Roleplay Etiquette

## What is Roleplaying Etiquette?

Roleplaying Etiquette is a custom of code or behavior that is generally expected from the community to ensure a safe and happy roleplaying environment. Players who break etiquette are not necessarily breaking server rules but may find that it would be more beneficial to them to adhere to these guides to have a better experience with other players.

These tips and tricks are to help players have a good time on KeyCraft, and to potentially prevent unnecessary arguments or grievances.

## Broad Roleplay Etiquette

* When roleplaying with others it is generally customary to allow them time to respond to your actions. This may include adding the word “Attempts” or “tries to” to most emotes, thus allowing other players the chance to intercept your actions without needing to specifically stop you mid-roleplay to do so.
* When you are roleplaying with larger groups of people it is expected of you to not spam their chat-boxes with unnecessary banter or dialogue. To prevent this you may do /whisper in order to speak quietly, or simply try and include everything you need to say at that time into one piece of dialogue, rather than splitting it up into multiple lines.
* In large group scenarios, specifically those that involve Combat Roleplay, the initiative of other players is generally decided by those involved. There are a multitude of ways to decide initiative, which may include everyone currently involved rolling a d 20 to decide who goes first. Another method may be in order of attack, simply divvying up the attack order based on who entered the roleplay first, and then adding on additional players as needed.
* Forcing players into actions that you have decided will happen may be power-gaming, however, there are minor instances where this is not the case. Pre-determined plotlines between friends are encouraged, and may not even require rolls to determine the outcome, but if an outside player decides to interject and potentially change this outcome, it is generally polite to allow them to enter your roleplay if you so choose, as one cannot control the actions of other players. If one does not wish to risk the potential of being interrupted, it is generally encouraged to seek a secluded area to roleplay in.
* Remind yourself when you choose to roleplay that a players In-Character, or IC persona is not the same as they are Out Of Character, or OOC. It is extremely important to be able to differentiate between IC and OOC, and not to carry over spite or grudges between the two. Potentially targeting players IC that you dislike OOC is not something that is encouraged at all, and may potentially turn into a Metagaming situation.
* Subconscious Meta is something that is unfortunately unavoidable. Players love talking to each other about what happens in their roleplay, but occasionally when a player is informed of something OOC, they may twist their character's actions in a way that indirectly causes them to learn this information ICly, this is what is known as Subconscious Meta. Avoiding Subconscious Metagaming is simple in explanation, but difficult in practice, which has coined the popular term “Find out IC”.

## Consenting to Roleplay

* When entering Roleplay with others, it can be assumed that while in a public space, such as the Wistful Wyvern, New Ivyport Town Square, or the Korindor Museum are considered 'fair game'. This means that whilst you are in that area, a public space, anyone can walk up to you and potentially join your Roleplay. While it is *customary* to ask first, it is *not* required for these areas.
* Other players *do not require* your Out-Of-Character consent to antagonize, belittle, attack, or chase your characters. They do, however, require permission to maim or kill your characters, which is further explained in the Server Rules section.
* Antagonism in roleplay is a large part of what keeps roleplay going. Characters are going to have opposing views, Players OOCly are going to strive for positions that other players currently hold, and that's perfectly fine. Remember that when your character does something potentially outside of the norm, like for example practicing questionable magics, leading a gang, or even attacking someone, you may find that other players wish to enact revenge, or even simply work against your characters goals. This is considered antagonism, and while polite to discuss things OOCly first, it is not required to do so.

## IC vs OOC

* A large part of what keeps everything moving smoothly is the separation between IC and OOC people, situations, grievances, etc. Remind yourself frequently that the thoughts and actions of a Character does not reflect the viewpoints of the person playing them OOCly. Do not mistake these two things for one another, as it is very important to understand.
* Information spread between two people OOCly can not be used In-Character unless it is learned In-Character, in addition to this it is generally considered good etiquette to ensure that your characters are not spreading information between one another. Nor are you using a new character to enact revenge for a past character of yours. Creating the identical son of your now-dead character to enact revenge for their father is discouraged.
* Spreading OOC hate, fear-mongering, or otherwise jeopardizing their reputation of a Player due to In-Character actions is discouraged, and also may fall under our harassment rules. Please respect your fellow players, as their opinions and viewpoints are just as important as your own.