Participating in IC Plots
In most role-plays there are two types of plot. Player-lead plot and Admin/Site-wide/GM-run plot. Playing in both of these types of plots requires a lot of community cooperation in order to run smoothly and to prevent bad IC conflict from occurring.
Playing in Player-Led Plot
Player-led plot can be seen as Soft RP or Filler RP. It takes place outside the site-wide or GM-led RP and is crucial for proper Character Development. Often times, Player-led plot has been a joint effort between the groups of players whose characters would be involved. These plots typically revolve around personal plots, story arcs, and character growth. Here are some things to remember if you are players whose characters are in Player-run plots.
Being a Player who Helps Coordinate the Player-Led Plot
When you are a player who helped coordinate the run in the first place here are some things to keep in mind.
Communication
When players coordinate a player-led plot it is important to keep in mind the communication link between the other players OOC. If anything changes or becomes different that originally planned, talking it over should help smooth out any negative possibilities in the plot.
Don't be Exclusive
It is easy to sometimes become absorbed in the player-plot you are doing. However there will still be other plots and interactions going on around you. Don’t shut out other characters from interacting with you in a plot, or flood a thread or room with only your plot and not allowing any other plots to develop. If it starts becoming too exclusive and you don’t want anyone to intrude then start your own thread (Something you have likely done at first) or another room.
Avoid Repeat Plots/Copy-Plots
If you had your character do something before, and want them to do it again, try to make it different. The rehashing of plots does everyone little good. And after a while the same things get boring. Also If you see a plot someone else did and want to do one similar, try to either distance it in detail or in time. Remember, every character is different and what affects one person won’t affect another in the same way. Play that aspect up.
Being an Outside Player in a Player-Led Plot
If you are a player who was not a part of a planning process for the player led plot here are things that you should remember
Ask Before You Leap In