/tg/station classic roleplay standards have oft been defined as "the bare minimum effort to play a character in a space-adjacent setting." In catering to our roleplay-oriented audience, great groundwork has been laid in setting out a more roleplay oriented space with the advent of our Medium Roleplaying Server Manuel and the Roleplaying Rules as defined on the forums. As it stands, Medium Roleplay is loosely defined and can be summarised as: light enforcement of the chain of command, restrictions on antagonists and murder, and rules intended to combat powergaming and validhunting.
Community Expectations Differ
Admin interpretation of the rules and their discretion in enforcement is an important tool available to them. Player expectations of our servers and what enjoyments they derive will differ. Nevertheless, community interpretations of what medium roleplay is differ across a wide spectrum: ideas swing between /tg/station classic roleplay with additional role and conflict resolution restrictions all the way to greater expectations on players to fulfill assigned roles within the chain of command; prohibition of preemptive preparation (i.e. guncargo/cargonia; fully-armed robotics exosuits); and an emphasis placed on rounds affording character interaction and story development.
Defining Medium Roleplay?
MRP is a very broadly sweeping term - from Colonial Marine's coded skill-based restrictions, protections against metaknowledge, and the strict enforcement of the chain of command to the wackier butt-bots of Goonstation, MRP is connotated with an extremely diverse range of roleplay standards and enforcement across the Space Station 13 community and our server. As it stands, /tg/station's interpretation of medium roleplay doesn't appear to be greatly defined or understood, leading to a wider range of rule enforcement and player dissatisfaction than may be desired.
Please consider and answer the following three questions:
- What is your definition of medium roleplay?
- If you had to write a definition of medium roleplay for our server(s), what would it look like?
- How would you go about creating and implementing your definition of MRP?