Fighting fair

It's easy to get carried away in role-playing combat, but there are a few things that, if you remember them, can help keep your own zeal for battle in check, and keep things fair and level for everyone.

Your character isn't as special as you think it is

You worked hard on your character. You took a lot of time mapping out its personality, its capabilities, its appearance, its style, maybe even its art. It's progressed and developed over time. It's awesome at what it does, has blazing wit, incredible speed and reflexes, or power, or sheer toughness, or maybe even all of the above, and an attitude to match. It's a pretty damn cool character, and you're going to give it your all to show everyone else that. Those other ill-conceived, cocky slimes of characters you've been pitted against don't know what they're in for.

Except that's exactly how everyone else feels.

Your character isn't perfect. A world champion boxer gets punched in the nose numerous times in a match; gold medal track runners don't win every race; renowned writers crumple up more worthless pages than they publish. Your character can, will, and should make mistakes. Deal with it. Your character's not that special.

Your character's attacks are not always executed perfectly

Your description of the maneuver is flawless. The 520 diving white swallow crescent reverse roundhouse is displayed in all its immaculate grace and glory. There's no way it can miss.

Except characters don't do everything perfectly--Not even yours. Don't put too much into every attack, or pretty soon, people won't respect any of them. Simple attacks have their place, too.

Your character will get hit

And those hits will be from simple attacks, too. That's right--A jab from opponent you're fully expecting to attack can hit, and probably should. Just because your foe's attack phrasing doesn't artfully trap you in a mire of pain and suffering you cannot possibly avoid doesn't mean you should downplay and avert every simple punch or kick thrown your way as if it's infantile struggling.

Take some simple hits, already. It won't kill your character, and it'll make people less inclined to try to trap your character in a bitter deathblow.

It will probably hurt

But now, look--You've gotten caught in one of those big, well-thought-out attacks. Your opponent did pretty damned good, and you really have to think hard to weasel out of getting hurt by it.

Stop trying to weasel out of it. Your character doesn't have time to stop and think about a way to avoid what's flying at its face, bound to hit in a fraction of a second. If you have to stop and ponder it at length, the chances are that your character would have to, also.

Take the damned hit and actually get hurt by it. Your character will recover, and probably quickly, too--This is even facilitated by several in-character technologies we've introduced just for this reason.

You will lose

So, you've had a long, hard battle, and you've taken hits, and been helplessly thrashed against the ropes. The other guy's been doing good, and you're having to struggle to think of how to keep going--How to turn the fight around, how to save face, how to not lose.

But you're going to lose once in a while. The only question is whether it'll be after a bitter, drawn-out conflict full of whiffs, half-taken blows, and arguing narrative, or concise, dynamic action that makes your character still look good even while losing.

Yes, you're going to earn some "street cred" for losing once in a while, and playing it well, without being a whiner. People will respect your character for what he's been through. He's been baptized in battle by fire, and hammered to a fierce, razor-sharp edge by the bruises he's received. He's taken hits, and soon, it'll be his turn to dish them out.

This applies to all of us

New member, veteran, or admin, we all need to be fair, and not elevate our characters higher than we ought. Sure, there are always special times--Those times when a character is in a story-crucial position where it just has to win in order for the storyline to not be screwed up, for instance. In those cases, give it your all, and just try to be considerate of others along the way. And, it's also true that seniority has heavy bearing on characters themselves--A character that's been in the story a long time will have more experience, development, and a reputation that may make it seem unapproachable by a new character straight off the benches. Just don't let it go to your head. Remember that every character you fight has a real person very immediately behind it, and treat others the way you'd want to be treated.

... while trying to beat the crap out of them.

Hey. It is combat.