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ROLEPLAYING RULES OF THUMB
As roleplaying is always a joint effort, there are some rules which have to be respected if you want other people to roleplay with you. They're not set in stone, but you can think of them as some useful tips and guidelines.
1. Avoid powerplaying.
Powerplaying is where you write the actions of other people's characters into your post. So for instance if I was talking about my character saying "Hello", if I then also wrote: "everybody said Hello back", I would be powerplaying-- playing more than just my character! Nobody likes people who play their characters for them. Powerplaying is usually easy to avoid, but it can get a bit tricky during scenes such as fights, where what one character does affects another character). There are two ways to deal with this: either talk to the other roleplayer in a message to check it's okay, OR don't write the consequence in! That way whether the other player wants their character to escape unscathed, or whether they want them to be wounded, it's their choice: you haven't powerplayed.
2. Joining in.
We shouldn't be here if we don't want to roleplay, but sometimes there are times to join in and times to leave things be. The most obvious time to join is when a roleplay has just begun. In more established threads, if you feel like a storyline already exists, you may decide to move on and try to join a different thread. If you think you can handle catching up, then you can try asking current members for a brief summary of what has happened before. It is also wise to ask the TC (topic creator) if the roleplay is still open.
3. Activity
This one is simple. Usually people roleplay in order-- so the person who posted first can post again after the person who posted second (if there are two people), and with three people, the person who posted first would have to wait until after the person who posted third and so on. Basically taking it in turns. You can go out of turn if it seems appropriate, or if another person isn't replying. Try not to join in threads if you won't have time to reply-- it keeps everybody waiting for you!
4. Roleplaying Style
If you're new to roleplaying, the best way to describe this is that no author writes the same way. If you pick up two novels, by two different authors, they'll be totally different. In just the same way, people don't RP the same. Some people use simple sentences and lots of actions. Some people talk a lot about their character's emotions. For a thread to work well, it's best if everybody roleplays in a similar way-- so look out for and go towards the people who're on the same wavelength as you! Of course, that's not saying that a little bit of difference isn't good. You may learn a thing or two by RPing with people who have different styles.
5. In and out of character.
When you post, everybody assumes you are posting in character-- i.e. posting a roleplay post. Sometimes you'll want to say something in the role of yourself (the roleplayer), however, and you need to make this clear. Some people say OoC: (out of character) and other people just indicate that they are out of character by writing in double brackets, or something similar. It doesn't really matter what you do, so long as you are sure to let people know! There will be a separate section of Out of Character threads.
6. Good english.
People don't expect you to be perfect. We all make typing errors, you know that. Even us Grammar Nazis make the occasional error! You should try not to be confusing, however. Be sure to preview your replies whenever you have time, don't use chatspeak or shortenings, and try to use the correct grammar. If something you wrote seems awkward, it doesn't hurt to rewrite it!
7. Godmodding
Unless the RP happens to be a godmodding RP, nobody likes this! Godmodding is pretty much the use of very powerful techniques. These are usually associated with use so that your enemy can not move in the process of an attack. This can also be done by working too fast so that you do something before your fellow role players can react. Another form is metagaming, when your character knows things that have only been spoken of in OoC and there's no way they could possibly know.
8. Smileys
No. Just no. If you see somebody roleplaying like this:
His face looked like this
, but when she said that he was like this 
.
Please tell me and I will personally kill them to death.
9. The center of attention
Try not to focus entirely on one character. It's fine if they're in a relationship or something, but nobody appreciates it when one person has a posse following them around. This is mainly bad because if everybody's interacting with one person and that one person goes offline, then everybody is frozen until s/he comes back.
10. Sexual content
This one is just a no. It's against the forum guidelines and generally annoying. As you've probably been told a billion times; romance is fine, but sex is a no.
HOW TO MAKE SURE YOU AREN'T IGNORED
Okay, firstly, follow the unwritten rules wherever it makes sense to follow them.
Secondly, you have to check for a few things which can make you a bit unpopular (remember, nobody HAS to roleplay with you! It's a hobby, not a duty)....
1. Character personality
If you have a 'perfect' character (sometimes called 'Mary Sue' characters) who never does anything wrong, people are unlikely to roleplay with you. All interesting characters have some flaws! If you have a dark and depressed character, people are also unlikely to roleplay with you, because it's boring for them. Being the incarnation of purest evil isn't the same thing as being a character other characters are willing to interact with! So make your character interesting. Give them some good points and some bad points-- but superstrength and the eyes of an angel are not going to get you very far!
2. Detailed posts.
Set the scene! Make the whole scenario interesting. Is it dark? Raining? Sunny? What's the street like? Etc. It sets people's imaginations ticking nicely!
3. Action!
If your character is just sitting, maybe people will come along. If your character is toppling off the branch of a tree, people are much more likely to come along to help you, or laugh at you, or even tip you off. Basically if you put some action in a scene, you're giving people easy opportunities to join in and fit their characters into the storyline. Just please don't overdo it. Just as no action is boring, so is too much action!
Please be on the lookout for additions to this.
If you have anything to add, I strongly encourage you to PM me!
As roleplaying is always a joint effort, there are some rules which have to be respected if you want other people to roleplay with you. They're not set in stone, but you can think of them as some useful tips and guidelines.
1. Avoid powerplaying.
Powerplaying is where you write the actions of other people's characters into your post. So for instance if I was talking about my character saying "Hello", if I then also wrote: "everybody said Hello back", I would be powerplaying-- playing more than just my character! Nobody likes people who play their characters for them. Powerplaying is usually easy to avoid, but it can get a bit tricky during scenes such as fights, where what one character does affects another character). There are two ways to deal with this: either talk to the other roleplayer in a message to check it's okay, OR don't write the consequence in! That way whether the other player wants their character to escape unscathed, or whether they want them to be wounded, it's their choice: you haven't powerplayed.
2. Joining in.
We shouldn't be here if we don't want to roleplay, but sometimes there are times to join in and times to leave things be. The most obvious time to join is when a roleplay has just begun. In more established threads, if you feel like a storyline already exists, you may decide to move on and try to join a different thread. If you think you can handle catching up, then you can try asking current members for a brief summary of what has happened before. It is also wise to ask the TC (topic creator) if the roleplay is still open.
3. Activity
This one is simple. Usually people roleplay in order-- so the person who posted first can post again after the person who posted second (if there are two people), and with three people, the person who posted first would have to wait until after the person who posted third and so on. Basically taking it in turns. You can go out of turn if it seems appropriate, or if another person isn't replying. Try not to join in threads if you won't have time to reply-- it keeps everybody waiting for you!
4. Roleplaying Style
If you're new to roleplaying, the best way to describe this is that no author writes the same way. If you pick up two novels, by two different authors, they'll be totally different. In just the same way, people don't RP the same. Some people use simple sentences and lots of actions. Some people talk a lot about their character's emotions. For a thread to work well, it's best if everybody roleplays in a similar way-- so look out for and go towards the people who're on the same wavelength as you! Of course, that's not saying that a little bit of difference isn't good. You may learn a thing or two by RPing with people who have different styles.
5. In and out of character.
When you post, everybody assumes you are posting in character-- i.e. posting a roleplay post. Sometimes you'll want to say something in the role of yourself (the roleplayer), however, and you need to make this clear. Some people say OoC: (out of character) and other people just indicate that they are out of character by writing in double brackets, or something similar. It doesn't really matter what you do, so long as you are sure to let people know! There will be a separate section of Out of Character threads.
6. Good english.
People don't expect you to be perfect. We all make typing errors, you know that. Even us Grammar Nazis make the occasional error! You should try not to be confusing, however. Be sure to preview your replies whenever you have time, don't use chatspeak or shortenings, and try to use the correct grammar. If something you wrote seems awkward, it doesn't hurt to rewrite it!
7. Godmodding
Unless the RP happens to be a godmodding RP, nobody likes this! Godmodding is pretty much the use of very powerful techniques. These are usually associated with use so that your enemy can not move in the process of an attack. This can also be done by working too fast so that you do something before your fellow role players can react. Another form is metagaming, when your character knows things that have only been spoken of in OoC and there's no way they could possibly know.
8. Smileys
No. Just no. If you see somebody roleplaying like this:
His face looked like this
, but when she said that he was like this .Please tell me and I will personally kill them to death.
9. The center of attention
Try not to focus entirely on one character. It's fine if they're in a relationship or something, but nobody appreciates it when one person has a posse following them around. This is mainly bad because if everybody's interacting with one person and that one person goes offline, then everybody is frozen until s/he comes back.
10. Sexual content
This one is just a no. It's against the forum guidelines and generally annoying. As you've probably been told a billion times; romance is fine, but sex is a no.
HOW TO MAKE SURE YOU AREN'T IGNORED
Okay, firstly, follow the unwritten rules wherever it makes sense to follow them.
Secondly, you have to check for a few things which can make you a bit unpopular (remember, nobody HAS to roleplay with you! It's a hobby, not a duty)....
1. Character personality
If you have a 'perfect' character (sometimes called 'Mary Sue' characters) who never does anything wrong, people are unlikely to roleplay with you. All interesting characters have some flaws! If you have a dark and depressed character, people are also unlikely to roleplay with you, because it's boring for them. Being the incarnation of purest evil isn't the same thing as being a character other characters are willing to interact with! So make your character interesting. Give them some good points and some bad points-- but superstrength and the eyes of an angel are not going to get you very far!
2. Detailed posts.
Set the scene! Make the whole scenario interesting. Is it dark? Raining? Sunny? What's the street like? Etc. It sets people's imaginations ticking nicely!
3. Action!
If your character is just sitting, maybe people will come along. If your character is toppling off the branch of a tree, people are much more likely to come along to help you, or laugh at you, or even tip you off. Basically if you put some action in a scene, you're giving people easy opportunities to join in and fit their characters into the storyline. Just please don't overdo it. Just as no action is boring, so is too much action!
Please be on the lookout for additions to this.
If you have anything to add, I strongly encourage you to PM me!
