Levels of Roleplay

When you hear people referring to different roleplay styles, or bitching about how something was "low RP", you may wonder what that means! Often the terms are used incorrectly on our server, and are often used as an insult by people who are salty little crybabies that they did something stupid and now they're being harm batoned in the kneecaps.

Provided below is a semi-serious guide to different levels of roleplay, and how they might affect the way a server plays. This is representative of more than just the Space Station 13 community, and can be applied to any roleplay environment!

Low RP

There is no story. There is only those who are robust, and those who are not. The goal is to survive by any means necessary. Chaos is king. You could die at any moment. Though you may be immersed in the world of your game, it is still a game, and it is a game you must win.

Medium RP

Low RP except there's a forced attempt to mix in elements from Heavy RP. Admins try to force players participate in tedious things like ChaRaCteR dEveLOpMEnt and pLoTLinES. Nobody can agree on anything and there is constant salt by everyone involved who are all divided between trying to pull it toward low RP or push it toward heavy RP.

It may be called Medium RP, but it is by far the lowest form of roleplay.

Heavy RP

This is what Vorestation uses. In heavy RP, there is a focus mainly on story and character development. Conflict is generally not at random and people pretty much behave as they probably would if they were real people in the world that the RP takes place.

You also sometimes get your shit pushed in and start crying about low RP because someone attacked you 4noraisin. Sometimes it is low RP, which is not allowed. Sometimes you did something stupid, and you probably came from a Serious RP server where your actions probably didn't have many in-game consequences. Heavy RP is the last RP where conflict is tangible and handled fairly by an unbias party such as game mechanics or a dice roll. After this, it's all (dis)honor based.

Strict RP / Serious RP

You have all the elements of heavy RP at your disposal, but they are underdeveloped or broken because you don't ever get to use them. This is Heavy RP without the fun. Plotlines, character development, and stories galore! But don't you dare shoot anyone. You have to roleplay. If you kill anyone, that's RDM, which means random deathmatching, and RDM is ding dong 'bannu! Gotta give everyone a fair chance. Life isn't fair sometimes, but this is always fair. Except when it isn't because the dungeon master (or equivalent) railroaded everyone into his forced plot, or the admin's girlfriend powergamed backflipping over your grenade and kicked you in the dick.

Pure RP

There is no game environment. It's all text. It's all subject to imagination. People, places, empires, entire worlds come and go as your words will it to be or not to be. You are a god. This is your paradise. It's a shame you have to share it with that weirdo who does nothing but mash his keyboard and talk about feet. In fact you're pretty sure he types with his feet.

Or actually, you don't have to share it with him, because this is the only form of roleplay where you can just ignore all of your problems. Block whoever you want, select who you play with, and slowly entrap yourself in a tight knit circle of friends until this fantasy is all you'll ever know. At least until everyone else goes on to get real lives, and you're left here, sad and alone. Oops. Oh, and everyone else who still roleplays is also in their own club of friends and you're not invited. Except feet person. Feet person will always have a place for you in his heart and will always roleplay with you if you just give him a chance.

Maybe ignoring all of your problems wasn't such a good idea.

Live Action Roleplay / Cosplaying

LARPing is you are literally the character you are playing as. Often times this will just be you and your friends getting together in the woods or whatever to pretend you're in a fantasy world. Some more notable mainstream examples of LARPers are as follows:

• Jousting as a Knight in shining armor at a Medieval festival.
• HEMA, which is a lot like the above, except you get to kick the living shit out of other people cosplaying as knights. Sort of low RP, but too badass for that to matter.
• Playing as a sheriff in a rousing game of cowboys and indians natives. Politically correct edit. It's 2019 after all.
• Dressing and living as the colonists did in a recreation of Jamestown.
• Fighting Storm Troopers with a plastic lightsaber.
• Fighting Storm Troopers with a Mosin Nagant that fires blanks.
• Being the coach in any little league sports game.
• Cosplaying at various anime, comic, or game conventions.
• Wearing a fursuit like a degenerate.

Real Life

oh god this is no longer fun I am miserable and I have no control as I am nothing but an NPC in this twisted game called life