What is role playing?

If you are new to role playing, then you may be asking yourself this question. What exactly is role playing? How is it done? What types of role playing is there? This is to help answer all of those questions. The following information was taken from Wikipedia.


Online Text-Based Role Playing
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An online text-based role playing game (OTBRPG) is a role-playing game played online using a solely text-based interface. Online text-based role playing games predate graphical online games by several years, and can be attributed to the first attempts to bring multiplayer gaming to the internet, which culminated in the invention of MUDs, the forefather of MMORPGs. Over the years, games have used TELNET, internet forums, IRC, email and social networking websites as their medium.

Varieties:

Play-by-post and PBEM
Play-by-post role-playing games or PBP rpgs refer to another type of text-based gaming. Rather than following gameplay in real-time, such as in MUDs, players post messages on such media as bulletin boards, online forums, Chatrooms (such as like AOL and Yahoo chat) and mailing lists to which their fellow players will post role-played responses without a real limit or timeframe. Of late such blogging tools and sites as LiveJournal have been utilised for this purpose. This includes such games as play-by-email (or PBEM) rpgs. The origins of this style of role-playing are unknown, but it most likely originated in some form during the mid to late 1980s when BBS systems began gaining in popularity. Usually it is played through 'Script' and 'Story' format, both styles area interchangeable and work well but it depends on which the player prefers.

MUDs and MU*s
Precursor to the now-more popular MMORPGs of today are the branch of text-based games known as MUD, MOO, MUCK, MUSH, MUX, DUM and MUSE, a set of games on similar platforms collectively termed as MU*s within the community by players and aficionados. The main difference in the various platforms lies in their purpose; some, like the myriad codebases for MUDs, are employed in combat-intensive games (either player versus player or against mobs), while MUSH and MUCK are seen in games that focus more on player interaction and role-play. Although interest in these games has suffered from the popularity of MMORPGs, a large number of them still operate. For a more complete history of these games refer to the entry on MUDs.

Real-time human-moderated
Some games rely entirely upon human moderators to dictate events, and physical print books for rules sets. Such games may use code dice-rollers, to generate random results, and may include databases for the purposes of maintaining character records. Interaction between characters is controlled by communication between individual players (with each other) and with moderators (who portray non-player characters). Communication software and database options vary, from the DigiChat front-end / character database back-end pairing pioneered by Conrad Hubbard at White Wolf Publishing, to the numerous AOL and Yahoo chats with hosted character databases. Free-form games may even do away with database integration or dice-rollers entirely and rely upon individual players to keep their own records, with online community reputation dictating how other players react.


EthereaLights would be classified as a play-by-post text-based community. So, let's talk more about that.


A play-by-post game (PbP) is an online text-based role-playing game. This is a niche area of the online roleplaying community which caters to both gamers and creative writers. PbP games are often based on other role-playing games, non-game fiction, or original settings. This activity is closely related to both interactive fiction and collaborative writing.

Play-by-post games are usually written in the third person perspective. This allows the players and gamemasters to write in the personas of their characters. This is the best way to separate the player character from the person playing the character (the typist), and it makes the game more readable. Sometimes online game terms such as OOC (Out of character) or OOG (Out of Game) are used to differentiate character vs. personal posting.

The first message posted onto a thread of that nature is usually one person laying down the scenario, starting a story about their character and inviting others. The thread then becomes an ongoing story in which players periodically advance the plot by reading the latest reply and then typing what their character does and how the environment changes in response. These replies are often open-ended so that other players can continue.

Role-playing by mutual agreement does not rely on statistics or dice; any combat is usually written in entirety by one or more players. In some games, players will be allowed to include the actions of another player in their post, but this practice is commonly considered cheating in more established play-by-post games, where players are responsible for their own characters. Any form of this cheating (automatic hits and controlling another player's character) is commonly referred to as "power playing". However, one player may temporarily hand over control of their character to another player if they cannot play for a while, rather than dropping out entirely.

Internet forums are the most common medium for Play-by-Post gaming. Some online forums provide benefits such as online dice rolling, character profiling and game history. Others emphasize the use of free-hand and the absence of dice and chance. Thanks to online forums, players can easily keep track of all aspects of the game, can see what is happening elsewhere and can re-read anything they have previously written.

Some message boards allow members of any level of writing to join. These are usually called free-for-all, or beginner RPGs. A member who does not write long posts or use proper grammar may be referred to as a "n00b". Some sites are advanced, with a word minimum for every post. The word minimum usually falls between 200 to 800 words. Intermediate RPGs usually require two or three, sometimes more, paragraphs per post.