Daniel's Guide to Roleplaying [UPDATED 7/28/12]

Daniel's Guide to Roleplaying
[UPDATED 7/28/12]

Index

1. Intro
   
2. Basics
   
3. Metagaming
   
4. Punctuation
   
5. Credits
   
6. Change Log

Intro

This will be my second attempt at writing a roleplaying guide for forum-based roleplaying. Like my previous guide, the purpose of this guide is to teach new roleplayers the basics and to help improve the overall quality of one’s post. However, this will be a much more in-depth than my previous attempt. Before I begin, I will say that these are my opinions and they may not reflect the general consensus of the online forum-based roleplaying community.

Basics

Let's start with the first thing a roleplayer should know.

What is roleplaying?
Roleplaying is the act of manipulating a fictional character, usually created by the roleplayer, in order to write a living story with other role-players. A roleplay post can range anywhere from a few words such as:

Quote :

I walk in

To something much higher quality such as:

Theseus12 wrote:

Thomas was surprised by the arrow. he was further surprised by the whole, getting tripped up and tied up, bit. Thomas loved her form while she did it. Very graceful for somone who was blind, and a hell of a shot. At her remark, his mouth went ahead and said something against his better judgement. "Of course not, especcially while I'm trussed up like the swine my own species think I am. Healer? yeah, I am one. liked? not really. I guess it's because one of my ancestors was a troll." Thomas grimaced. "why they need to have such prejudices is beyond me, but here's the thing. they might care less if you deal with me the way your father would, but at the same time, they might be mad because you did it to a citizen of the Republic." Thomas spat, both to get some dirt out of his mouth and to convey his disgust for the concept. "I persoally don't agree with it, but who listens to some Troll Spawn?" Thomas didn't make the name up, either. it was a name that was givane to any tall member of his family since the Great War. "You probably hate me because I have more Human blood than Orc or Troll blood. It wouldn't surprise me." he relaxed as she started to tie his hands in front of him. ok, she was the business type. "I'm... sorry for snapping at you in the hospital. I didn't know that guy you killed was that blasted child murderer. if I had, I swear I would have thanked you.

Perspective
Now that you know what roleplaying is, it is time for you to decide what perspective you are going to roleplay in. While you should have learned what the different types of perspectives in English class, here is a refresher. The three types of perspectives are first-person, second-person, and third-person. In the first-person perspective, the roleplayer is their character and use pronounces such as I, me, and us. Second-person perspective is rare to find in normal works of literature and even rare in roleplaying. When a person roleplays in the second-person, they want the reader to see like they are the character. This is extremely confusing in roleplay. Finally third-person is when the roleplayer acts as an outside observer and utilizes pronouns such as he, she, and they when referring to their character.

Power Playing
Power playing is the act of manipulating another roleplayers’ character in order to perform some action. It is commonly looked down upon by most roleplayers as it overextends the bounds of one’s control and destroys the cooperative spirit of roleplaying. It can be something as subtle as

Quote :

I slash at Jane Doe’s leg, cutting her

to something as noticeable as

Quote :

I roar with a bestial vigor, causing Jane Doe to cowardly run away

While you can’t get banned for power playing, constant power playing could reduce the likelihood of people wanting to roleplay with you. If you want a specific reaction, then ask the person you are roleplaying with if they could do that.

God Modding
God modding is the act of making your character do something without limits or boundaries whether the decision is subconscious or not. An example of this is when they simply cannot be harmed by and all means used by other roleplayers. Like power playing, this can annoy other roleplayers and reduce the likelihood that others want to roleplay with you.


Metagaming
Metagaming is the act of roleplaying a character using information that the character does not know. It is similar to tragic irony used in various works of literature such as Oedipus Rex.

While my description of metagaming may make it seem like a bad thing, it isn’t unless it is being abused. Metagaming is used extensively to make decisions while roleplaying even though you may not notice that you are currently doing. OOC is an excellent example of metagaming in a positive manner.

Two examples of using metagaming in a positive manner would be: using information given to you by another role-player in order to help decide what you will post next and roleplaying a story that has been previously planned.
An example of using metagaming in a negative manner would be having two strangers automatically knowing everything about each other.


Punctuation
I am not an English teacher nor do I plan on becoming one in the near future so this is will be my best attempt. This section is to emphasize the importance of punctuation. If you want advice on how to use proper punctuation then by all means ask an English teacher. You can usually locate them at a school or other educational facilities.

Punctuation is a very important aspect of roleplaying. In fact, punctuation is extremely important in every form of literature except poetry, the rules are weird in poetry. Imagine trying to read the Percy Jackson and the Olympian series without a single instance of punctuation, it would be like a first grader trying to learn theoretical physics. Punctuation affects how a sentence is read by another person. If you use improper punctuation, the meaning of your message can easily be conveyed in the wrong way and everyone will get the wrong impression of your message. A good of example of this would be:

“Let's eat Grandma” vs “Let's eat, Grandma”

Now that tiny comma may not seem very important, but if left out the former would imply that you plan on eating your grandmother in order to satisfy your cannibalistic needs while the latter implies that you plan on eating with your grandmother. Another example of the importance of punctuation is:

Quote :

"Dear John:
I want a man who knows what love is all about. You are generous, kind, thoughtful. People who are not like you admit to being useless and inferior. You have ruined me for other men. I yearn for you. I have no feelings whatsoever when we're apart. I can be forever happy--will you let me be yours?
Gloria"

Now if the above letter is punctuated differently, then it can change from a letter full of love to one laced with bitterness like the one below.

Quote :

"Dear John:
I want a man who knows what love is. All about you are generous, kind, thoughtful people, who are not like you. Admit to being useless and inferior. You have ruined me. For other men, I yearn. For you, I have no feelings whatsoever. When we're apart, I can be forever happy. Will you let me be?
Yours,
Gloria"

I hope this section has emphasized the importance of punctuation in while roleplaying.


Credits
Theseus12


Changelog
6/19/12 - Initial Release
7/16/12 - Added metagaming
7/29/12 - Added punctuation