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Role Play is just about bringing a character to life, beyond the player who plays it. So when interacting with other characters, it is always important to think that it is the character who meets others, not the player behind the screen meeting another player.
It's not complicated, RP is playing your character in the world you're in! In other words, you "roleplay" every time you greet someone, talk about the weather, the latest events.
Role Play: Conventions
The interaction between players is essentially done through the chat window that it is good to know how to use.
Each guild has its own rules in terms of RP, but in general the RP is done on the surrounding channel. The team channel can be RP sometimes (it depends on the players and guilds), but it is not usually RP. The guild's channel is HRP (excluding Role Play) most often, the region channel is usually HRP (excluding Role Play) too. The
In the Surroundings chat, here are some rules that can help to distinguish who is talking and how:
- OOC [1] Comment: An OOC comment is indicated in brackets, i. e. from the player and not the character. e. g: (lol too funny)
- Unsaid: *an action* or <an action> indicates a character action (emote, expression, gesture). ex: *"murmurs": shh!
- Emote: the game's emotes are considered as RP elements. If x Likes Y, it's of course the characters who talk to each other (the players, do it in private tell!)
So, let's imagine the following little conversation ( during a hunt). It is easy to distinguish between player comments and character actions:
Example of dialogue, between A (you) and B (some other character) Character Text Comment You > Welcome, ser XYZ ! A (you) speaks, A already knows B B > Hello serae [2] A. Do you have room enough for a warrior in your hunting group? ← Answer from B, who is supposed to already know A You > (which level are you in melee) OOC question (HRP in French). RP question would be something like "How is your melee skill ?" B > (125, but I can heal 180 too) OOC answer of B. A RP answer would involve titles for example. You > Well, I think your healing skills will be welcome in our team - You > *Gives XYZ a friendly pat and smiles* ← Action of the character A (you) You > Will you join us? A speaks. B> *nods* ← Action of the B character B> /em nods ←Other possibility: the same action of character B, but as emote . /em is a special chat command that triggers an emote in surroundings channel.
In case of doubt, to clear up a possible misunderstanding, for example when the played character is aggressive and must be distinguished from the player, it may be useful to use the personal messages: /tell: I play my part. Don't worry, nothing to do with the player you are.
What is the "good" RP?
You will have tons of theories on this, and the RP is often seen as elitist because people express themselves with kilometres long sentences.This is not a must, just follow simple rules:
- Keep your character consistent. Interesting characters are not necessarily superheroes. These are even boring. A character must set goals, and also limits. Even if you are multi-ranked 250, you can present yourself as a "driller" or "magician". And decide that you will never receive any..... (complete... drilling/craftsmanship/magic/combat). A character also evolves, a course of action you now set for yourself may change in the future.
- Forcing the line. Multiply the defects and qualities of your character by ten times what you think is a good measure... our characters don't need to be moderate. Imagine a character who hates kitins (for example), he could have a tendency to spontaneously want to kill everyone he sees, even if it becomes unmanageable for his entourage... it's part of that character's RP.
- Expression style. No need to speak old language to do play a role. You don't have to use polite forms of language. In general, use a certain amount of deference towards strangers , thus politeness forms can be used. However, your character's language style has to fit the character you plays as well as it' personality. You just have to be consistent. No needto be familiar with everyone and all the time. It is also possible that your character already knows someone else well, and is particularly familiar with this one person but not with others.
Visible elements and known elements (by your character)
As a player, Ryzom user interface gives you a lot of information about the character in front of you. However, your avatar may not know this information without having requested it. Be very careful with this nuance... for example:
- The player sees the name displayed on the character's head in front of him, maybe sees his title... but your character, if he meets someone for the first time, doesn't know anything about it. So beware of "Hello XDF" when it's the first time your character meets him (it happens all the time, and even to hardened players). You should be satisfied with a simple "Hello", and don't forget to ask for the character's name at some point in the conversation... at a next meeting, you can call him by his name, because your character can recognize him.
- It's similar for the guild, you can imagine that the character in front of you has a coat of arms and you recognize it. But this only applies to guilds that are well established on the Bark... so the name of a small guild will not be known to most players.
- The PVP tag... there are disagreements on this point, but most RP players consider that it is not visible to your character. This is personal information for you, player, but your character may not be aware about it without having previous clues about the other characters before. Thus, the practice of "sight shooting" against a potential enemy can only be done against an enemy you already know... well, the "tag" is just a way to deepen the RP, and not an authorization to kill everything that is tagged. Unfortunately, this vision is not shared by all players on Atys....
Background
We often see the background as a long story about the origins of your character. It's part of it, but it's not necessary. We have all arrived on the Bark of the old lands, there is not much. On the other hand, what can be useful is a kind of character card
- The main "job" of your character
- His beliefs
- What he likes to do or not do
- What is his background (educated, peasant, orphan --> not the same way of speaking)
- Does he have any inner demons (revenge, etc.)
- Who are his enemies and friends (even the best of homins has his enemies)... this part can come as events unfold.
- Does he have any family (one can imagine that another player lends himself/herself to the game of being your character's brother/sister/father/mother
- Does he have lovers/husbands/wives
Create your mini events
Some players write their background and what is happening in the game through blogs or on the official RP forum, but this can simply be done spontaneously. You just have to seize the opportunity sometimes.
Nothing prevents you from contacting another player (I didn't say character) and offering him/her to have a mini-event between you that will create a "climate" between your characters, a common story. A simple duel in front of a stable can turn into a jealousy quarrel that will turn both players into sworn enemies. This enmity can then develop over the life of your characters and be used in larger animations.
The rule: make these mini-events in public places, so that your conversation/alteration can be captured (stables, in front of a tp, taverns, merchants, etc.).
Greet others in general, it doesn't eat bread and often offers easy opportunities for mini-RPs (even if it lasts ten minutes).
Behaviour during events
For events that require a certain organization, the animator/moderator will generally use the /shout command to highlight his words. The rule is to respect the animator and limit the number of emotes and "gestures" (** or <>), and even more so, the number of interventions in this context. Limiting does not mean abstaining, Animator's talk is not necessarily a monologue.
Read the Lore (and EncyclopAtys!)
A minimum knowledge of the Lore is important. Your character is part of a civilization, he has been educated in a belief system that is very particular. He may have rejected this system, but to know how he deviated from it, you have to know what he deviated from. Civilizations are very specific, you have to use that in your characters.
From wiktionary: lore La (le) Lore: Noun.
- —All the facts and traditions on a particular subject that have accumulated over time through education or experience.
- —The story created around a fictional universe.
- Possible substitutes: Universe, Saga, Legend...
Use vocabulary, and the right one
Atys is a unique world, particular, it has its fauna, its climate, its homins, its Kamis, its Karavan, its Jena... Oh no, she's still lost somewhere on her spaceship (read this topic if you don't know what I'm talking about).
In short, why use typically terrestrial expressions or terms when we have alternatives? Read our Glossary of RP Terms here for more information!
Also do not neglect the languages of the nations or associations of which here is the known list:
- Fyrk, the language of the fyros;
- Mateis, the language of the Matis;
- Tyll, the Tryker's language;
- Taki the Zoraï's language;
- Marund, the language of marauders and
- the dialect of the Rangers.
Finally, Role Play can be learned by practicing it. There is nothing wrong with trying to do it and making mistakes,
