This is why my Zerker ravager is always angry.
I dont know if a lot of people notice, but my Xeno (ARG) is a roleplay persona, its their own character. ARG will always call a xeno shit, they will always respond the same way, it’s always the other’s fault and they will ragebait anyone, from marine to xeno.
I am a pretty chill guy, but that’s the way to Roleplay as xeno. There are xenos that are always nice and chill.
BUT THEN THERES ARG CALLING YOU SHIT!!!
Bro I literally got noted recently because I taunted a marine as xeno by pointing at the splints that I caused earlier in the round (I believe they quickly ahelped after this, awesome). It sadly seems that the only way admins want yo to RP a xenos is basically being NRP. Some people have called it justified by saying xenos should have no emotions but I disagree.
Personally I’m the opinion of making xenos all puppets to the queen is kind of boring and uninspired, you don’t need some "radio controlled” hive mind theory to explain why smaller castes will selflessly give away their lives to the queen when basic eusociality just explains it perfectly. Furthermore, xenomorphs have a much more complex nervous system and brain with a large degree of encephalization than the IRL insects people compare them to. While insects do not possess emotional intelligence this is due to physical restraints (size, oxygen - respiratory limitiations) that are absent in xenomorphs.
Between all different theories and head-canons given just now, I prefer RainbowStalin’s the best, but I still find the “The queen is actually the main brain and kinda puppets every other xeno but decides to give them personality” a bit silly.
Wait, you can report people for stuff like that? Jesus chirst, I gotta ahelp so many marines then.
And i feel it makes sense that a giant hivemind would give out autonomy to its members, albeit limited, for the best effect they could give. But not give them their own mind in a hivemind. So the middlestep is just the original mind fracturing a piece of itself to give limited autonomy for both second guessing, and improving upon itself continualy.
That is a damn shame and wrong.
Xenos, are in my opinion(or headcannon), a memetic evolving species. Since they were engineered to be the ‘perfect’ killing organism they can’t physically differ, but some types of psychic archetypes are better at different things, some traits are useful in some contexts, some are useless.
But all of them are presenting traits, of course the will of QM and the hive’s queen overwrites their personalities, but they should have their own tactics and strategies. A xeno is a part of a hivemind, but not all hiveminds have the same voices. Some ants behave differently to others if cut off from their colony’s pheromones(rough equivalent of a hivemind) while synths have to be re-syncronized with their directives because there is some drift every time.
I don’t think xenos are dumb creatures or incapable of thought, just that they have a hive interference that overwrites most of their stuff.
last night a Marine laced another marine while chasing me. we both turned around and pointed at the marine culprit who FF it was a great time. I felt solidarity with the marines for a few seconds before he started shooting me again 
When I first started playing my RP was just asserting fake lore at people until they played along. I still do that.
How the fuck did you even get noted for this lmao
What snowflake even ahelps after stuff like that?
IMO I like the bee-like theory Jean posed better, xenos being eusocial creatures would be far more conducive to roleplay than some hivemind shit. If the hivemind is canon, then what platform is there for xenos to roleplay with? You have no free will, and it’s completely counter to how players act in-game (as individuals). Not to mention the fact there’s basically nothing to RP as xeno besides shitting on marines and acting evil.
It’s far better to have xenos be extremely integrated, communal individuals working to a common goal like eusocial insects rather than the Queen being an extremely sad person who makes up imaginary friends to talk to in her mind (literally borderline schizophrenia lore)
The more cool you are the more haters you have.
This is another lore issue but I find it so fucking lame 
. Any cool or interesting question you could ask about xenomorphs can just be handwaved away with “They were just bioengineered to be a weapon bro”.
”How did XX121 develop such features? How come they are so big for a parasitoid species? What kind of environment can lead to such developments? How would their homeworld look like? Would their natural host species actually just shrug off infestation/survive?” → “They’re just bioengineered to be movie monster” 
There’s just so much more to explore if xenos are just a natural alien species from a long fucked up world that got out and now are a very destructive invasive species.
I think this would be the best way to remedy both xeno lore and the fact that the players that play them are (I hope) individuals. There’s no reason to develop some overly complex and silly hivemind lore when there’s never any way for players to actually RP it. Of course, on the point of RP, I believe xenormophs would need new mechanics for them to interact with their environment to help improve the RP situation but what I proposed would at least be a first step.
Ugnip55
“Xeno language is a direct translation, hence why I for one don’t care if xenos say “metal bird” or “dropship”. Forcing people to use that lingo isn’t really roleplay, but xenos lacking in roleplay that isn’t “mommy mommy mommy” isn’t exactly new.”
So true. I guess, when I think of Xenomorph roleplay, I think to the media it comes from. Xenos are literally biological superweapons that are hyperfocused on serving the Queen, to multiply and dominate. Their attitude is a reflection of this, and what that means is that individuality - while it may be present - is not the primary motivator. That is to say, I think its plausible to believe Xenos can be unique - but they are all centralized in their focus for the goal of following the Queens will and - for lack of better words - propogating.
I really do like how a lot of Xeno players have transformed things, more than the superficial eye catches. If you just browse xenos speaking for a short time, it may seem like ‘LRP non-sense’. But after observing them for a while, patterns emerge, and a general concept of how to talk and conduct yourself to catch that eerie vibe we get from the original franchise is present - with its own CM twist, just like how UNGA doesnt exist in the Alien franchise universe, but its /plausible/ and unique to CM. Thats not to say there isnt room for improvement in Xeno RP land, I just think that its not really fair to say Xeno RP is and always has been dead and will never be a thing - its already a thing, and if we can find a way to encourage people to hone and guide new Xeno players into something bigger than it is now, that would be best for all of us. I’m definitely not an expert either, and thats why I’m open to hearing what people say about it instead of being a negative nancy and shutting it down before it starts.
"I can impart some words regarding human RP however. Contrary to popular belief, I have roleplayed a lot in the past, and started out as a CL main. I feel roleplay was a bit better back in the day, with a little less focus on the TDM aspects. Different culture, overall.
However, I can throw in my two cents with an excerpt from my Yautja app in 2020:
“Roleplay can be extremely simply described as «playing a role». I believe that it should be more than that however. Any marine is, by playing CM alone, roleplaying. Even if they are screaming «unga dunga unga bunga», they are still technically roleplaying (albeit at a low level). I don’t count that as actual roleplay, though. I feel like roleplay needs to include fear, anger, happiness, sadness and other reasonable, well-proportioned emotions to be proper roleplay. For example, a Corporate Liaison pacing back and forth in his office in fear, waiting for the command staff to open the evac pods so they can get out of there as soon as possible to avoid the xeno threat onboard. That’s what I’d count as roleplay. Or maybe two marines having peaceful banter in the FOB, trying to distract themselves from the stress on the colony? Someone actually showing that they’re wounded?
I feel like roleplay should be a «How would you react» scenario, as well as a «How would your CHARACTER react» scenario at all times. Did someone piss you off? Show that you’re pissed off in an understandable, reasonable manner. If someone calls you stupid, you wouldn’t begin brutally attacking them in real life, would you? Are the aliens rushing onboard? Show that you’re fearful, if that’s what your character would do. Perhaps he enters survival mode and tries to help others above himself instead?
Roleplay is to me a player’s responsibility to try to immerse others and to a large extent, yourself, in the world you are playing in. You won’t be that immersed if a marine gets shot in the chest and they go: «Medic, overdose me on bicaridine and bandage me». If they however begin screaming in pain, perhaps even stuttering their words manually, it will be more believable and entertaining for all parties involved.
By doing all of this, the gameplay will most often increase in quality, due to the effort between two or more players to MAKE IT SO. Immersion is what I think roleplay is all about, both in general and on CM.”"
Yeah, this is exactly what I’m asking for from people on this forum post. I really appreciate this. It goes to show that on CM, it boils down to simple truths: you are playing a role, you are not playing yourself, you are not acting like you’re in a videogame.
I agree with you, that having a sense of reality is important. Having realistic feelings and expressing those feelings through the tools we have, whether it be /say, or /me or simply by making decisions mechanically - they mean something. Responding to things like pain, showing unease, showing frustration - its all part of the experience, and its done by having your character as the vessel of that experience. I definitely feel like you’ve got something good here, and if you’d like to expand upon it that would be welcome.
“Roleplay can be a beautiful thing, but enforcing roleplay to an acceptable standard, to which you describe, would require a significant cultural overhaul and staff intervention. I’d like to see it, but I have my doubts.”
The thing about increasing roleplay in a community is its not something you do with a stick, you do it with the carrot. Another way to say it, us going around ticketing people and getting on their asses about their level of roleplay is not an effective way to improve roleplay - punitive actions should only be reserved for when its actually a problem.
The idea here is, we need to as a community figure out a way to improve our standards assuming that punishing people for their low or lack of roleplay is NOT an option unless absolutely necessary. There is only so much good punishing people does to improve roleplay standards, thats why when I do tickets for Rule 2 (Roleplay Violation) I was explain the Why - because its explaining the Why and having that player understand the Why that actually results in them thinking about, and considering their actions.
Giving them a ban or a note just makes them either feel ticked off, guilty - whatever, its ultimately a gamble on whether or not the player will really think ‘you know, when I play CM I need to change how I think of the game and try this roleplay thing more seriously’ – giving them a ban or a note, for us as staff, is a way for us to know that this guys been talked to about it, and if they continue then we escalate. It’s not a real solution, its a measure to stop people from walking all over our rules and vibe we as a /community/ (not just staff) try to maintain here.
The only way to truly raise roleplay standards is to have people actually start doing it. The truth is, that us staff bleed like anyone else. We aren’t even perfect, we have our LRP moments, we’re not all beacons of the highest roleplay standards in CM - and we dont need to be. Every CM player who cares about this place just needs to realize that if they want things to change, it starts with yourself (ourselves, not just you Ugnipp) and how your characters conduct themselves in the game as well as OOCly. The goal is to inspire people, to gradually and truly change the norm from where it is now, to somewhere closer to where we all would prefer it to be. The goal is to empower players, and make them understand that roleplay is not standardized - it is an intrinsic nature within us that we all uniquely possess and needs to be realized. It’s to be experimented with, its to be tested, it’s to be explored - and thats why I didn’t write this down like ‘hey what should CM’s standards be like’ I wrote this post in essence saying ‘after playing CM for years, what would you like to see more of, what would you tell someone whos interested in increasing roleplay standards organically’.
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Nomoresolvalou
“It’s very much vibes based, and most of your skills that you need to develop will be determining what the vibes are. Is it a serious moment where you’re 1 on 1 with someone talking about something like the death of a close friend? are you talking shop with your fellow crew? are you shooting the shit and making small talk with your squad? Each one of these situations requires different tones that you’ll need to find and fit into. I don’t think it’s too hard to learn, but just be aware of the situation and try to get a feel with who you’re talking to and what’s happening.”
Yes, I completely agree. Situational awareness, knowing when to flesh your roleplay out more or less depending on the situation, is critical for CM. You can have a moment where your character is talking about something deep, and then in another moment have them talk about something superficial - not just lengths of writing, but also depth. There is basically a sliding scale, where in situations that permit it you can roleplay a bit more, and then in other situations is all kept nice and tidy - and I feel isnt exclusive to /say and /me, but also reflected in your characters mecahnical actions. I think this is what makes the definition of CM’s RP so much more vibrant and raw compared to some other servers, we aren’t restrained by the LRP/MRP/HRP phenomenon - which is a horrible way to understand and conceptualize roleplay - we hit that middle point and allow people leeway either up or down within reason, and that is generally the core of the roleplaying vibe here. Better roleplaying standards doesnt mean bigger /say and /me, it means being more actively immersed within the context of the game.
“The next big thing is improv. This is probably the biggest thing when it comes to RP. You’re gonna be making shit up for RP, and a lot of it will be done on the fly in the moment. It can be a bit scary to think about but you just gotta go for it and be confident. Over time it’ll get easier and easier and stuff will pop into your head easier. Use stuff that’s happened earlier in the round to help you out. A common situation is talking with the CL as a survivor after you’ve been rescued. Often they’ll ask you something along the lines of “what the hell happened down there, where did the bugs come from?” There’s no one correct answer, and it’s up to you and your fellow survivors (if there are any left) to make it up for them. Often times on the map there could be some things to help shape your answers, so you don’t have to go completely blind. Maybe there’s some CLF or UPP stuff around, and after you get to the CL you tell them “it was the damn CLF I tell you! Musta brought the damn things down to the colony to kill us all!” Or maybe you go the old classic route of “It was the company! they were experimenting on those damn things and they broke out!” It depends on your character, the vibes, the map, and what your fellow survivors decide is the cannon for the round. That’s another thing, go with what other people say. If someone says “Jimmy was an engineer that shot himself after the bugs came for him.” It’s gonna be really awkward if you go “Jimmy was a doctor and got killed after acid blood got on his face.” There are situations where conflicting accounts on things would make sense, but you gotta be careful, and try to “yes and” things when you can.”
Yeah, I really like this sentiment. I dont write backstories for my characters, yet they are there - and I developed them through my playstyle with them, molded them through the roleplay they had over hundreds of rounds of play. I can tell you right now that my doctor/medic character Boonsri has 4 kids, several grand children, has been in the USCM for way too long and is waiting for retirement, is stuck in old ways often times, is mean as hell sometimes but also fiercely couragous, they still for some reason are on their green card despite being with the USCM for so long, they miss their village they were born into sometimes - not once have I sat down and wrote all this out, its all in my noggin’ after playing the character for years now. People need to understand and embrace this style you’re describing as a legitimate form of development - and something that is fluid, something you define each time you wake up as the character from cryosleep.
I really like your point about looking at the environment in game - whether thats Almayer for your characters tenure as a member of the USCM - and also on the several colony maps. One of my characters buried their married partner in Sorokyne, and everytime they go there its just at thing I keep in mind, that at the end of the round they go looking for it. These little things add up to something bigger, it snowballs, and you have an opportunity to explore it every time you play.
“Another big thing for RP, of course, is your character. You need to be thinking about what your character would do in each situation. Some people like to make long and detailed backstories for their character, to really get a feel for the character and what their RP looks like. That’s one fine approach, but I go more onto the opposite side of that. My characters don’t really have a defined backstory going into the round. Instead I try to build my backstory as the round goes on and what would be the most interesting. I think it works best with my synth Willard. He has a general overarching idea of “works with animals” but in every round it can take on a completely different form. Maybe one round he has a cat with him that he takes care of, and talks about his experience working as a pet sitter for high up corporate board members. Then in another round while talking to researchers, he recalls his time working with a research team studying an unexplored exoplanet’s exotic fauna. It depends entirely on the situations the round has brought me, and what I’ve decided would be the most interesting.”
Another compelling point, I kind of already addressed it in my last response to your second point, but it really goes to show seperating yourself from your character, and letting your character breathe and have different opinions and thoughts and behaviors then your own OOC ones, is really one of the core keys to playing an actor in the saga of CM vs acting like its Counter Strike or Fortnite or w/e where you’re just you in real life with the ability to communicate.
"Those are the three big things I think you need in order to approach every encounter you find in CM. The tone, your character, and your improvisation. If you have these, you should be able to adeptly move through whatever curveballs you get thrown. You don’t have to be perfect, and don’t get too scared off by any of this. You just gotta play off whatever you think feels natural in the moment. Maybe you say something in the moment and then think “that was kind of stupid,” that’s fine, it’s bound to happen at some point to everyone, just move past it and keep going, either pivot or lean into what you said or did.
One thing I think isn’t utilized nearly enough in RP on CM is actions. In most encounters, you’ll very rarely see a /me used, aside from maybe a nod or blink or something. Get creative with it. Talking is fine, but doing some good emotes can really bring life to the situation. something like looking around erratically to show you’re paranoid, or rolling your eyes. I remember a really funny time when a corpo bodyguard was outside the meeting room as the CL talked with us survivors, and he /me’d action rolling across the room to inspect a potted plant. Shit like that is great and we need to see more of it in CM."
It is very true to say that a little bit of effort goes a long way. Writing an emote, or saying something impactful, or noticing something and engaging on it - it all counts. I think a lot of times players think of roleplay as this big scary thing, and the truth is that it all starts with a tiny bit of effort that inspires the next, and makes people think - hey that guy did it, I liked it, I’m going to do something like that. This is the kind of thing which will actually create change in our roleplay standards in CM, not punishing people as I mentioned before.
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NyoomVoyager
"Honestly, for marines, the easiest place to start is usually where is my character from?
Then, refer to our handy lore pages on the wiki to get a sense for what their place is like in 2182. Then, fill in extra details as needed to make it make sense.
For example: I had an Australian character (BEFORE we agreed on Canberra, okay?!?!). Because Australia wasn’t UA, but TWE was relatively friendly in Neroid patrols, I decided he was a loaner pilot. Voila: I had a set of jobs I could play him as readily, a style of expressions, and he was Top Gun Tom Cruise For Real so he was Like That.
And then people in Discord agreed blowing up Canberra was canon and that was too weird to work around so I deleted his slot byeeeeee.
It can be less “special”, though; I also played an Alaskan and that helped flesh out his traits and usual jobs: self-sufficient, steely, genial but not exactly nice. A good candidate for RO!
I’m also of the belief that being 1:1 to lore isn’t required. That’s for HRP and who really cares. My approach is just Practical Advice to Making A Good Effort.
In short terms, as with good characters in any media, ask:
Who are they?
What do they want?
Everything else comes from there.
Also I think this covers the full gambit of areas well enough. Sometimes all your dude really does want is to make it out alive and that gives you the room to focus on TDM stuff when it’s time to be up front."
I think this is solid advice; even from the character creation menu in game you’re prompted to pick an Origin. I feel like the best place to start, when designing a character, is from the very menu we literally make them and this advice you gave hits it right on the head. I also agree, lore purity is not something I think we need to stress too much - if its really a problem it can be addressed, but in general - it should be encouraged people get creative. The world of 2182 is a big place, it is wide and far, it is something not everyone knows the truth about everything. There should always be a some kind of wiggle room, because truth is stranger than fiction, and details can get muddled through cryosleep. Having a bit of levity, and focusing on the real meat of things - having some depth, having a range of ability to express your character in short and long ways or superificially and deep ways is what I think is important.
Your two questions are very poignant, because the first one concerns identity, and the second one defines their motivations. I think once these things are nailed down, everything is just like the hypothesis being tested against the experiment of every round we play as that character.
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Al-1ce
"To be honest, grasping at what exactly makes the “soul” of roleplay is kind of a monumental task. And at the end of the day, it’s different for everybody.
If I could put it simply, I’d say that “playing a character” is really all about learning how to fit yourself into somebody else’s shoes.
Somebody else’s upbringing, their worldview, motivations, ask yourself: “What makes them happy?” , “What do they strive for?” or “How would they react to this differently from me?” it might take some effort and a couple notes, but with a good amount of practice you can draw a line in the sand between yourself, and the character that you want to play as.
In essence, I would say quality roleplay is about sticking to your guns: the morals and personality of the character you play. Even to a fault! Nobody is perfect.
You might break down in stressful situations, you might get angry, you might even lose hope. You’re human. That’s okay! That’s part of the atmosphere. It’s raw, it’s realistic, and it conveys more emotion than the typical “UNGA” charging to their death heroically. Not that we don’t need those types either, we do! But you can be adaptable about it.
You need to be contemplative, sometimes even creative, and willing to explore new themes and ideas you normally wouldn’t. People are different in ways that modern science still doesn’t have a solid grasp on, let alone by 2182 standards. Much of what makes great roleplay is purely the spontaneous mixing of different ‘flavors’ of people and psyches blending together, reacting to different situations.
At the fundamental level, roleplay is about incorporating parts of yourself into somebody else. Not self-inserting, but taking aspects of your experiences and bringing them to life. Trying and splicing together different ideas and personalities into something that eventually comes to resemble another person. Not a John Marine, but somebody who has friends, family, & memories of their own. Roleplay has more to do with storytelling and on-the-fly narrative than anything else. And nothing beats practice.
Try to remember that everyone you see is somebody else behind the screen. Be civil, be creative, and don’t be afraid to experiment. We’re all here for fun at the end of the day."
I really love whats written here because it speaks to a universal truth of roleplaying; you’re not playing yourself in the universe, you’re playing a character, an actor. OOC/IC seperation is incredibly important in RolePlay and being able to draw the line in the sand between what you believe and what your character believes, is absolutely critical. All of our characters - inescapably - have a part of ourselves OOCly within them, that is undeniable and honestly a thread that helps tie the uniqueness of us as players to the characters we play - it shouldnt necessarily be shunned and belittled.
But there is a difference between that, and playing one single character and only that character, and that characters personality is CM-tinted reflection of your own. I know you didnt touch on it, but I think its very very important for players to have a range of characters - they can still have a static - but having alternative characters to experiment with ideas and different playstyles and attitudes is very important for having the relationship you’re talking about with the game that is healthy and consistent with a more realistic environment. And just to be clear, I dont want anyone with bad faith to assume I’m suggesting we force anything, this is about encouragement.
It all boils down to, you are playing a character in a game - but that character is supposed to be a real human, not a videogame person who has no conception of consequences, or empathy, or anything like that for their environment. Additionally, when people play one character and hyperfocus on them, and make them a self insert they always take things more personally - I know this from experience, after managing a wide range of roleplaying communities over half a decade. Players that can’t get the IC/OOC seperation down blur the lines between fantasy and reality, and it makes it very difficult for them to recieve criticism because its not percieved as a flaw in the fictional character but in their OOC selves.
It really is so important to try to encourage our fellow players to branch out, have some characters that are strict rule following dignitaries and other characters who are scions of chaos and temperment. I certainly have officers who are strict as hell and very focused on efficiency, and then I have characters who are wild and crazy and will go to great lengths to do silly things. Being able to have a difference between your characters, to let them fail forward, to let them be themselves for better or worse - that’s what it’s about in the end.
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Annie
"Role-play is always going to be a two way street, if people see you role-playing they are going to join in.
The key to characters, and the advise I give to synth apps too, is the rule of three + theme.
Find a theme for your Character, take my Synth - Grace. She’s a Geologist and made specifically to handle both harsh environments and people.
well, what traits would a synth need in this example? - well, lets break her down further.
To her three traits.
Cunning, Curious and Casual.
Why these traits? well simply put, a researcher is always going to be curious about the world around them, Cunning because she needs to be quick thinking, even if it leads to a bit of sass, and casual - because having a synth panic, and scream all the time when dealing with life or death, only creates further panic.
As to how I engage with others? - simple, I say hello. The first step to all RP, is to have a hook for another player to chew on, - improve. Give that other player the “yes and..” to build from."
While very brief and simple, I think you bring up an important point that I’ve often expressed in the past. If you’re looking for RP in CM, you need only to seek it. You may not strike gold at every opportunity, but if you keep mining away at it and explore - you will find your diamond in the rough.
The three traits is a great way to easily conceptualize what your character is about; its simple, its poignant, it gives you a basis to work off of that you can play with as each round starts and ends. And just as you say, all it really takes is a little bit of initiative to test the waters, and you’d be surprised what you find.
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BasilHerb
“To be honest, the majority of players on CM can genuinely roleplay seriously and do it pretty well, it’s kind of funny how players who typically don’t really put much effort in on PvP suddenly become well-trained, disciplined with (kind of) their own personalities when they’re in PvE.”
I agree, I think a lot of it is latent, I think that a lot of times players - including myself - sometimes get swept away with the PVP aspect, and when they’re given an opportunity to roleplay (green shift, zombies, etc) people take on that opportunity to develop and learn more about their characters.
“I think the general high-paced TDM nature of CM + already lax ‘MRP’ culture just nudges everyone to put less effort in. There’s a few active players who give it their all and RP an actual character 100% detached from their OOC behaviour, but I could count them on two hands or less. The majority mostly just roleplay as some vague grunt who ‘kind of’ follows orders.”
I think theres something to learn from this, and I do think that its unrealistic to expect our players to always be at this high level of expectation. Thankfully the goal of this whole post is just to help raise things a little higher, not achieve some perfect standard.
“Re: xeno roleplay, I think this ship has sailed- xeno RP was always barely existent and nowadays it’s in a complete gutter. There are literally no gameplay mechanics to even uphold xeno RP, you can’t pick things up or interact with your environment- Most people don’t even bother using xeno terms (since it’s not enforced anymore).”
You have to understand that there is a great complexity to Xeno RP that is not realized and understood; roleplaying as a Xeno is not like roleplaying as a human. Humans are tool users, they are people of science and thought, they are diverse and cultured.
Xenomorphs are biological superweapons, they’re creepy, they’re insistent, they’re terrifying space monsters with no capacity for technology like humans do - so it makes sense they cant pick things up. That doesnt mean we throw out the baby with the bathwater. Have a little hope, and have an open mind to others who talk about Xeno RolePlay, because I know there is something beautiful (maybe not the best choice of words) out there in the Xeno commnity and I hope we have people come out and talk about it to get rid of this misconception.
"Re: human roleplay, I think going from a bottom->top approach is best, as Nyoom said it’s easier to start broad and think about finer details later.
For example:
X was born on a (mostly) loyal UA frontier colony on the rim, they were raised in a family of colonial marshalls.
CLF forces had a brief surge in activity on the colony after being established shortly after the Slaughter of Xibou which led to a number of relatives and friends being killed. The UPP covertly supplied weapons to the CLF.
X signed up for the USCM a few years afterwards from a combination between their personal vendetta and a desire to protect the UA and its loyalist colonial population from the CLF, as well as UPP influence.
From these 3 starter sentences, you can then make some inferences as to how someone might act if they had this background:
X prides themselves on the ‘colonial spirit’ (a common theme in frontier colonisation), which emphasises self-reliance (play down your injuries, hesitance to get medical attention, don’t make trouble for others) and standing up for your own (strong camaraderie, go through hell to save your buddies).
X’s brief stint as a marshal as well as their parents instilled a strong sense of respect for the law (don’t break ML, intervene as fun-police whenever a fellow marine does a minor crime), and thus X is always a goodie-two-shoes when it comes to authority (follows any order that isn’t blatantly a symptom of dementia, always addresses superiors respectfully with a sir or ma’am. Salutes frequently and doesn’t make unnecessary small-talk.)
X really doesn’t like the CLF or UPP.
There’s certainly more things you could think of, but in most situations you’d now have a ‘basic idea’ of how your CHARACTER (not you) would react in most situations in CM.
Would you be a piece of shit for ratting people out when they break windows? Yes. Would it be good roleplay? Also yes. Is this character necessarily interesting? Maybe not, but it’s just a quick example for demonstration purposes anyway.
It’s very rare anyone will actually ask about your character much (and when they do, it’s a one time thing), so most roleplay will manifest more in how your character talks and how they interact with situations.
Hence, most memorable characters will usually incorporate some kind of ‘quirk’ to their speech, like your average texan cowboy, or some infuriatingly shy person or something."
I like it, its very simple, it identifies origin, identiy, motivation - a whole bunch of factors that are straightforward, but very impactful. As you play round after round, details start to cumulate and change after some experiences. I also tend to think of my characters on some sliding scales, such as how closely they stick to the IC rules, how nice or mean they are to others, how slow and thoughtful vs quick and impulsive they are, and so on. So all in all, great input here!
“Or you could be a gigachad and effectively self-insert yourself like everyone else.”
If we could get people on CM to grow up from their self-insert phases, I think we’ve made progress. A lofty goal, but something I’m hoping we get around to.
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QueenBopTheFirst
“I talk about etiquette briefly in my Guide to Xenos and gave some of my own witty and strange ideas that I find fun roleplaying as a xeno but at the end of the day most people are just gonna have fun the way they like to type. Its already a difficult game, incorporating the requirement/skill to type 1000+ words a minute is detrimental to the casual player base. I think LRP is mostly unacceptable, it use to be worse. Way. Worse. MRP should be fun and zany. However the reality is the server is carried by HRP veterans and that is why I think the server works. I think at the heart of MRP in most situations is just Improv especially so for Xenos. Xeno RP is probably the most free RP in the RP space on the server. From complete obedient and good teamworking Drones. To the most infamous Lurker or Warrior who rarely utter words. All of which in character would honestly be pretty mute.”
I think you make a great point about how CM RP works, its a mix of different styles with a clear expectation that you shouldnt break the fourth wall - but there’s wiggle room to play around with things, have fun and explore. By far the best explanation of Xeno RP.
“Tl;Dr I agree Improv is KEY to any CM Roleplay. Marines are easier in the way you have plenty of self referential material and even lore or history you could incorporate if you like reading fiction. Xenomorphs are strange in that the improv is all Queen based and way more direct almost formal sometimes. Kind of a mixed bag and open to interpretation. Top Down RP enforcement & leading by example of HRP players COs Synths any of the WLs and even the Xenomorph Queen make the server work.”
I completely agree, and would even go farther; anyone in leadership should have the ability to roleplay down, and for instance if on marine side you are turned to aSL or on xeno side you become a xeno leader - its time to shift gears and lead through roleplay. The higher up the chain, the higher the roleplay expectations are though that doesnt mean they have to be paragraphs and super thick - it just means you have to communicate, engage and make an effort.
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MrMoon
"Probably the only reason I stuck around for CM was because 1, it was clear what needed to be done, and 2, I wasn’t getting banned day 1 because half of the expectations are just common sense, if i were forced to read an entire wiki on how my character should act rather than just imprinting myself onto a character to start with i would have probably walked out the door and not looked back
Most importantly, its a game, having a couple silly moments isnt a bad thing, (not to say being a shitter is fine as its not) i would say having a funny moment with a friend is the only reason why cm is still around, going forward with flat out increasing all RP standards overall will just alienate a large amount of the player base because they are now forced into being someone they either dont know how to properly act as, or dont want to be with the threat of punishments if they dont play along properly
If i interpreted it wrong then my bad but it does sound like youre pushing for an overall increase in standards which although a good thing on paper, i doubt it will be in practice"
You’re pretty much just starting from a place of bad faith, and not reading what I wrote in my initial message. No to having to be forced to read an entire wiki on how a character should act, no to eliminating funny moments, no to threatening punishments if they dont play along properly. This is about inspiring and encouraging, and harnessing the universal truthisms of CM RP so we can figure out how we can better increase our standards organically.
The best way to do that is lead by example, and to create optional reference guides that make it easy for people who are interested in learning more. If we have the older players take the mantle and start putting a little more effort and showing that, and then we have guides we can point to for new/not very good roleplayers to digest and figure out their own unique way of doing it, then it will get us on the right road to a better place. I genuinely think you have something valuable to say, so please feel free to post again and take a moment to slow down and read things.
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Ingwe
“Oh you’re still here huh? RP and all, imo some people playing this game don’t really care about rp but want the action side of things. I used to think it’s better to increase the rp level but then it means forcing people who can’t or don’t want to rp to do it. And yes it’s bad for a community to copy paste some generic behaviors. Like a wise man said, if you want rp, go play shipside.”
Honestly was expecting a lot more from you, this is a trash take. Plenty of people care about the RP, we’re also here for the action and those things can co-exist. No one here is saying anything about forcing people to do anything. Telling people to go play shipside to find RP is not really conductive to the discussion we’re having, I mean yeah you will find more RP up there because you’re not in combat and can write more - but that doesnt mean ignore roleplay groundside, its just different, its quicker, its more focused on the fact you’re in a warzone which is totally okay. If you can, please try again? I think you’d have some more insightful things to say, Ingwe.
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NyoomVoyager
"One more for me that I forgot I do and think is funny but a good incremental way to set up part of “who your character is” (no one will really notice, this is just for you): pick out what their favorite meal is so when you wake up in prep, you get that from the vendor! Minor in the scheme of things but can be kind of funny and a good sort of “action” cue for you to start your “okay, now I’m going to think about what this person would do in this scenario”.
EG; I have a vegan so I only eat tofu and chunk bars; I have a southern guy that would only like the chicken and biscuits tray. One thousand little actions eventually make a sort of “aura” you want your person to embody. Food is telling of people."
Yeah, I completely agree, this is a simple and straightforward way to help build more context for your character. Another example is I have a Muslim character who is careful not to eat pork or drink alcohol.
“Also I would encourage people who want to do more that if they’re really lost on cementing a story or a vibe, they should spend some time in the character loadout just looking at all the doodads; I find you can craft a compelling little story from those. You can then build out extra “yes and” reasons from simple decisions. My vegan is hyper-religious so I will also play medical roles and take the rosary in character loadout. My southerner loves his family-style food because it reminds him of his family, and he also has a family photo from the loadout. I find that those little steps then help steer the rest of “what do I sound like/act like”.”
I completely agree; the character creation screen is an amazing place to really start defining your character and getting the basic concepts down, perfectly said and good examples!
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AwkwardStereo
"There’s a lot of power in the smallest moments.
An SO sends a message to you via overwatch during a communications blackout: “RUN NORTH. THEY ARE COMING FOR YOU.”
The synth you are marooned on the planet with reads you your statistical likelihood of survival. It’s low. Very low.
Your superiors have a plan that you have no faith will work. You say “Yes sir” anyway, while quietly making plans for when things go tits up.
A band of survivors are rescued and take stock of who is left. They all realize one of them isn’t there anymore, and nobody knows how or when.
You are cornered with xenos tearing down the walls around you and all you can hear is their hissing and roaring.
You’re trying to overcome the bar of people who know they will be engaged with a certain thing with the uncertainty of the level of engagement they’ll get from interacting with you. The larger the story you are trying to tell, the higher the bar that you have to overcome. That bar for some people is higher or lower, and can be further modified by how well they know you or what they know of you (or their characters). It’s a general rule of thumb for me that I try to engage with people who are trying to RP with me, but I’m only doing that to be polite. I have been pleasantly surprised with this rule.
also i think roleplay would be in a better place if more people perma’d (you can cut my head off ingame and i will never ahelp it)"
I really like what was said here, it goes to show that the roleplay is inescapable, its all around you when you hop onto play. Each time you jump in the game, there is a story being told and we’re the actors within it. It doesnt have to be what we traditionally understand as roleplay on these fancy-smancy HRP servers, its baked into the game and reality when you play.
Being immersed in the play space, responding as if you’re actually there, committing to your role especially when leadership is concerned, having a sense of survival and mortality - these are basic concepts we all understand and can show through the game with roleplay, even if its brief - its still something, and thats better than nothing.
I kind of get it with the perma thing, I dont think thats in the cards. On other servers I’ve managed, we used to think perma-ing/removing resuscitation would magically fix things, and it did not. So, take it with a grain of salt, that was a completely different server and this is CM. It’s one of those things that works in theory on paper but in play is generally not effective, especially here where you can’t respawn as a new character after you die.
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Up2Something
“If I could do anything to help new players catch up, it would probably be make Operation Tychon Tackle easier to find. It is probably the most important piece of homebrew server lore for marines, and took me years for someone to link.”
It would probably be a good idea to go through all the homebrew lore we have on the wiki and make a guide for it, so anyone who is interested in learning about specific things can go through the guide and pick and choose what they find relevant. Nice contribution!
"I also think xeno might be lacking a core guide to RP expectations. For example, I’ve three different head-cannons on how the Hivemind works.
Ala Tyranids, where xenos have free will or base instincts overwritten by the Queen’s mind.
A shared pool of consciousnesses, known as “D-Chat”, which simply inhabit xeno bodies, returning to the hivemind on death, and ruled by the Queen while in earthly forms.
A single consciousness, implied to be the Queens, where every xeno has no will and is one mind, preforming actions in tandem.
Everyone knows how to be human, if not be a marine, which makes RPing a lot easier. But not everyone is on the same page on how to be a xenomorph, or how smart a lone xenomorph is. Some form of lore-bible would be huge for them, especially when xenos strength and attributes vary wildly between established canon media, not to mention our own exceptionally different variant used in CM."
Honestly, the way I could see it is a gestalt amalgamation of these three things - though, before QueenBopTheFirst really nails it. Xenos, individually have their own unique cocneption, however they’re a part of a hivemind tailored and obedient to the Queen - whom areunique in their own way as well. I agree more guidance would be awesome, so, its worth looking into that guide QueenBopTheFirst mentioned.
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RainbowStalin
"When it comes to xeno hivemind theories, i personally like the “schitzoid” one. Where the queen is the main brain across the entire xeno hive, but to make the hive function better, it gives each xeno their own personality, even though its just another personality inside their brain. So when xenoes are talking in hivechat, they are talking where they are located, but when talking and moving normaly, they are essentially the queens personality moving them like a puppet.
And this all becomes even more complicated when you factor in that Queen Mother is doing this for all the queens as well, on a much larger galactic scale."
This is very well said, and a pungent point about how there is a greater force beyond the Queen player with the Queen Mother. It really helps define the scale of the situation, and how everything compartamentalizes down from the top.
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QueenBopTheFirst
“Number 3 is how typically envision it but RainbowStalin “schizoid” theory actually works right into it. The Queen is the sentient one. She is an alien intelligence of unprecedented and undefined ability. So I typically internalize most of the xenomorphs in my hive and their quirks as part of myself/QueenBop. Which is how I believe it’s really dependent on the Queen. These might be my own understanding but I will list a few different personalities I’ve seen as Queen and how operating in their hive works. WAR expect little to no personality as she(the player) exudes it as a Queen with obedience being a core tenant. SO expect some personality but only in line with her(the player) own ideas. III expects quirky xenomorphs while towing a particularly loyal(different from obedience) to the hive cause. BOP expect a free hive similar to quirky however relies on loyalty rather than obedience(being obedience Queen is difficult). I could go on with these diluted generalizations but it doesn’t bare repeating. The Xenomorphs are an extension of the Queen. Enforcing these standards are all based on the performance, notoriety, and communication skills/social norms the Queen wants. Typically results in banishing if you aren’t towing the line. It can be construed as grief or not following the rules. This is just my opinion on it.”
Yeah, this definitely makes more sense - scratch what I said about obedience in my reply to Up2Something. There is wiggle room, variability and nuance to Xeno RP that I think a lot of people sleep on, and I think this is an important part of understanding it.
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eluxor
"This is why my Zerker ravager is always angry.
I dont know if a lot of people notice, but my Xeno (ARG) is a roleplay persona, its their own character. ARG will always call a xeno shit, they will always respond the same way, it’s always the other’s fault and they will ragebait anyone, from marine to xeno.
I am a pretty chill guy, but that’s the way to Roleplay as xeno. There are xenos that are always nice and chill.
BUT THEN THERES ARG CALLING YOU SHIT!!!"
I think there is substance to this; it goes to show that its still possible to be loyal to the Queen, but also have your own personality as a Xeno. It isnt just defined by temperment, but by priorities. It’s good to have variation and to feel that your Xeno character has a way of doing things that is not necessarily reflective of how you feel OOCly, just like with human roles.
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SubjectD9341
“Bro I literally got noted recently because I taunted a marine as xeno by pointing at the splints that I caused earlier in the round (I believe they quickly ahelped after this, awesome). It sadly seems that the only way admins want yo to RP a xenos is basically being NRP. Some people have called it justified by saying xenos should have no emotions but I disagree.”
I dont really know the specifics of that situation, but I do enjoy the cross-communication with pointing - though maybe it got too far here. Though I think that just because you got a note for pointing at splints doesnt mean admins want no roleplay for xenos. Its tough because personally, I think what you did was pretty cool - and it goes to show us staff aren’t a hivemind. I dont really think it has anything to do with emotions as much as it is with cross-communication, but, I digress: nothing I can do on this side unfortunately, other than try to get something going here.
"Personally I’m the opinion of making xenos all puppets to the queen is kind of boring and uninspired, you don’t need some "radio controlled” hive mind theory to explain why smaller castes will selflessly give away their lives to the queen when basic eusociality just explains it perfectly. Furthermore, xenomorphs have a much more complex nervous system and brain with a large degree of encephalization than the IRL insects people compare them to. While insects do not possess emotional intelligence this is due to physical restraints (size, oxygen - respiratory limitiations) that are absent in xenomorphs.
Between all different theories and head-canons given just now, I prefer RainbowStalin’s the best, but I still find the “The queen is actually the main brain and kinda puppets every other xeno but decides to give them personality” a bit silly."
I think thats fairly consistent with the consensus that’s been discussed here, there’s some wiggle room. Because when there is no Queen, its not like the Xenos drop brain dead - they just lose that attachment which binds them all together as a unit, they lose a part of their personality but not the whole thing in a sense. I’m not sure. I am a marine main, so, I’d rather Xeno mains discuss this (like how Stalin, Itus and Basil responded under your post) - I’m just trying to digest the thoughts.
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So with that said, all in all, great discussion so far! Hope my input is helpful here, I tried to get to everyones post. This is not like, a staff-coordinated thing. This is me as a player coming to you as a player. I’m not claiming to have any more power than anyone else here, and I speak for myself not for everyone on staff.
I highly encourage you guys to keep this going, and I will respond to the next batch of responses. There is still a lot of ground to cover but so far so good, we got a lot of great discussion for Human and Xeno side going - there’s still much more to go over, but we should respect the game and our hobby by taking our time with it.
Once again, please encourage your friends to give their 2 cents. The more eyes and mouths on this, the better!
Oooooo me me me me again
To ARG’s point: I actually LOVE well done asshole characters. But particularly for new players, I’d recommend they put in a few rounds as Nice Guy 
people can be very fast to jump and assume that thats the way you REALLY are. It may be easier to start as a nice personality and establish even just for 5 rounds an RP quality. Then, you can pivot to being MEAN GUY even if it’s the same character. Since you’ve established good RP tenor, people will know more readily that it’s just a character and will even play along. I hate to put brakes on players and their creativity but I’ve seen this happen before and nothing is worse than people permanently disliking you because of a false impression they got.
Not that ARG is wrong, they just reminded me of this piece of advice, as someone else who likes playing asshole characters.
And just like ARG said, make sure the assholeness comes from somewhere. A character who thinks they’re better than anyone else is a good place to start; I do this and it even informs that I make my character older because he’s one of those really experienced guys who knows more than others and they’re just privates who’ve never done a deployment before.
Also ty Marrone, this topic has been really fun. I especially like people’s Xeno input
Well said Fishman.
I mean they are supposedly created by the architects to be what they are, fruits of their advanced technology and knowledge, and the fact that the best we can come up as a species is that ‘they are a bioengineered monster’ because it is how it is presented to us.
Prometheus has its issues, but i’m also pretty sure that it shown the xenos as being the bane of their creators’ own existences.
The thing about xenos being bioengineered to be monsters is very fucking cool and a very nice explanation, but it’s only said ever by human characters. It is not the entire truth.
I’d say xenos are a breed of a dozen or so species who were fused together to be what they are, and talking about what which one of those species were is equally as intresting.
My opinion is very, very, very old, aging back to nearly 4~5 years ago.
But seeing that peoples are saying nothing much are different on the environment side of this community, I think it will still be valid if I mention so.
You peoples - the admin team, cut the neck of the peoples who made some environment that was forming some form of silliness. Not just that, there were massive execution on targeted group(s), either happened in a random day which escalated from certain event or it’s been a preplanned execution. Or both.
Simple slip, you’re noted. Banned for a day or few hours. Don’t think that making a thick layer of sugar on the ticket changes this - It happened, and you are warned however the approach has taken. When the other admin takes a reference of the note, they will positively take that note as an excuse to execute the person.
Which part was a slip? Single thing in between rules and SOP that you must muscle memory and inscribe onto your brain, or else.
How did it became a slip? On cold blooded, cold headed, computer-calculated behavior you should’ve taken. But instead, you took a ‘common sense.’ You should be emotionless instead of being hot-boiled.
Of course you shouldn’t go “Hey, you pushed me few times? I should shoot you.” This is really off-the-course behavior and way too extreme. But the admin team treats every cases like they’re treating extreme cases when there were a buildup towards the climax since the start of the round.
Silliness is also a form of RP. When I left the server for half a decade, it was more hostile and stiff than an actual military. Now most COs are just an AI that gives orders with copy-paste tactics, daring not to modify the SoP by the slightest besides ship side deconstruction, constantly worried they’ll be warned or even get their whitelist revoked.
Then there are Marine/Xeno Major/Minor. “Your team won/lost.” It’s also a PvP. This genre generates a ton of enriched salt to begin with.
You, as a marine, are nothing when it comes with gunfight; unless you’re robust enough, juggling the gun every morning then juggle the dead xeno’s corpse on the afternoon with that gun you juggled earlier. On a perspective of the Xenomorph’s, one capture matters quite a lot. It obviously makes sense that the xenomorph will capture the marine who wants to RP just for the xenomorph to win. It’s free real estate if someone doesn’t shoot the gun but try to RP to the xenos.
RPing on top of the dead corpse? My teabag and mag dumping on the dead corpse is nothing but pure salt crystal. It maybe is an RP but it’s generally treated as toxic behavior in multi dozen games.
Toxicity level just rise and rise due to such environment.
Merge the main issues I have brought up all together. Frustration will rise because winning and losing matters. You get upset at some point, ending up lashing. Either because someone was being silly, or didn’t followed the tactics. Or you were being silly and someone got frustrated because you botched the win by distracting them or/and the team. Ta-da, you got noted or banned. It chains all together.
These are the matter I had a serious distaste on the CM on the admin/mod team wise back 5 years ago, and it only got worse since 8 years ago, downhill. Again, I don’t know how much have changed since, but seeing peoples encourages me to head to CM PvE instead these days if I miss the old time environment tells it didn’t improved.
”Improving RPs by adding the book” are impossible from my point of view, because that behavior of the admin team’s approach are like that. That guidebook that is made will just be another book they can add as a reason to choke the player’s neck. Win/Loss matter as well, some players taking it real serious, so in this environment? No. I don’t think think adding a new book is going to improve at all.
Devoid all these RP aspects to even grow by own’s hands then wishing it to come back, that is just greed.
Hey Mick how you been, it’s been like 7 years since you came to my godfather’s wedding and saved me from that gang of Italian oxycodone addicts armed with steak knives, I honestly can’t believe you exposed yourself to actually be wearing high heels to obscure the fact you’re 5’ 3 and also below average (don’t worry, it’s how you use it) during the wedding, how’s the 8 kids and 2 wives going by the way
Can you do a tl;dr? Sorry but too much for my marine brain to absorb.
Is this a Godfather Part II fan fiction?
I did not care for the Godfather
To elaborate: it insists upon itself
Coming back to this, i have been contacted by admins multiple times now for stuff that happened IC, isnt an OOC rulebreak, and can be handled ICly, my only question is why is this the case, i shouldnt be getting admin PMd because i destroyed a door chasing a drone shipside ever, even if i got no punishment lmao
The only danger to RP right now is people forcing everything to be an OOC issue