Advanced Roleplay Class - Persephone - 26/1/19
[12:05:14] Persephone Bolero: Okay, let's get started.....
[12:05:29] Persephone Bolero: Hello everyone. I am Persephone Bolero. As most of you know, in the Amazon, I play a psychotically homesick city girl with a special-needs daughter who throws fish at people. And now my character is pregnant and freaking out about it. I’ve been doing a bit of research on postpartum psychosis for the after-birth roleplay. I try to make my character’s cray-cray realistic. Anyways, thank you all for coming today.
[12:06:10] Persephone Bolero: In order to keep local chat readable, let’s not clutter it up with chatter. If you have something to say, please click my box there. Then, start to type out what you want to say, but don’t hit enter. Instead, wait until I call on you. You can also type your comment on a notecard and copy and paste it when called upon. That way we keep the discussion flowing with our limited time here, and everyone gets a chance to talk.
[12:06:54] Persephone Bolero extends her arm up over her head and points to the sign behind her. “Heed the sign, please.”
[12:07:25] Persephone Bolero: I started these advanced classes to go beyond the beginner class and help flush out richer character roleplay. Because roleplay is collaborative, there are rules we all must follow to maintain the functionality and quality of the interaction. Those are covered in the Wisdom Cave RP tutorial and the beginners’ class. If you haven’t done either, some of the material I’ll cover may be difficult for you to follow. You’re welcome to participate today, but I would encourage you to pursue those options soon, if you haven’t already.
[12:08:37] Persephone Bolero: So, if the advanced class isn’t about those basic rules that facilitate interaction, what is this about? Once you get past the basic rules, roleplay becomes an art form. And it’s one many of us here are passionate about. That’s what we do in this class. We discuss roleplay as a medium for creative self-expression.
[12:09:11] Persephone Bolero: I have a background in creative writing, so I incorporate a lot of fiction techniques into my roleplay. I’ll be using a lot of that to explain some concepts with roleplay.
[12:09:33] Persephone Bolero: In my last class, we discussed the importance of having flawed characters, as those shortcomings are great opportunities for richer roleplay. I know everyone who missed that class was terribly sad but too busy in RL to make it. But don’t fret! When you’re stuck in a cell as your captors are fighting off your rescuers, you can read the entire transcript here… (Thanks to Mad for compiling it.)
[12:09:54] Persephone Bolero: https://amazon-river-in-sl.blogspot.com/2019/01/roleplay-class-from-tuesday-january-15.html
[12:10:30] Persephone Bolero: Today, we’re going to talk about writing good emotes.
[12:10:44] Persephone Bolero: We’ll start with a bit of roleplay theory. As stated earlier, when the rules make the game work, roleplay is an art and not a science. We’re not laying pipe here. So, when you’re talking about the artform, there are no hard and fast rules. There are a lot of valid perspectives as to what good roleplay is.
[12:11:12] Persephone Bolero: So, let’s start there with what we’re doing here. What is roleplay? Anyone?
[12:11:36] Persephone Bolero: Michel?
[12:12:12] Michel Morane: Roleplay is exactly what the world says: playing a role. You define a character, it's background, and then you imagine that you are playing in a movie. You are playing a movie character, in a movie where your posts will influence the outcome
[12:12:28] Persephone Bolero: Good. Rodeo?
[12:12:42] Rodeo Dastardly: well I am speaking as my character not my rl self Michel said it better
[12:12:57] Persephone Bolero: Mad?
[12:13:11] Mad (aliya.sahara): I see it as co-authoring a story. Each author gets to be a character in it.
[12:13:24] Michel Morane: ^I meant "what the word says" (not "what the world says)
[12:13:48] Persephone Bolero: Yes. Co-authoring. That it is. Khaing, what would you say it is?
[12:14:18] Khaing Zar (raigann): It's putting yourself into the shoes of someone else - an imaginary character, or someone you'd like to be
[12:14:37] Persephone Bolero: All good answers.
[12:14:41] Khaing Zar (raigann): It's many things really....
[12:14:41] Persephone Bolero: You’ll get a lot of answers to that question. It’s like asking what is theater, or what is sculpture? There really are no right or wrong answers. I like to say roleplay is extemporaneous, collaborative fiction writing. That means we’re writing stories together on the spot in near real time. I live to write, so I live for roleplay. To me, the Amazon is one big writing exercise.
[12:15:02] Persephone Bolero: Void?
[12:15:16] Void Gift (kigra.gasser): sry, just bein slow. Was gonna say: Roleplay is an experiment, where you get to do things that RL won't let you do safely.
[12:15:38] Persephone Bolero: Oh, I know what mean, monster man.
[12:15:45] 亗 Bღnni 亗 (bonnipark): ^^
[12:16:07] Persephone Bolero: So, yeah, roleplay is a lot of things. It's an art.
[12:16:14] Persephone Bolero: That’s where emotes come in. What is an emote? Anyone?
[12:16:40] Persephone Bolero: Hope?
[12:17:02] Hope (elusive.cristole): I think of an emote as an action that your character is doing or attempting, using all the senses.
[12:17:11] Persephone Bolero: Reni?
[12:17:32] Persephone Bolero: And that was very close to my definition, Hope.
[12:17:59] Reni (serenityaeon): we can't act in this environment, therefore we have to describe our actions, reactions, feelings etc. that's what we do when we are emoting
[12:18:24] Persephone Bolero: Yes. Very true. Riyanna?
[12:18:40] Rÿaηηa (ryanna.foxclaw): an emote is a way to express what your character is doing and how they are reacting to the things around them. as Sl animations can't do everything for us, emotes enhance our story.
[12:18:53] Persephone Bolero: Yes, exactly. And Michel?
[12:18:56] Michel Morane: an emote, is a non-spoken post. A paragraph that can describe emotions, a situation, a position, an action, any information usueful to other players (players, not characters), without necessarily using words spoken by the avatar
[12:19:35] Persephone Bolero: Yes. Though I would include dialog as part of the emoting process. Khaing?
[12:19:39] Khaing Zar (raigann): a way of expressing an emotion in a dramatic way ie way that others can see or hear
[12:20:03] Persephone Bolero: Yep. It can express more than feelings, too. Salsabil?
[12:20:04] Salsabil (malmuirie): a verbal description of the character's behaviour or demeanour?
[12:20:39] Persephone Bolero: Yes, these are all what emotes are, what they're trying to accomplish, and information they can convey. I define an emote as your character’s action or reaction to what’s happening in the roleplay situation. It is your contribution to the story.
[12:21:12] Persephone Bolero: Now, we all know that metagaming and godmodding create bad emotes. That’s for the beginner’s class, and you all are seniors in this school. So, besides the obvious don’ts, what makes a good emote? Anyone?
[12:21:26] Persephone Bolero: Bonni?
[12:21:28] 亗 Bღnni 亗 (bonnipark): an emote can be a face expression and a mind ... a rambling thought, a hand movement things to do things that make it look livelier
[12:21:47] Persephone Bolero: Yep. True. Hope?
[12:22:08] Khaing Zar (raigann) left chat range.
[12:22:18] Hope (elusive.cristole): I find a good emote is one that makes you feel what the character is feeling, identify with them, feel their pain or happiness.
[12:22:45] Persephone Bolero: Yes. And that's at the heart of what I hope to explain today. Mad?
[12:23:08] Mad (aliya.sahara): A good emote not only expresses and describes your own characters actions, it can be an invitation to others to participate or further a story.
[12:23:51] Michel Morane: (.)
[12:23:58] Persephone Bolero: Yes, that's a good point, and it's something I probably won't have time to cover today, but a good emote will leave a little doorway for others to react.
[12:24:32] Persephone Bolero: There's a lot of aspects to good emote crafting.
[12:24:37] Persephone Bolero: Because of the collaborative nature of roleplay, it can be harder than writing fiction. In fiction writing, we strategize how to reveal information to the reader. This strategy is called exposition. There are basically two methods: narration and scene. Narration TELLS the reader information, and scene SHOWS the reader information.
[12:25:22] Persephone Bolero: Narration is very useful for quickly getting across facts to the reader, but it lacks any color. It’s very black and white. Sometimes, you don’t need color. You want the reader to know the protagonist is a veteran of World War II, but now he’s in his 80s. So, you don’t need to take the reader back to that time in his life and show him being an allied soldier fighting in Europe. You just need the reader to know that fact to understand something relevant to the story.
[12:25:31] Void Gift (kigra.gasser): .
[12:26:29] Persephone Bolero: Void?
[12:26:34] Void Gift (kigra.gasser): A good emote can carry a lot of information. Sometimes expressing things trough pure conversation won't give the right idea. Sometimes you need to pull a lie, and somehow carry the information over to the other player. That can done easily with a good body language emote, without explaining to the other character that you are actually lying right to her face.
[12:27:19] Persephone Bolero: Yes. Sometimes you want another player to know you're lying. Reni?
[12:28:09] Reni (serenityaeon): a question: it is said often that emoting thoughts is bad roleplay. i want to disagree there a bit. i think emoting a thought might be useless for the other IC player but can give a hint to the person behind the screen why my character is acting in a certain way
[12:28:25] Reni (serenityaeon): ((that wasn't a question o.o))
[12:29:19] Persephone Bolero: Yes. And it's generally avoided because no one can read your thoughts. However, it is tempting when trying to give other players information to want to write out thoughts. Hope?
[12:29:29] Hope (elusive.cristole) loves an emote that throws you off guard, that you have to think fast as the story has just taken a drastic turn. A total change in direction from one character changes everything and perhaps even your perception of the other character. If an enemy shows empathy, kindness or emotion to you that you never suspected they were capable of.
[12:30:38] Persephone Bolero: Yeah, that's a different level than the crafting of the emote itself. But surprises create challenges, which can be fun. Mad?
[12:30:57] Mad (aliya.sahara): My comment on thought posting. It should not be done in a way that others can't respond. Support your thoughts with body language, etc. Then its ok. It is especially bad to do a negative thought post or unspoken insult that can't be countered without 'metagaming' that post.
[12:31:39] Persephone Bolero: Yes, precisely. That's a good suggestion for those times you have to emote thoughts. Back it up with something people could know. Khaing?
[12:31:45] Khaing Zar (raigann): I believe the essence of a good emote in RP is that it's communicated in a way the other RPer can reasonably recognise & that allows them to respond - it can be words, suggested tone of voice...a gesture...or an action
[12:32:10] Persephone Bolero: All good points. So, as I was saying with narration....
[12:32:24] Persephone Bolero: Narration lacks the ability to relate an emotional experience. When you want the readers to experience, say, a character’s anger, you should SHOW the anger in a scene.
[12:32:51] Persephone Bolero: Consider this narration of an emotional experience….Traffic was very thick that morning. He was going to be late to work, and his boss warned him, if it happened again, he’d be fired. Looking at the line of cars ahead of him, he got very mad.
[12:33:19] Persephone Bolero: Now, compare that to this same passage….
[12:33:29] Persephone Bolero: The cars ahead of him started to move again and he quickly sped toward the car in front of him, only to jerk forward against his seatbelt when the procession stopped 20 feet down the road. He had been late twice last week, and his boss warned him, if it happened again, he’d be fired. He looked at the dashboard clock and sighed a low growl. He gripped the steering wheel, his fists balls of steel. The hair on the back of his head stood up. Ahead of him was a line of motionless steel, like lava hardened across a road. He slammed a fist into the horn futilely.
[12:34:25] Persephone Bolero: The difference with that passage is the reader gets to experience the character’s emotional reality much more lucidly. It doesn’t SHOW him being late to work and his boss’s threat. It TELLS the readers that so they understand why he’s so angry. But the anger is a scene the reader can experience because it SHOWS the emotion.
[12:35:08] Persephone Bolero: This is the difference between showing and telling in writing. Show Don’t Tell, as the rule is stated in fiction writing.
[12:35:26] Persephone Bolero: So, what the hell does all that have to do with emoting? With roleplay, you’re very limited in your ability to narrate anything. The narrative voice, except in first-person stories, is always outside the character. That makes it very difficult to use in roleplay. Almost everything must be SHOWN.
[12:36:09] Persephone Bolero: I’ll try to illustrate this for anyone who might not see where I'm going here....
[12:36:20] Persephone Bolero: Persephone, my character, got lost on a hike, and her shallow friends, who found her annoying, ditched her in the jungle. Her first encounter with naked natives presented some shock. That scenario narrated would produce an emote like this….
[12:36:50] Persephone Bolero walked up to the native tribe and saw the men wore no loincloth. Being from Los Angeles, she had never seen men standing around with their cocks out, except that weird homeless guy. All these natives seemed to act naturally, as if being nude was the most normal thing to do. She felt very uncomfortable and wasn’t sure how to act around them. “Hi, I’m Persephone.”
[12:37:38] Persephone Bolero: There are a couple issues here, as many of you are aware. There’s a lot of information there that other players would have to metagame to act upon or react to. You don’t put thoughts into an emote. And all the emotions are told to the other players. They would have to assume how they know she’s uncomfortable, which runs the risk of describing her reactions.
[12:38:21] Persephone Bolero: Though, again, Mad had a good suggestion for how to utilize thoughts, by adding details other players could see and react to.
[12:38:44] Persephone Bolero: So, that means emotes require the player to SHOW pretty much everything that isn’t simulated by Second Life such as clothing and setting. Show Don’t Tell. And that can be a huge challenge.
[12:39:05] Persephone Bolero: In roleplay, a better approach to this city girl’s introduction would be….
[12:39:26] Persephone Bolero came around the rock and noticed the natives were mostly nude. She froze where she stood. Her wide eyes blinked and then she averted them away from the bared breasts and penises. “Hi, I’m Persephone. Do you know where I might charge my iPhone? I need to get an Uber.”
[12:40:13] Persephone Bolero: Second Life shows her light skin and city clothes. From there, you have character actions and dialog to SHOW other players what you want them to know about you.
[12:40:42] Persephone Bolero: And then there’s your profile background, which is a brief description. Other players can avail themselves of that knowledge OOC, but, of course, they just can’t use it directly in the RP. But a bit of description fills in some of the holes that arise from the limitations of Second Life. You can’t, after all, easily demonstrate that your city girl is wearing a Gap shirt and Old Navy capris, for example.
[12:41:22] Persephone Bolero: Make sense? Any questions, comments, or thoughts?
[12:41:51] Persephone Bolero: If not, I'm going to start talking about sex. Anyone? Salsabil?
[12:41:53] Salsabil (malmuirie): Is there a danger of 'over-emoting?" I can think of times when I've gone and made a cup of tea while someone is typing, only to come back and find a short story explaining how they have just picked their nose...
[12:42:16] Khaing Zar (raigann): laughs
[12:42:42] Eliza (ann.skyther): giggles at the mention of sex
[12:43:15] Persephone Bolero: Yeah, that was something I thought about going into today. The question of para-RP versus shorter form. Sometimes para-RPers do take it a bit far. Like you don't need a paragraph to explain how you walked across a room. I don't encounter over-emoting much, but it does happen.
[12:43:15] Rÿaηηa (ryanna.foxclaw) chuckles
[12:43:19] Persephone Bolero: Michel?
[12:43:30] Michel Morane: I was thinking the same than Salsabil. There is a compromise to find between describing well, and being concise, especially when in a group. And I won't detain anyone else from sex now.
[12:44:26] Amazon Sim Messenger V3: Nayeli has restarted
[12:44:34] Persephone Bolero: Oh, I'll be getting into sex. You all know me. But yes, I think that comes from para-RPers who feel they have to do paragraphs every post. Sometimes you can just do something short, especially in, like, a quick dialog exchange or a simple action.
[12:45:07] Persephone Bolero: Something to keep in mind when you're emoting, yes.
[12:45:17] Persephone Bolero: Hope?
[12:45:54] Hope (elusive.cristole): I have a problem in capture role play where 12 characters are para role playing in a 20 m range and you have no clue whats going on as you are just looking for your name. I find it so much easier if you can actually follow the screen enough to know what is happening to the others around you as well. Group role play is very hard.
[12:46:39] Reni (serenityaeon): agreed
[12:46:39] Persephone Bolero: Yes, when there's a crowd, especially if you're interacting with more than one of the people in the group, it's a good time to keep things short. Michel?
[12:46:44] Michel Morane: sorry, one short additional thought: respect people with translators... Complicated sentences are a mess to translate, sometimes we must take that into account in the way we write sentences
[12:47:30] Persephone Bolero: Yeah, another good point. I try to do subject, verb, predicate sentences when I'm with someone who I know isn't speaking English as their first language. And it's a challenge for me. I have to stop and think about it.
[12:47:45] Persephone Bolero: Khaing?
[12:47:48] Khaing Zar (raigann): I don't claim to be a 'one-liner' or a para RPer but try to go with the flow. Respond appropriately to the situation and to the dynamic between you & the other RPers.
[12:48:22] Persephone Bolero: Yeah, that's a good idea to accommodate other players as much as is reasonable.
[12:48:23] Persephone Bolero: Mad?
[12:49:42] Persephone Bolero: Frugal, you can go if you're ready.
[12:49:47] Frugal: What about "passing the baton of role-play", leaving openings and loose threads for others to respond?
[12:50:47] Persephone Bolero: Yeah, timing matters too. And I forget this a lot when I'm in a group. Someone says something *glances at Tantrica* and I just need to reply. And then I speak out of turn. In a group, you do want to get a flow going and stick to it.
[12:50:53] Persephone Bolero: Salsabil?
[12:50:59] Salsabil (malmuirie): referring to what Michel said, if I am with someone whose first language is not mine, I try to keep my words clear and unambiguous so they are easier to translate. It's not always easy, but can be very helpful.
[12:52:02] Persephone Bolero: Mad is typing, and then I want to talk about sex.
[12:52:17] Mad (aliya.sahara): Commenting on what hope said about keeping up in large scenes. There is a way to set preferences so your name is highlighted when it is spoken in posts. In big scenes you break up in smaller groups.
[12:52:31] Mad (aliya.sahara): can alos said key words
[12:52:49] Mad (aliya.sahara): I played a duchess. anyone saying Duchess stood out.
[12:53:02] Mad (aliya.sahara): one more thing.
[12:53:04] Persephone Bolero: Yeah, key word alerts are very helpful. Though, anytime someone says "per" I get a beep.
[12:53:09] Persephone Bolero: Yes?
[12:53:14] Mad (aliya.sahara): People think its not okay to emote a name they have not learned IC.
[12:53:37] Persephone Bolero: Okay, Khaing?
[12:53:40] Khaing Zar (raigann): Even when the other person does speak the same language, there can be differences & misunderstandings eg British and American English. Always wise to be as clear as we can be
[12:54:00] Mad (aliya.sahara): ...
[12:54:04] Persephone Bolero: Yeah, I wasn't sure my use of the word "cray-cray" would translate.
[12:54:31] Persephone Bolero: So, there’s another tool that can be used in emoting to SHOW players information, and that’s the power of sensuality. I’m not talking just about sex, which many of you know is my favorite topic. I’m talking about the fact there are five senses. Second Life simulates a lot of what is seen, but people, I think, miss opportunities for providing sensory details that aren’t visual.
[12:55:13] Persephone Bolero: For example, when my character is moaning breathlessly, I can emote “/me moans breathlessly.” That does SHOW what she’s feeling. But if her face is pressed into a pillow, I can emote, “Her muffled moans fill the room as she struggled to breathe through the pillow he presses her face into.”
[12:55:55] Persephone Bolero: In both cases I add sound, and in the second case, I add detail to that sound. But those are just two senses. What about taste, smell, and touch? Perhaps this roleplay scenario takes place with a dingy straw pillow on a soiled mattress. There are all kinds of sensory details to explore there, like this….
[12:56:32] Persephone Bolero: Her muffled moans fill the room as she struggled to breathe through the pillow he presses her face into. The fabric brushed roughly against her cheeks and nose, as his weight pressed her body into the acrid stain on the center of the mattress. She squirmed feebly beneath him, gripping the edge of the mattress, as his thrusts slapped against her backside.
[12:57:16] Persephone Bolero: I have every sense there but taste. So, when you are writing an emote, try to get another sense in. I use a sex scene as an example, but this could be used in all kinds of roleplay. When your captor is shocking you in the electric chair, add a detail about the smell of burning flesh. When your character eats a strawberry her friend gave her, describe the sweet juiciness of it, in addition to expressing her thanks and smiling with gratitude.
[12:58:02] Persephone Bolero: These details SHOW a lot about your character’s thoughts and emotions, which are can be used by the person or people with whom you roleplay without anyone metagaming. It's kind of what Mad was saying earlier.
[12:58:07] Persephone Bolero: Mad, you have a comment?
[12:58:15] Mad (aliya.sahara): .
[12:58:23] Mad (aliya.sahara): no
[12:58:29] Persephone Bolero: Okay.
[12:58:40] Persephone Bolero: Lastly, another tool we use is dialogue. I save it for last because there’s not a lot to say about it. I do find punctuation is very helpful in determining what is said, and I encourage people to use some form of it to separate quotes from action or other information in an emote.
[12:59:05] Persephone Bolero: However, of course, you can use dialogue to impart information to other players. Quite simply, your character says things to other players. “I am very mad at you” is a perfectly legitimate way to express emotion in roleplay. However, you can really create a more vivid emote if you couple the dialogue with details that SHOW that anger. As in….
[12:59:38] Persephone Bolero: “I am very mad at you,” she said, glaring fiercely at the captive, her finger pointing at her angrily. “I think it’s time to introduce you to my good friend, Mr. Strappy.”
[13:00:04] Reni (serenityaeon): o.o
[13:00:08] Persephone Bolero: My main point about dialogue is not to rely on it too much. Much richer emotes can come more from what’s not said than what’s said. I think, anyways. Some might disagree.
[13:00:35] Persephone Bolero: Any questions, comments, or otherwise on that or anything else we discussed here?
[13:01:27] Khaing Zar (raigann): ((apologies - RL calls - thanks so much Persephone))
[13:01:40] Persephone Bolero: I appreciate how much you all engaged. There were some good points brought up about emoting I didn't think to include.
[13:01:51] Persephone Bolero: Thank you all for coming. And I very much look forward to collaborating creatively with you all in the jungle.
[12:05:29] Persephone Bolero: Hello everyone. I am Persephone Bolero. As most of you know, in the Amazon, I play a psychotically homesick city girl with a special-needs daughter who throws fish at people. And now my character is pregnant and freaking out about it. I’ve been doing a bit of research on postpartum psychosis for the after-birth roleplay. I try to make my character’s cray-cray realistic. Anyways, thank you all for coming today.
[12:06:10] Persephone Bolero: In order to keep local chat readable, let’s not clutter it up with chatter. If you have something to say, please click my box there. Then, start to type out what you want to say, but don’t hit enter. Instead, wait until I call on you. You can also type your comment on a notecard and copy and paste it when called upon. That way we keep the discussion flowing with our limited time here, and everyone gets a chance to talk.
[12:06:54] Persephone Bolero extends her arm up over her head and points to the sign behind her. “Heed the sign, please.”
[12:07:25] Persephone Bolero: I started these advanced classes to go beyond the beginner class and help flush out richer character roleplay. Because roleplay is collaborative, there are rules we all must follow to maintain the functionality and quality of the interaction. Those are covered in the Wisdom Cave RP tutorial and the beginners’ class. If you haven’t done either, some of the material I’ll cover may be difficult for you to follow. You’re welcome to participate today, but I would encourage you to pursue those options soon, if you haven’t already.
[12:08:37] Persephone Bolero: So, if the advanced class isn’t about those basic rules that facilitate interaction, what is this about? Once you get past the basic rules, roleplay becomes an art form. And it’s one many of us here are passionate about. That’s what we do in this class. We discuss roleplay as a medium for creative self-expression.
[12:09:11] Persephone Bolero: I have a background in creative writing, so I incorporate a lot of fiction techniques into my roleplay. I’ll be using a lot of that to explain some concepts with roleplay.
[12:09:33] Persephone Bolero: In my last class, we discussed the importance of having flawed characters, as those shortcomings are great opportunities for richer roleplay. I know everyone who missed that class was terribly sad but too busy in RL to make it. But don’t fret! When you’re stuck in a cell as your captors are fighting off your rescuers, you can read the entire transcript here… (Thanks to Mad for compiling it.)
[12:09:54] Persephone Bolero: https://amazon-river-in-sl.blogspot.com/2019/01/roleplay-class-from-tuesday-january-15.html
[12:10:30] Persephone Bolero: Today, we’re going to talk about writing good emotes.
[12:10:44] Persephone Bolero: We’ll start with a bit of roleplay theory. As stated earlier, when the rules make the game work, roleplay is an art and not a science. We’re not laying pipe here. So, when you’re talking about the artform, there are no hard and fast rules. There are a lot of valid perspectives as to what good roleplay is.
[12:11:12] Persephone Bolero: So, let’s start there with what we’re doing here. What is roleplay? Anyone?
[12:11:36] Persephone Bolero: Michel?
[12:12:12] Michel Morane: Roleplay is exactly what the world says: playing a role. You define a character, it's background, and then you imagine that you are playing in a movie. You are playing a movie character, in a movie where your posts will influence the outcome
[12:12:28] Persephone Bolero: Good. Rodeo?
[12:12:42] Rodeo Dastardly: well I am speaking as my character not my rl self Michel said it better
[12:12:57] Persephone Bolero: Mad?
[12:13:11] Mad (aliya.sahara): I see it as co-authoring a story. Each author gets to be a character in it.
[12:13:24] Michel Morane: ^I meant "what the word says" (not "what the world says)
[12:13:48] Persephone Bolero: Yes. Co-authoring. That it is. Khaing, what would you say it is?
[12:14:18] Khaing Zar (raigann): It's putting yourself into the shoes of someone else - an imaginary character, or someone you'd like to be
[12:14:37] Persephone Bolero: All good answers.
[12:14:41] Khaing Zar (raigann): It's many things really....
[12:14:41] Persephone Bolero: You’ll get a lot of answers to that question. It’s like asking what is theater, or what is sculpture? There really are no right or wrong answers. I like to say roleplay is extemporaneous, collaborative fiction writing. That means we’re writing stories together on the spot in near real time. I live to write, so I live for roleplay. To me, the Amazon is one big writing exercise.
[12:15:02] Persephone Bolero: Void?
[12:15:16] Void Gift (kigra.gasser): sry, just bein slow. Was gonna say: Roleplay is an experiment, where you get to do things that RL won't let you do safely.
[12:15:38] Persephone Bolero: Oh, I know what mean, monster man.
[12:15:45] 亗 Bღnni 亗 (bonnipark): ^^
[12:16:07] Persephone Bolero: So, yeah, roleplay is a lot of things. It's an art.
[12:16:14] Persephone Bolero: That’s where emotes come in. What is an emote? Anyone?
[12:16:40] Persephone Bolero: Hope?
[12:17:02] Hope (elusive.cristole): I think of an emote as an action that your character is doing or attempting, using all the senses.
[12:17:11] Persephone Bolero: Reni?
[12:17:32] Persephone Bolero: And that was very close to my definition, Hope.
[12:17:59] Reni (serenityaeon): we can't act in this environment, therefore we have to describe our actions, reactions, feelings etc. that's what we do when we are emoting
[12:18:24] Persephone Bolero: Yes. Very true. Riyanna?
[12:18:40] Rÿaηηa (ryanna.foxclaw): an emote is a way to express what your character is doing and how they are reacting to the things around them. as Sl animations can't do everything for us, emotes enhance our story.
[12:18:53] Persephone Bolero: Yes, exactly. And Michel?
[12:18:56] Michel Morane: an emote, is a non-spoken post. A paragraph that can describe emotions, a situation, a position, an action, any information usueful to other players (players, not characters), without necessarily using words spoken by the avatar
[12:19:35] Persephone Bolero: Yes. Though I would include dialog as part of the emoting process. Khaing?
[12:19:39] Khaing Zar (raigann): a way of expressing an emotion in a dramatic way ie way that others can see or hear
[12:20:03] Persephone Bolero: Yep. It can express more than feelings, too. Salsabil?
[12:20:04] Salsabil (malmuirie): a verbal description of the character's behaviour or demeanour?
[12:20:39] Persephone Bolero: Yes, these are all what emotes are, what they're trying to accomplish, and information they can convey. I define an emote as your character’s action or reaction to what’s happening in the roleplay situation. It is your contribution to the story.
[12:21:12] Persephone Bolero: Now, we all know that metagaming and godmodding create bad emotes. That’s for the beginner’s class, and you all are seniors in this school. So, besides the obvious don’ts, what makes a good emote? Anyone?
[12:21:26] Persephone Bolero: Bonni?
[12:21:28] 亗 Bღnni 亗 (bonnipark): an emote can be a face expression and a mind ... a rambling thought, a hand movement things to do things that make it look livelier
[12:21:47] Persephone Bolero: Yep. True. Hope?
[12:22:08] Khaing Zar (raigann) left chat range.
[12:22:18] Hope (elusive.cristole): I find a good emote is one that makes you feel what the character is feeling, identify with them, feel their pain or happiness.
[12:22:45] Persephone Bolero: Yes. And that's at the heart of what I hope to explain today. Mad?
[12:23:08] Mad (aliya.sahara): A good emote not only expresses and describes your own characters actions, it can be an invitation to others to participate or further a story.
[12:23:51] Michel Morane: (.)
[12:23:58] Persephone Bolero: Yes, that's a good point, and it's something I probably won't have time to cover today, but a good emote will leave a little doorway for others to react.
[12:24:32] Persephone Bolero: There's a lot of aspects to good emote crafting.
[12:24:37] Persephone Bolero: Because of the collaborative nature of roleplay, it can be harder than writing fiction. In fiction writing, we strategize how to reveal information to the reader. This strategy is called exposition. There are basically two methods: narration and scene. Narration TELLS the reader information, and scene SHOWS the reader information.
[12:25:22] Persephone Bolero: Narration is very useful for quickly getting across facts to the reader, but it lacks any color. It’s very black and white. Sometimes, you don’t need color. You want the reader to know the protagonist is a veteran of World War II, but now he’s in his 80s. So, you don’t need to take the reader back to that time in his life and show him being an allied soldier fighting in Europe. You just need the reader to know that fact to understand something relevant to the story.
[12:25:31] Void Gift (kigra.gasser): .
[12:26:29] Persephone Bolero: Void?
[12:26:34] Void Gift (kigra.gasser): A good emote can carry a lot of information. Sometimes expressing things trough pure conversation won't give the right idea. Sometimes you need to pull a lie, and somehow carry the information over to the other player. That can done easily with a good body language emote, without explaining to the other character that you are actually lying right to her face.
[12:27:19] Persephone Bolero: Yes. Sometimes you want another player to know you're lying. Reni?
[12:28:09] Reni (serenityaeon): a question: it is said often that emoting thoughts is bad roleplay. i want to disagree there a bit. i think emoting a thought might be useless for the other IC player but can give a hint to the person behind the screen why my character is acting in a certain way
[12:28:25] Reni (serenityaeon): ((that wasn't a question o.o))
[12:29:19] Persephone Bolero: Yes. And it's generally avoided because no one can read your thoughts. However, it is tempting when trying to give other players information to want to write out thoughts. Hope?
[12:29:29] Hope (elusive.cristole) loves an emote that throws you off guard, that you have to think fast as the story has just taken a drastic turn. A total change in direction from one character changes everything and perhaps even your perception of the other character. If an enemy shows empathy, kindness or emotion to you that you never suspected they were capable of.
[12:30:38] Persephone Bolero: Yeah, that's a different level than the crafting of the emote itself. But surprises create challenges, which can be fun. Mad?
[12:30:57] Mad (aliya.sahara): My comment on thought posting. It should not be done in a way that others can't respond. Support your thoughts with body language, etc. Then its ok. It is especially bad to do a negative thought post or unspoken insult that can't be countered without 'metagaming' that post.
[12:31:39] Persephone Bolero: Yes, precisely. That's a good suggestion for those times you have to emote thoughts. Back it up with something people could know. Khaing?
[12:31:45] Khaing Zar (raigann): I believe the essence of a good emote in RP is that it's communicated in a way the other RPer can reasonably recognise & that allows them to respond - it can be words, suggested tone of voice...a gesture...or an action
[12:32:10] Persephone Bolero: All good points. So, as I was saying with narration....
[12:32:24] Persephone Bolero: Narration lacks the ability to relate an emotional experience. When you want the readers to experience, say, a character’s anger, you should SHOW the anger in a scene.
[12:32:51] Persephone Bolero: Consider this narration of an emotional experience….Traffic was very thick that morning. He was going to be late to work, and his boss warned him, if it happened again, he’d be fired. Looking at the line of cars ahead of him, he got very mad.
[12:33:19] Persephone Bolero: Now, compare that to this same passage….
[12:33:29] Persephone Bolero: The cars ahead of him started to move again and he quickly sped toward the car in front of him, only to jerk forward against his seatbelt when the procession stopped 20 feet down the road. He had been late twice last week, and his boss warned him, if it happened again, he’d be fired. He looked at the dashboard clock and sighed a low growl. He gripped the steering wheel, his fists balls of steel. The hair on the back of his head stood up. Ahead of him was a line of motionless steel, like lava hardened across a road. He slammed a fist into the horn futilely.
[12:34:25] Persephone Bolero: The difference with that passage is the reader gets to experience the character’s emotional reality much more lucidly. It doesn’t SHOW him being late to work and his boss’s threat. It TELLS the readers that so they understand why he’s so angry. But the anger is a scene the reader can experience because it SHOWS the emotion.
[12:35:08] Persephone Bolero: This is the difference between showing and telling in writing. Show Don’t Tell, as the rule is stated in fiction writing.
[12:35:26] Persephone Bolero: So, what the hell does all that have to do with emoting? With roleplay, you’re very limited in your ability to narrate anything. The narrative voice, except in first-person stories, is always outside the character. That makes it very difficult to use in roleplay. Almost everything must be SHOWN.
[12:36:09] Persephone Bolero: I’ll try to illustrate this for anyone who might not see where I'm going here....
[12:36:20] Persephone Bolero: Persephone, my character, got lost on a hike, and her shallow friends, who found her annoying, ditched her in the jungle. Her first encounter with naked natives presented some shock. That scenario narrated would produce an emote like this….
[12:36:50] Persephone Bolero walked up to the native tribe and saw the men wore no loincloth. Being from Los Angeles, she had never seen men standing around with their cocks out, except that weird homeless guy. All these natives seemed to act naturally, as if being nude was the most normal thing to do. She felt very uncomfortable and wasn’t sure how to act around them. “Hi, I’m Persephone.”
[12:37:38] Persephone Bolero: There are a couple issues here, as many of you are aware. There’s a lot of information there that other players would have to metagame to act upon or react to. You don’t put thoughts into an emote. And all the emotions are told to the other players. They would have to assume how they know she’s uncomfortable, which runs the risk of describing her reactions.
[12:38:21] Persephone Bolero: Though, again, Mad had a good suggestion for how to utilize thoughts, by adding details other players could see and react to.
[12:38:44] Persephone Bolero: So, that means emotes require the player to SHOW pretty much everything that isn’t simulated by Second Life such as clothing and setting. Show Don’t Tell. And that can be a huge challenge.
[12:39:05] Persephone Bolero: In roleplay, a better approach to this city girl’s introduction would be….
[12:39:26] Persephone Bolero came around the rock and noticed the natives were mostly nude. She froze where she stood. Her wide eyes blinked and then she averted them away from the bared breasts and penises. “Hi, I’m Persephone. Do you know where I might charge my iPhone? I need to get an Uber.”
[12:40:13] Persephone Bolero: Second Life shows her light skin and city clothes. From there, you have character actions and dialog to SHOW other players what you want them to know about you.
[12:40:42] Persephone Bolero: And then there’s your profile background, which is a brief description. Other players can avail themselves of that knowledge OOC, but, of course, they just can’t use it directly in the RP. But a bit of description fills in some of the holes that arise from the limitations of Second Life. You can’t, after all, easily demonstrate that your city girl is wearing a Gap shirt and Old Navy capris, for example.
[12:41:22] Persephone Bolero: Make sense? Any questions, comments, or thoughts?
[12:41:51] Persephone Bolero: If not, I'm going to start talking about sex. Anyone? Salsabil?
[12:41:53] Salsabil (malmuirie): Is there a danger of 'over-emoting?" I can think of times when I've gone and made a cup of tea while someone is typing, only to come back and find a short story explaining how they have just picked their nose...
[12:42:16] Khaing Zar (raigann): laughs
[12:42:42] Eliza (ann.skyther): giggles at the mention of sex
[12:43:15] Persephone Bolero: Yeah, that was something I thought about going into today. The question of para-RP versus shorter form. Sometimes para-RPers do take it a bit far. Like you don't need a paragraph to explain how you walked across a room. I don't encounter over-emoting much, but it does happen.
[12:43:15] Rÿaηηa (ryanna.foxclaw) chuckles
[12:43:19] Persephone Bolero: Michel?
[12:43:30] Michel Morane: I was thinking the same than Salsabil. There is a compromise to find between describing well, and being concise, especially when in a group. And I won't detain anyone else from sex now.
[12:44:26] Amazon Sim Messenger V3: Nayeli has restarted
[12:44:34] Persephone Bolero: Oh, I'll be getting into sex. You all know me. But yes, I think that comes from para-RPers who feel they have to do paragraphs every post. Sometimes you can just do something short, especially in, like, a quick dialog exchange or a simple action.
[12:45:07] Persephone Bolero: Something to keep in mind when you're emoting, yes.
[12:45:17] Persephone Bolero: Hope?
[12:45:54] Hope (elusive.cristole): I have a problem in capture role play where 12 characters are para role playing in a 20 m range and you have no clue whats going on as you are just looking for your name. I find it so much easier if you can actually follow the screen enough to know what is happening to the others around you as well. Group role play is very hard.
[12:46:39] Reni (serenityaeon): agreed
[12:46:39] Persephone Bolero: Yes, when there's a crowd, especially if you're interacting with more than one of the people in the group, it's a good time to keep things short. Michel?
[12:46:44] Michel Morane: sorry, one short additional thought: respect people with translators... Complicated sentences are a mess to translate, sometimes we must take that into account in the way we write sentences
[12:47:30] Persephone Bolero: Yeah, another good point. I try to do subject, verb, predicate sentences when I'm with someone who I know isn't speaking English as their first language. And it's a challenge for me. I have to stop and think about it.
[12:47:45] Persephone Bolero: Khaing?
[12:47:48] Khaing Zar (raigann): I don't claim to be a 'one-liner' or a para RPer but try to go with the flow. Respond appropriately to the situation and to the dynamic between you & the other RPers.
[12:48:22] Persephone Bolero: Yeah, that's a good idea to accommodate other players as much as is reasonable.
[12:48:23] Persephone Bolero: Mad?
[12:49:42] Persephone Bolero: Frugal, you can go if you're ready.
[12:49:47] Frugal: What about "passing the baton of role-play", leaving openings and loose threads for others to respond?
[12:50:47] Persephone Bolero: Yeah, timing matters too. And I forget this a lot when I'm in a group. Someone says something *glances at Tantrica* and I just need to reply. And then I speak out of turn. In a group, you do want to get a flow going and stick to it.
[12:50:53] Persephone Bolero: Salsabil?
[12:50:59] Salsabil (malmuirie): referring to what Michel said, if I am with someone whose first language is not mine, I try to keep my words clear and unambiguous so they are easier to translate. It's not always easy, but can be very helpful.
[12:52:02] Persephone Bolero: Mad is typing, and then I want to talk about sex.
[12:52:17] Mad (aliya.sahara): Commenting on what hope said about keeping up in large scenes. There is a way to set preferences so your name is highlighted when it is spoken in posts. In big scenes you break up in smaller groups.
[12:52:31] Mad (aliya.sahara): can alos said key words
[12:52:49] Mad (aliya.sahara): I played a duchess. anyone saying Duchess stood out.
[12:53:02] Mad (aliya.sahara): one more thing.
[12:53:04] Persephone Bolero: Yeah, key word alerts are very helpful. Though, anytime someone says "per" I get a beep.
[12:53:09] Persephone Bolero: Yes?
[12:53:14] Mad (aliya.sahara): People think its not okay to emote a name they have not learned IC.
[12:53:37] Persephone Bolero: Okay, Khaing?
[12:53:40] Khaing Zar (raigann): Even when the other person does speak the same language, there can be differences & misunderstandings eg British and American English. Always wise to be as clear as we can be
[12:54:00] Mad (aliya.sahara): ...
[12:54:04] Persephone Bolero: Yeah, I wasn't sure my use of the word "cray-cray" would translate.
[12:54:31] Persephone Bolero: So, there’s another tool that can be used in emoting to SHOW players information, and that’s the power of sensuality. I’m not talking just about sex, which many of you know is my favorite topic. I’m talking about the fact there are five senses. Second Life simulates a lot of what is seen, but people, I think, miss opportunities for providing sensory details that aren’t visual.
[12:55:13] Persephone Bolero: For example, when my character is moaning breathlessly, I can emote “/me moans breathlessly.” That does SHOW what she’s feeling. But if her face is pressed into a pillow, I can emote, “Her muffled moans fill the room as she struggled to breathe through the pillow he presses her face into.”
[12:55:55] Persephone Bolero: In both cases I add sound, and in the second case, I add detail to that sound. But those are just two senses. What about taste, smell, and touch? Perhaps this roleplay scenario takes place with a dingy straw pillow on a soiled mattress. There are all kinds of sensory details to explore there, like this….
[12:56:32] Persephone Bolero: Her muffled moans fill the room as she struggled to breathe through the pillow he presses her face into. The fabric brushed roughly against her cheeks and nose, as his weight pressed her body into the acrid stain on the center of the mattress. She squirmed feebly beneath him, gripping the edge of the mattress, as his thrusts slapped against her backside.
[12:57:16] Persephone Bolero: I have every sense there but taste. So, when you are writing an emote, try to get another sense in. I use a sex scene as an example, but this could be used in all kinds of roleplay. When your captor is shocking you in the electric chair, add a detail about the smell of burning flesh. When your character eats a strawberry her friend gave her, describe the sweet juiciness of it, in addition to expressing her thanks and smiling with gratitude.
[12:58:02] Persephone Bolero: These details SHOW a lot about your character’s thoughts and emotions, which are can be used by the person or people with whom you roleplay without anyone metagaming. It's kind of what Mad was saying earlier.
[12:58:07] Persephone Bolero: Mad, you have a comment?
[12:58:15] Mad (aliya.sahara): .
[12:58:23] Mad (aliya.sahara): no
[12:58:29] Persephone Bolero: Okay.
[12:58:40] Persephone Bolero: Lastly, another tool we use is dialogue. I save it for last because there’s not a lot to say about it. I do find punctuation is very helpful in determining what is said, and I encourage people to use some form of it to separate quotes from action or other information in an emote.
[12:59:05] Persephone Bolero: However, of course, you can use dialogue to impart information to other players. Quite simply, your character says things to other players. “I am very mad at you” is a perfectly legitimate way to express emotion in roleplay. However, you can really create a more vivid emote if you couple the dialogue with details that SHOW that anger. As in….
[12:59:38] Persephone Bolero: “I am very mad at you,” she said, glaring fiercely at the captive, her finger pointing at her angrily. “I think it’s time to introduce you to my good friend, Mr. Strappy.”
[13:00:04] Reni (serenityaeon): o.o
[13:00:08] Persephone Bolero: My main point about dialogue is not to rely on it too much. Much richer emotes can come more from what’s not said than what’s said. I think, anyways. Some might disagree.
[13:00:35] Persephone Bolero: Any questions, comments, or otherwise on that or anything else we discussed here?
[13:01:27] Khaing Zar (raigann): ((apologies - RL calls - thanks so much Persephone))
[13:01:40] Persephone Bolero: I appreciate how much you all engaged. There were some good points brought up about emoting I didn't think to include.
[13:01:51] Persephone Bolero: Thank you all for coming. And I very much look forward to collaborating creatively with you all in the jungle.
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