Guide to Roleplaying, Etiquette and Having Fun!

We've been getting heavier traffic on our the Naruto Roleplaying Subreddit as the project has been going on, this is fantastic. Roleplaying is not only fun and creative but a great exercise for getting into your character's head and improving your writing skills. There is a lot of reiteration in this guide, some points I can’t emphasize enough on, we want this to be as memorable as possible! Roleplaying unfortunately does not come with a handbook on etiquette or terminology, so I decided to make one for you guys!

This guide is for roleplayers both new and old, and I encourage even experienced RPers to read this guide. I f you feel that I've missed something or failed to properly explain anything, by all means, let me know! I want to make this guide as comprehensive as possible and outside input is greatly appreciated.

Role Playing Terminology

Certain terms are used in a lot of role-playing forums. Here is a list of commonly used ones.

Autohit/Autohitting: Controlling the success of an attack without giving the other player an opportunity to respond. It is a form of godmodding and is punishable.

Chatspeak: “tlkng leik dis!!1!”, Don’t do that, it is anti-fun and also an offense.

Godmodding: Making your character all-powerful and perfect. Autododging-- where your character never gets hit-- is a form of this. People will dislike you for it and get annoyed. It derails threads and is a heavy offense; punishment for repeated godmodding will be severe.

IC: In Character, used when speaking

Metagaming: Having your character know something that they logically shouldn’t. Is punishable.

OOC: Out of Character, used when speaking. Denoted by brackets [ ]

Perma-Death: When your character is killed and is killed permanently. No one is going to Edo-Tensai A Genin(This joke was in no way stolen:P )

Powerplaying: Controlling characters that are not your own. This includes autohitting and is banned from basically every RP circle everywhere. Will result in an insta-ban.

Dos and Donts

A lot of the don’ts will result in punishment, anything from probation, an ingame fine, to even weeks or months of being “put in prison” resulting in a criminal status. Even worse punishment results in perma-banning. In contrast, following the do’s and good roleplaying will be rewarded, with ranking up, additional money granted, special rights, unique abilities/items granted and more!

Do:

-Use * to denote action being taken, this is necessary.

-Use [ ] to denote OOC speak

-Stay in-character and do your best to keep their actions consistent.

-Follow the logical progression of a plot.

-Use correct grammar and punctuation.

-Allow the other character to react to your actions, even in a fight.

-Respect the other player's right to play their character how they want to.

-Keep your character's reactions theirs and not yours.

-Stay consistent and logical in what your character knows or can do.

-Do your best to conform to the RP style of the thread.\

-Communicate with your roleplay partner(s) if you're unsure of where to take the plot or if you have an idea that you want to implement.

-Be open to suggestions and constructive criticism on your roleplaying and be willing to adjust if necessary.

Don't:

-Suddenly change your character's typical reactions or personality without proper characterization or build up.

-Throw in a random scenario or add needless drama to a thread without giving a logical progression towards it.

-Write in a way that is hard to understand or follow.

-Control another player's character or make your attacks automatically hit if not specifically agreed upon.(Bannable)

-Expect the other player or character to react a certain way or get frustrated when things don't go how you expected.

-Use OOC chats constantly, especially for non-RP related topics.

-Let your own emotions and reactions control your character if it makes them inconsistent.

-Have your character know things that they have no way of knowing in-character or otherwise "adjust" your character to fit the situation.

-Refuse to respect the RPs posting style.

-Not allow your character to get hit in a fight.

-Automatically assume that your RP partner(s) will know what you're planning.

Tips for a Better Gaming Experience

1. Make your character interesting and know that you will have fun playing your said character; if you don’t enjoy it, why play it?

2. Don’t take the roleplaying too seriously. What I mean by this is don’t let you characters life become yours, it’s entirely a possibility that your character might die, if your too attached to your character that can be devastating.

3. Don’t forcefully look for a romantic interest. A romantic interest will feel much more natural if you just roleplay things out. It will find you, given time.

4. More important than anything, have fun. Don’t be afraid to challenge something and bring it to notice of the Mods, if someone is breaking a rule, let them know! If you’re not having fun, it’s likely that others aren’t as well. Let the Mods know about this as well, give them constructive criticism. Don’t be rude about it, be polite and they will be much more likely to take in what you have to say.

Nafarias (talk) 00:25, February 13, 2013 (UTC)