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Defining good roleplay


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I fully agree with you. Especially where roleplay situation is big and there are many people involved. Things should be kept simple and neat. It's easy to get lost in those messages and it simply takes the fun away. Heavy roleplay doesn't mean many /me's, but /me's of good quality, direct, correct and right.

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It has always been a personal policy that the best roleplay is roleplay in which everyone is having fun. As such, it is almost always an objective to tailor the experience for others, even changing up personally preferred outcomes so that they better line up with others.

 

It can sometimes feel like being a supporting character in a show or film, but without exact words in the script and plotline.

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I too have noticed there seems to be a bit of a focus from some people on having long meaty /me's and I cannot really see any justification for it. Once upon a time when I first started role-playing, it did indeed seem to be the norm and if you weren't capable of typing out an overly detailed /me, you were shunned for it. As time has passed I quickly came to the realisation that this is frankly unnecessary, and as Syke has said, just clogs up the chat with pointless text. If I am role-playing something that does require a little more detail to be provided to avoid any confusion about what it is I am role-playing, then so be it. But if I am role-playing something as simple as moving a box like Syke has mentioned, then "/me moves the box" would certainly be sufficient in my eyes.

Edited by Joe
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Adapt your roleplay to the people you interact with and you should be fine.

 

What I usually do is, if people are descriptive with their roleplay, then so am I. It's my way of matching the amount of effort and detail they're putting in their /me lines. If they're concise and straight to the point, then so am I as well. I have no personal preference between the two. I'd rather focus on getting my message across and having fun, and it has worked so far.

Edited by Shaderz
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  • 5 weeks later...

What I personally think good role play is: 

Good dialogue:   Being able to write realistic and believable dialogue is imperative to good roleplay.  If we take away all the visual immersion that gta v provides, the way you write your characters dialogue should still be believable and convincing for whatever you're trying to roleplay. If you roleplay a Hispanic gang banger then your characters dialogue should read like how a Hispanic gang banger would realistically sound. If you're character has enough depth and convincing & intriguing dialogue, you should be able to hold a meaningful and interesting conversation ingame  for at least thirty minutes straight

I've been on gta world for almost two years now, and one thing that bothers me is that most people talk the same way IC. There isn't much diversity when it comes to character dialogue, it's pretty common to see a African American character in Davis talking the same way as a Vinewood resident or a biker from the county.  The way they're talking isn't very appealing either, it's usually an atrocious amount of apostrophe's  and idiotic misusage of Ebonics & AAVE. 

Short but concise /mes: Keep your /mes short and to the point. Nobody wants to read a three line /me of how you simply sniffed and pulled up your pants. Emotes that are lengthy for no reason are inevitably  boring because the extra wording just doesn't matter. Don't get me wrong though, there does need to be a certain amount of detail in your /mes for them to be engaging. You just have to find a good and reasonable balance. Also,  avoid using cliché and clumsy metaphors or references  in your /mes too, nobody cares about that scene from a cheesy 90s movie you're trying to copy.  

Character depth: The best thing to remember while role playing is your characters motives and backstory. These two things should be the guiding force to how your character reacts to things IC differently from other characters. The biggest thing that kills role play is one-dimensional characters that don't bring anything to the table to help keep the ball rolling during RP. This however doesn't mean you should try to make up some crazy outlandish back story just for the sake of making your character seem more "unique" than the next persons. You're character should be able to play a specific and realistic role in whatever lane of RP they're meant for be it gang rp, LEO rp, business focused rp and so forth.  The best type of character you can make is one with a believable back story & engaging personality that brings it to life and contributes to RP scenes.

I'll also link a amazing guide made by @Kipps that I %100 agree with. 

  

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In my own opinion, descriptive /me's are circumstantial. And it's also a choice because consistently descriptive /me's can tire your hands out quickly than your admiration of roleplay. Not everyone is 140 WPM and not everyone has the time to type 250 characters for something that can be summed up quickly, efficiently and to a T.

 

So baring all those factors in mind, it truly depends on what your character is roleplaying towards, or in (within an environment).

 

Example:

/me takes his phone out and takes a photo of his foot.

 

Versus:
 

/me slides his right hand into his jacket's far-right outer pocket, withdrawing his phone once grasping a hold of said device, moving to the camera application and aims the phone's camera lens towards his foot, taking a photo before pocketing his phone soon after.

 

It is very much choice-based and leans more into passive roleplay because passive roleplay is descriptive roleplay.

 

In conclusion:

 

In any case, if you have a choice, and feel happy being descriptive, then you should be! And if not, then you don't have to be descriptive!

 

If you are in a scenario that requires description, utterly and foremost, then you should be descriptive in your roleplay.

 

We all come here to have fun and as long as your /me's are still to a T and not basic or troll-ish in how you orchestrate an action via an explanation through /me, then you're fine! 🙂

Edited by Wynters
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Good roleplay isn't determined by the length of /me's that's for sure. Your /me that's short and concise leaving details vague and simply just displaying action isn't better than one that details it, and over the top long and extra for no reason /me's with details that literally don't matter and have no purpose are just as bad as a bland, extremely short /me. What makes a good roleplayer imo is knowing when and where to be concise and when and where to be detailed, outside of simple preference. RP is a form of writing after all, it shouldn't be treated as if it's a video game, a good RPer recognizes this. Sometimes you have to flow and type as short as possible to be quick, but detail is also nice so that people can accurately react if its certain things, more info prevents MG/PG.

 

Truly good roleplay is simple: Accurately portrayed, realistic characters creating believable, real scenarios without planning and letting things progress naturally so the roleplay becomes it's own story. Characters that feel like real people are good roleplay. Development that feels realistic and authentic is good roleplay. Scenarios and handling them in a way that's enjoyable for all parties yet sticks to the situation at hand (difficult at times since some people don't like losing) is good roleplay.

 

In terms of post lengths of someone's /me though as mentioned earlier, /me smokes a cigarette. is just as bad as /me uses his index and thumb to slide his hand into his pocket and apply pressure to the corners of his cigarette box as he pulls the box from inside his pocket to lift the lid open and grab a single cigarette to which he then reaches back into the cigarette box with his index and thumb to grab his stashed away lighter bla bla you get the point. A good /me is not as short as possible, nor is it as long as possible. Peak is somewhere inbetween. A good flow with good detail as well, just detail that has a purpose. There's a hundred ways to do something, let someone know which way /your/ character does it. Show habit, not simply action. It's a character, your /me's should have character in them. The only time a /me should be nothing more than an action for things like /me gags. or /me looks at Gerald.

 

If you're doing something, be a little creative. Creativity is key to good RP, not boring one liners. No flair to something is stale, bland. Too much is too extra. You can't read someone's character through /me eats a pizza, however you can see quirks of their character when through something like "/me grabs his slice of pizza and folds it, taking sideways bites while he sits leaned against the arm of the chair." There's character in that, you see habits. How he eats his pizza, his relaxed demeanor since he's leaned over, etc. It portrays a character, not a blank, emotionless action. The sole point of roleplay is to portray a person, so do so in more than just 3 word /me's.

 

Golden rule: If your character feels like a movie or video game character, you're doing it wrong. Save that shit for fantasy roleplay. Normal life characters should feel and play as if they're normal life people and your obscure 1 in a trillion reference that says it's a thing in real life means jack shit. Common is good. Extreme rarity is bad.

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