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Playing Your Role: Tips on Creating Fun in RP
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We acknowledge that not every scene is equally exciting. And we understand that Real Life can harass you while playing. But do come, aiming to be PRESENT and ENGAGED with others! Here are some thoughts on how you can contribute and take ownership in improving RP life at Woodcrest.
SUMMARY
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1. Give Your Character Extra Dimensions
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CREATE A BASIC PROFILE for your character in your profile front page and/or picks. A template might include some or all of the following:
Name: (a full legal name, and a nickname if you have one)
Character’s Age:
Occupation/Major:
Extracurricular Activities/Interests:
Distinguishing Traits:
Carrying on Person:
Brief Background:
Summary of RP Likes and Limits:
You don’t need to flesh out your character’s story all at once. One of the joys of RP is the opportunity to write out your character’s story along with others.
THINK OF 1 TO 3 THINGS YOUR CHARACTER WOULD DO to create fun if nothing were going on at the time. Unless a moderated event or story is taking place, it is up to you, the player to create scenarios and invite others to take part.
HOW DO YOU WANT YOUR CHARACTER TO GROW? Your character doesn’t have to stay the same; you can develop a long-term story arc. There are plenty of coming-of-age themes for students, for example:
From innocence to worldliness
From loneliness to belonging
From brokenness to redemption
Or every night you plot to take over the world
2. Initiate RP scenes
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I’ve heard complaints that the place is empty and dead when there were 25 people on sim. If you’re tempted to complain in such a situation, pause and ask if you can do anything about it.
If you don’t get a response, don’t take it personally. Even seasoned RPers need a break, and many will rest in their homes here. Move on to try with another character or at another time. FRIENDLY PERSISTENCE pays off.
Try Initiating scenes with more than a directionless, “hi”:
INVITE PEOPLE TO A LOCATION OR ACTIVITY:
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“Boy I crave a mocha latte at Starpugs right now.”
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“Isn’t the new Supergirl comic coming out today? Let’s go check it out!”
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“I need motivation to study. Come to the library and study with me”
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“Feeling flabby. Let’s hit the gym for some hoops (or swimming, or lifting, etc.)”
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“Whooo class is over! Let’s go dancing at Tight Ends!”
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“Hey, wanna watch Beauty and the Beast?” (if you can host a showing)
GET A JOB OR GO TO THEIR DOOR
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/me rings the doorbell, then waits for a bit to ring it again, “Anyone order pizza?”
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/me adjusts her Tingles uniform and steps outside to put up the sign: “50% off massages, today only!”
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/me peeks into the tattoo shop with trepidation, curious, but afraid of what her parents would think if she were to get one.
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“Hey, I really need a lawyer, and I heard that you were the best.”
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“Reverend, the authorities are after me and I need you to grant me sanctuary in your church … whadda ya mean these aren’t the middle ages?”
IF YOU SEE EMERGENCY SERVICES CHARACTERS ON SIM
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/me stands on the university quad when with a sudden tug, her purse is pulled out of her hand. She blinks, not comprehending for a moment before focussing on the young hooligan dashing away, “Hey! Stop! Thief! Somebody help me!” (this is an example of using NPCs to help create a scene).
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/me running after the bus, missteps at the edge of the curb and crumples to the ground, a searing pain shooting through his ankle.
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“Awww, the kitty climbed the tree and can’t get down. What can we do?”
OTHER SUGGESTIONS
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Start a campus club (speak to school administration and student council)
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Get involved in event planning (through student council, Greek houses, Tight Ends, etc.)
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Propose a new business/faction/secret society (speak with sim admins)
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Propose and run school/sim-wide storylines (get involved with student council; speak with sim admins)
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Consider a life of crime (see below)
3. Classroom RP
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✦ While we hope that classes will be educational, they should also aim to be FUN. From an RP perspective, the class is an event, and the instructor is the event’s coordinator and storyteller. Some have put in hours of preparation - show them RESPECT and express APPRECIATION.
✦ DEFER TO THE INSTRUCTOR’S POSTING PROTOCOL FOR STUDENTS. Instructors may wish to preface each class OOC to set the expectations. Instructors, make sure your protocols are there to facilitate student learning and fun, and don’t end up frustrating or exasperating them. And students, if you are posting more than the instructor is without their encouragement, you might be hogging too much of the spotlight.
✦ LIMIT IRRELEVANT CHATTER. Rare short posts having no engagement with class discussion may have some place (such as greeting friends who arrive late), but even in classes allowing free-form RP, do not make longer posts unless they are engaged with the class.
4. Emergency Group RP
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✦ EMERGENCY PERSONNEL ARE NOT LIMITED TO RP-ING EMERGENCIES. Police, firefighters and medical professionals are people too, and even within their professions, their lives are not about confronting disaster after disaster. Other things you might do include the following:
✦ HANG OUT WITH THE POPULACE. Yes, you can hang out with each other too in your base stations, but go out for Starpugs coffee or a beer at a bar. Consult a lawyer. Take a stroll.
✦ DO COMMUNITY OUTREACH. Teach a one-shot class at the university. Set up booths at university and town events. Occasionally offer rides in your emergency vehicles, especially to sim newcomers to give them a sim tour. Host events or open houses at your base station. E.g. Police - department self-defense & shooting range seminar; Hospital - reminders to get checkups and vaccinations; Fire - emergency demonstrations and bake sale.
✦ NPC SCENES. No one’s cat getting stuck in a tree? Make a Mrs. Wilson NPC whose cat the fire department has to rescue. Police twiddling their thumbs? Pick a business with no one inside and respond to an NPC robbery, either in progress, or investigating its aftermath. Or even better, FIND COLLABORATORS who will pay the “NPCs” with their mains or with alts.
✦ AND YES, THERE ARE EMERGENCIES. But make sure that there is an IC explanation for what’s going on. Firefighters don’t just fight fires. Come up with a reason for the fire, as part of the firefighter and police investigation.
5. Conflicts RP
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Two keywords are CONSENT and CARE. We want to remain friends and play together more afterwards.
✦ CONSENT: Do not force RP on anyone, doubly so for conflict RP. All should be willing participants. If someone does not wish to engage, respectfully withdraw.
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CHECK PROFILES for RP likes and limits to find players who might be looking to play along. If you are unsure, use IMs to ask permission, or even to gain their collaboration to jointly plot out parts of what might happen.
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If a scene TRANSGRESSES COMFORT or LIMITS, say so calmly. Should someone say so to you, don’t argue, but apologize and respectfully retract the offending actions and see if they wish to carry on - do not assume.
✦ CARE: Show OOC appreciation.
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Occasionally in a scene, you may express OOC APPRECIATION for something that particularly delighted you. Don’t do this excessively as it may break the immersion. E.g. ((Well played, Dr. Terrible, well played!))
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THANK THE OTHER PLAYERS for the RP before you leave.
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✦ A little SELF-AWARENESS and SELF-DEPRECATION in your emotes can go a long way in showing that while your character is being offensive, you as a player do not intend to be so.
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6. Criminal RP
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✦ REVIEW THE SIM’S RULES especially on code of conduct, and the RP guidelines on Interacting Reasonably with the World. If done well, RPing criminals creates exciting scenarios that can enrich other characters as well as your own. If done poorly, you become a troll.
✦ It may help to PREPARE NOTECARDS to supplement your RP, describing the scene of the crime that you commit, including clues that may be followed up on. Distribute the NC to participants to explain what they’re witnessing, as well as to responding/investigating law-enforcement.
✦ GIVE THE POLICE A CHANCE. Don’t do something criminal then log out, leaving a frustrated police force who have no clues to work with. Your goal is to create a collaborative role-play, and that should include a chance to be caught, or not be caught. Remember, getting caught doesn’t end RP. It is another opportunity to RP, and you can always negotiate outcomes with the other players OOC.
✦ As the consequences of a criminal record may deter you from pursuing any such RP, you may MAKE AN ALT to commit the crimes and face the music thereafter.
7. Combat RP
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With criminals comes the need to resist criminals. And criminals resisting law enforcement, and such. Don't use scripted weapons. Combat takes place in RP and storytelling (whether you want to use dice or not), not in orbiting your foe. Between players, play nice, and play fair ... and try to stay generally realistic!
✦ Make sure you know what POWER-GAMING and GOD-MODDING are, and don't do those.
✦ Restrict all combatants to ONE MAJOR ACTION until everyone else has had a turn.
✦ It's not about winning or losing but a MUTUALLY interesting/fun STORY. Be fair and agreeable in deciding outcomes. Don't transgress other players' LIMITS; however, we won't accept ridiculous limits such as "can't lose a fight."
✦ When roleplaying with weapons, we recommend a sequence of
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draw
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aim
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fire
each of these three by themselves constituting one major action. This will discourage unrealistic actions such as drawing a weapon calmly while another weapon is already pointed at your head.
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