dearest spoocy how do i master the art of roleplay
- Healthy communication with your fellow roleplay partners is the most important thing about Roleplaying.
- Make sure to read the rules and muses pages of those you wish to seek out for roleplay. I've had one or two folks coming in that I had to politely decline roleplaying with because I fell under something that was in their "Do not interact" criteria (Not all DNI's relate to something that could be harmful. Some people just put DNI for things like enjoying specific fandoms or media.) Respect the rule list.
Most rule pages include no godmoding during interactions. Godmoding can fall under two different categories:
Being overpowered/untouchable
Deciding things about the other person's character.
Even the deities I portray in roleplay are not untouchable. They all have a weakness somewhere. Jano's is light sources. Polokus can be corrupted by Nightmare Influence or even fall into insanity, ect. Even the Knaarens have a way to kill em and not all of them share the same methods.
I always ask my rp partner if it's okay to do something with their character before I write it. I also make it clear to them when it's okay to kill a character for the story plot.
Never force ships on them either. I have the shipping status of my muses written on my roster. It indicates if a muse is open for shipping or not. Otherwise, ask first before jumping into ship interactions like that.
Big one too is DON'T METAGAME!
-copy and pasted from another source: OOC being "out of character" and IC being "in character"
Metagaming is simply taking knowledge that you gained OOCly and bringing it ICly. For instance, a friend tells you a plot that went on between a friend and someone else where you were not involved. Any knowledge not gained through RP is not knowledge you know ICly.
I talk about all kinds of story plots and spoilers with my rp partners over dm's all the time. I even leave them little cookie crumbs or just flat out tell them "This is what will happen" if they ask about something. I give them the option of choice. Not everyone is willing to spoil things for you and would like to surprise you.
- Don't insert yourself into starters or roleplays that do not involve you or is not marked as an open starter. Most Roleplayers don't like when uninvolved blogs or parties try to insert themselves into a roleplay or reblog them to comment on it. If you must comment on them, use the reply feature over reblogging it. Not all starters that are posted on Tumblr are open ones.
An open starter usually implies everyone's free to join it. Private ones are kept between specific persons. Better safe then sorry: if you see a starter that has a specific blog tagged, don't reblog and don't try to insert yourself into it. It's a good way to get yourself blocked by both parties.
- Do not pressure your partner to get responses out on a schedule. You never know what's going on in their lives. They could have gotten a new job or are simply unable to find the drive to write. Be patient. Be considerate. Be understanding.
- A muse's intent or actions does not always equal the mun's. Some of us portray really nasty villain characters. Some of those villains or characters may do things that are offensive or violent in nature. This does not mean the mun delights in doing these actions themselves. I have at least two muses that are despicable with their actions and I'm often raging in dm's with my friends about how much it hurts to write some of that stuff sometimes.
- Research or ask what roleplay formats are acceptable with your partner. My format is a mix of semi line and para. It means i tend to write responses in whole paragraphs or shortened paragraphs. Some blogs frown upon using other formats. One-line format means you tend to respond in one sentence. Semi-line is pretty much a small and short paragraph.
- Don't Machine Gun Roleplay. Machine Gun in roleplay means there is constant talking and talking without a chance for the other party to respond. This is something I suffer with! I have a bad habit of having a character go in long talks and I will often ask my RP partners if I need to shorten it so they can respond. We work around this by allowing the character to respond between "transitions" to the next thing written in the previous response. Never hurts to ask your RP partner if you need to fix something if you aren't sure.
- If a blog has an age restriction and you are younger than what is required DO NOT INTERACT WITH THEM. Do not interact with any of that material. It can get us adults in trouble if you try to engage in that kind of roleplay or content in general. This is not just for roleplay! Adults online should not interact with minors that try to engage with their age restricted content. It's encouraged to block them! That could be anything from suggestive content, Full NSFW, or gore content.
some blogs may even be marked as 16+ outside of the USA, but you should never be engaging with or posting NSFW content until you are 18. End of story.
