Understanding RP in Furcadia

(The core of this address was delivered by emits
by Talzhemir on Aug. 6, 2003. It's presented here
in edited form.)

      This is for anybody seeking better Roleplay (RP) in Furcadia. It's especially for furres who are looking for something that makes more sense than "wild" RPing in non-private places.

      Furcadia's default is "The Consent Rule". That says that if someone says or does something that implies your Consent, you're free to ignore them. The Consent Rule is very easy to remember, and easily prevents anybody from trying to bully someone else, but it isn't necessarily going to lead to RP that makes much sense.

      Roleplaying is fragile. It's relatively easy to disrupt. To keep up any kind of standards, somebody has to be authorized to throw out the people who refuse to follow your standards. (Furcadia doesn't appoint "Continuity Cops" because there are too many standards to pick just one.)

If you're hoping that I'll offer a way that works without a referee or game-master or Rah in control of a Dream, you're gonna be disappointed. What Furcadia has, instead, is a directory of Guilds whose owners have made their rules and standards very clear.

      Furcadia has about 100 Guilds devoted to roleplaying, that are 'Chartered.' Each Charter is a web page with the answers the typical furre needs to know before they agree to join it.

      The Charter System works well because it's "opt-in". "Dragon's Eye Productions" staff don't make up the rules and put people in charge of a Guild; the participating furres do. The Charter shows what the leaders of the Guild are trying to do, and if they don't live up to it, furres usually find somewhere else that they like better.

      There's two forms of RP recognized by our Chartering System. ( www.furcadia.com/guilds )

      The first kind is "Persona RP". All it takes to do it is to have an IC "persona". Persona RP runs just fine on the Consent Rule. It has for over six years. (Anything called "freeform" comes under this bigger category.)

      The second type of RP is "Strict RP". Doing Strict RP effectively requires a lot of information. The dividing line between them is that in Strict RP, roleplaying from outside that Guild's Continuity is not accepted as valid. Strict RP closes itself off from the public.

      What's Continuity? It's the sum total of the world-laws, the history, the existing recognized in-character factions, and plot assumptions of a roleplaying world. Ansteorra has a Continuity, for example. The Ansteorra Kingdom webpage reads: "A place where humans and furres live side by side."

      The various Hogwartses each have their own Continuity, independent of each other. In some, Sirius Black is dead. In others, perhaps he is not. The background on which a Continuity is based is called its "Source Material". The Source Material of Hogwarts is J.K. Rowling's Harry Potter books.

      Technically, Furcadia in general doesn't have a Continuity. It *does* have default source material, called the Dragonlands. Goldwyn and Theriopolis, which are both permanent Dream in Imaginarium, are both set in the Dragonlands. However, the only thing enforced there is, you have to remain IC, and OOC chatter must be kept to whispers. Goldwyn and Theriopolis are best suited for "Persona" Roleplay.

      The Guardians will not enforce Continuity in Theriopolis or Goldwyn. If you die there today, you can come back from the dead tomorrow, over and over, as you please. If there is an extreme need to separate IC from OOC, and only to prevent disruption of RP, Guardians use "medieval/fantasy" as that standard, but not `the Dragonlands.'

      Scarhawk Castle is set in the Dragonlands too, but it's Strict RP. So is the Blackstone Continuity. They're based on the same material but each has its own timeline.

      Blackstone Continuity is based on the Dragonlands and happens to diverge somewhat from the "official" stuff. For instance, Blackstone permits "taur" player characters. In the "canon" source material, taurs are evil; they're monsters/enemies, and wouldn't make good PC's. It's okay to take source material and change it for your own needs, tastes! Make it yours!

...Recently, it occurred to me that maybe there could be a standard pledge, an agreement that a furre is required to accept, before they're allowed into a Strict Guild's Dream to Roleplay

Here it is:

A ROLEPLAYER'S PLEDGE

I will respect the Continuity, and be willing to take back things I Roleplay when I learn that they conflict.

I promise to be kind and respectful when correcting someone else.

I will play by the rules, and try to be fair to others, not just try to get my own way.

I will learn the source material over time, understanding that upholding the Continuity is everybody's duty.

I will try not to be annoying. I will also try to not be too easily annoyed.

OOC, I will treat everyone as a friend, and be respectful of others.

I will trust that if something is wrong or broken, the staff will honestly try to fix it, and I will do the same as well.

      That's not so hard, is it? Couldn't everybody agree to that in Furcadia, add in good spelling and grammar, and be a good RPer? Well, no...

      Maybe all that doesn't sound so hard... But it is. There's a lot for a Strict RPer to know, more than a week or a month of wandering Furcadia at random will teach you.

      The following document shows what happens when the philosophy of A Roleplayer's Pledge is explained for actual use. Note that we haven't even gotten to any "source material" here, we're still only going over raw "universal" play philosophy. Towards Better Strict RP

      That's a lot of text...

      Because Strict RP is "closed off" from the general public, a Guild may develop a reputation for being "elitist". But are they? No. There's a lot that can go very very wrong in RP, especially in Strict RP. Veterans have often learned ways to prevent those "trainwrecks".

      When somebody insists they're a "veteran", that can mean that they've learned all of the above principles of better RPing through the "school of hard knocks", just plain experience.. ...and... sometimes that does mean they act like elitist. But, to be fair to them, you have to realize they really are different in a way that facilitates better RP.

      I've shown that even just the bare minimum can take up pages and pages and pages to learn. Can you really blame them if they don't want to explain this by word-of-mouth to each and every new player who arrives? Most "veterans" are willing to teach a newbie, but there are several hundred newbies for every veteran. Those who most want to improve RP on Furcadia are exhausted from trying.

      Now, I'm often asked to add mandatory rules for Roleplaying in Furcadia. There's two very good reasons I don't.

      First off, the new furre already has alot to absorb: how to use the Help channel; how to turn in place; why some furres have wings and how you can get your own; how to make a Dream with Patch and Dragonspeak; how to Ignore; and so on.

      Second, RPing only works smoothly if participants "opt in" first. It's not fair to hold others to standards that they haven't clearly agreed to.

      I could slap some rules up on the download page, but it's unlikely anybody would read them. Frankly, it's been tried plenty of other places; it does not work.

      Even if the majority of players wanted to follow roleplaying rules. I won't demand that everybody who enters Furcadia MUST roleplay, and must roleplay in a specific way.

      "Positive" measures are more effective than "negative" things like punishments and ejects. Guilds usually work better if there's something like a web page. Even more effective than that, is a regular teacher/classes system for learning the mandatory stuff. That really encourages the idea that "you're amongst friends".

      The design of the Dream sends an important message here, too. Does it communicate what goes on inside, and require you to "opt in" and voluntarily agree to the rules? Or does it not explain, waiting for you to "mess up", then eject you? Successful Strict RP actually relies more on communication skills and creativity than on enforcement of authority.

      Because Strict RP is "closed off" from the general public, the Guild may develop a reputation for being "elitist". But are they? No, because there are very good and sensible reasons not to let furres come waltzing in off the street into a carefully cultivated ongoing story.

      The protection of a Continuity often involves wierd rules that a stranger off the streets couldn't guess at. For example, in a Hogwarts Continuity, wizards keep their powers secret. Somebody posing magic in the non-wizard world violates the genre.

(That's an example of a "plot assumption." For more about Plot Assumptions, please see here) Handling Plot Assumptions in a Continuity

      Here's some ways a Strict RP Guild avoid being called elitist.

1. State your rules and goals clearly. If you make people guess, you give the impression that you want them to go away.

2. Have an open-door policy: NOBODY has to be an expert on the material. All members should show a willingness to teach new players. And, if it's done together, it's not really a noticeable burden.

3. Don't eject quickly. It sends the wrong message and that is "You're so cool and interesting and exciting, I want to struggle with you." INSIST that every member without Share be quick to IGNORE instead. Then, be SLOW to eject. That sends the message, "Been there, done that, seen your kind before, so what." They're much more likely to just leave, cheated out of their twinkish thrill.

4. Have an OOC entry area. I strongly recommend that every Dream at least have a kind of lobby where you can post signs explaining what it's about. Also, it's very rude to eject someone without at least explaining why. Instead of sharing the Eject power, build a "Teleport to OOC area" command into the DS.

5. If you REALLY don't want to explain your Dream to strangers over and over, upload it to the area of Allegria Island marked "Private", where they're warned by AI itself.

      Guild leadership isn't just about 'authority' or 'keeping the peace'. It's also about 'story'. More serious Roleplaying relies on something called Continuity, and their leader, their Rah, is usually the one empowered (and empowering others) to maintain it.

      The difference between Persona Roleplay and Strict Roleplay is kind of like the difference between dribbling, and playing professional basketball. There's nothing wrong with driveway one-on-one shootin' the hoop, and those who enjoy it wouldn't call the professional players "elitists".

      Casual basketball and formal basketball are related but they're two very different activities. And, Persona RP and Strict RP are two very different activities. Neither is "better". You might strongly prefer one to the other, though.

      Strict RPers aren't all alike, either. Within the category of Strict RP are numerous styles of play that work poorlyl with each other. Multiple philosophies can be supported in one Guild but I recommend picking one and sticking to it. (Draco Somnus uses all three of the Cool rules. Brave Rah!)

      The three most viable ways to do Strict RP I've gathered in something called "The Rules of Cool". Letting the Continuity decide things for your character is "cool" because the plotlines tend to feel much more dramatic that way.

      The Rules of Cool centers on an old general roleplaying concept that "In-Character Actions yield In-Character Consequences". (Compare that to Persona Play's "Your character, your time, your choice." and "It's just a GAME! If it isn't fun for ME, why should I do THAT?!") The Rules of Cool actually contains three subtle variations on ICA->ICC.

      Under Cool1, ICA yields kinder gentler ICC. Outcomes that would permanently or profoundly change the character can only happen with OOC Consent. That means things like death, being forever heartbroken, being permanently imprisoned, or losing all your memories. [#] At Cool1, you're free to write your own ending as long as you don't violate the Continuity. Disregarding the other character's skill counts as violating Continuity. (This is one flavor of what's known in the Furcadian worlds as "twinking".)

("If you won't walk the walk, don't talk the talk.")

Under Cool1, you can only die, be maimed, etc. with your OOC consent. That means that the amount of OOC worrying and excitement, REAL emotions, is somewhat limited.

      Under Cool2, ICA yields `fair' ICC where possible. Your character can be permanently or profoundly changed, but if the consequences are the result of something you could not have OOCly known AND you weren't the aggressor, you have the right to Retcon. (Insulting somebody or "talking trash" to rile someone up counts as "being the aggressor".)

      Fair is broadly defined as reasonable expectation, based on what is probable. (A referee might be needed on rare occasion.)

      Suppose you're walking along the docks on a foggy night. A vampyre furre in mist-form materializes behind you and knifes you in the back. You had no IC defense, and no IC warning. Under Cool2, your character isn't obligated to die.

      Or, suppose you kick a mangy shrivelled beggar outside a tavern. He turns out to be a deadly assassin, a master with two swords hidden under his rags. Surprise, surprise. You couldn't have known what you were getting into, but you started it, so you get no protection from consequences here. You can't take your actions back if you started it.

      At this Cool level, combat and the like can be decided by the Quickie Table, which does not include a result of 'death'. (This is just one example of what a Guild might want to do to "de-twink" their conflicts. )

      To summarize, furres tend to divide up into IC and OOC. Then, within IC, they tend to divide into "Persona" and "Strict". Also, within IC, they tend to divide up (more or less) into different levels of "Cool".

      It's crucial to note that the three Cool levels really aren't compatible with each other. Some are more strict than others, and it's not fair or comfortable to play by one standard when someone else is held to another. Even though they might all be "Strict" RPers, members of each of the Cool levels tends to view the other two as "twinky"! They are not compatible.

      Finding enough others of the same Cool Level is what makes it relatively hard to form a decent-sized group of RPers. So, one of the most important questions that Charters must include, is "play style". As of 2003, where we are at, in Furcadia's RP, is spreading this information, and getting groups that utilize it to form.

      If you would like to talk further about RP, I recommend using the OOC board at www.furcadia.com/forums under 'OOC'. There's more to RP than many furres think. I hope you understand when I say, this is all just the beginning. You ain't seen nothin' yet.

      I've waited five years to be able to say these things, and I'm delighted by what everyone has done here. I'd say I was proud of you but that sounds like I'm trying to take credit.

Thank you again. --Talzhemir