Tips for Roleplaying

[koolkatkoolkat123]

Let me start out by saying I mean no disrespect. I am not intending to offend you. These are merely guidelines. I just want to help.

Firstly the reason why this thread exists, I have not roleplayed and enjoyed a roleplay for months, I am currently working in a 9-5 job and everyday I come home and check CS and I am disappointed to find there are no roleplays I want to join. I need to rp, my writing and creativity is suffering as a result, I have a novel I have been trying to write for years but I can't get past the wall of writers block and I feel that rping will help to engage my brain again.

Now we are going to start with Making the Roleplay

The First Post

For me I see the first post as an advert, you should design it so it captures the eye and interests your audience. I often decide whether or not I want to join a roleplay based on the first post. Here are a few tips

The Writing

When writing the roleplay do not use text that is difficult to read (The weird backwards font for example). Your first post should be clear, all the information should be available and presented in a way that is easy to read and understand. Your audience is not going to read the text if it is difficult to read and yes you could highlight the text and post it in a text box but why, why should we need to do this when you could just use simple text that you can easily read. It is also harder for people with dyslexia to deal with. I turn away the moment I see text I just can't read. Also try not to use smaller text, one of my best friends has to zoom the page so the words are as big as the Huge setting on CS and I bet there are people on here that do the same.

I would also say don't use weird font in the title of the roleplay.

If using colour try not to overdo it, it makes the rp pretty yes but it also makes it look childish and I am well aware there are young people on this site but I doubt there are toddlers. If you consider an advertising campaign I cannot think of a successful advertising campaign that uses rainbows unless its for children aged 3 and under and going back to not being able to read the text some of the colours you use are hard to read without highlighting. If you are going to use colour I would keep it to a maximum of 2.

Images

You can use images in your first post, sometimes this helps to set the stage, helps to show you where you are roleplaying. But once again don't overdo it, don't fill the post with so many images it takes forever to load, don't rely on images to present your roleplay. Too many makes it look lazy.

Another thing don't post one image in the first post and nothing else and then write the roleplay in the second post. This seems like a waste of time and space.

The Content

As said before I consider the first post of a roleplay as an advert, therefore it has to be engaging, it has to look interesting and capture the audience's eye.

Nearly every roleplay with an animal pack/clan rp starts off in the same way 'grr get off my land, join or die'. In all honesty this is boring and lazy because it is so overdone, you can fill the intro with as many similes, metaphors and descriptive writing as you want but this won't help because the main part of the intro is still the same. Now if you have a roleplay that starts out this way tell me why, why exactly have you started it in this way. Are you rping as new members having to be accepted into the pack/clan, if not then there is no need for this introduction because your characters are already accepted in the pack/clan, or born into the pack/clan.

When writing your introductions don't start out this way, instead write the background of your pack/clan. How are they doing for food? Are they starving in winter? Are they getting sick? Are they in dispute with another pack/clan. This makes the roleplay so much more engaging because you are starting off with a conflict you can interact and rp with. I struggle to roleplay when there is a lack of conflict, it doesn't need to be big and devastating. You don't need to create a huge war or deadly disease, just create some conflict.

Lastly with the content, please don't post poetry or song lyrics with a couple of images and nothing else. Once again this is a waste of time and space and I personally get frustrated when I click a roleplay and find this because it gives me nothing to go on, I instantly write off roleplays that start off this way.

(Next off the Rules)