Roleplaying 101

[Alkhara Majere]

Many thanks to the folk at http://wow.stratics.com



Roleplaying 101 - Introduction

Note: This may contain references to other games, and is generally applicable to most MMORGPs and not specifically WoW.

I have noticed that some articles on this subject tend to show persons personal point of view as to what role playing is and how it should be done. The problem is that everyone is different, and what is right for one person, may not be for another. So I just intend to give some general useful information with out ramming too much of my own opinion down your throat saying this is the only way to do it. This is not indented to be a definitive guide merely a starting point of things to bear in mind. If you read several different articles on role playing and some of the views seem to conflict, remember its just different peoples opinions. Take from it what you think is good and if you think something does not sound right for you, then it may just be there role play style (you don't have to follow it).

What is Role-playing?
Role playing is a bit like acting in that you put yourself in someone elses shoes. You get to go on a holiday from yourself and do things that you would not normally do or say. In short; you take over a different persona, with their own strengths and flaws.

Why do people want to role-play?
The fun is (well for me), to play someone who is different from yourself and interact with others who are doing the same. Have you ever been reading a book, or watching a film, and wishing you were one of those involved and could interact with the characters? Well now you can. I don't think this is the only reason though, if you ask three different people you would probably get three different answers. Basically it all boils down to one thing. They enjoy it.

How do I get started Role playing?
The first thing that you need to be able to role play is a character and a character history. What was the up bring like? How does the character act towards other people? Does he or she dislike any particular race? And so on. You don' have to work it all out straight away, but it's good to have some ideas. Maybe your character did not have a good education and does not always speak correctly. For me, flaws seem to make a character come to life a bit more and make him or her more unique. Think how your character will act towards other people. For example if he is an evil character he does not have to be polite and courteous to people but he may show respect for thieves and murders. That will give you something to work with. You can also let the in-game events take effect on your character as time goes by. For example if something very traumatic happens to him, it might have some effect, like being trapped in a small place might cause him to get claustrophobia. Again, make up your own mind and use your imagination! As time goes by and you develop your character you might want to start writing his background, personality and events that have happened to him in game to remind you, and so you can read through it again later to refresh your memory as to how he might act. For example if he has had one or several bad experiences with one particular type of race or creature he might come to hate and/or fear them.

But all this can only go so far, you need other people to role play with and have adventures and quests with. Try to find role players where ever you happen to be playing, usually there are some sort of role playing communities in a role playing game. Look at web sites and hunt around.

What language do role players speak?
d00d speak, where letters are replaced by similar symbols, and acronyms like lol (laugh out loud) and rofl (rolling on the floor laughing) are generally frowned upon. Emotes such as *laughs* and *smiles* are generally preferred. Other than that, pick anything that fits with your character. Speak modern english, ye olde english or even english with a french accent if you have to. Does your character have a lisp ? Does he have difficulty pronouncing the 'th'? Perhaps you will have him speak Orcish, Elven or Gargish... It really does not matter, as long as you are consistent.

Is going out of charter (ooc) allowed?
This seems to be a very personal thing. I personally always try to use [] to show ooc, but it's not the only way. You can just say you are talking ooc and speak normally. At some point though you will find it necessary to go ooc, don't worry, I think this is natural and something that we all have to do from time to time. However, die hard role players will rather cut off their right foot than be caught talking out of character.

Tolerance
Just because someone does not role play in exactly the same way you do, is not a good reason to flame them or say they are not role playing. However you may come across someone, either in-game or on message boards, who just seems to like arguing and attacking you personally regardless of your arguments. Don't try to argue with people like this, as that is what they want, they love to argue, just try to ignore them if possible.

Role playing for girls.
Some girls do not like having guys hit on them in role-playing games. One way to avoid this is to play a male character. Playing a different sex must surely be an interesting and challenging role playing experience. Of course you don't have to play a man if you don't want to, maybe you can be that powerful girl you have always wanted to be (Girl power). But always keep in mind that just because you see a woman in game, it does not necessarily mean they are a woman in real life. In fact, a lot of 'girls' you meet in-game are in reality role-playing guys.

I have known quite a variety of girls who play role playing games, some just like to run shops, make things and sell them, others really like PvP (Player vs player combat ). Again try things out and do what feels right for you. While there are more men playing role playing games, there are certainly lots of women too so you will not be the only girl playing.

So Alkhara, is role playing for me?
Why are you ask me? What do you think, want to give it a try?
I would like to thank all the people whom I have spoken to that have given me support and information which helped make this guide.



Chapter 1

The first step in the wonders of Role playing is to get past Newbieness.

A) Learn how to do as much as you can, so you are not always asking other players how to questions. Visit Blizzards website (and ours of course!) often to learn changes in the game that might affect the way you play. If you cannot find your answers there, try to stay in character when asking other people.

B) Get the feel of the game overall, fight a few battles, die a few time,. talk to some people, play around with the macros (if available), and learn how to use them effectively. Learning on your own in the best way to learn. It's more rewarding and stick with you longer.

C) While you are still a "newbie", try talking to people without discussing technical questions, bugs, PKing or cheating (its hard not to, but it can be done) or even discussing skills and class leveling. Keep your character to yourself, don't let anyone know how good / bad you are. Apart from what they can see don't let anyone in. It's just not good role playing ... like if you've ever played D&D, you would know what I'm talking about. Only two people know ... the DM (dungeon master) and you. Don't let anyone know what your skill levels are. It gets annoying pretty quickly to see people saying in town "I AM MASTER BLACKSMITH HAHAH KTHNXLOL1!!". It would be better to say ( if you were an arrogant blacksmith ) "I am the greatest blacksmith in the southern lands of Vesper, ye (meaning "all of you") would be wise to purchase my weapons, for they shalt not fail ye in battle."

D) Try to kill the internet lingo as much as possible. e.g.. the smiley faces, ,etc.. LOL.. brb.

D. 1) However in times of crisis, and battle, one does not want to take the time to type out "be right back" when one's life is at stake. So shorthand does have its place in the game of WoW. You should never actually try to role play in situations where you simply can not. If you are alone, in a battle, dungeon crawling, or other hard to role play situations: don't. You'll probably get yourself killed. Role playing is like the icing on the cake, use it to your advantage for fun.
E) use emote messages instead * like this* (e.g. * smiles *, * burps* ,etc.... )
If you can do this for one hour or so, you have hereby graduated past newbie, and you are ready to go on to bigger and better Role Playing techniques.

Why should we role play anyhow Alk?
The only reason anyone should role play is to have fun. World of Warcraft is a game after all, and we play games to have fun. If you aren't having fun roleplaying then you shouldn't do it. But the bottom line is roleplaying is a way for you to develop your own character and a personality that is not your own.


Chapter 2

For the advanced Role Players. Now that you've completed the first chapter and stopped real world and internet speak, you can start developing a real personality for your character. Practice one day on a very simple thing like pretending your character has a minor speech impediment.
These can be, but not limited to the following:

• A lisp
• Can't say R's quite right.( e.g. Elmer Fudd )
• Stuttering
• Can't say H's quite right. ("Come 'ere you! ")

Or a certain type of attitude (again, only a short list)

• A solitude demeanor
• Very friendly and out going
• Quiet, or doesn't speak much
• Drunken Dwarf (always fun)
• Doesn't trust very many people

If you like pretending to have a speech impediment or potraying anmd exagerating a certain human characteristic, then maybe role playing is for you after all.
Write down on a piece of paper some things that your character's personality might be like

• Town of birth.
• Environment that your character was raised in. (farm, city, slum etc..)
• Number of siblings and what sex they were, (possibly even names.) twins might be interesting.
• General disposition. (angry, nice guy, rude, shy, dull, crazy.)
• Quirks. (phobia's, inanities.. etc.)
• Alignment. (whether your character is good, bad, neutral, or selfish) I am one who does not believe in true neutral.)
• Obsessions (good or bad.)
• View's on magic (whether character shuns magic or is wary or welcomes it.)
• Hatred towards ... (pick something) maybe your character hates bards, or healers, or miners.

Just write stuff down.. develop your character, get to know how to become them. If you want to generate a list and roll dice to randomly generate a character then all the more power to you!

Also, once you've written these things down, start to apply what you've written into your gameplay. For example, a character named, say Galdrog, is a blacksmith who was born in Goldshire, he has one sister role plays on the same server, her name is Dana Vinte and she is 4 years younger than Galdrog. Galdrog's personality could be discribed as a basically nice, but has a short fuse. (he gets angry or upset easy) He does have a quirk, he is traumatized by the loss of his parents. I would describe his alignment as probably a scrupulous good. Which means, Galdrog will disobey the written law if he believes that it is right. He used to have a deathly fear of magic, but his friends in game has seen him through his fear, and have even gotten him to start using it. Galdrog hates undead, and will not go no where near Undercity. Galdrog is indifferent about any rules, but he takes Justice as his principle and Honesty as his virtue. (Hence he lives in Stormwind City now).




Chapter 3

Now that you know a little more about role playing, and you might even have practiced it a bit. However, it will do you little good if you do not have an accepting group of friends that also roleplay along with you. This is the most important part of it all, what good is having a well developed character if you have no friends to interact with. This is crucial to your character's development as well. On each server in World of Warcraft there is probably several role playing groups that can be found, and each one has their own "personalities."

Find the role players on your server, and learn where they usually meet, as having a consistant meeting place is important too.
Another very important thing to know is how to deal with 'offensive' players, those players that deliberately insult you to start a fight, or just for thier own sadistic pleasure. I personally have a high tolerance for offensive players, but many players do not, and I will try to list here on ways to deal with them.
Every Role player will eventually get the cocky remark: "Speak modern english you nerd, because this is modern times " or "Why U talk so stupid" or something to the effect that they do not like to deal with a role playing individual, and they think everyone should just act like they way they really are. These remark can be discouraging to the aspiring role player, but have faith. This kind of mentality is expected. Usually if you keep role playing to these types they will eventually go away frusterated. "Oh man, I can't talk 2 u n e more."

Then there is the truly offensive players that seriously try to hurt your feelings, or try to stir up negative emotions. If they break the agreement they made with Blizzard when they signed up, i.e. racial, sexual, or any type of biasing insults. Then report them to the proper authority which can be found on the Blizzard website, or take a screen shot the offending statements in it. (Print Screen by default) and send them an email including the screenshot as an attachment.

If it is not this serious, then simply walk away from the individual, or put the offending player on your ingame ignore list. Just Remember, never stoop to their level and retort by saying similar things to them. True roleplayers ignore these immature people and it always the best thing to do. Chances are, they will stop if you ignore them because usually they are trying only to ger rises out of people. These peopel are usually young males who get their "jollies" of making fun of people in fornt of the computer screen. Sad, but for the most part true. Keep your cool and stay in character.

This next part assumes that Blizzard will implement a certain PK system.

PKs (Player Killers): Nearly impossible to interact or roleplay with (i.e. grievers). They usually travel in packs, and are very experienced in player vs player combat (PvP), roleplayers usually spend more time interacting with thier friends and are not very experienced in PvP. A friend of mine compared the mentality of PK's to the aliens in the film Mars Attacks. They do not negotiate, they shoot first and ask questions later, literally.. When you are PK'd you may be very upset, however Blizzard may and should not allow PKing as an offensive behavior, and will not do anything about reports of PKing, unless the PKer in question has verbally offended or harrassed, or player prior to or after the murder. I hope this clears some things up.

[WoWLegend]

*nods* A fine bit of literature. *applauds*

[RockTB]

Excellent bit of lit indeed.

[MadVlrus]

Excellent guide

[MightyEskimo]

wow one night i decided to try roleplaying, and i found this post... very helpful, and timely! thanks matey! roleplaying ftw btw, this helped ALOT, i didnt know how to develop my dwarf.... but now hes a perma-drunk hehe, thanks man!

[Brock]

great guide, i just started a RP character

im a female blood elf; the thing is though i end up becoming a dirty slut and start having sex with all the Taurens. Its funny though, cause the only reason i do it is because they give me lots of cash, i got 8g so far and just turned level 12 hehe

[Alkhara Majere]

great guide, i just started a RP character

im a female blood elf; the thing is though i end up becoming a dirty slut and start having sex with all the Taurens. Its funny though, cause the only reason i do it is because they give me lots of cash, i got 8g so far and just turned level 12 hehe

[ausgeo]

This goes back to my "So you want to be a stripper?" lol Well then.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Brock
great guide, i just started a RP character

im a female blood elf; the thing is though i end up becoming a dirty slut and start having sex with all the Taurens. Its funny though, cause the only reason i do it is because they give me lots of cash, i got 8g so far and just turned level 12 hehe

[97036]

RP:ing is great, so is the guide... But why, OH WHY, did you post it here?

[Bloodgut]

I must admit, while it is a guide, it doesn't really advance your character in anyway...or does it?

[Alkhara Majere]

I must admit, while it is a guide, it doesn't really advance your character in anyway...or does it?

If you play on a RP realm, then aye, it does.

[GhoSt17]

Very good guide overall... you might want to consider talking about Godmoding.

+rep

[natni8]

I'm honestly suprised to find a guide on Roleplaying here, and I applaud you for it.

[yamidante]

thnx ^^ this helped

great guide, i just started a RP character

im a female blood elf; the thing is though i end up becoming a dirty slut and start having sex with all the Taurens. Its funny though, cause the only reason i do it is because they give me lots of cash, i got 8g so far and just turned level 12 hehe

someone doing that last night, i said "after you have shown me a good time, then ill pay you"

at the end she said payup, i ran and yelled "Stupid Slut!"

later OOC she whispered me, wheres my money i replied i rp a scammer xD

[Zyst]

thnx ^^ this helped




someone doing that last night, i said "after you have shown me a good time, then ill pay you"

at the end she said payup, i ran and yelled "Stupid Slut!"

later OOC she whispered me, wheres my money i replied i rp a scammer xD

I lol'd irl xD