Roleplay 101 on Atlantic
From Atlantic Roleplay Wiki
Here are some of the basics of RP as its accepted on the shard, all it takes is a little practice to establish good habits.
Some quick definitions:
RP – roleplaying. Acting out the part of a character who “lives” in UO, rather than behaving as yourself. Char – abbreviation for character. IG – in game, playing UO. RL – real life, also abbreviated IRL for in real life. IC – in character. The act of RPing your char. OOC – out of character. Not RPing your char, acting as your normal self Meta-gaming – Using OOC knowledge that you personally have, but your char does not have IC, to take action IC. This is highly frowned upon. For example, if you are meeting a character IG for the first time, you do not know their name until introductions are made, you overhear someone speaking of them, or (like Molly of H*G for example) they are famous. Your char can’t actually see their name floating over their head, nor can you tell what guild they are in unless they are wearing a uniform, even if they are flagging orange to us. Sometimes introductions are less formal than “hail, my name is ___”: for example, we spent an evening sparring with AOF, so you can just assume your char knows all their names at this point. This is just a small example, so please ask me about other scenarios if you have questions. Just use common sense. God-moding – Sometimes used as a synonym for meta-gaming, but it also means RPing in such a way that your char is invincible or invulnerable to check or attack. This is an extremely bad thing to do, and probably one of the worst mistakes one can make in RP. For example, if you don’t have a single skill GMed, you are not going to stand a chance trying to pick an RPed fight with someone like Arlin or a large party of orcs, because if you actually fought you’d get your butt handed to you on a plate, so you shouldn’t pretend that you do. Basically, don’t act like an ass. Again, just use common sense. *grin*
Quick and Simple Tips for Basic RP:
1. Take off your helmet when you are not fighting. Think about it… those things were stuffy! UOA has a built-in macro for “remove hat” which is very handy.
2. Don’t walk around carrying your weapons and shield. The only times you should have weapons drawn are when a fight is about to break out. Think of it the same way as how you might act if you were carrying a gun in RL. A sword and shield are just like that in UO. You wouldn’t just walk around with it in your hand, because that would be very threatening to people. Perhaps some arrogant lout might brandish his sword in a tavern when he’s in his cups, but Lady Arcana expects better behavior from the Knights of Sosaria.
3. Don’t use modern slang or internet speak such as “lol”, smileys, or even “hehe”. Use emotes instead such as *laughs* *frowns* *smiles* *guffaw* *chuckle* etc. Also, emotes are generally acceptable only for gestures, facial expressions, and noises. Emotes such as *thinks Rhen’s hat looks silly* are amusing amongst ourselves, but aren’t really proper in common RP as no one else would be able to hear your thoughts. A more RP-appropriate version of the same thing might be *points and laughs at Rhen’s hat*. Emotes can be used in 2D by typing a colon and a space or just a colon in 3D.
4. Try to avoid speaking occ around other RPers. This includes talking in [brackets] which should really be saved for emergency ooc like [gotta log, cat set my desk on fire!] or [one sec, phone] or [sorry, lost conn]. In general, party chat is best for ooc talk. Simply start a party, use ICQ, or recall to an area more secluded if you need to chat ooc about something.
5. Just as real people are not perfect, no character should be without flaws, weaknesses, fears, and shortcomings. This gets back to the definition of god-moding. Remembering that your character is an imperfect person will make them more believable and realistic. It will also make your RP more in-depth and your char more fun for others to be around.
6. RP should never cause distress to another player. Always remember that there is a real person on the other end of the screen, and your RP should not be hateful or meant to grief or cause stress. We’re here to have fun.
Dealing with Troublemakers:
Sooner or later it will happen. You will encounter a so-called RPer who meta-games, is god-moding or is just a complete ass...The majority of the time, someone takes advantage of the Trammel ruleset and not being warred to a guild in order to god-mode. The best thing to do is stay IC no matter what, and try to deal with them or just ignore them if they are being completely unreasonable. And remember you can insult someone all you want IC, just don’t start emoting things like *kills them* because that would also be god-moding. *grin* Any time you have a problem, make a note of their name, their guild tag, and tell me about it. I will deal with these kind of situations directly with their GM. Arguing about some immature jerk’s behavior with them on the spot never works out well and it just brings us down to their level. Most importably, its just a game. Have a thick skin, don’t let other people’s BS and issues ruin your good time, and remember for the sake of perspective that the people you see acting like immature morons in UO are, in fact, immature morons in RL too!
Thank you Arcana for this piece from your guild archives.