Experiences The Most Important Thing

[PinkIsTheBravestColor]

For every roleplayer out there, what do you think is the most important thing every roleplayer should know, and/or play by?

 

[Tove]

Have patience. Even if you claim to not have any GET SOME. Roleplay is not a job. It's meant to be taken, to some degree serious, in wanting to create a story and characters to go in said story but at the same time it should not only be fun for you, it should be fun for your partner as well.

 

[Idea]

For starters, that there isn’t one? I mean there isn’t one thing that’s absolutely more essential than the others. Even the ultimate goal of roleplay “having fun” is debatable as an ultimate goal (since one may want more than that) and isn’t always agreeable depending on how you go about it.

That said, gun to my head, I would say “consistency”. Consistency of consequence and internal logic is the most crucial principle for my writing, as it improves quality, provides more content and gives said content a more cohesive feel and nature, can make things more challenging and fun, among other benefits (that admittedly mostly fall into the realm of the first one).

The principle of consistency is simply that things ought to remain within what makes sense as directly implied by the logic by which the setting operates. I say the setting because that’s where most of the time the changes come, but it also account for how characters think for instance.

Consistency of internal logic is the most direct form, if your group of misfits is seen as criminals or discriminated against, that means that if someone doesn’t discriminate they must have a special reason (as common sense would be to discriminate in such a setting). If the magic system says you can only fly with a broom, then you shouldn’t be able to fly with a broom unless there is some form of way around the rule, based on how the rule works.

Consistency of consequence is taking this one step further: looking at what the rules of the world imply, what events will result in or imply has happened. For instance, a traumatic experience in your character’s past should affect their preset personality pretty significantly. For a more complex example, if nobody notices the nearby kingdom building an enormous elite army, something must be happening internally for it to go unnoticed.

 

[Tove]

For starters, that there isn’t one? I mean there isn’t one thing that’s absolutely more essential than the others. Even the ultimate goal of roleplay “having fun” is debatable as an ultimate goal (since one may want more than that) and isn’t always agreeable depending on how you go about it.

That said, gun to my head, I would say “consistency”. Consistency of consequence and internal logic is the most crucial principle for my writing, as it improves quality, provides more content and gives said content a more cohesive feel and nature, can make things more challenging and fun, among other benefits (that admittedly mostly fall into the realm of the first one).

The principle of consistency is simply that things ought to remain within what makes sense as directly implied by the logic by which the setting operates. I say the setting because that’s where most of the time the changes come, but it also account for how characters think for instance.

Consistency of internal logic is the most direct form, if your group of misfits is seen as criminals or discriminated against, that means that if someone doesn’t discriminate they must have a special reason (as common sense would be to discriminate in such a setting). If the magic system says you can only fly with a broom, then you shouldn’t be able to fly with a broom unless there is some form of way around the rule, based on how the rule works.

Consistency of consequence is taking this one step further: looking at what the rules of the world imply, what events will result in or imply has happened. For instance, a traumatic experience in your character’s past should affect their preset personality pretty significantly. For a more complex example, if nobody notices the nearby kingdom building an enormous elite army, something must be happening internally for it to go unnoticed.

To be honest it really depends on what's important to the person(people) writing. What works for you doesn't work for everyone else. I feel when you're treating roleplay like some system to be analyzed you'll probably take the joy out of it so it's nice to have some "fun" once in while at least that's what I think but hey everyone will do what they want.

 

[rae2nerdy]

I think people have a tendency to think every negative thing that happens to them is a direct reflection on them personally when it has nothing to do with them. So I think learning not to take things personally is very important.

Also learning how to understand and communicate your own wants and needs when it comes to roleplaying is crucial. Roleplay is a text base medium on the internet which means people can’t read your mind or judge your thoughts on visual cues. So you gotta speak up and learn to advocate for yourself if you want to be successful.

 

[Idea]

To be honest it really depends on what's important to the person(people) writing. What works for you doesn't work for everyone else. I feel when you're treating roleplay like some system to be analyzed you'll probably take the joy out of it so it's nice to have some "fun" once in while at least that's what I think but hey everyone will do what they want.

What exactly might you be referring to in my post that makes you say that?

 

[MDL]

I would say the one thing that every PbP roleplayer should learn is to not join games that they're not fully committed to. Of course, I have also been guilty of this back in 2012-13, so I ain't gonna claim I haven't done it. But that is number uno.

To be honest it really depends on what's important to the person(people) writing. What works for you doesn't work for everyone else. I feel when you're treating roleplay like some system to be analyzed you'll probably take the joy out of it so it's nice to have some "fun" once in while at least that's what I think but hey everyone will do what they want.

I think what was hinted at, but I can't speak for Setsuna, is that people need to respect the seriosity of time invested. If someone else is putting in the effort to participate in a roleplay, don't treat it as if it's just "a bit of fun". The respectful thing is to be consistent and honor your obligation to other peoples time spent. Not 100% sure that's exactly what Setsuna meant, but that's what I got from it.

I think people have a tendency to think every negative thing that happens to them is a direct reflection on them personally when it has nothing to do with them. So I think learning not to take things personally is very important.

That's a BIG true for RPing. And it's kind of a big thing in life in general if you think about it.

Also learning how to understand and communicate your own wants and needs when it comes to roleplaying is crucial. Roleplay is a text base medium on the internet which means people can’t read your mind or judge your thoughts on visual cues. So you gotta speak up and learn to advocate for yourself if you want to be successful.

Super agree with this. A lot of people participate in roleplay's with very low effort and you can tell they don't actually feel like being in it, from the first place, or any longer. Really important for GM's to stress constant OOC dialogue about the game's direction and where people want it to go.