We all have something that we are good at or positive traits that distinguish us from others. These virtues or merits are useful, positive and provide an advantage in our lives.

A paperclip can be a wondrous thing. More times than I can remember, one of these has gotten me out of a tight spot.
- Angus MacGyver, MacGyver

We also all have things that are “imperfections” in ourselves and provide a disadvantage. These quirks or flaws also make you who you are and are the negative traits or things that work against us.

Snakes. Why’d it have to be snakes?
- Indiana Jones, Raiders of the Lost Ark

Just as in everyday life, you see this in movies, books and in games. Characteristics that provide interest, depth and humanity to what could be a flat character into ones we identify with, or ones we love to hate. These also can and do influence motives and goals as well creating well-defined heroes, anti-heroes and villains.

This can also be applied to your characters, to help give them a spark of “life” and memorable.

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Who or What is a “Mary Sue”?
“Mary Sue” is a derogatory term used for the over-the-top character which is virtually flawless, beautiful, stereotyped to an nth degree and can do anything. Seriously anything…

By anything, I mean do taxes, create wormholes and make a mean ham sandwich while averting a nuclear disaster by going back in time. Also, there’s a good chance she’s an alien vampire and is seducing main characters as we speak.

That’s an extreme, but you get the idea. Your actual mileage may vary, of course. *grin*

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When folks begin role-playing, the “rules” are hard to follow or even missing, chiefly because there’s no “decisive” guide that everyone gets or is taught. Even the (hopefully helpful) guides on this site are just that - guidelines to help.

Most games focus mainly on the PvE or PvP aspects and leave RP by the wayside. Sadly, this leaves role-players out in the virtual “cold”. Though some players do have some role-playing experience or understand the concept - many don’t.  If you are lucky you may find information in your game manuals (people read those? *grin*) - otherwise, you are on your own.

Note to present and future MMORPG designers: Consider role-playing and role-players when writing manuals. Even a token “How-To” is better than nothing. *grin*

And now, back to our (ir)regularly scheduled topic…

One mainstay and cornerstone to role-playing is the usage of In Character (IC) and Out Of Character (OOC) info and speech. This also applies to MMORPGs, LARPs and Pen & Paper RPGs.

In mmorpgs, that’s why you see us role-players use ((  )), {{  }} or [[  ]] around sentences/phrases sometimes.

This leads also into a common mistake made by beginning RPers: How to use IC or OOC info/speech and how to know when to (and not to) use it.

Yes, young grasshopper… When you can snatch the [[ ]] out of my hand… 
… what?

Now we begin…

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