NOTES About Roleplaying

WHAT COUNTS AS GOOD ROLEPLAY? Before we open that can of worms, we must first define what roleplay is. Roleplay is a vast subject with a meaning that varies depending on who you ask, thus we will use the MCu definition of what Roleplay is: The act of writing the thoughts, feelings, and actions of a canon or original fictional character within the contextual boundries of a post, thread, or storyline. Ideally, the goal is to detail the actions and reactions of a character you have chosen to write as, detailing their actions, feelings, speech, and thoughts as true to the canon of the character as possible. To roleplay is as much about what not to say as what TO say. It means to keep the character with in the context of the setting that they find themselves exististing in as defined by the site canon.

Below you will find three articles, each speaking to a specific aspect of roleplay: Bad Roleplay, or what to avoid. Good Roleplay and what to aspire to, and how to write a post within the context of our shared universe.

THE GOOD

First and foremost, good roleplay is roleplay which we enjoy and causes us to desire to join in on the fun. It is enviting and welcoming, even if the current story or thread is hostile to the your character, you can easily undertand why, perhaps due to your character having been intentionally rude to another character. Whatever is happening with the roleplay, it's inviting and inclusive to both you and your character. It is easily understandable and does not ignore or invalidate your actions, and above all else it is fair to everyone involved.

Hallmarks of good roleplay include posts which include actionable circumstances which characters can respond too. The posts are descriptive enough that others can understand where and what is happening. Posts acknowledges the actions of all characters involved in the scene just as you respond to the the actions of others.

THE BAD

Bad roleplay is best demonstrated by a lack of consideration for others or their characters. Godmodding, Information Bleed, Meta-Gaming, Power Gaming, & Rules Lawyering are all examples of this kind of behavior. This kind of roleplay makes for an unwelcoming environment and we ask our members to avoid such tendencies. They come in many forms, a few of which are listed below.

THE ALL-WINNERS SQUATTER: This player will do anything to "win", and at any cost. They come in many forms, but usually they are unique blend of god-modder, grammar nazi, and a rules lawyer and very arguementive. They will use the rules at every point possible to turn any and every situation to their characters advantage.

THE AMAZING KRESKIN: Kreskin was an American mentalist who became popular on television in the 1970s who amazed people with his powers of prediction and awareness. Kreskins always seem to know more than they should, and they typically they do because thier using OOC information in an in-game manner. An example of this would be if your thread runner stated in general chat, not a post, that the villain you were fighting is Miss Demeanor and the Kreskin's next post states that they are dealing with Miss Demeanor, a character who the thread runner has stated is unknown to all as they are an extradimensional being from a lost other time dimension and is making their debut in that thread. Regardless of that Kreskin knows, and if they don't out-and-out state it, once they learn something OU

THE BULLY: OK, it's not actually a form of roleplay, but I think we can all agree they suck and should be avoided.

The ME-ME COMPLEX: AKA Mary Lou & Gary Stu; The "EST" player believes their character is the bestEST, the prettiEST, the bravEST, the youngEST, and overall just the bestEST at everything and everyone loves them and will do anything for them because they are so est-est. This kind of RPer believes its all about them or thier character (or both). Its not. and as for "ests", their typically the worstEST to roleplay with.

THE MONOLOGIST: AKA, Solo-Sam; Roleplay with a soloist is best described as being in the room with a dead fish that has yet to start to stink, but give it some time and (replying to) it will. Solos could be in a thread completely by themself, or in a thread with a thousand people, whatever the case, they acknowledge nothing, they react to nothing. Instead their roleplay is centered wholey on their character, what they think, how they feel, how they came to be, what they will be, where they have been, where they are going, etc., and the rest of the RP community can be damned (to boredom and frustration). Regardless of what your character does, the Monologists will likely ignore your characters actions or questions in favor of their characters internal life. This kind of roleplay is best left to gothically decorated journals.

THE STAGE DIRECTOR; The God Modder: This RPers style of play is to "tell" those they are writing with how their characters feel or react. You can see it in their flavor texts where the write how your character feels about something, or worst, recons what has been posted in favor of what they want you to have been posted instead of reading your post, taking in to account what you have written, and then reacting to this.

The long and the short of it is that here, on Marvel-Champions, we are concerned with being fair to all and creating as many opportunities for everyone to join in the fun as their charactes, and part of that is honoring what they have written and what they mean vs being a jerk. Don't be a jerk, jerks get booted.

...AND THE POST

Read / re-read that which has been posted thus far, reply to as much as possible which applies to your character, acknowledge that which makes sense for your character to acknowledge, and then respond without going overboard. Generally a post is a momentary slice of time which usually does not exceed two minutes, whatever happens in your post should not exceed two minutes in breath and be limited to one action and one defensive response if you are in combat (those with hyper speed story npcs may make multiple actions). You character post should include actions and statements which others can reply to.

SOME ADVICE

If you want others to interact with your character, be kind and avoid rewinds (anything which causes others to have to do extensive edits).