General Roleplay Advice Thread
Posted: Tue Oct 01, 2013 3:20 pm
Hi everyone. Warning, gonna be a long one.
So I've recently returned to Illa, mostly because I heard about the VBU. And the game definitely has massive improvements, I'm actually enjoying myself.
However, if I'm honest (and I feel like any old hands might agree with me on this), the standard of roleplay has fallen in Illarion. Its still decent and better than most games, but its not what it was. Why is that? Well, probably a few reasons, but the most obvious one is an influx of new players with fewer old hands to guide them. People copy others, and it creates a cycle. That being said, this thread isn't aimed at anyone in particular. There are definitely still good rpers here, this is just a help thread aimed at improving the community! Oh, and I don't pretend to be a genius either. I've been roleplaying for a while though, and these are some (small and big) tips which I've picked up over the years. And I'd love it if other players posted here with advice or questions to add, and maybe we can get a discussion going?
1) The big one. A Characters 'voice'. What I mean by this, is that the vast, vast majority people who roleplay, have trouble creating a distinctive personality, attitude and what I call 'voice' which isn't basically 'themselves with benefits'. Now there's nothing wrong with adding parts of yourself to a character. Its inescapable, I don't care who you are. However, there are ways to make yourself more distinctive than just 'Me as a buff badass warrior in generic fantasy land', or 'me as a sexy pointy eared immortal who can cast spells and stuff'. We kinda want to avoid that.
So how do we avoid it? Well its actually really simple. Do the basics. Come up with a backstory (more on that later), give them at least one primary goal/aspect which would be alien to you IRL. Give them a weakness too. So yeah, the basics. Once they are over with, things get a bit more complicated. I've noticed that a lot of new roleplayers make one major mistake when creating a character. They make that character abstract in their head, which ironically prevents the character from getting an identity and just ends up being them. You should always base your character of someone, or aspects of multiple people. It could be someone you know IRL, it could be a character you read about, etc. Obviously don't just copy something, but always use someone for inspiration. Trust me, its how writers do it.
2) The small stuff. Punctuation. This isn't a big deal, but use punctuation. Adding fullstops and capital letters isn't hard, and it makes things easier to read plus helps prevent laziness. And new players will copy you.
3) Give your character a unique habit, or quirk. I've always found this super helpful. Everyone has personal quirks or habits. It could be something like cracking your knuckles, an odd laugh, a cough, doing something with your hair, shifting from foot to foot, a saying or greeting. Literally anything will do. The reasons this helps are several: It makes you stand out, not massively but it helps. People will remember it and associate it with the character. It helps you get into character. Everytime I have Sarai do one of her habits, it reminds me that I'm playing her, not me! Oh, and give them a weakness too! Everyone has weaknesses. Anything else is weird.
4) Backstory. Most important thing, don't write a novel. There's no need! In my experience, backstories develop naturally while we are playing the character. Of course you start of with something, an idea, a motivation, etc. But that backstory will change organically over the first few weeks. Let it happen. You are learning about this person as you play them, and thats the way its supposed to be. It really doesn't have to be more than, my character was X, and she/he arrived due to X. That sentence alone has unlimited potential which can go in any direction.
There's more, but I think thats enough for an OP. Like I said, hope we can get a discussion going and help any new players. Thanks guys! <3
Edit: Oh yeah, most important. Roleplay what you enjoy. If you aren't enjoying it, your roleplay will suck. That's all!
So I've recently returned to Illa, mostly because I heard about the VBU. And the game definitely has massive improvements, I'm actually enjoying myself.
However, if I'm honest (and I feel like any old hands might agree with me on this), the standard of roleplay has fallen in Illarion. Its still decent and better than most games, but its not what it was. Why is that? Well, probably a few reasons, but the most obvious one is an influx of new players with fewer old hands to guide them. People copy others, and it creates a cycle. That being said, this thread isn't aimed at anyone in particular. There are definitely still good rpers here, this is just a help thread aimed at improving the community! Oh, and I don't pretend to be a genius either. I've been roleplaying for a while though, and these are some (small and big) tips which I've picked up over the years. And I'd love it if other players posted here with advice or questions to add, and maybe we can get a discussion going?
1) The big one. A Characters 'voice'. What I mean by this, is that the vast, vast majority people who roleplay, have trouble creating a distinctive personality, attitude and what I call 'voice' which isn't basically 'themselves with benefits'. Now there's nothing wrong with adding parts of yourself to a character. Its inescapable, I don't care who you are. However, there are ways to make yourself more distinctive than just 'Me as a buff badass warrior in generic fantasy land', or 'me as a sexy pointy eared immortal who can cast spells and stuff'. We kinda want to avoid that.
So how do we avoid it? Well its actually really simple. Do the basics. Come up with a backstory (more on that later), give them at least one primary goal/aspect which would be alien to you IRL. Give them a weakness too. So yeah, the basics. Once they are over with, things get a bit more complicated. I've noticed that a lot of new roleplayers make one major mistake when creating a character. They make that character abstract in their head, which ironically prevents the character from getting an identity and just ends up being them. You should always base your character of someone, or aspects of multiple people. It could be someone you know IRL, it could be a character you read about, etc. Obviously don't just copy something, but always use someone for inspiration. Trust me, its how writers do it.
2) The small stuff. Punctuation. This isn't a big deal, but use punctuation. Adding fullstops and capital letters isn't hard, and it makes things easier to read plus helps prevent laziness. And new players will copy you.
3) Give your character a unique habit, or quirk. I've always found this super helpful. Everyone has personal quirks or habits. It could be something like cracking your knuckles, an odd laugh, a cough, doing something with your hair, shifting from foot to foot, a saying or greeting. Literally anything will do. The reasons this helps are several: It makes you stand out, not massively but it helps. People will remember it and associate it with the character. It helps you get into character. Everytime I have Sarai do one of her habits, it reminds me that I'm playing her, not me! Oh, and give them a weakness too! Everyone has weaknesses. Anything else is weird.
4) Backstory. Most important thing, don't write a novel. There's no need! In my experience, backstories develop naturally while we are playing the character. Of course you start of with something, an idea, a motivation, etc. But that backstory will change organically over the first few weeks. Let it happen. You are learning about this person as you play them, and thats the way its supposed to be. It really doesn't have to be more than, my character was X, and she/he arrived due to X. That sentence alone has unlimited potential which can go in any direction.
There's more, but I think thats enough for an OP. Like I said, hope we can get a discussion going and help any new players. Thanks guys! <3
Edit: Oh yeah, most important. Roleplay what you enjoy. If you aren't enjoying it, your roleplay will suck. That's all!