This "lecture" was made for our guild's forum (redspear.forumotion.com), but I thought that it maybe could be useful on this forum as well?
The Redspear Horde was originally just a project me, my boyfriend and a friend I knew from the Alliance started in the goal of getting more common and active RP on the Horde side. Therefore, we planned to make an article who descripes simply what roleplay is and how you do it in World of Warcraft.
I know that it perhaps would match better to add this in the roleplaying section, but then on the other hand, if it is added here, I believe that people who normally would not have a look at such subjects would have a peek. I don't know, but I just kind of think that the oldest roleplaying server on wow Europe kind of lacked somthing like this and I that it'll give people more insight, some considerations or at least some entertainment. Anyways, here goes and I hope you like it! :)

How to Roleplay

Our guild is on a role-playing server, it should nearly be expected, that people on the server knows how to play in character.
Still only few actually do so. You may ask if people don't like to, or why even play role-play, what the point with it is? My personal arguments for role-playing would be, that it makes the world of warcraft so far more exciting and interesting.
Blizzard made a great fantasy story, characters and a whole world with vendors, clothes, pets, emotes etc., so why not use it for more than just fill out? Since you have a character you like to spend a lot of time as, then why not form him or her a personality, relationships, feelings and a background story?

If you are one of the people who want to role-play, but don't really know how to get started, then here's some tips for you:

Starting a character:

First thing to do is to consider how your character is going to be like. Evil? Friendly? Sneaky? Naive? Which class is the character? Rich, middle-class or poor?

In your pursuit to create a character with appeal, there's some considerations you should do:
World of Warcrafts role-players have a tendency to create personalities that in one or more ways are contrasted to the official lore behind their particular race and/or class.
Therefore, before you go on to make a good warlock, an evil draenei or a city night elf, remember that a lot of players have already done that before and surprisingly few actually make a character that follows his or her racial/class-wise lore – besides, going back to basics can give you an excellent basis to make more advanced characters and personalities later.

It's important to know the basic about your race its lore, since most people know about their own culture and background history – not only about their own personal background.
The intro cinematic of WoW tells a little about what have happened, and here and there, books is placed all around the world with info about the past and history. By checking out www.wowwiki.com you can also find all you want to know, easily. So take your time to "get into the world of warcraft".

Next step is to try find a race which reminds you about your own temper. Easiest start on role-play, is to find a race which reminds you about yourself. Have the same temper and character features as yourself. Many beginners picks the race they find most appealing to the eye without even considering the racial background and characteristics. Often, the races are not what they seem to be.
The draeneis and blood elves are perfect examples for that: The draeneis looks like demons, especially the men, but behind the facade they are very empathic, loyal and noble creatures. This is also why this race has no warlocks or rogues. To contrast those humanoids, we have the blood elves who looks like the princes and princesses of a true fairytale – stunningly beautiful creatures with fair skin, high society cities and architecture, but behind the scenery they are the most vain and toxic people.

It is not wrong to make contrasting characters, but if you know how the chosen race normally is like, it is a shame to act completely opposite – unless you of course can find a sensible reason for why being so.
But at least, do not be surprised if your surroundings frown at you – that is to expect.

Generally humans or orcs are the most easy race to start as, since they have many “faces" and we all know how humans in general is like. Humans also have the most contrastful classes: holy priests, paladins, noble warriors, wise mages or sly rogues and warlocks. Orcs are slightly more primitive, being: hunters, shamans, warriors, warlocks or rogues, but still very easy to relate yourself with, if you imagine living in a more poor society in a fantasy dark age time.

When you have chosen a character, then you're ready to last step of the construction: look. You need to decide how the past has developed your persons appearance. Is he an old, experienced warrior, he will probably have a bit more scars and scruffy look, than if he's a smart, stylish dressed charmer, working in the city's most expensive restaurant as a waiter.

Playing in character

Now, you've made the character, decided a personality and decided the look. you're now ready to join the world and meet other people. easiest way to get in contact, is to take a seat in an inn and keep your eyes open. try offer a drink or ask them a question. Remember that your character only know what it hears. You do NOT know peoples name, age, profession, class or so, before someone tells you.

Keep in mind that what your avatar does shows his personality more than what he actually says. Also, it is very important not to write directly what the character is thinking. Always write emotes like you're a another person, watching your avatar while he's acting – you write what you see, not what your character is thinking, even though you know it, you'll have to express it by explaining the reactions. Here's two examples:

A) Cortak thinks the music is very loud.

B) Cortak covers his ears for the music, groaning in complain.

The first emote is very short and tells directly what he's thinking, while the second just as clearly shows that Cortak thinks that the music is too loud, but without mentioning it directly. Even further, it shows what he does – this is acting and expressing, which adds way more life and personality to the character than by writing the simple, mind-reading-emote.
Even many small emotes, for instance explaining the characters personal ticks, adds life to the character. For instance emotes like this:

“Patricia takes a drag on her cigarette, before tapping it with her finger over the ash tray. “

This is absolutely great for your surroundings, because it will help them figuring out who your character is like. Small habits, ticks and movements which apparently are irrelevant isn't useless at all. It is catching people's attention and tempts them to ask into who your character is, and when you've made a new character, a typical desire would be to tell people who you are and tell about your background. Remember then, that patience is your keyword for good RP!

RP fights

It is one of the parts of RP which has coursed most disagreement and conflicts in the game. Some people find it unrealistic that a lvl 2 rogue could actually manage steeling from an experienced soldier on lvl 80 who's fought several battles, travelled through the world etc. In general, I believe, that the best solution would be to ignore the number of level, keep that out of character in other words, and pretend that you are at an equal level, all of you.

When fighting, it is important not to take over the other person's reaction or decide what is happening. You can only try, attempt or hit something towards the target – not do it without giving the other player a chance to response on your emote. This is generally a rule for everything you do in the emotes. Here's an example:

“Zanoke grabs his gun and shoots Thalvanir in the arm. Bang!”

Now, this is a classic “god emote”. Absolutely unfair to Thalvanir, who can't give his own personal response. A more fair solution would be:

“Zanoke grabs his gun and shoots towards Thalvanir's arm.”

Now, Thalvanir can decide if he'd like to dodge the bullet or gets hit. Most realistic he would get hit, since the bullet is already in the arm before a human ear can react on the explosion, but he could perhaps figure what would happen as soon as he sees Zanoke raise the gun, and respond:

“Thalvanir swiftly cover himself behind his shield, as soon as Zanoke raises the gun, letting the bullet change direction, hitting the mirror on the wall, which crackles into thousand sharp pieces onto the floor.”

The same could be done in a more peaceful scenery, not only action RP. Try have a look at these examples:

“George bows forwards, kissing Lilly on the lips.”

Now, this rarely coarse as many troubles as in the more intense action sceneries, but what if Lilly would prefer avoiding the kiss? She off course could push him away, but a more idealistic emote would had been:

“George bows forwards to kiss Lilly on the lips.”

Then she would have a fair chance to turn her head before he could manage doing so.

How to make emotes:

All these emotes are quite simple and funny to make up. It's just to type /e and press space and the text will turn orange and start with your character's name. This means that you wont have to start with a capital letter in the sentence, or it'll look like this:

“Lisa Starts walking.”

instead of:

“Lisa stars walking.”

Also, if you have to describe something that belongs to your character, you can start the sentence with an 's. This will make it appear like this:

“Igrah's pet begins to bark and wave the tail, jumping energetic around in circles.”

Can you learn anything by RP?

Since role-play is a psychological game, it is a funny way to find out more about yourself and other people. By playing another personality or just playing yourself in a world with different politics and points of view, you find some of your own personal limits and gains a more wide view upon yourself and the human nature. For instance, if you lack self-confidence real life, you can try test yourself by making a pretty character and see how people are responding. Then you can consider if it's the fact that the character is handsome, or if it's something in you personality which changes, and if you could use it in your real life. As well you can try the exactly opposite, if you're a very self-confident and out-going person, you can try make a very shy person. It might start a certain interest in you towards other people and how they interact. Or Perhaps even increase your sense of empathy, which I doubt is a negative thing.

Can RP affect your real-life emotions?

Yes, in some degree, it can. If you can't see the differences between IC and OOC, you can get personally offended and hurt. Also, if you like to RP and you get friends in the game, it's very important to beware not to prefer them above the friends real life, or you will end up quite lonesome one day. Your real life is way more valuable and shall always come as a first priority.
On the other hand, if you have friends real life and invites them to role-play, it can be a very interesting hobby to share, just like any other kind of interest. Just remember to do other things as well, since it's pretty hard for people outside this “sub-culture” to find it fascinating.

For example, I believe that every player who've played a romance, has in some degree been shocked by the way it effects him or her personally. It is quite normal, but keep in mind that it is and will always stay as role-play, never something real.
So if you can't handle to lose an IC relationship, you should consider not to play a handsome character, or just never let your character fall in love.

In general, always remember, that what ever happens in character, is not a personal attack on you. Don't take it personally out of character, no matter if it's love or anger you meet in the game. It is something that you learn by maturing and develop as a role-player.

Why play RP in world of Warcraft and not live RP?

Especially RP in the world of Warcraft is very rich of possibilities, since you are not limited physical and economically in the same way as you are when playing live RP.
It isn't easy to play a two meter tall, dreadful orc if you're in fact only the 1,60 m tall boy on 14 years. Either it's cool to play a seducing, stunningly beautiful lady if you're a chubby guy on 24 years.
It for sure is funny to watch people working it out, and with a bit of imagination and self-irony, everything is possible, but in general, the world of Warcraft breaks the limits so you can get the visual effects which pen and paper and live RP can't offer you.

I hope you could use these tips and guidelines, or at least that it has confirmed or changed some of your thoughts about what RP is.

Written by Rikkitazi & Ngozi

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Q u o t e:

Also, if you have to describe something that belongs to your character, you can start the sentence with an 's. This will make it appear like this:

“Igrah's pet begins to bark and wave the tail, jumping energetic around in circles.”

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This is the sad part of emoting... since there's an automatic space, it comes out like this...

"Igrah 's pet suddenly dies of a stroke." This forces us to circumvent the possessive with emotes like:
"Igrah watches her pet suddenly die of a stroke."

If Blizzard could change that, it would be great.

Awesome, everyone who starts on a RP server should read this!

Agreed, please, post this on the official RP forum, as a topic there. It's perfectly good guide with examples and such, I was thinking of doing something like that myself but meh... Holei for lazy people!

As I mentioned on ER.EU, I personally think this is too biased to be considered a good guide. Maybe I'll do one myself one day.

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Q u o t e:
As I mentioned on ER.EU, I personally think this is too biased to be considered a good guide. Maybe I'll do one myself one day.

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What a humble attitude, as always. Your guide would be better then? Oh I can't wait.


Imo it's a good guide. Thanks for writing it.

Well, I volunteered to correct it at first, but I might as well make my own. Stay tuned. ;)

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Q u o t e:



"Igrah watches her pet suddenly die of a stroke."

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This does imply though that everyone around Igrah can recognize the symptoms of a stroke in Igrah's specific type of pet. Which brings it closer to the subjective descriptions of characters you sometimes find in people's rsp:
"Yiss has a third eye that opens her awareness to other dimensions."

Whereas a more objective description would be along the lines of:
"A deep wrinkle can be seen on Yiss's forehead."

Just like in real life, you never actually see the cause of an action (nor to someone's specific qualities like third or fourth eyes) but always the effect. In the specific case of Igrah's pet dying of a stroke wile the cold-hearted Igrah just watches can be written into an emote like this:
"Igrah watches her pet twist and turn in agony until <petname> lies down dead at Igrah's feet."

This would get people interested in finding out what it was that actually killed the pet, and no immediate answers are given. Which leaves the options open for... you guessed it: Roleplay! By Igrah's inaction in trying to save her pet from a horrible death, the other people around can investigate the cause of death and begin poking the carcass and come up with all manners of theories as to the death of the pet.

Or if you actually want people to think along the lines that a stroke killed the pet, you can write the emote something like this:
"Igrah watches her pet writhe in agony as if suffering a stroke until the pet drops dead where it was standing."

By using the words "as if" you get people to think along the lines you want them to think, in this case as to the cause of the death. And all the while you leave other options open, i.e. if someone wants to investigate then the cause of death might turn into something else entirely (only the symptoms were similiar to that of a stroke in this case).

The best roleplay I've ever experienced has always been with people who can circumvent the direct cause of their behaviour and allow me to see their behaviour through my own perspective but still getting the message they want through to me. Like Ngozi and his awesome monkey-likeness-roleplaying made me actually wonder exactly who, or what, his parents were all the while Ngozi is just another insane troll.

And all in all, Rikki's guide to roleplaying is exactly what was needed. Thank you Rikki for your great summary.

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Q u o t e:
As I mentioned on ER.EU, I personally think this is too biased to be considered a good guide. Maybe I'll do one myself one day.

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Excuse me, but could you explain what exactly this article lacks or what the problem is. You say that it is too subjective. Could you please elaborate or perhaps use som examples?

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Q u o t e:


This does imply though that everyone around Igrah can recognize the symptoms of a stroke in Igrah's specific type of pet.

"Igrah watches her pet twist and turn in agony until <petname> lies down dead at Igrah's feet."

This would get people interested in finding out what it was that actually killed the pet, and no immediate answers are given.

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You're absolutely right, Yisselda. I didn't choose my example well. Thanks for correcting me.

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Q u o t e:


This does imply though that everyone around Igrah can recognize the symptoms of a stroke in Igrah's specific type of pet. Which brings it closer to the subjective descriptions of characters you sometimes find in people's rsp:
"Yiss has a third eye that opens her awareness to other dimensions."

Whereas a more objective description would be along the lines of:
"A deep wrinkle can be seen on Yiss's forehead."

Just like in real life, you never actually see the cause of an action (nor to someone's specific qualities like third or fourth eyes) but always the effect. In the specific case of Igrah's pet dying of a stroke wile the cold-hearted Igrah just watches can be written into an emote like this:
"Igrah watches her pet twist and turn in agony until <petname> lies down dead at Igrah's feet."

This would get people interested in finding out what it was that actually killed the pet, and no immediate answers are given. Which leaves the options open for... you guessed it: Roleplay! By Igrah's inaction in trying to save her pet from a horrible death, the other people around can investigate the cause of death and begin poking the carcass and come up with all manners of theories as to the death of the pet.

Or if you actually want people to think along the lines that a stroke killed the pet, you can write the emote something like this:
"Igrah watches her pet writhe in agony as if suffering a stroke until the pet drops dead where it was standing."

By using the words "as if" you get people to think along the lines you want them to think, in this case as to the cause of the death. And all the while you leave other options open, i.e. if someone wants to investigate then the cause of death might turn into something else entirely (only the symptoms were similiar to that of a stroke in this case).

The best roleplay I've ever experienced has always been with people who can circumvent the direct cause of their behaviour and allow me to see their behaviour through my own perspective but still getting the message they want through to me. Like Ngozi and his awesome monkey-likeness-roleplaying made me actually wonder exactly who, or what, his parents were all the while Ngozi is just another insane troll.

And all in all, Rikki's guide to roleplaying is exactly what was needed. Thank you Rikki for your great summary.

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You're welcome. I know that there's a lot of ways to play a character, but what I tried to do, was to keep it as short as possible. As you see, it's already very long and it's not easy to write a "manual" of how to roleplay.
But I tried to make a few typical examples and then I know that by playing with other roleplayers you get inspired by experiencing their way of acting. So I tried to keep it focused on the elementary basis knowledge and considerations and then hoping that people would learn more by practising. :)

Ngozi is pretty skilled both when it comes to explain in a very literaly way and he has a rich vocabulary and last, but not least, he writes incredibly fast. All this is very useful when playing in character.

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Q u o t e:


Excuse me, but could you explain what exactly this article lacks or what the problem is. You say that it is too subjective. Could you please elaborate or perhaps use som examples?

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I think what she meant was that sometimes you can see a subjective generalization like when you explain that humans and orcs are the easiest races to start roleplaying as. In which case you give room for your own opinion (which of course isn't wrong to do at all as long as you're aware of it yourself) since other people do think that it's easier to play belfs or nelfs than orcs (thank be to all i.e. fantasy novels that are littered with humans and elves).

I'd say though that under the circumstances the discussion of whether or not your guide to rp is subjective isn't relevant. This is still the first real good guide (especially for beginners) and as any first guide it will be changed due to people asking questions and constantly trying to add to it.

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Q u o t e:


I think what she meant was that sometimes you can see a subjective generalization like when you explain that humans and orcs are the easiest races to start roleplaying as. In which case you give room for your own opinion (which of course isn't wrong to do at all as long as you're aware of it yourself) since other people do think that it's easier to play belfs or nelfs than orcs (thank be to all i.e. fantasy novels that are littered with humans and elves).

I'd say though that under the circumstances the discussion of whether or not your guide to rp is subjective isn't relevant. This is still the first real good guide (especially for beginners) and as any first guide it will be changed due to people asking questions and constantly trying to add to it.

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Hmm, I guess you're right about that example, thank you. I'll change it, if you have a suggestion for how I could explain it more subjective. What I hoped was that the point would be understood like that the humans and orcs often have more faces and stereotypes compared to the other races. Of course I do not by that mean that the other races have only one stereotype and people shall play their character like that, but I just think that it's more common that people find it harder to stereotype for instance a human, compared to for instance a night elf or troll. So on that way, you can, if you want to follow the lore, "allowe yourself more" as a human. If you know what I mean? :)

No problem.

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Q u o t e:

Easiest start on role-play, is to find a race which reminds you about yourself. Have the same temper and character features as yourself.

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This is simply saying "play yourself, it's easy". Like I said, Mary Sue much?

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Q u o t e:
The draeneis looks like demons

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Not to me, they don't.

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we have the blood elves who looks like the princes and princesses of a true fairytale

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Nope, not to me, they don't.

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Generally humans or orcs are the most easy race to start as

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Personally, I'd find it more easy to play a troll then an orc.

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Q u o t e:
When you have chosen a character, then you're ready to last step of the construction: look.

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That's the last stage? Where's the background and personality? Fleshing out the character?

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Q u o t e:
In general, I believe, that the best solution would be to ignore the number of level, keep that out of character in other words, and pretend that you are at an equal level, all of you.

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Good that you pointed out it's your own opinion. It would seem more wise to me, however, to say that all those involved in any such activity should be in agreement as to the system you go with rather then to just suggest a specific one.

Rikki, with that one explanation you just removed the necessity to change the line I brought up as an example.

I think you should just leave everything as it is right now. It's way too early to start changing things without first hearing what more people think. And even if you do change your guide then there'll still be some people who won't be satisfied with whatever you do, and others will always say they can do better.

So I say, just sit back and enjoy the discussions this will lead to. And if you think something should be changed in the future then you can just change it the way you want to change it (having learnt from the discussions).

Alrighty, thank you for the advice. I look forward to see what it might bring. Hopefully somthing posetive! :)

What a fantastic thing, about time. I'm not going to claim I would have eventually done one or that I can provide any useful criticism. Pats on the back and champaigne all round - it's a girl! etc. etc.

Few nit picks with the nit-picks

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Q u o t e:
The draeneis looks like demons

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See, see, they do to me. And I think its important that people recognise that they do becuase it can give you oppertunity to make a more interesting character. Every time I see a draenei female with black mageweave leggings and a swashbuckler's shirt flirting I facepalm, not just at her but becuase nobody is saying "you and them Eredar....aweful similar aint ya?" Need more contraversy people. A wee bit off topic but I thought I'd mention it.

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Q u o t e:
Personally, I'd find it more easy to play a troll then an orc.

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Really? for a beginner RPer though? I think you might be confusing ease with fun, I've tried both (didnt go for either particularly) and the troll's accent was pretty hard to do properly, and I mean properly. Though whether orcs/humans are the easiest is debateable especially after saying roleplay someone similar to yourself - not all people RPing trolls scamper about in the nip.

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Q u o t e:
In general, I believe, that the best solution would be to ignore the number of level, keep that out of character in other words, and pretend that you are at an equal level, all of you.

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However I do agree this might be too opinionated. There was a post knocking about a while back that mentioned RP fighting and such, it said something along the lines of "a higher level has earned the right to be more powerful than a lower" whether you take advantage of this (and I most certainly dont) is your choice.

I think Evangelin should have elaborated a bit more in order to back up a statement like "too biased to be considered a good guide". I might be biased but I think its a spankingly brilliant guide and as said before, everyone should read it, even if you think you're a good RPer becuase we all have something to learn.

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Q u o t e:

See, see, they do to me. And I think its important that people recognise that they do becuase it can give you oppertunity to make a more interesting character. Every time I see a draenei female with black mageweave leggings and a swashbuckler's shirt flirting I facepalm, not just at her but becuase nobody is saying "you and them Eredar....aweful similar aint ya?" Need more contraversy people. A wee bit off topic but I thought I'd mention it.

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Well it's actually somthing I have as a fact even from Blizzard. I have the DVD with making of the Burning Crusade. I only inform what is their intension and morale with the new alliance and horde races. The point with the appearance tricking people. :)

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Q u o t e:
Really? for a beginner RPer though? I think you might be confusing ease with fun, I've tried both (didnt go for either particularly) and the troll's accent was pretty hard to do properly, and I mean properly. Though whether orcs/humans are the easiest is debateable especially after saying roleplay someone similar to yourself - not all people RPing trolls scamper about in the nip.

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I did not say that to me it is prefered? I believe that I actually also mention that the easiest race to relate to is the orcs and humans (generally). Didn't I?

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Q u o t e:
However I do agree this might be too opinionated. There was a post knocking about a while back that mentioned RP fighting and such, it said something along the lines of "a higher level has earned the right to be more powerful than a lower" whether you take advantage of this (and I most certainly dont) is your choice.

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I really hope that Karghos will try explain this. I admit that I have rarely been in these kind of fights. Keep in mind that I have written this with help from other people - so it's not only me who should have the honor for this text. I wrote it, but Ngozi has edited it and exactly this part is somthing I've discussed with Karghos. :)

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Q u o t e:
I think Evangelin should have elaborated a bit more in order to back up a statement like "too biased to be considered a good guide". I might be biased but I think its a spankingly brilliant guide and as said before, everyone should read it, even if you think you're a good RPer becuase we all have something to learn.

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Hehe, well thank you all of you who support this idea. It's such things that makes it worth spending time on it. <3