Many people have homepages devoted specifically to their characters and show buttons to them in their tags. World Broadcasting System's script also allows users to link their homepages to the chat screen via the gummy image, so you might be able to look at a page by clicking on that.

If you would like to make a character page for yourself, take a look at the free servers such as Angelfire.com and Geocities.com. Please read the Terms and Conditions of Use at any free site carefully, as some have restrictions about the content or claims rights to your content in varying degrees. Please note that most of these sites no longer allow you to link to a picture to show in the room.

  WHO ARE THE FOLKS AT THE INN

There are both staff and many experienced roleplayers (also known as regs) who are willing to help out those in need of both technical help in getting started in the room and information about role-playing. Any questions not answered here should be directed to newiwt@yahoo.com

WHO LEADS THE ROLE-PLAYING?

Roleplaying is a freely-flowing spontaneous art that is based on you, as the roleplayer. If someone were to 'take you on a journey' through roleplaying, it would no longer be RP, it would become a guided tour. For this reason, others do not actually give you plots or control your storyline. Other experienced roleplayers are there to offer help and suggestions in roleplaying matters if asked, but your plotline is free to develop.

Some folks already have plots in progress. If you think that you've stumbled into an ongoing game with an established group, just ask about joining. And be sure to check the location to see where the group is!

SPECIAL EVENTS

Occasionally, there are special events (also called room-wide rp's) such as tournaments or festivals open to all players. These are generally promoted on the message board or noted in a player's tag.

  THE ENGLISH LANGUAGE - GENERAL LANGUAGE

While it is understandable that many roleplayers will come from countries where English is not the primary language, you should still observe the standard rules of speaking and grammar, including punctuation and capitalization. Please use complete sentences, periods, and capital letters. Do not turn on your CAPS LOCK key. Contrary to popular belief, the CAPS LOCK does not make your speech more noticeable to other people; it tends to annoy them. Follow the standard separations of speech and text and designate to whom you are talking.

  PROFANE LANGUAGE

While obscene language sometimes makes a point due to shock value, it really isn't necessary on a regular basis. Even the sleeziest and most depraved of c's can find a way of expressing depravity without resorting to consistent profanity. Avoid excessive IC vulgarity. Your character may curse, of course, but if it's going to happen regularly, resort to the old Q-bert style of entering something along the lines of, "What the #&%@!"

  IN CHARACTER (IC)/OUT OF CHARACTER (OOC)

We all like to chatter to our friends; it's inevitable. Sometimes it's necessary to get a scene started, determine who's involved in play, or clarify actions during play. Still, it should be kept to a minimum.

CONTROVERSIAL POSTS

Some story lines are very graphic, whether it be adult situations or violence, without being obviously 'obscene' or 'phornographic.' Sometimes it's just matter of personal taste and preference. If you are starting this type of storyline, put a note in your tag saying so. This allows others to ignore you without the hard feelings or arguements resulting from an unpleasant surprise. Being put in ignore for something like this is no more an insult than someone buying a historical romance rather than a horror book; it's personal preference.

On the other side of this coin, if someone begins a storyline or scene you find distasteful without being obscene or pornographic, just quietly drop them in ignore. There is no need to go into a long post explaining why or tearing the writer or storyline apart.

  METAGAMING

Metagaming is the decision to have a character react a certain way based on out of character knowledge the character him/herself could not have. Metagaming's most obvious form is knowing someone's name before they enter, but there are more subtle examples. For instance, it -is- metagaming to come into character for the sake of helping one of your friends out who is in a pitched battle (and with ICQ, we know how easily that can be arranged.) Likewise, it is metagaming to specifically ignore a character for the reason of knowing something about them OOC or IC as a DIFFERENT character (unless, of course, your characters can meet/discuss things amongst themselves.) It is also distasteful to get so caught up within your "clique" that you ignore everything else in the inn. Meta-gaming is an RP crutch, and experience and a conscious effort to avoid it will help you not fall into that trap.

POST LENGTH

Many of the experienced players often write posts of great length, especially introductions. Now, when it comes to such posts, they really tend to divide the Inn into cliques, where those who write mammoths play together and those who write one-liners do as well. Frankly, neither style is wrong, and neither style is unquestionably superior (whatever proponents of either form might say), so, kindly refrain from insulting each other about post lengths. Don't whine about someone's introduction being to long, nor about sifting through one-liners. It is not only a great discourtesy but a waste of time and posts.

USING IGNORE

Much as we hate to admit it, there are always people that we just don't get along with for whatever reason. If you have such a problem, or if someone is simply driving you crazy, use the ignore feature rather than disrupt the room with an ooc arguement! Just one note - when you do ignore someone, please try to do so discretely, without a vague post about "Feeding Iggy." Why? Because a lot of innocent people get upset, wondering if you meant *them* ... This isn't a hard and fast rule, but just a nice way to treat the people in the room.