Recreational roleplay (or 'RP') far predates the advent of the Internet. You act as a pre-created/selected character and interact with others in a given environment, building in-character relationships and an over-arching plot.
If there was a golden rule of roleplay, it would have to be the "no god-modding" policy. God-modding generally has two levels. The first involves a sentiment that freely taking control of another individual's character is a major breach of RP etiquette and should never be done. The second is contingent on the nature of the roleplay; in the case of a setting where the characters have supernatural or otherwise abnormal abilities, this policy also refers to the creation of an "invincible" character that is impervious to the magic or physical attacks of the others.
Both instances are frustrating to encounter because of the threat to group cohesion and negative atmosphere god-modding tends to create. To use Livejournal-based roleplay communities as a specific example, some list "no god-modding" as a rule, whereas others leave it unspoken since the policy pre-dates internet RPs and is therefore expected to be common sense at this point. In the first case, this is what Wallace refers to as 'the sign on the door,' since it's listed among the basic rules of the roleplay and players are expected to uphold those standards. An example of what Wallace describes as 'the arched brow' effect, however, would involve the understood policy about always remaining in-character (or IC); there are subtle ways the other players try and correct this behavior, ranging from having their character comment IC that so-and-so is doing something that "isn't like them," to anonymous comments left on the player's journal.
In Thomas Hobbes' book The Leviathan, he identifies the primary enforcer of rules and regulations and the source of absolute authority in society by using the mythical sea creature as an allegory. The idea is that we subject ourselves to governance for the sake of maintaining societal order. Since the aforementioned roleplay communities function on a similar level as traditional asynchronous discussion forums, the Leviathan makes itself known in the form of GMs and "moderators," who monitor and facilitate the progression of the game. Sanctioning takes the form of firm warnings, loss of specific characters, or complete removal/banning from the game. In most cases, however, there is no need for a moderator to take direct action because the other players will attempt to modify the offensive behavior through indirect means, and the potential for ostracism from such a close-knit community is usually enough to force compliance.
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1 comment:
I really liked your topic for this post. You took rules from offline RPing and nicely transitioned them into the rules of online RPing. I agree with your assessment of the different Leviathans that govern roleplaying online, and the livejournal example was good because the enforcers from there can be generalized to include many other forms of online roleplaying and still be accurate.
In my experience by far the biggest enforcer of social norms in roleplaying is the eyebrow effect of other players.
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