World of Warcraft®

This is a guide we used in the previous RPG we played. The basics are still the same, but the application with WoW game mechanics is a bit different. Regardless for getting started it can help quite a bit.

So you want to know how to roleplay, huh? Well it isn't as simple as you might think. Many people think they know how to do it when the really only know how to emote and try to pass it off as roleplay. Here I will "try to explain how I roleplay whenever I go through an average day/afternoon/evening among the roleplaying community.

Names
Just because you see someone's name on screen DOES NOT mean that your character can automatically assume their name. If you do this, you will have to think up a nutsty reason off the top of your heas as to how you know who they are. What you want to do, overall, is wait for the character to introduce themselves to you. That is like giving you permission to call them by their name, and the same goes for any title they might have. Your character only knows WHAT HE/SHE HAS BEEN TOLD, so keep that in mind.

Titles
The very same rules apply to character titles as well, you don't know unless you are told, so don't start assuming that about them as well. Also, DO NOT make some idea up like "I read so on your badge" because you read their TRP etc. or saw a title attached to their name above their head. You do not know if they are wearing a badge or not unless it is posted in their description. It is not only crude, but godmoding.

Metagaming
You are surrounded by bad guys, and you need help. Calling for help with a whisper or IM or using guild messages shouldn't and isn't a legit reason for help to come find you. You can try and have your character "scream" and then ask anyone in your local area if they "heard" your scream. Other than that, those are your only options. You want to do most of your roleplay in game. Also, you can not use OOC information with your character. So if someone warns you that the enemy is coming over whisper or IM/Guild Chat, your character can't start getting prepared IG, because they would have no way of knowing that.

Godmoding
Someone is horribly hurt and screaming in agony, you cannot just walk up to that person and "heals her/him and he/she feels better" and then just walk away. That is forcing actions upon another and taking control of situations that he cannot have control of. Godmoding, also, is failure to cooperate with fellow roleplayers and having your character do whatever they seem to please. Nobody is a god in this community, and if you want to have fun with roleplay you will respect your fellow roleplayers. If you respect them, they will respect you. Take this for example:

Viloche: *Stands behind you with a great sword to your neck.*
Tefnet: *Holds still, unmoving, and puts her hands in the air where he can see them*
Viloche: Good, now let us head to the prison for questioning.
Tefnet: *Eminates a chilling aura around her*
Viloche: *His palm is caught in it! Stunned, he drops his kryss to the ground*

This also falls into the scenarios where people claim to have arrived even before they enter a building. If you are on the second floor of a citadel and Ithaas blinks to the center of the screen. You cannot just have your character get up and say "Hey, Ithaas is here." You have no idea that they are approaching the location, with you in your secluded location.

Crisis
A little crisis plot around one person never hurts, but to have it happen a lot, tends to get on peoples nerves. If someone has a problem everyday, then others will not tend to care as much as if they were say to have a crisis, say onece every two months. Absence makes the heart grow fonder (please pardon the cliche).

PVP
If you must Roleplay out a confrontation, do so courteously. I would suggest a whisper to agree on terms before engaging in this type of RP and how attacks and counters may work, for example rolls or to just RP it out. Keep in mind that no one is infallable and to realistically engage in battle people will take hits et.c or be able to doge and so on. Keep it fair and if you are new it never hurts to ask about what the other player may find acceptable.

Dropping Guilds/RP's
If everyone threatened to quit a guild or RP if they did not get their own way, than we wouldn't have any guilds or RP. It is more respectable to go to an individual or leadership and explain why you are upset and attempt to work it out. Now, not all situations may be corrected, but hopefully an understanding can be made or people can agree to disagree. Sometimes it is best to walk away and others after discussion things get sorted out. The best thing to do is COMMUNICATE!

Thanks for putting some suggestions together for a guide, Talibah. It's a nice gesture to help folks that may not know get started on the more common mores of RP etiquette.

There were a couple of things that did alarm me slightly, though. Please see the quotes below (emphasis mine).

PVP
You must first Roleplay out a confrontation, if your CHARACTER legitimately knows that the other character is in fact an enemy, than he may warn them before he engages them. Don't act like a stupid twink and start crap whenever you get killed or win a fight. You are roleplaying, and your guild can easily dismiss you if they feel you do not support the rules of roleplay.

Dropping Guilds/RP's
If everyone threatened to quit the guild if they did not get their own way, than we wouldn't have any guilds or RP, Do not be immature and threaten to quit just because things aren't too great for you. It shows that you are just being a stupid, immature brat, and that just because you cannot have your way, you want to leave because of it. Grow up, get on with it and stop the drama and COMMUNICATE!

Just as a suggestion, you may want to remove references in which you debase or degrade someone for behaving in a manner of which you do not agree. Calling someone "stupid" or other names in a document that is meant to welcome, encourage, and assist may be counterproductive.

At the very least, it's rather negative and works against any "positivism" that someone may be trying to spread.

Remember that we're having the meetings and doing these things in order to reach out so we can be inclusive and respectful to all in the community, regardless of levels of personal (OOC or IC) interaction. If we push efforts that automatically exclude, degrade, debase, or insult folks who may otherwise be simply unknowing of what is considered respectful, we're cutting ourselves off at the knees and our efforts can and may be rendered null.

I forgot to edit some of this. Most of it was from a guide we used in UO but applied to wow. The original version was not written by me. Thats what i get for doing like 3 thrings at once... hopefully the re-worded version is musch better, thanks I didn't catch that.

This is pretty much the sort of thing that I like seeing posted in the sticky thread: http://us.battle.net/wow/en/forum/topic/1074377962

And again @Shade this is true, however again to reiterate some felt it was too long. So an abbreviated version was asked for.

Please change the title of your thread, as I don't want people confusing the two guides and thinking they were somehow written by the same person, which they were not.

The version of "So you want to Roleplay in a Nutshell" while influenced by "So you want to RP (Instructional...something)" is merely a scaled down version, it is not an attempt to dominate the original post but give the player base a "short and sweet version" of it. I see no issue in this, the titles are different (Maybe not as hugely different as people would like) but in the end, they are the same concept. One is longer and more detailed, one is shorter and less detailed. There is no issue in having both, you give the players options.

This was actually requested at the RP Community Preliminary meeting which has been up and around posted here on the Official forums. Everyone who paid close attention to the meeting development was there for the most part (Exceptions to those who were sick like Kalico and those who may of had late irl matters come up).

So in the end I must ask - Is there a issue with having both? If there is, I want to know what it truly is. It cannot be the title they are different, cannot be the poster because they are clearly different, the only difference I see is that one is longer and one is shorter.

I don't want my work attributed to (or confused with) someone that didn't write it. Change the title. Shorten it up. Keep it here if you must, but I'd rather not have it associated with the hours of work I poured into the original guide.

It's called being nice.

don't want my work attributed to (or confused with) someone that didn't write it. Change the title. Shorten it up. Keep it here if you must, but I'd rather not have it associated with the hours of work I poured into the original guide.

It's called being nice.

So shall we dub it "In a Nutshell you want to RP?". If anything your work is being complimented by being considered a good read, but just a bit too long winded for some. Those who prefer a shorter version will look for Talibah's and those that seek the more detailed story will look to yours, Shade.

-Titles-
"So you want to Roleplay in a Nutshell" =/= "So you want to RP (Instructional...something)"

-Authors-
Talibah =/= Shade

-Post subject-

Same, only one is a shorter less detailed version, the other one is longer and more elaborated.

/sadface

Regardless of the original post, if i've read the previous comments correct (Excuse me if not - it's really early in the UK so my brain isn't working :D) I find this post pretty helpful.

Having just recently started RP'ing again after a huge 3+ year break from WoW, originally playing EU, I feel pretty confident again in my knowledge as nothing has really changed in the way RP is played.

The original post in debate, is also pretty helpful but i'm fairly lazy when it comes to reading and it's too long for me.

Shade's post was better, pretty much sums it up, it didn't need to be pruned. If you're serious about rp you wouldn't mind reading something a little lengthy since...I dunno...rp is all reading!!! This thread died a long time ago for a reason.

I agree with your point about the lengthy stuff, but personally when it can be summed up into a shorter version I find it easier to read all at once. Each to their own though I guess.

As for the dates, I hadn't noticed the it was 3 months old, I just saw the last post was so many hours before. My bad on that part.