4.14.2 Character Interaction

Questions asked in this file:

 - What are the necessities of roleplaying?

 - What things exist in Aetolia to aid in roleplaying?

 - How do metagame things like spelling and grammar contribute to 
   roleplaying?


Q: What are the necessities of roleplaying?

- The attraction of a roleplaying game is its potential to immerse its  
   players in extraordinary circumstances. The key to maintaining this 
immersion is the consistency with which we present our roles to each    
   other and the realism with which we react their context.

 - In Aetolia, you are ALWAYS roleplaying, and ALWAYS "on stage", 
   acting as your character. This is referred to as "In Character", or 
   IC. Conversely, acting like something outside of the world, such as 
   if Hamlet were to talk about televisions, is "Out of Character", or 
   OOC.

 - Detail is also necessary to roleplay, especially in text-based 
   games. The more details there are, the better the imagery, the 
   better and more real the experience, to an extent.

 - Imagination is required! Creativity and ingenuity are the most 
   useful tools available to you when you are roleplaying. Don't be 
   afraid to try.


Q: What things exist in Aetolia to aid in roleplaying?

 - Aetolian history, mythos, and religion help you further define 
   your character. The enormous world and its varied environments give 
   you unique places where your drama can unfold. This includes 
   comfortable inns, dark forests, underground prisons, underwater 
   cities, islands, and frozen mountains. The changing seasons and 
   weather also offer things for you incorporate into your roleplay.

 - Emotes and custom emotes (HELP EMOTES & HELP EMOTIONLIST) are also 
a highly useful tool when roleplaying. Emotes are preset expressions    
   that allow you to convey different feelings and actions with ease. 
   Custom emotes allow for a greater amount of creativity and in-depth 
expression. There are also emoticons that may be appended to the end    
   of your speech to modify what type of speech you are using (HELP 
   EMOTICONS). General use of emoticons is frowned upon, but when used 
   properly they can further add depth and emotion to your speech.

 - If you pay attention to what YOU do every day, you're almost always
interacting with something, whether you're eating it, looking at it,    
   stabbing with it, or reading it. Weapons, clothes, food, furniture, 
   and more all exist to be included in your action and create a 
   deeper, more immersive experience. It's easy to just EMOTE about an 
   item you don't possess, but when such an item actually 'exists,' 
   with its own descriptions and functions, it makes the RPing 
   experience all the better. For example, the Paladin knights used to 
   EMOTE holding a special blade to knight their squires. Now there's 
   an actual Ceremonial Blade which people can see and hold, and it 
   makes the ceremony all the better.

 - There should always be people willing to roleplay with you - simply 
   wander in and begin acting like your character! The guild- and 
   city-systems are great social structures that provide the necessary 
   player interaction.

 - Some skills, such as Illusion and Hallucinate, allow you to write 
   new lines from scratch, and though these are intended for combat, 
   they make wonderful roleplay devices.

Q: How do metagame things like spelling and grammar contribute to       
roleplaying?                                                            

 - If a player cannot communicate, it will be impossible for others to 
   visualize the role they are trying to play. Remember that emotes 
   are seen, and says are heard - if any errors are made, you can 
   address them properly as a slip of speech, etc. Your characters do 
   not make "typos".

 - There is an inevitable human tendency to associate low intelligence 
   with poor communication. It is hard to take an "intelligent" 
   character seriously when he cannot articulate himself.

 - If you are reading a book with a typo or grammatical problem in 
   every paragraph, how long would you keep reading? It's distracting! 
   Even OOC, it is irritating, which is unfortunate if English is your 
   second or third language. The attraction of roleplaying games lies 
   in their ability to immerse their players.

 - Web-slang is used by those who are hastily trying to get their 
   messages across, whereas good spelling and grammar shows patience 
   and attention to detail, which is vital for roleplaying.

See also: RP, ROLE