I now feel self conscious and have a considerable need to check my almost year-old TRP when I get home to see how good it is.
Ive redone this characters TRP so many times through both her Belf and Velf state.
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One small thing I dislike seen in TRP that I see a good few people putting into their OOC section, is how many years they gave been RPing inside and outside of WoW.
Personally, I do not think there is any need for it. Seen ‘Being RPing for X amount of years’ in both WoW and outside of it is really puzzling to have in TRP.
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I personally dislike long first glances.
I like to keep mine short, like 1 or 2 lines of text, and I find that a lot more people are interested in reading them.
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I’m a little guilty of that.
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It’s all nice and good, and I agree with a lot of points here. However not all roleplayers have the knowhow, or “skill” to write in a clear fashion or have a vocabulary expansive enough to describe without comparing to rl actors etc.
different nationalities and linguistic challenges can play a part here, age and maturity and so on.
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I love this guide. Although I’m guilty of having an extensive character history (I think a bit more than 3 paragraphs) it begins with telling the reader that its knowledge available to certain characters, or races. More importantly it has left gigantic gaps in describing what my character has been up to.
That said…
The TRP, MRP or whatever other RP addons are meant for one single thing: To represent attributes that aren’t immediately available in the game itself. Surnames, custom titles, physical descriptions and entries regarding the character’s personality and background.
In TRP at least the creator had highlighted the exact same advice Mion wrote here because you are using the addon in addition to interacting and communicating with other role-players, not to perform autofellatio with your written diarrhea.
How can you expect any role-player to bother interacting with your character when everything is laid bare to you on an OOC level? Why is it fun to turn that interaction into a silly fact-checking session because the player is already aware of all your quirks, past jobs, titles, feats, theme song, voice actor, history, affiliation, aura, personality traits, criminal record, kill count, family tree and a whole load of other garbage that would only be common knowledge if someone extensively tortured and interrogated your character?
Preaching to the choir or not the advice offered by the OP is sound because ultimately it promotes interaction between Role-Players with the added incentive of discovering a myriad traits and details through said interaction and spending time RPing together.
This is a goal that should always be a motivating force, and simply brushing such aims aside by claiming its arbitrary or rude is plainly stupid. The more people adhere to Mion’s and similarly high IQ role-player’s perspective on this matter the more fun it will be to meet and greet other characters and figuring out what grinds their gears, what they might find delightful or what their goals could be without any OOC indication.
I hope this thread gets flagged and stickied eventually. Thanks for writing it!
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That’s we should offer each other help with writing this stuff. Would be kinda nice to have a spot where you could just ask some people if they can proofread your description, or give tips, help with formatting and so on.
Just have to make it clear that it’s supposed to be help and not some sort of plan to enforce some specific format for descriptions. Preferences should be respected, even if one doesn’t necessarily agree.
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Sorry if that comes off as obnoxious but I felt the need to point it out again.
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Understandable. xD But the remainder of the post seems to contradict that fact. Considering the tone, but that’s just my understanding of it. ^^ I merely stated my opinion on the matter considering how I read and understood it in the first place.
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I find that if things are more strongly worded, people take to them better rather than the entirety of the post being worded all wishy washy. As I’ve said before, I’m guilty of some of the very same things that I’ve pointed out as ‘probably nots’.
Ultimately it’s down to the individual, but the profile’s primarily purpose is to attract other people for role-play, and a cluttered, untidy or ludicrous profile detracts from this, I find. If you’re the only person that’s going to be reading your profile or that’s the intent, that’s completely fine, but time is precious to some people and brevity is the soul of a profile, in my mind.
I agree with you, but one thing I do which I would advise for the sake of a tidy profile, is to add information specific for you to maybe something like drop box or out of game files. I have quite a few folders brimming with character details, stories and art that I use for recollection, while my profile is literally just a front for these things, pending the character I’m playing.
At the moment for example, one of my characters is a travelling merchant and I only make stock/money acquisitions through IC interactions to keep it interesting, so I keep a few lists of his inventory and notes on how I balance in-game currency realistically, which I might make a thread on at some point.
Anyway, you seem like a lovely person. Just remember; this is there to advise, and give someone an idea of what a tidy and bare bones profile ‘can be’.
Mion’s eye-goggle scans for germs, infections and radiation. Hardcore Gnomeregan PTSD or what.
This is going to be added to the list later. In all honesty, I don’t think it’s an entire irrelevant fact. I’ve been role-playing and writing for around fourteen years now and I don’t need a see to make other people feel inferior by advertising this fa-… oh damn. Sorry, guys! Yes. The profile is not a CV.
I think the major issue is a lack of willingness to learn, grow or ask for help. I find that a lot of people who’re more experienced have the willingness and kindness to nurture someone that’s struggling.
This is an excellent idea that I’d like to see. Role-playing discords are a good place for this too. I wouldn’t want it to become a seminar on lore or ‘are you playing this character’ correctly though, as those things are open to far more interpretation and ultimately down to the individual.
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Some people prefer RPing with experienced people. Might seem a bit mean and I usually don’t judge, but it’s perfectly fine to look for other ‘hardcore’ RPers that will be better at immersing you and match your own RP style.
Oh yes. I can see that, but there is already an ‘experienced’ role-player category in the add-on itself. Sometimes it’s entirely dependant on how it’s worded. It’s one of those things that can either help or detract, but a lot of people find it show-offy and if they haven’t been role-playing for quite as long as twenty years, it might put them off approaching.
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LFM Tavern RP in the Recluse 1000+ words character history in TRP and 5 years of experience required. Link curve or no inv.
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Slight foot note, if you are going to use a voice claim in your profile, please at least look up the voice actor, actress or celebrity in question.
It’s quite triggering when it’s just ‘Geralt’ voice or ‘The guy who voices Illidan’, who is Liam O’Brien by the way, you damned unoriginal demon hunter swines.
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Depends.
Do they mean the Warcraft 3 Illidan voice actor or WoW one?
As he had a different actor in WC3.
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In my borderline elitist perfect role-play utopia, everyone just sounds like me to be honest.
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But every female character in Stormwind already has her curves described in a 2 paragraph section of their TRP.
Look in all honesty, Liam O’Brien has an angelic voice and I can’t blame them.
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Mine shall be voiced by Crispin Freeman, for great justice.
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Does he dual wield guns instead of glaives?
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He comes with his own anti-tank cannon and large plasma screen TV.
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