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Online (Forum) Role Playing Tips - How To Participate II

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II. How To Participate In A Thread

1) The Mechanics Of Posting
a. Identify What Character You Are Playing. If you're playing more than one character it is essential that you clearly define which character you are acting and speaking for. Do this by putting the character's name before their actions like this:
Bordo:

Slowly shaking his head back to consciousness, Bordo opens his eyes and looks around for his companions. "Hello? Anyone still around?" Realizing he is alone, Bordo figures the group must have traveled on, thinking him dead. Muttering to himself about fair weathered friends, Bordo casts around for a moment until he finds the group's obvious trail.

This method can also be used instead of putting IC (in character) before the post, and is a good habit even if you have no OOC (out of character) comments to make, since it will make certain that everyone always knows who your character is. (In threads with lots of other players, or ones that have just started, it is easy to become confused about which characters everyone is playing.)

b. Distinguish Between Actions And Dialogue In your posts make sure to differentiate between dialogue and descriptions/actions. This is done by using quotes (") around dialogue in the same way you would if you were writing a story. Other ways to do it include using double colons :):) or asterisks (*) around non-dialogue. The previous example was written using quotes; here is an example of that same post written using asterisks:
Bordo:

*slowly shaking his head back to consciousness, Bordo opens his eyes and looks around for his companions* Hello? Anyone still around? *realizing he is alone, Bordo figures the group must have traveled on, thinking him dead. Muttering to himself about fair weathered friends, Bordo casts around for a moment until he finds the group's obvious trail*

c. Distinguish Between OOC And IC Dialogue Try not to post too much OOC dialogue when role playing, but when you do have to post some, make sure to indicate it's out of character:
OOC: Hey guys, sorry I've been away, can't wait to get back into this...

Bordo:
Slowly shaking his head back to consciousness, Bordo opens his eyes and looks around for his companions. "Hello? Anyone still around?" Realizing he is alone, Bordo figures the group must have traveled on, thinking him dead. Muttering to himself about fair weathered friends, Bordo casts around for a moment until he finds the group's obvious trail.

d. Stay Involved With The Story Line Try to keep your posts involved with the main storyline; nothing is more annoying than to see the flow of a story interrupted by unrelated side-plots. That's not saying that side-plots aren't good, they often are, but things should keep moving along the main storyline as if you're reading a novel. Think of it this way, Stephen King may introduce a character that 'seems' to be out of nowhere, and 'seems' to have no relevance to the rest of the story, but you know that the character will turn out to have some sort of relevance to the main plot.

2 Interacting With The Other Players)
a. Read All The Posts It is essential that you read everyone else's posts! Read all the posts in the thread before you post to it for the first time so that you understand the storyline before adding to it. Also, always read all the posts since the last one you posted before posting again. Not only is this the only way to maintain the continuity of a story, you will also find that the other players in a thread will respond much more positively to you if you know what's going on in the thread before you add to it.

b. Do Not Invalidate Another Player's Posts You must never directly invalidate what someone else has said. For example:
Character A: "That's a nice hat you're wearing." Character B: "I'm not wearing a hat."
B cannot deny the existence of the hat once A has mentioned it. If B does not wish to be wearing a hat, they will have to get rid it somehow. For example, an acceptable reaction (if B is a mage) would be:
Character A: "That's a nice hat you're wearing." Character B: Snapping his fingers and saying, in a loud voice, "Grizlo!"
This causes the hat to vanish, at which point he replies, "What hat? I'm not wearing a hat."

c. Remember That You Do Not Control The Plot When playing, remember that all players have equal rights (unless agreed upon differently) in influencing the development of the story. This means that just because you want the plot to go in a certain direction, it does not necessarily mean it will happen. You cannot force everyone else to do things the way you want. You have to use your intelligence and creativity just as you would in real life to influence the scene.

d. Do Not Act For Another Player We all want people to react the way we would like them to so we can get on with our own plans, but you cannot decide how other characters will react to your actions. You cannot make decisions and act for others, you can only act for yourself, and you can only speak for yourself. This is an extremely important rule to remember, not only because it is often tempting to break it, but also because breaking it is guaranteed to tick the other players off.

For example, I was playing a mighty bad girl and was holding the leader of the good guys captive in my castle (the person playing the leader of the good guys and I had privately worked out a really nice plot line of how he could free himself without me going against my bad, wicked nature). The next thing I read on the thread is that another player had "...sneaked into the castle [which was protected by numerous magic spells: the reason why I could be taken captive] and passed the guards [my guards at that time were a monster army], then I took the captain of the guards captive and forced him to lead me to the witch's quarters. Quivering in fear of this unknown stranger before her she threw herself at my feet, sobbing and begging for mercy. I then went to release the Commander. The witch surrendered herself, her castle and her army." Needless to say, I was not pleased with this player's behaviour!

However, there is room for flexibility in this rule. Sometimes patterns of behaviour can be taken for granted, given the development of a character and a story. The degree of this flexibility will vary widely from thread to thread. Once you have developed a 'feeling' for the characters (and their creators!) you become confident in anticipating player actions and reactions, allowing you to involve them in your posts to speed up the action.

e. End A Post on An Active Note Give your fellow players something to work on, invite their reaction.

f. When Leaving A Thread For An Extended Period Or For Good Write your character out of the action or find someone willing to replace you. Don't abandon your character and force others to take it over for you.

3) Combat
When it comes to combat, you need to get to the point with the move and make it, but there are no auto-connects and no auto-kills. Here's an example of an acceptable move (with basic characters):
Character A runs forward and swings his/her sword at character B.
Such a move leaves the following options for your opponent:
·Character B has the opportunity to block
·Character B has the opportunity to counter
·Character B has the opportunity to accept the hit
·Character B has the opportunity to run away
All of which are acceptable reactions that keep the role playing environment fun for everyone while still allowing player-to-player combat.
 
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