Here are a few pointers to make your role-playing experience a better one. These aren't RULES, but they are good guidlines for you to follow as you enter the fun and crazy world of RPG-ing.

Mini-Glossary:
IC: In Character
OOC: Out of Character
RL: Real Life
Keeper/Owner: The person behind the character they're playing.
Post or Update: An entry in your DeadJournal
Storyline: Interaction between two or more BD Characters.

DO:

• Read the rules page before you start playing. It's strongly encouraged, and a good idea.
• Research the person you want to play. Make sure you have at least a basic knowledge of their accomplishments and life. For example, anyone playing Adam Copeland should expect to interact intensively with Jason Reso, since it is well documented that they are lifelong friends. Base your character on as many true facts as you can, not total make believe.
• Read up on the game you're entering, especially if you're adopting an exisiting character. You should try to stick to pre-established storylines, until you and the other players can decide if you're going to stay with the story, or move in a new direction. Ad lib- it's fine to stick with what you know, but add a few extra things in and interact with other members to make things more interesting.
• Read news-sites (wrestling, entertainment, etc.) for the latest goings on for your character.
• Make an effort to talk to other members/be friendly once you're in. It's hard to keep up, but at the very least, try to respond to people's posts/emails/messages when they leave them.
• Make your journal look neat and tidy; try and watch your spelling and typing. F7 in the DJ Client (Spell-check) is your friend.
• LOCK posts that may be of an explicit nature or that the general public might find offensive or misunderstand.
• Add ALL Backstage Drama players to your friends list. We DO understand that there is a 45 friend limit on DeadJournal, but as long as you have Sharmell Sullivan's journal added, you can read all players off her firends page. You MUST have the Backstage Drama main journal added to your friends list in order to be recognized in this game.
• Ask our fantastic admin if you need help. :)

DON'Ts:

• Harrass fellow keepers into playing with you. If you find yourself without a storyline, then work on your character, giving readers more insights into who they are. That will more likely get other people interested in enough to WANT to play with your character.
• Do a major change a storyline without letting your fellow players know. It's disconcerting to log-in and find out that your girlfriend/boyfriend/husband/wife/dog/whatever has left you for no reason whatsoever.
• Pass yourself off as the actual celebrity you're playing. 'Tis a BIG no-no.
• Be rude or unnecessarily abusive to other characters/members, or use your journal to humiliate a character/s you don't like. That includes being deliberately disrespectful and pushy to other people.
• Make everything up; you should be basing your journal on what the character is doing in real life, if possible,or at the very least, doing things that they SHOULD be doing in real life.
• Make out of character (O.O.C) entries on your journal visible! This ruins it for the fans that are reading. Use the Friends' Filter to make a group of just Backstage Drama Members for OOC posts.
• Copy material from other journals or RPGs. If we're notified by moderators of other games that you have taken material that YOU DID NOT WRITE from another RPG without permission, you will be banned.
• Use other people's HTML/icons without their permission. If you play in more than one game and want to share icon that YOU have made for other games, that's fine, but it's common courtesy to use icons/layouts made FOR you by players in ONE game and ONLY in that game.
• Post up pictures or quiz results without using the <lj-cut text="read more"> tag. That way, it doesn't clutter up people's friends' pages.NEVER hot/direct link to pictures or pages from ANYONE'S site unless you have permission. That is considered bandwidth theft is ILLEGAL! Check the Resources page for places your can save pictures for you to link to.

1. Don't take shit personally.
2. Nobody can or should tell you how to play your character. Ever.
3. Offer to do a journal layout for another player.
4. Never try to tell another player what their character is thinking or feeling.
5. Try to keep your RL issues off the keyboard.
6. Making a journal entry is NOT the same as character interaction.
7. Commenting in someone else's journal IS interaction.
8. Decide to let nothing bother you for the entire time you are RPing.
9. Play like it's your first time.
10. Play like it's your last time.
11. If you're getting stressed out beause of an RPG, that's a wakeup call.
12. Compliment other players when they RP well.
13. Have OOC 'downtime' after a lengthy and/or stressful interaction.
14. RP with someone who makes you laugh.
15. Offer to make icons for another player.
16. Recognise that you don't always have to get in the last comment.
17. Recognise that interaction with a variety of people is part of what makes RPGs work.
18. Recognise that the most seemingly insignificant posts to you may be a newbie's first attempts at RPing.
19. Keep up to date on your character's RL activities, marital status, children's names, etc.
20. RP with someone who challenges your abilities.
21. Give advice only when asked.
22. If you are an admin, remember that while you may be in a position of responsibility, that doesn't mean you can't still have fun.
23. Recognise that you don't have to win every fight to be a good RPer.
24. Recognise that if RPing stresses you out, maybe you should find another hobby.
25. Focus on only the best aspects of the Game.
26. Be respectful of others.
27. Lose attachment to the outcome that you formulated in your head.
28. Recognise that you won't always get exactly what you want in the Game.
29. Aspire to be the best portrayal of your character there ever was.
30. Thank whatever deity you believe in (if any) that RPGs exist, and that you have the ability to play them.