Roleplay Etiquette
In Character​
Abbreviation IC or ICly: Anything the characters do inside roleplay. In character is typically conducted in "Nearby Chat". ICly text is signified by appearing between quotation marks within the"Nearby Chat" chat window.
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Out of Character
Abbreviation OOC or OOCly: Out of Character text is speech and actions taken by the person behind the keyboard/screen, not the character in the virtual realm. Folks use this to talk to the players of other characters to clarify questions they may have, or signal their Brb'ing etc. OOC text is signified by appearing between two sets of parentheses ((OOC)) within the chat window.
Emoting
Used when your character is roleplaying an action.
E.g. /me is reading The Book of the City of Ladies when she hears footsteps coming up the stairs "Who is there?" she calls out looking toward the entrance
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Non-Player Character
Abbreviation NPC: Characters not played by actual player.
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Godmodding
Godmodding in its simplest terms is controlling another player's character without their permission. By imposing your will on their character without their permission, you are gaining 'godlike' or 'divine' powers, hence the origin of the term. Godmodding can be as basic stating that a character is holding a drink in their hand at a party, or mentioning a type of clothing a character is wearing. It can also include actions, such as Character A swinging a punch and breaking Character B's nose. In this scenario there was not any opportunity for Character B's player to respond to the action, maybe their character dodged the punch entirely or got a black eye instead, perhaps it hit but not strong enough to actually break their nose. By stating the end result of the action, the player of Character A is removing the ability of Character B's player to contribute to both the scene and the mood of the thread.
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Avoiding godmodding is rather simple, the easiest way to do so is to leave an opening for the other player to respond to. For example this Shaking her head, Jane frowned at Steve, clearly disgusted by him. "You've had enough, you drunk," she snapped as she reached out and snatched the glass out of his hand. could easy be changed to this Shaking her head, Jane frowned at Steve, clearly disgusted by him. "You've had enough, you drunk," she snapped as she reached out, intending to snatch the glass out of his hand. Only a few words were changed, yet the second one isn't godmodding because it gives Steve's player the chance to respond and decide what happens next.
The most important thing to keep in mind when trying to avoid godmodding is to give the other player the chance to respond to the action.
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Metagaming
The easiest of the three to define, though likely the hardest to avoid is metagaming. This term comes from the Greek word meta meaning 'about' or 'beyond'. Hence to metagame would be playing with knowledge beyond the scope of the present game, plot, or scene. This knowledge can be gained various ways, either through historical research, threads that occur at a time later than the one that is currently being worked on, informational topics posted on the board itself, or chatting with other players about their characters and gaining knowledge about them, as well as other ways.
As it pertains to SL, Metagaming is using knowledge that you gained OOCly and bringing it ICly. For instance, a friend tells you a plot that went on between a friend and someone else where you were not involved. Reading a tag immediately knowing their name. Any knowledge not gained through roleplay is not knowledge you know ICly. This is unacceptable.​
The most important thing to keep in mind to avoid metagaming is that just because you the player know something, doesn't mean your character will.
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Powerplaying
Powerplaying is when a player manipulates their character's abilities, powers or skills so that their character always has an advantage in the situation. This could be as simple as always knowing the best spell, or having a black belt in every type of martial art known to man. Powerplaying is most often confused with godmodding, and while the two are quite close, the difference between them is that godmodding is more controlling the other players character, while powerplaying is focused on your own character and manipulating the scene through them.
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Any experienced RPer will tell you that the most believable characters have strengths and weaknesses, and if they don't then they face the dreaded title of Mary/Gary Stu.
No character can ever be the fastest/strongest/bravest/smartest/whateverest all the time, and saying they are is powerplaying. No one wants to play with a a character that always wins! No matter how awesome your character may be.
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The most important thing to remember when trying to avoid powerplaying is to keep in mind that no one is immortal or omnipotent, and all have weaknesses, as well as keeping the bounds of reason in mind.
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