Roleplaying
Roleplaying (also RP, role-playing) is a game or exercise where the participants assume the roles of characters and collaboratively improvise to create stories. This is often likened to acting or interactive storytelling, whether it happens live in real-time chat or instant messages, or whether it unfolds as a story, post-by-post on forums. A more basic comparison of roleplaying is to children’s games of “Cops and Robbers”, “Cowboys and Indians”, “Playing House” or simply “Make Believe.”
For most players, roleplaying online involves describing what your character does and what your character says with emotes and dialogue:
- Emotes. This is describing what your character is doing, and how he/she is doing it. It can be as simple as ::smiles:: or as complicated as several sentences of a fight scene.
- Dialogue. This is what your character is saying. Most roleplayed characters “say” only those things which are In Character, or those things which would make sense for their character to talk about. Some roleplayers choose to add to their dialogue with accents, fictional languages, or create elaborate backstories to explain why their characters behave the way they do.
Also see Free Form Roleplaying.
Character
Character (sometimes referred to as “Toon” or “Charrie”) is used to describe the fictional persona portrayed by a player.
Player
Player (also referred to as “mun” or “mundane”) describes the real-life person who roleplays a fictional character.
Non Player Character
Non Player Character (also NPC) is the term applied to a secondary or minor character used primarily to flesh out a storyline or setting. NPCs may be controlled by one or many players. If a player’s Character (PC) is the lead in a movie, you might think of a Non Player Character as a bit part or an extra in that movie. Common uses for Non Player Characters include bartenders, city guards, shopkeepers, children, hapless victims: anything the player or writer can imagine.
In Character
In Character (also, IC, ICly) refers to the world of the characters, absent reference or intrusion to IRL or OOC things. In roleplaying, dialogue and actions described from the point of view of the character are In Character.
Out of Character
Out of Character(also OOC, OOCly, In Real Life, IRL, or Mundane) refers to the ‘real’, offline, Out of Character world of the players. OOC comments are frowned on in most In Character settings. When it’s necessary for real life to intrude on roleplay, OOC comments are usually phrased between double parens, like ((BRB, phone call.)) Some refer to OOC banter in double parens as “Mun Bubbles.”
Blending
Blending refers to mixing or “blending” In Character and Out of Character. Keeping In Character (what your character does) separate from Out Of Character (what you do) is a difficult thing for a lot of roleplayers, either because they’re playing themselves and not a different character, or because they are very attached to their character. Not keeping a “wall” between the player and the character being played can be about as disastrous as an actor living in the role of their character after they get off stage.
Blending can also involve a character using OOC terms from “real life”, such as mun, IMs, email, character profiles, references to popular culture, etc., in an IC setting. This is a common mistake made by new players who haven’t yet thought through the fact that their character has no awareness of the Player or that OOC references in an IC setting are jarring to everyone else.
Blending Dos and Don’ts
- DO: Remember that you are the one playing a role like an actor, or like an author writing a story about a character. You are not your character.
- DO: Remember that what you know OOC your character may not know IC (meta-gaming).
- DON’T: Assume that an attack on your character IC is an attack on you OOC. Save yourself the stress and try not to take it personally.
- DON’T: Assume that because someone’s character is friendly to yours IC that they like you OOC. Sometimes it works that way, most of the time it doesn’t.
Godmoding
Godmoding is a phrase that originated from the “god-mode” cheat in single player games which rendered players invulnerable to harm. Godmoding is generally considered discourteous and poor form, in the context of emote-based roleplay in online gaming.
In online gaming (chat, forum, play by email, multiplayer roleplaying games, etc.), godmoding usually falls into one of three categories:
- you decide how your emotes/actions affect another character and “call the results”;
- you play a character that is effectively invulnerable; or
- you control a character that is played by someone else, instead of letting the other player decide how their character is affected.
To avoid godmoding, describe only your own character’s actions, and let the outcome be determined by outside mechanics (game mechanics, dice, or a neutral party) or the other player. If you are intending something drastic that might change the other character if they agree to it, it can help if you send a tell OOC asking them for consent to proceed. Some players will allow another player to godmode on them based on whether they trust the other player, or if they know the background and skills of the other character compared to their own, but it is best to never assume someone will permit that.
Meta-gaming
Meta-gaming is a form of blending that occurs when a player utilizes information obtained Out of Character in an In Character situation. This occurs most frequently when a player reads something on a forum, in a character profile, or in a chat log and suddenly their character has that information. When the character had no plausible way of obtaining the information, meta-gaming is considered discourteous and poor form. There are situations where meta-gaming is reasonable, but it is always courteous to obtain consent from the involved players.
Powergaming
Powergaming is when a player makes a decision for and/or attempts to control another player’s character and/or storyline without his/her consent. The Wikipedia description of powergaming is particularly apt:
“A player can be described as a powergamer if (s)he presumes or declares that his or her own action against another player character is successful without giving the other player character the freedom to act on his own prerogative. They may also be a player who tries to force others to participate in role-playing they don’t want to engage in. For instance, a player who unilaterally describes his character as doing something with (or to) another character that would usually require the other to play along — such as having a fight or a sexual encounter — is considered to be powergaming. “
Like God-Moding, powergaming is generally considered discourteous and poor form, in the context of emote-based roleplay in an online environment.
Powergaming Dos and Don’ts
- DO: Emote open-ended “attempts” that let the other player decide what happens to their character.
- DON’T: Describe how another character reacts to your attempts. You should only describe what your character is trying to do.
- DON’T: Describe actions that prevent the other player from reacting.
- DON’T: Emote deathblows, fatal strikes, or anything which may permanently alter another character without getting the other player’s permission.
Source: Rhydin Wiki – Library
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