Third night in DE officially concluded. Major fun. Thank you all whom role-played with me or allowed me into your role-play. My short time here I have seen a street fight 20 deep, got a job, worked my first shift, got my first Injury role-play which lasted over 3 hours; whew that was long .

I have some observations though that I want to put out there and maybe a suggestion or two.

Don’t assume that people don’t read the guide before joining. Certain things you can only learn by playing.
-The guide doesn’t give specific rules on such things as : proper way to find post order. When someone is new to RP as a whole not just in DE and no visible mentors are around or easily found you go into your very first role-play not thoroughly informed. Most newbies introduce themselves in character but they have no way of knowing that there was a post order to begin with out being told, so they post out of order and sometimes ruin the role-play inadvertantly. It can be especially confusing if it is more than 2-4 people. In Guide: “Take Turns
Role-play is a turn-based activity. When someone posts, you should respond with a single post, then wait for your turn to respond again. If there are multiple players involved, take your turn in order. This allows everyone a fair chance to respond to a situation before it is your turn to post again.”
Thanks to my “mentor” Deus he immediately informed me of the way to properly do it. He says to observe all the people in the surrounding area , let them all post first even and especially if there is a large group. After all have spoken then you post. Seems reasonable to professional/longtime role-players but not to newbs like myself. That passage in the guide wasn’t as specific as having someone explain it in detail.

-When you first start posting you don’t think to seperate thoughts and actual words with quotations because you are so eager to play especially after waiting 48 hours+ to get your acceptance. After it was brought to my attention, I saw how it made sense. It works well but again newbies to Role-Playing this intensively don’t know think to do this offhand.

-Now a biggie which caused the most problem for me and has only happened this once tonight which angered me as well as the person who got “upset” over this minor mishap is the use of the titler. The titler is amazing. They let people know who you are etc if you put it in there. A new role-player will think you are making it known who you are and may mistakenly use your name IC, of course, but it was considered OOC. Given after it was brought to my attention, in a not so pleasant way that I broke policy, I immediately messaged and apologized. Even after I explain being new to be berated and told that I should read the rules etc, etc. FACT: rules in guide were read many times waiting for my acceptance for 50+hours. ‘Fact:Emote ( /me )
To communicate and interact with other players in role-play, you should emote. In Second Life, this means to use the /me command as you portray yourself in the third person, followed by the physical actions, thoughts, feelings, and/or speech (in quotations) of your character. ” Fact: this does not say if there is a titler over head and name is displayed you can’t use it.’ Once again experienced role-players know this, newcomers don’t. I concede it makes sense that if you haven’t met the person yet or were told a description of the person with their name told to you, you couldn’t know their name. But once again not so apparent to newcomers at first.

Basically I am asking experienced role-players in DE and other Rps don’t talk down to or assume a person didn’t read the guide. Instead try being helpful and correcting them. There is no reason to be rude about it. You were a beginner at one time. And I am sure you made more mistakes than the 3 minor ones I made, especially if you didn’t have access to a mentor. Thankfully for 2 of my errors Deus was there to correct me pleasantly and professionally. So once again thank you Deus. Unfortunately, my third mistake which was made tonight he wasn’t around to correct me, and I was offended by the blatant rudeness of how I ruined their role-play and how I never read rules. I did but rules aren’t so clear for newbies. I always graciously accept corrections because I want to enjoy the role-play and not ruin it for others. That is not our intention.

Also mentors need to be displayed for all to see especially for Newcomers at landing point. If mentors were more easily displayed these minor mistakes wouldn’t cause such a stink for the experienced role-players and give us newcomers peace of mind that they won’t ruin the experience for everyone. Given they may still happen, but someone around to politely and professionally guide you is a great help.

On a last note, know I am here to enjoy DE just like the rest of you. If you see me make a mistake no matter how minor or big please do so politely in my IM. No need to be rude. And if you are having a bad day and are in a bad mood, take it out on whomever you really are mad at not an innocent bystander. If it’s part of your role-play than amazing, but otherwise log off or don’t interact with others.Treat others as you want to be treated.