Welcome to Gaia! ::

I'm going to explain the basic Dos and Don'ts in common role play educate. It will help you tremendously if you are going to continue to role play in the gaiaonline community.

1. SPELLING & PUNCTUATION

Okay, come on guys, this is simple elementary. Without something as simple as a comma, our minds wouldn't have time to breath every once in a while. Not to mention, if everyone typed in text talk, h0w th3 fack w0uld w3 understnd echothr?
One of the major don'ts whilst typing, DO NOT, UNDER ANY CIRCUMSTANCES, REPLACE YOU WITH U. This just... it completely pisses me as well as other people off. Whats wrong with reaching your finger over to two more letters on the keyboard? Does it really make a difference in time when you don't? Enough ranting, let's move on. Capitalizing the I when referring to ones self is also a major Don't in spelling and punctuation.
DO NOT overuse the exclamation and question marks. It looks cheesy and rather annoying. Also, make sure you end EVERY sentence with a period.

2. THEIR/THERE/THEY'RE

Their: Referring to a group of people possessing something.
Examples: Their house is orange. Their rights as citizens. Their plane ticket.

There: In or at a place - a direction - or a point.
Examples: We are going there. There is a job in the school. There isn't a cat in the fish tank.

They're: They are - a group of two or more people.
Examples: They're going to the movies. They're sitting on a bench together. They're going to be married.

3. YOUR/YOU'RE

Your: Someone else's possession.
Examples: Your chocolate is melted. Your shoe is brown. Your shirt fell off.

You're: You are.
Examples: You're the worst sister ever. You're going to the mall today. You're living at my house for a week.

4. QUOTATIONS & ASTERISKS

(*Take note, I just used an asterisk.)

Quotations and asterisks are the most commonly used things while people role play on gaiaonline. Asterisks are used mainly in town settings to show movement or actions. THEY SHOULD NOT, UNDER ANY CIRCUMSTANCES, BE USED IN FORUM ROLE PLAYS.

Incorrect: *Bangs you on the head with a pan*
Correct: Fury was burning inside of me. The thought of his action preventing me from gaining an A on my report card was too much. In a quick motion, I gripped the frying pan tightly in my hand and lunged at the man across from my desk, hitting his head so hard that he might as well have had a concussion.

Now doesn't that sound much better? Rather than just simply knowing the person created the action, you now know what had prompted ones self into making the action, and the person's emotions while they were creating the action.

Quotations are a little more tricky, but can actually be really fun once you have the hang of them. Quotations are usually began with a comma, or they may begin a whole new paragraph in itself.

Incorrect: I like you she said happily.
Correct: "I like you." She said, happily.

5. SENTENCE STRUCTURE & COLORFUL LANGUAGE

Starting the same sentence with the same word over and over again is tiring to the reader's eyes, and they may get bored or annoyed with you rather quickly. Never, NEVER use the same word in the beginning of a sentence more than once if a previous sentence with that same beginning is in the same paragraph. It looks dry and unimaginative.
Also try using more colorful language. Rather than Sad or in pain, try 'disappointed' or 'in anguish', it makes your sentence seem all the more enthralling. Looking through dictionary.com every once in a while for synonyms or definitions of words you may not know also helps in this situation.

6. PARAGRAPHING

When replying to a role play, doesn't it just piss you off when you created a three paragraph response and the other person responds with something like,

'Yeah, she said annoyed. I think we should go too. *Skips off into the distance.*'

Or, would you happen to be the person that actually does that?

Please, PLEASE, while you're creating a response in a role play, make sure you put some effort into it. If you're scared someone might write ahead of you while you're creating your masterpiece, create a post ahead of time saying 'WIP' or 'RESERVED', and then edit that post later so that people know you're in the middle of writing something. If someone writes after that post anyways, it's their fault, not yours, that they aren't caught up.
If you're stuck on what to write, try to fill in some gaps with what the character is thinking at the same time it's creating that action, and try to be as descriptive as possible.

Incorrect: "Yeah, I like that idea. Lets go to the bar." She said, and then ran off to the bar.
Correct: She looked unwillingly up at the smart man in front of her, and then quickly glanced back down. He was so handsome. "Yeah, I like that idea." She said while looking at her feet, shuffling them around nervously, "Let's head over to the bar, maybe we could have some... alone time... there." She then grabbed the man's arm and tugged on it, edging him closer to the cavern not that far away.



If you stumble over how the wording/grammar is flowing it should be worked over again. This also is a good technique to catch typos and misspellings.



I have seen many posts where the grammar is broken and/or simply repeats what others have said. This only confuses the other players and makes things hard to respond to. There is no stimuli for their character if you stand around observing.

Your goal should be to convey what the character is doing/feeling as if it was happening to you.



School is now in session!
If there are any other Dos and Don'ts you think should be added to this list, please make sure it is in title // paragraph form:

1. TITLE

Paragraph

Any questions/complaints/suggestions? Post them here and make sure you QUOTE ME!

Seems good, I added them.