As the title suggests I have no idea of anything about RP servers. I’ve seen the memes, and heard things but have never actually played on an RP server. I’ve been scrolling the MG forum for a bit now and am kinda lost. What is the meaning of ooc and ic? A lot of things I’ve read seem unbelievably cool and community focused. For example multiple night markets? Never heard of these but sound fun, or the black water bar events? Paraphrasing because I don’t remember the actual name. Is there naming rules? Do you have to RP or can you play the game and take part of these side events? So many questions.
https://www.wowhead.com/guide/how-to-roleplay-in-world-of-warcraft-at-all-levels-6073
https://www.wowhead.com/guide/how-to-behave-on-a-roleplay-server-392
start with these.
1 Like
Hiya’ there!
It sounds more intimidating than what it is really!
The basics: make a character, and ACT like that character in game using /s and the emote system! Grammar is imperative when it comes to RP, depending on if you want people to take you seriously or not. Running around in /y saying “lol hi every1” will probably result in an ignore.
On the other hand, something like:
/e approaches you slowly, eyeing you up. “Hello there…I’m a bit lost.”
…can start up an awesome storyline between you and another player! Something as simple as taking a stroll around Stormwind, or heading to a tavern for a drink or two.
What it comes down to is that you just “remain in-character” when you are roleplaying, and putting your vision through your toon as if it were “real life”! For example, you won’t walk up to someone knowing their name right away, right? Coming up to me saying “Hi Ethlando!” right away might be frowned upon and raise questions: did we ever meet before? one might consider this as “meta’gaming” … if that’s even what the kids call it nowadays! (god moding if you’re an old folk like me)
That’s just the basics though! IC means in character- when you choose to be in character and RP ; OOC means out of character! When you get to run around and enjoy the game and do everything besides RP! It’s just important to know the difference between the two; and you’ll be solid!
Feel free to send an add in-game if you have any questions! It might sound nerdy or weird at first, but I promise you, a whole new World of Warcraft is waiting for you.
1 Like
From the forum posts about events within the community I was reading it reminds of way back when wow had a community and everyone knew everyone. This seems to be captured on an RP server very well like so much more than just rinse repeat, raid, m+, timewalk with random faces you’ll never encounter again
Welcome to the community! Im the host of the Lordaeron Night Market and I love encouraging new RPers to come out to the market and just be a fly on the wall. Its so easy to just hang around other players and watch how RP naturally happens at something like a market event. We are a black market styled event where people sign up in discord to vend and then when it all comes together we have 12 booths of people and guilds selling their illlicit / spooky items in RP. Its all RP and thats the beauty of it. You may not get an item in your hand but you get another piece of a potential story. I cant tell you how many times ive “bought” an item at an RP market and used it to fuel another story with my character. Its an aspect of the community that I love because its possible for us to effect eachothers stories in minute ways.
If you wanna hang, check out our forum post for the discord deets and come on out 
3 Likes
For the Rusty Nail tavern or any of the associated Free Seas events, come on down. We have had many people from MG and WRA since Tol Barad does not require anchoring; just come and take it in. On the discord, we have a list of suggested addons, but none are required if you want to watch and learn.
We also participate in the Night Market and the same thing. Just come and observe.
If you need tongue potions to help with cross-faction listening, I keep tons on me all the time that I am happy to give out.
When you make a TRP, use an appropriate name. You can even put that you are newer to RP in our OOC portion of the TRP, which helps others know to have extra grace. It can be intimidating but enjoyable once you get into it.
4 Likes
RP is pretty fun at first but realize at the end of the day there’s humans at the other side of the screen. RP’ers can be especially cruel to noobs. Yeah, many people will put on the “community leader” face, but it’s akin to politicians. They will barely give you the time of day in game or pull the typical social dynamic stuff like ignore your messages, shadow log (logging off mid conversation), or coming up with every excuse under the sun as to why they’re busy or “missed your response” etc. So don’t really expect the consistent nice act in game, mostly a facade.
Most public RP events nowadays consist of just a bunch of people standing around alt tabbed talking to their friends in Discord. So, prepare to be ignored by 90% of them if you try to engage in RP. Or perhaps be judged for your grammar. Also seeing as you’re a noob to RP, you’ll have an extra difficult time finding anyone to actually take you seriously. As said, there’ll be those community folk who give you 10 minutes at best then AFK you for life. RP can be pretty fun, but imo it wears off quickly these days due to how elitist and clique based it is. Everyone will tell you the happy feel good stuff, I’m keeping it real, goodluck out there champ! RP is an uphill battle tbh.
1 Like
Draykin, hey there.
First up: OOC means Out Of Character. When someone is speaking OOC, it means the player is speaking, and the opinion being expressed is theirs, IRL (In Real Life).
IC means In Character. Meaning the character is speaking and the opinion being expressed is the character’s. Not the player’s.
Yes, in a way there are naming rules. However, if you make a toon named Stabyougood, for instance, you can use an addon like “Total RP3” to change your toon’s name to display as… I dunno, say, “Dray ‘The Knife’ Castrel”.
No, you don’t have to RP. Only if you’re comfortable doing so. You just want to observe, then heck yeah, do it up. Come on out and observe.
What is RP, exactly? Think of it in terms of writing a story, or book. A writer creates characters with certain personalities, likes, dislikes, and so on. Even ones that differ from the writer. So RP becomes like a live, interactive novel being written, and all the writers adhere to actions and reactions that reflect the personality and opinions they’ve set for their character. From villainous jerk, to kindly do-gooder.