Noobs, thou shalt not be intimidated by the experienced RPers.
Thou shalt learn from thy mistakes with this wiki page.
Thou shalt be patient since I deem myself the official noob teacher.
Common Mistakes
There are a few common mistakes that can be avoided that newbies (deemed Noobs becuase Noob Saibot is cool) at RPing make. I'll give you a list of mistakes that I find and try to guide you into the darkness...since the light means death...oddly enough.
Your Character Sheet is Skimpy. This is a common mistake because you are eager and you don't want to be boring and so on and so forth. Detail is awesome. Don't be afraid to make your own wiki page for a single character with all of the description behind your character's background, etc. Details are something that moderators look for when you submit character sheets to them.
You go OOC (out of character) accidentally. This is another common mistake with beginners. I have a remedy for that, too. Play a personality that you can relate to at all times. Even if it starts off as your own personality, just play it until you learn to be more versatile with personalities.
You were yelled at for god-modding. This simply means that your character doesn't have any weaknesses which isn't fair to the other players. Make your weakness known, and don't try to make your character perfect. Try doing this: ask if you want this or that.
Strong or fast?
Super Magical or Dexterous Weaponslinger?
Serious or Comical?
If you average your character out like so, you shouldn't have many problems if you remember to take a few hits and to miss during fighting parts. Being imperfect makes you more interesting anyhow.
You post one little line and got yelled at. A lot of people are relying on your character to keep the story going. At times you may only be posting one little reply to a question, but try to be descriptive so your one short post is more interesting.
John said, "Yes." is less interesting than:
John blinked in confusion, "Uh...yes?"
You want your character to be cool. I hate to break it to you, but as much as a lot of us love vampires, werewolves, shifters, elves, demons and angels, we're sick of them. And don't even get me started on half-breeds and cross-overs with 1/4 angel, 1/4 demon etc. I know that vampires are cool, but if we're not RPing as vampires, then don't be one. Stick to the storyline. If we're all demons, then be a demon.
And to clear the air and confusion, vampyre is a vampire/demon that regenerates via fire and some of them can use fire attacks. Vampyre does not equal vampire per sei.
Cliche Characters are always cliche. This is as consistent as gravity and as annoying. There are a few character types that will get you turned down instantly in most auditions. Here's the list.
Super Angry. Having a character with a short fuse can be entertaining and at times can keep the situation serious. But having somebody who is angry all the time and always opens up a can of whoop ass is stereotypical and boring. Seen it a million times over. You can have a character with anger issues, but limit this to when something pisses them off.
Super Horny. Having a character that only wants to have sex is also annoying. Sure, a lot of mature moderators allow sex, but if it isn't a porno, then keep it tasteful. Orgasm is not a good character motivation.
Super Super. This goes with god-modding. Nobody that is twenty is skilled in all weapons with all types of magic, super speed, healing powers and so on and so forth. Just don't even dabble into this category.
Super Sad. Having a bad thing happen in the past is expected. Bad things happen to everybody, but if I play with one more emo case, I'm slitting wrists. At the very least if you feel the need to dabble into the category of sad, have the character dealing with their issues.
Super Perfect. This is the lovable, sweet, perfect cook, with great grades, the perfect relationship, who is friends with everybody and who has the solution to everybody's problems. Don't even think about this character. No. Very bad.
Super Throw-rug This is the character that gets walked all over and made fun of, and is just a subcategory of super sad. This character is a horrible choice because you might as well be playing the rug everybody walks on than a character.
Super Royalty. This is the prince/princes
s in disguise. Yeah. avoid this at all costs unless it is specifically required for the RP.
The Chosen One! Yeah, this is the one way to never be chosen for any RP audition. This has to be the most cliche of all. NEVER under any circumstances allow this stereotype to live.
Avoid those basic personality cliches are you should be fine.
They won't let me join! Well, not all RP's are open to the public. Some people merely invite their friends that they trust and know can RP. Some hold auditions where you take the character sheet and you make your character and send it via private message to the moderator. It's best to read the RP's description ahead of time before getting your hopes up.
And if you come off as a noob, most people aren't merciful like me. They won't even give you a second look. I'm willing to teach you or critique you so you know where to improve. But then again I have more than enough time to do so.
Inactive? Huh? People hate inactive people or RP's. It's usually best to not join an RP unless you can find the time to post at least one time a day. That will avoid you getting kicked/killed off.
Overactive??? The world shouldn't revolve around you and your character so limiting your posts so the other players can keep up and can interact and have time to react is expected.
My character cusses like a sailor because he is one. Well, surely by the stereotype, sailors have dirty mouths. But some moderators don't like harsh language whether it be their religious belief (the Lord's name), or they just find it unappealing. Even with a filthy talker, keep it as clean as possible and check with the moderator first.
The same goes for suggestive dialogue. A lot of people don't like sex talk and constantly hitting on other characters. Keep the romance (whether it be used correctly or loosely) tasteful.
Grammar, spelling and punctuations outside of school? *whines*... Yes, those of us who are writers, poets and just grammar freaks appreciate some effort. Forgetting a period or quotation mark is understandable, but do your best with the overall effort. Mozilla Firefox has a spell check feature on wiki pages if you are able to install it and use it as the internet browser.
P.O.V. Huh? Point-of-view is something very important with writing, especially RP's. Write in the third person outside of quotations marks and in the first person inside of quotations marks. Directly from my Rules Page:good first person: Nightshade said, "I...I don't know what to say."
bad first person: I walked into the room and I sat on the couch, "Did you miss me?"
The reason the first is good and the second is bad: You know which character is talking. If everybody RPed in first person, the story would stop making sense and there would be no point trying to fix it.
If I think of anything else, I'll be sure to add it.
Stumble!