Post:Roleplaying in General - 05/02/2009 - 22:24

Re: Roleplaying in General · on 05/02/2009 10:24 PM CDT	445
Quality of roleplay has little to do with how often you roleplay. In Prime, it is presumed you are either always IC or, at the very least, quiet enough not to disrupt people roleplaying. This is not a scale: you are either doing this right, or you are not. For actual quality of performance, I look at the following in rough order of importance: 1: Does the player understand he is not in total control of the scene? This is a pretty fundamental element of our medium and failure here makes anything else worthless. Does the roleplayer react to cues he is given? Does he roll with the punches when a negative event happens -- negative for the character, but for the player yet another roleplaying opportunity -- or is he so wrapped up in his wish-fulfillment fantasy that he cannot play with others except on his own terms? 2: Is the character in sync with the setting? All the roleplaying in the world won't save you if you're trying to portray a space marine or an elf with wings. Finer granularity of the point touches on the previous posts' idea of archetypes and stereotypes. A lot of novice roleplayers create outrageous characters in an attempt to embrace individuality, only to find they have non-conformed exactly the same way as their peers ("Wow, you're an orphan too?!"). My highest regard goes to players who are capable of doing an interesting twist on a known archetype. 3: Does he bring the setting to life? Does he react to the fact the weather is current set to "monsoon?" Is he wearing his armor and a bundle of uncured hides to a bar? Is he wearing pants? 4: Is the character's behavior realistic, modified by #2? Does he react in a way that I expect a human(-equivalent) to, or did he just step out of a Saturday morning cartoon? If his behavior is exaggerated, is there some hint at depth and literary skill, or is it a poor understanding of how humans work?
This message was originally posted in The Social Side of DragonRealms \ Roleplaying in General, by DR-ARMIFER on the play.net forums.