The recent landing storyline has sparked a bit of interest from me, so I've been around a bit more than usual. Over the course of the past week, though, I've gotten more and more disappointed over the state of "roleplaying" in this game. I was never keen on the days when the RP-police ruled, but there are some definite boundaries that shouldn't be crossed, which are currently being trampled on.

So this'll be a gripes and suggestions post.

Gripes
-If you're trying to kill someone and you can't find that person via in game abilities, you should not resort to using out of game options. I've heard situations where people have IMed, Lnet-located, etc to get locations on people in game so that they can stalk and kill said person. That's crossing a line. It's not CvC and it reflects pretty poorly on you as a roleplayer to stoop to that level. Not that point and blast minus a dialog was stellar RP to begin with.
-I don't want to get a whisper from you mid-dialog that you just got an RPA or that GM-xyz is a noob. Great for you, keep it to yourself and tell me when we're not in the middle of discovering the lost tomb of Atlantis.
-You're evil, we get it. Announcing you're evil 200 times does not instantly make you more evil, nor will it prove what a l33t RPer you are.
-You're good, we get it. Please don't feel obligated to tell the same story about you saving a town of bunnies every time you're in a group larger than 3 people to prove it. If you do, then don't start OOC whispering to me how pissed you are that my character just treated you like an old man that's told the same war story to me 300 times before. You're boring, it just so happens that in addition to boring me, you also bored my character and we both had a very natural reaction to stop listening.
-You're capped, you've the ability to blast turnip farmers out of their muddy boots, and you've an EPEEN bigger than Moby D. Your ability to kill someone half your level without a single word of dialog or interaction really just isn't that impressive and definitely isn't an example of good roleplaying.

Suggestions
-There are times when killing someone minus dialog/interaction is acceptable and justified. Unfortunately it doesn't happen a dozen times a night. Sometimes the greatest show of strength is restraint.
-Don't use OOC means to handle IC situations, it's just not kosher.
-Variety is a great thing, having multiple examples of why you're like you are is better than having one example that's as long as a novel.
-Not everyone needs or wants to know your biography.
-Good guys don't always do the right thing.
-Bad guys don't need to evil eye town centers to demonstrate their evilness.
-Lastly. The whole point is fun. Take a little time each night to ask yourself, is what I'm doing increasing my and everyone else's fun, or ruining it? Are you really contributing to just detracting?

Dgry

Disclaimer: I don't presume to call myself a good (or even passable) role-player, but the things I've seen over the past week fall even below my measuring stick, so I felt like saying something. Hopefully those better suited can offer some better guidance. It's just really annoying to see people blindly rush at doing things that don't add any contribution at all.

>>Sometimes the greatest show of strength is restraint.

This! The whole message needs to be digested, but most especially, this.

Doug

<However, it is entirely unsatisfying when the person you're dealing with is too dense to realize that you're showing restraint.>

Only if there is no one else there to benefit from or be amused by it. If there isn't the whole thing is really just a waste of your time anyway, isn't it?

I'm not the best RPer around, but I've been lucky enough to spend time around some who are. For me good RP is not about dominating or commanding the room; It's about being true to the character you are playing whether or not a GM is watching at the moment.

Terri

What really bothers me are those people who are annoying and provoke a fight then turn around and say that "might doesn't make you right". Like them making a "martyr" out of themselves makes them right somehow. People like Eugie are fun to kill because they are good sports about it (although I haven't killed Eugie myself at any point in time). Because instead of crying fowl they own up to their actions.