Roleplaying 101.
MMORPG – Massive Multiplayer Online Roleplaying Game. Everyone heard this term at least once before. Ultima Online is one of them, it is an MMORPG – but only scarcely played as that.
UO has the world, it has the surroundings and it has the players – but for some reason many tend to lose themselves in upping their skills and elite-talk at Britain Bank. Sometimes it seems that Roleplaying in UO is a forgotten skill – which does not change the fact that it is fun! Read on to find out a bit more about the “How to“.
Phase one: What is roleplaying and what do I have to do?
Roleplaying, short Rpg (ing), is often misunderstood and even looked down upon. I personally think that the reason for this is that people have a totally wrong, stereotypical picture of rpging and roleplayers in general.
The first thing that comes to the mind of many inexperienced roleplayers is a “weird“, “ancient“ language. “Thees“ and “Thous“, and many other kinds of “elizabethian“ language is very popular - keeping the medieval character of Britannia in mind there is also nothing wrong about this.
I have been playing UO for quite a while, and after some time I learned to abhor certain groups of roleplayers: elves. I do not know why elves are such a popular theme, especially in UO where this race does not exist. Did you ever notice that there are so many elves that are played the exact same way? Elves are always archers, they are always tall and slender – and they almost always have blonde hair. They are friendly and love nature, and of course they talk in a strange way.
There are much more similar stereotypes, and all I can say is: forget all of them. Forget what bad roleplayers were trying to sell you as “the real thing“ and start to develop your own style.
Roleplaying is just that – playing the role of another person, a person that is not exactly you. There are no rules you must follow – you do not have to say “thee“ and “thou“. You do not have to dress strangely. You do not even have to be an elf. Maybe Roleplaying is better compared with acting – with the difference that there is no script, no text, no limitation.
All you need to start roleplaying is a character, creativity and imagination. Always keep in mind: there are no other limitations for roleplaying than the limitations of the world you are “living“ in – and the limitations of your mind.
Phase two: The basics of Roleplaying.
All that does not mean that roleplaying is easy – not at all. In fact, roleplaying in UO can be extremely challenging, as your fellow players often simply will not interact with you in a fictional manner. Nevertheless, I personally made the experience that people are often only *waiting* for somebody to roleplay with them!
Now, let's have a quick look at the basics. What you need is, of course, a character. It is good to put some thought into new characters – your character will stay with you for a while, and maybe you will find out that you love the way he or she is developing. I caught myself every now and then thinking of my characters as if they really existed: this is the point when I really managed to bring something fictional to life.
Now your character lives in a certain world, in our case this world is Britannia. You should know a bit about your surroundings, although it does not matter if your *character* does not. It is one of the most important things to always keep the possibilities of your “play-world“ in mind – this is all that exists for your character!
UO is set up in a more or less medieval scenario – you will not find industry or highly developed technology. Instead you will find adventure, monsters, dungeons and deeds you could not fulfill in the dull real world. Your imagination does not have to end at the boarder of the “fictional world“ (speak: Britannia), but keep in mind that you should always respect the rules of the world you are playing in.
I will go more into the specifics of roleplaying in UO later on – for now let me just note that the most important basic is simple: Think of a character, create it and bring it to life. Enjoy your character and put him in your world, keeping the restrictions in mind, and start reacting, thinking, laughing and loving as your character. And, most important: have fun doing it, and do not allow any of those uncreative, nagging powergamers to spoil your fun. If you ever want to see a silenced powergamer, roleplay with him and do not stop until he cries.
Phase three: Creating a Character.
I noted it before: put some thought into your character, it will stay with you for a while.
Now, I am not supposed to tell you exactly what your character should be like – and so all I will do is give you some thoughts to get your creative potential started.
First of all your new alter ego will need a background, meaning a history. Where was he born, how were his parents like? Were there any special happenings during his childhood? Did he experience something that had a huge impact on his development and the way he is acting now? You can do pretty much everything with (or to) your character – but try to make sure that it makes sense!
You know that our history, our background, has impact on us. Let me give you an example: you decide to play a character who was abused as a child (although this is a stereotype), and now want to play this character as a relaxed, happy and generally friendly person. Most probably your character would have a hard time with close relationships – he will maybe hate his parents who caused him that much pain in his early life, or he will strive for revenge. Whatever, let's get to the point: this character will be *problematic* to some extent – he will be everything but the average, happy, balanced guy who does not believe in the evil of the world.
So, you have written down a history – or you have it in your mind. You can of course always expand your history and add little anecdotes of your past whenever you wish – in fact, doing so is great. However, I don't want to lose myself into detail – the next important thing to think of is the personality of your character. How does he react to other people? Is he outgoing and friendly or grumpy and introverted? Does he respond jokingly or is he serious? Maybe he is even stiff? Is he good, neutral or evil? I personally made the experience that it helps a lot if you allow your character to receive a bit of yourself, especially if you have never roleplayed before. Of course there is always a first time, and I do not mean that you should not play a murderer or thief if you are not one in real life. Everybody has a dark side – and it can be a very interesting experience to live it without punishment every now and then.
Ideally, you would choose skills according to your history and personality – although this is not a necessity. There are no strict rules – and with some creativity and thought everything is possible. This is what makes roleplaying tough and irresistible at the same time.
One very important thing I would like to add is: Good characters have flaws, perfect characters are boring. Of course it is tempting to be able to create the perfect character: beautiful, courageous and strong. But, this is just not true to life – perfection is boring. Just think of Cindy Crawford – she would only be half as interesting without her birthmark. This little mark makes her unique and at the same time identifies her to some extent. Fictional characters should have their own, unique “birthmarks“. Flaws are fun, in fact, and open you a lot more possibilities than perfection would – but maybe I better let you explore this yourself.
Other than that the only advice I can give you is to act accordingly to your character at any time. For example: a mere blacksmith will not talk to others like he is the king of the world, the murderer will not be interested in an old woman's ranting about her hurting knee, …
Last but not least, roleplayed characters are not a static thing. Your character will change, develop and create his own will. This is wonderful in fact, and the part of the roleplaying I personally enjoy most. Maybe your grumpy, introverted character will find somebody he likes and calls a friend, and maybe this person will slowly change him to a friendlier, more confident person. Maybe your extremely outgoing and unmindful character will experience something bad and therefore become more silent and thoughtful. Just two examples of endless possibilities – I am sure you know what I am talking about!
Phase four: The Specifics of Roleplaying in Ultima Online.
Roleplaying is not necessarily equal roleplaying. Roleplaying in UO is in fact very different to most other styles of roleplaying – basically because you can see and touch your surroundings.
An example: The warrior walked down the street and was lost in thought. The town was nice, too nice maybe, and he was bored. His sword was bloodthirsty and he would never reach his goal if he was going to stay in this little peaceful village. He had left his home to find adventure and heroic deeds and he would not return before he had reached his goal of becoming a well renowned and respected hero…..
What we see above is a short (and dull) sample for how roleplaying could look like – and in fact, this is a very common form. It does not work in UO though. The reason for this is obvious and simple: you cannot (and do not have to) describe your surroundings and actions. If you roleplay in UO the fiction you create will not directly look like a story. Now, this does not mean that roleplaying in Ultima Online is easier – not at all. The only means for roleplaying you have is conversation. You can tell people your story, and you can start your adventure with a little talk. You can, to some extent, express your emotions too – see below for more detail on that. What you cannot do is influence your surroundings: what you see is what you get, and so in fact you will often need to be really creative to make “your story flow“.
Additionally – you cannot greatly influence how your character looks like. You cannot make him old, fat, ugly or give him any special birthmarks, scars, tattoos. Your character will look differently, of course, but possibilities for your appearance are far away from wide-spread. This means that if you want others to know that something about your character is special you will have to tell them. And now, we are at the beginning of the circle again: Conversation is everything if you want to roleplay in UO.
I noted that you can (in a very incomplete way) express emotions in Ultima Online. Normally emotions are expressed between two *little stars*. You might know already that you do not have to type those stars, but that you can simply “emote“ in UO. Type a “:“ (colon) and a space, then enter the text you would like to emote. For example: : smiles would turn out to be *smiles*, you are expressing that you are, you guess it, smiling. You can also change your “emotion color“ somewhere in your options menu, just as an additional hint.
You saw in the example above already that emotions are usually expressed in the “third person“, don't ask me why it is like this. This means, feelings of your character will normally turn out to be like this: *scratches head*, *dances around*, *jumps up*, *is angry* and so on. As insufficient these emotions are to express actual feelings, they are good ways to add some flavor to your character and roleplay.
While we are talking about expressing emotions: you may want to keep your hands away from the ever-present “emoticons“ all of us are so used to. Usually they are really disturbing, and you will never see somebody “talk“ a smiley in real life. Of course there are no rules, not at all – and it is certainly not bad if a smiley escapes you every now and then.
To sum that up: Roleplaying in Ultima Online is a very special form of roleplaying. You can only influence your character's action, and the only way to intrigue others into your story is using conversation as a start. You cannot influence your surroundings, and you do not have to imagine it: it is there, and it is as real as a virtual world can be. Of course the same counts for monsters and NPCs. You cannot control if you are successful with an action or not (although you cannot do that in most rpgs), and, matter of factly, your possibilities are very limited. You cannot create items that do not exist, and you cannot fight a monster you just created in your mind. In that far Britannia is very similar to our real world – and living here is certainly a challenge.
Phase five: The difference between "OOC" and "IC".
Every roleplayer stumbles over the terms “OOC“ and “IC“ sooner or later, so I decided to quickly explain those two terms.
“OOC“ means “Out Of Character“. It explains itself, actually. If something you read is prefixed with an “OOC“ this simply means that what the character is saying or doing has nothing to do with the role he plays.
“IC“ means “In Character“ and is usually only used to indicate that the “OOC-segment“ is over and the person is playing the character again. There is no need to prefix everything with an “IC“, as this would really not be handy.
Now, the difference between them two is actually pretty obvious. Nevertheless a short example to efface the last doubt:
“Can you ICQ me later, I have to log out now“ is clearly OOC, while “I am afraid that I must leave you now, maybe you could pay me a short visit at my house later on?“ clearly is IC.
Phase six: The DOs and DON'Ts of Roleplaying.
Now there is not much to say to this actually. I am personally very much of a free-former and I do not appreciate pages over pages of rules. You might find people who have those rules, and there is nothing wrong with that. In fact, to how many rules you want to obey is totally up to you. I noted it earlier several times: the one and only purpose of roleplaying is to have a good time. If many rules are ruining the fun for you, find somebody else to play with you!
Nevertheless, there are some conventions and general rules almost everybody is agreeing on.
First of all – do not do anything that does not fit to your character. If your character is a very friendly and helpful nature he will not simply kill another human. If you attack another player do not do it without a reason. Of course it suffices to be a murderer or attack somebody who is in war with your guild. A murderer, nevertheless, will usually only attack if he thinks that there is profit to be had – but still only as long as you are not the vile-by-nature-and-enjoying-torturing-innocents type of guy.
There are many conventions about how to indicate that you are OOC. Some type the text that is meant to be in OOC-format in brackets, other write an OOC in front of it, again others completely forbid OOC talk. Some guilds have their members to wear something special (like a green robe or similar) to indicate that they do not want to roleplay – and so on. I have named the most common things and I will leave it like that. I personally try to completely avoid OOC comments, but I will not roleplay an hour that I have to go now and that I will send an e-mail. Feel free to use an OOC-comment when you are stuck or simply want to shorten the process – there is nothing wrong with it.
While we are at it: if people are talking about “carrier pigeons“ they mean ICQ or something similar. Their “dovecote“ usually is their ICQ-number. I personally do not like the use of such synonyms – but it is a matter of taste and as it is common I thought I note it down nevertheless.
Be aware that you as a roleplayer are out there in a hostile world. For some reason people do not roleplay, and sometimes they will just think that you are crazy because you do. It is dispensable to note that many of those people in fact would love to roleplay – and many start with it sooner or later. However, I have the experience that most people will interact with you in a more or less roleplaying manner if you are just consistent enough. This means, roleplay with them even if they do not – most of the time it will work out. This method is also very handy to get rid of annoying persons, but you do not know this from me.
Phase seven: The One Golden Rule of Roleplaying.
The Golden Rule of Roleplaying? Now, didn't she tell us that there are no rules and that we should forget all this stiff stuff? You are absolutely right – the golden rule is nothing else than to enjoy what you do at any time. Tolerate other styles and be open for a new experience – no matter how long you roleplay, you will never be perfect and always can learn and find inspiration when interacting with other roleplayers.
In that sense I hope that you enjoyed reading this article and that you found the information you were looking for! I hope to meet you somewhere in Britannia one day, roleplaying your character and inspiring me. May the virtues guide you and may the Gods bless your path!
