Post by CertainUncertainty on Mar 9, 2015 15:55:43 GMT -6
1. Do Not God-mod
Godmodding is when a character features god-like abilities, such as invincibility or mind control, or other unrealistic powers that don't fit with the canon Saints Row Universe. It's also considered godmodding to refuse death in fights or ignore role-players in scenarios in which said role-players are attempting to attack you. Nobody's good at everything; try and keep yourself in check.
2. Do Not Overpower Yourself or Others
Being "overpowered" is more or less what it sounds like: giving something or someone an unreasonable, unfair, unrealistic, or unbalanced amount of power, especially when it interferes with the ability of players around you to have fun. This can apply in the obvious ways, like having a character who is invincible or can summon the wrath of a zombie army with a flick of his fingers, but it can also be more subtle. For example, a character who is physically average but has skill mastery of over 70% of all main skills with ease can also be overpowered and put a damper on the ability of those around him to create engaging and challenging roleplay scenarios.
3. Do Not Metagame
Metagaming is when a player applies OOC-retrieved information to their IC character, such as participating in a gunfight that you only saw was stated to be happening in another post, or hearing whispering because you saw the text, and knowing a character's name because you saw their username. This is the most commonly broken rule of role-play and most infuriating for many.
4. Do Not Mix IC and OOC
Related to metagaming, it is considered taboo to "mix IC and OOC." That is, players are generally encouraged not to associate information and events that occurred between active, playing characters and events that occur between the role-players themselves. Most often, when players associate OOC information with their IC behavior, whether it be how they perceive another character or actually acting on information they wouldn't otherwise have, it's called metagaming.
However, it's also considered poor form to take IC information and apply it OOC. That is, if character A insults character B, and player B takes character A's insult as a personal attack from player A rather than exclusively an IC attack on character B, that is mixing IC and OOC. Any instance of holding against a player what his/her character said or did violates this rule (not to be confused with holding against the player any rule violations he made while controlling his character).
Another instance which is less inflammatory but still technically a violation of this rule is if character A says something, character B doesn't understand or takes it the wrong way, and player A deigns to explain himself OOC to player B. This is especially the case when player B already understood but was intentionally allowing his character to mis-react for the sake of adding interest to the game or being true to character B's nature. This cramps the flow of role-play and can sometimes be insulting to a player, since it suggests that player B's character is a Mary Sue who player B can't separate himself from.
5. Do Not Auto (Autohit, Autowalk, etc)
Autohitting is when a player performs an action without giving the affected players a chance to respond. For example, running up to somebody and saying *Stabs in the heart* then running off would be autohitting. Auto also applies to non-combative actions to which another player might have a reaction. Saying, *The black knight slips past the guards and into the castle,* while white knights are guarding the entrance to the white knight's castle would be autowalking on the premise that, in all likelihood, those knights would stop you before you got past them. This can easily be fixed with a simple rewording. Add "tries to" or "attempts to" to clarify that your character intends to perform said action, but his success depends on the responses of those around him. More advanced role-players will go into detail with their actions and emphasize their attempts. This is a frequently broken rule by newer role-players.
6. Do Not Lorebreak
Lorebreaking is when a character breaks lore, which is anything that likely affects a character or scenario. The basis for these commonalities is origin, culture, and known historical events. For example, shooting a police officer in front of witnesses without then being chased by other police officers is a lorebreak because no matter which game you play, shooting a police officer (or rival gang member) will result in even a brief chase. Lorebending, a similar term, is when existing lore is lightly modified (Hence the term lorebending), but not significantly or in a way that detracts from the role-playing experience. Often this has to do with ideas that are neither supported nor contradicted by existing lore; for example, after SRTT the Syndicate is considered inactive in-game, but it is never explicitly stated that they are - you can still go around Steelport and get into gang fights.
7. Do Not Powerplay
Powerplaying occurs when a player operates someone else's character without the other player's consent. The most blatant example of this would be a player writing, "Your character falls off the cliff when he walks up to it." As you can see, you take active control of what the other character does. Not only is this not fair to the other player, but it's also discouraged because often players will misconstrue the behaviors and personalities of characters they didn't design. Powerplaying goes into more subtle situations, however. Saying, "Sally charges Jack so fast that he wouldn't be able to react enough to avoid it," can also be considered a violation of this rule since Sally's player has controlled Jack's abilities, possibly in a way that doesn't accurately represent his character. The appropriate way to word Sally's attack would be, "Sally charges Jack so fast that it's unlikely he could totally dodge it without equally inhuman speed." This leaves it up to Jack's player whether or not Jack is actually capable of avoiding Sally.
8. Do Not Play Mary-Sues
A Mary-Sue is a specific kind of character that is usually considered literally reprehensible and otherwise unpleasant for others to play alongside. A Mary-Sue is any character (of any gender, age, race, or species) who fits one or more of these descriptions:
**As long as your character has a major, defining flaw, you should be able to avoid this one.
Godmodding is when a character features god-like abilities, such as invincibility or mind control, or other unrealistic powers that don't fit with the canon Saints Row Universe. It's also considered godmodding to refuse death in fights or ignore role-players in scenarios in which said role-players are attempting to attack you. Nobody's good at everything; try and keep yourself in check.
Non-Example: "I can kill you with a single touch." *She reaches to touch his skin, and if she succeeds, his flesh will fall off of his bones.*
Being "overpowered" is more or less what it sounds like: giving something or someone an unreasonable, unfair, unrealistic, or unbalanced amount of power, especially when it interferes with the ability of players around you to have fun. This can apply in the obvious ways, like having a character who is invincible or can summon the wrath of a zombie army with a flick of his fingers, but it can also be more subtle. For example, a character who is physically average but has skill mastery of over 70% of all main skills with ease can also be overpowered and put a damper on the ability of those around him to create engaging and challenging roleplay scenarios.
3. Do Not Metagame
Metagaming is when a player applies OOC-retrieved information to their IC character, such as participating in a gunfight that you only saw was stated to be happening in another post, or hearing whispering because you saw the text, and knowing a character's name because you saw their username. This is the most commonly broken rule of role-play and most infuriating for many.
Non-Example: ((after being sent a PM from Chad)) *Jeremy the necromancer teleports into the scene immediately and rushes to the corpse of his buddy Chad, just moments after the arrow pierced his heart.*
Related to metagaming, it is considered taboo to "mix IC and OOC." That is, players are generally encouraged not to associate information and events that occurred between active, playing characters and events that occur between the role-players themselves. Most often, when players associate OOC information with their IC behavior, whether it be how they perceive another character or actually acting on information they wouldn't otherwise have, it's called metagaming.
However, it's also considered poor form to take IC information and apply it OOC. That is, if character A insults character B, and player B takes character A's insult as a personal attack from player A rather than exclusively an IC attack on character B, that is mixing IC and OOC. Any instance of holding against a player what his/her character said or did violates this rule (not to be confused with holding against the player any rule violations he made while controlling his character).
Another instance which is less inflammatory but still technically a violation of this rule is if character A says something, character B doesn't understand or takes it the wrong way, and player A deigns to explain himself OOC to player B. This is especially the case when player B already understood but was intentionally allowing his character to mis-react for the sake of adding interest to the game or being true to character B's nature. This cramps the flow of role-play and can sometimes be insulting to a player, since it suggests that player B's character is a Mary Sue who player B can't separate himself from.
5. Do Not Auto (Autohit, Autowalk, etc)
Autohitting is when a player performs an action without giving the affected players a chance to respond. For example, running up to somebody and saying *Stabs in the heart* then running off would be autohitting. Auto also applies to non-combative actions to which another player might have a reaction. Saying, *The black knight slips past the guards and into the castle,* while white knights are guarding the entrance to the white knight's castle would be autowalking on the premise that, in all likelihood, those knights would stop you before you got past them. This can easily be fixed with a simple rewording. Add "tries to" or "attempts to" to clarify that your character intends to perform said action, but his success depends on the responses of those around him. More advanced role-players will go into detail with their actions and emphasize their attempts. This is a frequently broken rule by newer role-players.
Non-Example: *Melissa throws a lit match onto the bed of her unfaithful lover and his mistress, then watches spitefully as his hair quickly catches fire and the two begin to burn.*
Lorebreaking is when a character breaks lore, which is anything that likely affects a character or scenario. The basis for these commonalities is origin, culture, and known historical events. For example, shooting a police officer in front of witnesses without then being chased by other police officers is a lorebreak because no matter which game you play, shooting a police officer (or rival gang member) will result in even a brief chase. Lorebending, a similar term, is when existing lore is lightly modified (Hence the term lorebending), but not significantly or in a way that detracts from the role-playing experience. Often this has to do with ideas that are neither supported nor contradicted by existing lore; for example, after SRTT the Syndicate is considered inactive in-game, but it is never explicitly stated that they are - you can still go around Steelport and get into gang fights.
Non-Example: *Lin and Carlos, as zombies, go after the person responsible for their deaths.*
Powerplaying occurs when a player operates someone else's character without the other player's consent. The most blatant example of this would be a player writing, "Your character falls off the cliff when he walks up to it." As you can see, you take active control of what the other character does. Not only is this not fair to the other player, but it's also discouraged because often players will misconstrue the behaviors and personalities of characters they didn't design. Powerplaying goes into more subtle situations, however. Saying, "Sally charges Jack so fast that he wouldn't be able to react enough to avoid it," can also be considered a violation of this rule since Sally's player has controlled Jack's abilities, possibly in a way that doesn't accurately represent his character. The appropriate way to word Sally's attack would be, "Sally charges Jack so fast that it's unlikely he could totally dodge it without equally inhuman speed." This leaves it up to Jack's player whether or not Jack is actually capable of avoiding Sally.
Non-Example: *Rex walks up to Jewel and moves to plant a kiss on her. Rex's rich, masculine musk overcomes Jewel so powerfully that she has no control over herself and kisses back.*
A Mary-Sue is a specific kind of character that is usually considered literally reprehensible and otherwise unpleasant for others to play alongside. A Mary-Sue is any character (of any gender, age, race, or species) who fits one or more of these descriptions:
- A character who's too perfect, lacking realistic or logical flaws, or whose flaws do not affect them in real ways.
- A character who's exactly like their creator, except idealized or made "better". (E.g. more attractive, smarter, given skills, abilities & powers the creator wishes they could have.) Essentially, the creator is inserting themselves into the story, but without the flaws, quirks & limits that make them interesting and real. Users are often discouraged from creating characters who would be described as, "He's based off me," especially since that comes with the extra risk of violating the avoid mixing ic and ooc rule.
- A character who's far too powerful, especially whose abilities exceed that which is possible for his/her race in the setting of the story. Particularly if said character has abilities that do not exist within the boundaries of the story's world. Often these characters are technically legitimate, but are very, "Look at how unique and cool I am!"
- A character who's cliched, having qualities or characteristics that are overused by people trying to have a powerful/perfect/cool character. This includes but is not limited to the traits listed as Popular Role-Play Trends.
**As long as your character has a major, defining flaw, you should be able to avoid this one.
