This is an opinion guide with basic RP guidelines and tips for spicing up your RP in Star Trek Online.
The Basics ANIMATIONS
We do like to intersperse appropriate emote animations with our pose actions ( also called poses, emotes, actions), and we do use the /walk toggle keybinding! See the Togglable /walk Keybinding thread.
INFORMATIONAL STYLE
We relay spoken and sensed (heard, seen, smelled, touched) things only, not internal thoughts/emotion-- unless someone is telepathic, or the internal manifests externally via posture, expression or some other physical/tangible tell.
EMOTE/POSE TENSE
On the whole, Task Force Argo follows a Present Tense/Current Action Third Person narrative.
Some people use *smiles*, some people use ::smiles::. Some people put everything in actions and denote speech with “”, such as : smiles and says “Are you bored yet?”
The standard in TFA is to use /e or ;, then the text of your emote and quotes or /say for speech. For example:
/e sleepily murmurs, “Yes, it's a little dull, but knowledge is power.” will send Chassy sleepily murmurs, “Yes, it's a little dull, but knowledge is power.”
Things To Avoid GOD-MODING
This is the big No-No of RP. There are three forms of God-Moding. Knowing things you shouldn't know, being invulnerable, and forcing actions. They're all equally bad, and grounds for being ignored by legitimate roleplayers.
Forcing Actions
Without express permission you cannot ever, ever, ever, dictate what someone else says or does.
This manifests most frequently in RP fights. If you throw a punch, you cannot phrase it like you hit them. You can only pose/emote your INTENTIONS, then let the other party decide what happens with it.
For example: Tom hits Jerry.
This is BAD. It's godmoding. It's also poor RP because it doesn't tell you where Tom is aiming. Here's a good example:
Tom throws a full-power punch at Jerry's jaw.
See how he indicates where he's trying to hit Jerry, how hard he's trying to hit Jerry, and still only states intention? Jerry can dodge without messing up the flow, and dodge in accordance to the scene (ducking, rather than sidestepping).
Being Invulnerable/Impervious
You bleed like the rest of us (except maybe green). You're not Superman, or the Green Lantern. You can't pull some unknown trick from up your sleeve to get out of trouble or avoid legitimate harm.
You cannot dodge every punch-- this isn't the matrix. You are not Neo. You cannot take a punch and completely shake it off. Being punched hurts! So does being stabbed.
If you've just been tackled by five guys, you can't go 'Ha, Ha, actually I've just decided my species can melt into the floor, 'cause I want to be awesome.'
Knowledge God-moding
Things you know OOCly cannot be used by your character ICly. If you know that you're about to walk into a trap because Bob MT'd about it in the OOC fleet channel, you still have to roleplay as if you don't know it! If you know that Marijke the Orion is actually a double agent, your character cannot treat her with suspicion unless your character sees Marije do something suspicious.
Sometimes this happens on accident, in the lesser evil form of:
INFORMATION SEEP
This is a subtle, sneaky mistake that happens even to the best of RPers at times: the information seep. It's a form of god-moding where your character accidentally knows things ICly that only you should know OOCly!
The easiest, most common information seep mistake is knowing someone's name because it's floating over their head. In the real world, people don't have name tags. They don't in the IC world of STO, either.
If you meet someone new, you don't know anything but what you see and what you've ICly overheard. Even rank is hidden to you, unless they're wearing pips!
MARY-SUE-ITIS
Don't be the coolest cat in town who has it all made. No one is good at everything, and everyone has flaws and weaknesses, even your STO characters. Imperfections make for interesting, in depth personalities and roleplay.
If you're the super brainy scientist guy from a long line of admirals with four blackbelts, great abs, knows how to ice skate, play guitar, dance and fly a shuttle flawlessly, with an IQ of 1,000, are tall dark and handsome and has perfect teeth... you might be a Mary Sue.
If you're a member of the royal family of such and such, have six degrees, are an admiral and an ambassador and a governor with four ships to pick between to captain, you might be a Mary Sue.
BREAKING CHARACTER
Keep the realistic/IC flow. Don't go bouncing off tables unless you're doing it ICly. Don't insta-change uniforms unless your transporter chief is just that good. Don't break the fourth wall overtly, or make current affairs jokes. Don't go firing off your dual pistols at the wall inside the Starbase unless you want Security to haul your arse down to the brig for a pending court-martial.
Tips For Quality RP PROOF READ
Re-read what you're sending before you send it. Fixing basic typos and using proper punctuation and capitalization makes your pose much easier to read and understand in the way you meant it. It also shows respect for the people you're playing with.
SHARE THE LIMELIGHT
If you only ever talk about yourself or make all the events about you and your character, that's going to get very boring for other people and you'll find people dodging you. Real life relationships consist of give-and-take, and roleplay relationships are the same way!
BE A YES MAN
RP is a stage, a co-authored improvisation story. Be willing to accept and play off the scene that other people convey, rather than just shut down the action. A successful yes-man is a delight to RP with, and facilitates the greatest stories.
A great definition/example of Yes-man behavior is at Plays.about.com .
If you 'deny' the other person's half of the story, you'll never see where it goes, they'll feel railroaded and disappointed and not know what to do next, and the RP will stagnate. That doesn't mean just go with the flow when they do something god-modey, but just let go of the little things and encourage the evolution of the tale.
THROW THEM A BONE
This is a lot like sharing the limelight and playing a yes man. You have to give other people something to work with. In real life, we have expressions, gestures, body posture to convey information and give people hooks. In the textual world, it's a lot harder.
Jim smiles at Juliette and says, “How are you doing?”
Juliette smiles back. “I'm fine.”
Now, what is Jim supposed to say next? He doesn't know if she's looking tired, of the smile is genuine, or if she's put on weight lately. Look how much easier it is for Jim to find the next step in the conversation with the next example:
Jim smiles at Juliette and says, “How are you doing?”
Juliette smiles back, but she looks a little tired. “I'm fine. Work has been a little stressful, but it's calming down. How are you?”
See how much more Jim has to work with? He doesn't have to grasp for topics, he's got a bunch to pick from! This can be a very tricky thing to do when playing a quiet or anti-social character, but it is still doable with visual cues rather than speech!
STAY FLEXIBLE, ADAPT
Some people will play differently from you, be it different speeds or styles or RP 'theme'. This can be frustrating when you're waiting on someone, or aggravating when you're trying to pose and the other person just keeps firing off /says that changes the content of what you're typing. Adjust a little to make your styles compatible, and hopefully they're doing the same!
If you find yourself faced with a slow typer who likes to make elaborate descriptions of what their character does, give them the time to type and maybe try some descriptors yourself!
On the flipside, if you're a prose-emoter who likes being really descriptive, and find yourself matched up with someone who uses primarily /says, shift your style to be more /say like.
If both parties adapt to the people they're playing with, you'll find a happy medium to appease both styles and the RP will be fulfilling rather than frustrating.
Bumping for the benefit of new and old members alike. Please give this a read or a re-read. I'd like everyone to pay special attention to the section on god-moding.