Author Topic: Modes of Roleplaying (Read 1,001 times)
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Modes of Roleplaying
« Apr 29, 2009 9:25:50 GMT -6 »
MODES OF ROLEPLAYING


NOTE:
The following includes extensive coverage of roleplaying. These include definitions of its experience and the various shades of its activity, as well as other important notes.
« Last Edit: Oct 6, 2015 11:39:50 GMT -6 by Absinthe Makaila » Back to Top  
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Modes of Roleplaying
« May 8, 2009 20:36:35 GMT -6 »
Section One: What is Roleplaying?

An overview of what to expect roleplaying, both here at Paradigm Shift and in General

Dictionary.com defines 'roleplaying' as:

'a method of instruction or psychotherapy aimed at changing attitudes and behavior, in which participants act out designated roles relevant to real-life situations.'

And that's just completely fucked as far as we're concerned. So, I turn instead to a much more reliable dictionary, urbandictionary.com:

'a person who potrays themselve to be someone famous as "faces" of themselves.Roleplaying can be done in the style of onelining;Semi-Para;Para and Multi Para.
Often reffered to as RP.
An ultimate escape from reality. '

...okay, that's close enough, I guess.

Let's just get to brass tacks here: the art of roleplaying as it pertains to us, specifically, is this: the act of creating and playing a character in a setting that may or may not be familiar to our own. The setting helps to define the character, and the characters all come together to create a story, and that, my friends, is the ultimate goal of roleplaying: The creation of an engaging story, and the satisfaction of being part of it.

Here, one will assume the perspective of a character within Paradigm Academy, as an Agent Trainee receiving the MAPP serum, a secret chemical developed to produce super powers in young adults.

« Last Edit: Oct 6, 2015 11:40:57 GMT -6 by Absinthe Makaila » Back to Top  
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« May 8, 2009 23:35:19 GMT -6 »
Section Two: How to Interact in Threads
The finer points of person-to-person interaction.


Alright, what I will basically be going over here is the two main types of roleplay present in most forum-based text roleplays: First and third person.

The vast majority of text RP is done in a third-person style. For the uninformed, this is the style of RP written from the perspective of, for the sake of description, a watcher, either omniscient or not. This so-called 'watcher' is considered an omniscient narrator if it is telling the story and seeing and explaining all points of view of all characters fully, and is considered limited if it only follows one character, and leaves the readers in the dark about the others.

While it may seem, at a glance, that RPers would only be able to RP the Limited Narrator perspective in third-person RP, even if the narrator outwardly expresses the stated influences and thoughts of the other PCs (Player Characters) or even the NPCs (Non-Player Characters, characters that are created by other players or the staff for the purpose of plot interaction and the like), it is considered omniscient, so long as the character himself does not become aware of these thoughts without any further implication (See the Godmodding section.)

The benefits of third-person RP is that it is much easier to follow along with what is going on around the character at hand, and the exposition usually needed to make a well-flowing post is handled much better. The drawbacks, however, are that in third-person RP, there is a need to constantly refer to the character at hand, and there are only so many times you can use their name or a common pronoun before it simply becomes tired. Commonly, a player will begin to develop various epithets they use to refer to their character as well, to spice things up, but even then, those nick-names will feel tired as well.

On the other side of the spectrum is the more confined First-Person RP. This is a lesser used style, likely because of the difficulty in skillfully representing your character in this style. To write in first-person is to literally put yourself inside your character, seeing from his/her eyes and thinking from his/her own mind, and expressing your writing as such. Whereas third-person often uses "he/she" or "they" and other such pronouns, first-person RP is frequented by the use of the word "I".

While there are no real divisions between the style of first-person RP, in my experience I have found that there are two distinct ways many people choose to RP in this style. The first type is a very dry depiction of the world, and uses the first-person style in a way that simply describes the world through the eyes of the character in quite plain terms, almost as if they were using Third-Person RP, but switching out the pronouns as needed. The other type I've seen, which is much more engaging, often has the player literally delve into the mind of the PC, which offers a much more stream-of-consciousness style of writing, and is usually a more entertaining read. However, the second style often suffers from a lack of description, the trade-off that the lack of excitement has from the more dry first-person style.

Overall, the benefits of First-person RP include a general closer feeling to the character as you read it. Even when it is done in the dryer sense, first-person RP still makes you feel like you are seeing the world through the character's eyes, often making for a more entertaining read for other people. Furthermore, the slight rarity of first-person style also makes it interesting, if only for the shock value of it.

The disadvantages, as stated earlier, is a general lack of description as opposed to third-person. Even the more descriptive first-person authors tend to still fill in the paragraphs more with the character's thoughts than what is actually going on around them, which can sometimes lead to a more detached feeling from reading.


Now, one may be thinking that these two types of RP seem so far apart on the spectrum that they couldn't possibly mesh well together, but that is actually not the case at all. In fact, sometimes a first-person RPer roleplaying with a third-person RPer can create some of the best interactions, with each one playing up to their style's strengths and covering for the other's weaknesses.

Generally, however, it is widely accepted that third-person Roleplaying is the 'standard' by which most people start out. No matter what you choose, though, be sure to stick to the strengths and weaknesses of each style as given above. If you try to switch it about, the results are often disastrous. For example, if one RPs in first-person, truly acting like the character, but meticulously describes the setting and the place that they are in, it becomes a bit distracting, especially when one considers that this character, for some reason, is consciously thinking about and describing the room to us. Conversely, when someone begins to write about feelings and emotions and thoughts in a third-person style, especially when it goes off into a stream-of-consciousness style, it often appears more like random drivel than inspired writing, I'm afraid.

« Last Edit: Oct 6, 2015 11:41:20 GMT -6 by Absinthe Makaila » Back to Top  
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« May 11, 2009 22:08:17 GMT -6 »
Section Three: How to Avoid God-Modding
What it is to be a douche, and why you don't want to be one



What is Godmodding? Essentially, it's being a jerkass in RP, either intentionally or not. There are a few main types of Godmodding, which I'll outline what they are and why you don't want to do it.

Puppeteering - This one's pretty simple. Puppeteering is when you write out the actions of another character without their permission. Usually, people don't like that, even if what you did was something small and insignificant. If you really need to use a character, just ask them for permission and explain what you need them for. Usually the two of you can work together to make something work out.

Auto-Hitting - Auto-hitting will be covered a bit more in the fighting category, but I'll gloss over it here. Basically, auto-hitting is assuming you hit an attack, when you have no right to do so. This is similar to what's called "closed-end RP", and is often confused because they write very similar. However, closed-end RP only assumes the attack hits and will simply adapt if something is blocked or countered. An auto-hitter will be mad if his attack is blocked after he specifically says it hits. Usually, this form of godmodding is incredibly rare, and nine times out of ten, if you feel you are being auto-hit, you're really just dealing with someone who writes in a closed-end style.

It is my personal opinion that the two are separate entities and not related, though some will argue. It's a debate that will continue for some time, I'm sure.

Metagaming - This one's probably one of the worst offenses. Metagaming is easy to describe, hard to really trace and catch. Essentially, if your character knows information that YOU know out of character, but your character has no way of knowing in-character, you're metagaming. For example, if I was talking to Robert on MSN and he told me his character, Slade Wilkins, just really fucking hates sheep, and in our upcoming fight thread, I decided to bring a herd of sheep with me 'just cause', I'm a horrid metagamer.

Why this is hard to track is because, sometimes, there are reasons why a person would know certain things, even if they did originally learn them OOC. For example, I ran a character long long ago that used to know what was going on in the world via a network of gossip spreaders who reported to him. I don't think its metagaming, and no one ever complained, but it does ride a line. Generally, just be careful with this one, and unless you come up with a really well thought-out and developed reason for your character to come about knowing things, just keep your character's knowledge to only what you find out from other PC's.

IDTHS - A term popularized by Xin1's Ein, IDTHS, or "I Don't Take Hits Syndrome," is characterized by a character in a fight managing to dodge, evade, or otherwise diminish every attack that comes at him, no matter what happens. Now, this is one I have a bit of an issue with, as, I, personally, don't believe in 'courtesy hits'. However, many MANY RPers believe that, if you are utterly creaming someone in a fight, it's only fair to give them a free hit or two, since it won't matter in the grand scheme. Refusing to do so can be construed as IDTHS.

Regardless, IDTHS is a real issue, as people generally don't like to lose fights, and will do what they can to get out of a losing situation, and it often times results in them bending the rules of reality as set forth by the RP. The best way to counter this is just to look at things logically, and not to grow too attached to not being hit. Getting hit one time rarely is a deciding factor in a fight, anyway, and oftentimes, taking a hit is a good way to set up for a better one, anyway. Just be careful, and if someone PMs you about it, listen to them with an open mind and don't just bitch. If you really don't think you're stretching the limits, explain it to them, and try to work it out. If not, get in touch with a mod, that's what we're here for.



And, that's the general gist. From the types of God-modding given, you can easily why the term got its name. God-Modding, or "God Mode", is basically, when you set your character up to do or know things he or she simply cannot do or know. So don't do it, it's an easy way to get on everyone's bad side, and make people talk back about you behind your back.

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« May 16, 2009 2:35:31 GMT -6 »
Section Four: Basics of RP Fighting
A lowdown on the sweet science of in-character fighting, both in general and as applied to Chula Vista


And now for the part you were all reading to see. The reason some people flock to these types of roleplaying boards, and the very same reason many people avoid them. The arguable linchpin of the whole system: Text-based RP fighting. This section is going to cover what you can and can't do, what you want and don't want to do, and how everything applies to Chula Vista. As this might end up to be a much more detailed post than the others, expect a long read from here on out.

The Basics:

All fights on this board will be roleplayed and settled using what is sometimes referred to as the T1 fighting system. However, I'm not quite nerdy enough to think that such a thing needs an official name and rules and the like, so we'll just call it text-based fighting in paragraph form. The actual T1 system contains lots of rules and limitations, as well, and we employ a much more free-form style here.

In an RP fight, you simply post the actions that your character takes, and await for your opponent to do the same. The flow of an RP fight generally goes like this:

The first fighter makes an attack.

The second fighter will block, dodge, counter, or receive the attack, and make a counter-attack if desired.

If attacked, the first fighter will do as the second fighter just did. If not, the first fighter will do once again as he did before.

Rinse and repeate ad nauseum until victory conditions are meth. Which brings me to my next point, in fact.

Winning an RP Fight:

In most fights, the winner will be decided between the two competitors. Generally, one must take into account their character's endurance and stamina, as well as how many hits they had taken, and even more importantly, the nature and location of those hits. If the fighter is suffering the appropriate damage and fatigue, then one will generally either be rendered unconscious or too fatigued to continue before the other, and a winner is claimed. Other times, the fighters could set up a condition to winning beforehand, either out of character or as part of an in-character dare. In PvP and free flow topics members are able the writers of their own destiny, with staff acting as refs or final judges on matters that are disputed. Staff also reserves the right to reverse any move or post they see fit.

Keep in mind, missions and events that are GM run will be subject to Staff control. They typically will play by these same rules, however, staff have final say. If they say something hits, something hits. If they say something misses, something misses. You may appeal to an Admin if you feel you have been wronged, but typically just go with it. You get way more out of going with the flow than fighting the system during any kind of game, this one no exception.

Now that you know how to win, it's important to know why to win. The answer may surprise you.

It's not. Not one bit.

Maybe it's important to your character's personality or storyline, and that makes sense. However, within the confines of the board and the way progression occurs around here, there is no benefit whatsoever to winning a fight. Which is why most roleplayers are implored to fight 'fairly', and so many rules are set up against god-modding, as covered previously. There is truly no need to make your character invincible against all odds, and losing is always good for story purposes.
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« Last Edit: Oct 6, 2015 11:42:04 GMT -6 by Absinthe Makaila » Back to Top