~ Module by Phoebe. Module edited by Koardan ~
Welcome to our ~ ROLE PLAY & ON-LINE SAFETY ~ module.
This is a module in Teehra's refresher series. For this module, you will read through this module, and optionally discuss with your mentor.
In addition to the material presented here, we are in the process of adding information designed by Lady Honey. (http://sandsofteehra.blogspot.com/p/blog-page_29.html)
~ ROLE-PLAY (RP) ~
Role-play (RP) is basically a type of interaction in which players take the roles of their fictional characters and act them out in a fictional setting. Because you can shape the outcomes of your character in those interactions, you are not only actors, but also, directors, screen writers and pretty much the rest of the film crew as well!Even though RP is a creative interaction, it operates under specific community rules, guidelines for players and of the location of where it is set.
For those of you that are new, I know it can seem daunting to start, and watching more experienced RPers can be quite intimidating. I try to remember that even the most keen RPer has had to start somewhere and only if I am out there engaging with the other players will I be able to improve.
RESPECT your fellow players!
We are all sitting comfortably behind our computers holding our cups of tea (or your drink of choice is), looking at pixels, it can be easy to forget that you are in fact interacting with the typist that is sitting on the other end, behind his/her computer, and that they are people just like you.
We will cover in character (IC) and out of character (OOC) interactions in depth later on, but this one I think is especially important for slaves. We have chosen to play Gorean Slaves. That is IC ONLY, not OOC (for some it might be but that is something entirely different)
A very common example, say a master commands me "Phoebe! To my boot, slut!", my next post would RP me happily squirming my way to kneel at his boot. Me, the typist was not being called a “slut”, my character was. It is totally IC and in-line with Gorean RP, therefore my character is expected to respond appropriately.
There is no wining, RP is a collaborative writing process, not a competitive one. People sometimes forget, but RP tells a story and it is one you are co-writing with several other hands. You have two roles, you are a character in the story BUT you are also helping to write it, so no matter what role you play, if you play a Slave, a Free Woman, a Warrior, a Slaver, etc you are still expected to be active in it and you are the lead in your own character’s story.
Your story will entertain you and others around you and you will need to be generous in your RP, making sure that you are both advancing the story BUT ALSO creating options and opportunities for the other players to move the action in a direction that seems interesting to explore for others as well, otherwise you might as well be RPing by yourself and that is, errrr… non-sense.
Remember, ROLE-PLAY has the word PLAY in it. It is supposed to be fun for you and the remaining players!
IC drama is supposed to happen and is great to watch and to participate in, but keep it IC! OOC drama kills good RP and creates problems for everyone. You are supposed to enjoy the role you are playing and the interaction with the other players around you. If it is not fun, that is when you should take your eyes off the screen and press shut down.
~RP Conventions & Basic Terminology~
I. Rules & Guidelines:
You will have differences that will be determined by the RP environment and sim you are in. They will vary from dress attire to language or appearance. Please make sure you read the guidelines of Teehra, they can be found at the landing point!II. In Character (IC):
IC it is acting out the character that you have chosen to play as if you were seeing the world you are in through the eyes, ears and body of that fictional character you have created. All physical actions, behaviors and conversations should be faithful to the role and profile you have decided for your character.~ On RPing a Gorean Slave ~
Now…, The Gorean slave role is a tricky one…I am sure all the other roles are as well but in playing slaves we accept that there will be things that can happen to our characters that will be out of our control, those things come with RPing this role!
Let's look at an example.
Ovaka Duan ( ovaka resident) stands, setting the now empty goblet upon the table and moves over her, grabbing the kurt upon his belt, unfurling the five long blades. He gives it a shake the leather straps dancing along the floor before he swings them upon the slave's back. "That strike was just a taste of what I could do to you" he says to her slowly and looks her over. "Kneel to the Whip, Slave, and tell me what a slave wants more than anything" he orders her. "You must prove yourself to be allowed such things.”
Here it was the kurt, but playing a slave you can be grabbed, slapped, whipped, used, thrown to the ground, etc… all of this will be IC and in-line with Gorean RP - it is the role we have selected. Having said that, ICly you are also always in control of your characters reaction, how you play your character is a choice that is yours to make and in good RP you will be given the scope to make that choice.
The scene in the previous post took place, because it could take place in an ICly interaction between my Master and one of the city slaves. But note well in the post, how I was given the scope to chose my character’s reaction. And I did. So the RP continued true to role with my character being thoroughly put through her paces while reciting the litanies of servitude… eventually, I had my beg granted.
~Fade to Black (FTB)~
Gor is an adult themed role-play environment, sex and violent behaviors underline a lot of the interactions between the characters. This is IC.Having said that, NO ONE is EVER obligated to role-play through sex, scenes they are uncomfortable with or scenes that they do not have RL time for, even if they are IC. Role-play is a two way consensual interaction. At any time, it is within your right as a player to Fade to Black (FTB).
FTB is like a "fast forward button" and is pressed when the players end or skip a scene in their RP and then pick the RP up AFTER the skipped scene would have ended. This implies that the acts within the skipped scene DID happen, both players agree to it and it is valid to be referred back to in future RP, you just haven’t played them out.
In practical terms, what does FTB look like in a RP? So, say for example, the scene I was engaged with was valid RP, but had gone in a direction that would probably take longer than I could spare, it was late... And I was half asleep already. This is just an example, but I could do it like this:
[13:17] Phoebe falls to her knees naked with thighs apart for his pleasure. She places her palms facing up to the moons of Gor and raises her eyes inquisitively to regard him, looking for a sign that she looks pleasing to him. “Master, please… Phoebe begs to please you as a slave”, she pleads in a whisper giving in to the hunger he had awaken inside her. ((FTB)). From the furs, Phoebe's eyes trace his shoulders, watching him as he finds his way out of the alcoves, leaving her well used and panting heavily after having just yielded in his arms, completely helpless in her slavery.
The scene was wrapped up into one paragraph and you can still understand what happened in the scene even without the rest of the scene being RPed, right? The other player would then post from that moment on and the scene would carry on, and could go about my business without having spent three Ahn, that I did not have. It would then be VALID, the master could bring up later in RP on how I had begged him to be used like a true slave should and describe at length how he had imprinted my slavery upon me.
In FTB, you can either take care of it yourself (like how I have done in the example just before), or your RP partner can do it for you. Discuss it with your fellow RPer the level of details, where you will cut the scene and where you will pick it up again and how you want to do it. [13:18] Darlene: As spontaneous and unpredictable that RP can be, ALL players are entitled setting their own personal limits.
III. Out of Character (OOC)
OOC is the real you, the typist. Your own personality and actions that are separate from the character you portray on the sim.It is best kept to IM or, in the case it has to be done in local chat because it is targeted at multiple people, you should use brackets ((like so, around your text)) to contain what you post. You will see the ((brb)), ((AFK)), ((back)), etc being posted during RP, what you really do not want to see in the middle of intense RP is ((OMG! The funniest thing just happened, totally rotflmao!!!!!)).
In a RP environment, local OOC chatter can be really distracting for the other players and disrupt the immersive experience of the RP and being IC.
This is just a personal observation and you will need to make the rules that will work for you. But for me, I find it very important to keep clear and distinct boundaries between what is IC and OOC. If I engage with you ICly as Darlene, I will be slave. And that is totally different from when you engage with me OOCly as me, the typist.
Remember though, avoid carrying any baggage that relates to an IC interaction into OOC, or the other way around, because you will do so in detriment of the RP and of the other players around you.
IEmotes
‘Emoting’ is the way we express emotion, feelings, actions and whatever goes with being your character without actually using speech to describe it. In RP ALWAYS emote!We have these nice animations in our collars and in the objects all over the sim but in RP, what is valid and what holds strong is your emote, so if you use the wrong animation or ended up in the wrong side of the room or on top of the tavern table rather than kneeling by the Master’s boot (yes! it has happened to me...) you will still haven’t emoted the correct position or action. Emote first, animate second. That way, your fellow players are able to continue to interact with you and the RP will follow on.
Emoting OR Speaking
To ease the flow of how we tell the story we need to be able to show when our character is "speaking" OR when you are "emoting".Typing ''/me'' at the beginning of anything you write, will remove the '':'' after your name in local chat and that makes it EMOTING! When you emote beginning the line with ''/me'' followed by whatever action you want to perform, will immediately make clear for the other players that it is an action and you are not just speaking out loud.
Emoting AND Speaking
In RL, our actions and our dialog go together they are not stand alone items and in RP we can incorporate this as well, by bringing the two together in our posts. The ONE thing to remember is that emotes you do in the third person, for example:/me inhaled the sweet aroma of freshly baked pies.
But when you are speaking, you do it in the first person, “I”. So if we wanted to bring it all together it could look something like:
/me inhaled the sweet aroma of freshly baked pies as she strolled into the Market. She uttered to herself rubbing her rumbling belly, "Maybe I can get some pastries from Mistress Fat Pat!".
Thought Emotes
A thought emote is when you emote something that your character is thinking or feeling WITHOUT showing ANY external or visible signs to the other player, for example an emote like this:/me feels the weight of her iron belt and thinks that she needs to ask have it removed so she can please men fully.
And now what?! Whoever is playing with me, can’t do anything with this. Thought emotes are scene killers! I have just given out valuable RP information in a way that the other player cannot act on. No character in Gorean RP has the ability to read minds therefore no character can react to my thought emote.
There is nothing wrong with adding personal colour, flair and creativity to our posts and our characters. We should do it, but in a away that the other players can react to it as well.
What I could have done in this situation was to bring in the physical/visible consequence of that weigh, how it made it hard for me to walk, the way that I looked at it, or even bringing in some speech, like we have seen before. There are several options, but for example I could have posted this:
/me walks over to kneel at his boot, the sway of her hips constrained by the iron belt she carries. Darlene raises her pleading eyes: “Please Master, allow this belt to be removed so I can please men fully“ she begs in a piteous voice, gently tugging the heavy metal around her waist pressing her lips to his feet.
So here I have given all the information the scene needed to press ahead: the thing is heavy, makes it hard to walk, please remove it so I can be ever so pleasing. The other player can then make his move.
You can be given IC teachings in very imaginative and creative ways. If RPed properly (!), they are really fun to play and will stretch you as a player as well, so take it for what it is: IC feedback that will allow you not only to sharpen your RP but also to develop your character.
Different RP Styles
As you RP, you will realize that not everyone uses the same style and the way we post will be different. The most visible differences are post length and detail level. Each style has their pro’s and con’s, there is not one style better than the other, players will gravitate towards the one that they feel most comfortable with and the decision is based on personal preference. Two main trends: Short Post RP & Semi-Para or Para-RP (para from PARAgraph).Short Post RP
As it reads, really. It will be a short post. Will probably not go over 3-4 lines of text.For example, if the scene requires some dynamics it might be more suitable to use a short post. Say I am being put through my paces in the auction block, for example, my movements should be quick, I am being commanded through different positions very quickly so a shorter post length would also help me showcase that.
Scenes go at a faster pace but because the description is not there so it makes it harder to run full scenes on Short Post RP. When we are reading a post, we have a voice in our heads that matches what we are reading “how we are hearing it”, if the detail is not there, we might be reading it in a different tone to what it was intended… and we have totally mis-interpreted it.
Semi- Para and Para RP
This will be upwards of 5 lines. These posts will contain detail that will enrich and set the scene for both players, so it really feels like you are co-building the action. There tends to be more to work with when the “ball is in your court”.You will allow more time between posts, around 5-8 minutes per post and players take turns in posting. For example, if there are other two players in the scene (and you are player 3), in all rounds of posts player 1 will post then player 2 will post, and only then will you post - even if you are responding to something that was posted by player 1-, and will not jump the sequence.
These scenes will take longer, but they are richer and each player can advance it in bigger chunks -if that makes sense?- because they are both adding more information. Between posts, you will also have plenty of time to think through the direction you would like to take.
Personally, I like the detail and the structure in which it is played out so I will probably tend to gravitate towards this more often. Also, I think it is great fun to watch Para-RPers do their thing!
Having said that, I will always try adapt how I post according to the person I am RPing with and to the scene. I will write longer posts if the scene allows it, but will pick up the pace if needed and get my emotes more to the point.
Your style will be different from other players, it is fine! That does not mean you can not play together. Accept the differences between styles, acknowledge that as you chose your style other people will chose theirs and do not criticize them for their choice.
Putting your posts together
We covered a lot already, but this is where things really start to come to life! In the beginning I struggled and didn’t really know where to start… How could I put my posts together so that I could go out and engage in fun RP with the other players?Describing what your characters senses are picking up is a good starting point. The RP has more color when you describe of what you hear, see, taste, smell, feel through touch. You can pick one prevalent sense, no need to cover them all… Bring your emotions or how the situation is making you feel into your post AND be true to your character!
Don’t be selfish. RP is a co-writing exercise so pull out your character’s responses to what the other player has done or said to you in your own posts, otherwise either one of you can go off on a tangent plus RP hoarders are not fun to play with!
Now, taking turns this can be done in para-RP and can be done in shorter post RP, overall you can put a structure into your posts. In each post you have, the scene will have been handed over to you by your partner so you can play out your part.
In preparing your post you should be able to roughly break it down into three sections: when you take the scene, when you advance it and when you hand it back to the other player. Makes sense, right?
Let’s look at another really simple RP example so we can break it down to the different sections. This was set in the Tavern and the tavern keeper had commanded me to fetch him something to eat. By this time I was already back kneeling at his boot and had proffered the food and drink, this was his post:
[12:59] Former Tavern Keeper's eyes get big at the sight of the tray and everything on it. He takes the stew and lifts the bowl to his lips. He slurps noisily at the gravy in the bowl until a large piece of bosk meat falls into his mouth. He sets the bowl down and chews slowly, smiling. As he chews, he takes the bread and tears off a small bite, which he proffers to her, touching it to her lips. He nods, smiling, still chewing the meat, and speaks through his mouthful, albeit briefly: "Eat!"
You can see the three sections clearly, right?
- takes the scene from where I had left: food in front of him
- advances the scene: by eating… (with questionable manners, might I add *grins*)
- throws the ball back over to my court: by offering me some food
Then it was my turn, and I started where he had left it, bread in front of my lips.
It is quite a simple structure that makes it easier for post planning, you can go as big or as small as you like but the key thing is that the scene is moving forward whilst being passed back and forth between players.
RP Etiquette
Entering & Leaving a scene You can trigger a scene to start easily if you spontaneously encounter another player, but how do you join in on an existing scene…?I tend to leave a round of posts go by to try and understand what is going on, and depending on that I decide what move I will make. I am not going to walk in in all my slave girl glory swaying my hips and twirling my hair if there is a girl is being disciplined!!…
However, imagine you are there and you have entered the presence of the free… you cannot just turn around and pretend that you were not there. You should still greet, and the other players that will probably hint if it is appropriate or not for you to be part of the scene.
What about exiting a scene? Well, you shouldn't just go “poof!”. You can always make some sort of exit post, and given that we are RPing slaves that post would probably be something like asking to be dismissed or even the free dismissing you. Now, this is ICly. You NEVER need OOC permission to leave!
Play Fair!
We mentioned in the beginning of the class that RP is a consensual exercise, you and your fellow player will need agree, as the story plays out, that that is the direction you both want it to go. It is easy to forget this sometimes and one person might step back in this co-creation, but you, as your fellow player, are both entitled to co-lead the scene.As with any game, fair play needs to be part of RP and in the next section we will look at some situations that can make the RP waters murky and how to deal with them.
Godmodding
This is when players shape their character to have the ability to do anything without limits, shaping your character to be invincible or to have no weaknesses. Why is this a problem? This makes it extremely unfair for the other players, of course! Other players will never have a chance with these “characters”.Powergaming
Is a part of Godmodding. Powergaming is when a player takes it upon himself/herself to decide the actions, reactions, thoughts or outcomes from another character. Lets look at an example, imagine if there was this post:The way that your character reacts IS ALWAYS up to you to decide, nobody else can or should play your character for you AND you cannot play anyone else character.
There are varying degrees of acceptability of Powergaming, you will be the one to decide on what you are comfortable in accepting. I have been powergamed before in situations that I considered harmless, that fell within the boundaries of what I find acceptable and did not change the storyline or significantly impact my character, so I played along with it.
If you are not comfortable, there are things that can be done and we will go through them in the ‘Problem solving’ section.
Metagaming
This is when a player uses information in RP that they gathered in an OOC way. One very simple example is when you don’t know a character and you read their name tag and in your RP you address them by what is written in their name tags, or even in their profiles. The only information that can be used in RP is the information you gather ICly.Another example is when players let their OOC preferences influence or determine the flow of the story lines rather than letting this be determined by the role-play or other role-players themselves.
Why is this bad? It allows OOC considerations and information to prevent whatever natural flow the role-play is having. It selects the outcome before the scene is played out and can be non-inclusive, because it goes against the consensual collaboration between players that defines RP.
You will have different RP chemistry with different people, that is normal and is fine. However, being too selective with whom you RP with, or even applying different weights or measures for fairly similar situations based in an OOC perspective is cherry picking and will not get you better story lines ICly.
Problem solving
What can we do when things go wrong? Let’s go back to the previous example, when my character was left unconscious, from the blow, which left me with NO choice on what move I could make after.Personally, if that had happened, my first action would be to try to RP my way out of it. I will not assume intent. Sometimes people might not be aware, or simply got so caught up in RP and got a little bit too keen on taking the story in their own preferred direction. So my first step will be to try an make it right in RP-land by “un-doing” the action that was just done to my character.
In that situation, I could have posted something like:
/me yelps when being dragged across the tiles, she shuts her eyes as his hand comes in her direction. The strike across her face was ruthless and Phoebe was left motionless on the floor, face down her brown hair splayed out covering her face, with only the sound of her breathing to indicate she was conscious. To his words, she utters “Yes, Master.”So I have accepted the hair pulling and the slap, that could perfectly well be in line with the role, but I made it clear to my fellow player that I did not accept being knocked unconscious. So with that, hopefully the scene would continue with both players going back to controlling their own characters actions.
If in his next move he reinforced again in RP that really he had knocked me unconscious, I would go to IM and politely try to solve things. If all of that failed, I would call a mod.
Things to remember in a dispute:
- assess how you would like to deal with the situation: can you handle it ICly or do you need to move it to OOC?
- keep it polite and remain calm
- do you need to get a mod?
- if you are too upset, wait a few minutes until you are calm again.
- ddon’t make a big drama out of every little flaw. Use common sense
~ ON-LINE SAFETY ~
Role playing is really good fun but your safety must come first. We will cover a few things that you can do to be safe on-line, but here as well, exert common sense at all times!- • Do not give out your SL login password, your full RL name, address, contact details, or anything else that would make you identifiable in real life;
- • There are predators on-line and they can work with you for very long, trying to build trust with an underlying malicious intent
- • The fact that you are RPing a slave DOES NOT entitle ANYONE to address you as a slave in IM and that includes demanding that you call them something other than their name
- • You are NEVER required to beg permission to log off, use the bathroom or anything that relates to real life!
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