Post by Karaeless on Jul 9, 2016 14:35:40 GMT -7
--- The Goal of Roleplaying ---
Let me remind all of you that roleplaying is a game that it has no "winners" and no "losers" and, well, no "ending" in that 'live happily ever after' sense. The purpose of roleplay is so that you, the player, have a way of 'losing' yourself in another world that you can interact with instead of sitting back and watching it (eg. movies, tv, etc.). It is meant to be fun; if you are not having fun when you are rping then the purpose of rping is defeated.
There is no point in creating an invincible character for roleplay because in every situation, (s)he will win and that gets rather routine after several encounters. Roleplaying is the taking on the part of being another person living out their life. There is not greater being marking off points on a paper; there is no end where said points will be tallied up; there is no trophy to win. You roleplay to play, not to win.
--- Watching Others Roleplay is Helpful ---
When you are beginning roleplay, there are some players who can be crude, insensitive, impatient people who aren't willing to give you the time of day just because you don't know the rules. Ignore those people. They forget that they were new at roleplaying once and if they met people like themselves when they first started, they probably wouldn't have continued to roleplay. Everyone has to start out as a "newbie," everyone does not roleplay like a pro when they begin. People still don't roleplay well even after years of doing it. It depends on how much effort you put into learning the game.
Another issue I found helpful when learning to roleplay was watching other player's posts. I still do this and this can be a very useful tool in improving your roleplaying. Again, it depends on who you pick up tips from and it doesn't help you to simply watch and not ask questions when you don't understand. Almost all advanced rpers that I have encountered are more than willing to explain and clarify things to anyone who doesn't understand. However, if someone is unwilling to help you, just move on and ask someone else. Don't let a few bad comments stop you from improving yourself.
--- Communication in Roleplay ---
What would an inhuman character be without their abilities? Unfortunately with the mix of free form and pre-written characters, the abilities used can be varied and sometimes seem incompatible. This is where most fights happen.
Best way to avoid this (aside from being descriptive in your moves) would be to keep conversation open in PM or some messenger program. This way, it will allow you to have an extra level of communication to sort out problems that may arise. Describing your actions well will allow someone using a different system to mesh theirs with yours more effectively.
Being descriptive comes pretty much as a necessity when it's in a fight, especially one that deals with abilities. Not only would it make it easier (and save some time) on your opponent to describe your abilities in your post (instead of having them look it up in their books or on a website) it would reduce the amount of confusion done by simply listing out the abilities you've used. An ideal post would involve the same principles that I've listed previously. 'How hard is your character hitting?' 'Where are they standing?' 'What are their weapons/powers?' etc. etc.
Again, key points: Communcation and Description.
--- Being Descriptive in Your Posts ---
Next point.
Playing a character is not simply typing out words onto a screen. One should be descriptive in their actions/posts. Anyone could slap on a name and type in any sort of actions such as:
::appears suddenly::
To me this simply conjures up the image of 'poof' the character appears fairy-god-motheresque though without the glamour and sparkles. It leaves the post empty and lacking as well as making the player (the person behind the character) seem unimaginative, when this could be the opposite. When you make a post, you should consider as many angles as possible. "How" is the main question. Working on the previous example, we should ask 'how did they appear? By what method?' 'Was there any effect that those around them may have felt or seen/heard if they were looking/listening?' etc. For example, a similar post would be:
::The doll sat in the window of an old antique store, staring silently out at those that passed by the large glass panes. The single streetlamp in front illuminated her like a spot light would on a stage; the smile drawn upon her lips seemed to let others know how she reveled in the attention - that is, of course, the reason why she chose this particular antique shop to gain her rest. And so, she sat there...though, in one instance the doll existed behind the glass and in the next moment a man's shadow passed over her and then it was gone; dissolved into the shadows like sugar in water. From a nearby darkened alleyway she formed, stepping out of the rippling shadows as one would from behind a satin curtain. The shadows slid from her mortal form, like silk upon skin, as she stepped into the flood of artificial light created by the street lamp.::
The latter example answers the two questions listed earlier.
- how did she get onto the street?
-- by dissolving into the shadows and moving from that to the shadows in the alley
- would one notice if they were paying attention?
-- perhaps: the shadows were rippling but perhaps not since it was dark...I left the mention of it being empty or not open so that anyone who would like to join in (ie: 'spotting' her emerge from a wall) would be able to.
While you don't have to be descriptive in -every- single action your character commits, it's not a bad idea to get some practice because it comes in -great- use during fights. By describing, how, where, when, etc, in your fight posts, you help your opponent know -exactly- what sort of injuries they should sustain or how they should block it with little to no confusion. This also will help with reducing many of those ooc arguments that break out during a fight based on misinterpretation of the opponent's actions. An action such as:
::strikes at you::
contains quite a bit of ambiguity - in fact it would cause a -great- deal of confusion. 'Where are you striking at?' 'How?' 'Which direction?' 'How hard are you hitting?' 'Are you using a weapon?'
A better post would be:
::Sarah moved Swiftly towards Jake's left side at a hard run, claws at that moment sheathed into herself. As she neared him, her left arm raked upwards, claws extending out at the same moment trying to dig into his soft flesh. Ideally there would be contact, her claws would rip through his torso, ribcage and all, rupturing all the vital organs he needed to survive; job done. That was the ideal scenario but nothing ever works out as planned. Of course, any amount of injury he suffered would work to her advantage. The attack would bring her several feet behind Jake; the momentum of the run forcing her to do so though the contact slowed her down slightly. She would quickly pivot on the balls of her feet to face him once again, crouched down and alert.::
Again this explains the questions I listed earlier:
- where was she striking at?
-- she was aiming at tearing up through the torso of her target
- how?
-- a running attack. As she closed in on her opponent, her claws raked upwards.
- how hard was she hitting?
-- hard enough to rip through the flesh and bone
- was she using a weapon?
-- her claws, built into her body, were her weapons
Of course, the above example could be worded differently, in a much shorter and condensed way such as:
::She ran at Jake, claws raking upwards and tearing at his body as she closed in before coming to a halt behind him.::
It's shorter, and takes much less time to read of course but it while the longer post takes a fair bit of time to read and write, it provides a clear image of what She attempted to do to her opponent while in the shorter, condensed post, there are a few items of confusion left:
1: it tells the opponent what should have happened. Most of the time people like it better when you suggest what the damage is instead of telling them what you just did to your character. But it is not completely wrong when you do it that way.
2: it doesn't tell you what distance Avemano is from her opponent. A foot?, right up against the opponent? It's hard to make a proper counter attack when you don't know all the facts.
3: claws? where did they come from? When did they extend?
4: when she landed, is her back still towards her opponent or did she turn? (we would automatically assume that her back is still to her opponent)
This last example is a fairly simple attack as it involved absolutely no abilities; this attack is completely physical which makes it easier to interpret. But once you want to and -do- involve abilities and powers then it gets a tad more complicated. Now, if everyone knew, every power written by WW, AD&D and all FF abilities as well, then it wouldn't be any problem to just do something say [celerity 1] and everyone would understand what you were trying to do. But things don't work that way. The problems that start to occur here are usually the conflicts between free form abilities and pre-written abilities.
--- Presentation ---
That's right. The presentation of your posts. Now, before you tell me that "what's inside the post is what counts" .. I know that. I know that this isn't one of the most important points of roleplaying. But here's a question: What if no one can understand your posts?
I have read posts that are so hideously deformed in presentation that I had to guess at what the player was trying to say. At times I even had to ask the player what they meant. Needless to say, that was a lot more work than some other rps I've been in with much more complicated plots.
The point of fact is that roleplaying is not only about the individual -- there are very few things in this world that are only about the individual -- and one should be somewhat mindful to the comfort of others. And I do not mean using a bigger font either.
It is fine if the chatting is OOC among friends to use abbreviations and "net-speak" .. I am quite confident that everyone in that group is able to understand everyone else but in RP there are many people that may want to read and join in in an RP but if the posts are hard to understand (eg: TyPiNg LiKe ThIs or using the same font colour as the background, etc.) then it would be much more simple for people to skip over the bothersome posts and move onto someone else's rp that is easier to read.
Again, it's the message inside the posts that count. Someone may have a great idea but if their posts are so hard to read, no one is going to pay attention to them and their idea will be wasted.
Let me just say that I am not targeting people who've made the occasional typos or grammatical accidents. I do them all the time when I'm typing. I'm pretty sure you can find a couple in this post even. Who I am targeting are people who pay absolutely no regard to the presentation of their posts. Spelling/grammatical errors that a five year old makes; typing in the background color so people have to highlight your post to read it; ambiguous messages caused by poor thought to the message .. etc. etc. etc.
A little spelling/grammar lesson and some attention to their posts goes a long way .. especially when posts are longer.
A little suggestion because I know some people may come to me saying it is hard to see the whole post in that little text line they give us: Open up a document program like word and type your post in there then cut and paste it onto the text line. You'll get to see your complete post at once and, depending on which program you use, you can check your spelling and grammar at the same time. This will free up some typing time in your rp so you can ask questions that may come up while you're writing your post, chat, etc. It gets a little getting used to, but I think it is worth it to at least try it for a while.
--- Paying Attention to Other Posts ---
Pay attention to other people's posts even if they aren't directing it to you. You don't have to read them thoroughly but you should skim them over. Reason being that while they may not be addressing events directly to you, what they do may affect your character. How much is mostly left up to you. Because in real life you are often aware of your surroundings and you would be aware of events that would affect you. The same applies to your character. In the RP world, your character is a Real Person/Being and should act as such.
Example 1: A loud explosion in the street. Now you may decide that your character is just a street or two over and this will certainly draw your attention; or you may decide that your character is quite far from the explosion and they're standing outside a nightclub so they may not hear it or just attribute it to something mundane like tires bursting, etc.
Example 2: In the current RP, a chaos mist blankets the city. Now, this is something only supernatural beings or beings that could sense chaos can notice. If your character isn't one of those then they won't be able to notice it; but if your character is, depending on the sensitivity, your character could sense it to varying degrees. A shape shifter, for example, in her human form might only notice a constant stink wherever she went. While in her shifted form she would be able to define it as a supernatural "smell". It is, again, up to you and what type of character you have.
Not only does this put you more realistically into the scene by making you and your character more aware of what is happening in their surroundings but if you are a new player starting to RP, it presents an opening for your characters to enter an ongoing RP more naturally.
--- RP Taboo: Multi-Posting ---
Try not to multi-post. This is when you post more than one post in your turn. For example:
Mary: she emerges from her building wearing a nice soft pink jacket, skirt and a cute hat. She heads down the street towards the coffee shop.
Joe: He caught sight of the girl, his mouth watered.
Joe: He silently moved towards her, sneaking up behind.
Joe: He grabs her from behind and pulls her into the alley. Intent to have his dinner.
Joe: Quickly he sinks his fangs into her neck and drains her of all her blood.
Mary: She screams as the man grabs her and pulls her back, she struggles and kicks in an attempt to free herself from his grasp.
Now you see that because of the rapid posting of Joe that Mary's post, while completely valid, is out of sequence. This makes it confusing for both Joe, Mary and anyone else that is involved or wanted to join in because now they do not know whose post they should respond to. Mary will think that Joe has ignored her post and get frustrated and Joe may feel that Mary had interrupted his actions when he wasn't finished yet.
Because of all that it is better to put continuous actions in one post and let the other player respond before you continue on. Usually two or three actions are in one post, sometimes there are more, depending on how you like to write.
--- RP Taboo: Mixing OOC and IC ---
Now onto a big point: mixing OOC with IC. This is probably one of the biggest problems that exist in the world of roleplay. Most seasoned roleplayers are able to seperate themselves from their characters, but I also know that when you're just starting out roleplaying that it can be pretty difficult.
Basically the key to keeping your real life out of your online roleplaying life is to remember that they're seperate lives. You are not your character. When you go to turn off your computer, your character is turned off with it. You do not go around living a life with the mindset of your character. And when you go to put on your codes and your av and slip into the role of your character, you do not exist in that fabricated world that your character lives in.
I do realize that you cannot play your character completely objectively, else you'd have no passion for interaction but you have to remember that your character is not you.
What your character feels may not be what you feel and vice versa.
Example from another RPer: when I started roleplaying, 7-8 years ago, my character got involved with another character and we were happy. I was happy. But when his character went off with someone else, my character was hurt; I was hurt and I shouldn't have been. Why? Because this was roleplay; this wasn't real life. I wasn't being cheated on, my character was. I may have "felt" something for the player but he probably didn't fee the same way. At that point in time, I hadn't fully realized and grasped the idea that this was a game. It wasn't real life. While I do acknowledge that online relationship are possible and do happen, because your character is attracted to another character does not necessarily mean you and the other player are a couple outside of roleplay.
Another point. What you, as the player, knows about another may not be what your character knows. Now this can be a little difficult to separate, because, say, you, the player, found out that some hunter is going after you and is hiding out in your home to stab you to death the moment you fall asleep, your character may decide to spend the next several nights at a friend's house or camping, whatever. This is not exactly what I'm talking about because such information is hard to forget; not many of us make characters just so they can be killed by the next bob on the street. What I am talking about is when you're ooc and you find out some information, like a weakness, of a character; you cannot use that information about that character. When you obtain information ooc, you cannot and should not let this information leak into your character's knowledge. There is no magical link that connects your brain to your character's brain like that. This is not how it works in real life either. If your character needs information, they have to do their own homework: research, spying, asking people, whatever. Your character does not know what you, the player, are thinking.
Let me remind all of you that roleplaying is a game that it has no "winners" and no "losers" and, well, no "ending" in that 'live happily ever after' sense. The purpose of roleplay is so that you, the player, have a way of 'losing' yourself in another world that you can interact with instead of sitting back and watching it (eg. movies, tv, etc.). It is meant to be fun; if you are not having fun when you are rping then the purpose of rping is defeated.
There is no point in creating an invincible character for roleplay because in every situation, (s)he will win and that gets rather routine after several encounters. Roleplaying is the taking on the part of being another person living out their life. There is not greater being marking off points on a paper; there is no end where said points will be tallied up; there is no trophy to win. You roleplay to play, not to win.
--- Watching Others Roleplay is Helpful ---
When you are beginning roleplay, there are some players who can be crude, insensitive, impatient people who aren't willing to give you the time of day just because you don't know the rules. Ignore those people. They forget that they were new at roleplaying once and if they met people like themselves when they first started, they probably wouldn't have continued to roleplay. Everyone has to start out as a "newbie," everyone does not roleplay like a pro when they begin. People still don't roleplay well even after years of doing it. It depends on how much effort you put into learning the game.
Another issue I found helpful when learning to roleplay was watching other player's posts. I still do this and this can be a very useful tool in improving your roleplaying. Again, it depends on who you pick up tips from and it doesn't help you to simply watch and not ask questions when you don't understand. Almost all advanced rpers that I have encountered are more than willing to explain and clarify things to anyone who doesn't understand. However, if someone is unwilling to help you, just move on and ask someone else. Don't let a few bad comments stop you from improving yourself.
--- Communication in Roleplay ---
What would an inhuman character be without their abilities? Unfortunately with the mix of free form and pre-written characters, the abilities used can be varied and sometimes seem incompatible. This is where most fights happen.
Best way to avoid this (aside from being descriptive in your moves) would be to keep conversation open in PM or some messenger program. This way, it will allow you to have an extra level of communication to sort out problems that may arise. Describing your actions well will allow someone using a different system to mesh theirs with yours more effectively.
Being descriptive comes pretty much as a necessity when it's in a fight, especially one that deals with abilities. Not only would it make it easier (and save some time) on your opponent to describe your abilities in your post (instead of having them look it up in their books or on a website) it would reduce the amount of confusion done by simply listing out the abilities you've used. An ideal post would involve the same principles that I've listed previously. 'How hard is your character hitting?' 'Where are they standing?' 'What are their weapons/powers?' etc. etc.
Again, key points: Communcation and Description.
--- Being Descriptive in Your Posts ---
Next point.
Playing a character is not simply typing out words onto a screen. One should be descriptive in their actions/posts. Anyone could slap on a name and type in any sort of actions such as:
::appears suddenly::
To me this simply conjures up the image of 'poof' the character appears fairy-god-motheresque though without the glamour and sparkles. It leaves the post empty and lacking as well as making the player (the person behind the character) seem unimaginative, when this could be the opposite. When you make a post, you should consider as many angles as possible. "How" is the main question. Working on the previous example, we should ask 'how did they appear? By what method?' 'Was there any effect that those around them may have felt or seen/heard if they were looking/listening?' etc. For example, a similar post would be:
::The doll sat in the window of an old antique store, staring silently out at those that passed by the large glass panes. The single streetlamp in front illuminated her like a spot light would on a stage; the smile drawn upon her lips seemed to let others know how she reveled in the attention - that is, of course, the reason why she chose this particular antique shop to gain her rest. And so, she sat there...though, in one instance the doll existed behind the glass and in the next moment a man's shadow passed over her and then it was gone; dissolved into the shadows like sugar in water. From a nearby darkened alleyway she formed, stepping out of the rippling shadows as one would from behind a satin curtain. The shadows slid from her mortal form, like silk upon skin, as she stepped into the flood of artificial light created by the street lamp.::
The latter example answers the two questions listed earlier.
- how did she get onto the street?
-- by dissolving into the shadows and moving from that to the shadows in the alley
- would one notice if they were paying attention?
-- perhaps: the shadows were rippling but perhaps not since it was dark...I left the mention of it being empty or not open so that anyone who would like to join in (ie: 'spotting' her emerge from a wall) would be able to.
While you don't have to be descriptive in -every- single action your character commits, it's not a bad idea to get some practice because it comes in -great- use during fights. By describing, how, where, when, etc, in your fight posts, you help your opponent know -exactly- what sort of injuries they should sustain or how they should block it with little to no confusion. This also will help with reducing many of those ooc arguments that break out during a fight based on misinterpretation of the opponent's actions. An action such as:
::strikes at you::
contains quite a bit of ambiguity - in fact it would cause a -great- deal of confusion. 'Where are you striking at?' 'How?' 'Which direction?' 'How hard are you hitting?' 'Are you using a weapon?'
A better post would be:
::Sarah moved Swiftly towards Jake's left side at a hard run, claws at that moment sheathed into herself. As she neared him, her left arm raked upwards, claws extending out at the same moment trying to dig into his soft flesh. Ideally there would be contact, her claws would rip through his torso, ribcage and all, rupturing all the vital organs he needed to survive; job done. That was the ideal scenario but nothing ever works out as planned. Of course, any amount of injury he suffered would work to her advantage. The attack would bring her several feet behind Jake; the momentum of the run forcing her to do so though the contact slowed her down slightly. She would quickly pivot on the balls of her feet to face him once again, crouched down and alert.::
Again this explains the questions I listed earlier:
- where was she striking at?
-- she was aiming at tearing up through the torso of her target
- how?
-- a running attack. As she closed in on her opponent, her claws raked upwards.
- how hard was she hitting?
-- hard enough to rip through the flesh and bone
- was she using a weapon?
-- her claws, built into her body, were her weapons
Of course, the above example could be worded differently, in a much shorter and condensed way such as:
::She ran at Jake, claws raking upwards and tearing at his body as she closed in before coming to a halt behind him.::
It's shorter, and takes much less time to read of course but it while the longer post takes a fair bit of time to read and write, it provides a clear image of what She attempted to do to her opponent while in the shorter, condensed post, there are a few items of confusion left:
1: it tells the opponent what should have happened. Most of the time people like it better when you suggest what the damage is instead of telling them what you just did to your character. But it is not completely wrong when you do it that way.
2: it doesn't tell you what distance Avemano is from her opponent. A foot?, right up against the opponent? It's hard to make a proper counter attack when you don't know all the facts.
3: claws? where did they come from? When did they extend?
4: when she landed, is her back still towards her opponent or did she turn? (we would automatically assume that her back is still to her opponent)
This last example is a fairly simple attack as it involved absolutely no abilities; this attack is completely physical which makes it easier to interpret. But once you want to and -do- involve abilities and powers then it gets a tad more complicated. Now, if everyone knew, every power written by WW, AD&D and all FF abilities as well, then it wouldn't be any problem to just do something say [celerity 1] and everyone would understand what you were trying to do. But things don't work that way. The problems that start to occur here are usually the conflicts between free form abilities and pre-written abilities.
--- Presentation ---
That's right. The presentation of your posts. Now, before you tell me that "what's inside the post is what counts" .. I know that. I know that this isn't one of the most important points of roleplaying. But here's a question: What if no one can understand your posts?
I have read posts that are so hideously deformed in presentation that I had to guess at what the player was trying to say. At times I even had to ask the player what they meant. Needless to say, that was a lot more work than some other rps I've been in with much more complicated plots.
The point of fact is that roleplaying is not only about the individual -- there are very few things in this world that are only about the individual -- and one should be somewhat mindful to the comfort of others. And I do not mean using a bigger font either.
It is fine if the chatting is OOC among friends to use abbreviations and "net-speak" .. I am quite confident that everyone in that group is able to understand everyone else but in RP there are many people that may want to read and join in in an RP but if the posts are hard to understand (eg: TyPiNg LiKe ThIs or using the same font colour as the background, etc.) then it would be much more simple for people to skip over the bothersome posts and move onto someone else's rp that is easier to read.
Again, it's the message inside the posts that count. Someone may have a great idea but if their posts are so hard to read, no one is going to pay attention to them and their idea will be wasted.
Let me just say that I am not targeting people who've made the occasional typos or grammatical accidents. I do them all the time when I'm typing. I'm pretty sure you can find a couple in this post even. Who I am targeting are people who pay absolutely no regard to the presentation of their posts. Spelling/grammatical errors that a five year old makes; typing in the background color so people have to highlight your post to read it; ambiguous messages caused by poor thought to the message .. etc. etc. etc.
A little spelling/grammar lesson and some attention to their posts goes a long way .. especially when posts are longer.
A little suggestion because I know some people may come to me saying it is hard to see the whole post in that little text line they give us: Open up a document program like word and type your post in there then cut and paste it onto the text line. You'll get to see your complete post at once and, depending on which program you use, you can check your spelling and grammar at the same time. This will free up some typing time in your rp so you can ask questions that may come up while you're writing your post, chat, etc. It gets a little getting used to, but I think it is worth it to at least try it for a while.
--- Paying Attention to Other Posts ---
Pay attention to other people's posts even if they aren't directing it to you. You don't have to read them thoroughly but you should skim them over. Reason being that while they may not be addressing events directly to you, what they do may affect your character. How much is mostly left up to you. Because in real life you are often aware of your surroundings and you would be aware of events that would affect you. The same applies to your character. In the RP world, your character is a Real Person/Being and should act as such.
Example 1: A loud explosion in the street. Now you may decide that your character is just a street or two over and this will certainly draw your attention; or you may decide that your character is quite far from the explosion and they're standing outside a nightclub so they may not hear it or just attribute it to something mundane like tires bursting, etc.
Example 2: In the current RP, a chaos mist blankets the city. Now, this is something only supernatural beings or beings that could sense chaos can notice. If your character isn't one of those then they won't be able to notice it; but if your character is, depending on the sensitivity, your character could sense it to varying degrees. A shape shifter, for example, in her human form might only notice a constant stink wherever she went. While in her shifted form she would be able to define it as a supernatural "smell". It is, again, up to you and what type of character you have.
Not only does this put you more realistically into the scene by making you and your character more aware of what is happening in their surroundings but if you are a new player starting to RP, it presents an opening for your characters to enter an ongoing RP more naturally.
--- RP Taboo: Multi-Posting ---
Try not to multi-post. This is when you post more than one post in your turn. For example:
Mary: she emerges from her building wearing a nice soft pink jacket, skirt and a cute hat. She heads down the street towards the coffee shop.
Joe: He caught sight of the girl, his mouth watered.
Joe: He silently moved towards her, sneaking up behind.
Joe: He grabs her from behind and pulls her into the alley. Intent to have his dinner.
Joe: Quickly he sinks his fangs into her neck and drains her of all her blood.
Mary: She screams as the man grabs her and pulls her back, she struggles and kicks in an attempt to free herself from his grasp.
Now you see that because of the rapid posting of Joe that Mary's post, while completely valid, is out of sequence. This makes it confusing for both Joe, Mary and anyone else that is involved or wanted to join in because now they do not know whose post they should respond to. Mary will think that Joe has ignored her post and get frustrated and Joe may feel that Mary had interrupted his actions when he wasn't finished yet.
Because of all that it is better to put continuous actions in one post and let the other player respond before you continue on. Usually two or three actions are in one post, sometimes there are more, depending on how you like to write.
--- RP Taboo: Mixing OOC and IC ---
Now onto a big point: mixing OOC with IC. This is probably one of the biggest problems that exist in the world of roleplay. Most seasoned roleplayers are able to seperate themselves from their characters, but I also know that when you're just starting out roleplaying that it can be pretty difficult.
Basically the key to keeping your real life out of your online roleplaying life is to remember that they're seperate lives. You are not your character. When you go to turn off your computer, your character is turned off with it. You do not go around living a life with the mindset of your character. And when you go to put on your codes and your av and slip into the role of your character, you do not exist in that fabricated world that your character lives in.
I do realize that you cannot play your character completely objectively, else you'd have no passion for interaction but you have to remember that your character is not you.
What your character feels may not be what you feel and vice versa.
Example from another RPer: when I started roleplaying, 7-8 years ago, my character got involved with another character and we were happy. I was happy. But when his character went off with someone else, my character was hurt; I was hurt and I shouldn't have been. Why? Because this was roleplay; this wasn't real life. I wasn't being cheated on, my character was. I may have "felt" something for the player but he probably didn't fee the same way. At that point in time, I hadn't fully realized and grasped the idea that this was a game. It wasn't real life. While I do acknowledge that online relationship are possible and do happen, because your character is attracted to another character does not necessarily mean you and the other player are a couple outside of roleplay.
Another point. What you, as the player, knows about another may not be what your character knows. Now this can be a little difficult to separate, because, say, you, the player, found out that some hunter is going after you and is hiding out in your home to stab you to death the moment you fall asleep, your character may decide to spend the next several nights at a friend's house or camping, whatever. This is not exactly what I'm talking about because such information is hard to forget; not many of us make characters just so they can be killed by the next bob on the street. What I am talking about is when you're ooc and you find out some information, like a weakness, of a character; you cannot use that information about that character. When you obtain information ooc, you cannot and should not let this information leak into your character's knowledge. There is no magical link that connects your brain to your character's brain like that. This is not how it works in real life either. If your character needs information, they have to do their own homework: research, spying, asking people, whatever. Your character does not know what you, the player, are thinking.