Speaking as a former college English and lit instructor as well as a former professional technical writer and editor, I agree that grammar, spelling, and punctuation should be as correct as possible.
Speaking as a former public speaking instructor as well as a fiction, poetry, and non-fiction writer and editor, much of our speech is not spoken in a manner that corresponds to correct grammar that one might use in an academic paper - or even in a technical manual with procedures and parts lists. Thus, I feel we should not get too upset when someone uses improper grammar or punctuation when speaking in the game.
ETA: A good example of this is Shatner Speak. A player can use ellipses or full stops to indicate pauses between phrases. I recommend ellipses for this function. This will help eliminate long smotes where someone is pausing before each additional phrase.
SMOTED: Argenbarther looks thoughtful and then replies, "I see what you mean." He pauses, gathering his thoughts, and then continues, Or what I think you mean." He pauses again before finishing, "But I can't agree based on what I've seen."
ELLIPSES: Argenbarther looks thoughtful and then replies, "I see what you mean... or what I think you mean... but I can't agree based on what I've seen."
/End ETA
Another point that I feel needs to be made is that not everyone is using a nifty mud client or even playing from a decent connection. We assume that everyone has a great connection speed as well as a sophisticated mud client. Neither of these is always true. I'm in the process of trying to rescue data from a laptop that died recently. During the past week I used my tablet to play. I made a lot of typos but didn't bother to correct many of them because of the sheer amount of time it would take me to do so. I expect this is true for others using tablets and phones to connect.
Here're a few excellent examples of why the serial or Oxford comma (the comma preceding the last item in a list) is important:
WRONG: This book is dedicated to my husband, brother and best friend.
RIGHT: This book is dedicated to my husband, brother, and best friend.
WRONG: Highlights of the event include encounters with Stephen King, the owner of the world's largest lint ball and a man capable of fitting 100 cigarettes in his mouth at one time.
RIGHT: Highlights of the event include encounters with Stephen King, the owner of the world's largest lint ball, and a man capable of fitting 100 cigarettes in his mouth at one time.
On the subject of how a character should react to those around him, we should remember that not everyone is the same type of good, neutral, or evil. My two main characters are neutral evil and chaotic good. Many times they will react the same way to meeting an evil character even though, strictly speaking, they are on opposite sides of the fence when viewing said character. Thus, while my CG character may be nice initially, that could change if he has reason to view the character in question. My NE character, on the other hand, may be nice initially and a bit standoffish later once he discerns the character in question is dangerous to him.
This brings up another point and goes back to the evil character thread: Evil doesn't mean that we all have to screw each other at every opportunity. Many bad or evil organizations exist with trust and loyalty as bedrocks of the organizations. There is no reason this can't happen in the mud - whether between individuals, members of a faith, or organizations - unless doing so would directly violate the core beliefs of a character's faith.
Better Roleplaying
Re: Better Roleplaying
Ka like the wind.
Re: Better Roleplaying
My input is far less scholarly, but I've noticed that over my 12 or so years of FK, I've certainly developed a sense of style with how I talk on FK, my vocabulary choices, smotes, etc.
If any of you have had the pleasure of roleplaying with Lathlain, Levine, or Lorelie (just for an example, excuse the alliteration), take note of how rich, deep, and flavorful the speaking style each character has adopted. Finding your own voice and paying attention to others in FK can be very helpful in improving your grammatical errors and sentence fluency, ICly and OOCly.
A group of us FK players all grew up together and went to the same elementary/middle school/high school, of which we started playing FK in middle school. Our vocabulary tests, spelling tests, and essay scores all skyrocketed (not to mention our apparent over-achieving in typing class). The benefits of finding your "style" will lead to a much more fulfilling experiences in game, pride in your characters as extensions of yourself, as well as increase your communication skills in real life.
If any of you have had the pleasure of roleplaying with Lathlain, Levine, or Lorelie (just for an example, excuse the alliteration), take note of how rich, deep, and flavorful the speaking style each character has adopted. Finding your own voice and paying attention to others in FK can be very helpful in improving your grammatical errors and sentence fluency, ICly and OOCly.
A group of us FK players all grew up together and went to the same elementary/middle school/high school, of which we started playing FK in middle school. Our vocabulary tests, spelling tests, and essay scores all skyrocketed (not to mention our apparent over-achieving in typing class). The benefits of finding your "style" will lead to a much more fulfilling experiences in game, pride in your characters as extensions of yourself, as well as increase your communication skills in real life.
Technically, we're all half centaur.
Re: Better Roleplaying
Some stuff out of the top of my head:
-Ask around for stuff or information, especially to people who could IC know well of it. I remember on one of my characters that I once asked a knight about where to purchase a good horse and it came out a magnificent rp. I already knew where to buy a decent horse, but in the end I gained twice because not only I found a better horse than I could find, but my character made a friend and I had an awesome rp. From the point of view of the strict rp, on top of that, it is not exactly the best to go straight to the trainers or shops right away when we are playing a new and inexperienced character. I acknowledge sometimes it is frustrating especially when you have not met yet anybody who can help you or when these people seem to be completely unawere about where to learn or get the same skills or item they have been using from quite a while, but it is still worth to at least give it a try.
-When your character is going to do something questionable for his faith or race, but not necessarily wrong in that particular context, I find it nice to discuss of it with other characters with similar attitudes, such as the other members of the race/faith, before or after doing it. The rp involved in general tends to give a nice opportunity for all to express how they rp their allegiance and how they are inclined toward compromise. I don't see it generally as asking for permission, but more akin to asking an opinion about a certain course of action. I have found out that in my experience it tends to offer interesting rp opportunities. Of course this does not apply for wrong things or dealings done intentionally in secrecy.
-Ask around for stuff or information, especially to people who could IC know well of it. I remember on one of my characters that I once asked a knight about where to purchase a good horse and it came out a magnificent rp. I already knew where to buy a decent horse, but in the end I gained twice because not only I found a better horse than I could find, but my character made a friend and I had an awesome rp. From the point of view of the strict rp, on top of that, it is not exactly the best to go straight to the trainers or shops right away when we are playing a new and inexperienced character. I acknowledge sometimes it is frustrating especially when you have not met yet anybody who can help you or when these people seem to be completely unawere about where to learn or get the same skills or item they have been using from quite a while, but it is still worth to at least give it a try.
-When your character is going to do something questionable for his faith or race, but not necessarily wrong in that particular context, I find it nice to discuss of it with other characters with similar attitudes, such as the other members of the race/faith, before or after doing it. The rp involved in general tends to give a nice opportunity for all to express how they rp their allegiance and how they are inclined toward compromise. I don't see it generally as asking for permission, but more akin to asking an opinion about a certain course of action. I have found out that in my experience it tends to offer interesting rp opportunities. Of course this does not apply for wrong things or dealings done intentionally in secrecy.
Re: Better Roleplaying
Another thing that came to my mind reading the thread about one's favourite races:
-When you decide to create a character of a certain race always ask yourself first: could I play this character being a human or some other race? If the answer is yes, then you are probably better of with the most common race you can play your character. Doing this you are doing a favour to yourself, for example sparing kismet in the first place, and also avoiding playing rare races as if they were their more mundane counterparts. What's the point to play an aasimar like a human, a sun elf like a moon elf or a ghostwise halfling like a lightfoot? Exactly, no point.
-Always, always, always read and play how the personality of your character relates to their culture. A character does not need to be fond of every single aspect of their culture, they may live up with some of them grudgingly, but no less they are a part of them and of their story. I.e. take for example the Skulkers, natives from Skullport. Not all of them necessarily like slavery but still being around many slaves, and undead, it is something perfectly normal for a character arising from there, while for a Waterdhavian, on the other hand, slavery might just be some immoral practice from wicked, distant lands.
-When you decide to create a character of a certain race always ask yourself first: could I play this character being a human or some other race? If the answer is yes, then you are probably better of with the most common race you can play your character. Doing this you are doing a favour to yourself, for example sparing kismet in the first place, and also avoiding playing rare races as if they were their more mundane counterparts. What's the point to play an aasimar like a human, a sun elf like a moon elf or a ghostwise halfling like a lightfoot? Exactly, no point.
-Always, always, always read and play how the personality of your character relates to their culture. A character does not need to be fond of every single aspect of their culture, they may live up with some of them grudgingly, but no less they are a part of them and of their story. I.e. take for example the Skulkers, natives from Skullport. Not all of them necessarily like slavery but still being around many slaves, and undead, it is something perfectly normal for a character arising from there, while for a Waterdhavian, on the other hand, slavery might just be some immoral practice from wicked, distant lands.