Hello, everyone! Thank you for taking the time out of your day to read what staff has to say about the time period and what to take into account when playing on the WWRP server. As of recently, there are many things that we have seen that don't exactly fit in the time period we are trying to Roleplay out. We must remember that in Roleplay, you are choosing a setting or time period and playing out a life in that said setting and time period. In this instance, we are roleplaying normal people who lived their lives in the time of 1899/1900 not including racism, sexism, etc.
Let’s start with a fairly obvious point that we see:
Law Enforcement
Law enforcement was much more simple in this time period, considering the Town Sheriff was elected by people of the town and his deputies were then chosen by that said Sheriff. Of course, we can't exactly have the same thing due to slot limitations, time zones and other such factors. However, the people that were chosen half the time were often no more than former gang members turned good (relative), farmers that knew how to hold and use a gun, or even just friends of the Sheriff. For example, not every Lawman has a tactical mind or a ‘Professional Cop’ outlook on how to do their job. A deputy being a little grimy wouldn’t be uncommon. There are lots of reasons that your character might not like the people in Law Enforcement, but seeing someone wearing a badge and no other reason is not one of them. In general, Law Enforcement is limited to what they can and can’t do due to the technologies that they have within the time period. Things such as forensics did not exist, or were relatively rare nor did country wide mass communication.
Furthermore, in most places it was a blessing to have Law Enforcement. Please keep in mind to treat Law Enforcement as 1899 Lawmen rather than 2021 Police. Also, please remember that LEO put a lot of In Character and Out of Character work into their role as well.
Criminals Gangs should strive to have a ‘Western Feel’ to them, as all of us are here to essentially roleplay out a western book or show. This is not saying that every gang needs to be a gang of cowboy bandits, but it also means that you can not have a Year 2021 Criminal that rides a horse instead of driving a car. There are many good examples of Gangs that were unique but still had and have a ‘Western Feel' or fit within 1899.
There’s a bit of wiggle room, as this is a historical fiction, but it should still be within doable parameters.
We welcome and encourage players to open support tickets and ask staff for clarifications on what wiggle room exists and to see if what they intend to do falls within the realm of what could be believable within the 1899 WWRP universe. Sometimes, theorizing together can bring new attainable and entertaining compromises!
Another way to enrich the RP experience is to keep in mind your environment. Dress for cold weather when going somewhere cold, if you're heading to New Austin, remember to take off your coat and roll up your sleeves, maybe wear something that breathes. Stop and let your horse have a drink from a stream if you've been riding awhile and find shelter when it's raining. Is it night time and you need to get somewhere but aren't in a rush? Then rest and wait until it's daylight. Remember to have your characters stop and take a break, get a drink or eat some food.
Wearing the same clothes day after day? Change! You wouldn't wear the same thing for weeks on end, most well-to-do characters wouldn't either.
Not only do your character need some care and attention, but their mounts and pets do too! So take advantage of the vet services some characters and ranches offer.
Your characters lives are also more than their interactions with those groups. A criminal wouldn't always be with their gang and doing crime, a deputy would have a personal life, a tribe member likely has other things to do and connections to explore. Take advantage of events people put out there for you, create your own, engage with businesses, do co-ventures! Write letters to friends and make new ones. Be open to new experiences!
Your character is more than a label, they are layered multi faceted beings, there is beauty in exploring that through Roleplay. You can watch your character and their story grow and develop in ways you might not have planned or previously expected.
We also have limited slots, and if you are in groups larger than 6, or even just being unintentionally exclusionary to the world, this affects culture and health of not only the community overall, but also that sever that this is happening on. We need to embrace moderation here. There’s no real need for several large groups to be together in one area for extended amounts of time, or in small spots across the large map and should strive to do so and explore all of these avenues on all districts. We are here to roleplay as a community.
Telegram Etiquette
We must also remember that telegrams are meant to be time appropriate and accurate. People would use telegrams to notify LEO of crime, request medical aid, request transportation, advertise Businesses, and other such things of that nature. Sending out death threats over the telegram system would be quite rare, and sending a telegram to tell the state that you are awake and around would also not be common practice, unless you were perhaps a business or advertising a service. Also something to keep in mind, Telegrams were sent with a little machine that made little sounds and ticks that relayed Morse Code into readable messages that could be easily deciphered. Please keep all of this in mind when sending and using telegrams.
Final Words
Overall, we must remember that this is a RP server in the time period of 1899/1900. We are all here to roleplay out a Western and should strive to make our RP examples of that. Whether you are a Lawman, Outlaw, Rancher, Bartender, Carriage Driver, Vigilante, Tribesman, Lumberjack, Hunter, try to keep in mind the time period you are putting your character into and what their struggles and achievements could be based on said time period.
Let’s start with a fairly obvious point that we see:
Law Enforcement
Law enforcement was much more simple in this time period, considering the Town Sheriff was elected by people of the town and his deputies were then chosen by that said Sheriff. Of course, we can't exactly have the same thing due to slot limitations, time zones and other such factors. However, the people that were chosen half the time were often no more than former gang members turned good (relative), farmers that knew how to hold and use a gun, or even just friends of the Sheriff. For example, not every Lawman has a tactical mind or a ‘Professional Cop’ outlook on how to do their job. A deputy being a little grimy wouldn’t be uncommon. There are lots of reasons that your character might not like the people in Law Enforcement, but seeing someone wearing a badge and no other reason is not one of them. In general, Law Enforcement is limited to what they can and can’t do due to the technologies that they have within the time period. Things such as forensics did not exist, or were relatively rare nor did country wide mass communication.
Furthermore, in most places it was a blessing to have Law Enforcement. Please keep in mind to treat Law Enforcement as 1899 Lawmen rather than 2021 Police. Also, please remember that LEO put a lot of In Character and Out of Character work into their role as well.
Law, Criminals and Everything In between
Without LEOs, bandits, outlaws and otherwise could ride through with enough force and do whatever they wanted without much challenge. We must remember that as simple people living in this time period, crime could easily cripple a lot of everyday peace and happenings. If a gang robbed a bank and stole a fair bit of money, you must think that, as a civilian, some of that money was probably yours. The money you worked extremely hard for whether that be as a farmer, shop keep, barkeep, civil servant, law enforcement or any other form of employment. If a shop keep was robbed, it was pretty likely that the said shop keep might have to close the store and get themselves organized before opening again and being ready for business. If you spent a lot of time in that town, you would more than likely know that shopkeeper or bank teller well. Their lives being threatened would affect you directly. In a lot of mediums, when a dangerous and known to be violent gang rolled through the town, the townsfolk would run inside and lock their doors and close their shutters due to the fact that they wanted to avoid being kidnapped, robbed or even killed. Watching a bank robbery from a porch makes very little sense in this time period, as a criminal could simply aim out the window and threaten your life by aiming and shooting at you. You are now in a hostage situation because you chose not to watch from behind a window, in cover. You also open yourself up to injury from possible stray bullets flying around due to a shootout happening. We should remember to Value Our Lives when these situations arise.Types of Criminals
In 1899/1900 there was no such term as ‘Serial Killer.’ These people would have simply been known as ‘Murderers’ or 'Multi Murderers'. Once caught, these people would more than likely be put in prison forever or simply hung.Criminals Gangs should strive to have a ‘Western Feel’ to them, as all of us are here to essentially roleplay out a western book or show. This is not saying that every gang needs to be a gang of cowboy bandits, but it also means that you can not have a Year 2021 Criminal that rides a horse instead of driving a car. There are many good examples of Gangs that were unique but still had and have a ‘Western Feel' or fit within 1899.
Medical
A lot of medical procedures needed a lot of skill and time, and even then half the time the patient would still die if the injury was in any serious place on the body. It would take a large portion of your life to train and prepare to be able to perform serious surgeries and medical procedures as a doctor. The mental health field in general was very “wild west and primitive” for the time. Many mental health issues were unrecognized or misunderstood, if they were identified in any way there were mostly mere theories on how to treat them - many procedures just didn’t exist. This is not to say that any “insane” character shouldn’t exist, but we should be mindful of the medical/treatment side of this type of roleplay. As we are locked in 1899, medications should not far surpass what was capable of at the time.There’s a bit of wiggle room, as this is a historical fiction, but it should still be within doable parameters.
We welcome and encourage players to open support tickets and ask staff for clarifications on what wiggle room exists and to see if what they intend to do falls within the realm of what could be believable within the 1899 WWRP universe. Sometimes, theorizing together can bring new attainable and entertaining compromises!
General Topics
We must remember that there are a lot of things we can do in RP that we would not be able to do in real life due to the fact that we as the players are not experiencing it or feeling it. A good example of this is carrying two long arms at all times. Guns are heavy and cumbersome. As Roleplayers, we must understand that while we are not feeling that weight, our characters are. Eventually, your character would have to let that weight off their shoulders and take a break. Riding a horse with one longarm on your back would be annoying enough, riding with two would probably fatigue you after a short time, let alone the side effects on the human body of carrying the weight on the back while performing daily tasks. After getting shot a few times, as a person you would not just be able to eat an apple and not feel the pain of those bullets. Falling off your horse or a roof onto the ground might hurt a little, or go as far as to break something depending on how you land. Remember to carry your injuries with respect to what happens around you during that roleplay, and remember, you are the one always in control to the extent of when it comes to injury.Another way to enrich the RP experience is to keep in mind your environment. Dress for cold weather when going somewhere cold, if you're heading to New Austin, remember to take off your coat and roll up your sleeves, maybe wear something that breathes. Stop and let your horse have a drink from a stream if you've been riding awhile and find shelter when it's raining. Is it night time and you need to get somewhere but aren't in a rush? Then rest and wait until it's daylight. Remember to have your characters stop and take a break, get a drink or eat some food.
Wearing the same clothes day after day? Change! You wouldn't wear the same thing for weeks on end, most well-to-do characters wouldn't either.
Not only do your character need some care and attention, but their mounts and pets do too! So take advantage of the vet services some characters and ranches offer.
RPing in a Bubble or Clique RP
While it’s great to constantly have your friends, gang, fellow deputies tribe, or family around you, we must be mindful that we are in a larger world here.Your characters lives are also more than their interactions with those groups. A criminal wouldn't always be with their gang and doing crime, a deputy would have a personal life, a tribe member likely has other things to do and connections to explore. Take advantage of events people put out there for you, create your own, engage with businesses, do co-ventures! Write letters to friends and make new ones. Be open to new experiences!
Your character is more than a label, they are layered multi faceted beings, there is beauty in exploring that through Roleplay. You can watch your character and their story grow and develop in ways you might not have planned or previously expected.
We also have limited slots, and if you are in groups larger than 6, or even just being unintentionally exclusionary to the world, this affects culture and health of not only the community overall, but also that sever that this is happening on. We need to embrace moderation here. There’s no real need for several large groups to be together in one area for extended amounts of time, or in small spots across the large map and should strive to do so and explore all of these avenues on all districts. We are here to roleplay as a community.
Racism RP or Implied Racism RP
This is also a reminder that racism rp is not tolerated in any form. This also includes accusing any player of having motives based on skin color. This is unacceptable and doesn’t have a place within our community. If you in all honesty suspect of someone targeting a character based on race, regardless of which race it is, then you are to bring this up in a ticket with Staff, not to throw accusations around in character. This accusation should also never be used to throw off another character/player in a scene to take control of a scene. If you are being accused of racism IC, please open a support ticket to report it to staff with any evidence of the incident in question.Telegram Etiquette
We must also remember that telegrams are meant to be time appropriate and accurate. People would use telegrams to notify LEO of crime, request medical aid, request transportation, advertise Businesses, and other such things of that nature. Sending out death threats over the telegram system would be quite rare, and sending a telegram to tell the state that you are awake and around would also not be common practice, unless you were perhaps a business or advertising a service. Also something to keep in mind, Telegrams were sent with a little machine that made little sounds and ticks that relayed Morse Code into readable messages that could be easily deciphered. Please keep all of this in mind when sending and using telegrams.
Final Words
Overall, we must remember that this is a RP server in the time period of 1899/1900. We are all here to roleplay out a Western and should strive to make our RP examples of that. Whether you are a Lawman, Outlaw, Rancher, Bartender, Carriage Driver, Vigilante, Tribesman, Lumberjack, Hunter, try to keep in mind the time period you are putting your character into and what their struggles and achievements could be based on said time period.
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