Fostering Engagement & Cooperative Roleplay

[Eden Parker]

Hey everyone,

It is always our goal to create a space where everyone feels welcome and can have a good time. But we know that conflicts arise that can challenge our ability to enjoy this community, and that it can come from in-character and out-of-character behavior alike.

Two behaviors we would like to highlight are commonly known as blending and thought-sniping. While they are not explicitly mentioned in our community guidelines, they can be harmful to our goal of collaborative roleplay in this community.

What we offer below are not additional rules, but rather examples to assist players in monitoring their own behavior when it comes to blending and thought-sniping.

Blending

What is blending? Blending is an RP term that describes a player using OOC knowledge or feelings for IC interaction. Blending can be innocuous. A player might read something about another character in the Green Room or in a forum post and bring it into play as something their own character knows when they shouldn’t. That’s not ideal, but accidents happen and we’re all human!

But blending can also be intentional and harmful, such as a player using IC play to express their OOC dislike of another player. This can create a hostile environment for the player that is not conducive to collaborative play.

Thought-Sniping

What is thought-sniping? Thought-sniping is an RP term that describes a player using descriptive text to say mean or judgmental things about a character without giving that character an IC opportunity to respond.

Example:

The Jolly Green Giant strode into the room. Ugh, the Pillsbury Doughboy was already at the bar. That tubby lardball. The Jolly Green Giant hated that guy. He was gross and stupid. How embarrassing the way he lost his last duel. The Jolly Green Giant would have to give him a wide berth.

There is nothing in that description that the player of the Pillsbury Doughboy can respond to in roleplay. Contrast that with the following example:

The Jolly Green Giant strode into the room. Spotting the Pillsbury Doughboy at the bar, he sneered. “You again. Didn’t think you would show your face in here after that last embarrassing duel you had, you tubby lardball.” He gave him a wide berth as he settled at the opposite end of the bar.

There is no thought-sniping in this second example. The Doughboy can respond to both the Giant’s opinions and his actions.

We hope the above examples will be a helpful reminder that improves everyone’s collaborative roleplay experience. But there is one additional thing we ask everyone to remember: even when interactions are purely IC, they can still be hurtful to other players - particularly in dueling where an IC loss can be felt OOC, or in situations where many players are directing negativity towards one particular character. IC negativity can have consequences that damage our community, and if it persists, can escalate to harassment. Please be sensitive to other players and follow the first rule of FFRP: communicate!

We hope that this information is helpful as we strive to make our community a welcoming one. Thanks for reading.