Role-playing faux pas

[Magile]

A Land Far Away (ALFA) was known for keeping a rather strict and tight applicant process over the course of its existence to get the "best of the best," which to some communities, had gained our small gathering an elitist status. Over time, we have lessened our restrictions to allow an easier-going community to thrive without rules lawyers, drama queens and other such nonsense that once kept ALFA down on its knees and in the mud. The change, overall, is great and welcomed -- I certainly enjoy seeing more and more new faces come around and experience what ALFA is all about.

However, after seeing a post regarding in-character emotes and also experience some occasional moments of, well, immersion-breaking actions, it occurred to me... just what type of role-playing faux pas does ALFA hold nowadays? I have a small list that I will be willing to mention, but I am curious as to what people would rather not see come up during a gaming session on one of our great servers.

- Swearing. I'm not talking about using another word for a donkey, nor am I suggesting that it hurts my non-virgin ears right down to the cartilage. I mean swearing that just doesn't fit in the realms. We [had] a page that had realm-specific swearing, and if someone could find it, that would be greatly appreciated. There are some words that just don't seem like they belong, like the ever prevalent f-bomb, that could easily be replaced with something else that, while silly, at least fits.

- Emoting thoughts. This has been done to death, and I won't progress further on it. We all know that none of our characters [should be] psychic, so why tell other characters how your PC feels? Perhaps mention the word in which causes the thoughtful reaction, but I don't believe you can tell that, when you emote, that I *think it's stupid,* do you?

- Internet slang. Yes, we barely see it. Yes, we call it the "WoW-language" or whatever you wish; however, fact remains, sometimes it slips out. A one-time thing is fine, people get over it. A constant use of it... bad times (and no, I'm not suggesting someone constantly abuses it at this point).

- In-character faux pas highlighting. A bit of a mouthful, eh? Let me explain: let's say someone emotes exactly what they're thinking. That's fine, you know it's wrong -- now, if your PC, in-character, acts on that emote and makes a jest about "being psychic" or otherwise understanding the thought and flat out insulting the person's role-playing on it... that's not a good thing. It's bad enough that it happened, highlighting the issue and prolonging its existence doesn't help anyone's RP.

This post isn't to point a finger nor to say it's constantly happening in ALFA. This is just a thread dedicated to what we believe may be role-playing issues that can and do sometimes come up. Is this a rule saying "you MUST behave like this?" No, but it's something to consider adding to your playing if you feel you may be causing more than one issue related.

So, at the risk of opening the floodgates, I'd like to hear others' opinions on what is a role-playing faux pas. I would prefer it if people did not quote others' posts and cause issues with what they find is wrong, and this isn't a thread to complain about how a class should be RP'd. This is just a general idea on what affects the immersion of other players on our servers.

[Magile]

Gruush's RP Guide used to be a staple in ALFA. I wonder what happened to it?

edit: What happened to the GUIDE, that is. Not the RP ability.

[danielmn]

//

Everyone seems to be good at using the OOC tags above. Too well. It gets to be a little immersion breaking for me at times these days, I find most times I play this happens Waaaay too much, when a private tell IG would suffice just as well.

I have found some people go a bit beyond when emoting. They emote what I should be seeing...and then some. *Brings out the shield of brilliant metal with the Tyr design on it...." accompanied with "that the elf Melenir gave to her two moons ago...". The first part I would know as a PC by watching...the second...I wouldn't.

THose are the main changes I've seen over time.

[dergon darkhelm]

My current PC doesn't really curse, but Malcer used to swear a blue streak streat.

I didn't have the "realms specific swearing" book, (would love to see a link) but my FR swearing came down to two basic types:

1) Slight modification of current curse words to give them an antique feel

sh*t = shite
f*cking = fookin'
"son of a bitch" = "whoreson", etc
god damn = godsdamn

2) Claim the dark gods in curse phrases

"Cyric's pimpled arse!"
"Bane's Balls that hurt!"
"It's as cold as Auril's iced teet!"
you could also use Umberlee a lot or Talos or whomever.........just never Shar

[rorax]

Nice post, Der


Personally, i would like to see people refrain from using "Okay" , and use "Alright" instead(or other forms of positive answer).

Okay always sounded a bit too modern for me...

Regarding time units, i am not sure if 'minutes' exists in faerun. I pretty sure that 'seconds' are not...so if possible i think people should avoid saying "Two seconds..."

[Brokenbone]

I'd second Dergon's post.

Additional sources to mine though include FR fiction, including that found online, in games, and in printed materials. Use it for PCs or NPCs hailing from regions highlighted in the materials, example, the Sembia series of novels had a few often repeated exclamations re: "Dark!" or "Dark and empty!" which I figure were like, "Sh*t!" or "Holy Sh*t!"

Other real world materials may help. Online particularly you will find "old timey" stuff for nautical slang, if you have a seafarer PC who does not want to say YARRRR MATEY all day. Another favourite to harvest bits and pieces from is Shakespeare! Lots of Shakespeare Insult generators online, either to create random expressions, or easier is to use a formula of "pick a word from column A, followed by B, followed by C", like at this site: http://www.pangloss.com/seidel/shake_rule.html

Many of those combinations end up quickly becoming annoying overkill, but calling someone a "villainous rump-fed maggot pie" may occasionally fit better than "*sshole."

[CloudDancing]

I chatted with Magile on the subject of profanity and he reminded me that I left WoW not so much because of the constant swearing, but because of the misogynistic sense it was used in constantly to insult gays and women as well as constantly imply sexually violent acts as euphemistic to PvP. I mean it was entirely like being sexually harassed on a constant basis. The most mind-achingly painful part of it was knowing the demographic I played with in general, thought in some part of their mind, that because this was the internet, it was entirely appropriate to speak on these topics in a normal voice and be associated with their words in a real life sense.

So for perspective, changing a few key profanities around to prevent other from feeling they are being harassed with common and ancient European curse words, it little trouble. There is so MUCH more you can say if you don't confine yourself to one little all-encompassing swear. I think this may drive me to be even more specific and avoid the easy "one-word" way out. As well, there is no standard Shakespearian standard for faerun language composition and since the player base is often english-second-language the evocative nature of American rural venacular may be missed.

As for sitting around, choosing to have your RP "disrupted" by others, well that is a personal choice you make. I chose to accept language patterns as style or assume it is due to laziness. I tend to go toward assuming someone has a thoughtful play-style always, because I really try to never assume ill-intent or that perhaps someone just thinks the point of roleplaying persistent worlds are to constantly farm and get stronger, while talking to people randomly along the way.

Honestly if a person spends all their game time worrying on others OCC actions, the person is going to spend a GREAT deal of time being distracted from playing their character properly. People make mistakes first and foremost. This is more a source of amusement than a source of whine.

And as is a simple fact of education, if a player does not lead constantly and consistently by example, thus being a PARAGON of role-playing, to the point where people stand up and comment on how refreshing your style is and how YOU add so much to the game for them, I suspect a player might want to hold off on the critical commentary.

We play with player characters and DMs who have evil/chaotic alignments and from what I have come to understand partice dark and gritty standard operating procedures for role-playing Alfa. Plus everyone has the choice to IC not associate with player-characters who make their PC's uncomfortable, gossip and malign them in game as is in-character, and generally make thier lives miserable IF it is in-character.
The people you play with have actively (as PC's/DMs) participated in rapes, been raped, murdered children, larceny, buggery, genocide, murder, prostitution, kinapping, and who have bought and sold slaves. Their language will reflect that. Their language must reflect their background.

Not only to mention what good aligned player characters have been forced to drag themselves through. It is not a happy magical flowery land of unicorns and fairies. The unicorns gore and the fairies will happily kill you for a nice little gem or just for the heck of it, blood dripping for thier tiny little fingers.

[johnlewismcleod]

What Cloud said...I think



"OK" is a personal annoyance for me...I would be happy to never see that "word" (of course, it isn't actually a word) uttered by a PC or NPC. But that's a lofty goal we can all only strive for.

I find it takes weeks or even months for me to "find the voice" of one of my PC's or NPC's, so I'm not overly sensitive to modern language faux pas. I do hope we all continue to strive to eventually find an IC voice that fits the realm and our PC's, of course, and when I encounter a PC that is constantly spouting modern "short-hand speech" it is annoying.

Cursing could be improved with Dergon's and BB's suggestions, but I found the HBO series "Deadwood" perfectly acceptable in the use of modern vulgarities. Vulgarity is by nature transient, and if we confine ourselves to period specific exclamations they might easily seem more comic than crude...so I think leeway is called for.

My current PC doesn't curse, so I'll have to wait until she's gone before I can really develop another vulgar repertoire.

As far as region dialect (US southern for example), I think it is just an honest attempt to find a voice relevant to a PC's unique background and I applaud the effort. I believe PC's generally become increasingly more immersive over time as each player finds their stride. Very few of us are as good as hollyfant and some others at quickly stepping into a new skin, so we should be tolerant and allow players to develop their PC's voices.

Having said that, if I catch PC's emoting their thoughts (i.e. *thinks Rath's annoying* or *thinks Geth's ugly*) or using "OK" or "K" as an IC word, be warned:...as soon as I figure out how to bestow negative XP bonks said PC's will know it

[fluffmonster]

For peoplewho feel a need to emote their mental state, it is possible to use general terms to indicate observable states of mind and facial expressions, and possibly even the trigger for the expression if it can be done well.

*pensive*
*confused by the question*
*irritated at Grul's comments*
*expressionless*
*barely-contained rage*
*contemptuous sigh*

The key is observable. Never emote anything that is not apparent by observation. Sometimes the trigger for the expression can be discerned from the social context, but one needs to be exceptionally careful about emoting that. *irritated* after Grul's comments is just as clear and better RP than *irritated at Grul's comments*. The trigger for the emotion should only be included when it would be apparent to bystanders but there is enough other stuff going on (say, from a lot of conversation going around) that its not clear by looking at the text log.

[hollyfant]

Now that I'm thinking about it, I haven't really seen any immersion-disruptive roleplay of late. The last thing to slightly annoy me, was the use of "Fire!" to indicate the archers should start shooting. Arrows and bolts are "released" though, fire would be the command to use flaming arrows instead.

As complaints go, that's pretty petty. So, keep up the good work ALFA!

[johnlewismcleod]

I should use this opportunity to speak to the subject of misogyny and depravity. These are, of course, land-mines that can be OOC hurtful to both PC’s and DM’s. I try to make my nasty NPC’s (and PC’s, for that matter) believably naughty…thus I will dance about these distasteful subjects occasionally.

I would like to state clearly that while I am willing to try and make this gritty RP part of my toolset, I will avoid graphic depravity when that point is approached…I personally am not comfortable going graphic with some of these subjects (i.e.: intercourse, rape or torture for example).

If the player of a PC wants to go there, I will try to “hang-in” as best I can, but please respect my limits if I abbreviate some of this.

Everyone has different limits and sensibilities on various subjects, of course, and if I ever present ugly RP that approaches a player’s limits, please tell me so I can abbreviate it at that point.

I also request that if other PC’s are present at any event of this type, that the limits of all are respected. Please do not hesitate to speak up.

We are here to have fun, not to be victimized by the tales we become embroiled in.

[oldgrayrogue]

Mistakes happen. Lord knows I have made them and will again. Just the other night my PC got up from a table and "ran" for the door because I forgot to hold down the shift key. Sometimes I type a tell and realize later it is in the local say bar by accident. Good for a laugh. I remember my table top days and man was there a lot of OOC chatter going on there. The game was still really fun. The occasional slip up bothers me not at all. Sometimes ((OOC discussions)) take place, and sometimes modern speech creeps in. Not a real big deal to me.

Its hard for me to tell when someone is RPing poorly or just making a mistake as above. Unless I see something glaring -- like someone running through town with a sword out shouting something like "Dude, where all da phat lewts at Whut! LOL" I probably won't say a word. I think the only "guideline" we need, which has worked really well so far, is keep it IC at all times, keep the OOC to an absolute minimum and always set it apart by (( or // so the difference is clear and to avoid confusion. Beyond that if something a player says or does really breaks immersion for you just send them a polite tell, hopefully with a helpful suggestion.

As far as word usage with cursing, terminology etc., I admit that my PCs tend to say things like "Well enough" or "as you say" rather than "OK." My current PC is even known to exclaim "Dark!" or hiss "Dark and Empty" on ocassion =). That's just my style of playing. It helps me to immerse to "medievalize" the speech of my PC. But unless someone says something that is clearly completely out of whack to the setting I tend to just deal with differing play styles with my own imagination, and fill in the blanks as necessary. As long as the content is IC driven, as opposed to OOC driven that's all I want or expect.

[dergon darkhelm]

Sometimes Rath is intentionally sexist and a bit racist....part of the build.

Makes me want to relate one of my favorite early RP experiences on TSM.

A nice female DM and past Lead Admin had possessed a teenaged female human NPC who was distraught to the point of heavy tears.

Rath's comment to his Helmite brigrade passing by on patrol was "Ignore her. She is simply taken by the hysterics of menstruation."

I chuckled pleasently to myself (but did receive a DM rebuke)

[Magile]

Lots of great input.

This thread's intention wasn't to cause a debate (which I am glad it hasn't broken into), but rather to get an idea of how ALFAns nowadays think. From what I and everyone else has read in this thread, I think it's safe to conclude that players, as a whole, are a lot more lenient now than in the past. This should make for applicants having a much easier time adapting to how ALFA plays when they join.

Let the recruitment campaign begin!

[Rotku]

I think OGR echoed my thoughts quite well there. Anyone who has played or been DMed by me (particularly DMed by) knows I can never resist throwing some OOC comments in every now and again. Swearing is one that gets to me - modern terms, I generally don't like to see. Going to have to dig out that old curse words document we had a while back - it should be on the sight somewhere.