Disclaimer: The above may be humerous, or at least may be an attempt at humour. Try reading it that way.
Posts are OOC unless noted to be IC, or in an IC thread.
Here are the Seven Commandments of Roleplaying, as dictated to me by the final GM. While it's written from the point of view of Irc based roleplaying where operators can kick trouble-makers, most of them are still valid for CoH roleplaying.
Just my little input:
Roleplaying a Villain gives you no excuse to act like a total dick and compromise another player's enjoyment of the game.
[ QUOTE ]
Roleplaying a Villain gives you no excuse to act like a total dick and compromise another player's enjoyment of the game.
[/ QUOTE ]
I see you and raise you:
Roleplaying gives you no excuse to act like a total dick and compromise another player's enjoyment of the game.
Depends if someone is roleplaying a dick.
The Smoking Demon
Ash/Tar Corruptor
Union
@The Smoking Demon
I have yet to name any of my characters 'Richard'.
Disclaimer: The above may be humerous, or at least may be an attempt at humour. Try reading it that way.
Posts are OOC unless noted to be IC, or in an IC thread.
[ QUOTE ]
Depends if someone is roleplaying a dick
[/ QUOTE ]
Well yeah, but there's being that or being a total one. Total ones don't know when to quit, annoy people OOC and hamper enjoyment.
Case in point: I made a character called Alcatraz with the intention of playing him as a total jerk. I did, however, warn people I'd be doing it, and make sure to keep his comments strictly IC.
If you're playing an annoying character, don't be surprised if people start to ignore you, and possible future characters you make, especially if they don't know you aside from that first annoying character. It's very easy to blur the lines between IC and OOC if you're not careful, and no-one wants to talk to a character who is perpetually irritating or abusive.
[ QUOTE ]
Depends if someone is roleplaying a dick.
[/ QUOTE ]
Not really. Playing a jerk gives you no excuse for being a jerk. Playing characters whose IC behaviour becomes OOC annoying is bad roleplaying, as that is not respecting the other players and getting one's own fun at the cost of other people's fun.
Roleplaying is a social activity and good roleplaying requires people to cooperate to create fun for all the participants. There's no "I" in "roleplay" (on the other hand there are the letters to form "parole" there. Make of that what you want.)
[ QUOTE ]
and no-one wants to talk to a character who is perpetually irritating
[/ QUOTE ]
What do you mean? We still talk to Nevermore. 
Disclaimer: The above may be humerous, or at least may be an attempt at humour. Try reading it that way.
Posts are OOC unless noted to be IC, or in an IC thread.
And I think Al works really well too! He's a jerk, but he's also slowly coming around after several people have started trying to talk TO him instead of AT him... 
@FloatingFatMan
Do not go gentle into that good night.
Rage, rage against the dying of the light.
[ QUOTE ]
What do you mean? We still talk to Nevermore.
[/ QUOTE ]
But you start talking about him as soon as his back is turned. Can't you see his brooding tears of vengeful angst...?
And yes, Alcatraz is developing. Another factor to bear in mind when playing a character who is not generally nice to people. If people see that there's something beneath the surface, even a reason for their behaviour, and a chance to help said character develop, they will latch onto it, talking to a character who is otherwise repugnant, because the character can develop, and helping someone else's character to develop is very rewarding.
If he's a jerk and stays a jerk, no matter what, people will get bored.
Indeed!! How many have started talking to him now anyway?
I know my Ellie has, even whilst her own problems were at what seemed to be their worst, she still noticed him sulking and chatted to him. And he's getting a date with Velvet... Before too long he might be a nice guy! 
@FloatingFatMan
Do not go gentle into that good night.
Rage, rage against the dying of the light.
Lots. If you people turn my jerk into a nice guy I'll beat you all with your own severed limbs!
I think the problem you've got their Wordy is that, to REALLY play a jerk well, you need to BE a jerk, and you're not...
Set yourself quite a difficult task there you know.... 
@FloatingFatMan
Do not go gentle into that good night.
Rage, rage against the dying of the light.
Don't you just love criticisms that contain compliments?
Wordy FTW!
Aye... Well... Ellie shall just have to find a way to kick Al when he's down to compensate then!
And after all the mean things you lot were wanting to do to Ellie yesterday too!
@FloatingFatMan
Do not go gentle into that good night.
Rage, rage against the dying of the light.
[ QUOTE ]
If he's a jerk and stays a jerk, no matter what, people will get bored.
[/ QUOTE ]
And yet people still insist on talking to Max
[ QUOTE ]
And yet people still insist on talking to Max
[/ QUOTE ]
There's a difference. He's -our- jerk.
HI folks.
Here follows a short "blurb" on roleplaying. I write this as someone who has been roleplaying in one form or another for over 14 years. Hopefully it will help.
----
What is roleplaying?
Well, in its most simple terms, Roleplaying (RP) can be described as "Acting a character"
In more complex terms, it can be described as "Taking on the role (hence the term... roleplay...) of a character, and behaving as though that character would in any given situation.
For example...
Bob and dave are RPing. BOb is playing the character "Psycho Jo" who is a psychotic maniac and dave is "Vengence kid" who is a cold, calculating killer.
Bob begins the conversation...
Psycho JO - "Hey kid!, get outa my way you punk, now!"
Dave responds....
Vengence Kid - "<Laughs> Make me you **S hole!"
Now, to most people that will seem like quite a hostile interaction. and it is! But the important thing is they are RPing. IN real life, both Bob and Dave are easy going guys. They are simply acting as there characters would in that situation.
And that is all RP is really. When someone says somthing, think about your character. You know the character's background, and you will have an idea on how the character would respond, so... instead of responding as YOU, respond as the character would.
Be your character, not you... Thats the basics.
So... specifics...
Various types of roleplaying generate different problems. IN my time i have RPed in various ways. Tabletop games, LIve action games, Online Computor games, Freestyle scenarios... etc etc etc.
Because of the text based comunication, roleplaying in on line games presents some interesting challenges COV especially so, since one cannot physically interact with ones fellow villains. I find though, that if you stick to ONE rule, there is very rarely a problem.
- Never RP anything that forces someone into a particular position.
EG...
To continue our earlier example... Bob decides that phsyco just wouldnt stand for that retort, so he has the character flip... and types the following
Phsycho Jo - <Punches Vengence Kid>
Now, this is bad. By typing that, he has forced his actions onto Dave who is playing The vengence kid. Dave now had only one option, he Must go with the statement and allow his characterr to be Punched, if he does not, it kind of breaks the "flavour" of roleplaying.
If he types <Dodges the punch> it doesn't make sense... since we allready saw <Punches the kid> from the other guy.
Can you see what i am saying?
<Trys to punch the kid> would have been better, since the player of the kid, can REACT to that action, either by letting the RP punch land, or getting out of the way.
There isn't really much more to RP to be honest. Just be your character, and be mindfull of forcing actions on others.
----------------------------
PS - usefull things for COV especially... the /em command... this "emotes"
For example.= if i type /em scowls
it will display... "Sanguisse Scowls" as an emote action.
Another way is to use <> or ** to tag emotes in normal speech. EG typing... <Looks at her opponent> Your gonna roast in hell fire, insect!
would display, Sanguisse : "<Looks at her opponent> Your gonna roast in hell fire, insect!" in normal chat text.
Enjoy.