Three Lessons Towar'ds A better RP!

Good evening, folks! Sean here with some small but useful tips on how to improve your roleplay to take you from a good roleplayer, to a great one...

Hmm...where to start...? Well, lets start with the very basics!

Lesson 1:


SPaG! No, not a famous pasta dish! Spelling and Grammar! And that includes all forms of punctuation and capital letters!

Lets take a look at two speach patterns. They both serve the same purpose, but are overall very different.


hi their how are you

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Hi their. How are you?


Now, of course your character isn't going to speak like the second example (unless he is a British man from London bought up speaking the Queens English, but anyway...), but it is there to prove the point. Ask yourself the question - which of those look nicer? Mere aesthetics, I know, but at the end of the day you want to be making yourself look like a better Roleplayer. Correct capitals, punctuation and spelling are just a small way you can do this. It is a tiny thing - how hard could it be to change your roleplay in just this one small way?

Lesson 2:

/me's are essential to roleplay on the server. They are the very basis of how we play; and how we explain to others what we are doing.

/me should really always be used for physical actions. /me thinks is a ridiculous command, and it encourages metagaming so much that you might as well tell the other guy that he can see a name floating above your head IC. Seriously, if you do want to take a step up then keep your thoughts to yourself. The top roleplayers won't need to do /me thinks, they will be able to imply what they are thinking through physical actions. Lets take a look at an example:



/me thinks: "I'm not sure I like this"

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/me shakes his slowly as Sean makes the suggestion
/me makes a disapproving humming noise
/me decides to butt in
"Just hold on one second there, Sean..."


I don't think I need to explain that, as the difference is pretty evident...

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You should start to think about the qualities of the /me and /. Everyone can /me takes his gun from his holster. /me fires the gun. and /me Blows his head off.! Why not take it a step further? Think how you might do this.

What gun are you taking out? Where is the holster?


/me takes out a Mark XIX Desert Eagle from the holster in his jacket

Who are you aiming at and where? What is the exact physical action you need to take?


/me aims the weapon at Sean's skull, and steadies his finger on the trigger.

/me pulls the trigger, and releases a shot.

What would the sound be like and how would it act in the surroundings?


/me The sound of the shot echoes loudly round the empty house

Being able to do this means you really taking your roleplay to the next level. With these commands you are creating a vivid picture in the mind of not only you, but the person you are role playing with as well. And admit it: It looks bloody smart!

Lesson 3:

Having the right voice for your character is essential. People who successfully portray how their character is talking through their typed text are taking major steps towards becoming top Role-players. Think about your character for a second or two. Where is he/she from? Has she/he lived anywhere in the past that may have influenced his/her accent?

The best way to set yourself on the road to typing like your character would speak is to stereotype massively. Think in your head how a stereotypical Italian/Russian/American/English Man would talk. Of course not all English people talk the same, and within that category is Cockney/Scouser/Yorkshire, and I am sure the same applies for all other countries. But start your search for your accent with the country itself, and narrow it down from there.

Bad Italian

An Italian man walks into a bar ((Ouch!))
"Hey. Get me a fucking whiskey now because I am dieing for a drink here.


Who is this Italian? The Queen of England? o.O

Good Italian


*An Italian man walks into a bar
"'Ey! Get me a fuckin' whiskey now you jamook! I'm diein' for a drink 'ere!

Your stereotypical Italian mobster is likely to drop his "g" at the end of "ing", and will probably swear more times than needed. "h" is also likely to dropped in words where a vowel follows.

Of course to understand how you are talking, all other players will first have to read your name and check your skin to know it is Italian because in text, Italian could look very much like Cockney. If your character gives no clues as to his nationality, then there is nothing wrong with adding "[ITA Accnt]" before your line of text.

Finally, research your characters speech. Italian mobster's will often use 'Mobspeak' such as 'Jamook' (meaning Idiot), and Cockney's have there own way of speaking named "Cockey Rhyming Slang" (I.e "I couldn't adam 'n' eve it! = I couldn't believe it). Researching further into the language field can provide some great little words to play about with on your character, and it is great to see it in action.

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So there we have it. Excuse me for sounding pretentious, but I am here to help out at the end of the day. I hope you learn a thing or two about stepping up roleplay to a higher level, and maybe I will post up a few more 'lessons' sometime later



(( This toke me a really long time and I was thinking of smart words to use Etc.. I hope this gets pinned.. ))

Wow nice locked and pinned !