IF Etiquette
A lot of people really are confused about what to do after they join an IF (Interactive Fiction) or RPG (which is basically the same thing with a different title). This is just a basic guide to avoid a lot of grief, both for yourself, and the other writers on the list.
For Starters
1. When you are first joining a list, email the list owner, and ask which characters are open (if any) and if you are creating a character, send the profile to the list owner, and wait for it to be approved first. That's just being respectful of the list owner, for one.
2. I highly reccomend catching up on the list archives. All of the IFs I have listed are one ONElist, and most of the archives are viewable to the public. Others are only available to list members..in which case you can read them after you subscribe to the list. This will give you a good idea of what is going on in the story, so that you can choose which characters you want to interact with, and so that you will be aware of some of the more major events.
3. Once you've found who you want to interact with, mention it. Just say that you'd like to introduce your character, blah blah blah. If your character is supposed to have a past with the one you want to interact with...email the character's owner and discuss it FIRST.
Interacting Nicely With Others
1. If you're going to do anything drastic to a character (ie. moving them out of the town they're in, and interrupting whatever they're doing, seriously hurting them)..email the character's owner first. Nobody likes to be away for a day or two, and find their character is incapacitated.
2. You control YOUR character. NPCs can be temporarily controlled by anybody, but characters that have owners are controlled by their owners. So, that basically means that you can have someone else's character do some things to contribute to your own plot..but don't hijack their character on them, and move him/her everywhere. It's very annoying. For an example, I controlled Rufus Shinra (from FF7 for those who don't know who he is) and someone kept moving him around on me, before I could even reply.
3. Don't adopt the "you snooze you lose" mentality on lists. (this is partly related to #2) If it is taking someone a couple of days to reply to your posts, it's not a big deal. They may be like a great many other writers online; involved in several lists. Trying to write for all of their characters in a day is difficult. Furthermore, their internet connection could have expired or been limited...and it's always nice to have a social life, too.
4. Don't criticize how other people write, or what they are doing with their characters, unless you want to be judged yourself, and mercilessly verbally cut up into ribbons.
5. Try to post semi-frequently. (ie. within a few days) If you're prone to disappearing for weeks at a time, an IF list is probably not for you.
