Roleplay 101

Roleplay

Wikipedia wrote:

Role-playing games

A role-playing game is a game in which the participants assume the roles of fictional characters and collaboratively create stories. Participants determine the actions of their characters based on their characterization, and the actions succeed or fail according to a formal system of rules and guidelines. Within the rules, they may improvise freely; their choices shape the direction and outcome of the games.

So, starting from that definition I'll be giving all those reading a 101 on how to roleplay in the right way.

As the definition from our good friend Wikipedia says, roleplaying is a concept that first appeared in the world of games. The most known would have to be: Dungeons & Dragons, Witchcraft, World of Warcraft, Vampire: The Masquerade, The Lord of the Rings - the game, obviously; and so many more.

Taken out of the universe of games and placed in the universe of internet forums, this word gained a new meaning, similar to the original and derived from the game concept. In forums made just for roleplay one makes up his/her own character, be it characters based on fantasy races such as demons, elves or vampires, be it just ordinary human beings with supernatural powers.

Here, on Narutowire, once the fever of groups based on anime and manga spread, and as these organizations gained members, roleplaying started to make its presence felt mostly in the form of inner groups fights.

Now, as the definition mentioned in the beginning said,

Quote :

... the actions succeed or fail according to a formal system of rules and guidelines. Within the rules, they may improvise freely;...

roleplaying, in order to be fair, has to be practiced according to rules, most of which depend on human morals. Meaning, these guidelines are usually embedded in our conscious, even if we're not fully aware of them.

In the next few lines, I'll try and point out the most important of these unspoken rules.

1st: no godmodding

This is probably the one rule that is most often broken. This is mainly due to the fact that there is a very thin line between to godmode and not to godmode. For example,

Example 1:

Quote :

I clench my fist gathering up energy, looking towards the ground.The opponent is in front of me. When i raise my gaze I release a a ball of energy which knocks the opponent to the ground and then I use Hado #99 on them instantly killing them.

In short, acting all high and mighty in a fight. Even if the opponent is weak, chances are they might dodge the ball of energy and if they are of a higher level even escape the high level Kido used.

Example 2

Person 1 wrote:

Uses a high level spell that binds the opponent thus rendering him immobile for one move

Person 2 wrote:

Dodges the spell and shoots a bolt of lightning at Person 1, instantly killing him

Again, the person might dodge the bolt of lightning but how can you dodge a binding spell? The mistake here was dodging the binding. Since it can not be dodged, maybe broken somehow, yes, but not evading it all the statement made by person 2 is invalid.

2nd: no controlling other people's actions/thoughts/feelings
The beauty of roleplaying in all its forms is not knowing how the second/third/forth/etc. party will react to your own moves.

Example 3

Quote :

...he can feel his blood boiling and his head getting heavier and he collapses on the ground breathing heavily being unable to move...

Quote :

...as I approach his knees get soft from the fear I inspire him with my massive aura of evil engulfing him and making him cry...

Quote :

...thus i make him cut his arm off...

Quote :

...making him apologize for everything...

The examples above are obviously DON'Ts. You can never and i mean never predict human nature let alone human thinking and judging. Not in reality and surely not over the internet where the convo lacks tone and mimic.

3rd: no killing other people

This should be common sense. How can you kill someone over the internet? It's silly and immature to insist one did something like this. First off all you can't control another person's moves or actions or feeling as stated above.

So,
Example 4:

Quote :

...shooting a large ball of energy and instantly killing him...

or
Example 5:

Quote :

...stabbing him and draining all life from his body thus killing him...

are a no no.

4th: be creative

I know it may sound stupid to some but truth is the more descriptive the better. I mean it's not the same having to respond to a post like

Quote :

*fires a cero from finger at opponent*

and responding to this

Quote :

*raises finger with a smirk of content on face and aims towards opponent, gathering energy to fire a bright green cero*

I hope everyone gets the idea about what I mean with this. I can include here: use more then 3 word sentences, hell, use more then one lousy sentence.

5th: actions vs thoughts vs speech

So, within a post try playing around with colors and bold and italics text. Use one for inner thoughts, a different one for actions and another distinct one for speech.
Here:

Example 6:

Quote :

I always knew it would come to this old friend, me and you on desert grounds ready to clash in a battle of titans
*draws out sword and gets into battle stance*
I wonder what his first move will be...

6th: use the surroundings

If you are in a thread that also describes the surroundings of the action, use them. Pin your opponent against a wall, cut down a tree, kick someone in a building, break some windows, hide behind a wall, etc.

That should be it for now. I apologize for the kind of lame examples, I'll try coming up with better ones in the future. Also, I should mention I made this taking into account the 6 years of roleplaying experience and the fact I'm a WOW maniac. But, if anyone has any suggestions what so ever feel free to post them here or PM me about it and I'll make sure to add them.

Hope this helps! Cheers!