Post by JINX McPhee on Jul 13, 2007 23:32:20 GMT -5
There are different ways to RP (Role-play) in the IMVU environment and some may be different than in any other chat environment you've ever visited.
1: First there's the 'straight' way to RP. Meet up with friends and run whatever scenario you've come up with. Some groups plot out their scenes and each person receives a rough 'script' of a sort. Others run their scenes free-form where anything can happen and the trick is to think fast and react to play along or counter the moves of someone else. This is often the type of RP that is most familiar to people.
2: This is an off-shoot of the first type but differs in that it takes place by message board (Public or Private depending on preference but it's often a bit of both.) with only occasional (But in some cases even nightly) 'meetings' at a designated 'clubhouse' or 'den' ect. with the head of the group or designated Steward responsible for inviting everyone. These meetings are usually social in nature rather than scenarios, a way for members of the same group to interact and get to know each other. However most of the RP aspect is semi-private between one or more partners who run separate smaller scenes of their own rather than a planned out script. Groups run like this often have semi-regular 'Balls' which they attend in character to 'update their status' within the group by reporting any new developments with their character. It is often at events like this that any new pairs introduce themselves by revealing the romance between their characters (When such things develop.) or present new childer/offspring, ect. It is also the time when alliances are revealed, upheld, or even destroyed between various characters or groups.
3: Another variety of RP is a bit more of a combination between RP and problem solving that developed purely in the IMVU environment and resembles a game of cat and mouse.
Here are the basics of the Hunter/Seeker game.
Participants must make a list of the IMVU rooms they own and invite the other participants to spend some time in the rooms. It's a great way to get to know each other as you can spend time socially as you view the different rooms. When everyone has seen each other's rooms a master list of the rooms that everyone owns is assembled and handed out to all of the participants. These rooms become the playing field.
At a designated time, the person elected to be the Master/Mistress of the Hunt will visit each participant's homepage and post a message. Each member choosing to participate must respond to the message within a certain time limit (Usually an hour.). From those replying the Master will choose the 'prey' for that night's (Or weekly, semi-weekly, whatever schedule the group has worked out.) hunt.
The 'Hunted' must then select their 'den; by choosing a room from the list (They can choose only from the rooms of those who are participating) and contacting the owner by posting to their homepages in a private message requesting 'asylum'. That person becomes their host and gets to visit socially as they wait in the room the Hunted has chosen.
The 'Hunted' must then challenge their Hunters by posting a message to their homepage by posting some clue to their location.
For instance a clue might look something like this.
"The moon is full and I stalk the night, find me by midnight and you'll find yourself in hot water."
Now this is a clever clue as it could actually point to several possible locations. The moon is full part could refer to a room where you can see a full moon in the sky and the stalk the night part could equally refer to a room that is a night scene; but that may or may not have a full moon in it. The third part reveals the time limitation Hunters have to find their prey; by finding the room they've chosen as their refuge. The last part could also be a clue and could refer to the location as well. Hot water could refer to a room that is a spa, contains one, or even to one of the coffee or tea shop rooms available. The trick for the Hunter is to figure out what part of the clue is the real clue and what is part is just there to cloud the issue.
The Hunter tries to discover the location of the Hunted by 'tracking' them by posting private messages to the Hunted with their guess(es) until they locate the correct room. The owner of the room; who has been waiting with the Hunted, invites them to the room symbolically ending the 'hunt'. First Hunter to find and arrive at the correct room is declared the winner, any other hunters that find the correct room after that are given kudos for finding the right room but win nothing. Should the time limit pass without the Hunted being found, the Hunted has eluded their Hunters and is declared the winner instead.
Sometimes this game carries an actual reward. In those cases the reward is provided by the participants and it's usually a small amount, 10 or 20 credits per participant, though I've heard of some groups running with 50 credit or higher 'dues'. The dues are turned over to the winner and the owner of the room that graciously played host for the duration of the game; usually 40 to 50 credits but that varies by the group.
Often these groups are broken into smaller 'packs' of twenty or so to keep the game manageable. It's not unusual for larger gatherings to take place a few times a year where the different 'packs' participating compete against one another. Some of these games keep 'stats' on their hunters and hunted and dispense yearly awards to the best overall hunter and hunted; that is up to the individual games running.
Each is set up and run according to their own rules and traditions so you need to familiarize yourself with the rules for whatever group you join.
4: The last type of RP is purely free-form with members chatting 'in character' but not taking part in any scripted scenarios. These types of groups often meet at a 'clubhouse', 'den', or 'Chantry' depending on the type of group. this type of RP tends to be purely social in a nature and is usually centered around a particular group, Weres, Vampires, Elves, ect.
I have seen this type of group run charmingly enough as sort of an 'underground' type bar and club where different 'breeds' could interact. It was actually quite fun, the people were very clever in coming up with their characters and the 'owner' even lined up entertainment in the form of 'dancers' or DJs or on one memorable occasion I was in attendance for, a poetry reading. Often these groups are 'word of mouth' and you have to be invited by someone who is a member; who in turn may nominate you for membership. It all adds to the 'enigmatic nature' of these groups and lends a lot of atmosphere to the whole affair.
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
These are only a few examples of 'games' running in IMVU right now and I'm positive that there are more out there. If you'd like to share the ones you know of with us please respond to this and add it.
It will help those looking to set up their own groups/games.
Have fun!
1: First there's the 'straight' way to RP. Meet up with friends and run whatever scenario you've come up with. Some groups plot out their scenes and each person receives a rough 'script' of a sort. Others run their scenes free-form where anything can happen and the trick is to think fast and react to play along or counter the moves of someone else. This is often the type of RP that is most familiar to people.
2: This is an off-shoot of the first type but differs in that it takes place by message board (Public or Private depending on preference but it's often a bit of both.) with only occasional (But in some cases even nightly) 'meetings' at a designated 'clubhouse' or 'den' ect. with the head of the group or designated Steward responsible for inviting everyone. These meetings are usually social in nature rather than scenarios, a way for members of the same group to interact and get to know each other. However most of the RP aspect is semi-private between one or more partners who run separate smaller scenes of their own rather than a planned out script. Groups run like this often have semi-regular 'Balls' which they attend in character to 'update their status' within the group by reporting any new developments with their character. It is often at events like this that any new pairs introduce themselves by revealing the romance between their characters (When such things develop.) or present new childer/offspring, ect. It is also the time when alliances are revealed, upheld, or even destroyed between various characters or groups.
3: Another variety of RP is a bit more of a combination between RP and problem solving that developed purely in the IMVU environment and resembles a game of cat and mouse.
Here are the basics of the Hunter/Seeker game.
Participants must make a list of the IMVU rooms they own and invite the other participants to spend some time in the rooms. It's a great way to get to know each other as you can spend time socially as you view the different rooms. When everyone has seen each other's rooms a master list of the rooms that everyone owns is assembled and handed out to all of the participants. These rooms become the playing field.
At a designated time, the person elected to be the Master/Mistress of the Hunt will visit each participant's homepage and post a message. Each member choosing to participate must respond to the message within a certain time limit (Usually an hour.). From those replying the Master will choose the 'prey' for that night's (Or weekly, semi-weekly, whatever schedule the group has worked out.) hunt.
The 'Hunted' must then select their 'den; by choosing a room from the list (They can choose only from the rooms of those who are participating) and contacting the owner by posting to their homepages in a private message requesting 'asylum'. That person becomes their host and gets to visit socially as they wait in the room the Hunted has chosen.
The 'Hunted' must then challenge their Hunters by posting a message to their homepage by posting some clue to their location.
For instance a clue might look something like this.
"The moon is full and I stalk the night, find me by midnight and you'll find yourself in hot water."
Now this is a clever clue as it could actually point to several possible locations. The moon is full part could refer to a room where you can see a full moon in the sky and the stalk the night part could equally refer to a room that is a night scene; but that may or may not have a full moon in it. The third part reveals the time limitation Hunters have to find their prey; by finding the room they've chosen as their refuge. The last part could also be a clue and could refer to the location as well. Hot water could refer to a room that is a spa, contains one, or even to one of the coffee or tea shop rooms available. The trick for the Hunter is to figure out what part of the clue is the real clue and what is part is just there to cloud the issue.
The Hunter tries to discover the location of the Hunted by 'tracking' them by posting private messages to the Hunted with their guess(es) until they locate the correct room. The owner of the room; who has been waiting with the Hunted, invites them to the room symbolically ending the 'hunt'. First Hunter to find and arrive at the correct room is declared the winner, any other hunters that find the correct room after that are given kudos for finding the right room but win nothing. Should the time limit pass without the Hunted being found, the Hunted has eluded their Hunters and is declared the winner instead.
Sometimes this game carries an actual reward. In those cases the reward is provided by the participants and it's usually a small amount, 10 or 20 credits per participant, though I've heard of some groups running with 50 credit or higher 'dues'. The dues are turned over to the winner and the owner of the room that graciously played host for the duration of the game; usually 40 to 50 credits but that varies by the group.
Often these groups are broken into smaller 'packs' of twenty or so to keep the game manageable. It's not unusual for larger gatherings to take place a few times a year where the different 'packs' participating compete against one another. Some of these games keep 'stats' on their hunters and hunted and dispense yearly awards to the best overall hunter and hunted; that is up to the individual games running.
Each is set up and run according to their own rules and traditions so you need to familiarize yourself with the rules for whatever group you join.
4: The last type of RP is purely free-form with members chatting 'in character' but not taking part in any scripted scenarios. These types of groups often meet at a 'clubhouse', 'den', or 'Chantry' depending on the type of group. this type of RP tends to be purely social in a nature and is usually centered around a particular group, Weres, Vampires, Elves, ect.
I have seen this type of group run charmingly enough as sort of an 'underground' type bar and club where different 'breeds' could interact. It was actually quite fun, the people were very clever in coming up with their characters and the 'owner' even lined up entertainment in the form of 'dancers' or DJs or on one memorable occasion I was in attendance for, a poetry reading. Often these groups are 'word of mouth' and you have to be invited by someone who is a member; who in turn may nominate you for membership. It all adds to the 'enigmatic nature' of these groups and lends a lot of atmosphere to the whole affair.
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
These are only a few examples of 'games' running in IMVU right now and I'm positive that there are more out there. If you'd like to share the ones you know of with us please respond to this and add it.
It will help those looking to set up their own groups/games.
Have fun!