Post by Suomi on Jan 28, 2013 20:58:11 GMT -5
The Haven was founded on roleplay, but uncontrolled things can get out of hand very quickly. Here's a basic list of the roleplaying rules for the site.
Use above example for Tier 2, but provide more written detail. Say, if you were writing a narrative.
Godmoding, Powerplaying, Metagaming
To your typical roleplayer, these terms should be common placed and easy to identify and combat. For someone not as skilled in the art, they can be more confusing.
Godmoding is the bane of any roleplayer. Godmoding is, basically, having a character which has no weakness what-so-ever and cannot be killed. It is like adding a godmode cheat into a video game: Nothing can even hurt you. The excuse "Well my character is a _____" is not valid. Even Gods have weaknesses, and even ghosts can be 'killed'. Even superman has Kryptonite. Does this mean you have to make your character weak to everything? No. Just make sure they have a defined weakness or a way to otherwise be 'disabled'.
Powerplaying is something that changes a lot depending on roleplay, but the general process is late. In general, Powerplaying refers to a character that is far too strong for the roleplay it is in. Powerplaying involves automatic hits without the other person's consent, or constant blocking or dodging of attacks without valid reason or otherwise never taking a hit themselves. Some roleplays involve a lot of fighting and strong characters, others do not. Judge your character based on the roleplay, and do not use powers that are not spoken of in your character's profile or otherwise covered by a mod, in the case of a new power spawning in a plot.
Metagaming is a weird term for a very common thing. Metagaming refers to a person giving knowledge learnt outside of the RP to a character that should otherwise not know it. A vampire would be able to sense if another person is a vampire, but a human who has never been around vampires shouldn't be able to right away tell, for example. Just because YOU, general you, know that a character is this or has that does not mean that your character does. This tends to be the most broken rule when it comes to RP, and the one that most easily destroys plots.
Mixing
In a separate problem entirely is something known as Mixing. Mixing is an issue that occurs when people become detached from reality and believe that the roleplay they are in is real life, and that the characters they play are actually them. They take personal offense to something that happens in RP and act as if the player, not the character, is the one with the problem against them, not their character. It also happens a lot when a person believes that their character is in love with another character, that the player of said other character actually loves them as well.
This becomes a HUGE issue, and leads to many problems from as simple as name calling to as far as harassment, stalking, and even real life murder in some cases. (Search the internet for information on the Dungeons And Dragons and/or Vampire The Masquerade killings for examples.) As such anyone who is seen to be getting too attached and diving into mixing will be temporarily banned from the roleplay boards until they can separate themselves. If they prove they cannot separate themselves, they will be permanently banned from roleplaying for the safety of our members.
Side note: At the Haven we have no problem with self inserts or other types of personas. As long as you prove that you know it's just writing and RP and they do no break any other rules, they are permitted. But do note that using one regularly will make mods keep an eye on you, both to be sure of your behavior and that you are not mixing.
Character Death
Eventually in RP, your character is going to get into trouble. Eventually, they'll even die. Character death is ALLOWED and is even encouraged in some places. If your character dies in roleplay, you are NOT required to remove them from the site. You are ENCOURAGED to play with them elsewhere and in other roleplays. There are a few rules behind it just so people will not argue nor fight.
A character death must be agreed upon by the owner of the character. If they do NOT want their character to die, do not kill them. On the other side, if they DO want the character to die, do not keep trying to save them. Both cases can be considered powerplaying.
If a character does die, that is not it. There are a multitude of ways to resurrect the character ranging on what RP universe they are in. If they cannot be resurrected in that universe for one reason or another, you still have the option of continuing their story as a ghost-Spirits are more than welcomed in any RP here. If you do not wish to do that, they can still be alive in another RP, or even be resurrected in the multiverse. You needn't trash a character because they died unless you absolutely want to.
If you are unsure about death and resurrection rules in a RP category, please ask a mod about them. We will be happy to answer any questions or concerns you have.
Original Characters Verses Canon Characters
In roleplay, you use characters of course! They can be ones you made, making them original characters, or ones already made, which make them canon characters. For more information on how to make characters and their profiles, please refer to this topic on them.
Original Characters are anything you have made. OCs can be used in any forum on the site as long as they are able to fit into the world. This gives them a wide array of flexibility and customization. There is no end to what you can create and use on the Haven, just let your mind wander. The more out of this world and creative, the better. Try to avoid cliches, though, or things that are overused such as "I killed my whole family" or "I'm secretly an angel" sort of things. The only rule for them is that you MUST ask before making a character related to an existing one, or related to a claimed canon character. Please ask the character(s)'s owner before making the profile.
Canon Characters are characters that already exist. Dracula is a canon character, Naruto is canon. Canon, itself, refers to anything that is official to that series or lore. For example, in Haven lore it is canon that I, Espi, am the site owner. Canon characters should stick by their series and not waver too far from the truth.... Though as we are the Haven, we DO allow altered canon characters so long as reason is given to it. Want to make Sonic a demon bat? Give us a back story or start an RP so it happens. It'll become canon to the Haven. Anyone is allowed to play an unclaimed canon character if it is required in RP, but please ask for. Also... Please ask a mod before claiming a canon character, as Haven canon can change based on RP without a profile made.
Out of Character Verses In Character
Otherwise refered to as OoC, Out of Character refers to anything that isn't part of the roleplay, be it idle chatter or questions related to the RP itself. In Character, or IC, is anything that is part of the roleplay, the actions of the character, the plot, the story. OoC is often expressed by using brackets of some sort, typical here "(" and ")" are used, to express your outside thoughts. An example;
At the Haven is a forum with multiple ways to communicate, there should be no reason to use OoC in the roleplay forums. The Shoutbox and Cbox are always considered OoC, as are any of the non RP areas of the site and private messages. Please limit any and all OoC talk in the RP forums and use another method of communication to ask OoC questions.
- Basic Roleplay rules apply; No godmoding, powerplaying, and/or metagaming. (No all-powerful characters, no instant hits/blocks/kills, and no having your character know things they shouldn't.)
- We roleplay in paragraph style, T-1. This means a good post consists of at least a paragraph, sometimes more, sometimes less.
- There is NO LIMIT to how many characters you can own/roleplay as.
- The Haven is an OT (16+) site, but even so sexual things are to be kept to a minimum on the boards UNLESS OTHERWISE MARKED. What you do in private is what you do in private
- Keep characters in their respective boards/fandoms unless in the Multiverse area.
- If the roleplay has a plot, please try to keep to the plot. Nobody likes when a plot gets ruined because of that one person.
- Keep in a post order. If the posts go A, B, C, please keep it A, B, C unless told otherwise by the person that started the roleplay.
- Roleplays set in the past and/or future will need to be approved by the admin, for the sake of continuity.
- If a roleplay has been going on for some time, please ask before jumping in.
Posting Process: The Tiers of RP
There are several different types of posting formats you can use for RPs. Here on the Haven, we prefer you to use at least what we will refer to as Tier 2 or 1.
Tier 5 - Defined by short and brief response lines, undetailed, poorly thought out or quick replies. Please refrain from using these on any RP here.
User1: -walks into the bar and sits down-
User2: Hey how r u?
User1: Fine. -grumbles-
User2: Hey how r u?
User1: Fine. -grumbles-
Tier 4 - About the same as Tier 5, but with more detail. You can use this for general RPs that have no real importance to the forum or the rps players, but refrain from using it generally.
User1: -walks into the bar and sits down-
User2: -sits down as well, next to User1- Hey, what's up?
User1: Nothing much. Work is just hard. -grumbles while taking a swig of a drink-
User2: -sits down as well, next to User1- Hey, what's up?
User1: Nothing much. Work is just hard. -grumbles while taking a swig of a drink-
Tier 3 - Contain much more detail than Tiers 5 and 4, but is very quick. Usually for short RPs where waiting is not really an option. This is much more acceptable than Tier 4.
User1 sits down at a bar, and orders a drink, recieving it.
"Ugh...what a day."
Tier 2 - Contains much detail in the form of one or two paragraphs. Very descriptive and engaging, and usually requires a waiting period between turns.
After a rough day, User1 sat down at the bar, ordering a drink from the bartender. After being served, he/she groans a bit, seemingly annoyed at something. It had been a very long day, you see, and User1 wasn't feeling so well about it.
"Ugh, what a day. I tell you what, if my boss doesn't give me a raise soon, I might just have to take this to the corporate office," User1 complained, downing the drink entirely before ordering another one
Tier 1 - Contains a large amount of detail in the form of several written paragraphs. Often paired with Tier 2. Extremely engaging, and very story-eque.
Use above example for Tier 2, but provide more written detail. Say, if you were writing a narrative.
Godmoding, Powerplaying, Metagaming
To your typical roleplayer, these terms should be common placed and easy to identify and combat. For someone not as skilled in the art, they can be more confusing.
Godmoding is the bane of any roleplayer. Godmoding is, basically, having a character which has no weakness what-so-ever and cannot be killed. It is like adding a godmode cheat into a video game: Nothing can even hurt you. The excuse "Well my character is a _____" is not valid. Even Gods have weaknesses, and even ghosts can be 'killed'. Even superman has Kryptonite. Does this mean you have to make your character weak to everything? No. Just make sure they have a defined weakness or a way to otherwise be 'disabled'.
Powerplaying is something that changes a lot depending on roleplay, but the general process is late. In general, Powerplaying refers to a character that is far too strong for the roleplay it is in. Powerplaying involves automatic hits without the other person's consent, or constant blocking or dodging of attacks without valid reason or otherwise never taking a hit themselves. Some roleplays involve a lot of fighting and strong characters, others do not. Judge your character based on the roleplay, and do not use powers that are not spoken of in your character's profile or otherwise covered by a mod, in the case of a new power spawning in a plot.
Metagaming is a weird term for a very common thing. Metagaming refers to a person giving knowledge learnt outside of the RP to a character that should otherwise not know it. A vampire would be able to sense if another person is a vampire, but a human who has never been around vampires shouldn't be able to right away tell, for example. Just because YOU, general you, know that a character is this or has that does not mean that your character does. This tends to be the most broken rule when it comes to RP, and the one that most easily destroys plots.
Mixing
In a separate problem entirely is something known as Mixing. Mixing is an issue that occurs when people become detached from reality and believe that the roleplay they are in is real life, and that the characters they play are actually them. They take personal offense to something that happens in RP and act as if the player, not the character, is the one with the problem against them, not their character. It also happens a lot when a person believes that their character is in love with another character, that the player of said other character actually loves them as well.
This becomes a HUGE issue, and leads to many problems from as simple as name calling to as far as harassment, stalking, and even real life murder in some cases. (Search the internet for information on the Dungeons And Dragons and/or Vampire The Masquerade killings for examples.) As such anyone who is seen to be getting too attached and diving into mixing will be temporarily banned from the roleplay boards until they can separate themselves. If they prove they cannot separate themselves, they will be permanently banned from roleplaying for the safety of our members.
Side note: At the Haven we have no problem with self inserts or other types of personas. As long as you prove that you know it's just writing and RP and they do no break any other rules, they are permitted. But do note that using one regularly will make mods keep an eye on you, both to be sure of your behavior and that you are not mixing.
Character Death
Eventually in RP, your character is going to get into trouble. Eventually, they'll even die. Character death is ALLOWED and is even encouraged in some places. If your character dies in roleplay, you are NOT required to remove them from the site. You are ENCOURAGED to play with them elsewhere and in other roleplays. There are a few rules behind it just so people will not argue nor fight.
A character death must be agreed upon by the owner of the character. If they do NOT want their character to die, do not kill them. On the other side, if they DO want the character to die, do not keep trying to save them. Both cases can be considered powerplaying.
If a character does die, that is not it. There are a multitude of ways to resurrect the character ranging on what RP universe they are in. If they cannot be resurrected in that universe for one reason or another, you still have the option of continuing their story as a ghost-Spirits are more than welcomed in any RP here. If you do not wish to do that, they can still be alive in another RP, or even be resurrected in the multiverse. You needn't trash a character because they died unless you absolutely want to.
If you are unsure about death and resurrection rules in a RP category, please ask a mod about them. We will be happy to answer any questions or concerns you have.
Original Characters Verses Canon Characters
In roleplay, you use characters of course! They can be ones you made, making them original characters, or ones already made, which make them canon characters. For more information on how to make characters and their profiles, please refer to this topic on them.
Original Characters are anything you have made. OCs can be used in any forum on the site as long as they are able to fit into the world. This gives them a wide array of flexibility and customization. There is no end to what you can create and use on the Haven, just let your mind wander. The more out of this world and creative, the better. Try to avoid cliches, though, or things that are overused such as "I killed my whole family" or "I'm secretly an angel" sort of things. The only rule for them is that you MUST ask before making a character related to an existing one, or related to a claimed canon character. Please ask the character(s)'s owner before making the profile.
Canon Characters are characters that already exist. Dracula is a canon character, Naruto is canon. Canon, itself, refers to anything that is official to that series or lore. For example, in Haven lore it is canon that I, Espi, am the site owner. Canon characters should stick by their series and not waver too far from the truth.... Though as we are the Haven, we DO allow altered canon characters so long as reason is given to it. Want to make Sonic a demon bat? Give us a back story or start an RP so it happens. It'll become canon to the Haven. Anyone is allowed to play an unclaimed canon character if it is required in RP, but please ask for. Also... Please ask a mod before claiming a canon character, as Haven canon can change based on RP without a profile made.
Out of Character Verses In Character
Otherwise refered to as OoC, Out of Character refers to anything that isn't part of the roleplay, be it idle chatter or questions related to the RP itself. In Character, or IC, is anything that is part of the roleplay, the actions of the character, the plot, the story. OoC is often expressed by using brackets of some sort, typical here "(" and ")" are used, to express your outside thoughts. An example;
The man looked around before resting his head upon his hand. He was tired, it had been a long trip across the great desert. At least this tavern existed to calm his nerves. (I think we should also have a hotel next door to the bar)
At the Haven is a forum with multiple ways to communicate, there should be no reason to use OoC in the roleplay forums. The Shoutbox and Cbox are always considered OoC, as are any of the non RP areas of the site and private messages. Please limit any and all OoC talk in the RP forums and use another method of communication to ask OoC questions.
