration lazy readers.
• [Optional] Write an extensive description, if you want. Go from head to toe! Explain your scars, deformities, tics, quirks, perks, fur color, shaven, unshaven... Clothes too, and equipment. If you want, of course.
• Roleplay your way through the game. Where can I find a golden ring? Roleplay. I want to find the tavern! Roleplay. I can't...! Roleplay. This is a roleplaying server and you'll enjoy it once you learn. Everyone spawns for the first time near Harn's smithy, and there's, for sure, someone hammering a blade. Keep in mind they may be AFK though, or take quite a bit to write a message.
• Try not to make typos and use correct grammar. We can't expect everyone to excel at English, but try it. Also, roleplaying will help you understand and learn the language better. True story.
• Discuss RPs OOCly! Tell other players you're a newbie, or a noob if you will. If they laugh at you, ignore them, but if they help you, you'll be thankful. They'll tell you how you can roleplay, what you can and can't do. Besides, if you want to mug someone, don't force it on them. Always ask first.
• Use /me, /my, and /mypet. An example of this would be "/me grooms his rivnak", "/my rivnak whinnies happily" and "/mypet shakes his head and scratches the ground with its hooves"
• Have fun!

DON'T:

• Use a name just because it sounds funny. It probably is OOC and/or offensive. "Moe Lester" is not a good idea, neither is "Hotti Bunbuns" or something similar. If you don't want to be called a 12 year old noob, don't act like one.
• Disrespect other players, that's a big no-no. If you're bad ICly, that's cool. We need bad guys. But being bad ICly doesn't mean you have to be a jerk OOCly too.
• Use leet speech. lol, pwn3d, hax, etc... is not accepted. If you laugh out loud, use /me (e.g: /me laughs out loud)
• Use smileys [optional]: Some die hard RPers will twitch and squirm if you do. Use /me instead to improve the feeling. For example: "" would become "/me smiles" and "" would become /me smiles happily", and "" would be "/me looks sad"
• Talk OOCly in main chat without brackets, or intentionally. "Have you seen my dragon?" in Main without brackets will get you funny looks and questions from the roleplayers, and even OOC warnings. I once had a character asking for a Martini ICly. Don't let this happen.
• Flood Main with OOC chat, even if it's between brackets.
• Cuss and swear like a sailor. If your character is ill-mannered and a loudmouth, that's cool, but there are unoffensive ways of swearing, all of them ICly.
• Godmod. THIS THIS THIS THIS THIS. Don't. Ever. Godmod. "i keel joo with my swerd" will get you ignored. Why don't you try "/me tries to cut X's neck by swinging his sword" instead?
• Steal the spotlight. If you see two characters, it's ok to slowly make your way into the RP, but directly leaping in between them and most likely bothering them will make them frown and be upset at you. I've had someone cockblocking me before and it's not a pleasant experience. My character ended up snapping at that other character and he's usually a kind, educated guy.
• Get mad and ragequit. There are jerks out there. ICly and OOCly. If it's IC, it's understandable. If it's OOC, ignore them. This game needs good spirited and interested players.

Now go out and roleplay!

PS: Players please offer your 2x

[cdmoreland]

Very good advice.

[Rigwyn]

Torture, don't kill. Killing is like the period at the end of a sentence, while torture is like the beginning of a glorious fugue \o/

If you get cock blocked, handle it ICly .... compete for that hot little piece of ass. Show that other dude who's the shit. If needed, ICly settle for a three way. O.o

Don't challenge Mishka's character to a duel if you are a noob or suck at dueling - Mishka will hand you your ass.

Do learn to see the world through your character's eyes - limiting your character's knowledge to what they can see and hear. Rely on other characters for information, gossip, and the spreading of IC rumors and misinformation.

Don't refuse to let your character believe untrue things. Again, your character is not you.

Be vulnerable - allow your character to make mistakes, or to reach out for help.

Don't try to be a one man show ... its kinda like those folks from "The Gong Show" with brass symbols strapped to their knees, an instrument in each hand and a drum stick strapped to their ass. Yes, its practical but it looks stupid and eliminates the need for interaction with others. Folks, this is a big rp killer.

Do think about plot, story telling and plot hooks. Give your characters short term and long term goals some of which are achievable, some of which are not.

Don't be another goddamn lemming who just follows whoever is there and does as they are told. If this behavior is normal for your character, then at least do it in an entertaining way. Oh, and give your character a personality! They are not supposed to be androids.. hell, even r2d2, c3p0 HAL and Data had personalities.

Do learn to make the game fun for others, integrate and invite friends to give PS a try. If you feel like this is something that you would never promote, the find ways to make the game fun until its promotable.

Don't  be a d*ck.

[MishkaL1138]

Torture, don't kill. Killing is like the period at the end of a sentence, while torture is like the beginning of a glorious fugue \o/

I love doing this. Torture, torture, torture, heal, get your info, then kill slowly. Or simply erase their memory, or suicide for a greater good.

Don't challenge Mishka's character to a duel if you are a noob or suck at dueling - Mishka will hand you your ass.

Mishka can also be Ikon, Kisoji, Bonifarzia... don't challenge those unless you want to get oneshot. But RP fights can take an unexpected turn!

[Candy]

DO:

• [Optional]Write a short description in the IC tab, make it simple, short, but explain things as best as you can. Eye color, overage build, voice, most prominent features, and maybe even scent is good. If you're an enki, there's no need to explain how your fur looks like in this tab. This is just to keep in consideration lazy readers.
• [Optional] Write an extensive description, if you want. Go from head to toe! Explain your scars, deformities, tics, quirks, perks, fur color, shaven, unshaven... Clothes too, and equipment. If you want, of course.

I just want to point out that while you have the option of a short or long description, it will help immensely if you HAVE a description at all. It can be the difference between you being written off as an alt that's just around to spy and being acknowledged ICly (I don't know about others but I'm generally surprised to find we have an actual new player), and it also helps others know how to react to your character. We can't really react appropriately if we don't know whether your enki is a fuzzy cub or a burly, battle-scarred fellow with half his fur missing.

Also,

Do:

Make everyday characters. And/or comic relief characters. They're more fun than heroes and villains a lot of the time.

Give your character quirks, secrets, and other such things to tease out over the course of our characters getting to know yours.

Read the in-game books.

Pay attention to quest text (not just because it helps with the actual quest; there are tidbits of lore you might miss otherwise).

[In my personal opinion,] give RP precedence over gaining levels and tria. It's the people that make this game fun.

Try to get to know people OOC.

Share any art/writing/etc that the RP here inspired!

Don't:

Join the first guild that tries to recruit you. Get to know people and figure out where your character would fit.

Be afraid to let your character get permanently injured or killed.

Attack IC without OOC consent.

Pick anything more serious than a fistfight in town.

Grief peoples' events that they worked really hard to set up.

Get all snobby about other peoples' play styles. Especially if they just run past and ignore your RP - they have the right not to participate if they don't want to.

Complain if you do run past RP among people you don't know and then act like there's nobody around to roleplay with.

Try to make up your own crazy lore when you first start out - it won't go over well when you ICly speak of having time-travelled from the future where you slayed zombie dragons on other planets. But by all means, write that story in its own setting and share it with us out-of-game, though. 

Immediately try to become the 'big bad' character/start the 'big bad' guild. It's a better story if they start off small.

[Gilrond]

Mishka can also be Ikon, Kisoji, Bonifarzia...

I hope you don't mean literally that they are all your alts?

[Candy]

No, Mish, Ike, Kisoji, and Boni are all different players, Gilrond. But I'm off-topic here

[MishkaL1138]

I'm glad to see this is kind of working. I got some short-witted person telling me off in gossip (won't say names) when I promoted this thread in there after I just wrote it. What I got was, in short, that I shouldn't tell people how to RP when I was one of those grinders back when I was a noob. I almost fell off my chair laughing. I haven't seen that person RPing once in the two years I've been playing, and barely even talking in gossip. That's something you, as an oldbie, shouldn't do: tell others off and say they shouldn't roleplay or give advice because they used to level up stuff back when they started.

@Gilrond: I'm not all those. I'm many people, but I don't always log them regularly. Besides, the only one I can duel with is Mishka.

@Candy: Descriptions are overrated. You can be a great RPer without the need of a description.

[Cirerey]

@Candy: Descriptions are overrated. You can be a great RPer without the need of a description.

Of course that is true. But they are a useful tool to set the stage for RP. So unless you are an RP genius (like I am *not*) They can be quite valuable.

[Candy]

I tend to assume people with no description are not interested in roleplaying. Tell me off for that if you will, but in just about every RP community the first thing the roleplayer wants to do is write up a description of their characters, and in most that I've been in (given most of the ones I've been in haven't been MMOs), it's even a requirement to post your description somewhere.

[bloodedIrishman]

A decent description shows basic information about the look and sound of a character.

Personally, I get a giggle when people put in extras like, "[If your character has superb eyesight and mine is without upper body armor then yours may notice an old battle wound/tattoo/scar]" Those tidbits can lead to some interesting conversation and role play.

But if a character doesn't have a description, does that mean they aren't interested in role playing? You couldn't possibly know unless the player specifically told you. But in general I take it as a switch-off to role play, just as a rule of thumb.

[LigH]

I am glad to have met several new players who did not yet know of editable character descriptions, but played their roles well already.

[MishkaL1138]

I am glad to have met several new players who did not yet know of editable character descriptions, but played their roles well already.

Same. Point proven! 

[Zazhia]

I am glad to have met several new players who did not yet know of editable character descriptions, but played their roles well already.

I have tried that quite a few times as well. I have also seen some with incredibly short descriptions, who played there role so well, that you didn't need more. I do, however, prefer just a short one, to point out anything significant that my character might notice first hand and sometimes question, comment on or wonder about.

[Rigwyn]

Something to keep in mind, the longer your description is, the longer it takes to read, and the less will be remembered. Its a chore when you are in the middle of an active rp and you have stop to read a three page essay on someone's character when all you want answered is "What do I see, hear, smell right now."

Bigger and longer is not always better, in fact, it can be a huge pain in the ass. Remember that folks