Guide to Role-Playing – by Cambro

I Think, Therefore I Am
Role-playing begins with creating your character. Unless you're a "Chinese Gold Farmer", you probably put some amount of effort into choosing your character's name and physical characteristics. Congratulations, you're on your way!

In a Manner of Speaking...
Most of us are familiar with IM speak: "how r u? fine atm. gtg c-ya" Great for text messaging and really quick IMs. But role-playing is all about keeping the mood, about not breaking the illusion. Generally, you want to use complete words and not use numbers.

You should think about what kind of personality your character might have: formal or informal, stern, happy, excitable, moody, etc. "Rude" would also be a personality, but since being rude isn't acceptable IRL (in real life) or in game, best not to have that kind of personality. Try to match the way you speak to the personality you want your character to have.

Help Me, I'm Emoting!
Of course you can't hear someone's tone of voice with just words. That's why online we use smileys or Emoticons to communicate our mood. But, in RP, that breaks the illusion of being in character. Many people prefer to communicate emotion by setting it off with *. For example:
*winks*
*smiles*
*Teesah gives Cambro a withering stare.*

In WoW, you can use /e as well. As Cambro, typing "/e nods with understanding" will display "Cambro nods with understanding".

If I Can Be Frank...
Sometimes you need to say something that will break character. Usually people will set these comments in (( )). For example,
((sorry, phone's ringing. be right back))
Speaking this way is called OOC, or Out Of Character.
If a guild is an RP guild, the Guild channel should always be in-character, with very little OOC comments. Usually the guild will have its own private channel for casual chatting and smileys.

What's My Line?
J.R.R. Tolkien didn't just create the Elfish and Dwarven languages, he created the people and their histories; as a linguist, he believed every language is tightly connected to the people who speak it.

A third, deeper layer of RP is to create a back-story for your character. This is of course optional to RP, but it can be very enjoyable. If you've played other Warcraft games, you may be familiar with some of the lore the games are based on. The most obvious is of course that the alliance and the horde have fought wars for years but had to work together against the Burning Legion...which explains why relations between horde and alliance are currently, since the Burning Legion is gone but old feelings are coming back.

Cambro didn't exist until World of Warcraft. Where has he been? What does he think of the horde? Of other members of the alliance? Why is he warrior? Here is what I came up with for myself:

Cambro grew up in Westfall on a farm and so was too far away from the wars to really get involved. The Defias Brotherhood caused a lot of trouble in the area though, so he had to deal with them. This is where his sense of justice and desire to fight for what's right comes from. The Defias burned his family's farm to the ground, and he was the only one in his family left, so he left for Stormwind to become a Warrior and fight for those who are unable to.

Even though he's from a rural area, Cambro speaks formally because he is very absorbed in his training and has spent a lot of time in the city. He also very rarely drinks alcohol, because it dulls the senses which he always wants to keep sharp. Occasionally though, you'll find him dancing and laughing because that's a part of him he still has from rural life on the farm.

See how easy that is? All it takes is a bit of thought.

Take advantage of role-playing and you'll find there's a lot of fun to be had. Enjoy!