GENERAL TERMS
IRC - Internet Relay Chat. A medium by which people can communicate using text across the internet.
Channel - A "chat room" where you can go to talk to a group of people.
msg - An abbreviation for "message". Any messages given across IRC are private between two people rather than to a channel where anyone in the channel can see.
brb - Stands for "Be Right Back". Used to let people know that the person will be busy for a short while.
afk - Stands for "Away From Keyboard". This means that the person will not be near their computer for a time.
bbs - Stands for "Be Back Soon". Indicates that the person will be gone for a little while. This usually means a bit longer than someone who will "Be Right Back" (brb).
lol - This can mean one of two things generally. The first (and more common use on IRC) seems to be "Laugh Out Loud", indicating that person saying that is amused. (well duh). The second usage generally means "Lots Of Love", most often used when people are saying goodbye.
rofl - Stands for "Rolls On Floor Laughing" A step up in amusement from "lol".
roflmao - this one means "Rolls On Floor Laughing My Arse Off".
op - Someone with operator status. They are marked by a @ symbol next to their name and it means they have some degree of power in a channel to change settings, kick people out and so on. GMs in Arethane are designated by operator status.
:) - indicates a smiley face. Turn your head to the side and look at it...there are several variations.
ROLEPLAY TERMS
RP - This basically stands for Role Play. It refers to a situation of fictional context whereby you portray yourself as someone you are not. It allows you to be whatever you want (within limits of course) as though you were playing a part in a large multi-leveled interactive movie. Eg, you can be anything from a sword wielding elf or orc (for ease of explanation) to a dragon mage (provided you are happy to be scoffed at as a power gamer....see later in the glossary for explanation of that term.)
Character - the fictional person/being that you portray whilst roleplaying.
IC - Stands for In Character. If you are talking "IC" it means you are speaking with the voice and words of your character.
OOC - Out Of Character. This means you are speaking with your OWN voice and not the voice of your character. In a roleplay channel this is often denoted by a set of double parentheses on either side of your statement. eg ((My computer just stuffed up...sorry guys)). This is often frowned upon in a strict RP channel
Strict RP - Usually one might see this in a channel topic. This means that the channel will not accept very much in the way of Out Of Character (OOC) statements. So if you walk in there talking about your latest computer upgrade, expect to be warned, cautioned and/or kicked.
KZ - Kill Zone. Any channel that is designated a KZ is a place where your character can be killed. Some IRC channels are designated NKZ.
NKZ - No Kill Zone. This is another designation for rules of a channel. If the channel is a No Kill Zone (NKZ) no characters are allowed to be killed there. It is against the channel's rules of RP to claim that you have fought and actually killed someone whilst within this channel. These channels often do not have conflicts within them since they are widely thought to be pointless.
FFRP - Free Form RolePlay. This term specifically describes a particular type of RolePlay. That being a game that is designed, run and operated on the go by a group of people playing in a channel or set of channels. Free form meaning that they stick to a certain group of GENERAL rules, but do not have particular statistics (like a number that designates their strength) or specific rules. Roleplay in such a situation is usually free and directed by the imagination of the players.
Rper - Anyone that RolePlays. Being that anyone who has a character in a roleplay environment. Usually used to describe someone that roleplays reasonably often or well.
bot - A bot is a presence on IRC that looks like a character but is actually a kind of program. These "bots" respond to a given set of commands with conditioned reactions. For example there might be a bot in a channel that goes "Something smells funny" any time any person in the channel says the word "beans". Bots are oftened used for combat in some RP scenarios and environments.
Auto-hit - This describes a fighting action whereby a character is attacking another character and ASSUMES to have hit them without the other characters response being considered. eg "*Murdock swings his sword through the air and slices Forcen's guts open like he was splitting a ripe melon." This sort of action is generally frowned upon in RP communities.
Soft Rper - Describes a roleplayer who enjoys roleplay not for the fighting at all, but only for the social interaction. These sorts of players rarely look for conflict or enjoy it at all, but more often than not just enjoy the concept of hanging out in a tavern and speaking with thee's and thou's. ;)
Medium Rper - This is obviously a step above the soft rper in their description. Not to say they are any better at all, only that they enjoy a slightly different sort of RP along the scale. A medium Rper tends to anjoy all facets of RP that they encounter. Fights as well as social interaction interest them. Mostly as part of a whole encompassment of their character.
Hard Rper - Hard Rpers are in it either entirely or very much mostly for the fighting. They love to conduct battles with their characters against other characters and not much else interests them. These sorts of characters often spend most of their time playing with bots or just organising online engineered "wars".
PowerGamer - A powergamer is a roleplayer who's main interest revolves around going on a power trip. They often enjoy portraying characters such as Gods, Ancient Red Dragons or ultimately powerful mages. Characters who never display flaws or weaknesses are powergamers.
Munchkin - Another (derogitory) term for a powergamer.
GM - Game Master, someone designated to help roleplay in a channel flow smoothly.
