📘 Chat and roleplay basics

What it is

Roleplay Project is text roleplay. Everything your character says and does goes through the chat window, and the handful of commands on this page are the whole language of the server: plain text to speak, /me to act, /do to describe, /b to step out of character for a moment. Learn them and you can play any scene from a traffic stop to a wedding. Ignore them and people will not know what your character is doing, which is the fastest way to be left out.

Two ideas underpin all of it:

• In character (IC) is anything your character says, does or knows. It happens in the city and other characters can react to it.

• Out of character (OOC) is you, the player, talking to other players. It belongs in brackets and should be brief, because every OOC line interrupts the scene for everyone who can see it.

How to start

Press T, type a sentence and press Enter. That is speech: everyone within normal talking distance sees Maya Okafor says: Evening. in white. Add a slash and a command word to do anything else. Chat closes with Escape, and T again reopens it with the last command remembered, which makes long scenes quick to type.

Turn on /autogrammar (alias /ag) if you type fast: it capitalises your speech and adds a full stop so it reads well even when you are hurrying.

If you prefer the classic look, /settings > Chat > Chat Style has an SA-MP option: bold Arial chat with no boxes or animations, which only follows your font size and timestamp settings. See Settings and keybinds.

The commands you will use every day

Speech carries a short distance, /low less, /s a lot more. Inside a property, /doorme and /doordo are heard through the door, which is how you knock, shout through the letterbox or hear someone moving inside.

Step by step

1. Describe what you do, then let people react

   Type /me for the action before anything happens, and wait a beat. Other characters need the chance to respond, especially if your action affects them: nobody can be punched, searched or grabbed without a /me first and a moment for them to answer.

2. Use /do for the things a camera would show

   /do is for the world, not for your character's thoughts. Good: /do The bag is heavy and clinks when set down. Bad: /do Maya is nervous. If nobody could see it, it is not a /do; either say it with a /me that shows it (/me fidgets with her keys) or keep it to yourself.

3. Ask before you assume

   Anything about another character's body, possessions or property is theirs to decide. /do Would the door be locked? invites the other player to answer with their own /do. Waiting for that answer is the whole difference between roleplay and powergaming.

4. Keep OOC in brackets and short

   /b is for things the game needs, not conversation: a quick "one sec, phone" or "can you repeat that, chat scrolled". Anything longer goes to /pm or the Discord, and jokes about the game itself never belong in the scene.

5. Match the volume to the moment

   /low in a library, /s across a car park, /w when you pass a note. Volume is part of the acting and other players notice when someone shouts secrets across a room.

6. Finish the scene

   Do not vanish mid conversation. If you have to go, a /me that walks away and a /b that says you are logging is enough, and it keeps the other person from waiting on a reply that will never come.

Emotes and body language

/anim opens the animation menu: hundreds of emotes sorted into sitting, leaning, dancing, smoking and more. Pick one and a ghost of your character appears in first person; walk it to where you want to be, aim to position it and click to play the animation for real, which is how you sit on a specific chair or lean on the right car. /e <name> plays an emote by name once you know it, and /emotes lists them. /walk changes your walking style and /walk reset puts it back.

Animations are not a substitute for /me. A character sitting on a bench is nice to look at, but "/me sits on the bench and closes her eyes" is what the person next to them reads.

Good practice

• Give people something to answer. "Evening." is a start; "Evening. You look like you have been waiting a while." is a conversation.

• Read before you type. Chat scrolls, and answering a question that was asked to someone else breaks the scene.

• Type in the language your character would use. Text speak and internet slang are out of character unless the character would say them.

• One thing at a time. Three /me lines in a row with no gap give nobody a chance to react.

• Stay in character through the boring bits. Waiting at a garage, queueing at the bank and driving across town are all scenes if you let them be.

• Fear for your life. A character with a gun in their face does not crack jokes; the rules expect fear roleplay and it makes for better stories anyway.

Rules that apply

The server rules that concern talking are short and staff enforce them:

• Roleplay at all times (1.1) and In-character chat (6.1): the chat window is the city. OOC belongs in /b, /pm or /gooc, in brackets, briefly.

• No metagaming (1.3): your character only knows what they have learned in the city. Names above heads, Discord messages, stream chat and this wiki are not sources your character can use.

• No powergaming (1.4): no forcing an outcome on another player without giving them a chance to respond, and no superhuman feats.

• Value your life (1.5) and Fear roleplay (2.5): react to danger the way a real person would.

• English only (1.6): the English server plays in English. The Balkan server has its own rules and language.

• Respect all players (1.2): the character can be rude; the player never is. Disputes go to /report, not to /b.

Erotic roleplay only in private interiors

Rule E10.2, "Erotic roleplay outside private interiors", is a ban-level rule. Erotic roleplay of any kind is only allowed inside a private interior, which always has its own dimension. Anywhere in Dimension 0, the shared open world everyone sees, it is prohibited. That includes:

• vehicles

• streets, alleys, parks, beaches and car parks

• every other outdoor or public place

The rule covers /me, /do, emotes, animations and chat used for sexual roleplay. If a scene heads that way, move it to a private interior; that is the only acceptable option. The full wording is on the server rules page.

Tips

Related commands

Worked example