Warning: This is only a collection of recommendations. There are no strict rules for a roleplaying style, save for one's common sense. But these tips may help in improving your experience.
- As a rule, people roleplay in third person. That is, they write he said that and not I said that.
- Whether to use past or present tense is up to you, but try to stick to one option and don’t jump from “he said” to “he says” and back every now and then.
- Another thing to consider: the usage of the word “would”, as in “he would enter”. This actually doesn’t make much sense, because it implies that the character would enter if something happened (or did not happen). It hasn’t happened yet. Here is a good explanation from a veteran player.
- This advice seems obvious, but as strange as it sounds, not everybody knows it: the speech should be divided by speech marks. Like here: “Good afternoon,” he said. When the marks are not used it gets confusing and also looks quite messy. We know that there are many non-native players, but the more you stick to at least basic grammar the better. Also, please, use punctuation.
- To mark actions, use * in their beginning and end. Like here: “Good afternoon,” *he said.*
- Don’t forget that if you just type “Good afternoon,” *he said*, the message will look like this: Mr. John Smith: “Good afternoon,” *he said.* You can use the /me command to make it look better. For example: “Good afternoon,” /me said. Then the message will look like this: “Good afternoon,” Mr. John Smith said. As you can see, in this case you don't need to use *.
- A roleplay game is closer to writing a story than a message. So it makes sense to have some details added to the speech. And this is also why it is frowned upon to use emojis and emoticons. Same goes for “lol”, “rip” and other similar things.
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- Dialogue is, of course, the most important part. But to enrich your roleplay, apart from actions, you can also describe the surroundings or the character’s thoughts and feelings. It’s helpful to describe their facial expressions, body language, and tone of voice. Just like in real life, these things make a big difference in how others interpret what you’re saying. Think about injecting a little more life and personality into your character beyond spoken dialogue alone, and it will often help them stick out more in players minds.
- Respect people’s boundaries. If you want to talk to somebody, don’t just barge into the ongoing conversation. It’s best to start with a polite question, something along the lines of “Sorry, I heard you were talking about this...”. Check other characters’ bios to see if you can start a conversation about something they might be interested in or a subject that you have in common.
- If your character has a distinctive accent or a stutter, the best approach is to mention it in actions and not try and write it. So, instead of “Dis is de most interesting ding I've zeen”, go for “This is the most interesting thing I’ve seen,” he said in a noticeable German accent.
- If you describe a physical characteristic about a character, like a disability or a noticeable feature, you’ll probably need to repeat it a few times before others start to catch on. It’s better storytelling to describe the effect of something than to state the thing itself. For instance, for a pregnant woman it can be “she sits down, kneading her aching back with one hand on her belly.”
- Leave “hooks” in your speech. It is something that other players can use to continue the conversation. Don’t just say that your day was good so far: explain what you enjoyed, who you met, what surprised you, share your opinion, and so on. A description can be a hook too. Like here: “Oh, yes, I had a splendid day!” he said, but he looked alerted. In general, have a thing or two other players can reply or react to.
- Be engaged in the conversation you have, don’t just focus on what you have to say, but pay attention to what other people say and do.
- If you need to say something out of character (OOC), like warn another player that you are going to be offline or ask them something, use double brackets: ((Sorry, I’ll need to disappear for a while)). Do not ask “How do I gamble here?” or something similar on behalf of your character if it is intended to be OOC. Please, don’t abuse it.
