The Unwritten Rules of Second Life Roleplay

There's an enormous number of roleplay-themed Second Life communities based around every conceivable theme and narrative -- I'm still astounded there's a small but active one based on courtier life in Louis the XIV's Versailles -- and just as many rule sets by which they're self-governed. Steampunk journalist Hotspur O'Toole has written a smart considerations of these communities, and the written and unwritten guidelines by which they play.

As he notes, for example, you can get an immediate sense of these rules by the qualifiers written in the very group description. "If a community advertises itself as being constituted with a certain attitude towards roleplaying ('relaxed', 'strict', 'enforced', 'easygoing', 'not required' are often used as descriptors, for instance)," he writes, "then the players have a certain attitude towards roleplaying going into the game." That also means bumping up against the often invisible boundaries of what's considered "in character" (and therefore encouraged) and "out of character" (sometimes grounds for penalty). Then there's roleplaying that's obnoxious, but still within character -- for example, someone playing an incoherent lunatic babbling in text chat. Bad experience with this has led Mr. O'Toole to offer a trenchant principle: "Playing in character is certainly desirable for many people, but when the act of playing a role forces the rest of us to experience a roleplaying environment we didn't choose, the choice of other players effectively limits the rest of us."

Another interesting point: Hotspur speculates that SL's Gorean roleplay community is also the strictest about roleplay: "Players are expected to never deviate from their role, ever, unless they speak (( in brackets )). Players who violate this expectation are often encouraged to go play elsewhere." You'd think this high expectation would grate on people, but the Gorean RP community is one of the largest in Second Life. I saw similar tight adherence to roleplay in the very popular and creative Midian cyberpunk society. So I put it to members of other SL roleplayers: how important is RP rule enforcement to the overall communities' growth and cultural richness?

Comments

[Urizenus Sklar]

Thanks for the pointer hammie. Interesting topic.

[Loki Eliot]

I love the roleplay aspect of SL, it's what captivated me when i first arrived. For some just being a new persona in SL is a roleplay, you have those who act like they are in RW and those who put a spin on it for the virtual worlds. For the most part the Child Avatar community is a relaxed roleplay environment, people are roleplaying a child persona which can then take a twist in that they will in turn be playing a child who is roleplaying a pirate or cowboy. There has never really been any rules to roleplaying a kid, except for a few moral guidelines.

My experiences in the New Babbage steampunk town showed me just how a RPG community can have two very different ideas of Roleplaying.

I like to run 'freeform' roleplay where anyone can pick up the story and investigate and take away their own experiences and meanings to the events that unfold. You have the choice to take up the clues or leave them and there is no general rules to it.

Some people prefer 'prearranged' roleplay, where the participants of the RPG are told whats generally going to happen, who's involved and what the rules are.

[Uccello Poultry]

If I go into a roleplay (RP) area I often wear a titler showing (OOC), the common reference meaning Out Of Character and interact as little as possible in chat so I don't spoil the carefully crafted atmosphere. If I plan on being in the area for an extended period of time, I will wear a neutral outfit, sometimes leaning to the style of the area but not indicating I am a player, again to not mar the RP.

But I wish more RPers would be as considerate when they leave their space to visit to public areas or other regions and try to force their RP on others. Don't scream via appearance, behavior, or actual chat "I'm an vampire!" or "I'm a Gorean!" or "I'm a child" or other things they want and expect others to cater to your game. Like when I'm sometimes asked to hide my submissive pet collar so as to not offend I comply out of courtesy even though it is a lifestyle, not a roleplay. If RPers are asked to stop their game for a period of time while in other people's lands I hope they would have the same standard of fair play.

[Arcadia Codesmith]

OOC is not a mortal sin, and if you're RPing in a public space (RL or SL) it's a necessary tool to inform non-players about what's going on.

Follow all posted rules of any area you enter. If you don't agree with the rules, don't go there.

Even in the absence of posted rules, exercise common sense. Don't go nude in areas that aren't explicitly nudist. Don't chastise your chattel in public chat. Don't wear your child avi into a nightclub.

Boil it down, and the only rules that matter are, "Don't be stupid" and "don't be rude". RP is no excuse for either.

Come to think of it, those aren't bad rules for everybody.

[John Phoenix]

I'm new to SL just 19 days as of this writing, but I have searched and searched for a really active role play community, and I have yet to find one. I am looking in the wild west and star wars areas.. To be fair, there are some more active Star Trek sims I have come across, my wife is part of one.. but I like something a little more freelance and not so technical. Even if you type in Role Play in search you don't get to know which ones are really active or not. I want to walk into a crowded sim fulled with all sorts of role play activity. it's kinda a drag hanging out at a place for hours, (say, Little Mos Isley, or Tombstone Arizona) an not seeing any real role playing at all.

[John Phoenix]

Follow Up: If your having trouble like I did, try the Scripted RP sims. Instead of a free for all with no direction, the scripted RP's offer missions and quest you can play either alone or in a group. They still have all the elements of acting and speaking in character like the non scripted role playing sims but actually offer a structure where you have to complete task A before you can go on to task B.

I wish I would have found them sooner, I would not have wasted so much time waiting for 'something to happen'.

[Salvatore Otoro]

I have been in SL for almost 3 years now and most of that time I have been in role play sims. Personally, I enjoy freeform role play because it allows you to get involved in something already in play or make up your own story that could get weaved into the main story line. I have played most of the time in Lost Angels where there is plenty of different players and the sim is usually pretty full.