Beyond Basics: Getting Started With Roleplay in MMORPG’s

Getting Started with Roleplay in MMORPG’s

Getting started with roleplay in MMORPG is very different to roleplay in Live Action or in Table-Top. They all share the same core concept but they manifest differently with different skills, uses, and issues. A few weeks ago we talked about getting started with playing World of Warcraft the most well-known MMORPG, so today we are going to talk about getting started with Roleplaying within that setting.

 

Beyond Basics is a series of posts that delve into different aspects of roleplay beyond the basics of character creation within an MMO setting. For our purposes, this setting is World of Warcraft but it can be useful in others too. This series will look at things like plots, storylines, and conversations. As well as the world and community around you as a player in an MMO. Explaining how you can best make use of that; and how it might differ from roleplay on tabletop games for example. You can find the rest of the series here: Beyond Basics Series Index

Getting Started: Creating an Avatar

First thing is first and that is crafting a character. If you don’t already have a clear idea of what faction you want to play you can check out some of the Alliance lore at WowWiki and Blizzard Watch and our own light-hearted guide to Horde Lore Part One and Two. Once you have chosen a faction you need to choose a race. I have listed them all below with a link to a page detailing their lore, so you can check out any that interest you. We will have our own race guides coming up too.

Getting Started: Races

Alliance

• Human
• Dwarf
• Night Elf
• Gnome
• Draenei
• Worgen
• Pandaren

Horde

• Orc
• Troll
• Undead
• Tauren
• Goblin
• Blood Elf
• Pandaren

Then it comes to selecting a class. You can read more about them in our Class and Roleplay post. Once you have done all that you know what faction, race, and class you are playing you can create your character, or perhaps you were just researching for a character you already have, either way, now you have the canvas of a character it’s time to give them some flavour.

Getting Started: Creating a Character

From The Ground Up: This is our own series of roleplay guides talking you through the process of creating a character. It covers everything from basic archetypes and concepts to the importance of personality and background details. Check out the index list and it breaks down all the parts of the process we have covered so far. You can also check out some of our other posts in Venerable Villains and Beyond Basics for other guides on different aspects of roleplay.

Working through some of those should help you create a character for your avatar and get a feel for who they are and what their concept is. From there you can think about what you want to do with their story. But before you dive into roleplaying them there are a few etiquette things you should be aware out.

Getting Started: Roleplay Terms

Here are some terms to know before you get involved in roleplay servers on World of Warcraft and a few do’s and don’t’s. You can also check out our Six Tips for Better Roleplaying.

Terms and Meanings.

• IC – In-Character
• OOC – Out-Of-Character
• Loller – Someone that acts in an OOC manner IC with the intent of disrupting roleplay.
• Bdrp – Roleplay that is deemed to be bad either for breaking the lore or roleplaying something outside the lines Blizzard have drawn.
• Trolls – Not unlike lollers, trolls will do various things to try and disrupt roleplay both IC and OOC.
• OP – Overpowered. If a character is too powerful to be believable or realistic within the setting and/or under the understanding that MMORPG are a
• QQ – To complain or whine about something.
• ERP – Erotic roleplay, frowned upon in many communities and against the ToS in public channels.
• Power-emoting – This is the term given to a particular kind of emote where you either take control of the other person’s character or you create a situation where your emote removed their ability to do anything about it. It is a power play. For examp le, in a fight scene if your emote describes what your character does and includes within it the resulting force on the other person’s character you have power emoted. As you have not allowed them a chance to challenge, dodge or otherwise circumvent your action.
• Meta-gaming – If you know something OOC and your character was not told that information IC but you act as if they know it anyway that is metagaming. For example knowing where another character is just because you know OOC where they are. Or knowing their name before they have told you purely because OOC you can see it above their head.

With all that in mind, you should be ready to jump into roleplay. The best way to learn more and pick things up is to get into the game and practice. If you think we’ve missed out anything that would be useful to know before jumping into roleplay send us a message and let us know!

 

Until then we hope this was useful for you. Don’t forget to comment and share if it was!