A Guide to Role-playing, a piece by Tai [Edited by Akegata]

I find it fitting that my first contribution to the forum is a guide to zoning. I'm not going to completely finish it in one sitting and will probably edit in some stuff later. Now, I don't find myself to be the best zoner here, but I do believe myself to be good enough to author this.

1. Understand Your Character
I'll hold off on the out of game related zoning details for now. Now, you must understand that when you zone you are that character. Every action you perform advances the history of who you are in this game. Some may make reputations and some may break them. Some may be actions for the greater good, some despicably evil. A detailed character opens you up for other zones, makes zones far more fun, and may inadvertantly open up storylines that include many others.

2. Understand Your Moveset
Don't pull moves out of your ass. Come into battle with a set amount of attacks and defenses to use. In battle, don't blow your load early and bust out your best moves. If your opponent is strong (or just a really good zoner), they can probably survive them due to a lack of exhaustion usually brought on by battle. Not only that, but it reveals what kind of zoner you are: one that lacks a strategy.

3. Have A Strategy

Chess games are not won without strategy. War is not won without strategy. A fight, therefore, CANNOT be won without strategy and a set of tactics that apply to who you are facing and exactly how you are going to beat them.

4. Use Detail in EVERY Post
Your posts can never be taken seriously or be easily exploited for gaps in detail during a zone. Therefore, address nearly everything related to your opponent's previous move and capitalize if possible. Your awareness in battle can and most likely will lead to success or at least advancement in battle.

5. Make Note of Where You Are Zoning
Manipulation of the place you fight in will directly benefit you as a zoner and the people watching because the underlying creativity and how interesting it makes the fight seem. In fact, my favorite zone ever was heavily augmented due to this very tactic.

6. Grammar

This is the point where I transition to more technical aspects of zoning. One's that deal with YOU as the operator of the keyboard. Anybody that goes to school knows what grammar is. In fact, it's what helps you type phrases in the first place. In order to avoid ridicule, PLEASE use it perfectly in battle no matter how much time or checking it takes. I can't put into words how absolutely essential it is.

7. Separating Actions from Speaking
In order to set yourself apart from the rest of the pack, make use of commas on your keyboard in order to make speech obvious.

8. Color Codes

Get to know them. They are essential to differentiating yourself from lower tier players who use the default colors. Plus, colors also help you stand out in general chat.

9. Putting Posts Together
If you're a great zoner, it's going to take several posts to convey your actions to your opponent. Therefore, make it obvious when you run out of space for typing and then continue on with more posts. [Not applicable in a forum setting]

10. Pay Attention to the Zone

If you start a zone, get into it. Don't click away and let it sit. It kills what momentum you had going in battle and ultimately pisses the opponent off. This usually leads to the dreaded "We'll continue later" which never happens.

11. Never Argue or Have OOC Posts in the Zone

Again, it kills momentum and gets both zoners off track. Save debates, questions, and arguments for mail.

12. Meta-Gaming and God-Modding

These are the two most dreaded terms in zoning. Meta-Gaming is essentially elevated awareness. It means you understand the opponent's motives, tactics, weapons, attacks, etc. While you as a physical, living being with the capability of browsing an online game for information made available in villages, bios, and the such, you in the game are exactly the opposite. Unless you are in a position of incredible power, you have no knowledge of who you are facing and should keep it that way. It makes the fight more unpredictable and fun. I admit I made the error myself several times on N-C but now understand the fault and am not going to repeat it. God-Modding deals with the subject of auto-hitting, which is the process of assuming your move hits even though your opponent was never given a chance at retaliation. It is the central catalyst for angry arguments and needs to be avoided.

13. Taking Damage

Even though you may be able to make damage through your moves and battle tactics, acting like a boring invincible hero in-battle is absolute bullshit. You are generally on equal ground with your opponent and their attacks are just as effective as yours. Therefore, don't treat attacks with an excellent setup like garbage and attempt to come up with a contrived defensive maneuver. You take it like a champ. Stamina derails during a fight. The combatants aren't going to have the same agility, strength, and defense after several hours that they did at the start. Besides, battle damage adds to the epicness of the fight and really makes it look like the opponents are on even ground and that they are willing to fight until they simply cannot move any longer. Now what does THAT say about character? Again, it relates to character growth and progression.

This is really just a preliminary guideline, but I do think it's good enough for a sticky. Any new guys should definitely check this out and make it a bible of sorts.

[A note to those confused by the use of the terms zoning, zoner, etc. The title came about as a shorthand for RPing due to the name of the place where most battles took place on the original site. The Roleplay Zones.

^^ This is really helpful. Thanks a lot Ake-sama