Post by Kanto and Kenra Spell on Nov 25, 2005 21:29:46 GMT -5
I DID NOT MAKE THIS! THIS GUY DID www.neopets.com/randomfriend.phtml?randomfriend=ferret_prince
No doubt, a few of you are
wondering, ¡®What makes this guy think that he is good enough to tell me how to role play?¡¯ -grins- I would wonder the same thing, I admit. I¡¯ve been role playing for several years now and consider myself to be an Advanced Role Player. I know that this makes me sound like my ego has its own gravitational field (which it probably does), but I have learned from years of experience. I hope that you can learn from this little guide. =3
Intro Advice
----------------
1: Don¡¯t start every single sentence---or even every other sentence---with ¡®he/she¡¯, ¡®his/her¡¯, the character¡¯s name, or ¡®the¡¯. It looks choppy, repetitive, and boring. Avoid using the same word more than once per post.
2: Add some scenery! Don¡¯t just say things like ¡®She stood in the forest.¡¯ What is that forest like? What season is it? What is the weather like? Are there animals around? What kind of animals? Is there a settlement nearby?
3: Grammar, punctuation, and spelling are ALL important. You don¡¯t have to be perfect, but you do have to be careful to avoid confusion.
Consider the following sentence:
Let¡¯s eat, Sally!
Let¡¯s eat Sally!
In the first one, someone is inviting little Sally over to eat. In the second one, someone is suggesting that Sally becomes dinner. Amazing what difference a single little blob can make.
4: Include a personality. I can¡¯t tell you how many beautifully written intros that include no life and no personality for the character! To do this, include thoughts; what is your character thinking?
5: Do NOT include your character¡¯s entire life history in the intro. Blech¡¦that just annoys me. A well-played role play slowly reveals a history instead of plunking it in someone¡¯s lap.
6: There are other ways to describe your character¡¯s eyes aside from ¡®orbs¡¯.
7: Everyone and their best friend¡¯s dog has a character whose mother died while she was young and then her father hated her for it, beating the poor girl mercilessly until she snapped and killed him. Don¡¯t do it. -_-;; There are far more interesting histories out there than THIS tired over-used idiocy.
8: Character interaction is the MOST important thing about a role play. Don¡¯t have a character who is impossible to interact with.
9: Insta-Love does not exist. Don¡¯t try to make it happen unless you want to ruin what could be a good role play.
10: If you absolutely MUST have twins, then please give them two separate personalities! I¡¯m sick and tired of reading about all these twins who are exactly alike. Real twins are NOT like that. Oh, and if you are doubling, don¡¯t make the elder twin (who is most likely male), be overprotective of his younger and more vulnerable sister. Again, real twins are not like that. I have a younger brother and I am NOT overprotective about him.
11: Finally, look at your key-board. Right now. Do it. You see the big bar-like key at the bottom of it? That is what we call the ¡®space bar¡¯. It creates spaces. Use it after every comma, period, and between words.
12: Don¡¯t use slash marks (//) as ¡®decoration¡¯ in your title. It creates confusion.
13: Know the difference between ¡®their¡¯, ¡®they¡¯re¡¯, and ¡®there'. It is rather annoying to try to guess which one you mean. While it would be mighty nice to have mind-reading abilities, most of us do not know what you are thinking.
Their: used as a possessive.
¡®That is their car¡¯.
There: a direction.
¡®It is over there¡¯.
They¡¯re: A contraction of ¡®they¡¯ and ¡®are¡¯.
¡®They¡¯re going on vacation¡¯.
14: Always think to yourself, ¡°Can someone else easily fit their character into this setting?¡± I¡¯ve seen many beautifully-written intros that -gasp- give no setting, thus making it impossible for other people to join.
15: A role play involves more than just one person. Don¡¯t make up a plot that revolves solely around your character. They get boring quickly.
16: For every strength that your character has, there should be a weakness. Come on¡¦ playing with an all-powerful character would be boring anyway; it would be too easy!
17: Show. Don¡¯t tell. You should be able to _show_ that your character has a specific personality through their actions and thoughts. Don¡¯t simply _tell_ your reader that he/she is pessimistic or something.
18: Read the intro BEFORE you join. Read it thoroughly or else you will miss details and end up looking silly when your character is in the middle of a pretty field while all the other characters are in a seedy tavern in mid-winter.
19: Type up every post (including introductions) in Word or a document program before posting it. The spellcheck on Word (or a similar program) should be able to catch most spelling errors. ^^ Very useful.
20: And finally, if the creator of the board asks you to leave, do it.
Don¡¯t gripe.
Don¡¯t complain.
Just leave.
Grades of Literacy
---------------------
Illiterate
Semi-Literate
Literate
Semi-Advanced
Advanced
¡®Faces¡¯
--------
xP Used to express disgust
xD Expresses laughter
x3 Expresses something slightly evil but amusing at the same time
=3 Innocent happy grin; cuteness
=D Happy; ecstatic
^^ Happy
Role playing Terms
-----------------------
1337 (leet): Short for ¡®leet-speak¡¯, which is the practice of butchering the English language by replacing letters with numbers or symbols. Example: |-|3Y!
Advanced: The highest level of role playing. If you are role playing with someone who is advanced, their spelling/grammar/punctuation is nearly perfect, their characters are wonderfully unique and have personalities of their own, and they are able to keep a plot going.
Anthropomorphic: The attribution of human characteristics to an animal. Such as an animal who walks on hind legs, talks, or is otherwise human-like. Shortened to ¡®Anthro¡¯ usually.
Attention Grabbing: a method by which a character forces him or herself into the main spotlight of a role play that he/she did not start, usually by a dramatic occurrence.
Bump: Acronym for ¡®Bring Up My Post¡¯. Posted to bring a board from the bottom of the list back to the top.
Canon: Original characters from a specific pre-created world, such as an anime, tv show, movie, book, etc.
Charrie: Short for character. Some people prefer using ¡®chara¡¯.
Character: An imaginary person represented in a work of fiction, in this case a role play. Your character is who you are in a role play.
Chat-Speak: Somewhat like 1337. Chat-speak guts the English language of any dignity that it has by shortening words. Example:¡®U¡¯, ¡®r¡¯, ¡®lyk¡¯, etc.
Despie: Short for desperate. Despies are ¡®desperate¡¯ for attention, either romantically or otherwise. They will generally try to make themselves the entire focus of the role play and not allow any room for anyone else. Their characters tend to be perfect in every single way. A common high school despie would be the blonde-haired, blue-eyed beauty queen who is also the captain of the cheerleading squad, captain of the soccer team, and probably in choir as a soprano as well. Everyone loves her, and despite the fact that she is rich, she is not snobby and loves everyone back. No doubt, she has scars on her wrist from when her abusive father tried to kill her. xP Avoid despies at ALL COSTS!
Doubling: Playing two characters at the same time, usually a male and a female.
FxF: Simply put, female romance. No men or boys involved. Also called femme-slash.
Forbiddens: Used to hint at outside messaging services, such as AIM, MSN, or YIM.
Gary-Stu: A male Mary-Sue. He is very much like a male despie. Perfect, handsome, and all together vomit-inducing.
Genre: Type of role play. Example: High school, Modern Teen, Modern Vampire, Medieval Fantasy, etc.
Godmode: When you control something in the role play without the role player¡¯s permission. Scene-changing is an example of this. Another example is when you control someone else¡¯s character.
Example: Mary screamed her anger at Gary. Gathering up all the fury of her slight body, she punched him in the face, breaking his nose¡¯. No. BAD IDEA!! You cannot say whether or not Mary¡¯s blow struck. That is up to Gary¡¯s role player.
IC: Short for In Character. Basically, this is where all the real role playing happens.
Illiterate: Traditionally, this means ¡®unable to read and write¡¯. However, it does say in the dictionary that it means, ¡®Violating prescribed standards of speech or writing¡¯. Illiterates use horrible grammar, spelling, punctuation, and common sense. Generally used as an insult.
Intro: Short for introduction. This is how you bring your character into a role play and is the MOST important part. Think of it as a first impression.
Literate: Opposite of ¡®Illiterate¡¯. Able to read and write. Knowledgeable in the art of writing. Familiar with literature.
Lurker: A person who is merely observing the role play and not actually taking a part in it.
MxM: Male romance. No females involved.
MxF: Romance between a male and female.
M00fin: ¡¦ muffin. I have no idea how this got started¡¦
Made-Up: A character that is made-up for a particular canon role play, like an anime, TV show, movie, or book.
Mary-Sue: Female Gary-Stu. Generally a despie as well.
Metagaming: Acting out of the game. A good example of metagaming would be if a character just randomly knows the name, weakness, history, etc of another character without even having met. Using knowledge that the character has not yet gathered IC-ly yet.
N00b: An offensive term, much like despie. Annoying person who posts bad (often list-format) descriptions of their character, uses chatspeak in every post, shortcuts in their posts, godmodes using their characters and refuses to take a hint when they are corrected, oftentimes reacting violently to being told that their character does not fit.
OOC: Out Of Character. Chat that goes on outside of a role play.
One-on-One: A role play between only two people.
Pl00shie: ¡¦plushie. Another term that somehow got started¡¦
Plot: ¡¦ I don¡¯t actually have to tell you this, do I? Fine¡¦the pattern of events or the ¡®main story¡¯ of a role play.
Powerplaying: Much like godmoding and metagaming, powerplaying is taking control of something that you have no control over.
Quad: In opposition to Anthro, Quad is the role playing of animals as they are, on all four legs, hence the term ¡®quad¡¯.
Role Player: A person who role plays.
Role Play: An escape from the world of reality. Similar to the pretend games when you were a child, role playing involves typing up a story with other people.
Seme: ¡®Dominant¡¯ or ¡®top¡¯. Typically used for MxM relationships.
Semi-Literate: The level right above illiterate, but not quite literate¡¦they have a few problems with posts that lack originality, have spelling/grammar/punctuation errors, and unoriginal characters.
Slash: Ah, slash¡¦ my favorite¡¦ ^^ Less traditional pairings. Love that occurs between the same gender, like males who like other males and females who prefer other females. These role plays are usually marked by a slash (//) in the title. This is why you should not use slash marks purely for decoration.
Twists: Short for plot-twist. A new variation on a specified plot.
Uke: ¡®Submissive¡¯ or ¡®bottom¡¯. Used most commonly in MxM relationships.
Wolfspeak or Wolf Speak: It is generally associated with wolf role plays, although it can be present in all animal role plays. Basically, it is replacing common words with more ¡®flowery¡¯ terms or metaphors. ¡®Legs¡¯ becomes ¡®pillars¡¯, ¡®eyes¡¯ become ¡®occuli¡¯ or ¡®orbs¡¯, ¡®female¡¯ becomes ¡®fae¡¯, ¡®male¡¯ becomes ¡®brute¡¯, etc. It is generally discouraged by those who do not use it because they claim that it tends to use words that either don¡¯t exist or misuse those that do. Those who do use it, defend it vigorously, arguing that it is the art of using metaphors.
No doubt, a few of you are
wondering, ¡®What makes this guy think that he is good enough to tell me how to role play?¡¯ -grins- I would wonder the same thing, I admit. I¡¯ve been role playing for several years now and consider myself to be an Advanced Role Player. I know that this makes me sound like my ego has its own gravitational field (which it probably does), but I have learned from years of experience. I hope that you can learn from this little guide. =3
Intro Advice
----------------
1: Don¡¯t start every single sentence---or even every other sentence---with ¡®he/she¡¯, ¡®his/her¡¯, the character¡¯s name, or ¡®the¡¯. It looks choppy, repetitive, and boring. Avoid using the same word more than once per post.
2: Add some scenery! Don¡¯t just say things like ¡®She stood in the forest.¡¯ What is that forest like? What season is it? What is the weather like? Are there animals around? What kind of animals? Is there a settlement nearby?
3: Grammar, punctuation, and spelling are ALL important. You don¡¯t have to be perfect, but you do have to be careful to avoid confusion.
Consider the following sentence:
Let¡¯s eat, Sally!
Let¡¯s eat Sally!
In the first one, someone is inviting little Sally over to eat. In the second one, someone is suggesting that Sally becomes dinner. Amazing what difference a single little blob can make.
4: Include a personality. I can¡¯t tell you how many beautifully written intros that include no life and no personality for the character! To do this, include thoughts; what is your character thinking?
5: Do NOT include your character¡¯s entire life history in the intro. Blech¡¦that just annoys me. A well-played role play slowly reveals a history instead of plunking it in someone¡¯s lap.
6: There are other ways to describe your character¡¯s eyes aside from ¡®orbs¡¯.
7: Everyone and their best friend¡¯s dog has a character whose mother died while she was young and then her father hated her for it, beating the poor girl mercilessly until she snapped and killed him. Don¡¯t do it. -_-;; There are far more interesting histories out there than THIS tired over-used idiocy.
8: Character interaction is the MOST important thing about a role play. Don¡¯t have a character who is impossible to interact with.
9: Insta-Love does not exist. Don¡¯t try to make it happen unless you want to ruin what could be a good role play.
10: If you absolutely MUST have twins, then please give them two separate personalities! I¡¯m sick and tired of reading about all these twins who are exactly alike. Real twins are NOT like that. Oh, and if you are doubling, don¡¯t make the elder twin (who is most likely male), be overprotective of his younger and more vulnerable sister. Again, real twins are not like that. I have a younger brother and I am NOT overprotective about him.
11: Finally, look at your key-board. Right now. Do it. You see the big bar-like key at the bottom of it? That is what we call the ¡®space bar¡¯. It creates spaces. Use it after every comma, period, and between words.
12: Don¡¯t use slash marks (//) as ¡®decoration¡¯ in your title. It creates confusion.
13: Know the difference between ¡®their¡¯, ¡®they¡¯re¡¯, and ¡®there'. It is rather annoying to try to guess which one you mean. While it would be mighty nice to have mind-reading abilities, most of us do not know what you are thinking.
Their: used as a possessive.
¡®That is their car¡¯.
There: a direction.
¡®It is over there¡¯.
They¡¯re: A contraction of ¡®they¡¯ and ¡®are¡¯.
¡®They¡¯re going on vacation¡¯.
14: Always think to yourself, ¡°Can someone else easily fit their character into this setting?¡± I¡¯ve seen many beautifully-written intros that -gasp- give no setting, thus making it impossible for other people to join.
15: A role play involves more than just one person. Don¡¯t make up a plot that revolves solely around your character. They get boring quickly.
16: For every strength that your character has, there should be a weakness. Come on¡¦ playing with an all-powerful character would be boring anyway; it would be too easy!
17: Show. Don¡¯t tell. You should be able to _show_ that your character has a specific personality through their actions and thoughts. Don¡¯t simply _tell_ your reader that he/she is pessimistic or something.
18: Read the intro BEFORE you join. Read it thoroughly or else you will miss details and end up looking silly when your character is in the middle of a pretty field while all the other characters are in a seedy tavern in mid-winter.
19: Type up every post (including introductions) in Word or a document program before posting it. The spellcheck on Word (or a similar program) should be able to catch most spelling errors. ^^ Very useful.
20: And finally, if the creator of the board asks you to leave, do it.
Don¡¯t gripe.
Don¡¯t complain.
Just leave.
Grades of Literacy
---------------------
Illiterate
Semi-Literate
Literate
Semi-Advanced
Advanced
¡®Faces¡¯
--------
xP Used to express disgust
xD Expresses laughter
x3 Expresses something slightly evil but amusing at the same time
=3 Innocent happy grin; cuteness
=D Happy; ecstatic
^^ Happy
Role playing Terms
-----------------------
1337 (leet): Short for ¡®leet-speak¡¯, which is the practice of butchering the English language by replacing letters with numbers or symbols. Example: |-|3Y!
Advanced: The highest level of role playing. If you are role playing with someone who is advanced, their spelling/grammar/punctuation is nearly perfect, their characters are wonderfully unique and have personalities of their own, and they are able to keep a plot going.
Anthropomorphic: The attribution of human characteristics to an animal. Such as an animal who walks on hind legs, talks, or is otherwise human-like. Shortened to ¡®Anthro¡¯ usually.
Attention Grabbing: a method by which a character forces him or herself into the main spotlight of a role play that he/she did not start, usually by a dramatic occurrence.
Bump: Acronym for ¡®Bring Up My Post¡¯. Posted to bring a board from the bottom of the list back to the top.
Canon: Original characters from a specific pre-created world, such as an anime, tv show, movie, book, etc.
Charrie: Short for character. Some people prefer using ¡®chara¡¯.
Character: An imaginary person represented in a work of fiction, in this case a role play. Your character is who you are in a role play.
Chat-Speak: Somewhat like 1337. Chat-speak guts the English language of any dignity that it has by shortening words. Example:¡®U¡¯, ¡®r¡¯, ¡®lyk¡¯, etc.
Despie: Short for desperate. Despies are ¡®desperate¡¯ for attention, either romantically or otherwise. They will generally try to make themselves the entire focus of the role play and not allow any room for anyone else. Their characters tend to be perfect in every single way. A common high school despie would be the blonde-haired, blue-eyed beauty queen who is also the captain of the cheerleading squad, captain of the soccer team, and probably in choir as a soprano as well. Everyone loves her, and despite the fact that she is rich, she is not snobby and loves everyone back. No doubt, she has scars on her wrist from when her abusive father tried to kill her. xP Avoid despies at ALL COSTS!
Doubling: Playing two characters at the same time, usually a male and a female.
FxF: Simply put, female romance. No men or boys involved. Also called femme-slash.
Forbiddens: Used to hint at outside messaging services, such as AIM, MSN, or YIM.
Gary-Stu: A male Mary-Sue. He is very much like a male despie. Perfect, handsome, and all together vomit-inducing.
Genre: Type of role play. Example: High school, Modern Teen, Modern Vampire, Medieval Fantasy, etc.
Godmode: When you control something in the role play without the role player¡¯s permission. Scene-changing is an example of this. Another example is when you control someone else¡¯s character.
Example: Mary screamed her anger at Gary. Gathering up all the fury of her slight body, she punched him in the face, breaking his nose¡¯. No. BAD IDEA!! You cannot say whether or not Mary¡¯s blow struck. That is up to Gary¡¯s role player.
IC: Short for In Character. Basically, this is where all the real role playing happens.
Illiterate: Traditionally, this means ¡®unable to read and write¡¯. However, it does say in the dictionary that it means, ¡®Violating prescribed standards of speech or writing¡¯. Illiterates use horrible grammar, spelling, punctuation, and common sense. Generally used as an insult.
Intro: Short for introduction. This is how you bring your character into a role play and is the MOST important part. Think of it as a first impression.
Literate: Opposite of ¡®Illiterate¡¯. Able to read and write. Knowledgeable in the art of writing. Familiar with literature.
Lurker: A person who is merely observing the role play and not actually taking a part in it.
MxM: Male romance. No females involved.
MxF: Romance between a male and female.
M00fin: ¡¦ muffin. I have no idea how this got started¡¦
Made-Up: A character that is made-up for a particular canon role play, like an anime, TV show, movie, or book.
Mary-Sue: Female Gary-Stu. Generally a despie as well.
Metagaming: Acting out of the game. A good example of metagaming would be if a character just randomly knows the name, weakness, history, etc of another character without even having met. Using knowledge that the character has not yet gathered IC-ly yet.
N00b: An offensive term, much like despie. Annoying person who posts bad (often list-format) descriptions of their character, uses chatspeak in every post, shortcuts in their posts, godmodes using their characters and refuses to take a hint when they are corrected, oftentimes reacting violently to being told that their character does not fit.
OOC: Out Of Character. Chat that goes on outside of a role play.
One-on-One: A role play between only two people.
Pl00shie: ¡¦plushie. Another term that somehow got started¡¦
Plot: ¡¦ I don¡¯t actually have to tell you this, do I? Fine¡¦the pattern of events or the ¡®main story¡¯ of a role play.
Powerplaying: Much like godmoding and metagaming, powerplaying is taking control of something that you have no control over.
Quad: In opposition to Anthro, Quad is the role playing of animals as they are, on all four legs, hence the term ¡®quad¡¯.
Role Player: A person who role plays.
Role Play: An escape from the world of reality. Similar to the pretend games when you were a child, role playing involves typing up a story with other people.
Seme: ¡®Dominant¡¯ or ¡®top¡¯. Typically used for MxM relationships.
Semi-Literate: The level right above illiterate, but not quite literate¡¦they have a few problems with posts that lack originality, have spelling/grammar/punctuation errors, and unoriginal characters.
Slash: Ah, slash¡¦ my favorite¡¦ ^^ Less traditional pairings. Love that occurs between the same gender, like males who like other males and females who prefer other females. These role plays are usually marked by a slash (//) in the title. This is why you should not use slash marks purely for decoration.
Twists: Short for plot-twist. A new variation on a specified plot.
Uke: ¡®Submissive¡¯ or ¡®bottom¡¯. Used most commonly in MxM relationships.
Wolfspeak or Wolf Speak: It is generally associated with wolf role plays, although it can be present in all animal role plays. Basically, it is replacing common words with more ¡®flowery¡¯ terms or metaphors. ¡®Legs¡¯ becomes ¡®pillars¡¯, ¡®eyes¡¯ become ¡®occuli¡¯ or ¡®orbs¡¯, ¡®female¡¯ becomes ¡®fae¡¯, ¡®male¡¯ becomes ¡®brute¡¯, etc. It is generally discouraged by those who do not use it because they claim that it tends to use words that either don¡¯t exist or misuse those that do. Those who do use it, defend it vigorously, arguing that it is the art of using metaphors.
