Writing an Effective RP Flag

This is a guide on how to write an effective flag, or character description, for your roleplay profile utilizing a third-party addon such as FlagRSP or MyRolePlay.

=The Basics=

What a Flag Is
An RP flag is a description of what someone else can tell about your character by observing them briefly (two minutes or less), without talking to them, that is not represented by their in-game avatar. Information that could be provided in a flag includes:


 * Missing (or extra) eyes, ears or limbs


 * Unrepresented hair/eye colors/styles


 * Unusual body types (fat elves, skinny dwarves, tall gnomes)


 * Appearance of another race (taunka, high elves, etc.)


 * Scars, tattoos, piercings


 * Pervasive odors


 * Persistent behavior/mannerisms (twitches, limps, etc.)


 * 2nd-3rd trimester (i.e. visible) pregnancy


 * Visible equipment/accessories (backpacks, weaponry not represented by actual items, obvious jewelry)

What a Flag Is Not
Your flag is not your character history. Some addons provide additional space/tabs for your character history, but the Appearance section should be restricted to appearance.

Your flag is not a description of any aspects of your character’s personality that are not immediately evident on seeing them. Say your character is the archetypical harlot with a heart of gold – your flag should focus on the harlot part rather than the heart, because people viewing your character are going to see her skanky skirts and stiletto heels, not her love of kittens and sunsets.

Your flag cannot tell anyone else how they feel about your character or should/must react to them.

Your flag is not a substitute for actual character interaction or personal development.

Do You Need a Flag?
No. You can roleplay perfectly fine with or without one. All you really need to roleplay is your character, your typing fingers and your imagination.

Does this mean you can’t/shouldn’t write one? Not at all. If it would enhance your experience, do it.

At its best, a flag assists roleplay by reducing the frequency with which you have to /whisper another player or repeatedly make awkwardly-phrased descriptive emotes (or even more awkard ((OOC)) statements) to give people you roleplay with/pass by information that their character should already know just by having senses, avoiding confusion due to errors of assumption down the road. For example: writing in your flag that your character is missing both his eyes means that other characters are less likely to be caught off guard by his inability to see.

=Considerations When Writing Your Flag=

Your RP flag is your space to go wild with creativity, and you should write your description the way you want it for your character. Any of these rules can and may be effectively broken as beeded, but they provide good guidelines to start.

Less Is More
You may be the best writer in the world, but when you meet people upon the streets of Orgrimmar or Stormwind you want them to be roleplaying with you, not distracted with reading your magnum opus on the state of your character's fingernails. A good description gives your RP partner the information they need to paint a mental picture of your character, and get them back into RP quickly.

To accomplish this goal, try to focus on the aspects of your character's appearance that would first strike a stranger, and be remembered after they depart. Think of how a friend might describe them, if they were not there for immediate reference. For some people, fingernails might be a very important detail -- glossy with fine care and little wear, grimy and broken from hard work, practically nubs due to nervous biting -- but for many they're just there, and description of completely average fingernails may be omitted in favor of highlighting the more compelling details of your character.

Ultimately you want to describe your character fully, but succinctly. If you cannot squeeze all the loving detail you want into your flag effectively, consider writing a summary and including a link to your character's wiki page.

Show, Don't Tell
The best RP flags paint a picture with their words. Instead of saying "Ragnar suffers from an old war wound", try describing his awkward limp. Instead of "Seraline has a scar on her face," detail the fine, thin pale line that starts on her forehead, parting her right eyebrow and continuing down her cheek. Don't simply say that your character is married (and certainly do not say to whom, unless they are wearing a sandwich board declaring them to be PROPERTY OF SPOUSE)! Instead mention the golden band on your character's left hand, and let the character's actions and words give the clues away to an interested party.

Again, your objective is to give a prospective RP partner the information they need to get into detailed and interesting roleplay with your character quickly and easily. Lists of facts must be memorized, but mental pictures are more easily retained.

Use the Right Words
Your character's hair might be black -- or it might be raven, sable, midnight, or charcoal. Her lips might be red, crimson, vermillion, burgundy, wine, rose, claret, sanguine, scarlet. Finding the right word to describe your character's features can help bring the character's image to more vivid life. If you find yourself using mundane words throughout -- especially if you find yourself using the same words over and over -- consult a thesaurus for some synonyms, and see if another word might fit better.

That said: don't overdo it. The right word, the best word, isn’t always the longest or most obscure word. You're painting a picture, not teaching a vocabulary-enrichment course; the language you use should enhance RP, not bog it down. Try reading your flag out loud, and if you catch yourself becoming tongue-tied or tripping over words, go back and simplify it.

Also -- if you're not absolutely certain what a word means, save yourself the possibility of embarassment by looking it up or using another word.

Keep Your Secrets Secret
Unless your characters are actually running around the city in their birthday suits, there's really no reason to describe the tattoos they have in their delicate regions. Save that for when they get back to the bedroom.

There's also no reason to describe anything that your character takes pains to conceal. If your character is a dragon, but never goes about looking breathing fire, spreading wings or doing other dragon things -- if to all appearances your character is a normal mortal -- why even mention it? Give clues that your character is hiding something if you want -- the dark glasses she always wears, the long heavy coat he is never seen without, the gloves she never removes. But let your characters' secrets be secret! It's more fun in the long run.

Similarly, do not put anything in your flag that you do not want random passers-by to know out-of-character. While any information not gained through character interaction is technically OOC information and shouldn't be used in-character, it's easier for people not to metagame if they do not have the information right in front of them. Even more than that, it's nice to surprise people (and be surprised) once in a while!

As a rule of thumb, if you find yourself describing anything that would be hidden 90% of the time -- or if you are at all tempted to add a note that this information is all OOC and not to be taken in-character -- just don't put it in your flag. Save it for a big reveal at a later date. It will be worth it.

Describe Your Character
Tempting though it may be, do not describe how the viewer's eyes are drawn to your character, how attracted the viewer is to her or how terrified the viewer must be of him. This is godmodding and it is always bad. It is not clever. It is not immersive. Very few people like being told what their character does -- and it's really easy to avoid. Instead of telling the reader how alluring your character is, simply describe an alluring character.  You may even describe how your character draws the eyes of many passers-by -- describe how terrifying they are to random citizens -- and then let the viewer decide if they react as most do, or in some special way of their own. Just let the choice be theirs.

=Final Notes=

This is a guide and although written from a position of experience and the best of intentions it is not the be-all end-all; if you find a way of creating your flag that works better, more power to you. And if you have suggestions that would help others, please feel free to add to this document.

Helpful Links

 * Download FlagRSP at Curse


 * Download MyRolePlay at Curse