Introduction to Roleplay - Trovixo

[Zach]

Introduction to Roleplay

When we use the word "Roleplay", we get different answers explaining it. But the most simplest explanation we get is "playing a Role". Now, we'll explain the whole concept of Roleplay to you with the most simplest explanation possible.


Roleplay

Roleplay is defined as "Taking up the role of a character which exists in real life or is imaginary, and playing the role." By Playing we mean explaining all the actions that the character performs or are happening in his surroundings and are influencing the character.
There are three basic commands which are used for Roleplaying.

- /me
- /ame
- /do

Use  of  /me

* Trovixo is used to explain the actions that your character performs. We use /me when we want to describe that what our character is doing. This includes his movements, reactions and actions which he does to affect his surroundings. The trick about /me is that it should be as descriptive as it could be. Which means while using /me you have to explain about the action in such a way that the reader who is looking at your RP, gets a better and clear image of how the scene would be and could feel like he is present there at the place. An example could be given like this :

* Trovixo lowers his right hand towards the door handle, as he pulls it outwards, pushing the door away from him in outward direction, opening it.

In the above example, the action is described clearly and while reading it your mind will be having an image of how the door was opened.

Use  of  /ame

The use of /ame is very similar to that of /me with a difference that /me is shown in the Main Chat as a global message that everyone can see, but the /ame is not global. It is just restricted to a specific range and is shown above the head of player using the command. /ame is also a very important part for RP. It is used to explain the reaction that our character shows but the reaction does not have any effect on the surroundings. To make it clear we'll use an example which is as follow :
/ame raises his eyebrow, looking suspiciously at the man.
In the above example, the action performed does not physically affect the surrounding or the other person but is limited to our character only. Therefor while using /ame we have to keep it in mind that the actions do not affect anyone else and are only limited to our own character.


  Use  of  /do

/do is used to explain the effect of the action our character performed or sometimes explain the observations from surroundings. It is used after the /me and is used to explain that what will be the result of the action we performed, or what does our character observes from the surroundings. This will be more clear to you after this example given below :
/me lowers his right hand towards the door handle, as he pulls it outwards, pushing the door away from him in outward direction, opening it.
/do The push to the door in outwards direction will force it to open.
In the example we RPed opening a door and told that when we pushed the door outwards a reaction came. And we explained the reaction of our action with the help of /do.
As it was mentioned that /do is also used to explain the surroundings. The following example will be aiding to justify the statment.
/me slowly steps forward, pushes the door inwards by his left hand, opening it and entering the shop afterwards, looking around.
/do As i would step inside, the bell above the door would ring and the people inside would look towards me for a while and then get busy with their work again.
By using the /do we explained what would be happening in the surrounding.


Roleplay is just not restricted to these three commands. There is more in Roleplay that is meant to be understood. There are several other terms in Roleplay which includes :

-In-Character
-Out Of Character
-Meta Gaming
-Power Gaming


In-Character

            As the name explains itself, In-Character is something that we do while remaining in the limitations of our character. This includes the actions our Character perform and the information that out character has. If we are playing the role of any character, we can only use the information that the character knows and not what we know as a player. It is easily understood if we take the example of ourself, we cannot see nametags on each others head, nor we have a Main Chat in our real life that keeps us connected to people. We meet people and enquire them to know who they are. Similarly, your character has to interact with other characters so he might know them. You might see the health bar on your screen, but your character does not knows about it. Further will be informed in upcoming sections.


Out of Character

            This type of information is not related to our character and is what we, as a player, knows. The  Out of Character information includes the Health bar, the Main Chat, the Death log and the information that you obtain from the Main Chat. This information is totally not what your character knows of, and should not be used while you are  In-Character. Using this information to benefit your character or using it to affect the Roleplay scenario is strictly prohibited and comes under the Meta Gaming section, which leads to punishments.


Meta-Gaming

There is a simple definition used to explain Meta-Gaming, which is, "Mixing In-Character (IC) information with Out of Character (OOC) information is called Meta Gaming". As the definition says, Meta-Gaming takes place when we use the information that we as a player know, with the information that our character knows. The example provided will be clarifying the statment.
* Player X is in a scene where he is surrounded by 6 people and is facing Player Y.
* Player Z, who is behind Player X, attempts to hit Player X with a bat.
* Player X looks in the Main Chat that Player Z is trying to hit him from behind and RP's turning back suddenly while he was facing Player Y.

Now, if we take a look into the example carefully, we will see that Player X was facing player Y and was not aware of what is going behind him, In-Characterly. But when Player Z (who was behind Player X) roleplayed hitting him, Player X saw the Roleplay in the Main Chat ( which is OOC) and mixed the Main Chat information with his Character's information hence resulting in Meta Gaming. Which is punishable.



Power-Gaming

There are 3 definitions used to describe Power-Gaming, these are
Forcing someone to roleplay, or implementing a roleplay scene on other player when he don't wants to be a part of it.
Doing unrealistic things in your Roleplay, which are impossible to be done by a normal human being in real life.
Not giving the other person to respond to your Roleplay.

Definition 1

We'll start with explaining the first definition. As the definition states, Forcing someone to Roleplay or implementing a Roleplay, this clearly explains that when you force someone to roleplay with you while he/she is not intrested or don't want to be a part of your Roleplay is called Power-Gaming. But the question arises in your mind. "How do i know if something is not intrested or i am Powergaming?.
The answer is simple. Let's suppose you are with someone, freeroaming, and then all of sudden you do

* Trovixo kicks Player X in his groin,forcing him to fall on the ground.

Now here, the other player is freeroaming and you forced a Roleplay situation on him when he wasn't intrested to be in it. This is what the first definition of Power-Gaming. When you implement a Roleplay scenario on someone who isn't intrested to Roleplay and is enjoying his freeroam experience.

Definition 2

The second definition is pretty much self explanatory. When we roleplay doing an action by our Roleplay, which is impossible for a normal human being to do is also counted as Power-Gaming. To make it more clear, we'll have a look into the given example.

* Trovixo grabs the car into his right hand, throwing it into mid-air.

Or

* Trovixo punches the man on his face, throwing him far away, flying afterwards.

In these examples, we can see that the actions described are impossible as we cannot throw a car into mid air nor punch someone and throw him far away with just a punch on the face and neither a normal human being can fly. So, if we Roleplay something which is impossible to be done by a normal human being, it'll be counted as Roleplay.

Definition 3

According to the third definition, we do not let the other person respond to our roleplay. We just roleplay something that effects the other person and do not ask him about how will he respond to our roleplay. Example provided will help to make it easier to understand.

* Trovixo takes out his deagle, aiming at the person's head, shooting at him and killing him.

In this example we just roleplayed our part that what we did, but we didn't asked the other person about How will he respond when he will see us taking out a gun. How will he react when you will aim your gun at him.. This is also counted as Power-Gaming and results in punishment.
Question might arise in our mind that how can we minimze the chances of Power-Gaming while roleplaying? Well, the answer is simple. Whenever you Roleplay something by the use of /me, use /do and ask about what will be the reaction of other player about your actions or how will he respond to it.