Could Someone Give me Advice on Improving Roleplay Immersion in Aurora Station?

[samzyan]

Hello there,👋

I have been playing on the server for a few months now; and I am really enjoying the depth of the roleplay and the variety of characters that make the experience so immersive. I have noticed that some players are able to create these incredibly rich; believable interactions; and I would like to improve my own roleplay to reach that level of detail and immersion.

How do you keep your character’s backstory consistent while allowing room for organic development based on in-game interactions? I feel like I am often stuck between rigidly sticking to a pre-planned background or letting my characters history change too much as the game progresses. How do you balance that?🤔

What tips do you have for making in-character conversations feel more natural and dynamic?🤔 I sometimes feel like I fall into repetitive patterns with how my character speaks; and I want to bring more variety to the dialogue.

Also; I have gone through this post; https://forums.aurorastation.org/topic/9193-we-need-to-have-a-proper-discussion-about-power-apps-antagonism-and-roleplay/ which definitely helped me out a lot.

I love when roleplay creates tension between characters; but I am curious about ways to achieve this without resorting to direct conflict. What are some subtle ways to add drama to roleplay scenarios without always having to escalate to arguments or fights?🤔

Thanks in advance for your help and assistance.😇

[JeffMomentRed]

Hello, I play mainly Operations characters because of my experience in America's manufacturing and logistics industry and because somehow I enjoy the gameplay loop involved. The most antagonistic of these characters being my Tajara, Kezerjem Jaar'zeck. Alot of the inspiration I got for this character's public attitude came from a coworker at a manufacturing plant I used to work at named Ron. Ron was a gruff, ruthless, and exudes this atmosphere of hostility or belligerence to everyone and anything which came his way. The good side of Ron was once he got to know you and if you proved you were in any way decent at your job, he began to warm up and show you respect which you wouldn't quite expect from him. There is a soft shelled side which takes the form of care in a way you would expect out of a brother or close friend.

When writing a character I take the flaws they have and ask myself "How would I incorporate this flaw in an interactive/social setting like Aurora?". So for example: Kezerjem speaks very bluntly, only really employing things like sarcasm or exaggeration when joking amongst someone close to him. This bluntness flaw comes in alot of forms, a few being short answers or grunts of acknowledgement to unfiltered and vocal judgements of another character's appearance, choices, etc. addressed directly to the subject: Telling Manuel Barros that he is overweight or insulting his choices in sugary junk foods. Calling a member of a monarchist nation a slaver or so on.

This flaw in particular has cause animosity or friction with several character's. Some became his friend's or one even a romantic interest. Other's who have been around long enough are still coworkers and thats all they will be. And some have ended up becoming perpetually belligerent, some with little to no interaction with him, others with very good reasons or personal experiences.

There are alot of origins which the lore team has developed over the course of several years, nearly ALL of them have some sort of rival, enemy, or oppressing/oppressed group which can be translated to on ship interaction but I've found its best to form conflict using interpersonal/workplace issues as the driving force while the former issues take a secondary place or contribute to the conflict in the background.

On speaking patterns between each character, the only suggestion I would be able to give is to try on focus on one to three characters to develop. Most people's writing has tells, I know mine definitely does, things like: I type faster than I think so at least once a round I'll end up typing a sentence thats missing a word in the middle of it. Or I'll say things which one character wouldn't usually say, like my OM saying "Buddy" or Kezerjem saying "Something like that". I cant list all of my tells, Im sure others definitely can as this is one of those things I think is difficult to stay aware of.

 

Anyways, I hope I was able to help in some way.

[party]

Regarding dialogue, one thing particularly useful for characters who don't weigh their words carefully: unless what they're about to say is particularly OOC for them or you need to correct a typo, never backspace. The way people naturally speak includes pauses, filler words, and thoughts that aren't fully concluded before moving onto the next. Sometimes they may forget a word and need to hastily substitute it with something that makes slightly less sense but gets the point across. Authentic conversation will be a little messy and lean on the listener filling in the gaps for themselves (or failing to and creating a misunderstanding).

[Sniblet]

I’m not a great source of advice for believable characters, I don’t think, because I play strongly inhuman vaurcae and IPCs most of the time on Aurora. But here’s some stuff I do across platforms.

I don’t reference documents regarding what a character ought to be. Ought follows is, not the other way around - so whatever I do while feeling like I’m that character, is that character - so I can never play a character wrong. If they do something that seems strange for them, then they’re just capable of doing things that you might not expect them to. (This stammery 4’10” research understudy has, if you can believe it, had an intense romantic relationship in the past, and that’s why her stammer fades and she speaks comfortably and bluntly with you about your woes in love.) Real people are like this, so I can turn what I could have treated as a mistake into an illusion of a deep, archetype-defiant, layered character.

My backstories start as sketchy outlines (worked with the Nlomkala from 2456 to 2464. full stop) and don’t become tangible until someone asks me about it and I decide to answer (“it was easy for me, despite the astronomical expectations I was under - I found the orderliness soothing”). This is another illusion to make it look like I’ve done the work while actually doing minimal work. While I’m inhabiting the character, it’s not so hard to think of what they might have done in the past, how the past might have shaped them, and of course, how they’ll frame it in the context they were asked in. They’ll stay on topic, and not look like they’re reading from a pre-written backstory, because they’re not. I’m improvising every word, save for the locations, dates, and vibes.

If I contradict myself, it was IC, actually. Real people are messy. They might subtly lie about their histories for any, or literally no reason. They might act noticeably differently in the same situation from day to day, and if called out on it, if they try to think of a reason for the difference, they could even point to the wrong thing (“I guess I’m just tired.” <—- is barely suppressing a surge of nauseous anxiety) whether intentionally or not. The one thing I never want to do is step into LOOC and say, "hey, can we pretend my character actually said this other thing instead?"

It’s SO easy to play off your mistakes in roleplaying. I can’t get enough of it. All I have to do is never acknowledge that I made a mistake, and if I'm lucky, they can even make me look more competent than I am. Just don't ask me about whether I keep any notes. I don't want to have to lie and say I do.

Edited October 8 by Sniblet