Introduction to Online Roleplaying

What Is Online Roleplaying?

Online roleplaying involves a mess of folks acting in character and playing out their storylines (just like tabletop roleplaying), only via an application on the net, instead of with pen and paper.  Usually, this is done in a chat-room style location, with players posting their actions, speech, etc.  Some rooms follow the rules of a particular tabletop system closely, but many are rather freeform.

Where Can I Try This?

There are plenty of rp sites out there.  Try Illusory Minds, or poke around on your favorite chat server (MSN, Yahoo, etc) and you'll probably spot a roleplaying room.  In some cases, you'll need to "join" the site first (don't worry, it's free) and register your handle.

Net-RP Etiquette

The prevailing rules will differ from site to site, and even amongst rooms within a site.  Pay close attention to any rules posted - and if you don't see any, ask somebody about them, as they might be up on a different site.  In general, be pleasant, treat folks as you'd want to be treated, and take it slow while you get the "feel" of the place.  Remember the difference between in-character actions/speech and those which are out-of-character.  In some chat-rooms it is customary to ask someone if they are free to roleplay before you have your character talk to them - in others, it's more of a free-for-all.

Glossary

Above and beyond the normal (extensive) range of emoticons and such, there are a handful of abbreviations that you might see crop up in a roleplaying chatroom.  By no means are all of these universal - remember that different rooms do things in very different ways.  This glossary assumes the reader has a modicum of knowledge about the way the internet functions.

AFK - "away from keyboard".  Used to note that a player will not be able to respond to posts for some small time.

Asterisks - single- or double-asterisks (* or **) are usually used on either end of a statement to indicate that it is a character's action, rather than speech, as in:    *He laughs condescendingly, then glares at her*.

BBL - "be back later".

Boot - getting kicked off a site due to technical difficulties, either with the site's server, or on your end.  It is customary to note your return - you'll probably get response of "wb" (welcome back).

BRB - "be right back".

C - "character".  The fictional character played by the participant.  Compare with Mun.

Emoticons - standard (and nonstandard) emoticons are often seen in rp chatrooms.  In some cases, you may see an abbreviated reaction as text rather than an emoticon - see rae and sot, below.

Frozen - a character is "frozen" when they left a roleplay scene unfinished with other characters, and cannot (usually) be used for other rp until that scene is completed.  Also called "on hold".

HTML - the programming language used on many roleplaying sites.  Some chat-rooms are html-sensitive, allowing you to post your character's actions or speech in italics, bold, color, etc.

IC - "in-character".  An action taken or speech given by the character in the roleplay, not the person at the computer playing them.  Compare with OOC.

IM - "instant messaging".  There are a slew of programs out there that will let you chat with another person through the use of a pop-up window.  Roleplayers often use these to communicate out-of-character, so as not to clutter up the screens of other players.  Common IM utilities include AIM, ICQ, and MSIM.

FAQ - "Frequently Asked Questions", rather common on the net.  For roleplaying, the FAQ usually encompasses anything that you'd need to know about a particular character - appearance, powers, and perhaps a bit of their history.  Most chat-rooms also have a general FAQ or Help file for new users.

God-moder - a player whose characters are indestructible, overly-powerful for the theme of the room, or otherwise cantankerous in obstructing the flow of roleplay.  God-moder is a perjorative term.  See also Zippy.

Metagaming - allowing one's character to act upon knowledge they do not have, which the player possesses.  Considered impolite at best.  Note that metagaming is a "bad" thing, as opposed to plotting (qv).

Mindspeech - any kind of telepathic transmission.  Often denoted with tildes (qv).

Mun - short for "mundane", slang for the player, as opposed to the character.  Often used as a suffix to denote the player of a particular character, as in "Jack-Mun" or "Dragon-Mun".  Compare with C.

Newbie - a new user who may be unfamiliar with all the "standard" procedures. 

OOC - "out-of-character".  Actions or speech on the part of the player, not the character.  Compare with IC.  In many rooms, OOC actions are delineated by double-parentheses on either end of the statement, as in:   ((Cool!  I _love_ that album!)).  In most cases, asterisks are still used within ooc brackets for actions: ((*waves*  Okay, we'll play again on Tuesday! *hugs her goodbye*)).

Pic - "picture".  In chat-rooms which allow images, most online roleplayers include a small picture of their character with each post.  If all the images are too much for your browser, look around or check the site's Help file for a way to turn them off.

Plotting - sometimes players like to get together and sketch out what will or may occur next in a given storyline, either on a large scale ("After we conquer the dragons, I think the next story should involve the Princess again"), or on a smaller scale ("Once you post, I'm going to attack your character" "Okay").

PM - "private message".  Generally, any message relayed between players which cannot be viewed by the population of the room.  Many sites have features for this (some even call it Whispering), but the abbreviation can also refer to Instant Messaging utilities (qv IM).

Quotes - some rooms (and players) place quotation marks (" ") around their character's speech.  In many rooms, a statement defaults to speech, rather than action.  Compare with Asterisks.

rae - "raises an eyebrow".

RP - "roleplaying" or "roleplay".  As in, "Who's free for RP?"

SL - shorthand for "storyline", that is, a character's ongoing tale, encompassing various metaplots and subplots.  

solo - A "self-rp", wherein a player acts as a character by themselves, without playing against the actions of another played character.  Often used for exposition.

sot - "sticks out tongue".

Staff - most rooms have room staff, a host, or a sysop around to keep an eye on things.  Most staffers are more than happy to answer player questions regarding the site, use of its features, or rules.

Tag - or tagline.  Text that appears along with the character's name/handle on each post.  Usually used to describe the character.

Tildes - the tilde mark (~) is used in many rooms to denote "mindspeech" or telepathic transmission.

WB - "welcome back".

WBS - a chat-site that went out of business years ago, absorbed by Go.com.  Which, subsequently, also went out of business.  Go figure.

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Last modified: May 09, 2001