Hey, thanks Colette. I've always been interested in RP, and you've given me a good place to start. 
"With everything that I do, I hope that they see people struggling to live decent, moral lives in a completely chaotic world. They see how hard it is, how often they fail, and how they get up and keep trying. That, to me, is the most important message I'm ever going to tell." - Joss Whedon
Wonderful intro! Thanks!
.....im speechless
...sniff, you had me at Hi!
very well presented and written, bravo!
I thought using parenthesises meant that they person suing them had , ummm, well, 'large tracts of land'.
And to think all this time they were just breaking character.
Thanks, this was quite useful.
Pretty nice, i learned all this stuff a long time ago, in a land far, far away. But this will help alot of the newbies who are wondering why they were shunned, or who these people think they are fooling.
Hi! If youre new to City of Heroes or to the roleplaying community, this guide will help you understand and relate to this wonderful group of people despite their various strange rules and many pet peeves.
Why roleplay?
City of Heroes (CoH) simulates what it might be like to be a mighty superhero, with laser beams coming from your eyes or fists that can send an opponent flying through the air. Roleplayers seek to complete that simulation by interacting with each other as if they were, in fact, the characters they play. Through well-developed imaginations they become their characters for long periods, losing their own prosaic identities and living inside the spandex-clad person theyve created. For them, without roleplay CoH is just an elaborate game of Counterstrike or Gauntlet.
So you want to join this strange new game. First thing to do is create a character on the Virtue- server. This is vital! No offense to other servers but almost all the roleplayers (RPers) congregate on Virtue. They account for a large portion of the server population. If you try to RP on other servers, youll find yourself wanting for company.
Have you ever been enjoying a movie and the film broke? The whole audience groaned, right? Well, thats what happens to RPers if someone starts talking out of character. It interrupts their fantasy and reminds them theyre not in the Pocket Dimension talking to their friends, theyre typing on a keyboard. Thats why RPers can seem so inexplicably grumpy over little things.
Lets say your brand new character flies into the big RP hotspot, the Pocket Dimension (The D.) You find three people chatting away. Their carefully chosen costumes and melodramatic dialogue shows theyre RPers. Yay! Lets go meet them.
For whatever reason someone nearby says, omfglol. (If you're unfamiliar with Leet I'm jealous of you. This translates to, oh my F___ God, Im laughing out loud.) This person just gave our roleplaying trio a headache. How? First, roleplayers must communicate with the written word and therefore develop an appreciation for the language. Leet-talk is as much fun for them as Pee Wee Herman's Best Rap Songs. Second, this persons typing just took them out of the reality theyd temporarily created. The trio will move away from this person and avoid talking with them. Lets follow.
You observe that theyre chatting intensely, as if at the climax of some very exciting story theyre participating in. Now is not- the time to barge in and say hello. Patience! Bide your time and listen. These things go in cycles. Eventually things will quiet down.
The right moment comes and you move closer. Do not -absolutely do not- push the button that makes you say, Hi. Im Bluestripe, a level 13 mutant scrapper. In fact, its probably best to delete that keybind entirely. Using this approach will remind them theyre playing a game.
The first words out of your mouth absolutely must not be, R U RPers? for the same reason. Those are really cool toons is also right out. Just forget you ever heard the word toon.
Dont TYPE IN ALL CAPS. Thats how one indicates theyre shouting.
Okay, so what do you say? Complimenting em on their costumes is always nice. However, I recommend starting with the info function in your targetting system. Just as the Trolls and Council give you useful information in those info-boxes, so do these characters. Look that information over.
Lets say one of the descriptions mentions that their superhero character appears on television. Aha! Now you can say, hey, have I seen you on TV? So now, this persons going to act the part. Maybe theyll ask if you want an autograph. Hey look! Youre interacting!
Now our role-playing trio start speaking with you in earnest. Understand that while they continue to play their parts, theyre also assessing you to see if you know the rules of their game. Theyre trying to figure out if they want you around. Sadly, all too often people dont know the rules and the RPers might start to tune em out. Thats where their reputation for being elitist and aloof comes from. RPers arent really. Theyre extremely friendly. Like any game, one must know the rules before you can play, let alone play well.
How to get past this stage? Well, one of the first things theyll do is open your- info box. Do you have anything in it? Youd better. By having something in there you give them a way to start interacting with you. Now some people write whole dang books in there that no one ever reads. I personally keep it just short enough you never need hit the little scroll bar. Put something useful in there. Funny is always good too.
Do you have (RP) typed at the front or back of that description? Putting that in loudly declares your intention to join in their game. Theyll try to play with you just because you put that in.
Now our trio is asking themselves: does this stranger intrigue me? Does he have a sense of humor? Do we want this person hanging around? You want them to answer yes.
Oh! One of them just said something in parenthesis. Whats that mean? Even they need to speak as themselves occasionally. This is known on stage as breaking character. RPers use parenthesis to indicate when theyre speaking as the person behind the keyboard rather than as the character. Surprise! You may in fact ask them if theyre RPers, say lol and so on with them now provided- you use parenthesis. Youre showing them you know the rules of the roleplaying game.
Your new friends know how to use emotes. Those are the little tools that make your character appear to eat, drink, sit, or even do backflips. If a graphic doesnt exist, theyll make one. Hemily the Tiger yawns, showing her fangs. or Magpie Mouse squeaks! or HEROID s eyes water. Learn to use this tool.
A new person just walked in and our three new friends seem very excited. Turns out this newcomer is something of a celebrity. That means he or she is well known and regarded by the RP community. The persons name may be Moggie or Captain Starfall, Parsival, Ms. Independence or Star Ember. (If you run into Sister Colette, treat her like one as it makes her happy.) Chances are this celebrity runs a whole roleplayers supergroup or some regular event or is just plain fun to know. Chances are they have a few level 50s by now, have written a guide or two, know how to play the game well and have a very long global friends list. Chances are this person is also exceptionally friendly and approachable.
You want to know this person. While his or her time may be limited, (due to being flooded with tells and invites and distress signals as soon as they log on and loving it. I do not exaggerate!) he or she can introduce you to all sorts of wonderful people.
So from this point your characters relationship with his comrades will grow, your understanding of your own character will deepen and soon even your relationship with other players will flourish. Youll have a long global friends list and everyone on it will be happy to hear from you. Youll rarely want for teammates and youll never feel lonesome. Most of all, youll start to really feel as if youre a hero in a city of heroes, not a person at a keyboard. Thats much more fun.
See you in the D.