The Covian Guide to Good Roleplay
Introduction
The Baronship of Cove has many aspects. We do both player versus monster and player versus player, but we are at heart a roleplaying guild. Roleplaying, surprisingly, is the act of playing a role, and while you may manage to blend in by simply playing yourself and using emotes rather than smilies, you may find that you don't enjoy it quite as much as possible. Therefore, this handy guide has been put together to help you make the most of your time in the Baronship of Cove, and your roleplaying experience in the land of Sosaria.
What is Roleplaying? / IC and OOC
Roleplaying is a particular form of gaming that adds spice and intrigue to the simple pixels and mechanics of our world based in Ultima Online. As a player, you interact and perform the traits and personality of your chosen character; be it a tough and disciplined guardsman, or a cocky and resourceful rogue.
Separation of In Character and Out Of Character is an important part of enjoying roleplay. An important thing to remember while roleplaying is that your character is not you. Characters should not simply be self-insertions, they should be a creation of your own, and things that happen to them IC should not be taken personally, because they are not happening to
you, they are happening to your character. This extends to if you are having a falling out with someone OOC. You should not let this affect how you treat their characters with your own.
It is important to remember that when you are roleplaying your character that nothing affect "you" (the player), other than enjoyment. Far too many times players rush out into the roleplaying world, and take things that happen to their characters "personally". You're not roleplaying if you're taking it personally.
Roleplay is indeed a mature form of gaming, and whoever you meet in this realm of adventure you will always respect them OOC (Out Of Character); we are, after all, "just friends" gaming together.
Basic Conduct
As a player, you will, at some point want your character to say something or display some form of emotion. If you are not familiar with roleplaying, you may be used to doing this with shorthand speech and smilies. In roleplay, we refer to this as "out of character" speech, and as such is to be avoided while playing your character. The following table shows a few examples of In Character ways to display emotions and say simple phrases. Presentation is important, and proper capitalisation can make you look that much more experienced! It is more important to produce a good response than a fast one, so don't worry if you take longer than some to type. Full sentences are better than
rapid
responses
like
this.
| OOC | IC |
| =) | *Smiles*, *Grins*, *Smirks* |
| =( | *Frowns*, *Looks sad* |
| lol, rofl | *Laughs*, *Chuckles*, *Giggles* |
| u | You, Ye, Yer |
| thx | Thanks, Thankye |
| kk | Okay, Alright, Fine |
| Blue | Adventurer, Civilian |
| Guildtag | Badge, Insignia |
| Lag, Lost Conn | Mud, Fell Asleep |
There will be times when you want to say something OOC, such as someone being at the door, or the phone ringing. The best place for these kinds of messages is on ICQ or in party chat.
There are several things to take into account when you're speaking for your character. If they have an accent, how are you going to show that? If they're shouting, how will you convey that? Both of these things are up to you to decide.
Emoting Thoughts - Emoting what your character is thinking can cause problems. While in most cases it's totally harmless, there is nothing people can do to react to it, and it is often used to insult people in a way that they cannot retaliate to. It's best avoided. If you want to indicate that your character is thinking something, it is better to show the outward signs, such as a furrowed brow, a distracted expression,
Emoting Emotions - From time to time I see things like *Is angry*. A better way to RP an emotion is to consider how you would be conveying that emotion if someone was looking at you. For example if you where confused you could *Furrows his brow*. Another way is to use discriptive emotes such as *Grunts sourly* or *Sighs longingly* to help put what your feeling across to other people.
Communication
This is a guide to how to improve your typing and create a better atmosphere for everyone, and in turn improve your roleplay. Good typing can make everything a lot easier to understand, nothing is worse than not understanding what has just been said. While we understand that English isn't everyone's first language, it is always good to put that bit of effort into making your text presentable.
Change the nasty default text and emote colour - Many UO players rely heavily on the Journal to read and re-read things that other players around them have said and done. The default emote colour is nearly exactly the same colour as the journal, and so you'd be doing everyone a favour by changing it to something people can read.
As for the text colour, pick a colour that suits your character, if he's an angry Orc, he won't have pink text, but at the same time, also consider how easy the colour is to read in journal, too.
Take your time, use that shift key - English might not be your native language - no-one is saying that's wrong here, I cannot emphasis that point enough. What you can do, is just slow it down a bit, a well typed sentence that took a little longer is better than a sentence that would make Einstein throw his hands up and go "I don't know, you tell me!" whacking a capital letter at the front of your sentences DOES improve everything immensely. Once you get into the habit, it's easy.
Add some punctuation - Adding a comma here and there, or the odd apostrophe doesn't hurt much. But it DOES make it look like you've thought about what you're typing, and make everything a darned sight easier to read. A sentence without any punctuation appears dull and lifeless, and sounds like people are speaking in monotone.
Don't use one word per line - The
one
word
line
approach gets very tiresome, very quickly. It is hard to incorporate any aspects of good typing if your only typing a line at a time here, not to mention that it's quite annoying to be on the receiving end of.
Final step: Always check what you're about to send! - We could be saved so many ".brb gotta pee" moments if people simply checked what they are typing. These things are definite atmosphere ruiners, and it usually seems to be the more embarrassing messages that slip out of party chat!
Being Human
It is important to remember that while this is a game for you, for your character it is very real. The same things that affect you in day to day life affect your character. Your character will get tired, hungry, happy, sad, and when someone hits them around the head with something heavy, it HURTS.
Line of Sight - Your character cannot see through walls, nor behind him/herself. In addition, your character cannot see "name tags" that float above the head of other characters' heads, and so you can't tell in character what someone's name is, or for certain what group of people they are from. It may be useful to switch off "show approaching player names" though this is by no means necessary.
Tag Reading - While this was touched upon in Line of Sight, I feel it warrants a section in itself. Your character cannot see a player's name tag, guild tag, or guild title. Reacting to someone based on these is a primary example of bad roleplay. Pay close attention to what those you are interacting with are wearing. If you've never seen them before, and are wearing civilian attire, it us unnatural to suddenly leap to the conclusion that they're a member of the Kaldorian Army.
Power Emoting - Power Emoting is not allowing the third party a chance to roleplay; in others, you already decide their fate (e.g. *kicks in head*, *knocks out*). It is preferred that you leave the other character(s) with options (e.g. *tries to kick in head*, *tries to knock out*). However, the only time when power emoting is "slightly" acceptable is when a prisoner is taken, as this character shall be so weakened that there is little they can do to fight back.
God Moding - God Moding is when a player creates their character much like Superman, without weakness or fault (e.g. *dodges slow punch*, *feels no pain from hit*). These sort of emotes are poor roleplay, as the character cannot dodge EVERY punch, and are also extremely irritating OOC. Refrain from doing these. A second variation of this is using emotes to control someone else's character. This is something along the lines of *Watches Joe Bloggs drool all over this chin* or *Wrinkles nose at the foul stench of Joe Bloggs*. It is not up to you to decide these things about someone else's character.
Knowledge - As a player, you will gain access to a lot of knowledge about events and other people's characters. It is important to remember that your character
does not know these things unless they find out in character.
Your Character's Place - Whoever you are in this world, one thing is certain. Someone, somewhere, is your boss. It is important to keep these things in mind when considering what line of work to go into with your character. A character who "takes orders from no one", for example, would not enlist as a recruit in an army.
Due to the fact we do not restrict junior members in their ability or make creating a new character mandatory, a recruit can be as good in PvP as a Sergeant. Nobody is asking you to lose a fight. But you should roleplay the fact in theory these people are more battle-hardened veterans then you. That means you're not supposed to be snotty or arrogant as a junior member. If you should best a 'more experienced fighter' try to roleplay you had some lucky hits or the sun must have been in his eye. Try to maintain the air of realism when it comes to the army in that aspect.
Consequences - If your character breaks a rule, or upsets someone, there chances are they will want to take some kind of action against you. Although your character may not wish to accept these punishments, it is important to realise when your character would have no escape from the punishment.
Being a Graceful Loser - You were on patrol with a few guardsmen and were ambushed by enemies, and your entire group are beaten to the ground! Do you get upset and yell: gank, lame on partychat? Do you put on your deathrobe and scream: Bah! lucky shot! I'll get you next time!
No! You wobble, crawl or flee the scene wounded. They have beaten you, and may decide to take
you as their prize.
Fearful Foes - You are out on patrol and a powerful Lich/ Band of Goblins/A troop of brigands or whatever surrounds you and threatens you.
Do you say they're pitiful and you will easily slay them? Do you start to laugh with them and claim you've fought worse before? Do you simply tell them to bring it on?
No! These are all creatures and troops that would instil a great fear into a lowly guardsman unless he has a large group of guardsmen to assist him. Roleplaying the proper amount of fear for everyone is very important in roleplay. That is irrelevant wether or not you could win the fight PvP-wise. Certain monsters, beings or situations result in fear from a guardsman. Roleplay it as such even if you think you can easily beat them. If fighting does start and you win, roleplay it like you've had a narrow escape.
Making it Interesting
Since the basics have been covered, I will now suggest various ways to spice up your roleplaying, and make it more interesting and immersive for yourself and those around you.
Your Character - Your character is your own little person. They will have all the likes, dislikes, fears, habits and quirks that a person in the real world has, and adding these extra dimensions to your characters will spice up the roleplay significantly. Does your character have a strange obsession with beards? Are they terrified of earwigs? These things all add extra depth to your character, making them more believable.
Likes/Dislikes/Phobias - Be they object, pets, wild animals, other people or even bad manners. There are always certain things that draw certain people's attention. Act upon it, even if it's just by glancing at it, scoffing because of it or perhaps even the generic smirk. The same would go for things a character would like. It could have something to do with tradition, a character's upbringing or perhaps just downright fear of something (maybe because something happened in the art). Each and every person reacts to certain things differently.
Always keep an eye on your environment - Slightly similar to the note above but not quite. Always keep a keen eye on your environment, even if it's just the weather or a blade of grass some recruit forgot when trimming the lawn. Now, unlike the point above where someone would react, in this case people would actually react. If it's too hot, take off some armour or clothes. Or in the case of the lawn, get a recruit and bully him politely ask to fix it. One of the keys to "good" (mind you, this is an opinion) roleplay is to interact with as many items/circumstances/people as possible. The more you interact, the more fun it is for other people to witness and the more "alive" your character looks and feels.
An example (which is not to be taken too seriously) was in the Kotodama Clan. Akira Toruna was our master samurai and OOC as well as IC the best fighter in the guild. People would look up to him and notice his presence would he enter a building or meet people. With Kasei I used to jest about this and the event went slightly like this.
[a group of samurai and villagers are standing around near the barracks]
[Akira walks up to them, for no appearant reason, just to join them in standing around]
Kasei : *watches clouds part and hears angels sing as Akira approaches*
Fujiwara : *watches kasei*
Fujiwara : *looks up at the sky and scratches his head*
Akira : *adjusts his armour and walks on with a smug look on his face*
Kasei : *watches in awe as Akira passes*
Kasei : "That Akira, brave Akira!"
Fujiwara : "Ehm, hai, he most great."
Now, this is more of a comical approach than serious roleplay, but it would give you a general idea.
As with the interaction between Kasei and Fujiwara, Fuji did not actually know what was up with Kasei but IC he read the expression on his face and acted upon it.
Emoting - Emotes are an important part of roleplay. Even if your character is not talking, they will almost always be doing
something, so show others by emoting your characters actions, even if they are not important. Finger drumming, humming, or looking at something laying about in the room are all worth mentioning.
Roleplayed Injuries - This is an optional combat attribute, but can add a lot of fun to your roleplaying experience. If you are a guardsman and take part in a major battle that does not go well, consider the possibility of a rather nasty poisoning, or the breaking of a bone. Here are some other ideas (forwarded by Darath Mithar);
- Minor cuts and scratches.
- Larger gash, minimal blood loss (perhaps requires stitching).
- Head injury, concussion, memory loss, drowsiness.
- Re-opening of an old wound.
- Serious injury, large loss of blood, slipping in and out of consciousness, requires prolonged treatment.
Emoting Sounds - Emoting sounds can add nice atmosphere to your RP. I’m sure you’ve all seen Darath clanking on his helm before combat. It can’t be used all the time but if you choose the times well it can be a nice addition. Situations to use it in would be things like eating and drinking as well as hitting things!
Emoting When Someone’s Looking At You - In game if someone *looks* or *glances* at you it makes sense to let him or her know what they are seeing. Are you crossing your arms? Are you swinging your weapon? Are you looking pissed off? Etc etc. From there people can use that as a basis for more RP.
Don’t Stop Emoting - I hate to see people just standing about not doing anything. Your never totally still doing nothing in real life are you? Keep emoting, it makes RP happen.
A Little Imagination Goes A Long Way - Often things like patrols can be boring, more like a chore than fun. If your going to lead a patrol try and change things up a bit. Change the point of the patrol, for instance I recently led a patrol of the shire which was actually a bear hunt. I said it was open season on bears and that we could make a few coins on their hides and we went out tracked and skinned some bears. It was fun. Another example was a patrol to the orc fort where we dismantled their fortification, taking the water out of the barrels and removing them. Anyway what I’m saying is a little thought can turn a standard patrol into a chance for good spontaneous RP.
Please forward any feedback to me at 236-058-634.
Thanks to Darath Mithar, Octiovus, Hrothgar and Erik Arkay, Mela Arkay, Yue Yan and Kazuo Shinrai for their contributions to the guide. By contributions, I mean I shamelessly copied and pasted parts from other posts on the forum. Hoh!
Author