What is roleplay?

[Salo]

Now that might seem a silly question, and if this has already been covered then forgive me, but it's something I have been mulling over for quite a long time.

Have you, as a roleplayer, ever tried explaining to somebody who has no understanding of MMOs, what it is you're doing when you and your guild mates stage an ingame trial and execution, or host a summit of leading guilds? It's not an easy one to explain.

Depending on the complexity of the character/set-up/playstyle roleplay can be simple pretending, or it can be something akin to amateur improv theatre.

I'll leave off my own thoughts on it there, as I'd like to hear what others think about roleplay. What it is, what it isn't, what its potential is and what it means to you... any examples of roleplay you've engineered or witnessed that you think best illustrate what we're discussing.

*smiles*

[Luna Rossa]

As a former GM for many years, this has come up quite often to the point that we would have a book we handed out to new members, as well as one locked down in our guildhouse.

The entire thing is quite detailed but I will just leave some brief notes, just in case there are inquiring minds.

"Role-playing is similar to acting. You create or have a "character" with their own personality and history then pretend to be that character. You speak as you would believe them to speak and act as you feel they would act."

I would encourage members to stay in character as much as possible, especially during an event and to try not to use modern slang or abbreviated words such as brb, lol, afk. When required, it is better to type out or "emote" a feeling or action such as *laughs" or if you need to step away, be more creative such as "turns attention to the other realm" or "sits to think" etc.

Most important though is to have fun! There should be no "Roleplaying Police" as everyone has their own style and one way is not necessarily better then the other.

Gosh! I could go on and on, as creating a strong RP community is what I have done in the past, so for now......I shall leave it at that!

Not sure if that helps anyone or not. ;)

[Suraknar]

Personally, I think that wither we admit it or not, we are all role playing the moment we select a character to play in an MMORPG.

I mean, selecting to play an Elf or an Orc and then playing that character constitutes role playing. Obviously we are neither Elves nor orcs in RL, hence we are animating the actions of that Character in that virtual world.

The thing that differentiates the person who considers themselves as a Role Player or a Non-Role player, is therefore, the degree of immersion that the player chooses to express through that character.

Some will create a Background for their character, some will adopt a certain way of Speaking (typing) and some will even go as far as staging plot lines and act out a given story.

In short, everyone is role playing, at different degrees.

[Valic Fortan]

I don’t think anyone can say it better then Suraknar just did.

[Henide]

Have you ever played with imaginary guns (made out of wood) when you were a kid ? :]
If you are able to lose (pretending that you are shot and fell on the ground), then you have some Roleplay abilities. There are persons that always will think of some superpowers and pretend they dodge bullets all the time, that still is roleplay, but it ruins the overall roleplay meaning for others.

Speaking directly - Roleplay is a real-time improvisation, you could call it a theatre ingame. It depends on the person - can you pretend to be dead, or can`t you ;)
I`m speaking non-direct again : p

Roleplaying gives fun, even if you lose a battle, and it is fun altogether. Text concerning real life (like texts "i have to go off", "oh no I forgot to turn off the owen") should be put in "( )" - so people could know, are you RPing or not.

[Salo]

I think it's true that we are automatically roleplaying by being in the game. But there is a difference between a kind of passive roleplay (I woudn't normally run about with a kryss, so if I am doing so in game I am 'roleplaying') and a more active kind of roleplay (my character has a certain set of motivations and traits which dictate his in game responses).

One of the things I like doing through roleplay, is adding colour and texture to the world for other people. I like to entertain. If a few of you are able to bounce off each other with an overall direction/plot/backstory in mind, it can be really quite vibrant and creative.

My favourite approach with roleplay is to use emotes to show the thought processes of my character, something which often conflicts with, or underlines what he is actually saying. My characters have particular mannerisms and traits and individual speech patterns. My Salo character, for example, would usually have a hipflask of whiskey about his person and his thought processes gave away hints of his treacherous and cowardly nature.

One of the things I loved doing in UO, was geting inter- and intra-guild roleplay story arcs going. The potential for drawing people into the story and then adding to their 'fame' on the guild forums by writing up the tales with them in it, is fantastic for community development and guild diplomacy.



@ Lunar Rossa, oh you really shot me back then. I still remember sending 'pigeons' instead of messages :P And as a guild elder who was constantly being ICQed, I basically had to work in a minor form of narcolepsy to explain the fact I kept dropping in and out of conversation.

Out of interest, how much a part of your guild's roleplay were the boards?

[Xelias]

Well put Sura

[Playzone]

Going thru it many times with people new to RPing. After a while when I had been banging my head with to many long and boring "guides" I tried to simplify it as much as possible and came up with 2 simple rules.

1. Stay in character.
2. Have fun.

If you fail thoose two you aint RPing. Then some can do it more or less "heavy", but its thru for all RPers.

I normally dont grade RPers, but imo a good RPer can adjust his RPing to the people around him/her making it a fun and enjoyable experience for everyone. Veterans and rookies alike.

[Daarco]

Going thru it many times with people new to RPing. After a while when I had been banging my head with to many long and boring "guides" I tried to simplify it as much as possible and came up with 2 simple rules.

1. Stay in character.
2. Have fun.

If you fail thoose two you aint RPing. Then some can do it more or less "heavy", but its thru for all RPers.

I normally dont grade RPers, but imo a good RPer can adjust his RPing to the people around him/her making it a fun and enjoyable experience for everyone. Veterans and rookies alike.


This is everything you will ever need to know about RP.

[Dronagok]

Well i did not want to read the posts so im going to say that on warcry.com there are a number of excellent articles on roleplaying. They say it is more like puppeteering than acting because it is not you acting as someone else, you are controlling someone else something along those lines they say find them if you want they are great.

[RichieV]

This is a very interesting thread and I for one can't really state a better answer than the above posts.

[Thunderjohn]

I would encourage members to stay in character as much as possible, especially during an event and to try not to use modern slang or abbreviated words such as brb, lol, afk. When required, it is better to type out or "emote" a feeling or action such as *laughs" or if you need to step away, be more creative such as "turns attention to the other realm" or "sits to think" etc.



This just sounds stupid. why do that anyway?

I mean... it is just a game.

[Lethn]

lol Thunderjohn we all have our own way of playing a game, if you don't like it then don't post on this section of the forum.

I don't bother telling new people about it personally, I'll only explain it to them if they're actually interested, there's no point in trying to make people roleplay or teach them if they've got no interest as they'll just ignore you and play the game in their own way.

[Andalain]

Rp is fun, but I haven't done it much. Darkfall opens up a great world to rp in. I will certainly be rping in game. Gonna go write up backstory and motivations

[Playzone]

I would encourage members to stay in character as much as possible, especially during an event and to try not to use modern slang or abbreviated words such as brb, lol, afk. When required, it is better to type out or "emote" a feeling or action such as *laughs" or if you need to step away, be more creative such as "turns attention to the other realm" or "sits to think" etc.



This just sounds stupid. why do that anyway?

I mean... it is just a game.

I dont expect everyone to understand or even like RP, but I think youre a good example of both. So my questions to you will be. Why did you bother to post at all?

[empirical]

Rp is fun, but I haven't done it much. Darkfall opens up a great world to rp in. I will certainly be rping in game. Gonna go write up backstory and motivations

I feel the same. I have never RPd but this feels like a great game to start with. But as a newbie.....how would I best find a RP clan in game?

[Salo]

I'd advise glancing through some of the posts in Clan Recruiting, then if they have websites go check them out. A good indicator of what a guild's roleplay is like would be their forums. Personally though, I tend to go into a game and suss it out inside and see if I meet up with any roleplayers. You may well find them at the common gathering sites, or in player cities.

Looking through their clan sites can be quite good if you are undecided what to play as well.

[pyrow]

Honestly, I would consider roleplay on Darkfall to be someone attempting to act like they are their character. Say they're an assassin, they'd be talking like theyre that person. Trying to get jobs and missions / contracts from people without going LOL YA IM A KILLER GUY THING I KILL PPLZ THROATS U PAY?

As far as them roleplaying entering a tavern or something I dont see that happening. like:
Random Name: *enters the tavern, his face shrouded in the darkness of his hooded cloak*
Random Name: *takes a seat at the bar*
Random Name: Bar keep, give me the strongest thing you've got.
Random Name: *you notice his right hand is bloody and bruised*

It would take too long to get that roleplay out there, and I dont think they'd really bother with it. This isnt D&D. If they wana roleplay an entrance or 'doing something' theyd just do it.

But yeah, ill be in character alot.

[empirical]

I'd advise glancing through some of the posts in Clan Recruiting, then if they have websites go check them out. A good indicator of what a guild's roleplay is like would be their forums. Personally though, I tend to go into a game and suss it out inside and see if I meet up with any roleplayers. You may well find them at the common gathering sites, or in player cities.

Looking through their clan sites can be quite good if you are undecided what to play as well.

Thanks for the advice, Ill check it out :)

[Salo]

empirical, as an additional piece of advice, I'd suggest avoiding hardcore or 'total' RP clan, if you're new to roleplay.

There are lots of clans who have a good roleplay identity and purpose, and who encourage and enjoy roleplay but also are relaxed about going out of character. It's quite a fun way to start, as there's no pressure to 'get it right' or to never go out of character in game (very difficult to discuss game mechanics like that). The ideal introduction (in my opinion) to roleplay is by playing with a group of friends/clanmates with whom you can have a laugh, play the game, and play out your character with people who also like playing in character, but who are just as comfortable out of character.

[Poem]

What is roleplay?

It's a type of bird, similar to an ostrich.

[Salo]

lol Poem.

[Luna Rossa]

I would encourage members to stay in character as much as possible, especially during an event and to try not to use modern slang or abbreviated words such as brb, lol, afk. When required, it is better to type out or "emote" a feeling or action such as *laughs" or if you need to step away, be more creative such as "turns attention to the other realm" or "sits to think" etc.



This just sounds stupid. why do that anyway?

I mean... it is just a game.

I actually think this is the first time I have ever been "slammed" without someone using the quote feature and by someone that shouldn't give a hoot what my opinions or thoughts are for role-playing.

Interesting.