Post by Joseph Kent on Sept 30, 2006 1:57:10 GMT -5
Welcome to Role Playing 101
Welcome, today we are going to cover the basics of Role-playing. Please be aware that this is only a tip sheet, not a rulebook.
Contents of the Lesson
1. What is Role-playing?
2. How do you role-play well?
3. The common mistakes of role-playing.
4. The absolute DONOT’s of Role-playing.
[1]What is Role-playing?
Role-playing is a game, simple as that. It is a story made by multiple people acting as characters they have created. The point of an RP is to stay in character! To emphasize the point further I will an example of not remaining in character.
Example:
The sentence above is a mess. As you can see the writer is trying to paint a picture – rather poorly – that his/her character is writing in a notepad that belonged to her mother and that she felt a great deal of sadness while writing in it. It is almost immediately apparent what the mistakes are, but I will point them out. First of all the sentence is split into three choppy sentences when it really is only one sentence. In the second sentence the view of the character changes from third person to first person and the last sentence explains nothing. What is ‘it’? Below the sentence is fixed to how it should look.
Revised:
Although the revised sentence still needs work, it remains in character which is a very important key while role-playing.
[2]How do you role-play well?
To role-play well, you must be able to actually tell a story. If you are unable to tell a decent story or a way too much of a logical thinker, then role-playing probably isn’t the best thing for you. To be a good, maybe even great, role-player, you have to be able to let your imagination flow into the game and be able to illustrate your ideas through words. If you cannot create even a half decent sentence, I suggest giving up on role-playing for a while. Below I’ve provided a horribly written sentence (in my opinion) for your viewing pleasure.
Example:
The sentence above is annoying. There isn’t enough detail to give the other role-player something to work with. This type of sentence would spawn dialogue from the other role-player, which would end in a one-man conversation. Sentences like the one above are not fair, they jip the other role-players of their own creativity. No look at the sentence again as it should be.
Revised:
Now you choose which sentence you’d like to reply back to.
[3]The common mistakes of role-playing.
The most common mistake of role-playing is a simple misspelled word or a letter being left out. It’s ok to make a few mistakes while role-playing; we all do it. It is just the result of an overactive imagination being faster than the hands that type. Hell, even professional authors have typos in their books. The problem is when common mistakes become painfully common. When a sentence looks like an entire AOL chat room, that’s when you have a problem. Below is a sentence that shows how common mistakes can be taken to another level.
Example:
Whew, confusing to read, huh? As you can see, the sentence makes some sense but not really. For instance, there are a load of misspelled words that are accompanied with wrong verb tenses. And can anyone tell me what rapping has to do with this girl’s pregnancy? Check out the same sentence only revised.
Revised:
Less confusing right? Remember that when creating a situation as dramatic as a rape, you should always spell-check and use correct grammar. If you fail to do so, it only makes the next role-player confused and your point goes right over their head.
[4]The absolute DONOT’s of Role-playing.
Since we’ve gone over the basics fairly well, I am only going list what should absolutely never be done when role-playing.
1. Never make your character repeat the same emotion day in and day out. Granted you may have an emo character or an eccentric character, but no one experiences the same thing everyday, it is bound to change sometime.
2. Never God-Mod! It is rude and insensitive. Other role-players want to control their own characters not have you doing it for them.
3. Never make your character be in need of constant attention. It’s ok to want a little attention, but don’t make your character crave it unless it was stated in your bio that that is your characters personality. So little Johnny should not always cut his wrists and almost die just to get someone to care because eventually people will stop caring and little Johnny will die from the loss of blood.
4. Never use ‘I’ or ‘Me’ when posting as your character. The point of role-playing is to assume to personality of someone else. ‘You’ are not the one eating tacos in the middle of their bedroom floor, rather it is “he” or “she” that is eating the tacos in “his” or “her” room.
5. Never complain about the lack of replies you are receiving in your thread. Just join another thread and once people have seen you in action, they will come to your thread.
6. Never make a perfect character. We all have faults and flaws, no one is perfect. Don’t make your character little miss princes or prince; nobody wants to role-play with someone who can dodge their attacks with the swiftness of a cheetah. It isn’t possible your character will get hurt!
7. Last but not least, NEVER argue with the administrators of the site you role-play on. It is their site and they have every right to do as they please!
Contents of the Lesson
1. What is Role-playing?
2. How do you role-play well?
3. The common mistakes of role-playing.
4. The absolute DONOT’s of Role-playing.
[1]What is Role-playing?
Role-playing is a game, simple as that. It is a story made by multiple people acting as characters they have created. The point of an RP is to stay in character! To emphasize the point further I will an example of not remaining in character.
Example:
Alana was writing on my notepad. It was my mother. And I was sad when I was doing it.
The sentence above is a mess. As you can see the writer is trying to paint a picture – rather poorly – that his/her character is writing in a notepad that belonged to her mother and that she felt a great deal of sadness while writing in it. It is almost immediately apparent what the mistakes are, but I will point them out. First of all the sentence is split into three choppy sentences when it really is only one sentence. In the second sentence the view of the character changes from third person to first person and the last sentence explains nothing. What is ‘it’? Below the sentence is fixed to how it should look.
Revised:
Alana was writing on her notepad, it was her mothers and she was sad when she was writing in it.
Although the revised sentence still needs work, it remains in character which is a very important key while role-playing.
[2]How do you role-play well?
To role-play well, you must be able to actually tell a story. If you are unable to tell a decent story or a way too much of a logical thinker, then role-playing probably isn’t the best thing for you. To be a good, maybe even great, role-player, you have to be able to let your imagination flow into the game and be able to illustrate your ideas through words. If you cannot create even a half decent sentence, I suggest giving up on role-playing for a while. Below I’ve provided a horribly written sentence (in my opinion) for your viewing pleasure.
Example:
Alana go up and walked to the window.
The sentence above is annoying. There isn’t enough detail to give the other role-player something to work with. This type of sentence would spawn dialogue from the other role-player, which would end in a one-man conversation. Sentences like the one above are not fair, they jip the other role-players of their own creativity. No look at the sentence again as it should be.
Revised:
Alana got up and walked to the window, her head reeling with the news she’d just received. Her brother was dead.
Now you choose which sentence you’d like to reply back to.
[3]The common mistakes of role-playing.
The most common mistake of role-playing is a simple misspelled word or a letter being left out. It’s ok to make a few mistakes while role-playing; we all do it. It is just the result of an overactive imagination being faster than the hands that type. Hell, even professional authors have typos in their books. The problem is when common mistakes become painfully common. When a sentence looks like an entire AOL chat room, that’s when you have a problem. Below is a sentence that shows how common mistakes can be taken to another level.
Example:
Alana started crying. As she new that what he said wasn't ture. Alana turn away from him and continue to cry. He did understand that I was rapped and that is why I was pregnant.
Whew, confusing to read, huh? As you can see, the sentence makes some sense but not really. For instance, there are a load of misspelled words that are accompanied with wrong verb tenses. And can anyone tell me what rapping has to do with this girl’s pregnancy? Check out the same sentence only revised.
Revised:
Alana started crying, she knew what he said wasn't true. She turn away from him and continued to cry. He didn’t understand that she was pregnant because she had been raped.
Less confusing right? Remember that when creating a situation as dramatic as a rape, you should always spell-check and use correct grammar. If you fail to do so, it only makes the next role-player confused and your point goes right over their head.
[4]The absolute DONOT’s of Role-playing.
Since we’ve gone over the basics fairly well, I am only going list what should absolutely never be done when role-playing.
1. Never make your character repeat the same emotion day in and day out. Granted you may have an emo character or an eccentric character, but no one experiences the same thing everyday, it is bound to change sometime.
2. Never God-Mod! It is rude and insensitive. Other role-players want to control their own characters not have you doing it for them.
3. Never make your character be in need of constant attention. It’s ok to want a little attention, but don’t make your character crave it unless it was stated in your bio that that is your characters personality. So little Johnny should not always cut his wrists and almost die just to get someone to care because eventually people will stop caring and little Johnny will die from the loss of blood.
4. Never use ‘I’ or ‘Me’ when posting as your character. The point of role-playing is to assume to personality of someone else. ‘You’ are not the one eating tacos in the middle of their bedroom floor, rather it is “he” or “she” that is eating the tacos in “his” or “her” room.
5. Never complain about the lack of replies you are receiving in your thread. Just join another thread and once people have seen you in action, they will come to your thread.
6. Never make a perfect character. We all have faults and flaws, no one is perfect. Don’t make your character little miss princes or prince; nobody wants to role-play with someone who can dodge their attacks with the swiftness of a cheetah. It isn’t possible your character will get hurt!
7. Last but not least, NEVER argue with the administrators of the site you role-play on. It is their site and they have every right to do as they please!
