What is Roleplaying™ / 101 Roleplaying™ Rules

Now for starters, I'd like to say that I have played this game since 2006 and slowly began dippin my fingers into roleplaying towards the end of my first year. But despite that, I've never felt myself to be a true, HC roleplayer. I've always had fun doing what I do and I've respected the realm rules. But my characters have at times acted a bit outside their racial standard, so to say. I've also used exotic mounts at times on regular toons, though I think I have limited that just to WPvP events. I've also travelled between continents, without pretending that it would take me several days/weeks in-game to do it. I'm pretty sure I've messed up plenty of other things as well, but I can' remember any other examples right now.

Anyway! People, give your opinions on this, at least if you don't have anything better to do. I've seen guides to proper roleplaying, but I'd still like to hear some personal opinions, as to what this should include, etc. Also any examples of your possible "roleplaying sins" wouldn' hurt! I know a thread of this kind might be asking for trouble, what comes to forum fights and whatnot, so I hope that people will try to keep it calm and civilized.

p.s. I'm also bloody bored, so I figured this could be a fun thread to make. Don't want to stirr up any trouble or so!

One of the biggest 'RP sins' in my opinion is a petty one. I bloody detest it when people emote things like: *thinks you are an idiot* or *doesn't think you are very nice*

My character isn't psychic! At the very least it should be: *looks at you like you're an idiot* or *glares at you*.

Another sin that really grinds on me is awesome characters who haven't earnt being awesome. Anyone can roll a character and decide they're a fighting master who's never been defeated and who commands the respect of the entire Horde or Alliance. Anyone can roll a character and decide that this character is deserving of IC respect just because.
The trick, and the best thing is to actually earn these accolades... Earn respect and then work at keeping it. Yes it takes longer but my god, its so much better for everyone.
I guess I've never understood the appeal of just being amazing for the sake of being amazing. I could roll a Blood Elf tomorrow and decide they're the Regent Lord's second in command and have the power of life and death over the entirety of Silvermoon. But that would be shit.
I'd rather roll a Blood Elf with huge political ambitions and then have him desperately attempt to worm his way up the social ranks of Silvermoon society until he's at a point where he does have that authority.

Does this make sense? Or am I rambling?

You are rambling, Grim. But I second all of that. Couldn't have put it better myself.

What also irks me out are people being overly descriptive. On occasions it is alright, but every single emote makes roleplay a chore and lacking certain flow.

I agree with everything you said, Grim.

I actually wrote a short 101 guide for the guild I belong to on TVC. I will not rewrite it all here but here are my basic points:

1. /s, /e and /y are IC only. ((Double brackets)) do not make going OOC okay. - That one is a serious pet peeve of mine.

2. Learn about your race and class lore before you jump in the deep end. Reading WoWpedia/WoW Insider articles does not take very long.

I then make a lot of notes about what you should think on when making your character background. In addition I throw in some stuff about particular classes (mostly noting cliches) - I'll just list my two favorites.

Warlock – Demonology is illegal, let’s get that elephant out of the way right now. If your character summons demons in the middle of a public place (within the Alliance lands) you, realistically, will be arrested. You’re a big bad warlock, grats, now keep it to yourself.

Hunter – Back in the day, people were called ‘Huntards’ because they would often wear gear unsuitable for their class and role. Frankly, I see people doing this in RP. Hunters are –not- shaman, they are –not- warlocks, they are –not- priests, and they are –not- warriors. Stop doing it.

Finally I make some notes about Mary Sues, God Moding, and a few other points. This piece in particular about unorganised RP seems to crop up so many times that I'll show it here as yet another pet peeve.

-Un-organised RP
This has been a problem a few times on this server, which I can think of. If your going to organise an RP event please make sure you talk to people about anything which they need to be aware of but is not immediately obvious. An example would be a magical prison which prevents inward or outward teleporting, or a magical ward which prevents outsiders from overhearing conversations.

I see so many screw ups as far as disorganisation goes that it just gets silly. One of the most recent ones was a cross-guild RP storyline where myself and some other RPers performed a small heist to obtain a magical book from the people guarding it. They failed to give us all of the details of it's protection, even when I quizzed them OOC about it previous to the event. The result was that they were unhappy about the heist itself, even though we had accounted for all of the defenses that they had actually told us about OOC. Which then led to us assuming that had made up more defences simply because they felt hard done by for being beaten.
As far as 'server politics' go, it was an admin grenade.

Not sure I agree with your hunter comment! They were called huntards to my knowledge because they were an easy class that didn't encourage players to think and therefore they'd fuck up a lot in raids and dungeons.
Also, I don't agree with RP being bound by class mechanics too much. I'm fine with hunters, or any class, 'multi-classing' to an extent. There's no reason a hunter couldn't be a skilled melee fighter and there's no reason a hunter couldn't be quite spiritual (for example, a troll shadow hunter).

Warlocks are allowed on horde now!

And to quote a friend who quit a long time ago, but whom I agree with.
"I dislike when people use brackets in IC chats. My character would hear 'BRACKETBRACKET -insert message- BRACKETBRACKET".
If you write wrong either make an IC cough and repeat it right, or make some safe emote. /e meant to say blablabla.
Or just use whisper or party!

Just ignore typos. I know what you meant to write. You know what you meant to write.
No reason to flip out over it

The most important thing is to not directly contradict any given lore. The given lore is the only shared objective basis we have to role-play with another. When you start destroying that by contradicting it, you will make it impossible for other people to roleplay with you, since you destroy that which binds you together.

To give a dumb and obvious example: Orcs are not pink. Do not roleplay a purple orc. You've never seen somebody roleplay an pink orc, you say? Obviously not; since they don't exist.

Another less clear-cut rule that is related yet distinct from the former is the rule of thumb that you must avoid involving your character too much in said given lore. It is frowned upon to play Jaina's daughter. This, though not directly contradicting given lore (it is never mentioned that Jaina never had a daughter), add elements to it that other players need not accept. It's risky business, and you're best off keeping your character independant from big lore characters.

Ahaha I'm well guilty of using brackets to correct typos... Its something I do automatically then think "D'oh." afterwards.

Grim wrote:Ahaha I'm well guilty of using brackets to correct typos... Its something I do automatically then think "D'oh." afterwards.

Oh, and I remember you during the heat of things once typed "5 g" in IC, but the next time you repeated it, you said "five gold". ;p

The former I really frown on, using numbers and such. :p
Though you saved yourself that one time, others still do it frequently! *shiver*

I normally type properly, but I do not see the big issue with using (for example) 25,000 instead of Twenty-Five Thousand. Both mean the exact same thing and are said (perhaps more importantly, read) in the exact same way.

IC//OOC

Paozi wrote:The most important thing is to not directly contradict any given lore. The given lore is the only shared objective basis we have to role-play with another. When you start destroying that by contradicting it, you will make it impossible for other people to roleplay with you, since you destroy that which binds you together.

To give a dumb and obvious example: Orcs are not pink. Do not roleplay a purple orc. You've never seen somebody roleplay an pink orc, you say? Obviously not; since they don't exist.

Another less clear-cut rule that is related yet distinct from the former is the rule of thumb that you must avoid involving your character too much in said given lore. It is frowned upon to play Jaina's daughter. This, though not directly contradicting given lore (it is never mentioned that Jaina never had a daughter), add elements to it that other players need not accept. It's risky business, and you're best off keeping your character independant from big lore characters.

On the latter one, I'd say it depends how closely related and how important the lore char. Claiming to be the descendant of a king or somesuch is a no-go, but something that would only add flavor and no real authority is fine. As an example, I'd find it perfectly fine for a Pandaren to claim to be a Stormstout. There's a lot of them (There's a quest in Dread Wastes where you help Chen look for his family members, there are atleast 4 there, + Gao, Chen, Li Li, and possibly a LOT more. Similarly, having somebody be a cousin of Nazgrel or something would be fairly inconsequencial in my book.

The limit is fairly obvious tbh and it's not so hard to avoid screwing it up, but yeah.

Lexgrad wrote:IC//OOC

This in a nutshell. My real life personality differs immensely to my characters though, not sure in this RP but other RPs I've done at least, I've had people get angry at me for what my character has said about their character. I hate the merging of IC/OOC and it is done in other ways; player knowledge for Lore being brought up on their character to an insanely extensive level.

As for the "hunter remain hunter" thing, I can't agree with. I like people who multi-class. A hunter can fill so many roles, as can a warrior. I wouldn't agree with a Death Knight playing a simple, living simpleton because of the glowing eyes and dodgy skin tone that can put a player off.

I personally can't stand when people put too much description into their TRP box thingy. I put current states in their so if one of my characters is injured and in the case of Tyron, my half-ogre, I put in how tall people should expect him to be to help them better their imagination, along with the tone of his voice and expression on his face. All of those things work, but when people put stuff like... "John Doe was abandoned as a child etc" I don't bother reading it.

The way I have always been taught RP, and it goes for acting too, just do whatever your character would and don't question it. I had to leave the Disciples due to a metagame issue and I left with my character storming out, which was very unlike him but I just wanted to leave the guild. I mended this and regretted it instantly. Number one rule should be to always think like your character.

Grim wrote:One of the biggest 'RP sins' in my opinion is a petty one. I bloody detest it when people emote things like: *thinks you are an idiot* or *doesn't think you are very nice*

My character isn't psychic! At the very least it should be: *looks at you like you're an idiot* or *glares at you*.

Last time someone wrote that in an emote, I simply answered with " wonders when the goblins got into his plate helm to install a mind-reader and lets out a sigh... Damned goblins."

Yes, a bit on the OOC-Comment/emote side but I did get a reply that someone loved me!


And to be On-Topic...

Just go with the flow and read that was written above me.

I used to think that just because I'd started RPing, I was always IC.

So, that way,queueing for a bg = joining a major ongoing battle for 20 min... And that gets weird. Really weird. And annoying.

Skaraa wrote:
--or a magical ward which prevents outsiders from overhearing conversations.[/i]

I've heard people whine about these. Someone overhears a conversation and then later on gets accused of using the information because "We were in a magically shielded room, you couldn't have heard anything?!111". Best fix to this is to have the conversation in party, raid or whisper, instead of assuming other roleplayers are mind readers and know about your magical shields.

It can feel bad sometimes if you genuinely overhear something and want to use it IC and it leads to OOC drama. Pro tip, you dont want people hearing it dont say it.

I've heard people whine about these. Someone overhears a conversation and then later on gets accused of using the information because "We were in a magically shielded room, you couldn't have heard anything?!111".

That sounds so much like little children playing with toy guns and shouting "No! I'm wearing a bullet-proof vest!" when they get 'shot'.

Skaraa wrote:2. Learn about your race and class lore before you jump in the deep end. Reading WoWpedia/WoW Insider articles does not take very long.

I can admit being guilty to this. Or not doing this, is more like it. Besides a few exceptions, that have come with "wisdom" and more experience, I've always made a character without really thinking about the whole rp-aspect of it, 'till I have played around with the fellow first. Of course, I tend to keep my characters low-profile and/or regularish type, so I haven't really ran into any trouble because of that. But believe me, I've wanted to write a proper background story for some, I really have! It's just always fails due to lazyness, not getting any ideas and/or just forgettin about the whole "Imma write 100 pages of text for this guy!" 'cause you are more excited about playing a new character.

I have played previous Warcraft games, though, so that helped a little, what comes to identifying races and such.

Using brackets and "witty" emotes are on my personal "Do Not Like" -list as well. The last mentioned I tend to shrug off better, tho.

Well ish Grim, im sure it has been used as such.

On the other hand, if you are a mage and can make the ward, why not use it.

Oh the emotes....

/Rolls their eyes...
/places their head in their hand

Any one who thinks to RP all they need is lore.

I think most 'sins' have been covered. Two things I would add:

Players who pull out their lifestory about ten seconds into a conversation. Ever sat on public transportation next to someone who starts sharing their lifestory, diseases they've had as well as the deaths in their family? Awkward to say the least. Let me discover your character through roleplay, not through hearing about it from you.

On top of that, I'm a firm believer that good RP is largely about making your partner look good. By that I mean that you should give your partner the chance to develop their concept to the fullest and play it out the way it was meant to, not that you should go with everything they do or roll over and agree with everything they say. Be gracious, be generous, be your own character but give ample opportunity for them to play theirs. Play off eachother, not by what you have in mind. When you're in a conflict, give them a couple of good shots at you. When you have two players who do this, RP can create a truely unique dynamic. Things start going a bit sour when the other doesn't play this way and hog te spotlight. Beat those people with sticks. Repeatedly.

That was more of a ramble than I had intened. Need coffee.

Bloedneus wrote: Be gracious, be generous, be your own character but give ample opportunity for them to play theirs. Play off eachother, not by what you have in mind. When you're in a conflict, give them a couple of good shots at you. When you have two players who do this, RP can create a truely unique dynamic. Things start going a bit sour when the other doesn't play this way and hog te spotlight. Beat those people with sticks. Repeatedly.

No ramble, that was perfectly put

Most things have been covered but I would add don't be too hardcore. (Well be as hardcore as you like with your own rules but allow others trying to RP a reasonable room to breathe, you never know they may have just started.)

I don't like players with an unrealistic fear of "meta-gaming."

The way I see it, we're all in this to tell, or write, one big collaborative story with each other. Sometimes you want big, epic things to happen in this story, that will possibly change a character forever. There is no foul in discussing these events beforehand, or even deciding on an outcome that will suit the character development of everyone involved best. In fact, I encourage it. It prevents a whole lot of OOC drama from happening.

--

Grim wrote:One of the biggest 'RP sins' in my opinion is a petty one. I bloody detest it when people emote things like: *thinks you are an idiot* or *doesn't think you are very nice*

This really irks me as well.

Skaraa wrote:Hunter – Back in the day, people were called ‘Huntards’ because they would often wear gear unsuitable for their class and role. Frankly, I see people doing this in RP. Hunters are –not- shaman, they are –not- warlocks, they are –not- priests, and they are –not- warriors. Stop doing it.[/i]

This I can't agree with. There are so many "classes" that are not in blizzards official roster. The class names and distinctions are also very "human" orientated. The "mage" class for example has pretty much nothing to do with Trolls. Yes, you can be a Troll mage, but you'd be more of an exception then the rule. Trolls have Witch Doctors, Shadow Hunters, Hex Lords and strange jungle shit like that, the current class brackets don't always fit that.

I, for example, have used a Shaman and a Priest side-by-side to roleplay a witch doctor. Then he died and became a Zombie, and I'm using a Death Knight for that.
Eventually he'll be able to resurrect himself in a big nasty voodoo ritual I won't explain here, and I'll start using a Monk and Priest to roleplay that same witch doctor.

I feel that making your character look the part you are trying to play is more important then it's OOC class tag. You just have to find just the right gear to get the looks right. Some classes, though, come with abilities that really enrich your role-play and enhance this visual aspect. I use the priest-witch-doctor to roleplay the more spiritual side of things, shadow form and levitate provide visuals for that I just really wound't want to have to do without by just sticking to the shaman... But totems are also an important aspect of Witch-doctoring.