Roleplay

Roleplaying (RP or RPing) is the act of assuming the role of any entity (a creature or object) and applying its behavior to a fictional situation with other users. On Roblox, this is typically conducted within dedicated experiences geared toward the roleplaying activity. It is unrelated to the similarly-named role-playing game (RPG) genre.

In most of its forms, roleplaying relies primarily on using the in-experience chat to perform actions and assume roles, in conjunction with using existing world objects and game mechanics to simulate relevant activities, that may not actually exist in an experience (such as flashing an ID card when no such tool exists, performing a gesture when no such animation exists, or being a family member of another player when no such game mechanic exists); in these cases, it is largely just "playing pretend", and can technically be performed in any experience, though this is generally discouraged to avoid annoying others. However, in experiences that are dedicated to roleplaying, more in-game actions may be possible such as the use of specialized situational tools or greater intractability with the world, though such roleplaying experiences typically have "limitations" to their gameplay, as they are not games (for instance, weapons may not deal damage whatsoever, with all injuries and effects being roleplayed in cooperation with the involved parties; or police and criminal teams may exist, but without associated "cops and robbers" gameplay typically seen in games such as Jailbreak and Ultimate Driving).

Roleplaying is also known to be considerably more rigid and strict than most other activities on Roblox (though how strict they are varies by experience, community, and group). Various groups are dedicated to roleplaying, such as ro-nations, war clans, SCP groups, and café groups (among many others), each with their own intricate rules, settings, dedicated experiences, and external communities. The settings of roleplaying experiences are typically intended to be adhered to: for example, After The Flash is set in a detailed, serious, post-apocalyptic universe, and players are thus strongly encouraged to both act and dress realistically to suit it. Failure to follow roleplaying rules and etiquette is considered fail roleplaying (FRP or FRPing), and most dedicated roleplaying experiences are heavily moderated to prevent this.

As a fairly loose activity, the origins of roleplaying on Roblox are almost impossible to detail, but activities like it, and popular games that were designed to facilitate such social activities, have existed in a notable capacity since Roblox's public release in 2006. Over time, many experiences dedicated to roleplaying have either become increasingly popular over time, though some considerably popular roleplaying-oriented experiences have shifted over time to become proper games with less emphasis on solely roleplaying and social interaction.

Roleplaying Actions[]

In many instances of roleplaying, users rely primarily on performing actions in chat, with or without actually "physically" performing them in-game. These actions are typically perceived as being actions by being surrounded by asterisk, dashes, brackets, or even being worded in narrative-speak, as seen in the following examples:

*knocks on door*
-sits up-
[kneels down]
I'd sigh and roll down my window.
He'd/She'd look around cautiously.

In some cases, typically when the latter narrative-speak is being used for actions, users may differentiate their character's actions and speech by surrounding their speech with quotation marks, as so:

She'd shift in her chair uncomfortably. "I mean, yeah, it's been kind of rough out here recently."

Parentheses are generally not used for actions, but are rather used for out-of-character (OOC) or out-of-roleplay remarks, for instance:

*searches car* (what do I find?)
(sry i gtg, might be back in an hour T_T)
(whats the command to call an admin)

A conversation between three roleplayers—a police officer, their partner, and a motorist—could thus appear like this:

Officer: Hello, sir. I stopped you for speeding up there.
Partner: *runs plate* (wdif?)
Motorist: "Okay. I'm busy today. So? Do I have to give you my ID now?"
Motorist: (plate comes back clean)
Officer: -crosses arms-
Officer: Preferably, yeah.
Motorist: "Ugh. Come on, is this really necessary? It was barely over 50."
Partner: and the speed limit was 35... just listen to my partner, ok
Motorist: He'd sigh and hand the officer his license and registration.
Officer: -takes-
Officer: Thank you. Wait here while I check these, okay? My partner will keep an eye on you.
Motorist: He'd roll his eyes. "Not like I'm going anywhere at this rate..."

Conflicts[]

Roleplaying can often be halted or broken by a number of factors, including lack of detailed environment pieces, unfinished or later-conflicting character development, or a player's misuse of grammatically correct messaging. There is also compatibility with certain styles of roleplay taken on by different people. The people with happy stories usually do not like to roleplay with people with sad and mysterious stories.

Godmodding[]

Godmodding refers to the action of a player giving their character an elevated level of control and power not normally allowed in a typical session. Many rules have been given against godmodding, which is not confined to a limited set.

In most cases, a player cannot jump into a roleplay conversation without expectation and doing so may break the session, or another player will try to divert the perpetrator.
A player is not allowed to kill another player instantaneously, and many games have the option to toggle health. For example, a player can say (His/her health decreases from the tackle), but they cannot say (He/She dies because he/she has a heart attack).
A player says they are immortal and cannot die (Person1 hits Person2 with an axe and slashes off Person2's head) (Person2 is headless and still alive and is immortal). This can be unfair to Person1 and may cause arguing.
The player's character is able to regenerate a missing limb or body part. (Person1 slashes Person2's left arm off.) (Person2 regrows his/her left arm back).
Player's character (depending on game and roleplay) finds a weapon in the middle of nowhere as well as without warning and picks it up or summons a weapon for their use in combat and battle (depending on the roleplay; if it is a fantasy roleplay, summoning weapons would be allowed, but doing so in a war-genre roleplay is considered godmodding since the player cannot magically summon themselves a shotgun while in combat).
In-country or nation roleplays ('build a mini country' games where players build and roleplay as countries on a map of the world), example of godmodding would be for example, (Brazil and Argentina head to war with each other, Argentina sends a fair amount of 4 navy ships while Brazil sends out 500 navy ships, which is godmodding) Another example would be, (Brazil nukes Argentina thus ending the war after blowing up Argentina's capital of Buenos Aires, which is godmodding since nuking a country to end a war is a bit idiotic, extreme and causes an abrupt end. In some cases nuclear weapons in nation roleplays are banned, depending on the game).
A player kills another character without permission, especially during a fight. (Person2 gets killed instantly by Person1 in 1 punch).
A player uses an attack on the other person, and it doesn't affect that person. (Person2 uses magic against Person1, but Person1 takes no effect) However, this could be reasonable if the other person that wasn't affected has a resistance to that magic.
Online dating

Online dating, compared to roleplaying, has many different aspects that separate the terms sparingly. Online dating in Roblox is the act of looking for a romantic partner in the game, while roleplaying a romance is Roleplaying as a character romantically involved with another character in a storyline, either someone else's character or one not in the current roleplay. A couple engaging in online dating will be formally in a relationship through the internet, using communication mediums such as Roblox and/or Skype (Discord may be used as well) and, depending on the player's preferences, would depict inappropriate actions not typically seen in a normal roleplay session (commonly referred to as ERP, or erotic RP, not mutually exclusive to online daters but still a ToS violation regardless). Online daters (or oders) are heavily criticized and hated among the Roblox community and are also a violation of the Roblox Terms of Service.

Go-Getting[]

A "Go-Getter" is a roleplayer who prefers to do their roleplaying alone, or in very small groups hinting limited to no contact with larger groups/factions. It is not generally a problem in the roleplaying sense, however, story and plot points can become broken and mislead, resulting in various discussions and breaking the roleplay session.

Frame-catcher[]

A "Frame-catcher" is a roleplayer who doesn't want others to be the same character as them. This usually happens in roleplay games with morphs of characters. When a frame-catcher sees someone with the same character, they confront them and say that they are fake and ask to prove that they are "real", a problem with it is that it can disrupt a roleplay, this is generally only a problem in roleplays with already set canon characters of a series or franchise, making it an easy to avoid issue.

An example of it can be this:

Roleplayer 1: YOU ARE NOT MARIO, I AM!
Roleplayer 2: NO I'M MARIO! YOU'RE THE FAKER!
Roleplayer 1: SHUT UP! I'M REAL!
Roleplayer 2: OK THEN PROVE IT!

Mr./Ms. Can Do All[]

A Mr. Can Do All's RP name.

These types of roleplayers usually have long RP Bios. They usually have unnecessary amounts of details in their RP-bios. These types of roleplayers are usually mocked or memed on by Roblox users as being edgy or unnecessary.

Examples:

Jake / half demon / half wolf / half angel / scary / shy / quiet / cute / rich / famous / popular / has secret powers / has crush on ???? / cool / billionaire / SCP / boss / uwu / bad boy
Ben / police / cop / has guns / has good aim / very cool / popular / boss of police
Angela/ Hated child/ demon girl/ raised by wolf pack/ gets red eyes when angered/ lesbian/ Killer/ will hurt you if you hurt her friends/parents dead/eyes become dark purple when sad

Cosplayers[]

92AD28F9-2683-4377-8B1A-2036FEB1AF2E — A player cosplaying as Connor from the console game *Detroit: Become Human*. "The android sent by CyberLife" is also a meme on the internet.

Cosplaying is dressing as a character from popular media outside of Roblox, such as from a video game, movie, or TV show. Some people do cosplay on Roblox, and they may act like the character they are cosplaying (this is sometimes referred to as LARPing, or live action roleplaying). This often the case in actual roleplaying games, especially those based on the franchise said character is from. Catalog Avatar Creator has become popular among cosplayers due to the ability for players to upload and share their outfits to an in-game marketplace.

Gang Culture on Roblox[]

There has always been a very underground gangster theme present on Roblox, unlike typical roleplays, there are normally these things:

On most RP games if the player gets a gun, they could only kill cops or robbers depending on the team, if not, they would have to use roleplay. However, in this type, anyone can get guns and can kill anyone they want.

There are normally resident gangs on there, some people may get property in the game for their group normally by paying Robux or being in good standing.

Random killing is more prevalent in these types. Random killing would be killing someone with no reason at all other than "I saw them and I want to kill them." These are a big hindrance to these games and the biggest con.

An example of these games would be "Merrick, San Roblo" or "Realistic RP/New Bloxton".

Notable Roleplay Games[]

The following are pages discussing some notable roleplay games, like MeepCity .

Criticism[]

Users such as XiaoXiaoMan have stated in numerous videos that roleplaying and Roblox don't mix and that they don't work out at all.

Some criticize roleplaying games on Roblox due to the general perception that these roleplays are often of very low quality (often referred to as fail RP or FRP), mostly stemming from the younger demographic of Roblox players who often tend to be inexperienced at roleplaying, making mistakes such as godmodding, metagaming (using bios or other out of character elements to gain an advantage within the RP context), and, in games that have weaponry and/or a combat system, random attacking. Another issue of roleplay stems from RP trolls, who often seek other players' RPs solely for the purpose of being disruptive.

There has also been some criticism in Roblox that ODers, or online daters, would frequently go to these types of places, particularly that and supposedly find a person to virtually date. See Online Dating above for more information. This criticism is mostly prevalent in roleplaying games based in school or town/city settings.