Simple Tips To Become a better RPer

[looqas]

Ok. Let's hear easy to remember and understand tips in-game. One gets a pretty good impression what the character you are supposed to be role playing behaves by studying the behaviour of the NPCs. It's a pretty solid basis where to build on.

No walls of text here please. Keep it simple people.

I'd like to start with posing questions. You can think about them in-game and off-line. Answering to these questions will help tremendously when you encounter a person.


EDIT: Please skip this section, since obviously it came over completely wrong. It just shows how difficult is to convey complex ideas to other. So doing so in-game is even many times harder.


<strike>1) What would the NPCs do?
2) Remember who your enemies and friends are.
3) In encounters always start from the generic role you are supposed to play.
3) What do you what to convey through your words and actions?
4) Why are you doing it whatever you are doing right now?
</strike>

Myself I find big help in thinking beforehand about things that might happen in the server and playing out in my mind various situations. Be prepared. There are some that can come up with stuff on the spot, but most are not.

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Flying under radar.

[Kambei]

1) What would the NPCs do?
2) Remember who your enemies and friends are.
3) In encounters always start from the generic role you are supposed to play.
3) What do you what to convey through your words and actions?
4) Why are you doing it whatever you are doing right now?

1) flying around and attack everything red?

2) yea thats esencial

3 - 1) Jesus Christ please dont do that! Attacking everyone red without any word isnt good idea

3 - 2) thats logical...

4) I dont understand and I bet im not alone

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[chovynz]

Ok. Let's hear easy to remember and understand tips in-game. One gets a pretty good impression what the character you are supposed to be role playing behaves by studying the behaviour of the NPCs. It's a pretty solid basis where to build on.

No walls of text here please. Keep it simple people.

I'd like to start with posing questions. You can think about them in-game and off-line. Answering to these questions will help tremendously when you encounter a person.

1) What would the NPCs do? -You mean besides flying around aimlessly in circles in the same path over and over and over and and then vectoring off on impossible angles and attacking anything red on the scopes?
2) Remember who your enemies and friends are. -How does that match up to keep your friends close and your enemies closer?
3) In encounters always start from the generic role you are supposed to play. -Ah. I guess that hamburger flipper boy wont be able to get into space after all
3) What do you what to convey through your words and actions? -You mean besides Die!
4) Why are you doing it whatever you are doing right now? -Because I'm following questions 1,2,3?
Myself I find big help in thinking beforehand about things that might happen in the server and playing out in my mind various situations. Be prepared. There are some that can come up with stuff on the spot, but most are not.

Sorry bud. While I understand what you're saying, I partially dont agree with it as it is too simplistic.
The NPC don't know faction rules either. They dont trade really. Follow a train long enough and he'll disappear.
They Dont travel. They are stuck in certain places.

I work by these.
1) Remember that my opponent is here to have fun too.
2) Talking is better than shooting, but be prepared to shoot anyway
3) One bit of "Good RP" is worth all the grief you get.
4) Have fun. Be considerate. But stick to character; (if your character is hard, then be hard. You can be hard, but still considerate - that takes skill to do.)
5) Turn a deaf ear in NewYork/Alpha/Sigma13/etc... Just pretend the OOC doesnt exist (if any happens). Concentrate on the RP instead of the OOC.
6) Dont get involved in whats not mine.

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Seek fun and you shall find it. Seek stuff to Q_Q about and you'll find that, too. I choose to have fun.

[looqas]

Sorry bud. While I understand what you're saying, I partially dont agree with it as it is too simplistic.
The NPC don't know faction rules either. They dont trade really. Follow a train long enough and he'll disappear.
They Dont travel. They are stuck in certain places.

I work by these.
1) Remember that my opponent is here to have fun too.
2) Talking is better than shooting, but be prepared to shoot anyway
3) One bit of "Good RP" is worth all the grief you get.
4) Have fun. Be considerate. But stick to character; (if your character is hard, then be hard. You can be hard, but still considerate - that takes skill to do.)
5) Turn a deaf ear in NewYork/Alpha/Sigma13/etc... Just pretend the OOC doesnt exist (if any happens). Concentrate on the RP instead of the OOC.
6) Dont get involved in whats not mine.

Good list. The kind of I'm looking for here in this discussion.

And again I made a mess of my intentions (I really suck at putting to paper what I intend to say most of the time), so it all came across wrong. Once again :) My sincerest apologizies everyone who just went to server in "red is dead" mentality.

Ok. Time to try to repair the damage.

1) By learning from NPCs I meant this. Fly the same routes, they travel in packs usually, RP in fight and general stance how you should view the player that you come across. Not the straight attack mode of course.

2) Remember who your enemies and friends -> how you should react to that player x, having this or that ID. Sometimes it's a real chore figuring out HOW I was supposed to react to this guy.

3) If you have a solid generic role play, you can always build on that. Remember that most of the guys you meet out there just see you as a Lib Navy, Outcast, Corsair etc. They do not know your history or anything about your character. Of course if you encounter an individual that knows you and your story or have a longer chat with a someone then go deeper in your RP. But it takes two to tango.


Mainly I tried to get a solid RP basic basis you can always fall back on and it's easy and understandable. And the main message is to be prepared in your mind for various situations. Mostly people do the //OORP because they haven't thought about anything how they should or could respond a given situation.

Given the limitations to project your own RP in-game text I find certain stereotypes very helpful. The concept of Corsair is supposed to be easily understood. Remember, although you know you are a complicated persona the others might not. To some regular bounty hunter you might need to be the really basic: "Die scum! pew-pew-pew" and to others the philosophical Robin Hood with whom they can debate about the plight of your home world.

In essence. Great and simple role play is about giving something of yourself to the guy across the world to enjoy of. And by that I don't mean just target practise. Good role play gives the others a chance to role play their part. Even though sometimes all you need to do is just that to play your part to perfection.

more tips.

5) try to keep in char even if you are PMing.

6) keep it simple (at least in the beginning). Complex ideas carry badly across to the others if you have not rooted and well estalished your character in the area you roam. Grow your character in place, don't force it in place.


And Shimada, Shimada... You perfectly know that I'm not the first guy to jump the gun :rolleyes:

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Flying under radar.

[Caelum]

1) Proper grammar all the way. Atleast have the courtesy to capitalize your sentences and use punctuation, believe me, it helps a lot. This includes ridding yourself of the lolspeak disease.:P

2) Go by what your faction/character would do, but don't be afraid of an alliance of convenience if your character's background allows it.

3) Give lawfuls/unlawfuls a hard time. "Wait, you're arresting me for being a pirate? I deny all charges, you have no evidence!"

"You're arresting me for being in Alaska? I, sir, am on a secret Navy mission. I suggest you let me pass right now or I WILL call High Command."

4) Don't just attack someone without a word, or attack a fighter with your 7 cruisers, even if he/she is of a completely hostile faction.

5) If someone breaks a rule, re-engages, etc, don't go shouting "Hey, you activated cruise, you can't engage me again!"

6) If there's an arrogant underlevel starflea civilian taunting your evil pilot, don't be afraid to taunt back. Remember, you can't shoot him/her because of the rules - but that doesn't mean you couldn't in RP. Eg don't shoot him/her, but you can always threaten to. Just don't let it get out of hand;)

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[Coin]

1) Write a story. It doesn't have to be on the first day, nor does it have to be 55000 words. It's a lot easier to get 'in character' if you have a character to get in.

2) Join a faction. You can be pirate, lawful, trader or independant. Indy is the hardest to RP properly imho, because you will always be asked by everyone 'who are you', but if they see Interspace in front of your name, they (should) know their alignment vis-a-vis that faction, and can behave accordingly.

3) Ship and Equipt. If you have an unusual combination, expect to be quizzed. If you have chosen that combination to give you the edge in a dogfight, expect grief and sanctions. Stick with the canon, die a coupla more times than you would on a PvP server, and have more fun playing than answering oorp interrogations.

4) Reps, ID's, and docking are like a hand in poker. To win, you gotta hold all the aces. If you have a corsair gunboat, with Liberty guns, a Rhineland Military ID and 'Zoner' in your name, why are you docking at a Blood dragon base?

5) Space is big. In fact, its bigger than big. You can float around Newcastle for hours, and the player list can show 5 other players in there, and you may not see them at all. So, when you do see someone, say 'Hi' in local. On one level, it's mere politeness. On another, it's called making friends. But better still, it will lead to DIALOGUE, without which, there is no RP.

6) Punctuation and grammar. 'Eats, shoots and leaves' = pvp whore. 'Eats shoots and leaves' = panda. Leet speak is NOT a language. If you write 'lol' in system chat, everyone in that system will be sighing over their keyboards, but if you write '*smiles*' then you will gain respect, and that respect will carry on after you have left the system.

7) Try to make someone's day, rather than ruin it. If you're a pirate, bring some RP to the situation, rather than '2mrdai'. If you're a trader, give the pirate a bit more to cover several runs. If you're a Lawful - try putting someone under arrest, rather than 'pew-pew-pew'.

8) If you are unlucky enough to get killed, say '//gf' and leave the system. There are plenty of other places to go. If you are lucky enough to tractor in someone's stuff - offer it back to them - for a ransom if you like.

9) Check the forums - especially the new character and the sanction threads. The guy that has shoddy/RP-less equipment may be new. The player that got sanctioned might have been doing stuff that you do.

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A Day in the Life of an NPC | Coin | The Journal of Caius Oakley | Build Your Dream Boat

[Derkylos]

Lots of good stuff.

Mostly agreed, however, a couple of things that do irk me:

First off, OoRP questioning of a loadout. No need, really. If you see someone in a Guardian with a pirate ID and no tag, treat them as a pirate. If they are not a pirate, their RP will tell you this, and you can alter your attitude to match. RP>character setup-you make the setup that bestfits your character, but not all concepts can be represented perfectly.

Secondly, saying //gf after a fight...if you must, please make it via PM. Not everyone in the system was involved in the fight, or even in the RP that led up to it. Far too often have I witnessed the after-battle OOC banter extend for several lines in system chat, interferring with mine and others' RP which may be in local.

I think the most important thing to remember is that there are other people around, all RPing their bit...give them space to do so.

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[Grumblesaur]

AS for the OoC at the end of a match, I usually make it //Good fight -insert short comment here- RP a repair or jump out.

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A way a lone a last a loved a long the riverrun, past Eve and Adam's, from swerve of shore to bend of bay,
brings us by a commodius vicus of recirculation back to Howth Castle and Environs.

[Xing]

Good roleplay implies among other thing, that you always let a chance to your opponent to do something against you that would be within his reach.
Unless both of you are in an argument, in which there' no such need.

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