Guide to 'Drama Free' Roleplay

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The Theoretical Cause of OOC'ly "drama"tized Roleplay scenarios

|IC= In character| |OOC= Out of Character|

While It has been hinted at, talked about and thrown around quite a bit. I don't know of any definitive guide to avoiding the ol botched, "drama" filled aftermath of a RP storyline gone to hell. I think you all know what I'm talking about here. As Starsider see's a daily influx of new Roleplayers and transfers I thought it would be a good idea to post a guideline to common roleplay courtesy and tips to make your RP experience more enjoyable and fun and less like an OOC soap opera. It dawned on me as a friend of mine recently almost quit the game over a random storyline involving random and unfamiliar roleplayers. Now I am not flaming or blaming anyone as I don't even know the details of this particular storyline but I would bet that the whole foundation of the problem is a direct result of mis-communication between all parties involved. I also feel that this ongoing lack of communication between alot of us is why the commonly complained about "Click" RP has evolved. While it is partly a lack of trust between roleplayers who are unfamiliar with each other I feel it is mostly a lack on most of our parts to communicate with others OOC'ly. A fear of uncertainty of what may happen to our characters reputation, well being, and storyline is a major factor in this as well. A fear which I feel in alot of cases is justified. Why? Because my characters aren't here to act as NPC's for yours or vice versa. And So I felt perhaps I should toss together a guide for a reminder to all RP'ers and a easy reference for those who may be new to RP

Guide to "Drama" Free Roleplay

While I'm not in any way shape or form trying to enforce these as "rules" by which all roleplayers should abide. I feel that there are steps one can take to help ensure a smooth and enjoyable roleplay storyline with friends as well as other roleplayers who you might not be familiar with. Some of the sometimes unspoken rules of RP are;

IC Actions = IC consequences

We must all see that Starsider's Roleplay community or any Roleplay community for that matter is a living and breathing world and what we do in character will have IC consequences as far as that character is concerned.

So what does that mean Eli? I'm saying for example; if you kidnap the leader of a roleplay guild you cannot possibly even hope to think that somehow you will be able to convince said guild not to persue you in some way or another in character. Because you have in essence put the ball in their court to react to your roleplay story and the usual and most reasonable answer will be to persue you in someway, shape , or form in an attempt to recover their leader.

If the Kidnapper at this point will not "allow" these players to react to this story how they choose or have previously consented to "play out" the kidnapper might be treading God-modder territory

God Moding

Godmoding is a role playing term used Out of character to describe an Emote (/emote) that decides a fate or does something on behalf of another player. (From starsider wiki)

See also: God Moding

This is a major No No!

Every player has the right to react and/or decide the fate of their own character how they wish!


Another frowned upon Roleplay practice is:

Meta Gaming

Meta gaming is the practice of taking information a player knows out of character and applying that information as if a character had access to this information when they have no way of knowing it. (From Starsider Wiki)

See also: Meta Gaming

But how the hell am I supposed to remember all of that Eli?

Communication and Consent! You don't have to remember all the rules ( though it would help)! A good "rule of Thumb" to Roleplaying is to communicate with everyone you are or would like to roleplay with OOC'ly. While this is VERY immersion breaking for alot of people I feel it is a prevention that avoids a good 9 out of 10 roleplaying mishaps and dramas which result in endless hours of OOC arguments and hatred toward one another over what should have been a fun experience.

Communicate what though? Say for example you want to roleplay kidnapping someone, the easiest way to do this is obviously OOC'ly finding someone willing to be kidnapped by you IC. During said kidnapping RP OOC'ly relaying to any would be "hero's" that the kidnapping is consented to by the victim. Consent is absolutely needed in most cases like this. Most people don't want to be randomly kidnapped or somehow forced into some RP you have dreamed up. Ask them to become part of your story before you just throw them into a situation that they have no idea or clue what is happening or why it is happening.

Discuss the scene OOC'ly before hand and come to a mutually agreeable way to "play-out" the story. The story flows much nicer and best of all you wont spend days afterwards arguing with your would be victim over what happened.

OOC Consent is VERY important to IC Bounties! Get the intended targets consent OOC'ly and also the hunters should inform said "Mark" OOC'ly that they are indeed being hunted for the previously consented bounty on their head. Again, discussing OOC'ly with the mark and deciding on mutually agreeable terms by which to resolve the bounty..wether it be /emote dueling or regular/duel or even PVP.

In Closing Again I stress that The Consent and Communicate rules of thumb may be immersion breaking but, I promise by following these simple guidelines you will have a much more enjoyable ( and drama free) time Roleplaying with -everyone- here in our fantastic Roleplay community here on starsider!

Have Fun Roleplaying!

Besides what breaks immersion more? An OOC, short, Calm and logical discussion about a roleplay story line? or hours or even days of endless arguments in tell hell with everyone you forgot to ask to join your story?

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