Mikael Hart
Joined: Apr 16th, '07, 05:34 Posts: 18419 Hugs: 206320 Mood: Hugs are death squeezes.
Website: http://www.gaiaonline.com/profiles/mikael-hart/6844374/
Location: Lordship of Wuffel
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3. Unspoken Rules. Over time, RPers will (hopefully) pick up a few things due to experience; things that no one ever really states as rules, but are just naturally accepted as RPing etiquette. I assume that people don't put them into the 'rules' part of their threads because they generally expect it or expect us to know it, but I'm adding it in here anyways for the sake of convenience.Side Note: The following rules aren't directed to or meant to offend anyone, but rather are issues I've become aware of from past experiences.
- Something players shouldn't do in a multi-player RPG
* is center the story around their characters. What makes an RPG different from a story is that there is no main character, or rather, everyone's a main character. You can't disregard that by focusing only on the characters you like; in RP etiquette, every question asked and every action towards your character should have a reply, be it a cold shoulder or a warm smile. We're not asking your character to be nice to everyone, but even if s/he is ignoring another character, it should be written out in some form or another.
e.g.: Player 1: Adriana grinned at the sight of Gabe, waving him over to join the gang. Player 2: Whether the blond had noticed the other and was simply ignoring her, or was just distracted, Gabe headed over to Raphael to further discuss their English assignment.
As you can see, Player 2 is clearly not ignoring Player 1's post, although Gabe might be ignoring Adriana. Something like this is acceptable, as opposed to Gabe just walking over to Raphael without any reply to Player 1's post, which, even though it follows the general RP rules, is rude and often frowned upon.
*Side Note: Multi-player RPGs are RPGs where many players are involved, even if not directly. A one-on-one RPG is where there's only one other player involved. If that's the case, then it's sometimes all right to focus on your character, especially if it would further the relationship between your character and theirs. It's just like how you might not want to talk about your personal life with a group of people you're not too close with, as opposed to sharing your feelings with someone you've come to know and trust. RPing is just that way.
When you RP, try to make your character as interactive as possible. If you want someone to respond, do something to get their attention. One of the worse things I've seen while RPing is when people just walk into a bar, sit, and state that they hope someone will come along and RP with them. You wouldn't do that in real life if you wanted to get a person's attention at a party, would you? You'd initiate something, a spark of interest, maybe, even if it's just a wink to a cutie from across the room.
It takes two people to RP. Do your part too, instead of putting pressure/expectations on to someone else. Even if your character is shy, you can find some way to make someone else interested. Bump into people, drop something, do something that will make them notice. Or, you can just talk. Engage them in a conversation, and hope that the other player will be interested. It's okay if the other character just brushes them off. Remember, stuff like that happens in real life too; RPGs shouldn't be an exception. There is no perfect character.
RPing isn't a one man show, and what usually dries up a good RP is when neither player makes a move to further the storyline, yet relies on the other to do so. A good RPer would work together with others, taking control of the situation when inspired, sharing thoughts and ideas, and coming up with a new twist to the storyline to keep things moving. Instead of always waiting and reacting to one another's posts, try initiating something yourself.
From my experience, people don't generally like being the first to start a role-play or initiating character interaction. It's awkward, because there are so many angles to work with that one doesn't know where to start, and the introduction post holds all the responsibility of setting the scene. There's so much to be taken into account: the location of the story, the environment, the tone that needs to be set. Likewise, initiating character interaction is also very important, as first meetings generally are. The characters are given an impression of each other, and their behavior would revolve around this impression henceforth.
If the first player agrees to start the game, then it is only polite for the second player to have their characters interact. If the second player fails to do so, then the first player is burdened with both responsibilities, which is pretty tedious (in my opinion). One of the most important rules in role-playing etiquette is giving other players something to reply to.
And the final piece of advice that I can give you is this: give other players something to respond to. I'm not talking about posts of quantity, but (as many of you have heard it said among role-players before) posts of quality. Writing a response about how your character feels, or what they're thinking, or what their childhood was like are all very nice, but it's also important to keep up with the interaction.Introduction | Basic Rules | Characters | Unspoken Rules | Credits
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