The 10 most important Roleplay Rules in WoW

In roleplaying (RP), there are many different things you can do wrong. But also just as many things you can do right. In this article, we’ll show you the 10 most important roleplay rules in WoW. This way, your next roleplaying experience is guaranteed to be a success.

1. Do not use emotes that force other people to do something!

Do not decide the fate of other characters (for example, “[your character] cuts off X’s finger”). Likewise, don’t dictate others’ feelings (such as “[your character] notices that X is in love with him”). These are forced emotes that no one likes to see in RP. Emotes must always remain open, leaving the other person the possibility to react to them or to avoid them. So it would be better to give your opponent a realistic chance ( in this case the options are left open “[your character] pulls out a knife and tries to cut off X’s finger” or “[your character] loudly claims that X loves him”).

2. Use emotes to express only what is obviously happening

Another very important and underestimated roleplaying rule in WoW is to express only what your character obviously does. Therefore, your character’s thoughts and feelings cannot be made visible to other characters through emotes. “[Your character] is in love with X” would be an incorrect emote, because love is not written on your face. Rather, describe how your character behaves towards X. For example, “[your character] blushes at the sight of X and smiles shyly at her”. So always think about what others might see and use only those emotes.

3. Use the Channel “/say” for RP conversations

Of the many chat channels, “say-chat” is the most suitable for conversations. You can activate this with the key command “/s”. This also has the advantage that only players who are standing near you can hear or see what you are writing. Use the trade chat to offer your goods for gold in a roleplaying manner. A conversation has no place in the trade chat. The function of whispering is only used when your partner is in the immediate nearness. This interaction can be perfectly illustrated with the appropriate emote: “[your character] bends down to X and whispers something to him”.

4. Separate between own and Character knowledge

The roleplaying rule of distinguishing between your own knowledge and your character’s knowledge in WoW is not so easy for many players. You know that Onyxia once spun her intrigues in Stormwind in human form? Great, but a Tauren Druid is most likely not familiar with that information. Always remember when RPing that you can’t react out of yourself, but from the point of view of your character, who may not know some information. This is already obvious here: your character cannot know the names of other foreign players, even if they are visible to you above their heads.

5. Stay in Character

Once you’ve found teammates to RP with, make sure you make the experience intense for everyone. Don’t disrupt it by falling out of character and acting “ooc”. Of course, you may have to leave in the middle of the conversation and excuse yourself briefly in ooc form. However, such an interruption will cause a small break in the role play. Therefore, try to prevent potential interruptions in advance. This way you are guaranteed not to be interrupted in exciting situations.

6. Be Creative

Of course, it’s also important to be creative, but you shouldn’t push your creativity too far either. Your character doesn’t have to be a normal citizen (although it’s appealing to play a peasant who has hardly any talents, apart from shoveling manure). Immortal dragons stumbling around as gnomes, however, are more likely to make your eyes roll because of their abstruseness. And for the most part, you’ll remain fairly unknown despite your exploits, a couple of hard to reconcile contradictions.

7. Stick to the Etiquette!

A ride straight into the next inn doesn’t look very good. What are your fellow players supposed to think of you if a horse suddenly drools in their beer? Likewise, changing clothes on the open street should be taboo for you in the future. Even if you are a world champion in speed dressing. A flashing naked dwarf butt is not everyone’s cup of tea and violates the realistic standards of the role-playing game as well as etiquette.

8. Play harmonious

Another important roleplaying rule in WoW, which is often underestimated, is that you behave as much as possible according to your character. So make sure you portray your character in a coherent way. An educated mage will in most cases express himself in a more chosen way than an orcish warrior. You should also rarely run through the city in a hurry. Use the “Walk” function extensively for this!

9. Avoid smilies, shortcuts and “trendy” words

You don’t necessarily have to communicate with your fellow players in a medieval language but a linguistic approach to Azeroth is still desirable. Smilies have no place in emotes or in the “spoken” language. It is the same with the various shortcuts. Current trend or slang words also have no place in RP.

10. Always remain friendly

The last and perhaps the most important roleplaying rule in WoW is that you should always remain friendly. Always treat your fellow players with kindness and respect. Then they will forgive your early mistakes and help you try out the RP.

The practice: How do I start a conversation in WoW RP?

There are hardly any limits to your creativity when it comes to opening a conversation. It’s best to react to the immediate situation. For example, you can meet other players while questing. Talk to them in RP manner about their task and try to join that player. Or in the capitals there are often many opportunities to get in contact with other players for the first time.