Post by Admin Archon on Sept 18, 2010 15:43:49 GMT -8
Freeform roleplaying is an experience like no other. It is immersive, seductive, intense... even addictive at its best. At its worst, however, it can be boring, frustrating or annoying.
I am just one roleplayer out of literal millions. However, I am one of the more experienced text-based freeform players you will encounter. I have been roleplaying online in some form or other for over twenty years. The following list of items is not to be taken as an exhaustive rules list, nor do you have to follow it in every last game you see here. It is, however, the conduct I expect to see in my own games, and what I know from long experience to work the best.
This list of rules is considered to be in the public domain. Feel free to take this and adapt it to your own games, if you wish.
1. Respect, respect, respect! If you would not like something to be done to your character, think twice and three times before doing it to someone else's character. This applies even more to things like spells or mentalist abilties, where a character may not have a counter or defense. If you kill off all the player characters around you, the game is going to get very boring, very fast, and also people don't want to interact with a PC killer.
2. For Gods' sakes, don't godmode! Godmoding includes but is not limited to autohitting, metagaming, powergaming and rhinohiding. These are explained below:
• Autohitting
This is where you instantly dictate your hit and also its effect on the player. Autohits are closed-ended actions for which no allowance is given for the opponent to alter the outcome.
Example: Jason chops downward with his axe, splitting Freddie's skull.
The above is a closed action. It gives Freddie no chance to duck aside or save himself from being killed. It is not acceptable play in freeform. What is preferable is this:
Example: Jason swings downward, aiming for Freddie's head, in an attempt to split his skull.
See the difference? This gives Freddie a chance to roll away or block the blow. However, dodging and countering leads to a second, potential type of godmoding: rhinohiding.
• Rhinohiding
This is where a player just refuses to take any hits at all, fair or unfair. It's tempting to shield your character from harm, but overdoing it annoys other players as much as autohitting. The trick is to strike a balance between taking hits and dodging.
• Metagaming
Metagaming is when you have your character know something that you, as a player, know, but that your character has absolutely no way of knowing. Basically, it's like peeking at someones hand in a game of poker, and it's cheating. An example would be having read something in a character's bio, and using your knowledge of that as a player to affect the outcome of gameplay.
• Powergaming
Powergaming is when you set out to make a character so powerful that no one else can touch him. The character then dominates things and unbalances the game completely. A believable character has at least some flaws and weaknesses. To write otherwise causes people not to want to interact with the overpowered character at best—and breaks the game at worst.
3. Do not be a dramaqueen. Your character does not have to be the constant center of all attention, and not all plots need to involve angst, wrath and tragedy. If your character constantly comes into the scene bleeding, about to have a baby, freshly raped or suicidal, people will stop caring. Angst and drama are like salt: a little makes the dish, but if you overload it, it's unpalatable.
4. Avoid writing Mary Sues/Marty Stu's. A Mary Sue is that annoying character who has absolutely no flaws whatsoever. She is heartbreakingly beautiful, has hair and eyes of some wondrous (and possibly unnatural) color, has every non-combat talent and skill imaginable—and she's only fifteen years old! She also pisses off other writers by being completely unbelievable. We all write our player characters to be larger-than-life, and that's fine. But try to keep some sort of connection with in-game reality. Your fellow players should not need a fifty-foot crane to suspend their disbelief.
5. Mind your genres. If the game you are joining is, say, a Star Trek game, please be respectful of your GM and don't try to bring in a vampire. Different GMs are more or less strict on this one, but it's always best to stay at least in the ballpark of the genre you are playing in.
6. Don't play oppositionally. What I mean by this... don't create a powerful and antagonistic character for the simple purpose of just coming in and creating chaos and disruption. The best storylines are those that are collaborative. Unless you have specifically asked for or been tapped to play a major villain, let the GM be the one to provide the adversaries.
7. Don't just bail without telling people. It leads to hurt feelings, stalled plotlines, loose ends and pissed off players and GMs. We all understand that online has to take a back seat to real life, and that sometimes things just don't work out. Please have enough respect for your GM and fellow players to let them know what's going on.
8. Don't rape canon. If you are playing a canon character, know that character. Severus Snape from Harry Potter would not prance around in pink lace, and Wolverine from the X-Men would not be a pedophile. Yes... I have actually seen people do these.
9. Communicate, communicate, communicate... and damned well be mature about it. If something your GM or fellow players are doing is getting on your nerves, take them aside IN PRIVATE and try and work it out. Do not post about it on the open boards—OOC drama yanks people out of the story and creates problems for people not even involved. No one likes to be put on the spot, so don't do it.
10. Keep OOC chatter to the absolute minimum in the chats. That's what IMs, PMs and e-mail is for. No one likes to try and look past a million OOC posts to try and get to a character action. In my games, this is grounds for a kick.
11. If a story thread does not clearly indicate that it is a joiner, it's good manners to ask those involved if they mind your character entering play. Likewise, when you enter chat and there are others present, watch the scene for a bit. Don't just barge your character in and force your way 'onstage'.
12. Try to avoid 'forescripting'. While it is tempting, for instance, to create a character to pair romantically with one of the opposite sex, I have found that the best, most memorable and intense storylines are spontaneous. Also, your vision for what is supposed to happen may be different than that of the players around you, and sometimes that can make people feel either dragged along for the ride, used or run over.
13. Watching the scene to see where you fit is one thing; sitting in chat and lurking with no intent of joining annoys the hell out of a lot of people. Especially if you don't even say hello.
The above list is obviously not the be-all and end-all of freeform roleplaying. There are shadings and nuances in every game, and some of these guidelines don't apply everywhere. As stated above, in my games, these are expectations of conduct; elsewhere, they may merely be polite suggestions or tossed out entirely. Feel free to adapt this list as necessary for your own games.
I am just one roleplayer out of literal millions. However, I am one of the more experienced text-based freeform players you will encounter. I have been roleplaying online in some form or other for over twenty years. The following list of items is not to be taken as an exhaustive rules list, nor do you have to follow it in every last game you see here. It is, however, the conduct I expect to see in my own games, and what I know from long experience to work the best.
This list of rules is considered to be in the public domain. Feel free to take this and adapt it to your own games, if you wish.
1. Respect, respect, respect! If you would not like something to be done to your character, think twice and three times before doing it to someone else's character. This applies even more to things like spells or mentalist abilties, where a character may not have a counter or defense. If you kill off all the player characters around you, the game is going to get very boring, very fast, and also people don't want to interact with a PC killer.
2. For Gods' sakes, don't godmode! Godmoding includes but is not limited to autohitting, metagaming, powergaming and rhinohiding. These are explained below:
• Autohitting
This is where you instantly dictate your hit and also its effect on the player. Autohits are closed-ended actions for which no allowance is given for the opponent to alter the outcome.
Example: Jason chops downward with his axe, splitting Freddie's skull.
The above is a closed action. It gives Freddie no chance to duck aside or save himself from being killed. It is not acceptable play in freeform. What is preferable is this:
Example: Jason swings downward, aiming for Freddie's head, in an attempt to split his skull.
See the difference? This gives Freddie a chance to roll away or block the blow. However, dodging and countering leads to a second, potential type of godmoding: rhinohiding.
• Rhinohiding
This is where a player just refuses to take any hits at all, fair or unfair. It's tempting to shield your character from harm, but overdoing it annoys other players as much as autohitting. The trick is to strike a balance between taking hits and dodging.
• Metagaming
Metagaming is when you have your character know something that you, as a player, know, but that your character has absolutely no way of knowing. Basically, it's like peeking at someones hand in a game of poker, and it's cheating. An example would be having read something in a character's bio, and using your knowledge of that as a player to affect the outcome of gameplay.
• Powergaming
Powergaming is when you set out to make a character so powerful that no one else can touch him. The character then dominates things and unbalances the game completely. A believable character has at least some flaws and weaknesses. To write otherwise causes people not to want to interact with the overpowered character at best—and breaks the game at worst.
3. Do not be a dramaqueen. Your character does not have to be the constant center of all attention, and not all plots need to involve angst, wrath and tragedy. If your character constantly comes into the scene bleeding, about to have a baby, freshly raped or suicidal, people will stop caring. Angst and drama are like salt: a little makes the dish, but if you overload it, it's unpalatable.
4. Avoid writing Mary Sues/Marty Stu's. A Mary Sue is that annoying character who has absolutely no flaws whatsoever. She is heartbreakingly beautiful, has hair and eyes of some wondrous (and possibly unnatural) color, has every non-combat talent and skill imaginable—and she's only fifteen years old! She also pisses off other writers by being completely unbelievable. We all write our player characters to be larger-than-life, and that's fine. But try to keep some sort of connection with in-game reality. Your fellow players should not need a fifty-foot crane to suspend their disbelief.
5. Mind your genres. If the game you are joining is, say, a Star Trek game, please be respectful of your GM and don't try to bring in a vampire. Different GMs are more or less strict on this one, but it's always best to stay at least in the ballpark of the genre you are playing in.
6. Don't play oppositionally. What I mean by this... don't create a powerful and antagonistic character for the simple purpose of just coming in and creating chaos and disruption. The best storylines are those that are collaborative. Unless you have specifically asked for or been tapped to play a major villain, let the GM be the one to provide the adversaries.
7. Don't just bail without telling people. It leads to hurt feelings, stalled plotlines, loose ends and pissed off players and GMs. We all understand that online has to take a back seat to real life, and that sometimes things just don't work out. Please have enough respect for your GM and fellow players to let them know what's going on.
8. Don't rape canon. If you are playing a canon character, know that character. Severus Snape from Harry Potter would not prance around in pink lace, and Wolverine from the X-Men would not be a pedophile. Yes... I have actually seen people do these.
9. Communicate, communicate, communicate... and damned well be mature about it. If something your GM or fellow players are doing is getting on your nerves, take them aside IN PRIVATE and try and work it out. Do not post about it on the open boards—OOC drama yanks people out of the story and creates problems for people not even involved. No one likes to be put on the spot, so don't do it.
10. Keep OOC chatter to the absolute minimum in the chats. That's what IMs, PMs and e-mail is for. No one likes to try and look past a million OOC posts to try and get to a character action. In my games, this is grounds for a kick.
11. If a story thread does not clearly indicate that it is a joiner, it's good manners to ask those involved if they mind your character entering play. Likewise, when you enter chat and there are others present, watch the scene for a bit. Don't just barge your character in and force your way 'onstage'.
12. Try to avoid 'forescripting'. While it is tempting, for instance, to create a character to pair romantically with one of the opposite sex, I have found that the best, most memorable and intense storylines are spontaneous. Also, your vision for what is supposed to happen may be different than that of the players around you, and sometimes that can make people feel either dragged along for the ride, used or run over.
13. Watching the scene to see where you fit is one thing; sitting in chat and lurking with no intent of joining annoys the hell out of a lot of people. Especially if you don't even say hello.
The above list is obviously not the be-all and end-all of freeform roleplaying. There are shadings and nuances in every game, and some of these guidelines don't apply everywhere. As stated above, in my games, these are expectations of conduct; elsewhere, they may merely be polite suggestions or tossed out entirely. Feel free to adapt this list as necessary for your own games.