Another really important thing to remember is that your faction is there not only to aid you and protect you, but also to help you with role play and make sure you have fun. Keeping this in mind, make sure you are aware that IC actions have IC results and they may not be what you expected. You may have developed a certain role play and something that you think is really great and will add to your character, but you should share that OOC with your faction leadership so that they know beforehand. After all is said and done, it’s too late to explain what was going on or what ideas you developed. Again, this is part of being in a faction. By keeping the leadership informed about what you’re doing, making sure there are no secrets between you and your faction leadership, and working together you ensure better results from your role play.
While I’m not against trying a new class or race in an attempt to find something that fits your character perfectly, I don’t understand the mindset behind players that worry more about metered fights than about their role play. In fact, changing class and or race should involve some role play to effect the change in character. I find it quite comical, especially when these players achieve high levels yet are unable to create intelligent or interesting role play that would be to the benefit of their faction or others. Role play is not about hoarding XP to crush others in combat. It is about creating and assisting with a story line that will encourage others to engage you in ways beyond the battlefield. Conclusion In concluding with my reflections about the little and not so little things that cause my role play and that of others to suffer, I would like to offer one last piece of information that will help you grasp most of what I said here. The role player’s creed written by Calista of ImagineChat is essentially the equivalent of the words to live by for every role player. It is a set of rules that should be followed always if you want to be a good role player within a community.
Gaming the System This section applies to metered sims exclusively. There are some role players that are more concerned about winning metered fights than doing role play. These players camp their avatars to rack up experience points (XP) so that they can be at high levels as if they were playing a game of Warcraft. It’s something that I have noticed for quite some time. While CCS, RPCS, Spellfire, etc are great tools, they were not made to replace role play but to enhance it. Yet, the same players continually try to beat the system with the purpose of being the strongest in the sim by using this form of metagaming. Metagaming is prohibited during role play because it is the use of OOC information to influence IC actions.
I realize that what I have written here is controversial among the role play community. I’m not here to impose my view on you. Instead, I want to foment discussion and hear from you. If you have some knowledge of role play, tell me whether you agree or disagree with. I’d love to hear your comments and opinions on what I’ve written. As always, feel free to stop by my blog at http://secondliferoleplay.wordpress.com/ for more role play commentary, suggestions, tips, places to shop, places to play, and much, much more.
This goes hand in hand with some players that change race and or class for the same reasons. Why do they do this? As the combat meters are updated, changes may be made to the abilities of different races and classes where they are added, removed, or adjusted. This in turn changes the game for metered fights with certain players believing some races or classes more powerful than others. Basically, most players pick their race and class, based on their character. If a player’s character has always been a healer, they usually stay that way regardless of what enhancements are made that may give another race or class an added advantage.
Role Player’s Creed secondliferoleplay.wordpress.com CCS Webpage ccs-gametech.com 14