Thanks for coming!

RP Workshop RULES

1. You don't have to talk if you don't want to. Just listen.

2. If you have a question, please type ** into local chat and wait for me to see it. Hard to believe, but I will stop talking and give you time to post your question.

3. Participate! Have an anecdote to share? A story? A learning experience? A different view of something? SHARE, typed or voice, its all good.

I have a blog full of all my notes and topics for RP Workshops (and some other not so nice things). Feel free to browse and suggest topics for other workshops. https://kaliopekaras.wordpress.com/rp-workshops/the-basics/
1. RP Basics

a) The concept of RP - Roleplay is telling a story interactively. Kinda like those old chose your own adventure books, only not. Some things might have a basic script or predetermined outcome. Say if you decide your character is going to be hurt or badly injured for whatever reason, the end is predetermined, but there is still a story to tell, and the things that happen in that story might define other things besides that predetermined outcome. The other characters involved might be affected differently too depending on what happens.

Still, most of RP is completely improvised, continuous and ongoing and ever-changing. Your character is alive in this alternate world. Some people compare it to a movie, I feel its more like a play, because in a movie you can cut, edit, retake, and not so much in a play on stage. We can if needed, void a scene or do over or rewrite, but that that's not the norm.

So, going on that, the easiest way for me to explain to a new RP'r on HOW to rp, is to think of themselves, the Typist, as an actor, and their avatar as their character. Kinda like the actors that do the voices on cartoon or animated movies--only typed. Eddie Murphy IS NOT Mushu in Mulan. He's Eddie Murphy. Robin Williams WAS NOT a Genie in RL, he was Robin Williams. Get it?

Which leads me to something important

OOC - Eddie Murphy
IC - Mushu

OOC - Robin Williams
IC - Genie
b) Know your environment/look the part - Gather as much info as you can! Some of this is simple. For example, we don't have vampires or werewolves here. Not because of sim rules, but because there are no vampires or werewolves or demons in the zombie apocalypse. The SIM's setting is your base story. Are you in Alaska or the Arizona desert? What's the weather like? Time period? This is also where the 'look the part' comes in. You wouldn't wear tight jeans in the 1920's. No matter how sexy you look for 2015, you look ridiculous in 1920 and it makes people believe that you "Dont get it" you don't get the story and you don't care about it either--you just want to 'look good' "Looking good" is relative. You can look beautiful in a ball gown at a ball. You can look amazing in a bikini at the beach. You look ridiculous in a ball gown at the beach and you look ridiculous in a bikini at a ball. Stop it. Don't argue. You know what I mean. Not only that, we RP'rs are snarky (shut up, you know you are) and you will be whispered about in IM's.

c) Create a character - yes, write a bio. YES do the research. I can do a whole other workshop on character creation alone. Even if it's information you don't think you'll use, if you keep that bio for yourself, it will keep you from saying you hate italian food today, and tomorrow claiming you love spaghetti with marinara.

c) Emoting - Your emote is everything! I think we all know how to /me. But here are a few things:

There is no rule on perspective (first person, third person), but most tend to do it in third person. I don't know you, but whenever someone (usually a guy) emotes in first person-- "looks at you with.. " it creeps me out.

Your emote should be a complete sentence or paragraph (there is no rule on how long it should be) that shows YOUR ACTIONS, YOUR REACTIONS, and and YOUR DIALOG. Most of us are not focusing on the other avi's face --if you are like me you are vain and always looking at your own av--so we don't see facial expressions, and most don't use them anyway. Your emote should show the people around what you are doing, like natural movements and actions that might give us a clue about what you feel. Think of people or movies you've seen. Think of BODY LANGUAGE. Show me.

Example:

Smile - happy
Snort - disgust
Snicker - derision or mockery
Frown - sadness or anger
Fidget with a thread on your sweater or wipe your hands on your pants - nervous.

Also be sure to include things others can react to, or leave the scene.

P1 - /me stares out the window
p2 - /me stares out the window and sighs.
p3 - /me stares out the window some more and thinks of how boring things are (more on thoughts later).

Nothing happens. Nothing is going to happen. Interact or leave.

DO NOT WRITE FOR SOMEONE ELSE. (GODMODDING)

Say in you are in a scene with someone else. Your character is telling the other character some really sad story. DO NOT SAY in your emote that they look sad unless they say they look sad first. NO, that's not sorrow you see in their eyes--its derision! (word of the day!) Just because you want them to be sad, or think they should be sad doesn't mean they are. In other words - don't play god. Don't Godmode. Don't dictate with your posts what someone else should do or say or feel. No one likes to have their character manipulated. Shall I type in my post that you farted? Should I type that I pulled the trigger and shot you in the head (because I am that good!) without giving you a chance to evade? Don’t do it to others. So good rule: write only for YOURSELF, your body and body parts, what you feel, what you think, what you do, what you say– NOT FOR OTHERS.
DON'T BE LAZY.

Most here are making the effort in crafting a nice post for you. Do the same for them. Spelling and typos can be overlooked, but things like substituting “u” for “you”, Leet or “net speak” like substituting the number 4 for the word “for”, etc. This is HIGHLY frowned upon by serious RP’ers. Keep the LOL, OMG, LMAO’s for OOC.

NO RAPID POSTING.

I don't know what else to call this. It's when you post 3 or 4 lines (or 2 or 6). Doing this disrupts the RP and the posting order (we’ll elaborate on Post Order a little later). Make your posts a complete sentence– action and dialog.

NO:

Kaliope Karas: thinks she has a nail file
Kaliope Karas: looks in her bag for it
Kaliope Karas: grins as she finds it.

Yes:

Kaliope Karas : /me rummages in her bag for her nail file, grinning when she finds it.

POST ORDER

Easy - everyone gets a turn like in a board game. Then we start all over again. No one wants to be skipped. There is a "circle of awareness" Chat range is 20 meters. Many things could be happening in range that your character is not aware of. Most would agree to keep the post order within your own circle and ignore the rest.

ENTERING AND EXITING A SCENE

Be patient. Walk into chat range, but hold your post until they've gone a round so you know what you are walking into (they may not be using poseballs!). The same goes for leaving. Unless RL has intruded and you HAVE to log or go AFK, wait within chat range a round of posts in case someone calls you back or tries to grab you.

THOUGHTS

/me stares out the window some more and thinks of how boring things are

No one can read your mind, so no one can ask you 'are you bored, wanna do something?' You are not even expressing anything that shows boredom to the other person. All the other person sees is that you are staring out the window. You could be meditating, or lost in thought, and maybe it's best to leave you alone.

Thoughts in emotes have been a big bone of contention mainly because people use them to take shots at others. No one bitches when someone says "/me thinks she's beautiful" but ohmygawd the hell that is raised when someone types "/me thinks what a bitch" and walks off. Mainly because these are often perceived as OOC cracks at someone. It happens, we get charged up in a scene, we want the last word, we start typing furiously and bam, thought emote comes out. Next thing you know people are pissed off, someone's reported you, and blah blah blah. If you can't show it with your expression or body language, if you won't say it with dialog, don't include it in your post--as in "keep your thoughts to yourself"