Sarzonia
08-07-2005, 21:55
So You Want To Be A Roleplaying Star
... Well listen now to what I say... (Apologies to the Byrds).
I've seen some people make reference to great RPers and I've seen players who want to become great RPers someday. I've also seen people who show some potential and either meet that potential or fall short, sometimes for reasons beyond their own control. There are great RPers in International Incidents and in the NationStates forum, some of whom are stronger in different areas. Is there something in common that one person can hang a shingle upon?
My answer to that is yes. There are players who have different strengths who bring those to the table. Some players are better at war RPing. There are some people who are better at character RPs and about developing individual players or their countries as a whole. Still others combine both of these along with other strengths to bolster their reputations as RPers.
But if the question still remains, how do you get to be considered a great RPer? I don't think there's any one path to greatness in this game. There are a few tips that I found helpful when I was starting this game and I'll recommend them to you, but I'll add a proviso after this part of my post.
Read the Stickies
Yes, you've heard this a million times. Yes, some players keep suggesting it to you or to other new players. But a lot of great information is contained in the stickies in NationStates or in the Consolidated Sticky in International Incidents. Basic information like "how do I wire money" to "how do I declare war" to more advanced information like "how do I figure out my defence budget" or "how long is one NS year" is included in the stickies. There are also suggestions on what to avoid, such as Godmoding (the short version: Saying what happens to someone else's forces or never taking losses).
Sit and Watch
When I started this game, I decided to sit back and try to figure out who the "good" countries were or who the "evil" countries were and I decided I wanted to align myself with the "good" group. But that meant I couldn't just sit and watch someone make a IC statement about another country and take it at face value. I had to look to see what each country's patterns were to figure out if it was just a bunch of political rhetoric or if it was real. I also tried to watch how a RP developed and pitch an idea for getting involved in a RP that looked interesting. But more importantly, I tried to get a sense for the RPing culture of International Incidents, since that's where I ultimately ended up making most of my RPing posts. When I got a sense for how things worked, that's when I started to make my first forays into roleplay.
Find a Mentor
I've alluded to this and I've mentioned this head on in the past, but either formally (like asking someone if they could help you learn how to RP) or informally (watch someone RP and try to take clues from how they do things) develop a mentorship with another RPer. After I became an experienced RPer, I did some formal mentoring with people as part of the Roleplay School (http://s6.invisionfree.com/RoleplaySchool), but when I started out, I decided to sit and watch Isselmere. His detailed factbook and his presentation of his naval storefront were key to my development. From his naval storefront, I got many cues to my eventual development of the Portland Iron Works. From his factbook and history, I got cues toward my development of RPs.
How to Play This Game Called NS
The basics you're going to need for this game are a good imagination, an eye for detail, and an ability to tell a story. There are people who are passionate about the details of a ship's weapons or how a sabot round works and there are people who don't care about those sorts of things. However, if you're not as interested in the mechanics behind an assault rifle or a F-22A Raptor jet, you can still incorporate details into your depiction of combat RPs. Perhaps you can focus on the mechanised infantry platoon that was just attacked by a roadside bomb. Perhaps you can focus on the frantic efforts of an engineer trying like heck to save his ship from the depths. Perhaps you can spend your energies writing about the events in the situation room of your presidential mansion or the goings on in your National Assembly. The point is, detail is what matters extensively in NS. It takes time and patience to create a world or to write a factbook that looks as good as Pacitalia's. But if you choose to devote both time and effort into your presentation, you will eventually get the results you want.
Communication
Some people swear by instant messengers like MSN or AIM. I personally use AIM extensively, but having one of them can make the difference between a post that causes your "opponent" to scream Godmode or somesuch or a simple misunderstanding that gets clarified in the IM itself. While I'm not a huge fan of planning every single detail of a war RP and I don't like predetermined outcomes, having the IM contact can allow you and your "enemy" to come to an OOC understanding of how you want to plan things out. While I've made some OOC friends among my IC enemies, I don't necessarily expect that you will be able to do that with everyone you come in contact with on NS. That's just not realistic. But you can save yourself and anyone else who RPs with you a lot of heartache if you communicate with them. Even if you don't have an instant messenger, at least try to contact your "opponent" through telegrams. If you have an e-mail address, you can do that. But by all means, communicate.
Ignoring
There've been some strong opinions expressed about ignoring. Some people are accused of having an ignore list a mile wide. Other people are stridently against ignoring anyone. The ignore is necessary to an extent: Namely, if someone wants to use ortillery in a strictly modern tech RP, that's worth an ignore of the technology. If someone tries to barge into a closed RP and wasn't invited, that's worth ignoring the particular post. If someone refuses to take losses EVER and RPs as if your actions never happened, that's usually worth ignoring the player. Ignoring someone because they're bigger and tougher than you are is bad form. Ignoring someone because they're arrogant may be a survival move to prevent you from getting yourself in trouble.
Some Final Tips
Leave the smilies out of RP posts. Entirely. No :sniper: or :mp5: or :fluffle: in a RP post. Declaring war on the entire world is a quick way to get you ignored or your threads locked. Don't use a steady diet of 1337 speak, but occasional OOC comments with them can be accepted depending on the situation.
... Well listen now to what I say... (Apologies to the Byrds).
I've seen some people make reference to great RPers and I've seen players who want to become great RPers someday. I've also seen people who show some potential and either meet that potential or fall short, sometimes for reasons beyond their own control. There are great RPers in International Incidents and in the NationStates forum, some of whom are stronger in different areas. Is there something in common that one person can hang a shingle upon?
My answer to that is yes. There are players who have different strengths who bring those to the table. Some players are better at war RPing. There are some people who are better at character RPs and about developing individual players or their countries as a whole. Still others combine both of these along with other strengths to bolster their reputations as RPers.
But if the question still remains, how do you get to be considered a great RPer? I don't think there's any one path to greatness in this game. There are a few tips that I found helpful when I was starting this game and I'll recommend them to you, but I'll add a proviso after this part of my post.
Read the Stickies
Yes, you've heard this a million times. Yes, some players keep suggesting it to you or to other new players. But a lot of great information is contained in the stickies in NationStates or in the Consolidated Sticky in International Incidents. Basic information like "how do I wire money" to "how do I declare war" to more advanced information like "how do I figure out my defence budget" or "how long is one NS year" is included in the stickies. There are also suggestions on what to avoid, such as Godmoding (the short version: Saying what happens to someone else's forces or never taking losses).
Sit and Watch
When I started this game, I decided to sit back and try to figure out who the "good" countries were or who the "evil" countries were and I decided I wanted to align myself with the "good" group. But that meant I couldn't just sit and watch someone make a IC statement about another country and take it at face value. I had to look to see what each country's patterns were to figure out if it was just a bunch of political rhetoric or if it was real. I also tried to watch how a RP developed and pitch an idea for getting involved in a RP that looked interesting. But more importantly, I tried to get a sense for the RPing culture of International Incidents, since that's where I ultimately ended up making most of my RPing posts. When I got a sense for how things worked, that's when I started to make my first forays into roleplay.
Find a Mentor
I've alluded to this and I've mentioned this head on in the past, but either formally (like asking someone if they could help you learn how to RP) or informally (watch someone RP and try to take clues from how they do things) develop a mentorship with another RPer. After I became an experienced RPer, I did some formal mentoring with people as part of the Roleplay School (http://s6.invisionfree.com/RoleplaySchool), but when I started out, I decided to sit and watch Isselmere. His detailed factbook and his presentation of his naval storefront were key to my development. From his naval storefront, I got many cues to my eventual development of the Portland Iron Works. From his factbook and history, I got cues toward my development of RPs.
How to Play This Game Called NS
The basics you're going to need for this game are a good imagination, an eye for detail, and an ability to tell a story. There are people who are passionate about the details of a ship's weapons or how a sabot round works and there are people who don't care about those sorts of things. However, if you're not as interested in the mechanics behind an assault rifle or a F-22A Raptor jet, you can still incorporate details into your depiction of combat RPs. Perhaps you can focus on the mechanised infantry platoon that was just attacked by a roadside bomb. Perhaps you can focus on the frantic efforts of an engineer trying like heck to save his ship from the depths. Perhaps you can spend your energies writing about the events in the situation room of your presidential mansion or the goings on in your National Assembly. The point is, detail is what matters extensively in NS. It takes time and patience to create a world or to write a factbook that looks as good as Pacitalia's. But if you choose to devote both time and effort into your presentation, you will eventually get the results you want.
Communication
Some people swear by instant messengers like MSN or AIM. I personally use AIM extensively, but having one of them can make the difference between a post that causes your "opponent" to scream Godmode or somesuch or a simple misunderstanding that gets clarified in the IM itself. While I'm not a huge fan of planning every single detail of a war RP and I don't like predetermined outcomes, having the IM contact can allow you and your "enemy" to come to an OOC understanding of how you want to plan things out. While I've made some OOC friends among my IC enemies, I don't necessarily expect that you will be able to do that with everyone you come in contact with on NS. That's just not realistic. But you can save yourself and anyone else who RPs with you a lot of heartache if you communicate with them. Even if you don't have an instant messenger, at least try to contact your "opponent" through telegrams. If you have an e-mail address, you can do that. But by all means, communicate.
Ignoring
There've been some strong opinions expressed about ignoring. Some people are accused of having an ignore list a mile wide. Other people are stridently against ignoring anyone. The ignore is necessary to an extent: Namely, if someone wants to use ortillery in a strictly modern tech RP, that's worth an ignore of the technology. If someone tries to barge into a closed RP and wasn't invited, that's worth ignoring the particular post. If someone refuses to take losses EVER and RPs as if your actions never happened, that's usually worth ignoring the player. Ignoring someone because they're bigger and tougher than you are is bad form. Ignoring someone because they're arrogant may be a survival move to prevent you from getting yourself in trouble.
Some Final Tips
Leave the smilies out of RP posts. Entirely. No :sniper: or :mp5: or :fluffle: in a RP post. Declaring war on the entire world is a quick way to get you ignored or your threads locked. Don't use a steady diet of 1337 speak, but occasional OOC comments with them can be accepted depending on the situation.