What is Roleplaying?
You might remember when you were a child playing games where you pretended to be a different person. Maybe a princess, a pirate or even a pony.
Roleplaying is similar, but when undertaken on a forum (called "play by post rp") we use writing to describe what our characters do, and we have standards of behaviour to keep everything running smoothly.
Standards of Behaviour
Each roleplay forum you visit will have its own house rules. However, there are some rules or standards of behaviour that are universal across almost all play by post roleplays. As you read, you will see how these standards ensure that everyone playing on the site is treated fairly.
The three following behaviours are discouraged on most play by post rps you will come across.
Godmodding (godmoding, godmode, etc)This is when you control another player's character without their permission. By doing this, you gain godlike powers over the other character, which is where the word comes from.
NB: Sometimes godmodding is used as an overarching term for anything people don't like in roleplay.
Incorrect: Ron's hexed Harry square in the chest, knocking him flat. Correct: Ron sent a hex toward Harry, hoping it would hit.
Incorrect: Everyone loves Fleur. Correct: It seemed to Fleur as though everyone adored her. |
In character opinions are not godmodding. For example, Lavender can write in her post about how much care she took getting ready and how pretty she looks at the end of it. It is not godmodding for Padma to then write in her post that Lavender has awful taste and looks terrible. That is Padma's in character opinion, and she is not controlling Lavender.
Why is Godmodding bad?Godmodding makes the story fun for the person doing it, because it forces everything to go the way they want. Unfortunately, roleplaying is a cooperative hobby and is supposed to be fun for everyone taking part, and godmodding undermines that.
PowerplayingThis is when you try to make your character invincible.
There are many ways that powerplaying can come about. It could be through loading up a character with as many powerful skills and abilities as possible. It could be through the character having lots of unique items that they use whenever they get into trouble. It can also be as simple as creating a character who is the best at everything.
Why is Powerplaying bad?Powerplaying often seems like a good idea at the time. In reality, it usually leads to one character monopolising interesting plots and in many cases their powers cause plots and threads to come to a premature end.
MetagamingMetagaming is when you use knowledge from outside your character's experience to influence their actions.
On many boards, metagaming is banned completely, but there is both good and bad metagaming. If you use general knowledge from another thread to make your own thread more interesting, there's nothing wrong with that. It's when your behaviour starts upsetting others that we have a problem.
Why is Metagaming bad?Usually metagaming becomes bad when a character starts to mysteriously know what other characters are thinking and feeling, or knows everything about their private lives without being told. Obviously, this kind of thing can be quite annoying for other players.