AMIA ARCHIVE • View topic

I am a writer and it is for this reason that I first began RP. I saw RP as a way to practice character development, and expand my mind to possibilities in the storyline, and it has worked out for me quite well in that regard.

Now, I RP as a hobby.

With any other hobby, the goal of the practitioner is to improve performance, to perfect it, while enjoying the hobby for what it is.

I seek to improve my RP skills. I have noticed that I do have a really bad habit of, when finishing a particular session of rp, abruptly walking away. I've been trying to curb that, and give the other person time to respond. Other times, my character will walk away abruptly, and mean it... she doesn't want to hear the other person any longer.

The purpose of this thread: While I want to know if I have done anything that might be considered Bad Form RP, I really want this thread to be more of an RP Education, so, rather than opening up for a bunch of "Yeah your doing this sucked", perhaps those of you who respond here could give some insight into mistakes you have made in the past or things you have noticed that made things a bit difficult for others. Maybe even tips about RP.

Thanks!

I'll speak with example here, cause that's how I best communicate.

First: Just like in art, everyone has their own tastes in what they like.

I actually tend to type very fast myself, and combine that with how Rras behaves, and how fast he moves it can give him a distinct sense of being aloof and walking away from people/rp. Or just being a snarky ass and walking away after saying something.

I'll usually 'pause' if i see someone 'turn their pc'.. as i walk by as if they're gonna say something in my direction, or if they stop, to allow them to type what they would do, cause typing is slow compared to RL reactions/talk. It gives RP a 'chance'. But theres sometimes where a PC just doesn't give a damn and is busy doing something else and would keep walking nearly no matter what was said.

Also brief lead ins for initial posts are great for that:

Gasp!
Wait!
BUT!
HEY!
.. Um!
*Startles*

Brevity yet conveying what you wish to communicate is the pinnacle of writing. A lot of my stuff is flufffffffy.

As far as others opinions of how you're doing it? As long as you and others seem to be having fun and you're not breaking server rules? Frankly I wouldn't give a (censored.)

Ok. A general Advice thread; I like the sound of it!

All the snide comments of "RP how your character would behave", Can go the other way. It takes practice and keen understanding of the atmosphere, Other characters, Other player Personality, and 'The moment' In order to preform the best.

Here's a good Advice, To all RP'ers out there.

-=- -=- -=-
Take your time; Relax; And do not post another long sentence unless the other Player/Character have responded. While we can fill out the boredom of 'Waiting' for a response with figurative Emotes and other things, I do believe it's common courtesy to 'Wait' for a response, Before writing up another.
-=- -=- -=-

Here's a bad Example
Character 1 -"Blablabla"
Character 2 is writing up a response
Character 1 -"Blablabla
Character 2 now has to delete the first sentence, and write up a response for the second comment.
Character 1 -"Blablabla"
Character 2 now has to scratch the second written line, and adjust again, writing a new response.

Rinse and repeat.

It helps to know your race and their culture as well as knowing what personality traits your character has.
It's interesting to know a character and see changes as the character develops through time.
When I was in school in my Italian language class, my teacher told us to 'think like an Italian'. It's not as easy as one might think, and I'm half Italian.
RPers are akin to actors in that you have to be somewhat of an extrovert, well not entirely true, I'm shy by nature, but then my RP skills reflect that somewhat too.
I consider it a challenge to run characters that are way different from my own personality (De'Lios), but it's fun and a learning experience.
And fun is the name of the game.

Very_Svensk wrote:

stuff

And the opposite bad form: when you have waited so long for a response from the person you are rping with that you visit the forums... only to discover that they have written a 3 page post. Then fifteen minutes later they reply with "Yes."

Grrrrrrr!

Very_Svensk wrote:

Ok. A general Advice thread; I like the sound of it!

All the snide comments of "RP how your character would behave", Can go the other way. It takes practice and keen understanding of the atmosphere, Other characters, Other player Personality, and 'The moment' In order to preform the best.

Here's a good Advice, To all RP'ers out there.

-=- -=- -=-
Take your time; Relax; And do not post another long sentence unless the other Player/Character have responded. While we can fill out the boredom of 'Waiting' for a response with figurative Emotes and other things, I do believe it's common courtesy to 'Wait' for a response, Before writing up another.
-=- -=- -=-

Here's a bad Example
Character 1 -"Blablabla"
Character 2 is writing up a response
Character 1 -"Blablabla
Character 2 now has to delete the first sentence, and write up a response for the second comment.
Character 1 -"Blablabla"
Character 2 now has to scratch the second written line, and adjust again, writing a new response.

Rinse and repeat.

I whole-heartily agree with this statement. I tend to be a role-play that emotes and writes more than most people ... so even in some cases when people thought they waited, I'm only 3/4 done with my reply and they walk away. It's a slightly annoying occurrence until people start to get to know my RP-style. If you intend on walking on by on purpose though, that's different and I don't think anyone really gets annoyed at it. It's when you stop for a reply and then after a couple moments, move on.

P.S. I love this font.

Very_Svensk wrote:

Here's a bad Example
Character 1 -"Blablabla"
Character 2 is writing up a response
Character 1 -"Blablabla
Character 2 now has to delete the first sentence, and write up a response for the second comment.
Character 1 -"Blablabla"
Character 2 now has to scratch the second written line, and adjust again, writing a new response.

Rinse and repeat.

This, oh my GOD, this. There has to be a name for this kind of poisonous interaction.
Sometimes (hopefully most of the time) it's worth it to interject with something brief, in order to establish a toe-hold in the conversation. With any luck, it'll give them enough of a pause for you to respond in full. And a little OOC interaction goes a long way, as usual: I've had some people message me preemptively about their slow response times, whether they type slow or just like having time to think before proceeding.

Very_Svensk wrote:

It takes practice and keen understanding of the atmosphere, Other characters, Other player Personality, and 'The moment' In order to preform the best.

This is extremely good advice. Heed these words. Just like on paper, a vital aspect of character writing is the deepest possible understanding, by the author, of the action working around the characters, followed by an adequate description of that action to the reader. A man on a battlefield is just that until we witness his actions--the stoop of his back, the half-plumped bags slung over his shoulder, the shooing away of crows--a man who might be the survivor of a great battle can become a scavenger via skilled writing. Without that skill, a dramatic encounter following a clash between the Eternal Order and an undead horde can become total cardboard.

As for characters interacting...
A character that totally ignores the personal influences of others in an interaction comes off as unrealistically nonchalant or sociopathic; conversely, a character who is overly influenced by the presence of others is in danger of becoming overshadowed, or coming off as abnormally emotional. Of course, Amia of all servers has its fair share of sociopaths and abnormally emotional characters

but there IS a balancing weight in between... A diversity that binds it all together, just like the total range of characters in a novel. Without that diversity, this server would not be as popular as it is today.

But I feel like I'm just reiterating what everyone already knows. CRAP.

100:1

Shade of Blue wrote:

This, oh my GOD, this. There has to be a name for this kind of poisonous interaction.

But I feel like I'm just reiterating what everyone already knows. CRAP.

Yoss' Mum... And yes, we think so too.

Yossarin wrote:

100:1

What is this disconnected ratio.

Shade of Blue wrote:

But I feel like I'm just reiterating what everyone already knows. CRAP.

Not at all.

In just the few posts that I have seen, I have come away with insights into what other RP'ers see as issues that make the experience a bit rough. That was what I intended when I started this thread, so that perhaps those who come, as I have, from other servers with varying standards can learn to acclimate into this server better by understanding what is expected, in a technical sense.

Very_Svensk said it.

And if you are slow or are like me and sometimes just can't decide how to respond (in some RP your character has to be very careful, drow for instance) then I use quick replies or emotes that give me a minute and don't let the other player(s) think I've fallen asleep at my keyboard.

*appears to be thinking*
"Mmmm"
"Well...."
"A moment..."
*taps a finger on her lips in thought*

Also, I borrow other players emotes and some of the ways they say things for future RP. Find what you think is interesting RP and include it in your RP.

Shade of Blue wrote:

This, oh my GOD, this. There has to be a name for this kind of poisonous interaction.

Back on the mud i once played on was it called one liners.

Posing was done in turns there, as in: Person A emotes something, person b emotes something, person c emotes something, etc, etc, etc.
Eventually it starts over at person A, who can in turn take appropiate actions to what B - Z did, etc, etc.

One liners, or even half liners, were generally shunned and frowned on, because you put in your heart and soul while they just smacked down a half a line pose.
Not that there is anything wrong with doing short poses, but I personally want something to work with.

Lets not turn this into 'This type of RP is better than that' or use this thread as a way to bash other people's RP, thats not the right way to do it.

You can never please all the people all the time. Best thing you can shoot for is to have fun, and try to empower others to do so as well with your RP.

How you do that successfully? Feck if I know, been trying to figure it out for years, just keep tryin'.

As far as character development goes, I think that making the character and their actions believable is the key. If a character's reasoning is believable (given the stetting and circumstances of course) it makes for a richer character. One of the ways I try to do this is to look at a character as a collection of traits instead of a back story. A character's back story involves places and circumstances that no player has actually seen or experienced, this can make it difficult to understand the character and to involve yourself in it's decision making process. By looking at traits, such as arrogance, or stubbornness you can understand the character's thought process better because these are real things we all experience and display to some degree.

This thread will go nowhere but down. Threads tat try to tell me or anyone that my or their RP is shit tend to be. My apologies to the TC.

TormakSaber wrote:

This thread will go nowhere but down. Threads tat try to tell me or anyone that my or their RP is shit tend to be. My apologies to the TC.

Not the intention of this thread. It is addressing the technical aspects rather than any content. if it does digress, then, by all means, shut it down.

If it's the nature of my PC, I like the flood the other party with walls of text. It has nothing to do with OOC courtesy, IMO: you can very well answer one post at a time, and it's no shame to reply to the first one even if there's been three other lines spoken since then. You can also comment or emote on this IC. Personally, there's nothing I hate more than waiting for the other party to respond to some small-talk that doesn't actually have an important point yet. So I throw a bunch of hooks out there, and you can choose which one you want to grab onto.

Personally, I don't believe in tricks. Some like to be minimalistic. Others like to talk a lot. Some use rich emotes. A general attitude that I find succesful is a focus on other PCs: elaborate emotes and long-winded stories about the various aspects of your PC may be good to set the mood and give a feel for the character, but you can be sure that you're more interested in your character than other players are. You can make a perfect character with an awesome background, a mindset very in-tune with the setting's culture, and classy mannerisms. But chances are, people won't be interested in being a mirror for your character to admire himself in. They want to share their cool characters, too. It's painful sometimes to watch how two (or more) players are trying beat eachother in drawing attention to their PC, instead of reaching out to eachother and finding some common ground to RP on.

So don't focus on character creation too much. In fact, if you polish your PC to perfection you might make him this static idol you want to keep clean and safe. Who your character is isn't as important as how he interacts with other characters. Offer hooks for other players to reflect their characters in yours, and vice versa. Have something to offer, but always make sure to keep an eye out for something others can offer you in turn. (This can be anything from combat support or trading to simple small talk.)

Share. Let other PCs change your PC, even if it goes a way you hadn't originally planned.

IronAngel wrote:

Share. Let other PCs change your PC, even if it goes a way you hadn't originally planned.

That is wonderful advice right there.

ainjyll wrote:

IronAngel wrote:

Share. Let other PCs change your PC, even if it goes a way you hadn't originally planned.

That is wonderful advice right there.

Pretty much the only rule you need really.

On giving hooks, nothing helps me more then when another player gives visual ques to their mood. When you speak to them they don't just stand their, they pace about and stop and stare off into the distance and once and a while they will stop and stare at you. Things like that make a character both believable and engaging.

All the positive sides of roleplay that everyone has described here is the epitome of mine. I will reiterate.

I am the greatest roleplayer alive.

Very_Svensk wrote:

Ok. A general Advice thread; I like the sound of it!

All the snide comments of "RP how your character would behave", Can go the other way. It takes practice and keen understanding of the atmosphere, Other characters, Other player Personality, and 'The moment' In order to preform the best.

Here's a good Advice, To all RP'ers out there.

-=- -=- -=-
Take your time; Relax; And do not post another long sentence unless the other Player/Character have responded. While we can fill out the boredom of 'Waiting' for a response with figurative Emotes and other things, I do believe it's common courtesy to 'Wait' for a response, Before writing up another.
-=- -=- -=-

Here's a bad Example
Character 1 -"Blablabla"
Character 2 is writing up a response
Character 1 -"Blablabla
Character 2 now has to delete the first sentence, and write up a response for the second comment.
Character 1 -"Blablabla"
Character 2 now has to scratch the second written line, and adjust again, writing a new response.

Rinse and repeat.

I will just add to this --

Having experienced it one too many times, any time I intend to write more than say.. one sentence, I actually have NWN in windowed mode with a notepad file off to the side. I type it in notepad, then paste it in the chat box in NWN. If someone says something else before I'm done, I can just modify as needed in notepad.

Brilliantly useful if you have something detailed to say.

I suggest having wordpad or notepad open to type your responses into, tbh. That way you can make alterations easily and can actually see the whole thing.
As for how you actually RP, up to you. Everyone has their own style, and while some annoy the shit out of me, that's my problem not theirs.

TormakSaber wrote:

This thread will go nowhere but down. Threads tat try to tell me or anyone that my or their RP is shit tend to be. My apologies to the TC.

Dwagin wrote:

Lets not turn this into 'This type of RP is better than that' or use this thread as a way to bash other people's RP, thats not the right way to do it.

I... Don't see any of this happening. At all. Looks like a decent general advice thread to me.

Some excellent RP advice.

I somehow sensed that people understood what this thread was about. Not about tearing anyone's rp down, but working to understand one another in order to make our interactions more easygoing.

While I may or may not take this advice, I do appreciate the availability of it for those who aren't familiar with or are new to RP.

RP can sometimes be aggravating if you like to write.
Because the world is a dynamic, captivating, and very fast one, it is hard to consistantly produce quality over quantity, especially when you get excited, and you want your character to bite in on the action of the moment. Which makes for the congestion of speed talk! Well,

I think there is a lot to say about timing.
At least for me, I found over time that by keeping the conversation in rythm with the other speaker, slower, rather than faster, you will typically say more, in less words.
Of course, some of my characters were known to ramble too, rather feverishly, in which I might use a big block to charaterize a tirade, or more emotional response to something.
I don't recommend it!
I think the long jive, though maybe amusing and will certainly make your blood hot, works more effectively when used for say a: Bard's song, for quoting from a text your character is reading, or giving an explaination, of a prolonged series. But most beautifully, if used to describe something.

By that I mean, show me something, and keep showing it, and never take your eyes off, unless interupted. That is *To Emote, in longer intervals than *Giggles*

I for one feel I underuse the emotes from my characters and from most characters. It is the emote that is narrative besides our own (charater's) voice, which sort of plays by the rules, in writing things.

Words that our characters say, like real words. Should act like real words. That is, Just spit it out, short and sweet, or long and slow. I don't like it afterwards when I reread the box and see myself go: talktalktalktalktalktalktalktalktalk etc.
(rereading the chat logs is also a good idea

)

I hope that makes any sense.
----------------------------------------------
Also!

If you play animals, or things that aren't necessary human. Don't anthropomorphize them!
(This is probably my own fussing as a reader but anyways)
I don't like watching goblins and kobolds smoke Lucky Brand Cigarettes and talk about getting laid, or about how tough and smart they are. I like to watch them cower and hide from humans, and steal, and bite and cry.
Sorry kobold players, I hate your kobolds, it is just true.

In layman's terms,
I like my panthers to be just panthers.
And my dragons to be just dragons.

Obviously magic makes its exceptions for a lot of things around here, but I feel we get too fanatical with making things more human than they need to be. And that isn't to say I haven't made these mistakes before either.

Again, my own preferences as a picky reader.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
So anyways, you can take or leave what I say, I don't especially think it is optimal advice. Maybe not too useful at all, but those are the two most common things that I try to correct with my own stuff.

Quote:

but I feel we get too fanatical with making things more human than they need to be. And that isn't to say I haven't made these mistakes before either.

Humans are the alpha, the omega, the above and below, the best and the worst, and perhaps the most Magick of the Magick.

n.b.: Nothing wrong with humans, really.

Very_Svensk wrote:

Ok. A general Advice thread; I like the sound of it!

All the snide comments of "RP how your character would behave", Can go the other way. It takes practice and keen understanding of the atmosphere, Other characters, Other player Personality, and 'The moment' In order to preform the best.

Here's a good Advice, To all RP'ers out there.

-=- -=- -=-
Take your time; Relax; And do not post another long sentence unless the other Player/Character have responded. While we can fill out the boredom of 'Waiting' for a response with figurative Emotes and other things, I do believe it's common courtesy to 'Wait' for a response, Before writing up another.
-=- -=- -=-

Here's a bad Example
Character 1 -"Blablabla"
Character 2 is writing up a response
Character 1 -"Blablabla
Character 2 now has to delete the first sentence, and write up a response for the second comment.
Character 1 -"Blablabla"
Character 2 now has to scratch the second written line, and adjust again, writing a new response.

Rinse and repeat.

IronAngel wrote:

Personally, there's nothing I hate more than waiting for the other party to respond to some small-talk that doesn't actually have an important point yet. So I throw a bunch of hooks out there, and you can choose which one you want to grab onto."

I think this just shows the obvious dynamic of roleplaying and how one can perceive it as good or bad in a multitude of ways.

I know that Yoss tries to be minimalistic and not include emotes in his RP (I think I got that right!) and I know that I only try to include body language that is objective (a turn of the head, a smile, etc) and leave any sort of subjective interpretation (whether it's nice, mean, neutral or otherwise) open to interpretation.

People have their ways. Just try to be who you're trying to be. I don't worry about sharing, or caring, or anything. If someone feels like I'm not "sharing" with my RP, then that's probably just my character. If someone feels like I'm annoying, it's probably the character. I just try to be them.

And sometimes I fail! But that's life.

Before coming to Amia year ago, I started my RP in forums and diceless RP. In such settings, its essential that you explain every little movement of your character in as much detail as possible, so people realise whats going on. This translated over to my RP in NWN, with the exception of walking and such, I generally emote everything my characters do.

It's gotten better however over the years. I emote only the things the engine can't replicate now, rather then every bloody thing.

I can relate to Selvec's experience having come from forum rp myself and it was very difficult to adapt to the fast paced rp style of live rp when I was used to taking my time and thinking about how to better describe what my character was doing, or how to hint at what their attitude is though body language.

Over the months I got better at leaving out details I wanted to write, compulsively sometimes, but I have to admit I've generally enjoyed role playing with people who possessed patience and allowed me enough time to write a few blocks until the message was satisfyingly produced. I've never been a super fast typer dispite ample time to do so. My brain just has to stop and consider what my characters are saying for a few seconds before writing it and I don't suppose that will ever change.

Differenece between styles of writing / pausing will always become dificulties between people who try to interact. More tolerance and acceptance of opposing styles could go a long way.

Sylfwe wrote:

I can relate to Selvec's experience having come from forum rp myself and it was very difficult to adapt to the fast paced rp style of live rp when I was used to taking my time and thinking about how to better describe what my character was doing, or how to hint at what their attitude is though body language.

Over the months I got better at leaving out details I wanted to write, compulsively sometimes, but I have to admit I've generally enjoyed role playing with people who possessed patience and allowed me enough time to write a few blocks until the message was satisfyingly produced. I've never been a super fast typer dispite ample time to do so. My brain just has to stop and consider what my characters are saying for a few seconds before writing it and I don't suppose that will ever change.

As a writer I am challenged to balance out the way I want to convey what I am envisioning vs keeping the reader's interest, as well as word count limitations, which means cutting things short, but at the same time being as descriptive as possible, and this helps me keep in shape that way.

Quote:

Difference between styles of writing / pausing will always become dificulties between people who try to interact. More tolerance and acceptance of opposing styles could go a long way.

Tolerance, and having a thick hide.

I admit I'm one of those impatient players when it comes to RP as in talking to eachother.
If you know your a slow writer or your just not that good at english I cannot understand why you insist on writing ½ a page in a row. Why not break it into 5 smaller sentences.
If both are just standing there for 5 minutes saying nothing and looking like they have entered a starring contest, it looks stupid imo.
Since english isnt my native language I have to avoid alot of fancy words making most my characters looking quite dumb. I imagen I'm not the only one with that problem.

A simple 'tell' letting them know these things goes a long way, most will be considerate.

Roleplaying while hunting: how do you guys do it?

Aye. It's damn Friggin' Impossible ... Or at least very hard.

It's the best kind of role-play. For me, the game is all about adventure, not sitting in a tavern talking about adventure. I don't know "how" I do it; the same way I do all RP, I guess. Type away.

ticket wrote:

Roleplaying while hunting: how do you guys do it?

Actually typing while hunting is a bit hard for me, as I've discovered. And most people just wanna 'gogogo' when they go to grind. But, if you -are- RPing while hunting, the best way I've found to do it is to mouse-click and type while the character is walking/running. Or respond while the character is actually attacking. You have to just get a little creative in when/how to respond, but otherwise, it's no different to me.

Egh.. I am one of those players that type fast. When I am aware of my typing speed, I usually send tells to apologize and ask if I should be slower. In some case, I am told it is fine. In others, they ask me to wait.

I cannot help it, because I am an anxious and talkative person by nature. It gets worse when I am nervous.

Worse still when the area I am in is crowded: I tend to type faster because the parallel conversations going on usually send my responses (and sometimes that of the person I am playing with) to the top of the screen, forcing me to scroll up to see what was said and then scroll down to type the next response. Even then, sometimes I accidentally skip what my RP buddy was saying.

My father tends to compare me to machine guns. Not that it helps me slow down. It only makes me feel worse. =(

Sometimes, though, I do not notice I am typing too fast and if the player says nothing, I just keep going on and on.

So sorry! It is not on purpose! >_<

ticket wrote:

Roleplaying while hunting: how do you guys do it?

Type fast, click faster.

TormakSaber wrote:

ticket wrote:

Roleplaying while hunting: how do you guys do it?

Type fast, click faster.

Exactly. I'll add lots of practice, too. I'm still not that good at it, but I'm getting better slowly.

Takes a few seconds to run between spawns, so I start typing then, and it may take two or three spawns before I'm finished. RPing while hunting is simple enough if you're paying attention, even if you're a slow typer.

Estara wrote:

I know that Yoss tries to be minimalistic and not include emotes in his RP (I think I got that right!) and I know that I only try to include body language that is objective (a turn of the head, a smile, etc) and leave any sort of subjective interpretation (whether it's nice, mean, neutral or otherwise) open to interpretation.

More or less correct, but I do this for a variety of insufferably egg-headed reasons that have little to do with roleplay so elaboration on it is off topic.

It depends, when I am on my fighter, Anastasia I let her hit a spawn group, then whilst she is busy bashing away I start typing. I am wuick enough I can normally create something legible by the time she is finished with them.

Its definetly harder for me when you are a caster though, especially a support one as your trying to watch everyone else as well should there be trouble for the group.

I personally type a little on the slow side. Not terribly, but enough that I've learned to truncate and reword my thoughts sothat they'll come out faster and quite frankly smoother. Also, the practice is helping me speed up closer to how I used to be.

I too came from diceless message board RPs that I used to do day in and day out. Some of them I DMed, which means I had to make decisions on the outcome of just about everything anyone did or tried to do. My posts were often long winded and very detailed back then. I think I've come to a good middle ground now.

As for advice: Read character descriptions. It's frustrating when you go to all the trouble to write out exactly what your character looks like, complete with mannerisms and special effects and then you get treated like another commoner in brown clothes. On the other hand, be mindful that many things in those descriptions are inherently (or described as) inobvious, and you don't just know them. However you can notice at an oppurtune reasonable time, thus latching onto the hook as it was intendid to be cast.

I've never not RP'd - or at least tried to - while out hunting. After all, I thought RP was the whole point of the server.

When I'm out solo, what's going through my character's head is constantly going through my head. Even when no-one's around, I sometimes stop and have him mutter something, if only for the sake of enjoying RP perhaps a bit too much. =P

When out in the Amian wilds with my friends, we all make a point of taking the speed down a notch and keeping IC. It's a lot more fun than just blitzing through a dungeon and completely forgetting you have a character to play, too.

And in the times when I do find myself in a party with the latter kind... well... I don't enjoy it. And I find myself wondering what it is they're doing on an RP server, regardless of how they act back in Cordor.

Lavek wrote:

As for advice: Read character descriptions. It's frustrating when you go to all the trouble to write out exactly what your character looks like, complete with mannerisms and special effects and then you get treated like another commoner in brown clothes. On the other hand, be mindful that many things in those descriptions are inherently (or described as) inobvious, and you don't just know them. However you can notice at an oppurtune reasonable time, thus latching onto the hook as it was intendid to be cast.

I am not sure this helps, though I cannot say whether or not it is a common habit either: but bios are not always read.

I have a Shadow Dragon Disciple character that has got a lot of changes to his body. I once wrote all the changes in the bio (in detail) and whenever someone said something that obviously showed they did not read the bio, in a Tell I would kindly ask them to read it.

It was becoming common to have people ignore my bio because they said they needed to scroll down and that was annoying. So, I cleaned up the bio and would detail everything about his appearance in the Talk channel instead, since everyone would treat him as if looking like a regular person.

Some people would complain about the amount of text typed, since I would describe methodically his appearance (the way his eyes shone, the texture of his skin/scales, the look of his hair, the prominent teeth, how long and sharp were his claws and how he used leather gloves to avoid accidentally hurting people, the sound of his voice, and so on).

My third attempt at making things easier for both me and the players was write some sort of quick list in the bio, which was disappointing since I had to try making it fit without needing to scroll down and that made me unable to convey exactly the looks. It became a shallow bio. =(

In his case, I thought the details were important so people could get a real, good idea of what he looked like.

Most of the times, unfortunately, bio or typing were both ignored.

A typical bio is of the form: "You feel dread as his glowing eyes pierce your soul and make you feel helpless."

Which leads to disinterest in using the examine button.

I read everyone's bio

It's depressing that I now commonly reply in three line posts while roleplaying in game for the exact reasons as mentioned above. If you're not fast in Amia Forest you're dead - usually. Or I just don't use emotes to such an extent as I use my characters speech, which turns the whole thing into an exchange of dialogue which more or less could boil down to a fantastic MSN conversation.

I suck at roleplay.

The Art of Roleplaying

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