Post by Ryan on Jul 23, 2013 5:56:26 GMT -5
The Comprehensive /me Guide
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The use of the /me command is essential when playing on even light RP
servers. It's a tool that can be used by beginners and experts alike,
for simple tasks such as displaying a character's basic actions to more
advanced roleplay, such as portraying the emotions, how they look, and
the environments they play out in.
Please note that this is simply a guide - not a rulebook
that outlines the exact use of /me and every act of misuse for the
command, but my own perspective on how this commands should be used. I
know very well that some people will disagree with some of the content
here, and that's completely fine - everybody has their own personal
touches as to how they use this command.
What this guide aims to do is to teach new players how the command
works, and methods of portraying different types of information about
their characters, and the environment that their characters interact in.
This guide will also correct some of the minor, and some of the horrid
mistakes that sometimes pop up in /me.
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Grammar
/me's are always in the third person. What this means is that you should never write
a /me and use pronouns such as 'my' or 'I' as, when the /me is put
through, the resulting sentence will be a grammatical disaster. /me's
should always use third person pronouns: his, he, him for male
characters and her, she for female characters.
/me taps his fingers rapidly against the keyboard, as he types up a guide.
The sentence above will be displayed like this when input:
Character_Name (all text after /me is displayed here)
So...
Ryan taps his fingers rapidly against the keyboard, as he types up a guide.
Just remember, when writing /me's, it's as if you're writing a story about a character. You aren't writing about your actions, you're writing about your character's actions. Using first person pronouns ends up like this:
/me taps my fingers rapidly against the keyboard, as I type up a guide.
Ryan taps my fingers rapidly against the keyboard, as I type up a guide.
Unless the character of Ryan is forcing you (as a person) to
type a guide, this variant is blatantly incorrect. On the subject of
grammar, there's one more issue that occasionally pops up:
capitalization. When writing out a /me, the first word after /me should not be capitalized. Here's some examples:
/me Raises the microphone to his mouth and calmly speaks into it.
Would come out as...
Ryan Raises the microphone to his mouth and calmly speaks into it.
As you can see, the sentence above is grammatically incorrect;
'raises' is only a verb, and requires no capitalization. The first word
after a /me should always start with a lowercase letter.
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Purpose
The purpose of the /me command is, for the most part, to describe a
character's actions. Some people will insist that /me should be used
solely for that purpose, but I believe that /me can also be used for
descriptions relating to your own character, as well as statements
regarding your character's current position.
Actions:
The type of /me's that you will be most frequently using are those
describing the direct actions of your character. It is as simple as
typing out /me, then describing a verb (action) that your character is
carrying out, ensuring that the basic grammatical conventions above are
followed. Simply:
/me raises the cool shot of vodka to his lips and downs it swiftly, grunting in discomfort afterwards.
Dmitry Vollensk raises the cool shot of vodka to his lips and downs it swiftly, grunting in discomfort afterwards.
Descriptions:
And now, the controversy. Some people will insist that /me's are
strictly reserved for actions, but I refute that. /me is simply a way of
having the script type out a sentence beginning with 'Character_Name'.
The options you have after 'Character_Name' are much vaster than just
verbs and actions. /me's and /do's overlap in a variety of areas, which
will be covered later on. Here's how you can use them for such:
/me appears to be in his mid fifties. He has a stout stomach and is beginning to go bald, with snow-grey hair.
Ryan appears to be in his mid fifties. He has a stout stomach and is beginning to go bald, with snow-grey hair.
I must repeat, /me's and /do's overlap - people will insist that the
above /me is heresy and should be a /do, but really: have a look at that
/me in correspondence with a fairly identical /do:
/me - Ryan appears to be in his mid fifties. He has a stout stomach and is beginning to go bald, with snow-grey hair.
/do - Appears to be in his mid fifties. He has a stout stomach and is beginning to go bald, with snow-grey hair. ((Ryan))
As you can see, the /me actually makes more sense when reading it
out. Sure, you can type "Ryan" at the start of the /do, but that's
just more work. Character descriptions in /me are perfectly valid.
Statements:
This is very similar to the above section, but /me's can also be used
for statements about your character's current action or position.
You'll probably only be using these to describe what your character is
doing to people who are just entering an RP. Statements will generally
begin with the word 'is'. Take this hypothetical situation; the
characters of Lorenzo Laurelli and John Elliott are both drunk and
are having a fist fight, in a bar. Another character enters the roleplay
by entering the interior; I would throw out this quick /me for the
person just arriving.
/me is visibly in a physical confrontation with Giacomo
Lorenzo Laurelli is visibly in a physical confrontation with Giacomo.
These aren't particularly common but are useful for updating players who have just entered a roleplay.
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Misuse
There are a variety of ways that /me's can be misused - ranging from minor mistakes to offences worthy of Imprionment
Powergaming:
Here's an excerpt straight from the server rules:
Powergaming has two definitions : 1. Forcing another into a RP Situation
2. Doing unrealistic things, that you can't do in real life.
1. Forcing RP
ex : You want to kill someone, let's name him Travis.
/me Aims his deagle towards Travis's head and blows his head off -WRONG
You have to give him the chance to resist
ex: /me Aims his deagle to Travis's head and tries to shoot him.
/do S/F ?
Travis : /do F Because it's too far and he is hidden behind a bin.
He can resist but he has to do so with realistic roleplay.
The second example: doing unrealistic things.
/me takes a can and throws it with full power, and it lands on the moon. - .WRONG.
No one could do that In Real Life. You must be realistic.
The first kind of powergaming that can result from /me's are guaranteed successful actions. Here is an example of a powergame
Aubrey Jullabong charges
forward at Jarrah in a hostile manner and thrusts his arm forward,
smashing his fist straight into Jarrah's nose.
That's powergaming. With that kind of /me, you're ensuring that your
action is successful, even though it's very viable that the character of
Jarrah could dodge such a charge. To avoid you PG, you do not 'do' an
action that would have a consequence on another character, you attempt
it. The word attempt is so important that it deserves those fancy text
effects, because placing that little word into a /me shifts it from
powergaming to completely viable. Let me show you:
forced onto Jarrah, therefore Jarrah has a chance to counter-roleplay
and avoid the attack. Since Aubrey has made an attempt, it's up to
Jarrah to provide a counter-roleplay with /me. Aubrey could do...
Jarrah Bullarong would yelp in fear, before scrambling out of Aubrey's pathway, ducking for cover.
And there we go! A powergame and a report successfully averted; now
both players are free to continue the roleplay. Just remember to act
realistically; you wouldn't be able to dodge every single blow thrown at
you, so for the sake of good RP, don't be afraid to lose sometimes.
There's an even worse way to powergame, as mentioned in the above example taken from the rules. Remember...
What's even worse than forcing an action? Forcing the consequence
of the action. Under no circumstances should you ever decide the
consequence of an action, for another person's character. That's
powergaming in its most essential form. Pretty much, just refrain from
anything along the lines of...
Never do it. Ask in a /do or let the other person roleplay the
effects of an action. If they aren't properly roleplaying an action,
such as not being in pain after being shot, report the player - never
force a consequence onto them for any reason like that.
Undetectable actions:
There are certain types of actions that are in no way detectible or
noticeable to other players, and do not belong in /me's. A primary
example of these actions are a character's thoughts. Here are some
examples of /me's that shouldn't be typed out:
/me is feeling sad.
Zoey Fraser is feeling sad.
/me thinks to herself, "I wonder what happened to that Morgan Bing bloke."
Zoey Fraser thinks to herself, "I wonder what happened to that Morgan Bing bloke."
I'm not saying that you shouldn't roleplay your character as being
sad; quite the contrary. What I'm saying is, that with /me's, you should
find some way to visibly represent your character being sad, for
example.
/me tilts her head down, staring at her feet with glum eyes. She lets out a sigh.
Those are the kind of actions somebody would perform whilst being
sad; so they can be represented with a /me. "/me is feeling sad" is a
pointless /me because other characters have no idea what your character
is feeling, mentally - what other characters can do is gauge how your
character is feeling, based off of their actions. Realistically, if
someone is frowning and constantly sighing, they give the impression
that they are sad - so that's how you should indicate sadness with your
/me's. Obviously, different emotions call for different actions, such as
happiness and laughter, anger and yelling, etc.
As for the "thinks to herself" /me, that /me is pointless, full stop.
You don't need to indicate with any command what your character is
thinking. If a character's thoughts become relevant to an RP, just state
so in dialogue: "I was just thinking about... (X, Y, Z)."
HOWEVER, that's not to say that, just because other players cannot
see an action, you shouldn't RP it. The above paragraphs are referring
to undetectable mental actions. Physical actions are just fine, such as:
/me curls up his toes in a nervous manner as he retrieves his pocket knife, glaring at the suited man.
Yurraworee Jullabong curls up his toes in a nervous manner as he retrieves his pocket knife, glaring at the suited man.
Nobody would see Yurraworee curling up his toes as he wears shoes,
but it's reflecting his emotions; particularly, nervousness. And that's
what roleplay is all about, carrying out a character's role, emotions
and personality - regardless of whether people see it or not.
Stating characters:
Whenever
possible, you should label other characters in your /me's with the
appropriate names, to avoid confusion. Take the following /me, for
example:
/me discharges multiple bullets into the man's chest, while grunting furiously.
Paul Fitzgerald discharges multiple bullets into the man's chest, while grunting furiously.
That /me
would be appropriate in a 1 on 1 roleplay, but in a group confrontation,
this could be the source of some confusion. Instead of 'the man', you
should include the appropriate proper noun - the person's name that you
are taking action against.
Paul Fitzgerald discharges multiple bullets into Lorenzo Laurelli's chest, while grunting furiously.
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I hope that this guide helped, if you have any questions, Feel free to PM me, or Contact me IG
Ryan.
