Aleathea asked a few questions back in this post that definitely deserve an answer. However, as I typed everything up it occurred to me that it would make for an excellent topic in and of itself. So special thanks to Aleathea for giving me something to blog about! On to the questions at hand.

1.) Should I assume that, although I (real me) can see a player’s name, my character would not know a strangers name unless introduced?

This is an excellent question and one that is frequently overlooked by new roleplayers. Think of real life. If you go into a crowded bar or restaurant, there isn’t a soul around that has their name or organization they work for hovering above their head. As such, if you’re interested in meeting someone, how would you go about doing it? By introducing yourself, of course! This, naturally, is slightly difficult if you’re the shy type. But remember, for the purposes of the game and roleplaying in general, put your shyness aside and put your best foot forward. For example, Arrens the rogue is a rather terse, cynical (and slightly homicidal) Forsaken. If he has something to say to you but hasn’t been formally introduced, he’ll likely refer to you by your race, i.e. “Come here, Troll. I have something I wish to speak with you about before I gut you.”

It’s also a good idea to assume you don’t know the guild somebody’s with unless they’re wearing their guild tabard. You might recognize it as a sort of uniform and can make basic assumptions for roleplaying purposes. Arrens  hasn’t worn his guild tabard for the better part of 6 months. He respects the school and the faculty too much. This doesn’t mean he denies the fact that he’s with the school, but he doesn’t advertise it either. Instead, he’ll frequently wear his Scout’s tabard or something else from one of the Northrend factions he’s associated with.

2.) Do you use abbreviations such as “ty”, “np”, “kk”, “brb” and so forth, or are those inappropriate when role playing?

The only time abbreviations or emoticons are used are in OOC channels. Proper grammar and spelling are practically essential in order to be taken as a serious roleplayer. This isn’t to say that the odd misspelling doesn’t happen. It does, particularly if you’re RPing through guild chat or another designated chat channel as you go about your daily business of doing dailies or farming. They do. Quite frequently, in fact. But it’s best to avoid the standard abbreviations during RP. Imagine it’s you talking in real life to someone of importance. And most importantly: Avoid “leetspeak” unless you wish to be accused of being afflicted with Murloc-tongue. It’s not a pleasant affliction.

3.) Do you role play through /w chat as well as emotes? For some reason I got the impression RP was just through emotes and public channels and /w is for OOC info. I’m not sure where I got that idea.

RP can occur in any chat medium the game has to offer. This includes Guild chat, Say chat, Whispers, Raid/Party chat and any user-created chat channels. Personally, unless someone whispers me something In Character, I typically don’t bother with an IC response via whispers. But unless you’re used to RPing with me, you wouldn’t know that. So if you’re unsure if a chat you’re in is IC or OOC, it’s best to ask using the OOC format, which leads us to our next question…

4.) I know you said it’s best to be IC all the time. But, what if you want to need to talk to someone OOC. How do you seperate IC and OOC chat? I’m starting to get a feel for how it is done in writing -seems to involve lots of (( )) and so forth. I’m not sure how you do it in game chat.

The double parenthetical notation (()) is, indeed, what is used to differentiate between IC and OOC chat. My guild’s chat is strictly IC all the time. But if someone completes an achievement, you’ll frequently see the “((Grats!))” connotations flowing freely until everyone kicks back into the IC train of thought. If you’re RPing face-to-face in /say chat and you need to step away for a bit, it’s accepted practice to say “((brb))”. However, I’d challenge most people to do it in an IC way by doing something as simple as saying, “Excuse me for a few moments,” and stepping away out of range of the RP happening and then typing /afk so people know you’re not around to RP with.

Hopefully this will be somewhat useful to you and others that wish to explore the roleplaying community within WoW. Certainly there are different methods of RPing with different people. One group may RP in a completely different way than others. This does not mean one group is right and another is wrong. All it means is that one has to adapt to the situation presented if they wish to participate.

Edit: Holy shnikeys! God bless her, if you want some more RP tips, please, for the love of all things holy, go read Anna’s post. Seriously. It’s epic win.