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Improving RP in PT - Doc - 16-05-2026

Hello All

I thought I would repost the old discussions on the guide to improving RP from the old Forum. It starts with my discussion about the Kayfabe, which is a wrestling term that allows for willing suspension of disbelief among the audience. It is especially appropriate, both in politics (i.e. most political actors, media actors, and etc know that the outrage is all kayfabe, but most people do not, so they believe the show these politicians perform is real...) and scripted RP like PT. It also offers a guide for new players (older players will benefit too), and a suggestion for Military RPs, all written by long time players with literally decades of combined experience with PT.

This is NOT the rule. You do NOT have to abide by it. It is merely a suggestion that you can choose to incorporate in your RP, to get a new perspective on just what it is we are doing here. Many people used to play this game this way, but we have gotten away from it after we left Classic, because (I suspect) most people simply didn't know it was an option or a possibility.

The three contributors to this "guide" of sorts are myself Zanz and James, and I will note their contributions, as well as the dates which they made them. Some of this stuff might not apply anymore (especially discussion about RP team) but I will leave that in because on a general, conceptual level, it is still good information to have even if it describes some mechanics that no longer exist. I would certainly welcome other additions from people who have their own suggestions for improving RP from a more modern perspective.

These posts are quite long, but I think are worth the read for people who are trying to enhance or improve their RP, and if nothing else it is useful perspectives from people who have been playing this game an awfully long time that you might find some value it.

RE: The KayFabe and its role in RP - Doc - 16-05-2026

"The Kayfabe"- ProWrestling as a Metaphor for Role Play
by Doc (Oct 11, 2016)

This chapter deals with the use of KayFabe, and refers to the world of Pro-Wrestling as perhaps the Biggest RP Fed in existence. Keeping Kayfabe is important for successful role-playing, and only slightly less important than the non-KayFabe discussion which HAS to exist between the players which the audience doesn't necessarily see. Scripting the RP is key to its success. Refusal or reluctant to communicate behind the scenes about a RP can lead to horrible outcomes and accidents, which does far more than just ruins the RP for all those involved. Conversely, keeping the KayFabe and treating the RP as a scripted event rather than what is known as a "shoot" ensures that players play their role for the enjoyment of the audience and a successful RP for themselves.

First: What is the Kayfabe? (Be advised, this is the jargonny part of the chapter. I have bolded all jargon)
Kayfabe was born in the old Carnival circuit. It is "carnie" speak for "Fake" They would say something was Kayfabe when they wanted to say something was fake. Games at carnivals did not exist to hand out prizes- they existed to make money for the promoters. Similarly, as carnivals hosted spectacles of pugilism and then wrestling, Kayfabe developed to ensure that promoters made money off the bout (or the matchup between two or more fighters). At first all fights were non-scripted, honest fights, the way that professional boxing is today. But promoters could occasionally lose a fortune on a tie or a non-spectacle. When their job was to ensure a spectacle, and if one didn't happen, fans would demand their money back. If there was no way for promoters to limit this sort of risk, there was no way to make promotion into a profitable business.

To limit risk and ensure profitablility, promoters soon learned how to script matches. As boxing, and then wrestling became more widespread, certain promoters built territories, or areas where they monopolized the rankings of local fighters which were protected, usually from another territory's challengers. Within those territories, the promoters would build a championship and then schedule bouts as challenges for the championship. Others would come and challenge the "Champion" and in Kayfabe bouts, the Champion was scripted to win. But occasionally some "shoot" challenger, or a challenger who didn't keep Kayfabe and actually attempted to genuinely win, would get into a match with the Champion. If the Promoter was arguing that his champ was unbeatable, imagine the amount of money he would lose if that Champion was beaten by a shooter, which the promoter did not control, and who did not keep the Kayfabe! And so, promoters more or less began building institutions to prevent shoot wrestlers from ever getting close to the Champion. This involved building a whole "stable" of wrestlers, all of whom agreed to keep Kayfabe in return for a cut of the action, win or lose. The promoter got paid, the "talent" got paid, and the audience always got a good show.

As territories and stables became more defined and solidified, and professional wrestling became a business in and of itself, the Kayfabe evolved. Now it wasn't just strong men fighting one another for the edification of a carnival crowd; the business became about attracting customers to "shows", which featured a "card" of "low carders" who opened the show, "mid card" talent and "Main Event" talent. The most hyped bouts were reserved for the Main Event- this is the paying customers, known as "marks" came to see.

As people began to come and see the same wrestlers perform, "rivalries", or long-standing Kayfabe disputes, began forming. The rivalries were the engine of the Kayfabe Show. The rivalry would usually play out over a longish period of time: The goal was for the promoters, now called the "bookers" to move certain crowd favorites toward the Championship. Some rivalries happened between MidCarders- they were not always for a championship. But the wrestler's fame was determined by the "pop" (positive crowd reaction) or "heat" (negative crowd reaction) he (or she) got- the more people who came and cheered for or booed a particular wrestler or their gimmick, the more of a "draw" that wrestler was, the more he made for the promotion. Success breeds success, and eventually, that wrestler would be given a shot at the championship, which would often mean a lot of money for the promotion and more "work" for the wrestler.

The rivalries were themselves scripted, or "worked", and to some degree, the outcome of the macro-rivalry was decided by the pop or heat that the winner had received. Individual match outcomes were decided by the booker, long before the talent stepped inside the ring, with the goal of working a card which attracted a crowd. If a crowd thought a particular performer should have won, and instead, that guy lost, it would create an audience full of marks for next week's show, to see if he got revenge. When a booking wanted to move a contender into line for a title shot, it was called a "push." Usually the only wrestlers who got pushes were the big money draws.

Pro-wrestling really became about show business and personalities in the TV era. "Babyfaces" and "Heels" had been around since the early Kayfabe days, but they took on new importance as pro-wrestling moved to TV. A Babyface, or "face" wrestler is a fan favorite, the one marks root for to win, while a "heel" is the one that marks love to hate, they are the bad guys in wrestling. There is also a type of wrestler, called the "Tweener" who can easily go between face and heel, depending on the rivalry: this fellow is a particularly valuable commodity, because he can deftly and more importantly switch between heel and face. They were often fan favorites despite their being cast in a Heel role. The Tweeners are some of the most loved and remembered wrestlers of all of History. They are the Kevin Nash's, the Jake Roberts', the Stone Cold Steve Austin's, the Triple H's, the Shawn Michaels', and the Macho Man's of the Industry.

Rounding out the roles is the perpetual loser, the "jobber", or the one who works because it is a job. The Jobber is perhaps one of the most important types of pro-wrestlers- they are the ones who make the mid-carders and the Main Eventers look good by "Putting them over", or by giving the big names someone to beat up on and/or win against. These types of human punching bags help fill out a card in a promotion when there are not enough active rivalries that week. One of the most well known "jobbers" is a man by the name Steve "The Brooklyn Brawler" Lombardi. These guys are famous in their own right, because they know how to put a bigger name over- that is the purpose of the existence of the jobber, and without the jobber, the bigger draws don't generate enough pop or heat to justify any sort of push. They even have an updated name now: they are known as "enhancement talent". All roles described above are absolutely necessary for the success of the whole promotion, and there is no shame in being a jobber- they work everytime someone needs to be put over and are loved and respected by the bigger draws.

As these sorts of personalities were booked in various wrestling promotions, and later mega-promotions like the WWF and the WCW, story lines known as "Angles" began to develop. Angles often revolved around a "gimmick" or some sort of thing the wrestler was known for: The Iron Sheik, for example, was known for his pro-Iranian political positions, while Brutus "The Barber" Beefcake's gimmick was cutting the hair of the vanquished.

Nearly every wrestler has a gimmick, some of them are rather outlandish, but often this gimmick would play into the "angle", which was the storyline that developed behind the rivalry. Wrestlers would alter or drop their gimmick all together if it wasn't getting any support from the audience (pop for the faces, heat for the heels): A good example of a gimmick failing to get pop is Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson, whose debut gimmick was as some sort of Pacific Islander known as "Rocky Maivia" which was based on names of his father and Grandfather (It was widely known that Johnson was, non-Kayfabe, from the third generation in a pro wrestling family.) The heat the face Rocky Miavia earned, complete with a widespread chant "Rocky Sucks", led to a heel turn, where Rocky Miavia changed his gimmick to heel "The Rock." By the time The Rock did a face turn and became the "People's Champion" complete with gimmicks concerning whatever the Rock was "cooking" and the employment of "The People's Elbow", the Pacific Islander gimmick in his rear view mirror.

The Macho Man and the Hulkster give a master class in Kayfabe
There was an angle in the late 80s around the Macho Man Randy Savage's manager and "valet" (or the person who accompanied him out to the ring, in this case, the"Lovely" Miss Elizabeth, who had her own gimmick as being a glamorous, albeit somewhat helpless woman who accompanied Randy Savage.) Hulk Hogan, perhaps the biggest single draw of all time, with a well-established reputation as a "Face" Main Eventer, was tag team Partners with Randy Savage in a "stable" known as the "Mega Powers." Together they battled a super-stable known as "The Twin Towers" made of The Big Boss Man and the clearly white Akeem, "The African Dream". But because, according to the angle, where Hogan would step in an "protect" Elizabeth from being menaced by Akeem, Savage became incredibly jealous. Then Savage (kayfabe) accidentally knocked Elizabeth out during a match with the Twin Towers on Saturday Night's Main Event (the WWF Marquee event on NBC during prime time, which was a precursor to the branded shows of the 90s), and Hogan abandoned Savage to his fate in the ring. Later in the match, Savage refused to tag Hogan out and help him, instead turning his back on Hogan. The Stable was broken up, the angle had run its course, and Savage "swerved", or betrayed, Hogan as the beginning of Savage's own "Heel turn" where Savage went from being a face to a heel as part of an angle. To complete the "turn," Savage attacked Hogan backstage, and a new rivalry was born, one of the greatest rivalries in the history of the WWE.

I watched that storyline play out, and like most fans, I couldn't believe what I was seeing- I was shocked, and it left a mark on my memory as a kid watching the two greatest wrestlers have this fall out. It was only years later when I understood Kayfabe that I was able to appreciate just how well that whole thing was scripted. In reality, non-Kayfabe, Hogan and Savage were great friends, until three years later when Macho Man publicly blamed Hogan for non-Kayfabe ruining his RL marriage with Elizabeth. But at the time, I am sure they appreciated how the Bossman and Akeem (Later the One Man Gang) put them both over so Hogan and Savage could build their own rivalry angle.

Today, wrestling is all Kayfabe, and it is an open secret. The WWE apparently acknowledged the scripted nature of the business in early 1989, but fans were well aware of the Kayfabe long before that. "Dirt-sheets," or insider info, had regularly circulated around the fan community for years. But for the most part, the pros kept, and still keep Kayfabe. And bookers usually try to enforce Kayfabe- usually the promotion even employs certain wrestlers called "house shooters" who could enforce kayfabe by legitimately beating shooters in the ring. Promotions also still "blacklist", or deny work to shooters when wrestlers perform shoots that are not worked. After all, the business is built on the spectacle- The Kayfabe is absolutely essential to ensuring the greatest draws get the greatest heat. It is also necessary to translate "pop" into a "push." Faces and Heels square off, wrestlers do turns and swerves as part of angles, and it is all like a giant soap opera. And occasionally, wrestlers are even "screwed", or given an unfair result in the eyes of the fans. Occasionally, those screwjobs are "worked shoots": A wrestler violates the "worked" storyline and takes a title, usually with the blessing of the company, but certainly not with the acceptance, or sometimes even the knowledge of the loser. (See, for example, the Montreal Screwjob, one of the most famous screwjobs in WWE History.)

All these Kayfabe elements are always at play in pro-wrestling. And the best thing is, fans love it more now than ever before. Today pro-wrestling, or "sports entertainment" is one of the most popular spectator sports, and is a muti-billion dollar industry. And much of its fame came AFTER Kayfabe was broken.

"So what does Pro-wrestling have to do with RPing in Particracy?"
... you may ask yourself. Well, the answer is "Everything." Those who understand the basic elements of the Kayfabe, along with the different roles that goes along with it, and the theory behind it can work with other players to develop awesome storylines, RPs, and angles. Using the Kayfabe, it becomes clear that the focus of roleplaying is about "selling" to an audience of "marks" and generating "pop". In Particracy, we don't have "bookers", but this doesn't prevent us from "working a show." We can work our angles with fellow players, take on roles of faces, heels, tweeners and jobbers, as the "show" needs. We know that a win is scripted ahead of time, and a loss can be seen as "putting someone over." And we earn respect from the community, who are all the marks for our shows, which may help us make a push to take on big players.

A good example of a worked show in Particracy is the Particracy World War. This was a huge show, with several different theaters of action going on. And the entire event was scripted, as you can see here at the OOC Planning thread. My partner in the RP was the Indralan Player, the extremely gifted and experienced Liu Che/Zhuli. Zanz, a moderator at the time, was one of the major movers of this show, and did most of the administrative work, but all players worked out their angles and their bouts well ahead of time.

Originally,the battle was supposed to be between Kalistan and Gaduridos, two regional midcarders, which was to be in support of the Main Event. But Gaduridos for whatever reason, was not able to make the show, and so, I proposed to Liu that we fight over Ananto- Kalistan's reason for being at war with Indrala was an old rivalry related to Vanuku and Indrala's support for Vanuku. Otherwise, Kalistan and Indrala had no real reason to be at war. So we could be part of the show, Kalistan took a "job" to battle the Selayan Main Eventer, Indrala while Indrala was on their way to go to a Main Event battle with the Main Eventer in the North, Trigunia. In this case, Kalistan played the role of jobber, not actually supposed to win, but to build pop for Indrala and the main event later in the Card.

I proposed a series of events which allowed me to use the Kalistani "gimmick" of highly trained irregular forces. Liu and I worked out these details in a way which would allow Kalistan to play Jobber, and Indrala then to have a clean exit when the lowcard bout was over. In this sense, our little war involved Ananto getting blown to bits, we (Kayfabe) lost our President and half occupied, but eventually my gimmick comes into play and we fight them back to a status quo ex ante. It built pop for Indrala to give them the "push" into the northern seas, and this was the main purpose of the battle in the first place (a worked Kayfabe attack on the Indralan Navy from Mikuni never materialized in the final show...) But meanwhile Kalistan got "work" and popped our irregulars, and I think it provided a nice early bout to get things started off.

And I want to say, I even think Liu "put me over" a little bit by allowing our war to end at a stalemate, rather than a crushing defeat for the jobber, as is usually the case. It was a real classy way to handle the bout, and I greatly appreciated it.

This episode, and all the episodes that were worked in that war, created a fantastic spectacle, which can be seen on the Particracy World War Thread. And since the show was so thoroughly worked, everyone negotiated their roles and knew how the episode was going to play out. And kinks we worked out on the show itself- we had no shoots, no accusations of "Godmodding" or abuse of the RP. We knew who the winners and the losers would be, and now, anyone who comes in can view the show itself by reading through the thread. The entire RP was, I think a great example of how a whole bunch of people can get together, work out a card, and then run a Kayfabe show. And as evidenced by the planning thread, occasionally the scripting was as involved as the actual RPs. But the RP thread was for the audience of Marks- a lot of times those marks were us, because we would watch other bouts which were going on as our own bout was playing out. But the amount of writing talent which went into that War thread is amazing and serves really as a great example of a worked show.

Conclusion- KEEP THE KAYFABE. We all know its scripted, but so what?
One final word on the Kayfabe, and I can't put too fine a point on this: It is to everyone's benefit to use and keep to the Kayfabe. Even if we all know it is all scripted, we are still writing for an audience full of people who want to read well written posts. Nobody puts that much time and effort into a worked show like the World War if they are doing it just for themselves. Keeping this Kayfabe arrangement is how we give back to our community. It is how we take part in the community. And the best RPers are the ones who have done all of this stuff without it having a name which was readily available. I don't know how familiar my RP partners are with pro-wrestling, but the best ones work angles all the time, and then run RPs.

But if we do take this Kayfabe to heart when we RP we can remember who we are doing this for. We are writing and RPing for the audience (but also then, for ourselves, because we are part of the audience, even for our own posts.) The Kayfabe allows us to keep order, and allows us to sanction shoots, which frequently get pointed out for violating the prohibition against Godmodding, and cause a whole mess which might involve moderator intervention and retcons (see, for instance, an episode involving a carrier between Kalistan, Hutori and Trigunia which spun out of control, and certainly was more a Shoot than anything worked.) Avoiding shoots is something that benefits us all, and so does keeping the Kayfabe around RP. And so this is something we should be willing to practice at, and become good at, and it is likely that we will have great RP bouts and shows for years to come.

RE: The KayFabe and its role in RP - Doc - 16-05-2026

Introduction to RP for those who are new to PT
By JamesCFM, Apr 19, 2020

The purpose of this thread is to act as an introductory guide for new players to the role-play aspects of Particracy Classic.

Although Particracy was originally intended to primarily operate through its game mechanics, the fact that development has been totally abandoned has led many players to utilise the open nature of the forum as a way to add depth to the world of Terra. The fictional news stories, events, organisations and whatever else that players developed is usually referred to collectively as "role-play".

By understanding how role-play functions, players can create more interesting stories and develop better relationships with other players. The problem is that it can be difficult to understand some of the basic principles of role-play unless they are explained, so this thread will serve as a go-to resource for that purpose.

The inspiration for this thread is a previous thread of a similar kind by Doc. Although parts of that thread are now out-of-date, the principles are still broadly accurate and the explanation of kayfabe is useful tool that I would recommend all players read.

Please share any feedback or questions that you have with me through private message, regardless of your experience as a player.

Outline:
  • Getting started
  • Format and design
  • Role-play principles
  • Culture and religion
  • Forum-based countries
  • World Congress
Getting started

Getting started with role-play on the forum can be a confusing task for several reasons. For one thing the forum itself can appear confusing at times and it's not always clear where specific posts belong. Probably the best place to start is with your national news thread. Each playable country in Particracy has its own dedicated forum thread in the "International News" section, where players can post details of significant events across the country.

Individual players have reasonable scope to role-play a variety of events within their country, though certain types of events will require permission from other players. Although there is no clear dividing line between what's appropriate to role-play without consulting other players and what you need to seek permission for first, there are some clear and obvious examples of each case.

If an event involves exclusively your own political party (such as an internal leadership election or a party rally), then there's no need to talk to other players before writing a post about it. On the other hand, if an event would obviously have a widespread impact on the rest of the country (such as an attempted coup, a major terrorist incident or economic crisis), then it would be necessary to consult with and gain the permission of other players before posting about it. If you have any doubt, it does no harm to consult with your fellow players beforehand.

Format and design

Although there are many exceptions, most role-play in Particracy takes place in various threads on the forum in the form of news articles. Even outside of the national newspaper threads, most forum posts are presented as pieces of mock journalism in which an organisation is reporting on a news story or other development that has occurred within the game world of Particracy. News posts like this all have a common structure, consisting of two fundamental elements: a story and a source. In this section, I'll explore these elements as well as additional features that a player might want to include in their news posts.

The story of the post refers to the event within the fictional world of the game that are being reported on. Particracy is principally a political simulation game however the flexible nature of the role-playing environment on the forum means that posts can be on a wide variety of subjects. In recent times, players have written news posts about church schisms, formula one racing, military coups, talent competitions and much more.

As mentioned already the story of a news post will affect the permissions that you need to seek before you publish it. If your story relates solely to characters or organisations under your own control, like your political party or companies that you created, then you usually don't need to worry about seeking the permission of other players. If your story has a wider impact though then you might need to. For example, if you're going to post about a company that you created expanding into a new country, it would be better to talk to the players in that country first.

The source is the in-game organisation or individual that is producing the information communicated to the reader. Among the most common sources for in-game stories are press outlets (e.g. newspapers and online news sites) as well as official information from organisations, like press releases. Different conventions exist for referencing the source of a news story. In certain situations it may simply be inferred from context, for example a post in the "Beluzia" news thread will be assumed to have been produced by a Beluzian news outlet.

RE: The KayFabe and its role in RP - Doc - 16-05-2026

Military And Conflict RPing- Mixing it up like the Pros
By Zanz (At some point prior to Oct 1, 2016)

(lightly and lovingly edited for the purpose of continuity and economy)

* This chapter makes reference to the RP Team's Economic and Military Rankings.

This chapter contains the philosophy of the RP Team on what makes "good" military RP, and aims to help the players of PT grow their own RP abilities to help everyone have more fun.

Think of the rankings threads as setting out where your nation falls in the world's hierarchy. Think of this chapter as offering advice on how to play your nation in that world all while getting along with others, not looking like a jerk, writing a cool story that furthers the world narrative, and, most importantly, having fun!

General Philosophy (Particracy RP's Golden Rule, aka TL;DR):

Don't be a jerk.

General Philosophy, Expanded:

The absolute, indisputable, number one reason Particracy military RP goes off the rails is OOC bickering, generally over disagreements on the realism of one player or another's military claims about his nation. Players very often have perceptions of their own nations that see the nation as more powerful than those outside of the nation perceive it to be, and they therefore make claims that others see as power gaming or god-modding. When someone perceives someone as power gaming, they often will stop the RP right then and there and cry out OOC - "Wait! Your nation can't have 12 carriers! You're too poor!"

Player A believes his nation is very powerful and makes unrealistic claims about his nation's capabilities, which gives Player B little room to play along. Player B disagrees and immediately freaks out about Player A, out of character.

Both Player A and Player B have violated the Golden Rule, but neither necessarily did it on purpose. Let's talk a bit more about Player A and Player B.

Player A ("the power player"), explored
Player A is somebody we have all been at one point or another in our time in Particracy.

Player A is a player who has not yet learned the ropes of RP interaction in Particracy and probably came to this game first and foremost for the political sim - not the military RP. It's very possible, therefore, that he's never RP'd a military storyline in his life, that he might not know the intricacies of military equipment, and that he might actually be posting on the Particracy forum for the first time in his tenure. It is very easy, when these circumstances exist, for Player A to assume that his nation is all-powerful. It's very likely Player A in real life comes from a first world nation whose military power is very high (higher than any IC nation in Particracy, relatively speaking), and Player A might not have much experience with the militaries of other nations. It's therefore not very surprising to see that he would RP what he knows. Learning to RP outside of your comfort zone is a process that requires strong support - and we should do all we can as a community to help Player A learn.

Player A is not necessarily new to Particracy - tenure really has no correlation to maturity as a role player. Player A can just as easily be someone who has played for ten years and who never matured as an RPer as it can be someone who has played for ten minutes.

It is therefore possible that Player A could also be someone who understands the differences between PT and the real world, who knows a ton about military dynamics and equipment, but who simply has never learned that while, yes, "winning" an RP can be cool, Losing is Fun! too, and a story is a lot more fun for everyone to partake in when one person isn't raging through like a bull in a china shop, refusing to lose any ground because his nation has the most advanced missile cruiser.

Interacting productively with Player A, or: How to not drive away talent
  • Remember that Player A has not yet matured as a role player. There can be numerous causes for this, and we all have a duty to our community to help players mature, rather than run them out at the first mistake they make. Remember your own first attempt at RP. You probably were a jerk, then, too. Be. Nice. Everyone can mature, even Zanz, Troll King.
  • Don't be Player B (see below). Do not disrupt a thread to call out Player A on how his RP is wrong. Send a polite private message instead, or post in the OOC thread for the RP if there is one. Point players to this thread and to the RP Team. Point them to instances of great RP so that they can grow and learn how things are done.
  • Don't continue to interact ICly with Player A once you've identified an issue. If we reinforce negative behavior by recognizing it and legitimizing it, we are doing a disservice to the player (who will not mature) and to the community (who will have to deal with continuing immature play in the future). Send a polite private message explaining why you'll be ending your IC involvement, and point the player to this thread and to the RP Team.

Help! I'm Player A! I'm sorry, I didn't know! What can I do?
Remember, everyone in Particracy was in your shoes at one point or another - even our RP Team and our Mods. We're happy to have you here, looking to grow, and we're here to help if you need us. Some tips:
  • Read through various RP threads and FAQs and look at the kinds of questions people are asking. You might have similar questions, or you might be inspired to question something as a result of your read through. Ask aways!
  • Read through the RP Team's Economic and Military rankings threads and think critically about your role play and how it fits in the grand picture of Particracy's world.
  • Understand that Losing is Fun! just as long as you write a good story. In the current global war, the RP Team's nations are collectively going to blow each other to bits, and we're having a ton of fun writing that story.
  • COMMUNICATE. The best thing you can do for your RP is to start talking it through with others. Our community loves to interact, and if you float an RP idea on the forum, odds are very high that you'll find someone who's got an idea how his RP could fit into your RP. Plan ahead of time - as Doc has taught us, the best RPs are arranged OOC ahead of time - angles are written, faces and heels are decided, episodes are booked, and pop is built (see this post for a very interesting discussion of these wrestling terms in relation to Particracy RP). If you have an idea for an RP, run it by the RP Team (feel free to do so in this thread, if you like!) and we can help figure out how to make it work.

Player B ("the indignant"), explored
It is all too easy to be Player B - and even long tenured Particracy RPers are susceptible to the temptation.

It is very often the case that Player B exists because he is trying, legitimately, to do what we just suggested above in the the section on interacting productively with Player A. Player B is often motivated by a desire to help the person he is engaging OOC, but Player B goes wrong when he uses a confrontational tone or allows his protests to derail an RP for OOC reasons. Upset at Player A for what he sees as power playing or god modding, he takes the thread into ruin by calling out the specifics of what Player A has done wrong, allowing Player A no recourse but to defend himself OOC (effectively ending the possibility of fun for anyone) or else give up the RP altogether in disgust (effectively losing a player for Particracy).

It is therefore very important that the more tenured members of our community understand that their tenure alone does not mean that they are mature role players, and to realize that Player B is an immature RPer just as Player A is. Maturity, therefore, means the ability to resist the urge to confront Player A OOC for his misunderstandings.

Interacting productively with Player B, or: How to avoid thread collapse
  • If you see a thread going off the rails because of OOC bickering, please do not post in that thread. Look to see if there's an OOC thread if you'd like to comment and feel free to post there, but do not fan the flames of an OOC disagreement by posting OOC further.
  • Notify the RP Team or Moderation by PM on the forum, by post here, or by PM in game, and we can reach out to people involved and attempt to help.
  • Understand that often, Player B exists due to a genuine desire to be helpful - it just is often the case that his actions do not come off that way. Be patient and understanding with one another. Feel free to send polite PMs or post in OOC threads to discuss disruptive behavior, being sure to offer constructive feedback.
  • If someone has posted OOC in your thread and you wish for those OOC posts to be removed so that the IC play can continue, reach out to Moderation, as they have the ability and judgement to determine if OOC posts should be deleted or moved.
  • Create an OOC thread for your roleplay! Nothing can better ensure you can isolate OOC bickering from IC roleplay than to remove OOC discussion entirely from your RP thread. When you've created an OOC thread, ensure everyone knows it exists, knows its purpose, and if someone posts OOC in the RP thread, send them a polite PM reminding them how the division should work.

Help! I'm Player B! I'm sorry, I didn't know! What can I do?
Remember, we understand that you very probably mean well. It's likely that you're an expert on a certain area of role play or military equipment and you believe passionately that you can make clear every player's misunderstandings with one OOC post. While this belief is fine, you have to go about expressing yourself in a positive way so as not to derail RP or place others on the defensive.
  • Do not post OOC in IC threads. If you're unsure, or if you have even an inkling that the thread you're about to post in might be IC, don't post there. You may have an excellent point. You may be "right." But you're going to come off as more confrontational than you mean to, and that's going to put everyone (and the RP!) on edge and make the game less fun.
  • You're allowed (and encouraged!) to share your expertise or areas of interest. Everyone on the RP Team has learned something, at one point or another, from someone in this community who knows more than us in a particular area. Knowledge sharing in this community is a great perk of playing here, and it's also good for our collective growth. It is important, however, that you share your constructive feedback in the proper venue. An IC thread is never the proper venue for OOC feedback. It ruins the flow of an RP, it is very public (and thus potentially embarrassing for the person whom you are giving feedback to, if the feedback is perceived as very fundamental), and it is incredibly easy for one OOC comment to balloon into 10 or 20.
  • Keep in mind that short tenure does not mean immaturity, and long tenure does not mean maturity. We have had several players join Particracy and quickly contribute to robust and absolutely fun RP. We have had numerous "Old Guard" veterans who never learned to lose gracefully and thus made RP no fun for everyone involved Be patient with all players.
  • Understand that everyone has different understandings of what this game is and how it should be played. Many of us have no military knowledge whatsoever. Some of us have a huge interest in the military. We all play together, and the one thing we can agree upon is that we want to have fun (otherwise why would we play at all?). Not everyone wants to or can provide extensive lists of their military equipment - and some people will have very detailed ones. This is a good thing for Particracy - it means we all have to learn to interact with people for whom the game is a very different experience, and it means we can open ourselves to learning just what it is about this game that keeps everyone coming back after all this time. If someone has no OrBat and you want one, ask them politely in the OOC thread or in a PM. If they don't have one, or if they give you one that's not realistic in your opinion, and you can't reconcile, shake virtual hands, call it a day, and don't RP with one another. There's plenty of opportunities elsewhere. Don't attack someone because they don't play in your style - instead, try to mesh your styles so both of you can have fun.

In Summary:

Don't be a jerk.

Quote:The RP Team and Its Role in Military RPs: (This refers to a no longer used mechanic and these guidelines have likely been changed but on a conceptual level, they are still solid advice, -Doc)

For many of you, this section may be the most broadly interesting. What follows is a list of some (but not all) of the things the RP Team feels it is its duty to do in regards to military RP:
  • We will continue to update the Military Rankings, which will remain canon for RP Accord nations and strong suggestions for non-RP Accord nations. These will be the source of truth which we refer to when asked to offer military RP advice.
  • We encourage players with an interest in military equipment and knowledge to discuss these topics as they wish, but will proactively reach out to affected players if we believe that the military advice of any player or organization to any other player is being given with any implication of being official in nature. Official military rulings in Particracy can come only from the RP Team (for RP Accord nations) or from Moderation (for all nations).
  • In regards to military composition and equipment, it is the official advice of the RP Team that nations avoid comprehensive lists / equipment equivalents in favor of general descriptions. Lists of the entire composition of a military are very difficult to maintain, and lead to RP becoming an exercise in math rather than a story-telling, and very few players in Particracy (including the full RP Team) have the military expertise necessary to determine if the S-400 missile defense system is capable of destroying 95 or 97% of all incoming ballistic missiles, for instance. In short, rather than listing out what your nation has, use RP to show us what your military can do.
  • In regards to military equipment, it is the position of the RP Team that no nation will be officially recognized as the "exporter nation" of any particular real world technologies. Players can continue to RP nations as the source of specific real world technologies if they wish to do so, but they may not imply that such exporter nations are official. No player/nation shall have to get approval from any other player/nation to claim the ability to produce any RL military technology, unless they voluntarily choose to do so. The RP Team will rule (for RP Accord nations)/advise (for non-RP Accord nations) on a case by case basis if players/nations claim access to technologies that do not conform to their Military Rankings.
  • As a continuation of the above, players who ICly use images of military technology which does not make "sense" for them to have (e.g. if Jelbania posted an image of an F-35) will not be assumed to be claiming that they have access to F-35s. Cool images are difficult to come by, particularly for more obscure technologies, and sometimes you just want to use an F-35 picture as a stand in for "we have planes and they bombed a thing." The content of military RP will be what is important, not the visuals.
  • The subject of aircraft carriers and nuclear weaponry is a hot topic. It is the RP Team's opinion that aircraft carriers and nuclear weapons are viable (not necessarily likely!) for all nations of Terra (with the exception of the ex-colonial nations), so long as their acquisition, maintenance, and use is very well RP'd. We will rule / advise on a case by case basis if aircraft carriers or nuclear weaponry become a problem - but we direct everyone back to what was said above: it is better to work these questions out civilly among those who will be involved in an RP. As you plan your RPs, discuss who has what capabilities and make sure everyone's on the same page.