Roleplay Etiquette?

So I've been thinking about this for a long time, about certain rules for certain situations in roleplaying (eg two people post at the same time, the two propose two different scenarios, which one will we continue the roleplay with, etc.)

But before that, whether or not to set rules for "etiquette" in roleplaying should be discussed. I see both positives and negatives, and it would really be foolish of me to go through a bunch of trouble for guidelines that were neither needed or wanted, and that I'm not as experienced with roleplaying as many of the people here.

I am very interested in seeing your thoughts on this!

Roleplay etiquette is a fickle thing. What may be hard pressed as unnacceptable in one situation may be far more positive in another. On the otherhand there are certainly basic things that are both important knowledge and often for those early in the game of roleplay, lesser known.

Perhaps a set of guidelines would be better then strict rules? Things like notes on the possesion of other charactera and npcs and what not? Thats just my opinion so yeah...

A lot of RP etiquette, beyond the obvious guidelines such as no meta-gaming, power-gaming ect, are worked out by players in OOC threads/ in-game PMs. As long as both/all players are reasonable and know their stuff, which most tend to do, there won't be a problem.

@Harlwystyr wrote up a guide which is sticked in the RP section which touches on this topic too, definitely worth a read. Link.

About the only thing I suggest is to try and be respectful. And if you mess up, just learn from the mistake, and move on. On the flip side of that, is to not get all bent out of shape if someone does something that you consider bad etiquette. Their culture or experiences may have not given them the ability to know what their actions might mean, and you might not be aware of all of the facts, especially if you just joined an existing game.

This site has, mostly, well disciplined, and well mannered people, so this is a great place to learn. Don't be afraid to make a mistake or two, and you'll do fine.

You have to understand that this isn't TES V: Skyrim ---> This isn't a single-player game. There is no room for Dragonborns or sons of Daedric Lords, unstoppable assassins or a type of character that is an expert in everything (master magician, fearsome warrior, excellent thief, werewolf, vampire and asssassin.)

Also, try to warn your fellow RP buddies if you have to leave the story thread at some point for any reason. Sounds pretty obvious but it's problematic to the others if you just vanish without any explanation. Happened to me once and the thread basically died shortly after that.