So you want to be a good roleplayer, eh?
If you've read and followed the rules and etiquette of roleplaying, you're off to a good start. If not, you should go back and read them, or you'll never get where you want to be. Playing fair, responsibly, and mantaining a positive attitude, are all key to being a good roleplayer, but they're basic fundamentals that all roleplayers should abide, and thus, they are rules. Assuming that you already know the rules, however, this guide will tell you what you need to quickly ascend the ranks of roleplay experience.
Grammar and literary capabilities are probably the most noticable thing about a good roleplayer. One of the first steps to becoming better is to sound better. Be descriptive, but not overly so. Proofread your posts, keep your sentence structure flowing and consistent, use nice-looking formatting in your text, and please, at least make sure it's interesting to read. Show that actual effort has gone into the post, or you will come off like you just don't care.
Patience cannot be stressed enough. You may be striving to become better, but some people are simply there to have a good time. They lack skill and they probably know it. Just because you have higher goals, don't push them aside or treat them differently. Part of being a good roleplayer is to creatively work through any situation and set an example for others. If you are bothered by how others play, take them aside and help them become better, or bring it up with the roleplay's storyteller if you don't want to confront them yourselves. If you can work through a stressful situation and come out well, you are well on your way to ranking amongst the best. Patience is rare to come by anymore, but it stands as a true and golden gift in roleplaying when it is.
Being interested in the roleplay will always better your performance. If you are in a roleplay and it fails to catch your interest, don't give up; make it interesting! You have a part in it, too. In most roleplays, you will always have some control over situations as long as you have control over your character. If, by chance, you are in a roleplay or situation where you do not hold much control, it ought to be rare to lose interest; the person in charge should have the sense and experience enough to make it work. If this is the case, however, bring it up with the storyteller and work out interesting solutions. If you are kind and constructive in your approach and cannot work things out, the problem may be with the storyteller and not yourself. Even still, you may want to believe that you're simply in the wrong roleplay with the wrong people, but in the end, a really good roleplayer can make anything better.
Attendance is just as important as interest, if not more. One of the biggest problems in roleplays is that people think they have the time to devote to them. Then one person becomes inactive, and it all falls apart. Don't be the one to make that happen. If you're life has the potential to become busy, reconsider whether you actually have time for the roleplay. Remember, roleplays can last several months before they come to an end, depending on how fast people post and how well they are into it.
Please, pay attention when you are there. One really bad habit of some roleplayers is to skip over posts that don't apply to them. It seems to make sense; if you aren't there, why should your character know about it? But roleplayers forget that there is seldom time in a roleplay for a character to learn every detail about what happened earlier. And what if what happens does effect your character in some way? If Kakariko Villiage is on fire, you don't want to waltz into the bar, oblivious to the chaos around you. There are countless reasons why it is key to know ahead of time.
Powerplaying is forbidden, and of course you know that. Often, however, people have the same idea for their character's attitude. They grace them with wisdom and wit without any real reason but for self-glorification. It is a hard thing to resist it, but think about it: How likely is your character going to know that his comrad's introvert nature must be due to a childhood trauma? Not unless your character can relate, chances are the only reason your character knows it is because you read the other guy's character bio. The point is, be a wise roleplayer with the knowledge you learn OOC; while it is acceptable to see the obvious, information like another character's past is usually not obvious unless your character has psychic abilities. Play dumb; allow your character suspicion, but not too much.
Familiarity with your character cannot be stressed enough. When you've read through enough roleplays, you begin to distinguish the difference between a character who has just been created and one who has been used and abused. It is good to have passion about your character, to be familliar with his strengths and flaws as though he were a close friend. You should be so familliar with your character that you don't have to decide on how he reacts to a situation; you should know it.
Planning too far ahead is asking for trouble; while people themselves cannot always predict how they'll react, people don't plan all of their actions and friends' actions ahead... That's why it's important not to get too carried away with a future plan unless you're a storyteller and your plan doesn't involve too many other players. When you plan ahead, not only do you kill potential interest in the game by deciding ahead of time all that will happen, you kill the spontanaity of a roleplay because you're constantly pushing in one direction. It makes it difficult to really play as your character the way your character would act. A rule of thumb is to play your character based on what happens, and let the plot fall into place after; not the other way around. Don't decide how you want things to work, then try and squeeze your character in; you'll find yourself making excuses and changing your character to be less like himself just to make it work, and it will no longer feel like a true roleplay. Besides, who wants to know everything that will happen ahead of time?
But by all means, don't be afraid to do some planning. It is always good to get together with other roleplayers and talk about a situation and how you think it's going to go according to what's going on now and how your character is feeling or what he is doing. This kind of planning allows people to work together and collabourate their thoughts so immediate outcomes are clear. If you fail to communicate with others and work out situations, your character will be as separated from the others as you are, and you won't feel like a part of the roleplay to anyone, including yourself. One of the most enjoyable factors of roleplaying is how it brings the players close to one another.
Make sure you're not too cliche in how you play your character while you're focusing on playing him like a real person... People are often inclined to pick character stereotypes: Strong and silent, Worthy and benevolent, Dark and untrusting, and it makes them feel all the less human and thus act less human. For the same reason that planning ahead does it, playing a predictable character makes things difficult to anticipate because they're so obvious. This kills interest in a roleplay, and is one of the reasons many roleplays flop over. Of course, it's always good to have something interesting... Just be creative!
Creativity, in fact, is a very important aspect of good roleplaying. It speaks for itself; it inspires enthusiasm in everyone and makes things more interesting to play through. Would you rather play your character sitting through class listening to the same old lecture as you describe what everyone's already experienced, or play him sitting through class, gazing out the window only to have someone tap on the glass and eagerly wave him to come outside. The latter leaves all players anticipating more!
But please, be careful not to overexaggerate or over dramatise things unless it's really in your character's persona. Say your character feels uneasy. No one wants to sit through your next five posts reading about how uneasy you are. If it is powerful enough to affect your actions, write it in, but there's no need to constantly point the reason back to that lingering feeling. Chances are, people will have gotten it by now. Emotions are good, but too much of anything begins to feel rediculous. It's easy to get carried away; if the base of the roleplay is about a terrible drought or a neverending storm, people are inclined to mention it every chance they get. Not only does this grow tedious, but it actually lessens the seriousness of the situation. In the same way you learn to ignore a news story when it's been covered too long, there's no reason to keep mentioning something if it's been made clear. That's just annoying...
Last but not least, talent, while not mandatory, is certainly helpful. In the end, hard work will only get you so far. Remember that roleplay requires good writing, and good writing does, to some degree, require talent and interest. If you are lacking in good writing skills, chances are you will not be the best roleplayer. That doesn't mean you ought to give up; it just means you have to work harder. And everyone has room for improvement!
That said, just be prepared for the roleplays you enter. All roleplays are different and require an ability to adapt to it. Use common sense, and remember to look at the roleplay not as a sequence of events, but as life as a different person. Live the roleplay; don't just write in it. That's what roleplaying is about, after all!
Hopefully this guide can help you. But remember, words can only say so much. Use these tips, but also realise that practice is the key to becoming great. If you really want to have an understanding for the roleplay scene, take the challenge of running one yourself. It's not as easy as it seems, but it pays off greatly in the end!
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