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If you choose to join the RP, and we hope you do, there are some basic rules and guidelines that you must first be aware of. Please read the following, or whatever parts you would like to know more about, to learn about RP and the sort of RP that we have here. Even if you’re an experienced roleplayer, you may find new things which will help improve your roleplay.

 

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1) What is RP?

 

RP means “Roleplay”, RP’ing means “Roleplaying”, and somebody who RP’s is a “Roleplayer”. What is Roleplaying? Roleplaying quite simply is just “acting” or “pretending”. A Roleplayer gets together with a group of like minded people in a certain situation, where every person plays a different character in a certain time period or certain type of storyline “universe” (i.e., playing in the Star Wars universe, Star Trek, the Age of Camelot, the Wild West, the 70’s swinger’s scene, etc.), and everybody interacts towards the furtherance of some plotline (and if it’s good RP, actually create their own plotlines as they go). The ultimate goal of all this being one simple thing: Having fun with other people and experiencing a fantasy that one could most likely never experience in real life (RL). In Versailles RP you additionaly learn history through having fun.

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2) How is RP Done?

 

How is RP done in Second Life? Quite simply. It is done by typing text (as if you were writing text in a novel) instead of speaking words, and by using “emotes” instead of the body language that would be used if you were an actor on stage. First, you start with the mindset of the character that you want to play, then, in accordance with the background that you have designed for him/her, and keeping in mind his/her goals, motivations and perspective, you interact with other characters (keeping in mind their background, etc.) as if you were reciting dialogue in a play, TV show, movie, or novel — and here you are the writer of the dialogue!

 

EMOTING: Sometimes dialogue isn’t enough for RP. What an RP’er really needs in an RP sim is a combination of both dialogue and something called “emoting”. What is “emoting”? Emoting is a simple convention in SL typing that allows one to quickly express an emotion, action, or state of being that wouldn’t be vocalized in real life.

 

Examples:  Jeanne de Mauriac feels suddenly weak.

                    Jean de Mauriac waves at the crowd in the ballroom.

                    Jeanne de Mauriac , gasping for air, suddenly faints.

 

To “emote” in SL, one doesn’t have to type out the entire sentence “Jeanne de Mauriac feels suddenly weak” into the chat bar. All one has to do is first type the abbreviation “/me” (without the quotes), then followed by what you want to say about yourself. [Note: This is only useful for emoting about YOUR character.] So, if your SL name was Jeanne de Mauriac, and you wanted to “emote” that you suddenly felt weak, you would type this into the chat bar:

          

/me feels suddenly weak.

 

Fun isn’t it? The only problem with this type of emoting is that you can only use it as the FIRST word of your sentence in the chat bar. If you use “/me” anywhere else in a chat bar sentence it will only appear as “/me”, and people will be confused. So, how can you emote in the middle of a sentence? Well, there are two ways to do this. One, you can type out your whole dialogue/emotes like one would do if writing a novel, by putting your actual words in quotes and everything else without quotes.

 

Example: “Greetings, Duchesse d'Amblise”, Baronesse de Mauriac exclaims as she performs a deep curtsey and smiles, “I hope you are feeling well today.”

 

Two, and this is easier, you can use asterisks (*) before and after something that you are trying to emote. This is useful in that it saves typing time.

 

Example: /me sees the approaching Duchesse d'Amblise. “Bonjour, Madame la Duchesse.”, *curtsies and smiles*, “I hope you are feeling well today.”

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Of course, using quotes to denote what you are vocalizing is only necessary in sentences where you are both vocalizing and emoting. If you are just typing a sentence that is 100% dialogue, feel free to disregard the quotes and just type in what you want to say.

 

Example: Bonjour, Madame la Duchesse.

 

All of this may seem on paper to be a bit complex and unwieldy, but in practice it is incredibly easy to get the hang of. Try out a few sentences for yourself and pay attention to how other rp’ers write out dialogue and emote. Believe us, it's easier than you think!

 

 

3) The Difference Between IC & OOC:

 

Another very important concept in RP’ing, and one might say the most important, is keeping separate the states of being IC (In Character) from that of being OOC (Out of Character). Nothing is more annoying to a roleplayer, and more destructive to good RP, than to rp with somebody who doesn’t know the difference between these two states. Strictly speaking, being OOC is the way a person acts or talks during most SL interactions. Being IC is how one’s character talks in RP. The difference here is the same as the difference between an actor and the character that an actor plays. If you were watching a film starring the actor you love, you would expect to see him/her talking and acting NOT as his/her real self, but just as the character that he/she was playing. The same goes for rp’ing in SL. Just as you wouldn’t expect actors in the middle of a movie to talk about some errands that they has to take care of after the shooting the scene that they're in (though this would be funny), if you are in the middle of roleplay, don’t disrupt the rp by suddenly telling people that you just bought a bunch of really cool dance animations. Doing this totally blurs the boundaries of RP and non-RP, and, if others start to OOC respond to this, absolutely dilutes, if not destroys, the “rp feeling” that makes good rp so worthwhile. So, if you are rp’ing, STAY IN CHARACTER (IC). If you walk up to some people in the sim and it appears that they are in the middle of rp’ing, don’t spoil their fun by being OOC. Either be IC and interact with them, or, if you don’t feel like rp’ing with them at the moment, just let them be and move on.

 

Well, then, you ask, how do you tell when it is time for IC or OOC? Mostly it’s something you quickly develop a feel for. Until you reach that advanced level, though, here are some general rules. If you are in the sim, all “Local Chat” (that is, the stuff that anyone can hear) is considered by default to be IC, so if you are in the sim and type something into the chat bar, please talk and emote as if you are In Character. If you use the group chat (i.e., when you send a message to everyone in Versailles main group - Versailles: Cour Royale de France), this chat is by default considered to be OOC. If you send somebody in the group a private IM, this is generally considered to be an OOC conversation (unless this IM is being done as a form of whispering, sending a formal note, etc. Again, you will get a feel for such exceptions as you rp.

 

Of course, times may arise when a person needs to say something OOC during an RP. Maybe someone is confused about what is happening in the current rp, somebody needs to go step away from their keyboard in RL, or whatever. When this happens, either send a private IM to someone in the area, or, if it’s something that everyone should know about, just say what you need to say in local chat, but enclose your OOC words with double parentheses on each side.

 

Example: ((sorry if I seem slow, having massive lag problems here))

                 ((sorry, phone call in rl))

 

And if you are in the middle of interacting with other rp’ers but suddenly need to go afk (Away From Keyboard) or log off, try, if possible, to do so in a way that disrupts the other players’ rp as little as possible AND that gives a logical reason for your character suddenly going away. Feel free to be creative about this.

 

Example (for going temporarily afk): /me, feeling light-headed from trying to breathe in her tight corset, walks to the corner of the room to fan herself and cool down ((brb)).

           -Here “brb” means “Be Right Back”

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Example (for logging off): /me, suddenly remembering something of utmost importance, abruptly asks Madame la Duchesse for pemission to leave, and when permission is given, removes herself from the group and walks back to her quarters as fast as her bulky gown will allow.

 

 

4) Basic RP Do’s & Don’ts:

 

Well, now that we have a basic sense about how to type out dialogue, emote, and know the difference between being IC and OOC, we have all the basic knowledge that we need to start making characters and rp’ing. First, however, we should all be aware of several roleplaying do’s and don’ts that will further streamline and enhance our roleplaying careers. Take heed as we now enunciate them:

 

 

*NEVER use internet abbreviations like “lol”, “rofl”, “u” instead of “you”, smiley faces, etc., while in IC. If somebody says something extremely funny during rp, maybe you could say “((lol))”, but make sure it is in double parentheses and try not to overdo it as too many ooc observations during rp can whittle away the rp feeling.

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*There is nothing more vexing and draining than to be roleplaying with somebody who takes forever to respond to your actions or words. So if you choose to rp, please only do so if you know you won’t have to be going afk every five minutes (and if you need to go afk, please TELL people about it). When you respond to another rp character be descriptive but don’t write a novel. Responding with two or three sentences is just fine. Sometimes a paragraph, or multiple paragraphs, will be justified, but please don’t write EVERY response as a novel, because waiting for wordy people to belch out a term paper for each and every response is an enervating and tedious experience that saps rp energy from everyone. Be descriptive, be clear, be concise, but please don’t put everyone to sleep.

 

 

*When rp’ing with people, please give them a chance to respond before saying something new (especially something that may change the topic). This is especially relevant for rp’ing with people who aren’t fluent in the language that you are using. Give them a chance and be patient (and using the “typing” animation, whenever your avatar is typing, is a good way to tell people when and if you are responding to them, though, of course, this feature is optional).

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*To enhance “emoting”, one can use SL Gestures (find them in your Inventory) or animations. If you do choose to use gestures/animations, please use them sparingly (as some of them can be annoying), and only use them as a visual supplement to what you have already described in text, NOT as a replacement for real emoting, for not everyone may be paying attention to what your character is visually doing, and relying on gestures/animations instead of emoting will just end up confusing people. In other words, let your typed words define your character’s actions, not your gestures or animations.

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*Please remember that your rp character CANNOT hear people’s thoughts, inner musings or mutterings (or even one character whispering to another), so if you hear another character emote “Jeanne de Mauriac looks at the well-proportioned Baron and tries to remember where she had seen him last.” DO NOT respond by saying, “Oh, don’t you remember Countess, we met at the Queen’s Ball last week”. A more appropriate response for this would instead be: “/me, seeing the apparent look of non recognition in the Countess’ eyes, breaks the awkward moment by reintroducing himself, “Greetings, Countess, I am the Baron de Boussac”…*bends to kiss her hand*.”

 

 

*NO METAGAMING: Like the above, please remember that, unless your character has previously been told about another character’s background, name, etc., or that character is very famous/infamous, unless you have met and gotten to know another character, you, much like meeting a stranger in RL, would have NO KNOWLEDGE whatsoever about that character’s name, the background that may be listed in his/her profile, etc. (and players who use such information in RP are “METAGAMING”). Also, unless you already know a certain character’s name, don’t assume that you know it because you can see it on their HUD (and never call somebody by their display/avatar names, as these may be different from their character names)! So, don’t go up and say, “Greetings, Duchesse d'Amblise” if you have never met or heard of Duchesse d'Amblise! Chances are all that you would know of her is that she is a very well dressed and rich looking woman whom you would assume was in the nobility. Given this lack of knowledge, a better (perhaps, cheesier) response would be, “Greetings, my lady, before you the dawn is but a faded canvas.” From the point of view of RP, this lack of knowledge is good, for it provides yet another angle by which characters are forced to get to know—and, thus, interact—with each other.

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*In like manner with the above, DO NOT use information that has been obtained OOC about other characters or in regards to some plotline that is currently being developed in the sim (as this would also be an example of METAGAMING). Remember, your RP character does not know what you personally know OOC! Always maintain a separation between you as the character and you as the actor!

 

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*NO GOD-MODDING: God-Modding is just about the worst crime a roleplayer can commit. God-Modding is when one character takes it upon him/herself what the actions/thoughts/words of another character will be, or does something to another character and immediately assumes, without that character’s consent, what will happen to that character. God-Modding can also be what happens when somebody creates a rp situation and then insists that those involved in the rp can only take a certain course of action, thus reducing those characters to mindless automatons controlled not by the players, but by the God-Modder.

 

Examples:  Jean de Mauriac pulls out his saber and kills Duc de Saint-Armand.

                    Jeanne de Mauriac asks the Comte to stay away from her fiancé and is pleased to see the Comte eagerly comply.

                    The Baron enters the ballroom and is pleased to see all the noble women in the room gasp in awe at his pulchritude and greatness.

                    The Baron strikes the Duc in the face and sends two of his teeth flying across the room.

                    The Baron scratches the Duc across the face with his saber, permanently disfiguring him.

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                 The God-Modder puts a character in a situation where they are being   

                 blackmailed, and then only lets the character get out of the situation if they             

                 kill the blackmailer, thus forcing the character to go on the run from legal

                 retribution and permanently derailing his/her rp.

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Roleplaying is an interactive process, whose goal is for EVERYBODY involved to have fun, not just you. So if you are going to do something to another character, you need to give them a chance to respond and, for some things, you need to get their permission first (usually done in a private IM to them). In the sim, nothing is written in stone and nobody is a God who can do whatever they want. If you’re in the sim for the sake of having a massive ego-trip instead of having fun interacting with equal actors, you are most definitely in the wrong place and should NOT be rp’ing with the rest of us. If you’re here for rp, then please respect the rights of your fellow rp’ers and let them be who they are and make their own rp choices.

 

*When RP’ing, remember that you, as a character, have no knowledge of what’s on your radar or the minimap, so don’t say “oh, the Queen is coming”, when you can’t see her. In any case, radar and other devices, especially when there are many people in the sim using them, can cause a great deal of unnecessary lag. So, while in the sim, please DETACH all such devices. Also remember that your character only has access to certain tools or devices that would be appropriate to the time period and to their background. An officer in the military would have a saber (because in the 18th century France, ALL officers were in the aristocracy). A peasant or common ranker soldier would NOT have this weapon.

 

 

*As said before, an rp’er is essentially an actor. If you’re in Versailles, you will be either a servant, a member of the slowly growing Bourgeoisie (the middle class), or a noble. In either case, you are in late 1700’s Europe. To this end, you must act, as much as your knowledge will allow, like a person in this period of time. If you’re a noble, act like a noble. If you’re a servant, act like a servant. If you’re a male noble meeting a female noble, act charming and chivalrous (unless you want your character to have a reputation as a boor--but if that is his reputation, then go for it!). If you’re a noble meeting a noble of higher rank, have some respect for their position. If you’re a servant meeting a noble, have a LOT of respect. If you’re a noble meeting a servant, you most likely won’t treat them as an equal, for you most certainly wouldn’t have been brought up to be so enlightened (in fact, you’ll probably ignore them). Act appropriate to your character, what he or she would actually know, and to the situation and other characters. If you’re a “girly girl” noblewoman and you come across someone who is wounded, with blood spilling out of them, don’t kneel beside them and start stitching them up like you’re an emergency room doctor. If you’re a servant don’t take on an air of superiority and start correcting and ordering about other nobles. If you’re a noble don’t let a servant tell you what to do.

 

 

*As you should ACT your part, you should also DRESS your part as well. Only wear clothes that are appropriate to your social class and to late 1700’s Europe (and there are many accurate stores in SL that cater to this—please ask your fellow rp’ers for landmarks to these places if you need help). If you are a noble, dress well! If you are a very highly ranked noble, dress very well! If you are a commoner, dress more subdued. If you are a servant, dress in a clean, but plain outfit (you will probably receive servant uniform). If you are a noble going to a ball or wedding, dress better than you would if you were just walking about during the day. If you are going to an audience with your Monarch, dress with strict rules of etiquette in mind, for dressing down for such an event doesn’t just disrespect you, it's equal with banishment from court! Just remember that this era was a time where status was everything and where a person’s clothes reflected this status (much more so than today). So keep this in mind, for in the 18th century, like it or not, your clothes very much are a part of who you are (especially if you’re a noble!). Keep fashion etiquette in mind at all times, and remember, that some stores, even when they claim to, have nothing to do with 18th century realism and accuracy. For what to wear, and find out which designers are most accurate and appropriate for high quality RP, contact LudwikaMaria Resident.

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*Express emotions and talk the way you think would be appropriate for your character given the situation. If you’ve just received word that a friend of yours in the rp has died, act upset like you would in real life and don’t change the subject and start talking about shopping (unless you’re playing a psychopath). If somebody makes a comment that your character would find offensive, and if your character isn’t supposed to be shy, show your displeasure and let the rp roll. If your character should be afraid, show fear. If he or she is angry and upset, act angry and upset. Just put yourself in your character’s mind and act accordingly. Don’t be afraid to make mistakes. Just go for it and act as well as you can!

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*Of course, most people rp’ing in the Royal Courts are far from being experts on the time period and the culture, and we certainly don’t expect everyone to be an expert and to never make mistakes. What we do expect is that people at least make an effort to play their role realistically and to the hilt—and expect others to support people new to the roleplay and, rather than criticizing them, actually offer to help them. If there is a bit of protocol and etiquette that you’re not sure of, please just ask someone (preferably in IM) for help or advice. If you need help, ask, if you are confused about something, go and get clarification, and if somebody asks you for help, please do what you can to aid them. If you spoil something during the rp and say or do something silly, or if lag causes you to bounce off the walls and look foolish, don’t freak out, just keep going and work through it (we’ve all made asses of ourselves at one time or another!). The rest of us are here to rp with you and have fun, not to judge and tear you down, so take heart if you blow it and hang in there.

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*Avoid teleporting into or out of an area where people are engaged in rp, as this is bad form. Avoid using movement enhancers while moving about the sim. If you need to go somewhere, either walk, or take a horse or carriage. If there’s a ball going on, try to WALK in the front door, not tp in. If you need to leave a ball, or whatever, don’t just tp out. Make an excuse to leave the area first, walk away till nobody’s in sight, and then blink out.

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*BAD DRAMA vs. GOOD DRAMA: In rp’ing, creating an atmosphere of drama is very important. What is meant here, though, is theatrical, “in character” drama. What we don’t want, however, is for bad, whiny, “out of character” drama to seep into the in character rp. To this end, please remember to keep OOC problems, disputes, and dislikes of other rp characters separate from your IC interactions with them (and vice-versa!). If you hate a player in OOC, don’t take it out on their character in IC. Likewise, if a person’s character screws you over in IC, don’t try to get revenge on this person in OOC. Be professional and act like adults. Nothing is more annoying in SL, and in SL rp’ing, than having to deal with outragous drama queens/kings. If somebody is constantly bothering you, ignore him/her. If they are harassing you and make you feel like quitting the rp, please tell a administrator about this, for nobody should have to quit because of a bully. Whatever you do, though, don’t try to get revenge on them in a way that disrupts the rp and makes no rp sense, for by doing so, you become in the wrong too. Just take a deep breath and walk away (and/or tell an admin).

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*On the above note, no “Griefing” will be tolerated in the sim. What is “Griefing”? Griefing is when another person or character deliberately tries to ruin the rp, or a certain character’s rp, either by using certain griefing scripts on an avatar (or the entire sim), or by using the group chat channel to say nasty things (whether true or false) about a certain person or their character. Griefing can sometimes be overt (like saying in group chat, “Jean de Mauriac is an idiot”, engaging in ethnic/religious slurs, etc.), or can be more subtle (like making an alt and walking up to a noblewoman at a ball and asking “how much do you charge for a quickie, for you obviously must be a prostitute considering how tackily you’re dressed”). Another more aggravating and subtle form of griefing is when a person’s character uses mental musings in public chat to denigrate another character or that character’s rp style (e.g., “/me cringes at the sight of the Comte, wondering how his av could have such a disproportionately small head” or “/me laughs at how the Princesse could be given a job that only a man could have access to”). Please refrain from denigrating and insulting other characters (UNLESS there is a good IC reason for doing so that is part of the rp, and this is something that the person being insulted knows and understands), for such behavior inevitably just leads to bad drama, flame wars, and ruins the rp for everyone else. We are all here to have fun, so let’s act like adults and behave ourselves.

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*FINALLY, there is one more thing that you should keep in mind. When you are rp’ing, especially after you have gotten your feet wet and have become proficient in it, don’t be content to have your character just be a “poser” who stands around with a big title and expects everyone to come to him or her and make rp happen. Don’t just observe and react to the rp of others. Get out there and be ACTIVE in the rp. Enhance and/or create dynamic rp situations that others can interact in (the key word here being INTERACT). Be confident and don’t fear going out on a limb to create rp gold, for other rp’ers will thank you for it (and those who don't are most likely just jealous that they didn’t think of it first). Also remember that not all rp scenes have to have some epic or far-reaching meaning. Often the best rp ploys are the simplest ones, like a servant girl accidentally spilling a tray of wine during a ball, a noblewoman suddenly fainting during dinner, a lower ranking noble being disrespectful of a higher ranking noble during a salon, etc. Be creative and always on the lookout for rp angles. Just make sure the angles, though, are appropriate to the characters involved, for the situation at hand, and doesn’t seem overly forced or gratuitous (like having a ball where 10 noblewomen faint one after another). Just remember that when you try to create an rp situation, please do so with all of the above rules and do’s and don’ts in mind. Don’t God-Mod, give others a chance to play their characters, respect everyone involved and, above all, have fun!