1. Second life chat mechanics
On an RP SIM, roleplay occurs directly in local chat. This is both to improve immersion and to let everyone to join in. More importantly it helps to actively separate OOC / IC by reserving IMs and group chat for OOC chatter alone.When speaking in local chat, there's a few different ways to communicate.
Normal text : The easiest way to say something is to simply say it in local chat. There's no need for quotation marks, as it's obvious that you're speaking aloud. Note that the text in local chat is identified by your second life display name. So if your display name is John, typing "What's up man?" in local chat would appear as "John : What's up man?". This mode is rarely used for roleplay.
Emote text : You usually use it when your character is doing something as they are speaking or doing something that doesn't involve speech at all. It is similar to speaking in local chat except that you add "/me" in front. For example if your Second life display name is Hendrix, typing "/me looks at you" would appear as "John looks at you"
OOC brackets (( )) : Using (( )) around your text let's other role-players know that it is you (the typist) and not your character who is speaking. Most roleplay SIMs (including Asphyxiation Point) limit OOC text in local chat. If you must direct OOC communication to a specific person, please do so in IMs. Use OOC in local chat only if you need to address everyone in the vicinity. For example ((Brb)).
Please note that abbreviations such as Brb, l8r, cya which are okay for OOC chatter must never be used in roleplay.
2. How to emote
By discussing emote text, we have already introduced the basics of the mechanics of emoting. As described in the previous section, simply using /me is enough to describe an action.If you want to take this one step further and speak while making an emote, you would additionally need to use quotation marks. Kind of like you would do if you were writing a book. Let us take John again and look at some examples
/me is sharpening his blade.
Typing this will result in "John is sharpening his blade."
This is simply describing an action which is what we described previously.
/me is busy sharpening his blade when he hears the distinct sound of footsteps on the pavement behind the trash bin he was sitting next to. "Who the hell is there!?" he calls out as he rises quickly switch blade in hand.
This one's a little more dynamic. All of the text will show up as an emote, but the quotation marks denote that John said something.
Note that it looks a little like a line you'd read in a book -- that's the general idea when typing out emotes and why emoting forms such an integral part of roleplay. Over time, most experienced role-players automatically fall back to communicating in this manner even if their emote may be as simple as "/me smiles as he looks over at him and says... blah blah blah"
3. What to emote
So now that you know how to emote, the next question that automatically arises is what to emote. We have already covered two of the basics :What your character is saying. --- Words
What your character is doing --- Actions
This basic list can be augmented with many more elements to make your emotes richer
Sight, smell, sound, taste etc. etc. .................................................................................................. Environment
Any physical attributes / features of your character that are worth calling attention to ....... Character
Body language and facial expressions ........................................................................................... Reactions
However, care must be taken to make sure of two things :
Ensure you are not saying a lot about nothing at all. No one wants to read an essay about how awesome the bowl of water you are sipping is or how luscious your breasts are. Any emote must somehow add to the story or enhance the environment you find yourself in (more on this in when to emote).
Express thoughts in a manner that others can respond to. For example, if you were to roleplay "John watches the man's antics and thinks what an idiot he is", the only usable part of the emote is the fact that John watches the man's antics. Your fellow roleplayer has no way of responding to your thoughts. If you are to instead roleplay "John snorts derisively as he watches the man's antics.", your fellow roleplayer can now respond to your post. The first example is what is usually referred to as a "thought emote" and is frowned upon in any RP venue.
4. When to emote
Asphyxiation Point is a turn-based paragraph-roleplay venue. In other words, you must wait for everyone else in the scene to post once before you post again. This typically forces your posts to be longer as well as you are now reacting to everything that people around you said or did in a given round of posts. This requirement is usually relaxed in large group settings such as events but care must still be taken to maintain Post Order with other role-players in your immediate vicinity orIt is also good manners to wait until you have observed at least one round of posts before posting in. This allows you to identify what roleplay is in progress and whether the situation is lighthearted, tense or outright troublesome before you start interacting with roleplayers already in the scene.
5. Breaking the ice
Another component to the "when" arises when you are not really sure how to get involved in a scene. Below we detail some very simple ways to break the ice :Ask a question : This may be asking where you may find a room for the night or asking where the nearest bar is. This is probably the most direct means to approach someone you don't know same as in RL. This approach is probably easiest if you find someone who is alone or opens themselves up for questions such as by putting themselves in a service oriented role.
Observe and react : If you find a group of people conversing between themselves and are not sure how to break into their conversation, its probably a good idea to just emote your way in and situate your character near them. At this point you can try and figure out what the current conversation is about and react accordingly.
Take proactive action : Breaking into roleplay can be hard if you keep waiting for someone to invite you in. If you can initiate roleplay, people automatically want to roleplay with you. And initiating roleplay is easy if you set yourself upon a quest. More on this on the Character Creation page !
Look for a different setting : Occasionally the scene in progress may simply be too intense to break into. If you ask about getting a motel room when the cops are having a shootout with the thugs, your question is probably going to be ignored. Walking around to find a different scene may not be a bad idea in this case.
