So you want to Roleplay?

Well below you’ll find helpful guide rules, and tips to help get you started.


[players name (e)] : “That damned orc is always making a fool out of himself” He’d state annoyingly to the other elves sitting in front of the taverns’ fireplace.



If your character does NOT speak elven, your character would be unable understand what the elven character is stating. Which means you would be NOT be able to use that information stated for roleplaying purposes. It’s considered metagaming and metagaming is BAD.



** - implies an emote or action.

Your emote will appear like this on the server. - Kendall quickly grasps her swords’ handle as she hears a startling sound coming from the nearby bushes.



Some players do not enjoy using the /me command and instead they will just place quotations whenever their character makes a statement and leave out the quotations when their characters are completing an action. For Example, [players name] : Kendall quickly grasps her swords’ handle as she hears a startling sound coming from the nearby bushes. “You have on till the count of three to show yourself!” she’d yell.



Rules


We have very strict rules on Mirrasil when it comes to roleplaying and just being apart of our community. If you follow these rules you’ll never have anything to worry about. Click here for viewing them.


No Metagaming

But what is metagaming? Metagaming is taking knowledge your character wouldn’t normally have access too and using it anyway. Example: You speak orcish and another player speaks elven. The elven character is plotting to kill you. You can’t use this knowledge in character (IC) which means you can’t just kill the elf for zero reason, you can not in character (IC) roleplay an event in which you get someone else to kill the elf, and you can not all of a sudden be suspicious of the elf without cause.



Another Example would be if you found out out of character (OOC) from forums, or just normal conversation about things going on with their characters that a secret war is being plotted. You can NEVER act out on that information unless you are apart of the secret war or whatever situation is going on.



We will have ZERO tolerance of people metagaming. It just causes a lot of drama, anger, and ruins roleplaying for a lot of people.



Keep IC & OOC feelings separate.

Just because you dislike/like someone ICly doesn’t mean you can attack, kill, insult, their character OOCly or the opposite. You dislike/like a person’s character and how they treat you, doesn’t mean that’s how they are or feel ICILY.


Consent Consent Consent

All battles, kidnappings, killings and “lovings” require consent. Why do they require consent? Well no one wants their character they have created to just get randomly killed because some random person just wanted to kill people that day. Nor does someone want their character to be kidnapped and locked away for however long it takes for the roleplay to play out. To get consent you can either discuss what you plan on doing OOC or you can slowly begin to engage the roleplaying scenario and if the other player feels comfortable with how the roleplaying is going they will just keep on roleplaying or tell you OOC that you are going to far or that they are uncomfortable with it.



Power Gaming

Playing a character that is just stupid strong, magically can’t die, and kills, kills, kills.

When you first start out on Mirrasil you will not be very strong, you lack any skill, and you must roleplay yourself to the top. So you can not just roleplay an instantly killing attack without allowing the other person to roleplay a response to your attack. You will not be a King, Queen, Princess, Prince and you are not Superman.



For a more detailed information on how to properly combat by roleplaying please review the Combat Guide Thread.



No Erotic Role Playing (ERP)

-No ERP on the server, no one wants to see/read your dirty messages to one another. Take that somewhere out and off the server, use other platforms like discord,skype something not on the server.





Tips on how not to be Boring



We all want to create an amazing and unique character, some of us do very well at creating such character and others struggle. So here are some tips for us that struggle.



Please for the love that is all and mighty do not play a character whom either A. Parents died B. Lost their Parents. C. All of the above. Almost everyone plays a character like this where their starting adventure is super depressing and not original. Instead, your character could just be seeking revenge on a lover who disappeared,so you have set your life goal to find him/her and end their life or force them to be with you for all eternity. You could even start roleplaying with a few friends to form a family. Hell, become the King of the Potato farm you plan on starting. Anything is better than A, B, and C.



Be detailed with your emotes! No one likes someone who puts zero effort into their actions when roleplaying. For example; [player name] hugs Bob. ←- Snore Fest try something like this instead; [player name] wraps his arms around Bob’s waist and snuggles his face against Bob’s chest. His right hand would begin to slowly creep down along Bob’s back and quickly gives his butt a nice firm squeeze. ←- Now that is one hell of a hug.



Know your character. Seriously, know the character you are playing as. You need to know their birthdate, age, eye color, favorite food, height, body size, sexuailty, personailty, and so on and so forth. The better you know your character the better you will be at playing them. It also makes roleplaying a lot easier and gives you a lot less to think on before responding to another character.



Don’t play a Mary Sue character that does no wrong and has no flaws. No one is perfect and neither should your character. Let’s say you play as a teacher, who helps the students and the community greatly on a daily bases but at night you become a complete angry drunk who secretly really hates the kids and and the community. Or you are dumb as a rock, the town people mock and bully you. What they don’t know is that you are struggling to learn how to read and write or you are pretending to be as dumb as rock and only your closest friend knows this because the two of you are plotting something huge.











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• The God Mode Sue – a character with extreme, unbelievable, god-like power. Will often make up powers to get her/his way.

• The Sympathetic Sue – a character with a HORRIBLE childhood/backstory. She was raped by her parents, then her parents were killed by orcs, then her parents came back as undead and attacked her. This Sue screams “PITY ME!”

• The Jerk Sue – A sue with a nasty personality. She will insult, demean, and otherwise belittle everyone she meets. Why? Because negative attention is still attention, dammit! For females, the Jerk Sue capitalizes on the erroneous idea that a woman must be tough to be cool. Jerk Sues will act nasty and still play themselves up as ideal people.

• The Anti-Sue – A character who is ugly, stupid, and useless beyond belief. Will exploit her “flaws” endlessly to get attention. “Waaah, I’m so ugly and dumb!” Oddly enough, these flaws will never truly affect her.

• The Commander Sue – A sue who is unrealistically skilled in matters of combat and war tactics. She is always, always one step ahead, always smarter than her opponents, always the winner. Even when she loses, she will twist the situation so it looks like she won.

• The Dark Sue - Because evil and darkness are extra cool! This type of sue can overlap with many others, most often God Mode Sue and Sympathetic Sue. Usually has a sob story to justify her evil evilness, but no other motivation. If female, the Dark Sue is usually a vamp or a spooky romantic gothic type. If male, he's usually just straight evil with no proper reasoning or justification. And, as per usual among Mary and Gary, they are absolutely perfect at what they do. To them, "evil" is just something that makes them cooler.

•  Angsty Sue - This type of Sue is created for people to feel bad for because of some dark past. Every other character in the story (unless they're mean or spiteful) will always make the Sue’s angst the biggest issue in the story and the fact that she constantly dwells in her own self pity will be considered a “natural reaction”. If two characters both have traumatic experiences, the Sue will receive more attention no matter what. The main goal of these is often to have the OC cuddle with a canon character.

• How to fix this: Avoid angst all together, or try not to make it the main plot in the story. It’s understandable for people to try to comfort the character a little while after the traumatic experience, and during flashbacks, but if something else important is happening, they should be working on that instead. Although one character may be a lot stronger mentally than another, the one with the worst trauma should receive the most attention, no matter who you like best.

• Anti-Sue - A character that was created when someone tried so hard not to make a Mary-Sue, that they made a different type of Sue. They are usually boring, or completely useless, but still are given a place of important.

• How to fix this: Balance out flaws with talents that work together. Being both klutzy and graceful don’t work together, but being bad at math and good at art do.

• The Bachelor/Bachelorette Sue - This is a character who is created as a way of experimenting which character they would like to be with. They are always kind to others, except maybe the rivals for their love, and when they move on from a relationship, things are either completely cool or the character is heartbroken.

• Way to fix this: ESTABLISH WHAT THE CHARACTER LIKES ABOUT OTHERS. Instead of having them bounce around from charrie to charrie makes them look like a whore.

• Beacon Sue - Every other character, or perhaps only one or two highly important ones, will automatically notice the Sue. Most of them have no reason to suddenly notice this character.

 

• How to fix this: Actually give the characters a reason to notice your character (like her top falling off). Or just only have characters that would have a reason to notice them see them (like a pervert noticing a girl in a tube top).

• Better than you Sue - This type of Sue will be better than the entire canon at everything.

• How to fix this: It’s perfectly okay for an OC to share interests with this canon characters (especially if it’s something like liking duel monsters in yu-gi-oh), but when said OC is better at everything than anyone, they become a Mary-Sue. Give your OC their own skill set, weaknesses, and hobbies.

• Copycat Sue -An OC who is basically a gender swap or a re-color of an existing canon character or of another OC that they like (they will claim that they were the one who was copied). Their bio’s are very similar to that of at least one canon character, often taking the form of a sibling or a cousin.

• How to fix this: Give your character their own set of ideas talents and flaws. Make their life unique, but there are always few things characters can share.

• False flaw Sue - A Mary-Sue who’s flaws either do not affect her at all, or affect her positively.

• How to fix this: Make your characters flaws actually mean something. If she’s a klutz, have her break something important and valuable or something like that).

• Fixer Sue - A Mary-Sue who is inserted into the story to make an angsty/evil characters past better, and yet, none of this affects anything besides the one character.

• How to fix this: Use OC's to be the reason why a character canonly likes/dislikes certain things.

• Idea Sue - This type of Mary-Sue is created to positively represent the writer’s ideas and beliefs. The character will fully agree with these beliefs, no matter how absurd. Any character who does not agree with the Mary-Sue will end up humiliated or dead, or be depicted as stupid, unimportant, or a villain.

• How to fix this: It’s perfectly okay, for you OC to share some of your beliefs, just not all of them. Make smart characters disagree with them, and never make these beliefs the main focus of the story.

• Multiversal Sue - This is a Sue that carries tools and gadgets from other fandoms, or is a character who is placed into a fandom, despite the rules of the universe being broken.

• How to fix this: Keep everything from the characters, or make it a full crossover. It’s perfectly okay for every student at Hogwarts to own Pokemon instead of pets, but when only one person has Pokemon it makes them a Mary-Sue.

• OTP Sue - In roleplay only (it's perfectly okay in fanfiction). When the character is the child of a non-canon pairing, thus forcing it on everyone else in the group.
  
  

• How to fix this: In a fanfiction, as long as you don't go overboard (Gay male character X female character). If its in a roleplay ask the people roleplaying the characters you ship, if you can do this. If one of them says no, make your character the child of tow OC's.

• Possession Sue - When a canon character has their personality ripped out, and become Mary-Sue’s.

• How to fix this: Avoid OOCness altogether.

• Relationship Sue - A Mary-Sue who is thrown into the canon, with the author usually thinking that said OC will be part of the canon. They will neglect all other OC relatives, non-canon goals, and the like. They will be way too willing to sleep with canon characters, and will become friends/lovers with them in moments. Some characters may even become rapists or abusers and hurt the OC so they have something to angst about.

• How to fix this: Realize that your OC will never be part of the canon. Avoid OOC.

• Special snowflake Sue - These usually only appear in Fanfiction. A Sue who is very special, and out of the ordinary, but is not the original Main character. They can usually be identified by having some type of special power of appearance trait.

• How to fix this: If your character isn't a main character, don't treat them like one.

• Wannabe Sue - Fanfiction/roleplay only. A Mary-Sue whose past is so filled with experiences involving canon characters (some that couldn't canonly happen) that it looks like the creator attempted to make them look like part of the canon.
  

• How to fix this: Its fine for your OC to have a past involving canon characters, just don't go overboard or ruin canon.
  

• Wonderbaby - A baby that has something special about it that makes it an important addition to the canon without having to grow up throughout the plot (time skip, rapid growth, ect.), has power’s greater than one or both of its parents, or plays an important role in the story for no clear reason.
  
  

• How to fix this: Actually have your character have to raise the child, not just skip till when they get old enough to be interesting. The child should not have better powers that parents did not have for no clear reason.

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HOW DO I AVOID WRITING A MARY SUE/GARY STU?



For the purposes of this section, Well…you want people to like you, so you should be nice! And no one wants to be ugly, so you’ll make your character really attractive! Oh, but you want to be skilled in combat too. Let’s make your character a sword master. Hm, it’s fun to be important, right? Let’s make your character a princess too! It’s easy to see how Mary Sue traits can pile up when you’re not looking.



But don’t fret. Even blatant Mary Sues can be rescued. Take a step back and look at your character. Is she beautiful, kind, smart, AND a skilled fighter? Make a list of all your character’s traits. Try trimming her good traits down. Pick ONE good thing. Maybe she’s very smart, but cold and belittling to others. Maybe she’s a skilled fighter, but she’s ugly and not very clever. Most characters have more than one redeeming quality, but these good qualities are almost always balanced out by negative traits. Maybe she’s kind and pretty, but dumb as a stump. Or maybe she’s pretty and smart, but incredibly mean. Characters are a balancing act. Resist piling too many negative or positive qualities on a character. As stated above, a character who is ugly, stupid, and absolutely useless at everything can STILL be a Sue. Be sure not to make your flaws/good qualities too dramatic as well. Rarely is a character as beautiful as an angel, but so stupid they can’t lace their boots. Everything in degrees.



Be sure also to keep the lore in mind when creating a character. I know that it’s hard to just sit there and read the lore when you’re itching to create a character and get in the world. Still, violating pre-established lore or (heaven forbid) making up your own lore is the calling card of a Mary Sue character. You read that humans were the only race condemned to die by old age. Well, that sounds annoying, so you’re going to make a human who was so pure, she wasn’t affected by the curse. Also avoid making a royal character or a character with innate magical ability. Power in general must be earned.



HOW DO I AVOID PLAYING A MARY SUE/GARY STU?



So you’ve been accepted. Good job. That means your character isn’t a complete Mary Sue. You have some negative aspects, but they’re balanced out with positive ones too. No person is completely negative or positive. You’ve crafted a character, but you can’t forget who the character is upon entering the game. You were accepted because you were a homely, but humble and intelligent farm girl. You can’t suddenly turn into a knockout seductress with demon powers.

To avoid becoming a Mary Sue/Gary Stu in game, you must be constantly aware of how you present yourself to other characters. There are two facets to consider here – appearance and attitude.



1. APPEARANCE



-Just like in real life, your appearance is your first impression. So you must choose a skin that reflects your character. Because Minecraft skins are lacking in detail, we rely a lot on visual shorthand to decide what a character looks like. For instance – big, anime-style eyes mean a character is cute or pretty. So if you’re wearing a skin has eyes that are two pixels tall, we’re inclined to think “Oh, this character must be attractive.” If a person with big eyes told me “Oh, but I’m so homely,” I would think “Yeah, right.” It’s hard to call you homely when you’re gazing at me with those massive, shimmering eyes. So always be sure to choose a skin that accurately portrays your character’s appearance. A normal character wouldn’t have perfect hair or dress in silk. True, it’s hard to be genuinely ugly in Minecraft – since everyone is an adorable block person – but at least pick a skin that can translate into your “actual” appearance. Be aware of the visual cues for Minecraft skins as well. If your character isn’t cute, don’t pick a cute skin.



2. ATTITUDE

-You must keep your flaws and limitations in mind when roleplaying.



Avoid making up skills and abilities your character would not have. Avoid acting in a way your character would realistically not behave. I know that sometimes it’s hard. When confronted with bandits, we really just want to whip out our diamond blade and stab them in the face. However, sometimes it’s better if your character gets mugged and humiliated. You aren’t perfect and these situations provide a chance for character growth. As stated above, maybe getting mugged encourages your character to join the army and learn to defend themselves. That’s a realistic bit of character growth right there – your character isn’t just suddenly a combat master out of nowhere.



However, with discipline and time, they may become a skilled swordsman in the future.

It’s also tempting as your character changes to make them different. Soon, you end up emphasizing those character traits you like. It’s easy to forget your flaws too when it’s convenient. Your character is dumb, but you’re in a situation where it would benefit you to be clever. So you start acting clever. Soon, you completely forget that you were supposed to be dumb and all of a sudden, you’re a genius. You cannot forget or overlook your flaws. Flaws stay with you all your life. You CAN overcome certain flaws, like ignorance or weakness, but others, like ugliness and true idiocy, will dog you your entire life. In fact, it’s often more fun if you DON’T overcome your flaws. Truly debilitating weaknesses spice up RP.



3. HOW DO I KNOW IF MY CHARACTER IS A MARY SUE/GARY SUE?



It’s often hard to tell if you’re playing a Mary Sue or Gary Stu. In your mind, your character is truly awesome and deserving of attention, but does it read that way to everyone else? Other roleplayers are less inclined to play with you if you act perfect and awesome all the time. Failure and conflict are the essence of story. A character who is perfect, no matter how awesome s/he seems to you, is boring to everyone else. A good start is to ask other people if your character comes off as Mary Sueish.



Even so, spotting a Mary Sue requires some self awareness. It’s possible to play a Mary Sue that everyone on the server loves. For instance, I once ran a small RP forum for some friends. My character on this forum was OBSCENELY wealthy, handsome, clever, elegant, witty, well mannered, and intelligent. He was the biggest Gary Stu I have ever created, but all of my friends adored him. It took some time, but I finally recognized what a Gary Stu he was and toned him down. My friends and I loved him even more once he had realistic shortcomings and weaknesses. It’s possible for anyone to create a Gary Stu or Mary Sue. It’s even possible for everyone to love your Gary or Mary. However, as a good roleplayer, it’s your job to spot when you’ve crossed the line and pull back. You can’t be so swept up in your love for your character that you lose sight of him or her as a person. You have a duty to your fellow roleplayers to create good characters for them to play with.



Keep in mind that while litmus tests are good markers, your litmus test score may not be completely accurate. It is partially up to you to look at your character and decide whether or not s/he is a Mary Sue/Gary Stu. This requires a lot of honesty. It’s hard to admit your character isn’t as good as you thought. However, as they say, admitting to having a problem is the first step to recovery. Once you realize you have a Sue, you can begin working on making your character more realistic.

If you're still uncertain, see the list below.



4. COMMON MARY SUE/GARY STU TRAITS

• Claiming to be "the best" at anything. The best warrior. The best farmer. The best builder. No, you're not the best. You can be "good" at something, but you are not the best at anything.

• Improbable Backstory. Don’t go too crazy, you aren’t the bastard son of a noble and you then assassinated the noble, took the throne - just don’t be silly. Keep it simple, keep it consistent, if nothing else.
  

• Great at too many things. So you're great at cooking, sewing, building, farming, dancing, singing, fighting, and lovemaking? Keep it simple but reasonable! People can be good at cooking, fishing, playing music, everyone has an array of small talents, but think about the difference between a hobby-good and a profession-good. You can have all sorts of little skills, but you won’t be anything more than “good” for things outside of what your core focus is. It’s possible to learn a lot, but don’t master all of it.

• Incredibly Attractive. It's true that very few people WANT to be ugly. But not everyone has a killer supermodel body with a face worthy of an Italian Renaissance painting. Being a little plain is good.

• Too Many/Too Powerful Magical Powers. So you can fly, read minds, talk to animals, and breathe underwater? Also, don't give yourself random magical abilities that your character can't have learned. This leads to powergaming. If your character is a novice magician, I doubt he or she could summon an earthquake or a Kraken. Start with one and only branch out if it makes sense. Versatility is possible, but it isn’t common.

• Absurd Physical Capability. Your character can sprint like an Olympic athlete, swim like a pro, and beat men ten times her size in a wrestling match? Even though she's just a slender sixteen year old girl? No. A sixteen year old would not realistically have that ability. In fact, one person can’t really accomplish such feats, physicality is different for each person. A great lifter isn’t a great swimmer, balance out your strengths, focus on what they’re strong at.

• Being "The Chosen One." No. You're not the "Chosen One". You weren't chosen for anything. Well, maybe being chosen to sound silly. Because that’s what the case shall be!

• Claiming unearned status or power. The people of this land aren’t going to be concerned about what noble house you’re the head of, you have to earn yourself prestige in this land. So don’t worry about your past! Worry about your character’s future.

• Personality? What kind of personality? Don’t just call someone “nice”, explain their mannerisms! What makes them nice? Are they a sweet soul that helps everyone, or are they just very polite? Maybe they aren’t nice, but instead they’re just soft-spoken. Pick five words that describe your character’s personality, but don’t tell us those words; tell us why they are those words.

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Most Mary sue part was made by the great Uurraa and DeviantArt<3

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