Welcome to Gaia! ::

Before I start you should keep this in mind; there is absolutely no wrong way to role play. As The Plague puts it in the classic 80's computer film Hackers "There is no right or wrong, only fun and boring". Putting that into terms of role playing you can never role pay the right or wrong way but you can make it boring. Basic examples would include one lining (posting one sentence with no real action or dialogue), auto hitting (posting that you slash someone's head open and kill them with no way to counter), auto dodging (commonly overlooked but the opposite of hitting) and never losing (never allowing anything negative come to your hero). As I go on I'll go deeper into these examples and provide ways to help you role play effectively. There are two things that cause an RP to fail, inadequate role players and inability to continue which I will get into as well.

Auto Hitting - A.K.A. God Modding

So used you wouldn't be able to trade it in for a cardboard model (horrible used car joke). Everyone has been guilty of this no matter how pro or advanced a role player is. I even admit when I first began I was guilty of auto hitting wanting my character to kill and beat everyone without getting hurt in the process. The fact is your character is not the RP, it is made up of all the characters so therefore paying more attention to your character rather than the connection with other character's will only result in failure. When in a battle provide your actions not the results. This can be as simple as Bob drew his wrench and swung horizontally. This is an example of action not result. It gives the player who is involved on the other side to either have his or her character get hit or evade or provide some other force. Remember an RP is about story not your ego.

Auto Dodging - A.K.A. Lesser Known God Modding

When people think God Modding they think auto hitting and never getting hurt. Auto Dodging is the same as Auto Hitting but the complete opposite. Having a character who can dodge every sword swing to every explosion eventualy becomes a dull boring character that no one wants to interact with because they know no matter what they do this character will find a way out of it. The only extreme reason this would be used would to create a Koboyashi Meru scenario or villain.

(Koboyashi Mero for those who do not know is an unbeatable exam given to cadets in Star Fleet to provide insight in what to do in a no win scenario)

One Lining - Boring Painters

One Lining is a horrible disease that unfortunately is the reason a lot of RPs are given premature funerals. This is when a player posts one to two sentences providing a reaction to a post but not providing action or dialogue enough for someone to interact and react with. To avoid this one must read, think, react, think, act and post. This process is easy to follow; read what someone has posted, think about that post and how you can react to it, then react, think again about how you reacted and then provide more (act) and then post. With everyone following this system it will hugely assist in keeping the RP alive and kicking.

Never Losing - Superman without Kryptonite

RP is not all about you! I repeat the RP is not all about you and your character. Everything does not revolve around your character thus things can and will happen to them that will not please you. This doesn't always mean death. It could include emotional scars, physically handicapped for either a short period of time or permanently, unable to go on ect. ect. Creative character construction (CCC) is not all flowers and buttercups. Pain hatred and other negative aspects assist in character growth which add to the story of the RP. Allowing your character to fail or get hurt will can provide many elements needed to continue an RP and we are all in an RP as long as we can get it to run am I right?

In closing I would like to again say there is no right or wrong way to role play. Do not see this as me telling you how to role play but a way to help you effectively role play with others for an enjoyable and rewarding experience. Create your own role playing style and allow it to clash and or work well with others.

I've been role playing for god knows how long. Actually I think since I was fourteen? So like eight years I've been role playing seeing how it works and how people interact with each other. I've seen more RPs fail and lose it's members than I can count. Even my own role playing guild died out due to not having guidelines and assistance. This Is my first Bleach role playing guild and second RP and would really like to see this one continue for a very long time giving us all opportunities to become friends and enjoy role playing with each other. With that I want to apologize for my lack of interaction with Chapter 1, I sorta...dragged that a little too much while everyone else was busy jumping back and forth. Glad someone appreciates what I have done and hope that is enough to get everyone else on board.