The Problems that Never Go Away, and How You (Yes You) Can Be a Better RPer

This page was imported from a forum post dated July 28, 2015 in the category Roleplay Discussions by Magramba. Its content is likely to be out of date!

This post had 16 replies.

Tue, 07/28/2015 - 12:58

Well, thank you for coming today! Originally I was planning to post this as a help guide, but I feel like those don't really get the attention they deserve, so I thought I would whip together a quick forum post instead. What I'm trying to do is give anyone interested a quick refresher on common problems and how you can personally improve.

Number one! Power-play. This is a common complaint anywhere people play this sort of game. It's easily recognized; this is the character that is either personally unstoppable or can summon a host of unstoppable NPCs to enforce their will. It's also surprisingly easily fixed by one thing (maybe two): guts (and courtesy, but really we should be using that in every OOC interaction). Have the guts to open your mouth OOCly and inform the PowerPlayer that power-play is not okay and you won't be acknowledging it. Politely ask them to repose. If they throw a fit, that's fine; they can go have a fit. If you are polite, that's their problem. Do not do this rudely, and that goes for any other OOC interaction you have with other players.

Number two is kind of related to number one. If you have IC issues with anyone, again, be polite OOCly. Maybe they're new. Maybe they didn't know better. Maybe they're just having a bad day or they just weren't thinking. I'm not saying that makes anything they do automatically okay, just that you should treat everyone with the same courtesy you would expect them to show to you (even if they've already been rude to you). Give people the benefit of the doubt. It's easy to be cynical and assume the worst. I know, it's a trap I fall into all the time, and while it often gives me the satisfaction of being right, it doesn't make me many friends, and we should all be friends here. Some people are never going to love RPing with certain other people, but that doesn't mean that Party A should be dead to Party B. Get along OOCly with everyone even if you don't love their RP style.

Number three is to be open to trying different styles. This means that if you're used to long, detailed poses, you should occasionally look for someone who usually uses shorter poses and have a scene together. If you usually use shorter poses... look for someone who gets a little more verbose. Both styles have merit, and it's good for you to be exposed to both. For instance, when characters are performing actions, or scenery is being described, the long-posers are king. The more detail, the better. Without it, the setting is bland, and your actions are boring, which makes it hard for other players to engage with you. But when it comes to dialogue, sometimes the short-posers have the upper hand. If everyone is being extremely detailed, explaining the tone of each phrase, having a short conversation that lasts two minutes ICly can take three hours to play out. I've seen it happen. This is boring too.

Number four is to keep a healthy relationship with your character. Yes, you, the player, have a relationship with your character. On some level in your head, they relate to you. There are couple different ways you might view them, whether you've thought about it or not. One way is a pure projection. Your character is you. They are everything you know about yourself in a furry form running through the world of Redwall. Another is as an aspect of yourself. You pull bits of your own personality into the character to help you understand how they might behave. The third major way is as an invented tool. The character is completely distinct from you; it is the creation of your imagination that you have crafted for the sole purpose of using for entertainment. All three of these relationship types are in play on our Muck, guys. The healthiest is the third and final relationship, where the character is a tool of your will. It gives you the most ability to play new and exciting plots with the character, because you are not so invested that you fear for their safety. The second is slightly less healthy, but still acceptable; those personality traits you borrow from yourself give you keen insight into the character's mind and can make for some very emotionally powerful scenes. However, the first is borderline dangerous. In this relationship, any IC conflict has the possibility of being interpreted as an OOC affront to the player. If you oppose Sir Charles, after all, you must have an issue with me, Charlie, the player. When I put it this plainly, it's easy to see how this could be a problem, but it's harder to see when you are that person. Take a step back and evaluate the relationship you have with your characters. If you do not hold the third view, consider moving up a rung from where you are.

Number five is to work a bit harder at using proper grammar, punctuation, and spelling. There is nothing harder to read than a pose that completely disregards these things. It's something we all learn in grade school, and since we all read the Redwall books, I know we all know what a proper sentence looks like. It's really just common courtesy to take the five extra seconds it takes to slow down your fingers and type accurately, or heck, the two minutes to read over your pose before you hit enter and fix your mistakes. Ic ant tellyou howann oying it is to tr y to decifer this kindof thing (I can't tell you how annoying it is to try to decipher this kind of thing). I'm not saying it needs to be perfect, but... at least try. We're supposed to be playing in English, not Navajo code talk. This does not apply just to IC! Just because it's OOC doesn't mean I don't want to be able to read what you're saying or be spoken to in complete sentences. Again, it's all about courtesy and valuing the people around you more than the two seconds you saved by not fixing your mistakes.

Number six is to stop being afraid to do things. Big things. A lot of players RP sitting around eating oatmeal and talking about the weather. Maybe that makes them happy, but I can't help but think it's because they either A) don't know what else to do or B) are afraid to do anything that hasn't been planned out. You don't need to plan out a big elaborate plot with lots of people to do stuff in your RP. You can make big things happen any time you want. That doesn't mean you should have your character fall down a well once a week, but don't be afraid to leave Great Hall and go do stuff. Make up things to do. Make up NPCs to be in your stories. Don't be afraid to talk about Sister So and So just because no one else has never heard her name. We'll play along with you if you say she's a cruel taskmaster who made you wash the dishes five times last night. I promise. Go to the market, take a friend. Make up stallvendors for the two of you to interact with. There's a whole world out there, and it's filled with characters even if there's not a player for each one.

If you made it this far, congratulations. I hope these things help you be a better player. If you have your own tips, feel free to leave them down below, and questions as well. I check these often.

Keep the Light.

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