Your character is standing and you have already taken your first steps in roleplay? Good! Today, we want to address the dangers and temptations that every roleplayer faces throughout their adventures and prepare you to resist these deceptive seductions!
Power-RP and Immortality
Whenever a character is forced into an action by another character, to which they can no longer respond, it is referred to as Power-RP. Do you need an example?
“Cortyn punches Remson in the face with his right fist, causing him to be thrown back, flip three times in the air, and land against the wall with broken legs.”
In such an emote, the counterpart (in this case, “Remson”) has no chance to react to the attack and is more or less forced to accept this event as a given due to the already completed act. Because this is unfair and leads to the situation where no one wants to play with us anymore, there is a simple trick to circumvent this issue: we use no Power-Emotes.
Instead, we rephrase our sentences so that the intention is clear and our fellow player can react:
“Cortyn swings his right hand and then snaps it towards Remson’s face.”
In this case, our counterpart can decide what happens. They can try to dodge or let themselves get hit – the final decision does not rest with us.
Many players unfortunately draw the wrong conclusion from this fact and tell themselves: “If I determine what happens to my character, then I am invincible!”
This is true to some extent, because only the player decides when the character gets hurt or even dies, but: your character does not know that nothing can happen to them if you do not want it to. Your character will be afraid if they are surrounded by four city guards with swords or someone points a blaster at them, and this should be shown too. Ultimately, a character is much more interesting when they can be hit, cannot dodge every blow, or receives a slap from the lady they just tried to hit on.
Thought Emotes
Another form of Power-RP are the so-called “thought emotes”, although they do not have as strong an impact as the example mentioned above, they are still disruptive. Here again is an example of a thought emote:
“Alara thinks that the people here are acting strangely and that the man in front of her has a weird hair color, wondering if he has missed the latest trends?”
Only a few people can read thoughts, and therefore you should not force anyone to have access to your character’s thoughts. Instead, describe what the character is doing right now:
“Alara furrows her brow and raises both eyebrows high, snorting softly as her gaze wanders over the other people.”
In this case, no one has been forced into any thoughts and yet it is clearly visible how the character is feeling or thinking – but absolute certainty is not present.
RP with NPCs – What’s Allowed and What Isn’t?
Not every quest in roleplay is taken by a player; in this case, it may be necessary to invent and use an NPC. This could be, for example, a bartender or a taxi driver that you can incorporate into your emotes. However, be careful not to exaggerate! Even if no player is behind this NPC, it can massively disrupt other roleplayers if you assign more relevance to an NPC than necessary. Here again is a negative example:
“Raston tosses a coin to the bartender, who jumps on the table and performs a wild dance and sings a short ballad before pouring the beer.”
Of course, this case is absolutely exaggerated – but it clearly shows what to avoid. Significantly better would be this:
“Raston tosses a coin to the bartender, who catches it, nods with a smile, and then hands the man his mug.”
On the other hand, NPCs should not be completely ignored either. For instance, if over 200 city guards are walking through the human city of Stormwind, it is a bad idea to start a fight in the street or to talk about forbidden demon magic. Consider these NPCs, unless something else has been discussed with all participants in the roleplay (for example, if you want to roleplay a house, but every 20 minutes an NPC comes on patrol).
Multiple Characters and Dependency on Each Other
After a while, it may happen that you no longer feel like your current character, or you cannot continue playing because the important players are not online at the moment. In such a case, it is tempting to simply create a new character and play them for a while in the RP. This is completely legitimate and every roleplayer has probably done so, but there is also a danger that you should eliminate: Do not let your second character have any relevant connection to your first character! They should not be a family member, good friend, or even an opponent of your other character, as this can lead to many unpleasant moments. The two will never be able to meet – except in your imagination.
All other players who may have heard from character A how great character B is will never be able to see how the two meet, and in a way, it is also always a “shame” on the roleplayer who has not managed to inspire others to take on such a role. If an important part of the story takes place between your own characters – why would other people want to join?
The Evil eRP
It is a difficult topic, and especially in the German-speaking world, it is hard to address it without receiving strange looks or disdain. It is about “eRP” or fully spelled out “erotic roleplay”.
Basically, it is only logical that characters also have a love life, and yet it is often demonized. If the character collects the heads of Orcs or cuts out a dragon’s heart, that is acceptable, but having an affair with the waitress is too much for most and often crosses a line.
Characters fall in love and many “tough guys” have cried in front of the PC when their character’s love falls apart. Violence is acceptable, so what is the problem when the characters have sex? Here is the problem: the law and the anonymity of the internet.
You can rarely be certain who is behind the character you are currently playing with. And with a huge dose of bad luck, behind the friendly Twi’lek who flirts with your character all evening, there is not a 24-year-old woman, but a 13-year-old girl.
So here is the simple advice: No sex in roleplay. We know how prudish this sounds and that such a thing is not very contemporary in our society, where every advertisement shows more naked skin than products, but the legal situation is clear on this one. Not everything has to be played out, and you can also OOC simply agree that the two characters will have a nice evening together without taking any risks.
