What is roleplaying?
Roleplaying (RP) is taking the role of another person (in most cases) or thing and pretending to be that thing. Roleplaying is often compared to free-form theatre and collaborative story telling. Kids do it all they time when they play Cops and Robbers or Cowboys and Indians. Roleplaying is a fun way for some people to express creativity while having fun at the same time, but it is not for everyone. Roleplaying was popularized with Dungeons and Dragons, and other pen-and-paper RPGs. Since the beginning of the internet roleplaying has been done in MUDs and MUSHs and as computers became more modernized roleplaying has been done in video games. Roleplaying online is incredibly different from roleplaying with a few friends, and there are many rules to go along with it that have been made from experience and have been made to give everyone the most fair and fun roleplay they can. Most multiplayer you see currently online (in M&B) consists only of deathmatch and even with the Persistent World module you may have seen some light roleplaying going on, but much of what makes roleplay so fun seems absent. Because of this I have taken the initiative to make a serious roleplay server for people who would enjoy it.
Understanding the Difference Between IC and OOC
Before we go any further I want to take the time to explain differences between IC and OOC because it is ESSENTIAL to understand these concepts to be a successful roleplayer.
In-Character refers to actions taken only by your character in the character world. In this case that would be anything that happens in the Fictional Medieval World of M&B. In-Character is from your characters perspective in the act, and you should never cease acting for any reason. Out-of-Character refers to actions that have NOT happened in the fictional universe, or knowledge that you have NOT obtained though IC means (Some things are considered general knowledge, and don’t count.) Using OOC knowledge to your advantage is known as metagaming and is almost always against the rules. We will get into an example of this later. Metagamers usually do not behave the same way that matches their character experiences and backstory. Also remember this is just RP and is meant to be FUN, if at any time you are not having fun, just leave. Never attack, insult or ruin other characters for OOC reasons. The key is to stay In-Character.
Metagaming - Using OOC Knowledge In-Character. As stated above, metagamers usually do not behave the same way that their character might in the same situation. This is done fairly often, usually without the player even aware they are doing it. Examples include:
Psychic Characters – Characters don’t know the names of other characters simply because their name appeared in the chat. You have to actually introduce and meet other characters like in real life to get their name. Holding alt to see their name is okay, but referring to someone by name without actually meeting them IC is metagaming. Also don’t blurt out your life story to everyone you meet when you RP, new roleplayers seem to do this a lot and when it happens it makes conversations seem very unnatural and scripted, subtly introduce it at the right times, or wait for a proper moment to do it IC.
Game Mechanics – Characters do not know they have a certain number of hit points, or this Axe does 15 more damage than that sword. These figures are game mechanics. This is not very abusable in M&B, as health is not displayed numerically; and weapon damage is fairly random and at least somewhat realistic.
Unusual Knowledge of world events – It’s unlikely that if a battle between two kingdoms broke out, that did not involve say, a civilian that they would be able to recount the battle and count the losses EXACTLY as if they had watched it. (Unless you did, but it’s also pretty stupid for an unarmed civilian to walk their way into a middle of a battle.) Do you know the details of every Operation in Iraq? Even soldiers? It’s more realistic for your character to know little of the events or have an extremely distorted version. If your character has knowledge of world events, make sure there is a plausible way they have this information.
Information Separation (or lack of) – You’re chatting with your friend on MSN and he tells that IC he made another character breakdown and cry and recounts the details. Wouldn’t that have been pretty dramatic and awesome to watch? But wait, you couldn’t, because you weren’t there IC and your character does not know what has occurred. Unless someone IC tells you about this fight, you can’t know about it or even ask any of the characters involved about it, because you have no idea that it happened, you have no IC reason to do so. Using OOC Knowledge In-Character is metagaming.
Bringing in the OOC – Do not mention real life events and items. Your characters do not know about these events in their world, and don’t use acronyms IC such as “AFK” or “LOL”. They don’t exist in the characters world. Remember, this is just IC and you can talk about real life events all you want in OOC Chat.
Knowledge of the future – As events are planned, you may read the proposed story of it and what is “supposed” to happen. In this example, one kingdom will send a huge army to capture the town from the other kingdom, oppressing the civilians yet again (so sad). Some characters make the mistake of somehow “learning” about this event before it has happened, and begin to tell people IC about how the evil kingdom is coming to invade the town again, when in reality the character would have no idea what-so-ever of this happening. Again, if they do have knowledge of this event, make sure it is plausible enough that they would be spreading the word around.
How to not Metagame
You may be wondering how to prevent doing this, at it seems pretty easy to break the metagaming rules. I can insure you, all roleplayers at one point in their careers have done this. The easiest method I found was to always ask why; why would my character do this, or think of this. If you can’t think of an answer, or the answer seems pretty sketchy chances are it’s not an IC thought or action and you shouldn’t continue doing it.
Powergaming - Forcing another player to engage in roleplay that they do not want to participate in, or being extremely powerful when IC your strength is almost equal to the other player. For example, forcing a player into a fight and then knocking him out in just a few punches is powergaming. Forcing a player into a “sexual” encounter is also powergaming.
Dealing with Trolls
The troll, otherwise known as the anti-roleplayer only plays to deliberately go out of their way to ruin your immersion and roleplay experience. There is many ways they can do this, from DMing in-game, to trolling specific forum posts, or simply distracting people actually roleplaying with bull**** (for a lack of a better word). The troll is the kid at the beach who enjoys kicking down sandcastles. Usually people say don’t feed the troll, and that’s usually the best way to handle it, aside from telling an administrator. Just ignore the troll, and eventually it will give up and leave, or get banned.
