Roleplay tips, tricks, and general help
Jan 3, 2013 1:21:34 GMT -6
Post by Elenaphant on Jan 3, 2013 1:21:34 GMT -6
Hellooooo. So, this was waiting to be made. I think we could all use a little advice from each other on roleplaying and it's handy to have a thread like this around to address questions, and more importantly, allow me to stand on the soap box and impart my wisdom.
So, what IS roleplay?
Taking "role" and "play", roleplaying is at its basic level taking the role of whatever object, person, or idea, and playing it out as oneself. There are roleplay games like RPGs, there is LARPING in which you are physically roleplaying with others (live action). There are many ways, therefore, of roleplaying when you take its generic definition.
The method we use is online and communicate via writing, usually in the third-person past tense. What that means instead of using "I am writing the sentence" we tend to use "She was writing the sentence.". Some forums will make it a rule to use a certain way of writing to maintain consistency--others will allow it at the person's discretion. More on that later in my soap-box lecture.
Since our method of roleplay is writing, there are certain writing skills implemented such as spelling, grammar, sentence structure, etc. It's true that by its definition, the moment you are "playing" a "role" you are roleplaying, but how well you roleplay is another thing. For example:
starfire sad hi to robin. Hi robin.
---
Robin waves back.
---
'whats up?' she asks.
---
"Nothing much." he replied.
---
Batgirl walks in with a strut in her hips, her beautiful red hair catching the light. She comes up to Robin and puts her arm around his shoulder and gives Starfire a haughty look. "Are you talking to my man?" She asked, glaring slightly with her gorgeous blue eyes. Her luscious lips were pulled together in a slight snarl toward the other female. She did not like her and Robin being together in the same room at all.
---
Robin got flustered. "Batgirl stop. We musn't."
---
Batgirl giggles and ignores his shyness. "Don't let me catch you talking to him again. He's MY man!" she exclaimed and she proceeds to kiss him. It was slow, but then it grew more heated. She was making his toes curl like only she could. He was putty in her hands and there was nothing Starfire could do about it.
---
star goes "omg Robin you traitor!" -runs out of the room and cries sobbing, hits a shelf on the way out-
Audio Version
Here is an example of varying degrees of skill level, all with faults. ▬Starfire is the most obvious: lack of proper punctuation, spelling, capitalization, use of chatspeak and 'dashes' as action cues. Suffers from an OOC moment in the last part. This can be annoying and seem very basic of a roleplayer.
▬Robin's may not seem at fault, but he's lacking. Aside from a tense switch, his grammar, spelling, etc seems okay but... It's still a one liner. He has dialogue and some generic action or emotion attached, but there's nothing else. Where is this character in space and time? What is he thinking? You could have easily replaced his name with any other, because it lacks his posts lack character. It makes him BORING to roleplay with.
▬Batgirl goes further. She, like Robin, generally has basic writing skills down aside from maybe a few minor errors. She writes at least five sentences, making a paragraph, and writes her character a lot more descriptively than the other two. Her character's position, action, thoughts, feelings, dialogue, and other elements that are good for interaction are worked into her paragraph, allowing more insight into who "Batgirl" is, and what she's doing in the situational context.
Her fault? Is this really... Batgirl? The emphasis on her desirable traits make her a bit of a Mary Sue (someone who is intentionally, and overbearingly designed to be loved, liked, get attention, etc), and her actions are not only out of character, but also power playing. When she's kissing Robin, she is: 1)implying he let her until it "grew more heated"; 2) assumed he was enjoying this sudden exhibitionist invasion of space to the point his "toes could curl like no other girl could make him"; and 3) That there was nothing Starfire could do about it. Robin may have wanted to recoil back and hit into a shelf. Starfire may have wanted to kill them for kissing right in front of her and wouldn't have waited long to do it.
---
Raven walked into the common room, and was startled by Starfire zooming past her, stepping quickly out of the way. "Star--!" She was gone, and Raven was left to worry what was wrong with her distraught friend. She winced as the shelf crashed and spilled its contents. That must have hurt. Then, she looked up and saw the kissing couple. Raven made a slight face, not liking public displays of affection much, and pulled her hood up as if to hide her discomfort. Wow, they were really going at it weren't they? She certainly didn't expect it from these two.
The hooded teen hovered closer to them, feeling every bit awkward but needing to say something. "Do you guys mind... Maybe getting a room or something? I kind of wanted to..." Drink tea in peace? Not watch them go at it in the middle of the common room where anyone could enter? Did she really need to explain this?
▬Raven is an example of a decent roleplay post. Though she could arguably be roleplayed more in character (as I am not the best Raven in the world teehee), nothing is outlandishly out of character for her either (at least I think so o.o). Raven has not one, but two paragraphs both written with basic writing skills intact, and rather than drawing much attention to herself, more general, accepted descriptions are in there. Rather than "the raven haired beauty gracefully hovered closer to them", it was a more simple "the hooded teen". Rather than controlling the situation, Raven is reacting to it. There are no instances of powerplay minus the assumption that they are still going at it, but with the nature of posts this can happen. She focuses herself, her place, and her interactions.
Roleplaying well is just keeping in mind basic writing skills (make the effort, it is worth it), descriptions, characterizations, and making sure not to go overboard with your character's actions. Imma get off my soapbox for now and let someone else chime in if they want or ask question.
-hops off-
So, what IS roleplay?
Taking "role" and "play", roleplaying is at its basic level taking the role of whatever object, person, or idea, and playing it out as oneself. There are roleplay games like RPGs, there is LARPING in which you are physically roleplaying with others (live action). There are many ways, therefore, of roleplaying when you take its generic definition.
The method we use is online and communicate via writing, usually in the third-person past tense. What that means instead of using "I am writing the sentence" we tend to use "She was writing the sentence.". Some forums will make it a rule to use a certain way of writing to maintain consistency--others will allow it at the person's discretion. More on that later in my soap-box lecture.
Since our method of roleplay is writing, there are certain writing skills implemented such as spelling, grammar, sentence structure, etc. It's true that by its definition, the moment you are "playing" a "role" you are roleplaying, but how well you roleplay is another thing. For example:
starfire sad hi to robin. Hi robin.
---
Robin waves back.
---
'whats up?' she asks.
---
"Nothing much." he replied.
---
Batgirl walks in with a strut in her hips, her beautiful red hair catching the light. She comes up to Robin and puts her arm around his shoulder and gives Starfire a haughty look. "Are you talking to my man?" She asked, glaring slightly with her gorgeous blue eyes. Her luscious lips were pulled together in a slight snarl toward the other female. She did not like her and Robin being together in the same room at all.
---
Robin got flustered. "Batgirl stop. We musn't."
---
Batgirl giggles and ignores his shyness. "Don't let me catch you talking to him again. He's MY man!" she exclaimed and she proceeds to kiss him. It was slow, but then it grew more heated. She was making his toes curl like only she could. He was putty in her hands and there was nothing Starfire could do about it.
---
star goes "omg Robin you traitor!" -runs out of the room and cries sobbing, hits a shelf on the way out-
Audio Version
Here is an example of varying degrees of skill level, all with faults. ▬Starfire is the most obvious: lack of proper punctuation, spelling, capitalization, use of chatspeak and 'dashes' as action cues. Suffers from an OOC moment in the last part. This can be annoying and seem very basic of a roleplayer.
▬Robin's may not seem at fault, but he's lacking. Aside from a tense switch, his grammar, spelling, etc seems okay but... It's still a one liner. He has dialogue and some generic action or emotion attached, but there's nothing else. Where is this character in space and time? What is he thinking? You could have easily replaced his name with any other, because it lacks his posts lack character. It makes him BORING to roleplay with.
▬Batgirl goes further. She, like Robin, generally has basic writing skills down aside from maybe a few minor errors. She writes at least five sentences, making a paragraph, and writes her character a lot more descriptively than the other two. Her character's position, action, thoughts, feelings, dialogue, and other elements that are good for interaction are worked into her paragraph, allowing more insight into who "Batgirl" is, and what she's doing in the situational context.
Her fault? Is this really... Batgirl? The emphasis on her desirable traits make her a bit of a Mary Sue (someone who is intentionally, and overbearingly designed to be loved, liked, get attention, etc), and her actions are not only out of character, but also power playing. When she's kissing Robin, she is: 1)implying he let her until it "grew more heated"; 2) assumed he was enjoying this sudden exhibitionist invasion of space to the point his "toes could curl like no other girl could make him"; and 3) That there was nothing Starfire could do about it. Robin may have wanted to recoil back and hit into a shelf. Starfire may have wanted to kill them for kissing right in front of her and wouldn't have waited long to do it.
---
Raven walked into the common room, and was startled by Starfire zooming past her, stepping quickly out of the way. "Star--!" She was gone, and Raven was left to worry what was wrong with her distraught friend. She winced as the shelf crashed and spilled its contents. That must have hurt. Then, she looked up and saw the kissing couple. Raven made a slight face, not liking public displays of affection much, and pulled her hood up as if to hide her discomfort. Wow, they were really going at it weren't they? She certainly didn't expect it from these two.
The hooded teen hovered closer to them, feeling every bit awkward but needing to say something. "Do you guys mind... Maybe getting a room or something? I kind of wanted to..." Drink tea in peace? Not watch them go at it in the middle of the common room where anyone could enter? Did she really need to explain this?
▬Raven is an example of a decent roleplay post. Though she could arguably be roleplayed more in character (as I am not the best Raven in the world teehee), nothing is outlandishly out of character for her either (at least I think so o.o). Raven has not one, but two paragraphs both written with basic writing skills intact, and rather than drawing much attention to herself, more general, accepted descriptions are in there. Rather than "the raven haired beauty gracefully hovered closer to them", it was a more simple "the hooded teen". Rather than controlling the situation, Raven is reacting to it. There are no instances of powerplay minus the assumption that they are still going at it, but with the nature of posts this can happen. She focuses herself, her place, and her interactions.
Roleplaying well is just keeping in mind basic writing skills (make the effort, it is worth it), descriptions, characterizations, and making sure not to go overboard with your character's actions. Imma get off my soapbox for now and let someone else chime in if they want or ask question.
-hops off-