Role Play Terminology
In this lesson we will look at some Role Play terminology and what it all means. This will include rules and guidelines and otherwise some explanations about how to conduct yourself in a Role Play to make other players enjoy playing with you or to simply understand what they mean when they talk about certain things.
Genre
Like any kind of fiction there are several different genres of Role Play and they do make a big difference in the type of Role Play you will play.
There are of course the typical genres that are also used in fiction; horror, fantasy, romance, adventure, crime stories, etc. Role Plays do not differ from their novel counterparts in this regard. A horror Role Play will contain the same things one would expect of a horror novel. It is still important though to realise what genre Role Play you are making and/or participating in, because it will determine what kind of game you’re setting out to have. In a horror setting it might not be very appropriate for your character to go on and on about unicorns, candy and all things sweet unless you want the other players to think your character is either mad or annoying. So find out what genre you want to play in, and then try to stick to that. It will make everyone enjoy themselves more.
There are of course the typical genres that are also used in fiction; horror, fantasy, romance, adventure, crime stories, etc. Role Plays do not differ from their novel counterparts in this regard. A horror Role Play will contain the same things one would expect of a horror novel. It is still important though to realise what genre Role Play you are making and/or participating in, because it will determine what kind of game you’re setting out to have. In a horror setting it might not be very appropriate for your character to go on and on about unicorns, candy and all things sweet unless you want the other players to think your character is either mad or annoying. So find out what genre you want to play in, and then try to stick to that. It will make everyone enjoy themselves more.
Rules and Guidelines
As I mentioned last lesson there are often a set of rules employed in Role Plays. Some Role Plays will have more than others while some will have barely any. It is very important to read them so you know what is allowed and what isn’t.
One of the rules almost all Role Plays will have is:
No Godding
This means that you are only allowed to control your own character and cannot predict the reaction of another character the way you would if you were writing regular fiction where you as the author control all the characters.
For Example:
Gail walked down the stairs, entirely consumed by her own thoughts when suddenly she found herself flying down the stairs. When she finally landed, quite a few bruises richer, she looked up to see what had happened and saw Jane laughing at her, her leg still extended across the stairs which Gail had tripped over and fallen.
Unless it was previously established in a post by Jane that she had extended her leg across the stairs and would not move it if someone came down the stairs, Gail would have been Godding in this post because it makes assumptions about Jane that Jane did not agree to. And even if that had already been established, the statement that Jane was laughing is definitely godding, because Gail is presuming Jane's reaction to her fall.
One of the rules almost all Role Plays will have is:
No Godding
This means that you are only allowed to control your own character and cannot predict the reaction of another character the way you would if you were writing regular fiction where you as the author control all the characters.
For Example:
Gail walked down the stairs, entirely consumed by her own thoughts when suddenly she found herself flying down the stairs. When she finally landed, quite a few bruises richer, she looked up to see what had happened and saw Jane laughing at her, her leg still extended across the stairs which Gail had tripped over and fallen.
Unless it was previously established in a post by Jane that she had extended her leg across the stairs and would not move it if someone came down the stairs, Gail would have been Godding in this post because it makes assumptions about Jane that Jane did not agree to. And even if that had already been established, the statement that Jane was laughing is definitely godding, because Gail is presuming Jane's reaction to her fall.
Rating
This is already given on HOL: All of HOL must be appropriate for all ages, no exceptions. This is however not always the case for all Role Play forums and therefore most have something in their rules about what will be allowed on their forum. It's important to educate yourself about this before you participate, both so you avoid things you would not want to read about and participate in, and so you do not accidentally offend anyone else by going above the stated rating of the forum.
Post length
Some Role Plays will require a certain length of posts. This is to avoid posts like: "Ok," Gail said.
This is not very inspiring or interesting for anyone else in the thread to read or respond to. These kinds of responses are called one-liners and are usually frowned upon.
Requiring a certain length can be stifling though and lead to a lot of superflous text being written that wasn't necessary to make the post interesting for others to respond to. Therefore many Role Plays instead have a slightly more lax version of the length rule where they simply say that posts should have a decent length and leave it up to the player to determine what that is.
This is not very inspiring or interesting for anyone else in the thread to read or respond to. These kinds of responses are called one-liners and are usually frowned upon.
Requiring a certain length can be stifling though and lead to a lot of superflous text being written that wasn't necessary to make the post interesting for others to respond to. Therefore many Role Plays instead have a slightly more lax version of the length rule where they simply say that posts should have a decent length and leave it up to the player to determine what that is.
Spamming
The rules on spamming are quite similar to the 'length of posts' rule and sometimes overlap with it, but here there might also be statements about OOC (Out Of Character) posts or whether it is allowed to make several posts directly following each other if you think of something more you wanted to add, or if the preference in that case is that you should edit your initial post. Most plays will go for the editing to keep the threads easier to read.
Commitment
Role Playing is a social activity and it is important to not join more plays than you can keep up with. If you do not post replies within a reasonable amount of time, the other players will in many cases be forced to wait on you - and reasonable here can be vastly different from group to group and you'll simply need to study the group to find out unless there's something in their rules and guidelines about it.
If you are usually well able to keep up with the amount of threads you are part of, but need to take a break for a while for whatever reason, it is polite to let the other players know of this and if you want to make sure they can keep playing without your character awkwardly standing silently while something os happening you would actually have wanted to react to, it might be a good idea to write your character out of the scene. That way when you're back, your character can hear about it and react then.
If you are usually well able to keep up with the amount of threads you are part of, but need to take a break for a while for whatever reason, it is polite to let the other players know of this and if you want to make sure they can keep playing without your character awkwardly standing silently while something os happening you would actually have wanted to react to, it might be a good idea to write your character out of the scene. That way when you're back, your character can hear about it and react then.
Writing a character out
When you leave a Role Play for a longer or shorter amount of time, it is a good idea to write your character out. This can be done more or less permanently. If you are just going on holiday for a few weeks maybe have your character go and do their homework or visit their parents or something else that gets them out of the scene they're in, but not so far away that they can't rejoin once you're back. Depending on how fast the Role Play usually moves in the amount of time you expect to be gone you can make their stated task a smaller or bigger one.
If you plan on leaving the Role Play entirely, you can also write your character out in more dramatic fashion and have them more permanently written out. In this case it's also nice to let the other players know that you are leaving permanently.
Some forums will also have rules regarding people who are inactive without notice where their characters will be written out for them if they don't do so themselves.
If you plan on leaving the Role Play entirely, you can also write your character out in more dramatic fashion and have them more permanently written out. In this case it's also nice to let the other players know that you are leaving permanently.
Some forums will also have rules regarding people who are inactive without notice where their characters will be written out for them if they don't do so themselves.
OOC/IC
IC: IC means In Character. This refers to the text written from your character's perspective and relating to the story that's being played. The bulk of posts on a Role Play forum will be of this type.
OOC: OOC means Out Of Character. The purpose of these is to allow the players to discuss things or clarify things that aren't readily apparent in their In Character (IC) post, but might be important for the other players to know. Somestimes these comments have seperate threads and at other times they're tagged onto the end of the IC post.
Cases where it might be useful to make OOC coments can be when characters are being mean to each other. Let's imagine for instance the scene where Harry first met Malfoy and Malfoy was especially mean and bigoted towards Ron. If that had been a Role Play, Malfoy's character might have added an OOC to Ron's character saying something like: "There's obviously nothing wrong with any of these things, but my character is a pure blood bigot. Both of you can feel free to call him out on it."
This way Malfoy's player keeps a pleasant tone in the thread even if Malfoy as a character is acting reprehensibly.
An OOC tag might also be used to discuss where to take a scene. Perhaps the current scene has been played out and would need something of a timejump to get to another interesting point. In this case an OOC might look like this: "Does anyone have anything more to add to this scene? Otherwise I think we should jump somewhere else." It might also be a good idea to suggest where to skip to.
OOC: OOC means Out Of Character. The purpose of these is to allow the players to discuss things or clarify things that aren't readily apparent in their In Character (IC) post, but might be important for the other players to know. Somestimes these comments have seperate threads and at other times they're tagged onto the end of the IC post.
Cases where it might be useful to make OOC coments can be when characters are being mean to each other. Let's imagine for instance the scene where Harry first met Malfoy and Malfoy was especially mean and bigoted towards Ron. If that had been a Role Play, Malfoy's character might have added an OOC to Ron's character saying something like: "There's obviously nothing wrong with any of these things, but my character is a pure blood bigot. Both of you can feel free to call him out on it."
This way Malfoy's player keeps a pleasant tone in the thread even if Malfoy as a character is acting reprehensibly.
An OOC tag might also be used to discuss where to take a scene. Perhaps the current scene has been played out and would need something of a timejump to get to another interesting point. In this case an OOC might look like this: "Does anyone have anything more to add to this scene? Otherwise I think we should jump somewhere else." It might also be a good idea to suggest where to skip to.