RP Terms

Basic Role-playing Terms

Roleplay (Roleplaying, RP, RPing) – The concept where one acts out scenes and stories with others around a particular theme by assuming a “role” and taking on that personality of a particular character.  It is your character acting out or telling his or her own particular story.  Everything that you post is to that end.  It refers to a situation of fictional context whereby you portray yourself as someone you are not.  It allows you to be whatever you want (within sim rules/limits of course!) as though you were playing a part in a large multi-leveled interactive movie.

Out of Character (OOC) – The typist, the person behind the avatar, the RL person behind the keyboard.  OOC: Anything that occurs and/or relates to things out of the game.  This means you are speaking with your own voice and not the voice of your character.  In local chat this often denoted by a set of double parentheses on either side of your statement.  Ex: ((hey, brb)).  Use of excessive ooc comments is frowned upon while RP is going on and very disruptive for the people engaging in ongoing RPs.

In Character (IC) – The character on your screen, the avatar and the role/character/personality you have given them.   IC: Anything that occurs in and/or relates to what happens in the roleplay game (to /by the characters).  If you are talking “IC” it means you are speaking with the voice and words of your character.  When making IC posts, you should NEVER use abbreviations (how r u?, lol, rofl, etc.) or emoicons (;-), ^.^, :P, etc.).  When you are IC you should also avoid the use of gestures – they distract from RP.

IC/OOC Line – The line between “In Character” and “Out of Character”.  Players are not their characters and are not necessarily even like their characters, and vice versa.  Realize that everything that is happening when IC is just that – a character someone is playing in a game.  Don not take IC actions, insults, fights, etc. personally.  You may not like another character but respect the fact that they are just that…a character.

Emoting – To make a post that expresses emotion, action or inner dialog, thoughts, ponderings, etc. of your character.  You indicate this by typing /me before you text.

Example:  /me smiles

Posts as:  Jane Doe smiles

When expressing inner thoughts or emotions, you should always *do* something observable so that others can react to it for example:

Poor Emote:

Jane Doe sees the stranger eying her but she isn’t interested in him.

Good Emote:

Jane Doe sees the stranger eying her.  She wrinkles her nose and turns her head away from him with disinterest, hoping he will get the hint and move on his way.

The poor emote cannot and should not be commented on by other players because it never showed any action, just more of a thought.  The good emote can and should be commented on by other player as it showed the action of the disinterest.

Metagaming – Bringing OOC knowledge into an IC situation, ex: knowing that a character really likes someone else, when it has never been mentioned, and your character has no basis of knowing this fact.  Any knowledge discovered through “out of character” means it may not be used “in character”.  The practice is considered “metagaming” which is a strict no-no in any RP.  This includes, but is not limited to: conversations “overheard” in avatar chat range when your character could not reasonably overhear it do to “physical” constraints (ex: through walls, floors, ceilings or the ground), and using information gained through looking at the avatar tag, reading profiles, use of the mini-map or camming around.  Do not use information/knowledge your character hasn’t earned – only things discovered/learned through roleplay can be used ICly.

Godmodding – Where a character does something they are not capable of and/or do not have permission to do to another character, ex: moving another character by stating they are somewhere they are not without the other’s permission, mindreading without permission, stating something about a character’s storyline without permission.  Godmodding can also refer to the case where a player definitively describes the outcome of their own actions against another character.  For example, if player A states “Player A strikes Player B and Player B takes damage”.

Powergaming – Roleplaying is a give and take experience.  No one is invincible, no one has all the answers to any problem, has all knowledge, etc. – everyone has weaknesses, so let your enemies know yours and take turns battling and exploiting each other.  It makes roleplaying with you a lot more fun.  If people start to groan when you’re around or avoid roleplaying with you, you might want to try to change your tactics.  If in doubt, - IM the people you are RPing with to make sure you’re all in agreement about what is happening.