Personally speaking, any game that you play needs to have rules, if it's a board game, or a video game, it needs to follow a specific criteria. This is no different for rping online. If you're going to play then you should understand and know the rules that you're playing with. That is why I'm posting my full length set of rules that I grew up with as an rper so that everyone else can know exactly what they're getting involved in when they rp with me. I follow these rules, and I fully expect anyone else rping with me to follow these rules as well. If you like the following rules then please feel free to link this journal or copy and paste it into your own journal. All I ask is that you keep all the rules if you do. Otherwise there's no consistency.

Power RPing

Power RPing is when you just assume that your opponent is far weaker than yourself, and thus you find it OK to declare hits. This is definately a no-no.

God RPing

God RPing is when you claim to be an Immortal and thus cannot die from being wounded in battle (I don't see anything wrong in the "Can't die from old age" immortals though), have infinite or close to infinite power, and can do whatever you please as you control the power of nature. Now, most internet locations are a no-Game-Master realm, and by appointing yourself to the spot of an immortal you are basically turning yourself into a GM. Not an admirable thing.

Good Grammar and Spelling

I know that we aren't all the best typists in the world, but we could at least try! If you don't know how to spell a word for sure, put an (sp?) after the end, to modestly show that you're not sure on it's spelling. Accents and grammar styling are a great part of RPing that bring the characters to life, and I have nothing against that, but that should stop when you begin doing actions etc., since there is no action language.

Action-Speach Separation

We all know that they are out there... The folks who type "Stands up hey whats going on? then I sit back down". You should have a way to separate your speach from your actions, using ~ or * or # or anything... It just makes your messages more pleasant to read.

IC-OOC Separation

I think it's pretty basic that you should have a way of separating your In Character messages from your Out Of Character messages. I have seen few who fail to do this, but I thought I'd put it on here anyway.

Locationing

Unless you specifically say that you have somehow split yourself in two, you cannot be talking to two different people in two different places. Also, if you are talking to two people, it's not too believable to be in tears with one person and having a normal chat with the other.

Bunnying

A term that I picked up on another RP chat site. Bunnying is changing yourself into a Game Master by choosing what someone else does... and that's rude and impossible (Unless that person has agreed to a mind control RP I suppose)

Combat Manners

Combat is a very precise action, and propper fighting manner is under hot debate by RPers everywhere. But, let me explain the fighting manner of myself and others I play with. In every message of a fight RPing, you should place the following things: Your distance from the enemy/enemies, a detailed explanation of your stance, what is in either of your hands, what is on your body, and if there are any obsticles between you and your opponent. Now, that was just a fight message without an attack. This would be an attack message... You would explain all of the things from the message without an attack, but adding: What angle you are attacking from, what limbs you are attacking with, and how fast your attack is, and where it is aimed to land. Now, the defending person must explain all from the no-attack message, along with: How the attack was gaurded, dodged, etc., If you merely fled or do a counter attack (The counter attack should be explained in the same ways as an attack).

Homedo Attacks

Homedo is an art form in which, instead of defending, you attack before being attacked. Let's say this: If you had a spear and your oppenent had a dagger, and he said that he leaped at you with a stab to the chest area, you could HOMEDO that attack by saying that you thrust your spear forward in defense, and, if your oppenent didn't withdraw his attack he would be impaled... Thus you give your enemy and chance to consider his options and create a new strategy... Homedo is NOT an excuse to declare hits.

Meteo Attacks

Meteo attacks are complicated yet flowing combos, in which, in a single message you name more than one attack saying "If this first attack lands, then the rest shall follow in suit". But, if your opponent dodges or blocks the first attack in a meteo combo, you must be prepared that you cannot stop a meteo in the middle making dodging difficult if not impossible.

Dodging and Blocking

To dodge or block you must first keep in mind what all of your other limbs are doing to see if a dodge or block is possible. Phasing, nexusing, and clone replacement is rather cheap and is very close to Power Rping, and thus, I wouldn't suggest it. Don't forget that, in RP, there is no real risk in combat since characters are imaginary, and thus combat is mostly a show or presentation. To make the show more interesting, please don't dodge or block EVERY attack. If your limbs are locked up, take a hit gracefully. You don't have to be a weakling to maybe dodge, but not fast enough, so that you get grazed along the side or your arm get's cut into when your opponent was aiming at your chest, etc.

Mortal Wound Healing or Character Revivals

I know that many people are very attached to their characters, and it's no one's place to say when your character dies but you. BUT, if your character is mortally wounded it would take a very large amount of magic to heal him (Which goes along with the next rule, so pay attention), and, thus, healings of this size should not take place every day. If you character is dead, it is best that s/he remains dead for quite some time, so that you punish YOURSELF for that character's death... And, if that character is revived by magic, it should happen no more than once a year, if even that! People get very annoyed when someone they spent hard training to defeat is alive and walking around the next day without a scratch.

Strength Levels

Characters should not be able to become too strong, because that means they are inching closer and closer to Power and God RPing. You should not be able to cut down two trees with a single arm hammer, you should not be able to cast a catastrophic spell in two turns, and you should not be able to cast as many spells as you wish, because spells eat up mana which takes time to refill. If you are a healer, you must make some kind of sacrifice to heal someone. Most often the sacrifice is their own precious mana, which is ok, but you should not be able to fully heal someone in seconds and only use up 1/1000 of your mana. You should be able to heal one deep gash per day, one mortal wound per month, and should only be able to revive someone from death once every 6 months. This is just a rough time estemation, and can be tweaked, but I think I've made my point clear.

Wannabe RP

Wannabe RPers are those that take a character out of a book, movie, video game, TV show, or some other type of media and play that character. Now, I have nothing against wannabe RPers PERSONALLY, after all, there are many chat rooms that feature MOSTLY wannabe RPers... Gundam Wing sites... Final Fantasy sites... but that is where they should REMAIN. First of all, such characters are trademarked, and most people who have original characters don't see wannabes as the most artistic people. This also goes along the lines of quoting modern music or naming a video game or book etc. in character.

Departure

Have an emergency plan for your character's departure from a room as soon as you enter. It's rude to just leave with an OOC message like "Got to go! Bye!" Instead, I'm sure most people would prefer a message that describes how that person's character happened to leave... Instead of having to make it up themself and feel guilty for bunnying.

Player Knowledge

If you are told something that was labeled OOC, then you must NOT let your character have access to this information. The most difficult thing about Role Play is keeping yourself seperate from your character, to develope on his/her own. If someone says OOC that they might make an attempt to kill your character, that is not enough reason for your character to raise his/her defenses. After all, what does your character know? S/he is supposed to be completely ignorant. It's all about being a good actor.