User:NeverLoseGuy/How2RP

Imagine...

You see role-players in the wild...curious creatures, they are. You attempt to say hi to them, or do something funny to get their attentions...

Then you are given a response, and it's either:

• They talk in funny (parentheses) sentences, explaining in an out-of-character manner that they are rping.
• They stand there, not acknowledging your presence and leaving you out there.
• They react to you like you're some kind of walking supernova (which you probably are).

So...what happened?

What happened is that you are more or less interrupting the role-playing sessions of the people present on a scene. Unless you're doing this intentionally to harass them (don't do that), this isn't by any means harmful, and those people are more than willing to explain what is going on and why they are standing there like some kind of Divinity's Reach idlers.

Note, however, that just because you said "hi" to them, does not mean you become a part of the public role-playing session. In fact, before you even jump into that, there are a few things to keep in mind to avoid any confrontations or situations that will result in people blocking you in an instant.

How do I get started, then?

Slow down your horses, you need to know what role-playing even is. Essentially, role-playing (in Guild Wars 2, that is) refers to an activity where players assume a role of a character (often the ones they make themselves) and act it out as if they are a part of the world. Think of it like a collaborative writing, except you generally write about your character, and you write out what they see, what they think, what they do in that instant, how they interact with other characters, the list goes on.

The last sentence is important because it outlines a few things here:

• When you write something in the eyes of your character, it is referred as in-character, or "IC" for short. This includes your character doing this or that through emotes, or speaking through "quotation marks".
• Conversely, when you write something in the eyes of you, the player, it is referred as out-of-character, or "OoC" for short. This usually happens when something goes wrong in-game that shouldn't happen in-character, or you just want to talk to other players to discuss what goes on between your characters.
• It's very important to distinguish these two, as the character does not necessarily reflect what the player behind the screen does or thinks. A crass bandit isn't going to play nice, naturally, but that doesn't suggest their player shares that crassness. Now of course, the character itself may not be liked by some role-players, or their characters, but that's something of a different topic altogether, which I'll discuss later.
• It's also important that you only control your character. You cannot just role-play someone that doesn't belong to you (unless it's an NPC for DnD-style campaign of sort), nor can you do anything that would remove a person's agency. If a person wants to avoid your sucker punch, then they certainly can, no matter how godly your fists are.

What are the tips and tricks you can tell me?

As someone who has been role-playing for like what, 5 years now? I have learned quite a lot about the "etiquettes", as well as more tips and tricks to help improve your writing. Here are the things I can think of:

• The consensus is that no one is The Pact Commander. Because of how Guild Wars 2 is structured, every players will have this Pyro-vision where they are the main protagonist and everyone else is just some tag-along while you beat down a bunch of Pocket Raptors. Naturally, the subjective view like this doesn't work in a public setting where characters can simultaneously exist in the same tavern (because frankly, you cannot have two or more Pact Commanders, not without doing a lot of mental gymnastics to justify it). Of course, you can always just claim your character as one, but such tend to be taken at a face value in-character by others, who more than likely won't believe such a claim.

• Avoid playing characters that would upset other people. Edgelords usually won't find themselves welcome in a public setting, because the last thing a tavern regular want is some rando butthat splashing a drink onto his face and causing ruckus in the tavern.
  • Now, this isn't the absolute golden rule have to stick to; Some people or characters may be more tolerant of others (or maybe prefer it, even), or it may just be natural for you and your character to be a little...aggravating, but if you ever find yourself in a situation where other characters decide to ignore you and move on with their lives because they can't stand your attitude, don't take it too personally, and instead understand that not everyone has the temperament to live with your character. Conversely, you may find role-players who actually enjoy your character's personality (at least oocly), and may even cause in-character drama just for the fun of it. Ultimately, it is up to the situation you're in, and whether your character would be a good fit for it.

• Try to stay grounded and in-lore. No one wants to interact with you if you make a character who is a daughter of the Fallen God Balthazar or some Vampire from another universe. Even if you're not a lore nerd yourself, it will do you well to do some research on it and use that to make your character more believable. You don't have to make another Big Nose Ted, but a Sunspear who wishes to travel to Janthir Wilds to re-learn the way of spear combat is feasible enough, while still having some potential to develop and flesh out your character and make them more than just some random adventurer.

• Avoid making extensive uses of Canon characters. Having a character being a close relative of say, Eir, makes your character a little too special compared to others. This can be a problem as it can be seen as a bit hard to believe, but also it begs the question of the exclusivity, as realistically speaking, someone like Eir wouldn't be able to have more than a dozen relatives close to her age, let alone thousands or millions. If anyone can claim that their character is related to Eir, then it will likely result in an ooc dispute that will never see the end of day.

• Communicate. I cannot stress enough the importance of clarity in communication. Not everyone can speak English well, and even those who can may make mistakes in trying to speak out their minds. If you ever find yourself having a question about what goes on in the scene, ask. Letting it cook will just cause problems down the line.

• Get out if you have to. There are likely role-players out there who do not read this page and break a few rules I have outlined here. Maybe the second nature calls to you, or your dog is setting your house on fire. Doesn't matter what it is, if you need to stop role-playing, then stop. Just be sure to let others know that you have to be away for a bit, or for a while, as to not leave them hanging. Remember, role-playing is a hobby, not a job. No one can force you to perform a special move inside Salma's District if you don't feel like it. Speaking of...

• Don't ERP in public. Erotic Role-playing refers to any rp that is explicitly sexual in nature. Remember that this is Teen-rated games, so if you want to do a funny business with your partner, do it in your Homestead, or whatever. It is rude to just say "I f***'d your mom" in the public. No one wants to hear it.

• You cannot kill someone in RP. It doesn't matter if you're replicating Star Wars Prequel, or you just want to stab someone in the back for no reason, you cannot kill another player character. The only exception is that it is agreed upon beforehand. Death isn't cheap, either, as resurrection in Guild Wars 2 is extremely limited, so having someone just you know, die, means their character is gone, forever.

• You don't have to stick to one character. Guild Wars 2 has five playable races you can play, each of which has its own extensive lore since the dawn of time, and even more so with Living World and Expansions coming to play, yes, even your bread-and-butter straight white male Warrior. If you are ever tired of playing him, though, you can always make another one and try it out, see which characters would fit your style the most. Of course, you don't even have to role-play these races, as some have done so with Skritts and Quaggans before. Just remember that people will give you a weird look if a Choya appears in a middle of a tavern.

• You can role-play multiple characters at once. This is usually reserved for characters with pets like Rangers, or the "Dungeon Master" (DM for short) who would use multiple characters for their sessions. Depending on who and what the other characters are, it's usually important to have some kind of visuals to represent them. These secondary characters, as I would call it, would be expressed in form of emotes like so:
  • Example of the format used would be like so:
  • Emilie: "What do you mean she cannot speak like I do?"
  • Emilie || Emmalee looks to her, "They mean as in, I have to rely on YOUR emotes (by using /em or /e) to speak like you do."