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No. 1721
Most of "how to good RP" falls under "how to good human being", which as most folks will tell you falls under the Golden Rule: Do Unto Others as You Would Have Others Do Unto You.
For RP, this means:
- Always be courteous Out of Character. Your character might be the most evil asshole in the universe, but YOU should be polite, listen to what people have to offer up as critique without getting defensive, and follow whatever other rules are in place.
- Keep open lines of communication. It takes two to tango, after all, and if you're going to thread something that involves another player, especially if it involves combat, major character development, or anything else where you think it's probably a good idea to keep the other player in the loop. Not every player likes to fly by the seat of their pants, so if you run into someone who isn't as familiar with your playstyle and/or isn't comfortable with letting someone else play with their darlings, get their permission ahead of time before you do anything drastic. (Sometimes, for example, I'll even have a chat window open with my RP buddy, if only to let them know that I've answered their latest post/comment/whatever.)
- Be prompt when posting. Depending on the RP, most places will have certain minimal requirements, but most players will also have certain expectations for the speed of a certain session. Obviously, play-by-chat will be the fastest, and play-by-post being the slowest. Either way, be sure to schedule the rest of your life so that you're free to engage in pretendy fun times without guilt. This also means that if you are super busy, have to go on vacation, or experiencing technical difficulties, notify your RP buddies so that they're not sitting around waiting for an answer when you're not available.
- Try to stay in character whenever possible. This includes Original Characters. Be consistent to your character's stated motivations, goals, and previous history--if this means you have to take copious notes, then by all means do it. On the other hand, if the flow of the particular moment means you think your character might do something more unusual, don't sweat it too much! Nobody's 100% one way or another--it's your job to "sell" your character's thoughts, feelings, and actions at any given time.
- Take both praise and criticism in stride. You are neither the best nor the worst RPer in existence, and everybody has a different inner measure of what makes for "good RP" anyway. Treasure the people who are willing to give you feedback in detail. All something like "You're awesome" might be good for is feeding your ego, but if someone said "You write awesome dialogue" then you know that's one of your strengths. Same goes for criticism--while you don't have to change just because someone else says so, having another pair of eyes evaluate your character will reveal flaws that you might not have noticed and if enough people point out that you're doing something in a certain way that doesn't do your character justice, it might be time to change course.
- Know your limits. Not everybody can do eleventy billion characters justice. That's fine. Doing one or two characters really well is far superior to trying to juggle too many and failing. Do all of the research into the world that your character belongs to (or, in the case of an OC, putting in the work of building said world), as well as the psychology of people whose backgrounds you may have no experience in. If you are unable to understand how your character ticks, or are uncomfortable putting yourself in a certain mindset, then don't play that character until you feel more ready.
- Keep practicing at it! Even if you have a knack for acting or storytelling, everything improves the more you work on polishing your technique.
- Above all, have fun. Unless you're a writer or actor, you're not getting paid to RP, and even then you're doing this particular "gig" for the hell of it. If you're not enjoying yourself, then it's time to move on.
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