Roleplaying Etiquette

[Bones]

Hey guys! This is going to be a little database of general roleplaying etiquette. I will add to this if people want to make suggestions, or if I think of something later on. This is by no means law, and each roleplayer, along with each session, is different, which is important to keep in mind.

How to create a character:
   First, let's talk about how to create your characters. If you are creating a character for a specific RP, try to keep your partner's preferences in mind. If they have a particular dislike for a certain species or gender, try to fit your character to that if possible.
   If you are new to RP, you may not be very well versed in creating unique characters. That's okay! Everyone is new at some point. Try to give your character one specific interest or desire that is unique to any of your other characters. From there, your character will begin to take shape on his or her own. For example: most of my characters tend to end up being book nerds because I am a book nerd; however, my character Kalani is interested to the point of obsession with space, and that makes her unique from, say, Kiri, who simply enjoys reading as a means of entertainment rather than learning about something specific.
   Jumping off of that, also make sure that you play your characters differently. Each character should have their own natural reactions and quirks. You shouldn't be able to just change your nickname in the chat and make no other change to your behavior. Each character should have their own unique draw and allure.
   Secondly, we've got to talk about magic/powers. Many people tend to enjoy magic in their RP, or some form of magic. Magic is totally okay! But too much magic can be a bore. Make sure that your character has a baked in weakness, and a limited use of magic. Your character shouldn't be an all powerful goddess. We'll get into why this is important a little bit later.

How to post:
   The most important part about crafting your posts is to know what your partner prefers and what you prefer. Such as with perspective. Most tend to favor third person, either past or present tense. This seems to work well, and if you aren't sure what your partner prefers, defaulting to this will likely give you the best results. Some people enjoy first person, but this is much more rare, and doesn't provide a story feel. This perspective can also get very confusing.
   Paragraph RP tends to be something idolized and talked about a lot. You don't need to craft a wall to be good at roleplaying! A surprise, I know. But let's talk about why. What is important in a roleplaying post? It isn't length, or number of paragraphs, or how big a wall you can create. The important part is the content. I could craft a post five paragraphs long, but if the story doesn't go anywhere, my partner has nothing to respond to. Be careful not to give your partner too much or too little to work with. Keep in mind your character's inner dialogue, actions, and reactions. Make something happen in your post, so that your partner can make something happen in theirs. You two are telling a story together.
   Now for one of my gigantic pet peeves: chat posting. Most of us here on FW use /me liberally. And there's nothing wrong with that! The /me command can really be an easy way to start your post. However, I've noticed that many people don't understand the /me command properly! Here's an example of what /me outputs:
   Bones eats a strawberry.
Notice that that post includes my name in the action. The post is telling you what Bones is doing. Here is an example of how many on FW tend to use the /me command:
   Bones she wanted to eat a strawberry.
What's wrong with this? The /me command is trying to use the user's name in the sentence, but because of the sentence used it doesn't make grammatical sense. These are obviously very simple examples, but you get the point of what the issue with the command is!

How to craft the content of your post:
   As you might recall, I said we'd get to the problem of Mary-Sue, all powerful characters later. This is later. The issue with an all powerful character is that your partner often times cannot do anything against or with your partner. For example, if your character is a goddess with many magical abilities and you get into a fight with your partner, you will win by default if there isn't a fault or weakness built into your character. Everyone knows this. But the sad downfall is that, no matter how beautifully created your character is otherwise, if your character has no weakness, many people will not want to play against that character and he or she becomes wasted.
   This brings up another thing, which I touched just briefly on: giving your partner too much in a post. If you are describing your actions to the point of giving them no room to react, you aren't going to have a very enjoyable RP. Make sure that when your character acts, you allow your partner to react to that. Don't do the reacting for them. Keep in mind that the chat has a built in dice roll function, should you want to leave your actions and reactions up to chance. This is especially useful in RPs that involve some sort of combat, or even a simple tussle between characters. If you aren't using the dice roll function, just remember that your character isn't perfect. He or she could totally just get hit in the face with the book being tossed at you by your partner!
   Further, not every character is going to get along. If two characters just happen to not work together, don't be afraid to let it go. Maybe try something different, or maybe play on the fact that the two characters are not compatible. Each new discovery of your character, and your partner's character provides opportunity. Never change your character's personality to fit or bend to your partner's character (unless discussed for the purpose of the story you are trying to create, etc).

That's all for now! I'll add more as I think of things, and as people suggest things! I'd like to create a briefly worded RP pet peeve list, so if you have any suggestions for that, let me know!

Remember that this is not all inclusive, and not everything here will apply to every roleplay session or every character or every player. This is simply the basics, as told by a writer and well versed roleplayer.