About Istarian roleplay, for new and returning roleplayers
Hello, I wanted to post the the details about how most of the Order shard's roleplayers are roleplaying. It isn't about rules that new roleplayers 'must' respect, but just to tell you, new roleplayers, how older roleplayers are roleplaying in this game.
Here is a summary:
1) What is roleplay (for me at least)
2) IC and OoC?
3) How to separate IC and OoC
4) Roleplay areas and channels
5) Last details
1) The roleplay (RP) means making a fictional / virtual character interact with others, roleplayed by other players, like if several authors were writing a book, each writing their own characters' moves and thoughs.
This means social interaction, as roleplayers are interacting together (see the OoC details' part) and through their characters (see the IC details' part). A roleplayer can roleplay several characters, as long as there is another player's character interacting with them. It is, indeed, hard to roleplay alone.
The roleplayer is the one who decides what to do of his/her character(s), but to make the roleplay work, to agree with other roleplayers is very important. It needs, then, discussions between the roleplayers themselves. If an agreement or a compromise can't be found between two or more roleplayers, it is better to drop the subject.
It is important to keep in mind that, when you roleplay, you do it to enjoy it yourself, of course, but more to let other roleplayers enjoy it, and the same thing applies for them.
2) The roleplay works with two different views. When the player is roleplaying, he/she writes sentences In Character (IC). The roleplayer, then, acts in the roleplay like he/she thinks his/her character would act, react, how the character would feel,... The player enters, then his/her character's point of view, in the virtual word.
In order to make the In Character roleplay work properly, communication between the players themselves, in the real world, are very important. This is the OoC (Out of Character) point of view.
The roleplayers use it to discuss together, to get informations on the characters, to agree about what they will make the characters do, even more if the event affect these characters greatly. It is about ensuring everything the players will do while roleplaying is fine for the other players, and it would prevent some to grow annoyed, things like that.
3) To avoid confusion on the roleplay channels, or on the main local channel when some are roleplaying on it, it is better to write brackets or other signs to show when ones isn't roleplaying as a character, but talking as a real person. For example, a IC post on a channel would be like:
*The black dragon bows his large head to greet the saris standing in front of him. Then, he asks: "What is bringing you there, biped?"
And an OoC post would be like:
(hello everyone)
It is very important to keep IC separated of OoC. Keep in mind that what a character does or thinks, doesn't mean the player would act or think the same way in real life (RL). Two characters that are hating each other in IC roleplay, doesn't prevent their respective players to be close friends and have fun in real life. The difficulty can occur when a roleplayer makes his character act and think like he/her (the player) would if he/she was at the characters's place.
The roleplayers who want to make their characters think, act and react like they, themselves, would do need to be careful with it, and not take any IC thing to themselves, as it isn't directed at them in the real world.
Some roleplayers choose to always speak In Character, but it is important to remember that nothing of what they could do In Character (even more if the character looks grumpy,...), then, is directed at a real player.
4) In the game,roleplayers are roleplaying on many channels. The main local channel is normally intended to make the characters think and act in the area in which they are really in the game. For example, if two characters are at New Trismus and roleplaying on the main local channel, they will likely be, in roleplay, be located at this place.
The main Role-Play channel, like any others roleplay channels, is intended to allow the players to make their characters interact in an IC area, even if they aren't really near each others in the game itself. A player doesn't have, then, to bring his/her character into a specific area to roleplay in the concerned area, when using these roleplay channels.
Roleplay things can occur at different times, so we can consider, for example, that a character is resting in one roleplay channel's area, after having fought an enemy in another roleplay channel's area, while the player is roleplaying on both roleplay channels at once.
Outside of the main Role-Play channel, there are several themed roleplay channels, in which the players join likely an area who is determined by the player(s) who created it, and can do, there, roleplay things who are related to the channels' themes. You can also discuss in OoC with other roleplayers, if you want to create new themed roleplay channels yourselves.
About the main Role-Play channel, area in which its roleplay is located is determined by the players. When I have written these lines, most of the roleplayers consider this area is a valley, surrounded by trees, and with rocks. A lake is also there.
The roleplay area hasn't always taken place on this valley, but it tends to not change very often, as roleplayers prefer to have a rather stable roleplay area to join. If some players wish to change it, this will require important OoC discussions, in game, and maybe even on this forum, to avoid annoyance and confusion.
It is important to remember that, in any roleplay chanel, a character needs to be at other character's sight if the player want to allow interaction between them. If two characters are interacting in a valley, they likely won't be able to notice, see, hear nor intearct with a character who is, ICly, at New Trismus. To make characters act, on a single channel, in two different roleplay areas, who are far from each other, it would likely bring confusion.
Of course, there can be exceptions, like if a character on a valley feels another one is in danger, or has a sort of mental link / discussion, mind reading ability, the character will be able to react to it, even if this character only, or several if they have the same thing, will hear / feel,... this. A distant mental discussion, tough, wouldn't be received by other characters.
/tell is a good mean to do this in these cases, for example.
5) Also, a character shouldn't likely be aware of what is happening on the real world. A dragon, for example, wouldn't be able to talk with a friend about the revamps, the bugs,... A character shouldn't be talking like this: "Hey, I am ADV LVL 10, now.", but rather "Hello... I have reached the tenth battle training season."
Leetspeak isn't really well seen by the larger part of the roleplayers, in the roleplay. Indeed, it would be like imagining, in a fantasy book like Eragon, Saphira saying to Eragon, through the mental link: "H3y th3r3!"
To conclude, keep in mind that I'm not intending to list any rule, I am just, there, posting how the roleplay is on Istaria from my point of view. This is only my opinion about this, though I am sure some other roleplayers think the same things.I hope I have done it well enough, and that it will help every new or returning roleplayers. Everyone is free to add his own ideas and thoughs there, of course.
Re: About Istarian roleplay, for new and returning roleplayers
Originally Posted by Darkwing_Duck
Re: About Istarian roleplay, for new and returning roleplayers
Re: About Istarian roleplay, for new and returning roleplayers
