Introduction

As you might have guessed by the subject alone, this topic is one about people. It will be a slight bit broader, but in essence, people are the main thing.

This may sound a bit droll, but I find it is very important that everybody has a chance to read and get acquainted with the basics of people-to-people behaviour that can make or break your roleplaying experience. In order to do this, I shall start to label some styles of roleplaying. This makes things easy to read, for one. And it provides the thread with a simplicity that allows for some good discussions to those that cannot resist.

Disclaimer: Some of the descriptions are given without any kind of nuance. Reality may prove more 'interesting'.

Roleplaying styles

Depending on the kind of roleplaying game you play, there are some things to keep in mind. I'll get to that later on. First, I'll give a rough outline of the stereotypes of roleplaying games.

Our most lovely game the World of Warcraft is most certainly not the only game that allows for roleplaying. There’re famous pen-and-paper roleplaying games like Dungeons and Dragons, Vampire, GURPS, or what have you. Or Live Action RolePlay (LARP) for those that like it intense. Or even online chats that are purely intended for roleplaying. I will give a short list of different types of roleplaying games.

• Freeform roleplaying is the kind of roleplaying that allows for everything. Nobody "controls" the game, and nothing is "set in stone".


• What you see is what you get kinds of roleplaying are the other extreme. LARPs are of this kind, where you wear the clothes your character wears, swing the sword yourself during a battle, and such. There is no talking like "I do this and that". There's only doing.


• Can I do this kinds of roleplaying are the most widespread. There's a game master that rules the universe, and the players control their characters. They'll ask the game master for feedback on anything they do.


• MMORPG games provide a new blend of roleplaying; A mix of the above. There is a game environment that you "see", but often without a person behind it that can answer questions. There are a lot of people that play the game, and that have a lot of control in what they want to do. And still there're often people that govern some storylines, so that there is a bit of shattered guidance here and there.

This thread has been added to the “Informative & useful threads for Roleplayers” compilations sticky: Informative & useful threads for Roleplayers