Role Players : Forum : Role Play Etiquette


Role Play Etiquette

11 Years Ago


Borrowed from another board and edited slightly to fit our means: Roleplays! Great fun, a chance for us all to live out our fantasies and let our imaginations run wild!

As with any social interaction, it's more fun and satisfying for everyone if we all follow the same simple rules. But who tells you those rules? There might be books out there “How to Behave in a Role Play” but I haven't seen them!

So I thought I'd post a thread of Role Play Etiquette. Below are my first thoughts – if anyone spots things I've forgotten (I'm sure there will be some!) then shoot me a message and I'll update this post.

1) Let other people's role-plays flow. Role plays in this group are open for everyone to read, but please don't try to post in it unless you're invited.  It's great to let people know how much you enjoy their talents, but send compliments via PM, or add them once the RP's finished.

2) Invite first.  If you want to role-play with someone specific, send them a PM with your suggestion.  If they say no, don't push it or feel offended – people have to be in the mood to role-play, and have the time! If you don't mind who takes part with you, post a request in the Ideas Thread. Again, don’t feel offended if you get no takers the first time you post – it all depends on how busy people are!

3) Discuss first. Once you’ve got your role-play partner, discuss how you want to play the role-play. Will it be long or short.group or solo?  What sort of things are out-of-bounds for each partner?  Both partners need to discuss what turns them on and off!
(You don’t have to plan out every last detail unless you want to, but let both partners enter a role-play knowing the way it’s going to work!)

4) Start descriptive. Agree who’ll post first, and that first post can start to set the scene for the whole role-play.

5) Take turns. Obvious, right? Give your partner time to respond to your post – they might not have time to post every day, but if they’re enjoying it they’ll be back!

6) Help each other out. Everyone has different role-play styles, but give your role-play partner enough to feed his/her imagination. To give an extreme example, a post of “SLAP” could only have a response of “OUCH!” Doesn’t take the role-play any further forward... 7) Keep communicating. PM your partner outside the role-play to discuss how it’s going and where you’d like it to go next!

8) Everything has an end…, Sometimes your role-play will play on to a natural conclusion; but sometimes one partner will feel they’ve gone as far as they can with the story. That’s fair enough, and nothing to take offense at. To be polite, if you’re going to pull out of a role-play then PM your partner to let them know.

9) Tag, you’re it…, There’s no reason why a new partner shouldn’t wish to step into a half-finished role-play. If that happens, just edit the heading of the first post to include the name of the new partner.

That’s it for now! Let me know if I’ve missed anything!