Sheridanne Kelley on Role Play

Every Role Play land you wander into is to be a land of wonder, ideally dedicated the highest excellence in Role Play – however THEY define this.

To be the best player within a new land, start with their rules, guidelines, whatever they call them  Read them and if they have other literature, history, roles defined or races and professions you can choose from, read this too.  Try to understand the basics before you enter.  If they have a combat meter or a titler system, try to be familiar with them or wait and use their “Visitor”, “Observer” or “OOC” (out of character) flip title.  If they say you must be silent in open chat during active role plays when you are a visitor and speak only in IM, then be sure to respect these rules. 

As you wander the lands, watch how people interact with each other, “listen” to their conversations.  If you have a particular group or role of players you would like to join, be sure to find some representatives from this group and hang around with them.   Most groups really do put a lot of work and detail (some WAY too much to be practical) into helping you know how to fit in.

Landing A Role

Figure out how they “assign” or agree for you to play a role.  Some lands just let you wander in as a green Elf and you can just play what you want.  Others may have a panel of people who make the decisions.  Sometimes the Administrators or Managers of the lands themselves can make the decision based on the answers in your application form (if they have one) or they may interview you and submit the results of their interview to another group. 

Some Groups Find Certain Characters “Iffy”

For instance, in Tirion Hunting Forest or Aglarond, if you have a role that does not fit within their organisational structure, these details, and sometimes a photo of your character, will be presented to the Ringbearer’s/Knight’s Council.  They will have the final say on how appropriate your character will fit within the lands. Most lands do not dictate a character, role, race or religion for you…you are free to choose. However, once you choose, you must stay within the parameters of that race/role/religion.

Meet with the groups again after you have decided on your character and learn from their leaders.  Read or ask questions on what they think Role Play is about.  Think of it as the “script” for the lands.

It Is Only A Stage Play

If you wanted to be in any play, you first look at the parts available and the way the parts are played. You choose one that you think fits you. This includes your behaviour parameters, your limitations, your god (if religion/belief systems are part of their RP), your costume, what you eat, the weapons you are good at if you wish to participate in combat, your abilities, etc.

You may, in some cases have to audition for a part. Typically no one person wrote the “Land’s Play”, it was decided over many hours of study, proposals, debate and playing issues through and testing them.  The most difficult lands to RP are the ones who have no idea of parts, structure, roles or scenarios.

The land is like the “stage”. There will be an overall day-by-day play and special “scenes or acts” to play, with parts for players, each part has particulars. If you wish to play a dark or evil race you will stay within the description of the dark/evil race you have chosen. But it is an oxymoron to say you are a good Demon or a loving Orc. Both are obviously dark/evil races and are bound by the descriptions within the race — unless the land allows this.

Each of the described races has specifics based on literature or a specially-created history that is matched to races and roles.  Each land is unique.  Tirion Hunting Forest is is unique from Aglarond, Nordhaven, Avilion or a BDSM sim. They are not Hell Boy, Hulk, Spiderman, Batman. They are not Lord of the Rings, Final Fantasy, Dune, Dungeons and Dragons or Forgotten Realm, theyare Tirion Hunting Forest, a First Age, Middle Earth land based on The Silmarillion.

NOTE:  In any land you enter, you have freedom to play within the rules or find another land where you can play what you feel comfortable playing.  This is a virtual world we live in, not the real world-and OOC issues have no part in what we play here, so issues of racism or freedom of religion are irrelevant in a land’s “play”.

Lands cannot make make exceptions to everyone’s wim, for to do so is to be disrespectful to their “play”. If you wish to play in a land….be ready to play by their rules and guidelines. It is not personal, it is just what exists in every land – every character has limitations. So like you may have heard sometime in your life…”if you are under our roof you need to play according to our rules“.