TicklishWitch1
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Greetings, and welcome to my guide on how to roleplay/cyperplay (rp).
To some of you (maybe most?) this will all be piece of nuts.. or cake.. or both. Anyway, the reason I'm writing this guide is because I've seen a lot of "varying methods" of role play. In other words - it's easy to distinct those that are new to role play from those that have past experience. Now.. I don't want to start flaming, finger-pointing or crying. It is not my reason to post.
Instead I want to give an explanation of a few, simple rules on how to make the role play an interesting experience for all participants. Yes - it is IMPORTANT that all participants have fun under the act. A role play where all participants have fun will in 99 % of the time be more fun than a role play where not all of the participants are having fun - even if YOU had fun in both cases. The reason is that people having fun usually will co-operate more and be willing to role play to the best of their ability instead of the half-hearted attempt they would make when not having fun. In a worst case scenario, a role player that isn't having fun will merely leave the others behind and probably ruin the entire thing. If this happens to you a lot, then this guide might be for you after all.
The first thing to do is to understand what role play really is. To role play is slightly like writing a story - only that you do not write the story alone! You write some parts of the story, and other participants write their part of the story - and as a good story is told, it usually contains both vocals, emotions, actions and perhaps even descriptions! Also, there are some basic principle to role playing. These principles aren't rules per se, but rather guidelines that ensures that all participants are having fun.
The first principle is called CHARACTERIZATION. By characterization I mean that in the role play, you control ONLY ONE character! This character can either be yourself in the whole as you are each day every day in real life or it can be a fictional character based on a superhero, yourself (partially), a super-villain, nothing at all, a model, a rabbit, a kangaroo, octopus or a potato - this is YOUR choice.
One thing that is very important with characterization is that you ONLY control YOUR character. This means that you DO NOT tell, write or explain what ANY other participants characters do. What their characters do is all up to them - not up to you. If you take control over their characters or their persona, then, by all means, continue to write alone. No role player wants to role play with someone that takes control of their character. This also reaches out to what happens to another character. You must in close to NO CIRCUMSTANCES assume that what you do will have effect on the other participants. If you try to handcuff them - do not say they are being handcuffed - your power only goes as far as to trying to handcuff them. At that time it's the other participants decision to the decide whether or not they will allow themselves to be handcuffed. If this rule is followed, then all participants will be ruling the game and not just you.
Here is an example:
Wrong: "George handcuffs Karina to the chair and starts spider-walking his fingers across her tummy!"
Correct: "George attempts to grab Karina's hands and force them onto her back and then handcuff them!"
Now, the wrong thing here is that George does a lot of stuff in one sentence. Also, Karina - poor darling - does not get a choice as to whether or not she is handcuffed! George wrote that he handcuffed her, which means her character suddenly loses a lot of mobility without her allowing it in the first place. The correct way to do this is for George to write than he tries to handcuff her. Karina now has the CHOICE to escape, to let herself be handcuffed willingly OR to fail at escaping and unwillingly becoming a captive.
The second principle is called CORRECT EMOTING. Even though it's the second principle, it's by no means less important than the first. Emoting is the act of writing an action or description. To write emotes correctly all the time is close to impossible... I don't! Even so, to try doing the best you can will always mean you'll improve your skills at it. Think of it as learning to drive or ride a bicycle. When you're at the learning stage, there's many factors to take in account (which we'll go through in a second), but still - when you've learned it, it is piece of cake!
Firstly, to perform correct emoting you need correct grammar and language! Message- or msn-speak is highly forbidden. You should under NO circumstances write an emote based on shortened words or where words are changed with letters (example: mate = m8 or no one = no1). Remember that you are more or less writing a story together! You can very well have your own style when you write, but let the grammar be good and the language be good. Bad language and grammar could risk that the other participants don't understand what you're saying. It would ruin the continuity of the role play and even ruin the entire deal. If you're no good in English, I suggest you start practicing. I'm not good in English and even I have learned to come to terms with it.
Secondly, you should always write in a way that makes it understandable. When you write, think "can someone misunderstand what I mean here?" If the answer is yes, you might try to word yourself differently. Trust me - it's better to use 20 seconds on an emote rather than 15 and then 5 minutes later get a message saying "am I on my stomach or am I facing upwards or what? Are my hands on my back or in front of me? When you say lips, do you mean my mouth or my.....?"
Thirdly, mind how long your emotes are! You should write more than a sentence - most of the time - but don't write an entire chapter alone. Try to make a note of how long the other participants are writing and try to match that. If one is writing to you using 7-8 sentences and you respond in 4-5 words - then you're way too short!
Example:
Wrong 1: "Katrina lols."
Wrong 2: "Katrina stares up at the sky as the fingers comes towards her, trying to thinking about life and death and everything in between like fish, flowers, bees, trains, the teddy bears, mandarins, chips, hair, anything except for the tickling. When the fingers touches her skin, she feels the sensations jolt up her left and right side, crawling their way up to her brain which translates to hauling laughter which then again escapes from her mouth. As her body feels the sensations, it tenses immensely and begins to jerk and bounce around. Her arms and legs battle against their bonds in a vain attempt to free herself from the monstrous sensations.
Possible right: "Katrina tries to block the fingers out of her consciousness. As they hit, she feels jolts of torturous sensations fill her body, forcing squeals of laughter out of her lungs as her body vainly tries to free itself from the restraints!"
Now, from this example we see three different ways to write an emote. The first one is clearly wrong. If I ever see someone do an emote like this, I will personally kick their butts so hard their grandparents shout in pain. The second wrong would actually fit in a story-writing, but it is far too long for a simple emote. The third suggestion, however, is a shorter version of the second wrong. It tells the same thing, but is using less words. It takes not as long to write it and it takes not as long to read it - meaning the role play can move forward faster. It should be noted the correct emote above might be too long as well, but it's all about preference. In some role play the participants might prefer just 1 or 2 sentences of emotes at each turn while the rest is quotes and talk.
The third principle is SEPARATION. This thing I see many people do. They might have both my first and second principle right - but they go wrong here. Ooh, it's sad to look upon. The principle of separation isn't worse than this: you need to separate what is said and what is done. In other words: you must always do something to show difference between what you say and what you emote. A rule of thumb is that the participants should always KNOW whether they are reading what you say or do BEFORE they start reading. In this forum there are typically 2 ways to separate this.
The first method is by using the <>, [] or ** to do emotes. Anything within those signs will then always be seen as emotes and anything NOT within those signs will be looked upon as something your character says.
The second method is using a function the chat program already has installed. If you begin any message with "/a", then whatever is written in that message will easily be interpreted as an emote. Important note here is that you now must use the "" signs to express what your character is saying.
An example:
Wrong:
[Tina]: laughs and wails. HAHAHA! Oh god stop. Squeals and giggles endlessly.
Right (with signs)
[Tina]: *laughs and wails* HAHAHA! Oh god stop. *squeals and giggles endlessly.*
Right (with /a function)
Tina laughs and wails. "HAHAHA! Oh god stop." She squeals and giggles endlessly.
As you can see, the two right ones are much easier to understand. You do not need to read everything to understand what is emotes and what is actual quotes. The only thing to note here is when using the signs, you usually don't write your characters name or she/he within the **. The name is skipped, but you still write as if it begins with he/she. When using the /a function, however, you must start each emote sentence after the first with a he/she or your character name. If you didn't, it would become bad grammar as there would be a lack of subjective.
The fourth and last principle is AWARENESS. You should at all times be aware of the wishes and wants of your participants. What do they prefer and what is best for this and that. It is also important to keep attention to where the other participants are and what they are doing (within the role play, Not in real life!). Be mindful to whether or not another participant is writing at the moment. If he or she began to write before you did, then you should let them finish before doing anything. This is because your emotes or quotes might be contradicting and this WILL create conflict. The question is then: which are we going to follow?
A pinch of awareness and politeness goes a long way. Keep all wishes in mind and don't only go YOUR way. They are willingly role playing with YOU and therefore YOU should show them respect because of that. If you don't respect them, then they shouldn't respect you.
Thanks for reading. I'm sorry it became slightly longer than intended. (I'm up at nearly 2000 words!) I hope this comes in handy for future role players and remember; you don't need to be perfect at this the first time! It takes a long time to become a good role player, but to become a good role player you need to practice!
PS: I might add more stuff if I find that I've forgotten some stuff. Up until then - have a good time!
To some of you (maybe most?) this will all be piece of nuts.. or cake.. or both. Anyway, the reason I'm writing this guide is because I've seen a lot of "varying methods" of role play. In other words - it's easy to distinct those that are new to role play from those that have past experience. Now.. I don't want to start flaming, finger-pointing or crying. It is not my reason to post.
Instead I want to give an explanation of a few, simple rules on how to make the role play an interesting experience for all participants. Yes - it is IMPORTANT that all participants have fun under the act. A role play where all participants have fun will in 99 % of the time be more fun than a role play where not all of the participants are having fun - even if YOU had fun in both cases. The reason is that people having fun usually will co-operate more and be willing to role play to the best of their ability instead of the half-hearted attempt they would make when not having fun. In a worst case scenario, a role player that isn't having fun will merely leave the others behind and probably ruin the entire thing. If this happens to you a lot, then this guide might be for you after all.
The first thing to do is to understand what role play really is. To role play is slightly like writing a story - only that you do not write the story alone! You write some parts of the story, and other participants write their part of the story - and as a good story is told, it usually contains both vocals, emotions, actions and perhaps even descriptions! Also, there are some basic principle to role playing. These principles aren't rules per se, but rather guidelines that ensures that all participants are having fun.
The first principle is called CHARACTERIZATION. By characterization I mean that in the role play, you control ONLY ONE character! This character can either be yourself in the whole as you are each day every day in real life or it can be a fictional character based on a superhero, yourself (partially), a super-villain, nothing at all, a model, a rabbit, a kangaroo, octopus or a potato - this is YOUR choice.
One thing that is very important with characterization is that you ONLY control YOUR character. This means that you DO NOT tell, write or explain what ANY other participants characters do. What their characters do is all up to them - not up to you. If you take control over their characters or their persona, then, by all means, continue to write alone. No role player wants to role play with someone that takes control of their character. This also reaches out to what happens to another character. You must in close to NO CIRCUMSTANCES assume that what you do will have effect on the other participants. If you try to handcuff them - do not say they are being handcuffed - your power only goes as far as to trying to handcuff them. At that time it's the other participants decision to the decide whether or not they will allow themselves to be handcuffed. If this rule is followed, then all participants will be ruling the game and not just you.
Here is an example:
Wrong: "George handcuffs Karina to the chair and starts spider-walking his fingers across her tummy!"
Correct: "George attempts to grab Karina's hands and force them onto her back and then handcuff them!"
Now, the wrong thing here is that George does a lot of stuff in one sentence. Also, Karina - poor darling - does not get a choice as to whether or not she is handcuffed! George wrote that he handcuffed her, which means her character suddenly loses a lot of mobility without her allowing it in the first place. The correct way to do this is for George to write than he tries to handcuff her. Karina now has the CHOICE to escape, to let herself be handcuffed willingly OR to fail at escaping and unwillingly becoming a captive.
The second principle is called CORRECT EMOTING. Even though it's the second principle, it's by no means less important than the first. Emoting is the act of writing an action or description. To write emotes correctly all the time is close to impossible... I don't! Even so, to try doing the best you can will always mean you'll improve your skills at it. Think of it as learning to drive or ride a bicycle. When you're at the learning stage, there's many factors to take in account (which we'll go through in a second), but still - when you've learned it, it is piece of cake!
Firstly, to perform correct emoting you need correct grammar and language! Message- or msn-speak is highly forbidden. You should under NO circumstances write an emote based on shortened words or where words are changed with letters (example: mate = m8 or no one = no1). Remember that you are more or less writing a story together! You can very well have your own style when you write, but let the grammar be good and the language be good. Bad language and grammar could risk that the other participants don't understand what you're saying. It would ruin the continuity of the role play and even ruin the entire deal. If you're no good in English, I suggest you start practicing. I'm not good in English and even I have learned to come to terms with it.
Secondly, you should always write in a way that makes it understandable. When you write, think "can someone misunderstand what I mean here?" If the answer is yes, you might try to word yourself differently. Trust me - it's better to use 20 seconds on an emote rather than 15 and then 5 minutes later get a message saying "am I on my stomach or am I facing upwards or what? Are my hands on my back or in front of me? When you say lips, do you mean my mouth or my.....?"
Thirdly, mind how long your emotes are! You should write more than a sentence - most of the time - but don't write an entire chapter alone. Try to make a note of how long the other participants are writing and try to match that. If one is writing to you using 7-8 sentences and you respond in 4-5 words - then you're way too short!
Example:
Wrong 1: "Katrina lols."
Wrong 2: "Katrina stares up at the sky as the fingers comes towards her, trying to thinking about life and death and everything in between like fish, flowers, bees, trains, the teddy bears, mandarins, chips, hair, anything except for the tickling. When the fingers touches her skin, she feels the sensations jolt up her left and right side, crawling their way up to her brain which translates to hauling laughter which then again escapes from her mouth. As her body feels the sensations, it tenses immensely and begins to jerk and bounce around. Her arms and legs battle against their bonds in a vain attempt to free herself from the monstrous sensations.
Possible right: "Katrina tries to block the fingers out of her consciousness. As they hit, she feels jolts of torturous sensations fill her body, forcing squeals of laughter out of her lungs as her body vainly tries to free itself from the restraints!"
Now, from this example we see three different ways to write an emote. The first one is clearly wrong. If I ever see someone do an emote like this, I will personally kick their butts so hard their grandparents shout in pain. The second wrong would actually fit in a story-writing, but it is far too long for a simple emote. The third suggestion, however, is a shorter version of the second wrong. It tells the same thing, but is using less words. It takes not as long to write it and it takes not as long to read it - meaning the role play can move forward faster. It should be noted the correct emote above might be too long as well, but it's all about preference. In some role play the participants might prefer just 1 or 2 sentences of emotes at each turn while the rest is quotes and talk.
The third principle is SEPARATION. This thing I see many people do. They might have both my first and second principle right - but they go wrong here. Ooh, it's sad to look upon. The principle of separation isn't worse than this: you need to separate what is said and what is done. In other words: you must always do something to show difference between what you say and what you emote. A rule of thumb is that the participants should always KNOW whether they are reading what you say or do BEFORE they start reading. In this forum there are typically 2 ways to separate this.
The first method is by using the <>, [] or ** to do emotes. Anything within those signs will then always be seen as emotes and anything NOT within those signs will be looked upon as something your character says.
The second method is using a function the chat program already has installed. If you begin any message with "/a", then whatever is written in that message will easily be interpreted as an emote. Important note here is that you now must use the "" signs to express what your character is saying.
An example:
Wrong:
[Tina]: laughs and wails. HAHAHA! Oh god stop. Squeals and giggles endlessly.
Right (with signs)
[Tina]: *laughs and wails* HAHAHA! Oh god stop. *squeals and giggles endlessly.*
Right (with /a function)
Tina laughs and wails. "HAHAHA! Oh god stop." She squeals and giggles endlessly.
As you can see, the two right ones are much easier to understand. You do not need to read everything to understand what is emotes and what is actual quotes. The only thing to note here is when using the signs, you usually don't write your characters name or she/he within the **. The name is skipped, but you still write as if it begins with he/she. When using the /a function, however, you must start each emote sentence after the first with a he/she or your character name. If you didn't, it would become bad grammar as there would be a lack of subjective.
The fourth and last principle is AWARENESS. You should at all times be aware of the wishes and wants of your participants. What do they prefer and what is best for this and that. It is also important to keep attention to where the other participants are and what they are doing (within the role play, Not in real life!). Be mindful to whether or not another participant is writing at the moment. If he or she began to write before you did, then you should let them finish before doing anything. This is because your emotes or quotes might be contradicting and this WILL create conflict. The question is then: which are we going to follow?
A pinch of awareness and politeness goes a long way. Keep all wishes in mind and don't only go YOUR way. They are willingly role playing with YOU and therefore YOU should show them respect because of that. If you don't respect them, then they shouldn't respect you.
Thanks for reading. I'm sorry it became slightly longer than intended. (I'm up at nearly 2000 words!) I hope this comes in handy for future role players and remember; you don't need to be perfect at this the first time! It takes a long time to become a good role player, but to become a good role player you need to practice!
PS: I might add more stuff if I find that I've forgotten some stuff. Up until then - have a good time!
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