On the subject of RP, OOC, emotions, and communication.

[Tcei]

Im putting this in rants because its a volatile subject, and/or I wont get my message across right.

I've been an rp'er almost ever since I first discovered the internet. First on various forums, emails, mIRC, and later in mmo's starting with Everquest. Needless to say when I first started I was young. Very very young.

One thing I have noticed as I've gotten older (and hopefully a little wiser!), is how the anonymity of the internet really skews or perception of one another, both in RP and Ooc interactions. On the internet we have no age, or gender, or nationality, other than the one we choose to present. In truth we dont know just who that person on the other side of that monitor is unless we've actually met them. I cant count the number of times I've been shocked to find out the person I've been chatting with who I was almost positive had to be at least 30 turned out to be 13, or a person who I'd swear was 13 was actually 30.

I was 10 years old when I first started rping online, back then you didnt hear much about the predators that lurked there and many parents didnt know or think that there could be a threat (The most mine told me was not to give out my name or adress). Needless to say my parents were shocked by some of the people I rp'd with when they checked the chat logs one day. At 10 years old I had no concept of innuendo and many of the slang words were lost on me. My point here is not so much that there's monsters on the internet (Everyone should know that by now), but that a single situation can be interpreted in two completely different ways (For me it was innocent fun, for some stranger it was something very dark).

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As I got older, and both my parents and I a tiny bit wiser, I also got more serious about rp. This was also about the time Everquest first came out. Suddenly I had a very visual representation of my character running about on my screen. Now instead of a random character who neither fit the setting or scene,my characters had background stories, and personality; they actually fit in the world I was playing (for the most part). While I knew I wasnt actually that character, I still gave myself into that character, many of those characters were simply me reskined. All of a sudden I was becoming involved emotionally with people; often times I was hurt, sometime I hurt others.

Looking back I can see that many of these situations could have easily been avoided if we had just talked about it beforehand. If I and those I played with had opened a line of ooc communication, and said: hey, are you ok with this?. If we had understood where each others boundaries are. Not just in matters of romance and sex, but also with such things as betrayal, abuse, torture, even death. All these things elicit very strong emotions, that's part of the fun of RP. The feel of the heart racing, the excitement, the fear, excileration or what have you. Just like in a good book or movie.

Often times in the heat of the moment we forget that there's another person on the other side of that monitor; we get so caught up in that moment that the boundary between reality and fantasy become blurred. We very much become our character, suddenly we are living that moment, and its not our characters emotions being played with, but ours.

This is the point were people get hurt, when our emotions become entangled with our characters; when, for example, the love our character feels for another's character gets tangled up with our own emotion. Rationally we may know that the other player doesnt actually love us (in a romantic manner), but emotionally we may very much feel that way. When things are going the way we like, we feel great, but when things take a turn for the worst (I.E. The other character dumped yours for someone else's), we are crushed. Angry and hurt we lash out at the other player, often ooc'ly. We drag others into our debate and a once close-nit community fractures.


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Eventually I found an rp community who I remained with for several years. In it, my experience as an rper grew in leaps and bounds. They had very strict guidelines for both IC and OOC. We also had guidelines detailing peoples limits on various subjects (relationships, violence, ect). They also taught me to make characters that weren't emotional clones of myself. Through them I learned the value of keeping an open line of ooc communication during emotionally intense situations.

I learned that I can still get that immersive "high" while still remaining grounded enough in reality to not get the emotions of myself and my character confused. It may sound overly complex but it wasn't.

While our characters were having a major fight over something, swords are being drawn and insults are flying. We're laughing it up on the ooc channel about what faces our characters are making. While Im getting excited and tensing up about the up comming battle, Im also laughing because someone said ooc'ly his character looks like they smashed their face against a window.

Overtime I saw that, in this community, drama didnt happen as often or was nearly as crippling as it was in other communities and guilds I had been in over the years. I saw that keeping open lines of ooc communication and knowing one anothers boundaries helped prevent so much unnecessary hurt and drama. As a community we became stronger, when drama did erupt (as it inevitably will when people interact with one another) we were able to work through and resolve it. We only lost those people who were completely unwilling or unable to resolve their problems.

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I guess what Im trying to say here is a lot of the problems I've seen cropping up lately on Order seem to be largely the results of people not talking to one another.

When we take the time to talk to one another, to make sure that all people involved with a particular situation are ok with how things are going; when we laugh and joke, and discuss other matters, insuring we stay grounded enough in reality that our emotions dont become completely entangled with our characters. We are preventing unnecessary drama from erupting. When we make the effort to do these things, we as a community, grow stronger.

Experienced/Older Rpers know how to keep their characters separate from their selves. Newer/younger/inexperienced Rpers don't always realize this. Often times the easiest character to create is an emotional (if somewhat idealized) clone of ourselves. It is the easiest character to slip into, because in some respects we already are that character. It is also the most dangerous character for the same reason, because we are rp'ing ourselves (even if it is an idealized version) we open ourselves to the risk of becoming emotionally compromised. We open ourselves to a wider possibility of being hurt unnecessarily, and as we fracture, we end up hurting those around us; eventually the situation snowballs and the community that we are apart of fractures.

_____

TL;DR and considerably less eloquent version:
Maybe if we started talking to one another we can avoid some of the unnecessary drama that seems to keep erupting. When Rping make sure you and the other

players involved are ok with whats going on, don't take for granted others are simply ok with what you have planed. Dont allow yourself to get so into your character that you can no longer tell the difference between the two.

[Dhalin]

You see this kind of thing in any roleplay area, not just Istaria.

I've been roleplaying in various areas for... oh my, coming up on 13 years now.

I will be the first to tell you that I absolutely sucked during my first few attempts at RP... back then, D&D 2nd was current, and I knew a little of it, and tried to get into this HTML chatroom that used D&D 2nd Edition rules. Needless to say, I was pretty... ridiculed, because I sucked. lol.

Anyways, I slowly got better, but the era of the HTML chatrooms was quickly dying off, even though I personally tried to keep one alive (and did so, for a couple years!) but it eventually died off too, my friends moving on.

Then, I went into the MU* territory (where the majority of my RP is had nowadays). I won't tell you which MU exactly, but I'm out there, and I'm a lot better than I was way back when I first started.

I've even RP'd a little with my GF, mostly private stuff, tried a few loose attempts at RP in Istaria, but my poses mostly got ignored and I eventually gave up on that. *shrugs* These days, I play Istaria as though it were just an OOC game, even though my characters still exist on Order.

My RP these days tends to be fairly decent, I like to think that I have some decent typography, spelling, and grammar, and I try to give quality poses (especially in battle scenes) and I take pride in trying my best to be fair, but yet true to my character at the same time.

Even I, however, fall prey to emotions. We're only human, and we're not perfect... however, if someone were to talk to me OOC, I'm willing to pause the RP and hear them out in a heartbeat, and I think that's what everyone needs to realize. As soon as you see OOC: or ((and)) or whatever the accepted OOC notation is, FULL STOP, set your emotions aside, take a deep breath, and try to imagine, for a moment, that the person you're talking to is a human being, and you've no reason to be against them, now that the IC has been paused.

[Shikai]

Exactly why I don't roleplay anything past casual, one-time interactions with people I don't have much OOC communication with. And why I leave my 'mean' characters out of rps with people who seem young/inexperienced/likely to be too tied emotionally to their characters.

My roleplaying history is similar to yours, just with different mediums. Started roleplaying in middle school, made characters who were essentially me in different roles/universes, sometimes got upset over things that happened, and then realized at some point that it was a lot more fun and interesting making up characters who could really have a separate identity from me. Well, as much as any character can. I think that's just a part of any writer's development, whether it's roleplaying or otherwise.

But at any rate. That's actually not the only reason I only rp with people I can also talk to. A big draw to rp for me is that you find other writers and get to have chats about your characters, sometimes silly, sometimes more serious. That's a big part of the fun for me, so if the people I'm roleplaying with aren't also willing to talk, I'd just as soon go back to working on my own writing. Roleplaying is a social form of writing. Writing on your own is fun and rewarding in its own ways too, but unless you have writer friends with a lot of time on their hands, you don't get the same kind of feedback. The fun, silly, joking around about characters with people who are genuinely interested kind of feedback.

TL;DR - Communication's really a must for me; it both helps avoid drama and makes things more fun. If there are roleplayers on Order who haven't already, you guys should join the OOC chat channels. x3 We have a lot of fun there and it's a great place to talk to some of the other roleplayers.

[Frith-Rae]

Tcei I think you worded yourself perfectly.

And I agree with everything you said. I almost wish your post was a pop-up screen for people who create their character on an RP server, and they had to click "I accept" after they read it....

Nail on the head my friend. So many boundaries get blurred in RP on a daily basis, it takes really someone being very self-aware to avoid the "drama" and when pepole aren't self-aware even of themselves IRL, they can't possibly be in IC. And thus, drama ensues.

[Reckless]

I couldn't have said it better, Tcei. A lesson that everyone should remember no matter where they Rp.

[Reverse]

(Beware, this post is very long and thought out, so please be patient and understanding while reading it, but for long story short, skip to the bottom. ;P)

While we're on the topic of RP rants, I agree with Dhalin and I've a very similar story m'self. RP'd for 13 years, especially online, and ever since I first started I strove to get my thought processes clearly across to the other RPers. I've strove to paint a scene that's very easy to picture in one's mind's eye. And I've learned the difference between character and RPer separation.

Now I've come to find that, players in general who are slightly less experienced make a good number of faux pas' that grind away at my tolerance of these pet peeves. Often times if the player is REALLY inexperienced I can see it as much and therefore my patience is lengthened to account for it.

However, while not naming any names as this doesn't just apply to Istarian RP, but others I've been in as well, is that....well there's a list I suppose, so I'll list them below.


1. Speedy RPing - Essentially is exactly what the name says, fast RPing, during normal RP's and battle scenes or something exciting occuring. My problems that arise for me, is: Me, being the person that I am, who likes to paint a very detailed scene of the environment, my character's actions/poses/thoughts, etc, comes very naturally to me.

Inasmuch, I do this as a form of 'post-fattening' (if-you-will), to give my posts more meat, more fat to go off of. They then don't simply look like one-liner posts or a few sentences because I've taken the time, (and gotten in the habit of) filling out my posts with greater information like I listed above: thought processes, scene painting, behaviors, actions, poses, etc. I've learned to do this because I first started out RPing on a forum and thus we had definitely the room to do so, and it helped in the long run as it became a much more satisfying RP and something worth re-reading even.

What I've come to notice that happens now and again on the various places I role-play, Istaria being the most current, is that, during battle scenes, emotional scenes, or just plain ol' exciting scenes that call for an urge to WANT to RP the scene out, what's the next line!? All that fun and anticipation that builds up makes some players forget that there are other RPers who love these chances to RP. They, and Myself, absolutely LOVE these types of scenarios as it's a wonderful time to get in some hardcore very detailed and memorable posts for a very memorable situation, like a battle.

Thus us RPers who thoroughly enjoy painting huge scenes are often times (during Istaria for example) "breaking the buffer" in our posts. Meaning, we reach the maximum length of a sentence in one window, we open a new tab and keep on typing our post out. Often times we've gotten up to 7, 8, 9, even 11 windows open just dedicated to ONE POST.

For the players that don't paint enormous scenes naturally, this can be a time of impatience and confusion at times wondering what we're doing on our 'turn' essentially in an RP.

And what I often see happening that is the root of this rant #1, is they'll go ahead and keep posting. They'll make smaller posts to react to another person's post. While we're still typing as quickly as we possibly can to get our long post out. And the problem that occurs, is this:

We're typing a long post already to account for alot of things happening. If the impatient RPers CONTINUE TO POST, that's MUCH MORE information that US as the lengthy RPers are forced to acknowledge and post MORE about. So essentially when we eek out our long post, it's either far behind what's currently happening now since the impatient RPer's have continued the plot along, or our posts don't even apply anymore.

Often times the people who make lengthy posts often have to severely truncate(shorten) our posts and hold ourselves back from posting alot for the other RPers' enjoyment. When in turn sacrificing our OWN enjoyment as all we would love to do is have everyone be a bit patient and let us type out our long lovely posts.

Basically I'm ranting about people RPing out of turn with no regard for the longer posters as the longer posters, (who I personally feel add a big chunk of flavor to any website or game), end up getting shoved to the side or restrained in lieu of the shorter RPers' posts. It's not a pleasant thing and can turn off the longer RPers' drive to post anything at all.


2. Proper Grammar and Spelling - This one, as a website owner/admin and mod for 13 years, I have to accept with a grain of salt. Not everyone has English as a first language and often times it is difficult to present that in a post. However, there are still times when in all my years of RPing I've seen this spring up all over the place, is lack of punctuation, paragraph structuring (not as easily applicable to Istarian RP's in game), spelling (not as HUGE of a deal unless it becomes really bad and unintelligible), and poor sentence structure in general.

Now I'm not asking everyone to be an English Major, and I myself have no doubt broken alot of grammar and structuring rules in just typing out this reply. I personally don't ask everyone to be perfect, because I understand that's not being realistic to the actuality of what is going on (like people who don't have English as a first language). But I do ask that those who fall under such classification (if-you-will) at least make SOME valiant ATTEMPT at TRYING to structure sentences or PUNCTUATION. Punctuation, especially on such tiny windows as the Istarian Role-plays are on, is a biggie for me and others.

If your sentences are not properly punctuated, your sentences start to look like one HUGE run-on sentence, or a wall o' text. It is painful to read as you're not sure where one thought ends and another begins. As well as often times, I won't even bother reading the entirety of the post, and I know I'm not alone in that. And that's a shame since, often times the poorly punctuated posts are often a long lovely post that details an environment or a nice thought process; and when we don't have the patience or urge to even read such a thing, it's unfortunate.

All in all just please at least attempt to punctuate, even if it's a few periods, it makes everyone a little more happy to read long posts.

3. Post Fattening - As I mentioned in my first point, post fattening means a world of difference. Especially if the person you're RPing with is someone like me who LOVES HUGE posts. What I find happens in alot of places is a person will post a 'one-liner' or a sentence or two that addresses what is happening, yes, however has no substance to it for others to build off of, or continue the post from.

Elaborate your posts, lengthen them and TRY to make them a paragraph each time. A paragraph is three to five sentences. Often times if you honestly post/add in the things I'm going to list, you'll find yourself reach that paragraph and more. Maybe you'll even hit the buffer and need to open a new window!

Things to add to beef up your posts include:

-Describe the environment your character is CURRENTLY apart of.
example post: *As Githinji stood there in the clearing surveying it, he could feel the crinkling of the grass under his paws very acutely. Looking down from the lush spread of field and trees in front of him, he studied the vegetation underneath his magmatic body. The normally green and vibrant blades of grass had begun to wither and brown under his radiant temperature, and he snorted out a plume of smoke at this. Golden eyes following the smoke upwards, he bemusedly watch it be carried off by an errant breeze that sent the trees nearby to rustling softly.*

Now, that was just a mindless post of course, but as you can see, minus any fancy words thrown in, I've detailed that Githinji is standing in a clearing, there is a field nearby from the looks of the post, and there must be a line of trees nearby that have caught a breeze of air. The leaves on the trees must be rustling around in that breeze and there is a haze of smoke coming from his breath. Underneath him the green grass is browning up from his core temperature being so hot, etc. Just a few things, simple things, (ie. the world from his perspective), can beef up a post VERY quickly. Often times, just accounting for other characters in the same area can quickly fill in a post.

-Describe a character's thought process (and properly label it!) (Now this is different person to person, I denote my RP post within Asterisks (*) and thought processes within the asterisks as ( ' ) or italics(if possible) and speech as ( " ) However in Istaria I've come to ending action with an asterisk and speech being outside of such. So whatever is comfortable for you as long as it's easily understood as to what is what.:
example post: (In an ideal forum this is what it would look like for me) *Githinji once again glanced around the clearing as the breeze ruffled the sails of his wings. 'I wonder if my father will be done with his hunting soon,' he mused to himself, moving to settle down on the burnt grass. Hearing a faint noise nearby he looked down spotting a small lizard scuttling away from him, obviously uncomfortable from his higher ambient temperature. "Oops, sorry little one, I didn't mean to roast you.." he commented aloud to the little critter, a faint chuckle bubbling from him.*

(In an Istarian post given the limited posting abilities it might look more like this: )*Githinji once again glanced around the clearing as the breeze ruffled the sails of his wings. 'I wonder if my father will be done with his hunting soon,' he mused to himself, moving to settle down on the burnt grass. Hearing a faint noise nearby he looked down spotting a small lizard scuttling away from him, obviously uncomfortable from his higher ambient temperature.* (might or might not use quotations since out of asterisk is already speech implied)"Oops, sorry little one, I didn't mean to roast you.." *he commented aloud to the little critter, a faint chuckle bubbling from him.*

-Describe, in depth, possible/potential future or current actions or thought processes:
example post: *Githinji hummed as he lay there, directing his attention back to his surroundings. He wondered at the seemingly miraculous recovery all the vegetation here seemed to posses. He'd heard rumors about the dryads and other nature-oriented beings that roamed Istaria, perhaps they had a hand in restoring the burnt and destroyed vegetation. Sweeping his long tail in an arc towards his body, he watched the way it cut through the grass like a scythe. The tip of his tail curling over a forepaw, he moved to rest his head down on his forelegs and let a heavy relaxation settle over him.*

Simple yes on that post, but just adding depth to an action alone (ie. "Sweeping his long tail in an arc towards his body, he watched the way it cut through the grass like a scythe.") alluding to it having another type of description alone (switch up descriptive words too!) adds more thought to your posts, and makes them seem less redundant or cookie-cutter.



Another practice to have that's generally understood to be a sort of unspoken 'rule' of RPing is to not 'God-mode' or 'Power-Play'. Usually those terms are called just those terms, and if they're referred to by any other name can cause confusion unless it's properly explained.

-God-Moding: A roleplayed character that can/will block every attack, dodge every attack, and with auto, also known as making an attack so it can‘t be blocked or dodged.

Thought to be taken from the normal term in video games for (in most cases) being invincible and usually have most of any skill or attacks unlocked, any magic held be to the max or unlimited, and ammo to the max or unlimited. The term of course is 'God Mode', a person such as this is taking god moding into a place it is frowned upon, ie. 'god moder' or 'god-moding'.
example post:
Howler Silver: (for length purposes this will be a post in a nutshell) The blade slashes down, slicing over the wall as it cut through the air towards its target..

God ModeR: *Rips off skin, showing he is de terminator and the blade breaks* I AM INVINCIBLE!

Essentially, the first player has posted what can be termed as an 'open-ended' post. A post that leaves room for the other player's character to react to such an action. Like seen there, the knife coming down at him. The God-Moder in this post, not only has shown he's utterly invincible or invulnerable to attack, but also breaks the blade coming at him.

That leads into the next term: Power-Playing.

-Power-Playing: Power playing occurs in role playing when you control someone else's character, their objects or thoughts and actions, as well as your own, without the other person's permission.
example post that I'd be posting: *Githinji runs up to Romirez (sorry Romi :P) and head butts him hard. Swatting the older drake with a paw he runs off again. Romirez recoils from the head butt and swat sent his way, feeling the pain coursing through him before he can stand up.*

Now it's faintly subtle in that post, but the fact that I'VE controlled that Romirez not only IS struck SUCCESSFULLY, and FEELS the pain, means I've already power-played his character. It is always best to leave a post 'open-ended', example: *Githinji runs up to Romirez, ducking his head down with the head butt he was attempting to perform on the older drake.* OR *Githinji brought his paw swiping downwards towards the older drake's snout aiming to swat him before he ran off again. If the swat connects he'd run away with a snicker, and if it didn't he'd merely run out of range for retaliation.*

Now in the two sentences I typed, the first one, denotes that Githinji is aiming to head butt Romirez. Yet it also leaves the action 'open' so that if Romirez didn't want it to connect, or was currently doing something else that might hinder that action from actually happening, he could denote as such in his own post. I wouldnt' be deciding it for him.

In the second post I wrote that the swat was swiping down, it would then be up to Romirez to not only have the choice of if it connected or not, but since I wanted to continue advancing my OWN post, I left two choices on the table so-to-speak, that if it DID successfully connect BECAUSE ROMIREZ ALLOWED IT, that Githinji might laugh a little as he kept on running away. But if Romirez didn't want it to connect, nothing more would happen and Githinji would continue running without having successfully swatted Romirez.

Often times I have seen in Istaria specifically, a biped, walking up to a VERY ANGRY or engaged dragon, seemingly unharmed say by Githinji's heat that normally would be very uncomfortable to any biped save maybe a sslisk. TOUCH my character, and thread their ability into him, saying that his mind would be instantly calm and awash with feeling of contentment and the urge to lay down and calm down. Or SOMETHING to that nature.

Personally that bugs me. Not only is say that biped thoroughly ignoring the immediate physical danger my character poses to their character, but they also touch my character which is another ignoring of his body temperature and who he is, but they also force their ability into him without my permission or acceptance, force that feeling to calm Githinji down and denote that he pretty much needs to comply to that action of settling down calmly. Now, in my eyes, I might not want my character to calm down just yet as there is probably valid reason he's doing what he'd currently be doing. So the way I'm FORCED to react to such a post is by merely having my character thoroughly ignore the forced action (being touched or having the calming sensation forced into him), I might have him recoil from the biped and hiss at its brash ignorance of touching a MAGMA drake without preparation, etc. blah blah /rant.

Essentially it bugs other player when another player disregards their characters actions/abilities/presence alone/ or what have you. That is why it is important to not only present your own character to the scene in an acceptable manner, but to interact with the other players' characters without offending the RPer behind the character with such an inconsiderate(in a sense) post. Now that was not written with intent to insult anyone, so please do not take offense if you feel the urge to. I am merely laying it out for those RPers who have their characters or their well-thought-out posts disregarded in lieu of another players' character action.


Now, there are a few circumstances in which players CAN Power-Play. And that is when consensual agreement occurs from the other player that I (for example) could manipulate their character as per the RP needs. Often times, this is seen as an adult dragon scooping up a hatchling to relocate them for safety reasons (as described in an RP), or just to move them. And through a sort of understood hidden behavior of the RP's advancement the other player can easily see that such a move needs to happen or is about to happen. (such as a hatchling being relocated).

Now often times, even if say, your hatchling is relocated via a tiny bit of PPing to keep the RPing moving, there can still be behavior of your hatchling disagreeing with such a motion, such as wiggling around or whatever to break free. It's sometimes difficult to explain such things as acceptable Power-Playing(PPing), but when in doubt always feel free to ask the other RPer.



And I think last but not least: Proper denotation of your post.(Can also apply slightly as a punctuation rule).

Basically put, it's good to keep your OOC speech separate from your ICly speech. As in, keeping your Out-Of-Character speech(things your character isn't directly saying or performing) properly denoted with some form of a bracket(which is popular nowadays) or a parenthesis.

ICly(In Character), is denoted via asterisk as a popular notation, others are acceptable as well, so long as they are easily differentiated from OOC chatter and talk.

example post: (How much longer are you able to be online for? And which portal are you coming from to get to NT?) *Githinji yawned a little as he waited for his father to return to the clearing from hunting.*

Very simple, yes, but you can see the separation between OOC chat and ICly chat. Myself personally I try to keep them separate even from the same post. I'll post my OOC chatter with proper denotation STILL, and then make a separate post for my ICly post. Often times I will see new players not posting their OOC questions in bracekts or parenthesis and yes that bugs me, but I'm understanding that they're not familiar with proper posting etiquette, which is okay as we'll often just remind them politely to please use brackets for OOC chatter and questions. When people especially are RPing in the local tab, an OOC chatter line can interrupt the thought flow of the more hardcore RPers and can be unpleasantly distracting. So please just keep that in mind.

Another thing that occurs that is a clearly marked OOC post is the use of smilies and faces. or ^___^ Those without a bracket or parenthesis can be vexing to the more experienced role-players who like to keep such things separate, as it intrudes on a post currently occurring often times.


In summary/tl;dr version:

All in all, just an awareness of the other RPers around you and the time and thought they put into a single post, stretching your OWN abilities in making a well thought-out post so others can build off of it, not Power-playing or god-moding, and using simple grammatical structure such as periods and the like can greatly enhance your posting and RPing experience. It also keeps others around you happy and enjoying the in depth RP's you're bound to write!

[LungTien Temeraire]

I agree with you, Reverse, but I'd like to point that it might be hard and long, for someone who doesn't know english language very well, to properly write long, deep and detailed posts.

[Romirez]

i just ignore power players. also, for Gith to use me in an example, i'm flattered that i'm becoming well known.


i try hard to not powerplay. i also agree with the posters here, proper grammar goes far. i won't type a long post, because it's all already been said. also, keeping OOC and IC seperate also goes very far.



*playfully swats Gith in return!*

(that's for the example. )

[Thicklesip]

I should probably put more effort into OOC communication while RPing-- my problem is I find I'm usually focusing so hard on the RP that I hate putting too much effort into dealing with the player too. If I already know them, I'm happy to banter, or have an OOC channel going where we can chatter or whatever, but if it's someone I don't know well enough to joke with or try to be playful towards... it's too much work to be piling on top of writing (which is what RP is). I usually don't bother, and just say nothing. Bad Thickle, bad.

Reverse, your post is very thoughtful, but I did want to disagree with you on a few things. On the subject of how "fat" a post should be: I'd argue there's an element of the medium to be considered here. Forum-style RP definitely works best with large posts blinged out with details everywhere-- if you only make one post a day, it has to count. I don't think it should be expected to work that same way in chat RP. While I can respect that you were raised to pump out several times the chat limit's worth of text per "post," I absolutely hate it when people subject me to that in a chat RP. I'm sorry, but if your single "post" makes me have to scroll my text box more than a few lines to read the entire thing I am just not going to give it the reading it deserves. I'd like to, but it already takes me several minutes to formulate a reply longer than "oh yeah?" (To give you an idea of my speed: I just spent five minutes on those last two sentences.)

I was raised in chat RPs. I have no illusions that my preference for concise, spartan sentences is somehow "better" than writing out long posts luscious with details. Each has their place. I just think that if I can only "easily" read about six sentences at once, and the people you're RPing with are sitting around twiddling their thumbs as they wait for you to finish so they can respond, it behooves you to keep your posts a bit more concise.

To borrow your example:

*As Githinji stood there in the clearing surveying it, he could feel the crinkling of the grass under his paws very acutely. Looking down from the lush spread of field and trees in front of him, he studied the vegetation underneath his magmatic body. The normally green and vibrant blades of grass had begun to wither and brown under his radiant temperature, and he snorted out a plume of smoke at this. Golden eyes following the smoke upwards, he bemusedly watch it be carried off by an errant breeze that sent the trees nearby to rustling softly.*

That is a fantastic start to a post in a forum. It's thick with juicy details the reader can savor, and worth the wait for the post-- which will likely be somewhere between hours and days. That essentially basic description has so much bling rappers would be envious. But what did you actually say?

Githinji stands in a clearing. He looks around, contemplating the surroundings before he notices a breeze.

This is probably a bit spartan, even for a chat RP. Let's spice it back up-- but only with details other players wouldn't know or even be able to guess at.

Githinji stands in a clearing, grass wilting beneath his feet from his body heat. He looks around, contemplating the surroundings before he notices a breeze carrying a plume of his smoke away.

Still not perfect of course-- your "voice" probably differs greatly from mine. But we've covered all the details NOT already obvious just by looking at your character in-game (golden eyes, dragon, etc) or asking what the setting is (lightly forested clearing). We've also just saved anyone from getting Wall O' Texted or needing to scroll up to read your post. Everyone wins!

I also disagree that people always need to know what your character is thinking. It's admittedly a decision along the lines of what tense or point of view to write from-- I write present 3rd person or close to it, not everyone does-- but personally I hate telling people what my character is thinking. I try to make my RP obey the rules of real interaction, or to put it a different way: barring what my personality quirks and/or actual abilities dictate, if I walked up to a random person could I do it? So if my character is not a mind reader, they do not know what you're thinking. They can read your body language with varying levels of precision, they can listen to your words and interpret it all, but even then they can't just walk up to a stranger and know that they're upset because their best friend ran over their dog.

"Just because you mention it doesn't mean people will use it ICly!" If we were all perfect RPers, of course it'd be trivial to separate the OOC flavor and explanation we're fed from what our characters know. In practice, people aren't that good, or they're tired and they forget, or they're chomping at the bit for some reason, or they just flat-out godmode their character into having telepathy just that once. It's really quite magical how much less often such incidents happen if you just never hand-feed people your character's thoughts in your RP.

Aside: as far as I'm concerned it's not "power-playing," it's just another form of god-moding. I don't like to draw a distinction as I worry it might confuse people. If you're declaring what someone else's character can or cannot do with no way for them to do something about it besides having to OOCly say "uh no", you're god-moding.

Anyways. My specific disagreements aside, I do agree with a lot of your points: keep your hardcore-lazy typing out of RP, for the love of Pete give other people something to respond to, and if you can, put a little effort into making whatever you type enjoyable to read. It just felt as though a lot of your other points went too far for chat RP, or would be best applied to forum RP-- which, make no mistake, is a perfectly good way to RP. It just lends itself better to a distinctly different style.

One last thing: "bemused" means "confused." Every once in awhile I see it used correctly, but all too often the context implies that you could replace the "be" with "a" and it'd change nothing.

[Dhalin]

-Describe a character's thought process (and properly label it!) (Now this is different person to person, I denote my RP post within Asterisks (*) and thought processes within the asterisks as ( ' ) or italics(if possible) and speech as ( " ) However in Istaria I've come to ending action with an asterisk and speech being outside of such. So whatever is comfortable for you as long as it's easily understood as to what is what.:

Actually...

No offense, but I personally ignore thought processes when I see them, unless the character I'm playing is telepathic and wants to know/see what the other person is thinking.

IRL, do you walk up to someone, and know what they are thinking automatically? Now sometimes I will pose that my character has a certain look on his face if it is relevant to the RP/goings-on, but otherwise... I leave my character's thought processes out of my poses, and I do my best to ignore them when posted by other people, if my character has no valid IC means of knowing that information.

No offense, jus' saying.

As to labelling, the way I was taught, was that *s are for actions, and ~s are for mind-speak, while (( )) is for OOC. That's just the way I was taught, I'm not saying everyone should use those rules. I'm usually fairly good at detecting what someone is doing, and adjusting myself accordingly.

Also, for grammar and spelling... I do hope that you take into effect, someone putting accent spelling into their character's dialogue... typing things like: "I dun know" or "If'n ye like" etc...

[Reverse]

Oh of course Dhalin, If it's a speech accent then by all means post it! Like I've seen the Draconic tongue being spoken out among other things and that's of course no worry, just flavor to a post. :P I've typed a little with an accent from time to time and it's a challenge even.

And to clarify, no offense taken, and that it's up to each RPer to denote their specifications. Like *s for action ~s for speech, etc. etc. Just it's nice to see them clearly shown to save confusion. I think that section should more have been titled 'speech, action and thought' instead of what it was.


And Thickle, 'bemused' also means deep in thought. :P

But that funny note aside, I can understand where you're coming from and yes, perhaps it is a bit of my forum RP upbringing trickling through. However I think you're right in that we each have our own 'voices' so-to-speak in the way we RP.

For me anyway and a few others, I find myself holding back consciously from posting huge posts like I'm more apt to doing, when in the presence of someone who doesn't tolerate it as much, or can't really think of things to add to their own posts to move things along as easily. Even when we feel sometimes a person might be a bit intimidated by a long post, we'll hold back. I say 'We' as there's me and another RPer in the forefront of my mind that is similar to me in this regard.

I often too have a side OOC tab to chatter and banter and whatnot, though if it's in local and without proper bracketing it can be bothersome or sometimes even confusing for those who are currently engrossed in an in-depth RP or something.

I guess to some extent also on the 'thought processes' part, insomuch that if people do elaborate, like I sometimes have my characters, they'll be thinking to themselves, maybe not necessarily in actual 'thought speech', but in a sort of third person perspective, (hard to find a proper term for describing it), I do it in effect of letting another RPer see perhaps what Githinji is thinking as far as, is he angry? Is he confused whereas any RPed physical action might say otherwise?

I guess an example would be if say: Githinji was outwardly smiling to keep others at ease, while inside he was fuming over the frustrations he'd just experienced fighting a mob out in the Deadlands.

blah blah, you get the picture lol. I guess that might just be my own RPing style, and indeed, to each their own in that respect.

I didn't write that post with intent for it to be rules or guidelines i expect followed, merely it's just voicing how I myself like to RP and with the hopes that others might experiment with trying other methods if they themselves RP a different way. I guess it's also merely voicing my thoughts when I RP and what I look for to ease my own experience, in case someone in game sees me getting a tiny bit miffed, or frustrated, or despondent or something OOCly, if it's especially because of an RP not going so smoothly.

All in all everyone's entitled to their own RPing method and what makes them happy. However this or at least my rant, was just a window for them to see how I myself like to RP and maybe they too like you will post how you like to RP or what you look for.

And no problem Romi. :P (*throws snowball at Romi*)

[LungTien Temeraire]

I think, myself, that a character's thoughs can be written if the expression, or the stance, can let one guess it. Still, even if a character can't read another one's thoughs, the players can read it, to know what the situation is, and they can, then, make their characters acting like they want. Though, I think it isn't necessary to post sentences about characters' thoughs at each post, in a channel. Long and proper paragraphs are better in forum posts, in my opinion, while it would take to much time in a channel, slowing down the roleplay.
Everyones roleplays as he/she wishes, still

[Dhalin]

Long and proper paragraphs are better in forum posts, in my opinion, while it would take to much time in a channel, slowing down the roleplay.
Everyones roleplays as he/she wishes, still

We have this saying in the MU* where I roleplay: "Shorter 3-5min responses are way better than buffer-length (a large paragraph) poses that take 15+ minutes to get the response."

Whole paragraphs are cool, but I tend to not like waiting forever for a response.

I know that's what you meant by that, but I thought I'd add a little clarity for others who might not understand why you said that.

When responses take too long, players start losing the mood and find it difficult to re-acquire it. Sometimes, say in a combat RP, I'll have my next couple moves planned out within reason, and then I'll forget.. "what was that, I was gonna do/say again?" when I have to wait 15+ min for a response.

Also, if I'm waiting 15+ min, I'm multitasking as there's no way I can sit there doing nothing for that long. I don't have ADHD, but yet I don't have infinite patience either. No offense to the other player, but I'm RPing for entertainment, and if the entertainment isn't keeping me occupied, I'm going to find something else that will.

So yes, 3-5 lines that give some respectable detail into what your character is doing or saying is the best. Shorter than that, and it looks like you're not putting effort into that, longer than that, and it starts taking too long to get a response.

Unless, of course, you type 80+ WPM like I do, and can think quickly. I've been known to reply with whole paragraphs in less than 5min. hehe.

[LungTien Temeraire]

Yes, that is it. It depends of the roleplayer's skill, and of the knowledge of english language. Some may not have enough words to write 3 lines or more at each post. It depends of the size of the letters and of the window, as well.

[Darkwing_Duck]

I myself have made many mistakes while RPing, and talking OOCly. even if the other player says they`re ok with a RP situation doesn`t necessarily mean they`ll actualy be ok with it once the RP has started or is in session.
Sadly I`m extremely emotionaly sencitive, and it often rubbs off on my RPs. Making it almost impossible to continue a dramatic story line.
I`ve even went as far as retiring characters from RP due to my emotional problems. Even thought about quiting Order O.o But I`m fighting to stay stable, and not take RP too seriously XD
As for character relationships becomming player relationships, I`ve had a few players actualy "fall in love" with me as a player, and I`ve had to explain on several occasions I`m not in it to make a relationship, and only to have fun, often times this causes the other player to want to quit the game, even has! And I end up feeling terrible about it. However sometimes it is a good thing XD as I have met my love in Istaria *blushes*
But anways, I`m trying to keep my RPs stable, and keeping OOC, and IC separate, and making sure an RP is ok with the player I`m RPing with before I continue. Sadly I`m kinda failing at this, and now exclude myself in just about every public RP cuz I`m so afraid I`ll only ruin it, and/or hurt other players D:

[LungTien Temeraire]

I myself have made many mistakes while RPing, and talking OOCly. even if the other player says they`re ok with a RP situation doesn`t necessarily mean they`ll actualy be ok with it once the RP has started or is in session.

Everyone does mistakes, sometimes (like me). There should be no problem if they realize it and say they are sorry.

Sadly I`m extremely emotionaly sencitive, and it often rubbs off on my RPs. Making it almost impossible to continue a dramatic story line.

If you want to do light and happy RP with me, Darkwing Duck, I'm up for it.

I`ve even went as far as retiring characters from RP due to my emotional problems. Even thought about quiting Order O.o But I`m fighting to stay stable, and not take RP too seriously XD

Yes, don't take IC things seriously or OoCly. The character isn't the roleplayer.

As for character relationships becomming player relationships, I`ve had a few players actualy "fall in love" with me as a player, and I`ve had to explain on several occasions I`m not in it to make a relationship, and only to have fun, often times this causes the other player to want to quit the game, even has! And I end up feeling terrible about it. However sometimes it is a good thing XD as I have met my love in Istaria *blushes*

That some may fall in love with players like that is quite surprising.

But anways, I`m trying to keep my RPs stable, and keeping OOC, and IC separate, and making sure an RP is ok with the player I`m RPing with before I continue. Sadly I`m kinda failing at this, and now exclude myself in just about every public RP cuz I`m so afraid I`ll only ruin it, and/or hurt other players D:

You shouldn't, Darkwing Duck... I admit I had, and still have myself, sometimes, difficulties to keep an IC thing ICly, but I do my best to not bring it to OoC. I am sure all we be fine if you want to RP in public or in private.

[Dhalin]

That some may fall in love with players like that is quite surprising.

As people have frequent RPs together, friendships can arise. I've made many a good friend during RPs. Two characters meet ICly, and if several RPs are had between the two characters that are equally enjoyed by both, then they might start to talk OOCly, only a little at first, and then more and more.

It isn't too far-fetched that there's the chance of love to blossom between two people once they have gotten to know each other OOCly as well. Sometimes an IC relationship happens because of such OOC love, sometimes it is the other way around.

It just.... happens sometimes.

My GF, for example, has said that she fell in love with me after having only seen me a couple times in an HTML chat... she said she just.... felt something after reading a few of my poses. I'm... still confused to this day, but.. after we got to know each other, I started feeling similar for her, and we just... clicked.

[LungTien Temeraire]

Well, love can be complicated, I think, but I just said it was surprising me to see this happen in this game.

[Shinkuu]

Indeed... There NEEDS to be a separation between IC and OOC. To say you do not feel as your character does or do not get into their perspective goes against human nature but you always have to keep in mind that whatever arises between you and the other character ICLY that does not reflect directly back on the player OOCLY.

I am almost surprised Romirez did not write this particular rant... Zarla and him have become mates ICLY and are deeply in love. This really hurt and annoyed another Dragoness who talked to me at length OOCLY about it... The problem in my mind is that what she told me OOCLY has no bearing on Zarla ICLY. I cannot bring OOC knowledge into IC events. (That is another line of separation I wish more would adhere to) Also, I am MATED IRL to the player of Tsume. The romance between Zarla and Romirez is purely IC. I think his player is a nice person and interesting to talk to but I am not about to ask him to marry me or whatever. So while I can empathize with Zarla and feel her happiness or sadness it is not the same as ME doing it. (For awhile she was getting frighteningly close to me in emotions so I had to distance her purposefully for the very reason you mention)

I think it is a real challenge to play characters that are outside of your personality type but that can be fun. I also think it is probably true that EVERY character gets a sliver of your personality rather you want it to or not. However, that does not mean you have to get so worked up about them. For instance, Ampera Zapscale (my Sslik) is a happy go lucky, euphorically insane, but secretly very wise character. Anyone who knows me PERSONALLY will tell you that I am rarely as happy and ignorant to the bad things as Ampera but that Sslik is a BLAST to play. It is a wild character who is very different from me but who has a wonderfully unique view point that is fun to see.

I also want to add that the BEST characters have a life of their own. They change in ways you did not predict. Shinkuu was supposed to be my dark, emotionless, heartless character... She has VERY muted emotional expressions but she has turned into anything but. She stands strong and cares a great deal for many people despite her wound in that regard. I did not PLAN that, I did not try to steer her like that, it came completely on its own as she progressed.

Zarla is another great example. If you knew my original design for her you would be SHOCKED. Zarla was SUPPOSED to be a flamboyant, self confident, care free, arrogant, self important Queen type character. The type who did not care much about what anyone else thought and felt everyone should bend knee to her and treat her like a Goddess... Someone who was self deluded into believing they were much more important than they are... Just look at what happened to HER! She is a super caring, motherly, honor bound, realistic warrioress. More over for a long time she was very self loathing and depressed. Far far far from her concept. She has never played as I had created her and I doubt she ever will LOL. Amazing how a character can get away from you huh?

The other issue I find in this regard is people who try to appeal to ME (the Player) when they need to appeal to the Character. A good instance of this is that Zarla is very Honor Bound and she has some things she has ZERO tolerance for. So trying to persuade ME to have tolerance for such things is pointless. It is not MY mind you need to convince. Moreover, if I allowed my own feelings on things to influence how she responded then I would be doing everyone a disservice as I would be allowing OOC to influence IC.

Final note for me: ... While this may give off my age a bit... I just want it understood that I was RP'ing since I was a CHILD. I RP'ed with my mother when I was SEVEN... It was simple things back then of course and nowhere near the sort of RP we are talking about but I was started off VERY young and I am glad because it gave me greater empathy and the ability to think very well. I also played the original D&D BOARD GAMES... Yeah, BOARD GAMES from TSR. I also played and created many many Pen and Papper RPG's loooooong before there was anything graphical. Then I played Atari based RPGs and so forth and so on... So yeah... I have enough years under my belt to be called a literal Expert at Role Playing. I have run RP's as the Dungeon Master or whatever you wish to call it and I have played many run by others. I have played Table Top forever and I know all about the big issue with OOC/IC where table top discussions and out of the room talk influencing IC could be a form of literal Power Gaming. My DM's and me never tolerated that sort of thing and it was a big and golden rule that you keep IC and OOC separate as much as possible.

[Shinkuu]

1. Speedy RPing - Essentially is exactly what the name says, fast RPing, during normal RP's and battle scenes or something exciting occuring. My problems that arise for me, is: Me, being the person that I am, who likes to paint a very detailed scene of the environment, my character's actions/poses/thoughts, etc, comes very naturally to me.

We're typing a long post already to account for alot of things happening. If the impatient RPers CONTINUE TO POST, that's MUCH MORE information that US as the lengthy RPers are forced to acknowledge and post MORE about. So essentially when we eek out our long post, it's either far behind what's currently happening now since the impatient RPer's have continued the plot along, or our posts don't even apply anymore.

Often times the people who make lengthy posts often have to severely truncate(shorten) our posts and hold ourselves back from posting alot for the other RPers' enjoyment. When in turn sacrificing our OWN enjoyment as all we would love to do is have everyone be a bit patient and let us type out our long lovely posts.

Basically I'm ranting about people RPing out of turn with no regard for the longer posters as the longer posters, (who I personally feel add a big chunk of flavor to any website or game), end up getting shoved to the side or restrained in lieu of the shorter RPers' posts. It's not a pleasant thing and can turn off the longer RPers' drive to post anything at all.


3. Post Fattening - As I mentioned in my first point, post fattening means a world of difference. Especially if the person you're RPing with is someone like me who LOVES HUGE posts. What I find happens in alot of places is a person will post a 'one-liner' or a sentence or two that addresses what is happening, yes, however has no substance to it for others to build off of, or continue the post from.

Elaborate your posts, lengthen them and TRY to make them a paragraph each time. A paragraph is three to five sentences. Often times if you honestly post/add in the things I'm going to list, you'll find yourself reach that paragraph and more. Maybe you'll even hit the buffer and need to open a new window!

Things to add to beef up your posts include:

-Describe the environment your character is CURRENTLY apart of.
example post: *As Githinji stood there in the clearing surveying it, he could feel the crinkling of the grass under his paws very acutely. Looking down from the lush spread of field and trees in front of him, he studied the vegetation underneath his magmatic body. The normally green and vibrant blades of grass had begun to wither and brown under his radiant temperature, and he snorted out a plume of smoke at this. Golden eyes following the smoke upwards, he bemusedly watch it be carried off by an errant breeze that sent the trees nearby to rustling softly.*

Now, that was just a mindless post of course, but as you can see, minus any fancy words thrown in, I've detailed that Githinji is standing in a clearing, there is a field nearby from the looks of the post, and there must be a line of trees nearby that have caught a breeze of air. The leaves on the trees must be rustling around in that breeze and there is a haze of smoke coming from his breath. Underneath him the green grass is browning up from his core temperature being so hot, etc. Just a few things, simple things, (ie. the world from his perspective), can beef up a post VERY quickly. Often times, just accounting for other characters in the same area can quickly fill in a post.

-Describe a character's thought process (and properly label it!) (Now this is different person to person, I denote my RP post within Asterisks (*) and thought processes within the asterisks as ( ' ) or italics(if possible) and speech as ( " ) However in Istaria I've come to ending action with an asterisk and speech being outside of such. So whatever is comfortable for you as long as it's easily understood as to what is what.:
example post: (In an ideal forum this is what it would look like for me) *Githinji once again glanced around the clearing as the breeze ruffled the sails of his wings. 'I wonder if my father will be done with his hunting soon,' he mused to himself, moving to settle down on the burnt grass. Hearing a faint noise nearby he looked down spotting a small lizard scuttling away from him, obviously uncomfortable from his higher ambient temperature. "Oops, sorry little one, I didn't mean to roast you.." he commented aloud to the little critter, a faint chuckle bubbling from him.*

(In an Istarian post given the limited posting abilities it might look more like this: )*Githinji once again glanced around the clearing as the breeze ruffled the sails of his wings. 'I wonder if my father will be done with his hunting soon,' he mused to himself, moving to settle down on the burnt grass. Hearing a faint noise nearby he looked down spotting a small lizard scuttling away from him, obviously uncomfortable from his higher ambient temperature.* (might or might not use quotations since out of asterisk is already speech implied)"Oops, sorry little one, I didn't mean to roast you.." *he commented aloud to the little critter, a faint chuckle bubbling from him.*

-Describe, in depth, possible/potential future or current actions or thought processes:
example post: *Githinji hummed as he lay there, directing his attention back to his surroundings. He wondered at the seemingly miraculous recovery all the vegetation here seemed to posses. He'd heard rumors about the dryads and other nature-oriented beings that roamed Istaria, perhaps they had a hand in restoring the burnt and destroyed vegetation. Sweeping his long tail in an arc towards his body, he watched the way it cut through the grass like a scythe. The tip of his tail curling over a forepaw, he moved to rest his head down on his forelegs and let a heavy relaxation settle over him.*

Simple yes on that post, but just adding depth to an action alone (ie. "Sweeping his long tail in an arc towards his body, he watched the way it cut through the grass like a scythe.") alluding to it having another type of description alone (switch up descriptive words too!) adds more thought to your posts, and makes them seem less redundant or cookie-cutter.



Another practice to have that's generally understood to be a sort of unspoken 'rule' of RPing is to not 'God-mode' or 'Power-Play'. Usually those terms are called just those terms, and if they're referred to by any other name can cause confusion unless it's properly explained.

-God-Moding: A roleplayed character that can/will block every attack, dodge every attack, and with auto, also known as making an attack so it can‘t be blocked or dodged.

Thought to be taken from the normal term in video games for (in most cases) being invincible and usually have most of any skill or attacks unlocked, any magic held be to the max or unlimited, and ammo to the max or unlimited. The term of course is 'God Mode', a person such as this is taking god moding into a place it is frowned upon, ie. 'god moder' or 'god-moding'.
example post:
Howler Silver: (for length purposes this will be a post in a nutshell) The blade slashes down, slicing over the wall as it cut through the air towards its target..

God ModeR: *Rips off skin, showing he is de terminator and the blade breaks* I AM INVINCIBLE!

Essentially, the first player has posted what can be termed as an 'open-ended' post. A post that leaves room for the other player's character to react to such an action. Like seen there, the knife coming down at him. The God-Moder in this post, not only has shown he's utterly invincible or invulnerable to attack, but also breaks the blade coming at him.

That leads into the next term: Power-Playing.

-Power-Playing: Power playing occurs in role playing when you control someone else's character, their objects or thoughts and actions, as well as your own, without the other person's permission.
example post that I'd be posting: *Githinji runs up to Romirez (sorry Romi :P) and head butts him hard. Swatting the older drake with a paw he runs off again. Romirez recoils from the head butt and swat sent his way, feeling the pain coursing through him before he can stand up.*

Now it's faintly subtle in that post, but the fact that I'VE controlled that Romirez not only IS struck SUCCESSFULLY, and FEELS the pain, means I've already power-played his character. It is always best to leave a post 'open-ended', example: *Githinji runs up to Romirez, ducking his head down with the head butt he was attempting to perform on the older drake.* OR *Githinji brought his paw swiping downwards towards the older drake's snout aiming to swat him before he ran off again. If the swat connects he'd run away with a snicker, and if it didn't he'd merely run out of range for retaliation.*

Now in the two sentences I typed, the first one, denotes that Githinji is aiming to head butt Romirez. Yet it also leaves the action 'open' so that if Romirez didn't want it to connect, or was currently doing something else that might hinder that action from actually happening, he could denote as such in his own post. I wouldnt' be deciding it for him.

In the second post I wrote that the swat was swiping down, it would then be up to Romirez to not only have the choice of if it connected or not, but since I wanted to continue advancing my OWN post, I left two choices on the table so-to-speak, that if it DID successfully connect BECAUSE ROMIREZ ALLOWED IT, that Githinji might laugh a little as he kept on running away. But if Romirez didn't want it to connect, nothing more would happen and Githinji would continue running without having successfully swatted Romirez.

Often times I have seen in Istaria specifically, a biped, walking up to a VERY ANGRY or engaged dragon, seemingly unharmed say by Githinji's heat that normally would be very uncomfortable to any biped save maybe a sslisk. TOUCH my character, and thread their ability into him, saying that his mind would be instantly calm and awash with feeling of contentment and the urge to lay down and calm down. Or SOMETHING to that nature.

Personally that bugs me. Not only is say that biped thoroughly ignoring the immediate physical danger my character poses to their character, but they also touch my character which is another ignoring of his body temperature and who he is, but they also force their ability into him without my permission or acceptance, force that feeling to calm Githinji down and denote that he pretty much needs to comply to that action of settling down calmly. Now, in my eyes, I might not want my character to calm down just yet as there is probably valid reason he's doing what he'd currently be doing. So the way I'm FORCED to react to such a post is by merely having my character thoroughly ignore the forced action (being touched or having the calming sensation forced into him), I might have him recoil from the biped and hiss at its brash ignorance of touching a MAGMA drake without preparation, etc. blah blah /rant.

Essentially it bugs other player when another player disregards their characters actions/abilities/presence alone/ or what have you. That is why it is important to not only present your own character to the scene in an acceptable manner, but to interact with the other players' characters without offending the RPer behind the character with such an inconsiderate(in a sense) post. Now that was not written with intent to insult anyone, so please do not take offense if you feel the urge to. I am merely laying it out for those RPers who have their characters or their well-thought-out posts disregarded in lieu of another players' character action.


Now, there are a few circumstances in which players CAN Power-Play. And that is when consensual agreement occurs from the other player that I (for example) could manipulate their character as per the RP needs. Often times, this is seen as an adult dragon scooping up a hatchling to relocate them for safety reasons (as described in an RP), or just to move them. And through a sort of understood hidden behavior of the RP's advancement the other player can easily see that such a move needs to happen or is about to happen. (such as a hatchling being relocated).

Now often times, even if say, your hatchling is relocated via a tiny bit of PPing to keep the RPing moving, there can still be behavior of your hatchling disagreeing with such a motion, such as wiggling around or whatever to break free. It's sometimes difficult to explain such things as acceptable Power-Playing(PPing), but when in doubt always feel free to ask the other RPer.



And I think last but not least: Proper denotation of your post.(Can also apply slightly as a punctuation rule).

Basically put, it's good to keep your OOC speech separate from your ICly speech. As in, keeping your Out-Of-Character speech(things your character isn't directly saying or performing) properly denoted with some form of a bracket(which is popular nowadays) or a parenthesis.

ICly(In Character), is denoted via asterisk as a popular notation, others are acceptable as well, so long as they are easily differentiated from OOC chatter and talk.

example post: (How much longer are you able to be online for? And which portal are you coming from to get to NT?) *Githinji yawned a little as he waited for his father to return to the clearing from hunting.*

Very simple, yes, but you can see the separation between OOC chat and ICly chat. Myself personally I try to keep them separate even from the same post. I'll post my OOC chatter with proper denotation STILL, and then make a separate post for my ICly post. Often times I will see new players not posting their OOC questions in bracekts or parenthesis and yes that bugs me, but I'm understanding that they're not familiar with proper posting etiquette, which is okay as we'll often just remind them politely to please use brackets for OOC chatter and questions. When people especially are RPing in the local tab, an OOC chatter line can interrupt the thought flow of the more hardcore RPers and can be unpleasantly distracting. So please just keep that in mind.

Another thing that occurs that is a clearly marked OOC post is the use of smilies and faces. or ^___^ Those without a bracket or parenthesis can be vexing to the more experienced role-players who like to keep such things separate, as it intrudes on a post currently occurring often times.


In summary/tl;dr version:

All in all, just an awareness of the other RPers around you and the time and thought they put into a single post, stretching your OWN abilities in making a well thought-out post so others can build off of it, not Power-playing or god-moding, and using simple grammatical structure such as periods and the like can greatly enhance your posting and RPing experience. It also keeps others around you happy and enjoying the in depth RP's you're bound to write!

Speedy RP sometimes is a bit required. People do not always have all night to get a Scene done. Action scenes often need to happen at a decent pace to keep it feeling like it is really happening. In the heat of battle a second feels like an eternity. I also abhor it when people go way overboard in their pose creating a lot of things that need to be responded to piece by piece but not allowing any response to those individual motions because they continue to type. It is like having someone talk and talk and talk and talk without letting you get a word in edgewise even though they are asking you questions during their long speech that you want to and should answer.

I understand your love of detail and I share it to an extent and sometimes wish to provide more in my own right but at times I am in the middle of In-Game fights and have to be a bit more sparing about my wordiness or else I get slaughtered. I also try to make my poses in combat such that others can react to everything I am doing before I move on to the next pose. It is only fair and correct that way.

The other issue that can arise from enormous posts created by slower typers is that in order to not be rude and break their post up (which I try to adhere to because for reading their post it is annoying having lots of stuff between enormous walls of text and trying to fit those walls together.) you sometimes have to refrain from posting things that have NOTHING TO DO with their character or what they are doing at the moment. It is agonizing waaaaiting for them to finish their thought when what you are responding to is practically happening in another time zone from them.

The last issue I have with longer posts is when the filler is just filler. I am very happy with great detail but saying something that could have been said clearly and with great detail in 100 words with 1,000 words is annoying. I do not like reading over a huge post to find out that the bulk of it pretty much conveyed nothing at all and only a small portion actually conveyed any real information.

Example:

Filler Post: The tall green grass sways with the gentle breeze as you hear it rustling through the leaves of the maple trees surrounding the large clearing. The gentle sound of waves lapping at the shore of the crystal blue lake is soothing and relaxing as the crisp scent of cool air passing over it comes to your nose. The shadows that fall between the maples seem dark and ominous. As you watch it seems as if the very light of the brilliant sun seems to dim as the vivid green of the grass pales ever so slightly. The shadows of the mighty forest seem to grow darker and creep towards the sunlit clearing. The breeze seems to grow quiet as it is replaced by a ghostly and haunting ethereal chorus of voices. Each voice seems come from every direction all at once with the tone of whispering men, women, and children of all species and occupation. They speak in hurried and excited tones but no matter how hard you strain you cannot make out their words in the sea of sound that makes your flesh crawl. Then as suddenly as the chorus of spectral speaking came to your ears it also stops. There is a bitter and deafening silence as you see the crimson slitted eyes of a feline walking from the ominous shadows between the maples. As more of the sleek creature's form is revealed you see that it is a black female Saris of notable height and powerful build. Her fur barely hides her toned and trained muscles as they ripped under the surface of her black velvet like pelt as if constructed of corded steel. Her black fur is accented nicely by beautifully crafted and ornate crimson plate armor that catches the light of the sun seeming to burn the shadows away from her as they all but cling to her body like a hungry animal. On her left arm is a large crimson shield that stands nearly as tall as she does and is wide enough to cover her entire body when placed as a barrier. In her right hand is a black sword that is six feet long and three inches wide. It is sharply tapered at the tip with hand guards that sweep back to a sharp point on each side of the blade. It seems to be ornate and constructed of the finest steel with the utmost care. Small Saris runes are etched into the middle of the blade near the hilt which glow with a purple light. This blade seems to be wrapped in an eerie purple glow as if set ablaze by spiritual flame. (I could honestly go on describing every single piece of her armor and probably should for this example but I am getting a cramp in my fingers so let us move on.)

Proper Post:

The Shadows at the edge of the clearing seem to grow darker and more ominous. They bulge and swell as if containing some dark force. The very light of the Clearing seems to dim in anticipation of some unholy event as an unsettling sound begins to be heard. The murmuring whispers of many ethereal voices seem to echo from the darkness all around the clearing. They whisper in a terrified tone as if warning all of the coming of some terrible thing. As the voices reach their loudest and as you almost begin to understand what of what they warn they suddenly fall dead silent. From one of the shadows you see a pair of crimson feline eyes pierce the darkness and soon you behold a Tall Black Saris Lady wearing Crimson Plate Armor step from the darkness. She is powerfully built with the strong toned muscles of a seasoned warrior. On her left arm she carries [Insert Hyper Link to the Shield Here, which has its own Description on it] and in her right hand she holds [Insert Hyper Link to the Sword likewise] which seems to be wrapped in an Spiritual Flame. As the light catches her Crimson Plate it seems to burn away the shadows which cling to her with tendrils of darkness as if wishing to devour her.

See the difference there? Yes, the wordy post is beautifully descriptive and could fit into a wonderful book buuuuut... It is also PAINFUL to read in an RP situation. It would take so long to get that baby out that people would be pulling hair out wondering when they get their next chance to post. Also, while it is beautiful it does not really convey any more information than the shortened version. They both say the same thing, one just says it in a much more concise way.

The first post also assumes you are completely ignorant of the setting you are in. It describes every detail as if you cannot imagine the details for yourself. The second post starts with the assumption that you have a grasp on the setting and can use your imagination to fill in what things look like given the proper cues. This also allows the reader to be more involved in the process and paint their own perspective on the event which is preferable in RP. In story writing YOU want to write the story and give them all their responses to it but in RP you want to let them respond to things as they would. (And yes... I know... Many people still complain about an entrance as long as the second post LOL... But those are just whiners.)


Again... I, and many others, have little tolerance for filler in posts. Saying more just to hear yourself speak (metaphorically) is not a good thing. I often find myself reading through those huge posts and skimming them. I ignore most of what is said and focus on the important details when they manage to come about. It is a pain to read big posts in Istaria because the text keeps scrolling up on you and I do not always have the TIME to fight the scrolling, keep up with the conversation, read tons of unnecessary filler, and play the game all at once.

Describing the environment you are in can be rather unnecessary if you have not created a new environment. People who are already in the environment know what it looks like. No need to tell us what New Tristmus looks like when we are standing in New Tristmus. Describing instead WHERE in that environment you happen to be at the moment and what effect you may be having ON it is more pertinent and useful information.

Telling other people what your character is thinking is mostly unwise. You can give them clues through your character's expressions as to what their emotions are but unless they should be capable of reading your mind why would they KNOW what you are thinking? More importantly, when you give someone information as to what you are thinking it becomes harder for them not to use that information in their reactions which is bringing knowledge they only know OOCLY into an IC context. I would be very careful about how much of that you do for those reasons.

God Moding is definitely a serious problem and a big no no. One can debate much as to how to solve that issue entirely but I prefer to use either the in game RNG (/Random 100) or real Dice to help add back in the proper randomness for various things. Also the Game and its Mechanics are, for all intents and purposes, the Game Master. They set the background for the world and would be there to settle all disputes about the power of various things. Because it has been made very clear by the Devs before that everything that happens in-game should translate into the RP as much as possible I try to adhere to these rules.

Now some characters may be have some different abilities that are based a bit on the game but not covered precisely by it and in those cases they should be well defined in by the player and implemented properly. Also, characters might be greater in-character at something than in-game. A great example is Niveus. He is not a very progressed Sorcerer in terms of his character sheet BUT in terms of RP he has been doing Sorcery style Mind Magics for a LONG time and in rather complex situations. This leads me to believe that in-character Niveus SHOULD be a higher ranked Sorcerer than he is in terms of his game stats. However, I believe that this sort of growth should be expressed IN actual RP. That is to say that Niveus has been honestly RPing all this Sorcery over all this time rather than just appearing one day on the scene and claiming that he had that sort of knowledge.

The BEST (without question) RP combat I EVER had in Istaria was between Zarla and Drysten. We were of similar level at the time and played with our own unique abilities while sticking as close to game mechanics as we could. In the end it was a draw that resulted in Drysten having his life saved and his body restored by Selarth and Zarla having to recall after being fatally impaled by Ice Spikes coming from the ground via Drysten's special attack. It was very well played, no God Modding, and a beautiful and proper fight. We both OOCLY were having a lot of fun talking about it afterwards and congratulating each other on a job well done.