While I have been off Planet Minecraft for the past few months, I have been addicted to an aspect of Minecraft that isn't big in the overall community but adds so much to our game. Now for those of you who don't know, roleplay is like a play or drama: you play the role of a character in a specific time and place. Your character usually has a background story and behaves like a person, dead or alive, in this place and time. Now, I’m not talking…uh..typing about those MMO RPGs. Those aren’t true “roleplay” The Mindcrack B-Team Mafia and Lords of Minecraft are good examples of true roleplay. True roleplay is guided by the people involved, not the game.


Elements of Roleplay

Now, even things like roleplay aren't so simple. Good roleplay consists of the following "elements". These elements are: Backstory, Setting, Relationship, Physical Characteristics, Attire, and Abilities.

Now, Backstory is pretty self-explanatory. Backstory is what makes your character a war refugee or a long-lost relative. Backstory is everything that your character has experienced and done before present times.

Next, Setting. Setting is key in any roleplay experience. Now, as you probably remember from school, setting involves both location and time. Obviously, it would be terrible roleplay if you were a soldier of Napoleon in a town of aliens. I'm not saying that wouldn't make a great fantasy novel, I'm saying the roleplay would not fit. Good roleplay with correct setting would make logical sense. 

After that, we have Relationship. Now, this element isn't so obvious. Relationship is sort of like perspective, and it determines how you are aligned about certain situations, people, objects, etc. Being the boyfriend of the Queen would probably make you be in defense of said Queen, while being a conspirator planning to kill the Queen would make you behave differently.

Alright. Physical Charachteristics and Attire. Well, these two kind of go together. By Physical Charachteristics, I'm talking...uhh...typing answers to questions like: Are you an old man?,Maybe you are the most attractive person in class, or is there a huge war scar on your head that reminds you of being in the army? Attire is similar, asking the question about what you are wearing (your Minecraft roleplay skin). Are you wearing a dark cloak to disguise yourself? Are you in a wedding gown ready to exchange vows? These questions could go on forever.

Finally, we hit abilities. Now, my character on the Lords of Minecraft server has many abilities that help him roleplay better and be more bold. One of these abilities is the power to cast spells, which can affect your character whether it's getting burned on the stake or picking off Dementors. Now, it is always important to remember that all of these elements have to be logical. In prehistoric times, you wouldn’t have the ability to shoot missiles out of your fingers, right?

If used logically (KEY WORD LOGIC), these elements all together create the foundation to an amazing roleplay experience.


Roleplay Tips From an Expert

     Now, roleplay isn’t easy. Creating a fun roleplay experience requires logic and cooperation from everyone participating. Here's what some tips from roleplay expert OldManWillakers (not quoted, summarized):

1. If something happens to you and/or your property for roleplaying reasons (maybe a meteor shower happened), deal with it. Even though I personally will give you money or resources to rebuild it, you always have to suck it up.

2. In roleplay, every character needs a thorough backstory.

3. Always be your character. If you are on a server and there's a roleplay restaurant, act like you would in a fancy restaurant, not a game.

Now, that's all that Old Man has publicly announced, but don't worry Jimmy, I have some more tips that I think would help!

1. Logic is always key when creating your character.

2. If you are combat roleplaying with swords, try occasionally blocking and retreating to make it less of a Minecraft "Who can spam faster" fight.

3. Don't simply eat food. Click it multiple times to make it feel like you are taking "bites".

4. Don't use technology that does not belong with your setting. (No laser gun cavemen)

5. Use skin layers to your advantage. Wanna be a thief? Create a mask accessory that you can toggle with your skin!

6. Whenever you are roleplay "talking" in chat, use full words instead of "ill tak 1 cofe pls"





Great Ways to Roleplay

Form roleplay exclusive servers to DIYs, this list will surely expand as you post more great ways to roleplay in the comments!

1.         Dwarves Vs. Zombies- A PvP minigame thing where you play the role of a dwarf fighting hoardes of monsters to save your civilization. Roleplay Experience: 7/8. Comments: Good for beginners, but if you want to do intense roleplay, play DvZ casually. IP: dvz.buffalowizards.com
   
2.         Trouble in Mineville- Another PvP minigame. This one is found on the popular Hive server and is similar to the Garry's Mod gamemode of TTT. Roleplay Experience: 4/8 Comments: N/A IP: play.hivemc.com
   
3.         DIY Caveman- Hop on your friend's server, LAN, realms or whatever and live a roleplay survival as a caveman. Roleplay Experience: 6/8 Comments: Fun Varies
   
4.         TerraFirmaCraft- This very popular mod adds lots of realism to the survival aspect of our game. Not only that, but playing this with a friend is a great roleplay experience if you follow the tips that I gave above. Roleplay Experience: 58 Comments: Much Grinding is involved
   
5.         Lords of Minecraft- A great and silly roleplay server where you live your life as a peasant in a medieval society ruled by a few Lords, a King and Queen, a Bear and a Prince! Roleplay Experience: 8/8 Comments: The server community is great and enthusiastic about roleplay. Beginners: try at own risk IP: lords.buffalowizards.com
   

Remember to post more ways to roleplay in the comments! I will be adding more to this blog soon! Hope you JImmies enjoyed reading this blog as much as I did writing it. See you later Jimmy!

A Personal Update on Me and PMC:
Well, as you hardcore subscribers and supporters of my work might have realized, I was inactive for a few months. My bad guys, Lords and DvZ are just too addicting. Hey, but now I'm back to PMC and creating cool new content for you guys! Also, this is the first blog in a new series of blogs that I'll be doing called Weekly Spotlight that'll focus and review different aspects of our Minecraft community. See you later Jimmy!