Post by (Ingrid) on Aug 23, 2010 20:37:25 GMT 2
So this thread has basically been designed to give some helpful tips on what to do and what not to do while role-playing.
If Gods the game that you're playing
Well we must get more aquainted
So first things first if you don't want to be hated by other roleplayers don't godmode. This seems like a simple thing to avoid doesn't it? Well it actually isn't. When you write a reply read your thread carefully to make sure that you're not controlling another person's character. This can be as simple as you predicting what their reaction will be. Us humans are complicared and unpredictable creatures and people won't appreciate it if you decide that they will walk just because your character said so.
Don't:
Christopher smile knowing that the young woman was scared of him.
Do:
Chistopher smiled, hoping to intimidate the young woman into doing his bidding.
See the difference? I hope you do.
Another common way of godmodding is assuming that your character knows everything about other characters. Remember that if you've just met Suzie you won't know anything about her past, what she's thinking or where she plans on going in her life. If the person specifies that know one else knows something about their character then you don't know. Simple.
Today, I'm gonna try a little harder
Gonna make every minute last longer
And on to my next point. POST LENGTH. Breaking the Silence has a minimum posting length of 250 words, no less. This includes all opening posts.
One thing that I've seen on a number of sites is some one's posted a reply of a thousand words plus and then the next reply is barely 200 words. I'm begging you to not do this. You don't necessarily need to match the previous post, but please post something more. Remember that person slaved long and hard on their post and your 200 word reply is like a slap in the face. I can guarantee you that you can make a post of at least 500 words if you just take some extra time and use verbs, adjectives etc in your post. I cannot believe that your mind is so simple that you can't even describe your character's actions or mood.
We can chase the dark together
If you go then so will I
GRAMMAR GRAMMAR GRAMMAR! Please remember to check you grammar when writing replies to threads. The best part about the english language is the huge expanse of words we have at our dispossal to use. This means that instead of using happy, sad, and agry to describe a person's mood we can actually use words like morbid, estatic, overjoyed depressed etc.
Another amazing part of english is synonyms and Antonyms. This means that you don't need to use the same word continuously, you can use words with similar meanings. This is great because then you won't need to use words like murmur or mutter twenty times in one post.
But on the note of that, please remember to use a dictionary if you're not sure of the meaning of the word you want to use. The best part is that these days you don't need to look for a dictionary, you can just google a word and viola there's the meaning for you so please make sure you know what a word means before you use it. Don't use it just because it makes you sound awesomely smart, please. I'm begging you.
Please check you punctuation like the saying goes:
Let's eat gandma
Let's eat, grandma
As this saying shows, punctuation saves lives. So don't think that punctuation is just another irritation, it isn't. Please don't write an extremely long sentence, just to prove that you know what commas can do, we also know what they do, and writing a sentence with more than three commas is horrible to read, the sentence just goes on and on and on and on.....
So please try and limit your commas to about two per sentence maximum and make you sentence about two lines. I know it might seem silly that I say this BUT since people have a thing for long sentences I have to say it.
But I'm still caged inside
Somebody get me through this nightmare
May Sues are seen as the lowest of lows, so please make sure that you have not created one. A simple test is does your character have good and negative things about them? Or is he/she perfect beyond compare?
But the problem is even if your character does have flaws, you may have gone over board on them. And I mean emo/goth/psychopath/serial killer overboard.
My memory is cruel
I'm queen of attention to details
I know some of you might think this would be obvious but please read a post properly before you post a reply! If you just skim through a post before replying you might just miss some facts that are crucial for your character to take note of. If their character does certain things and wears certain clothes, it may change the whole outcome of your reply.Yes some people on BTS do have extremely long posting lengths, but often they do this for a reason and include crucial information about their character and their character's various opinions.
So I'm only going to ask you once, please read posts of other's PROPERLY. This will save others from getting irritated and will save you from being shunned every single thread. A word of advice, read posts a few times before replying to them. This way you will hopefully not miss any major details. I understand that no one's perfect and that you will still miss details every now and again, but this way you should hopefully not miss them too often and other roleplayers are more forgiving towards the occassional slip-up than the constant one.
Do you remember in December
How we swore we'd never change
Please remember to allow your character to grow in terms of personality etc. Little Suzie isn't the same person she was a year ago. Remember one of the amazing things about humans is our ability to adapt to our surroundings, so unless your character is a robot he/she will change. It won't be drastic changes most of the time, but changes happen all the time.
Your character may have a certain opinion of a group of people and they meet some one who forces them to change their opinion. Whether the change is for better or worse depends entirely on the interaction between the two characters.
That I could have sworn I'd heard him say it
Ten thousand times, oh, if only I had been listening
I'm sure there will be people who hate me for saying this but don't you dare base any of your characters on those from a certain vampire love story. We will eat you. Seriously, if I see anyone who in anyway reminds me of ANY of those characters they will not be accepted. In fact if I see any characters that are as deep as those characters we will not accept you.
Why? Simple, because I refuse to see any characters that are about as deep as a puddle. I'm meaning puddles you see after a rainstorm, not the puddle that the British refer to. Yes, if we see an app like this and I reply you WILL get a reply asking you to not make puddle characters. If you don't listen, your app will be rejected. You have been warned.
If Gods the game that you're playing
Well we must get more aquainted
So first things first if you don't want to be hated by other roleplayers don't godmode. This seems like a simple thing to avoid doesn't it? Well it actually isn't. When you write a reply read your thread carefully to make sure that you're not controlling another person's character. This can be as simple as you predicting what their reaction will be. Us humans are complicared and unpredictable creatures and people won't appreciate it if you decide that they will walk just because your character said so.
Don't:
Christopher smile knowing that the young woman was scared of him.
Do:
Chistopher smiled, hoping to intimidate the young woman into doing his bidding.
See the difference? I hope you do.
Another common way of godmodding is assuming that your character knows everything about other characters. Remember that if you've just met Suzie you won't know anything about her past, what she's thinking or where she plans on going in her life. If the person specifies that know one else knows something about their character then you don't know. Simple.
Today, I'm gonna try a little harder
Gonna make every minute last longer
And on to my next point. POST LENGTH. Breaking the Silence has a minimum posting length of 250 words, no less. This includes all opening posts.
One thing that I've seen on a number of sites is some one's posted a reply of a thousand words plus and then the next reply is barely 200 words. I'm begging you to not do this. You don't necessarily need to match the previous post, but please post something more. Remember that person slaved long and hard on their post and your 200 word reply is like a slap in the face. I can guarantee you that you can make a post of at least 500 words if you just take some extra time and use verbs, adjectives etc in your post. I cannot believe that your mind is so simple that you can't even describe your character's actions or mood.
We can chase the dark together
If you go then so will I
GRAMMAR GRAMMAR GRAMMAR! Please remember to check you grammar when writing replies to threads. The best part about the english language is the huge expanse of words we have at our dispossal to use. This means that instead of using happy, sad, and agry to describe a person's mood we can actually use words like morbid, estatic, overjoyed depressed etc.
Another amazing part of english is synonyms and Antonyms. This means that you don't need to use the same word continuously, you can use words with similar meanings. This is great because then you won't need to use words like murmur or mutter twenty times in one post.
But on the note of that, please remember to use a dictionary if you're not sure of the meaning of the word you want to use. The best part is that these days you don't need to look for a dictionary, you can just google a word and viola there's the meaning for you so please make sure you know what a word means before you use it. Don't use it just because it makes you sound awesomely smart, please. I'm begging you.
Please check you punctuation like the saying goes:
Let's eat gandma
Let's eat, grandma
As this saying shows, punctuation saves lives. So don't think that punctuation is just another irritation, it isn't. Please don't write an extremely long sentence, just to prove that you know what commas can do, we also know what they do, and writing a sentence with more than three commas is horrible to read, the sentence just goes on and on and on and on.....
So please try and limit your commas to about two per sentence maximum and make you sentence about two lines. I know it might seem silly that I say this BUT since people have a thing for long sentences I have to say it.
But I'm still caged inside
Somebody get me through this nightmare
May Sues are seen as the lowest of lows, so please make sure that you have not created one. A simple test is does your character have good and negative things about them? Or is he/she perfect beyond compare?
But the problem is even if your character does have flaws, you may have gone over board on them. And I mean emo/goth/psychopath/serial killer overboard.
My memory is cruel
I'm queen of attention to details
I know some of you might think this would be obvious but please read a post properly before you post a reply! If you just skim through a post before replying you might just miss some facts that are crucial for your character to take note of. If their character does certain things and wears certain clothes, it may change the whole outcome of your reply.Yes some people on BTS do have extremely long posting lengths, but often they do this for a reason and include crucial information about their character and their character's various opinions.
So I'm only going to ask you once, please read posts of other's PROPERLY. This will save others from getting irritated and will save you from being shunned every single thread. A word of advice, read posts a few times before replying to them. This way you will hopefully not miss any major details. I understand that no one's perfect and that you will still miss details every now and again, but this way you should hopefully not miss them too often and other roleplayers are more forgiving towards the occassional slip-up than the constant one.
Do you remember in December
How we swore we'd never change
Please remember to allow your character to grow in terms of personality etc. Little Suzie isn't the same person she was a year ago. Remember one of the amazing things about humans is our ability to adapt to our surroundings, so unless your character is a robot he/she will change. It won't be drastic changes most of the time, but changes happen all the time.
Your character may have a certain opinion of a group of people and they meet some one who forces them to change their opinion. Whether the change is for better or worse depends entirely on the interaction between the two characters.
That I could have sworn I'd heard him say it
Ten thousand times, oh, if only I had been listening
I'm sure there will be people who hate me for saying this but don't you dare base any of your characters on those from a certain vampire love story. We will eat you. Seriously, if I see anyone who in anyway reminds me of ANY of those characters they will not be accepted. In fact if I see any characters that are as deep as those characters we will not accept you.
Why? Simple, because I refuse to see any characters that are about as deep as a puddle. I'm meaning puddles you see after a rainstorm, not the puddle that the British refer to. Yes, if we see an app like this and I reply you WILL get a reply asking you to not make puddle characters. If you don't listen, your app will be rejected. You have been warned.