Unfortunately, 'Roleplay' or 'roleplaying' is not an easy term to define; it can very from anything from acting or performing on stage, a particular type of 'game, or even different types of sexual practice!

Even when you narrow it down purely to the realm of games, you'll find definitions can apply to tabletop games, 'live action' games, games such as this in either the text/online based multi player games - and some will even attribute popular games like CoD or GOW as role playing games. In our community though, I feel the definition best definition of roleplay is the one found on wikipedia:

A role-playing game (RPG) is a game in which players assume the roles of characters in a fictional setting.

In our case, the fictional setting is various US cities in the prohibition era; the roles of characters are that of Mobsters at that time. Now, if everyone roleplayed the same sort of character things would get very boring. It is relatively obvious from the naming of the ranks that, technically, the setting of the game is that of Italian-American organised crime; yet we have people who roleplay Irish, Russian, English, Canadian criminals which only adds to the diversity of the game. If everyone roleplayed an Italian character, things would get pretty boring.

Similarly, in the era that the game's set - and even in present day criminal organisations, you don't question the Boss. If he says the sky is green, you don't disagree with him; you nod and remark what a lovely shade it is, too. However, if that occured here the game would stagnate very quickly. Threads would amount to the highest ranker saying his piece, then 50 replies which are all a variant on 'I agree'.

Similarly, whilst certain Mafia Families in the past have been known to have an 'interest' in some news outlet to better portray themselves, Mobsters didn't actually author, illustrate and edit their own newspapers. However, newspapers (when properly done) are often some of the most eagerly awaited threads on the streets; which brings me to the streets themselves. In the most fundamental sense, they make no RP sense. Mobsters did not make public speeches (if any), nor did they stand on upturned soapboxes (a turn of phrase that I believe was sarcastically coined). However, imagine if the game followed the real mafia, where to be involved in a discussion you had to be trusted and know the people talking. If you don't receive a backalley link, you don't take part. Wouldn't work, the game would die.

In other words, you can look at any area of the game and find things that won't correlate to the real Mafia; compromises must be made to ensure gameplay is actually enjoyable. However, a lot of the things users do also do not correlate to the real Mafia - but they don't add to the quality of the game. They just amount to bad RP. RP is not how many fancy stories you can write in italics, it's about whether you actually act like a mobster in the way you play the game. I'll give you a few fairly obvious examples:

- Are you under Made Man but still demand that people do not pickpocket you? Bad RP. You're not made, you don't mean jack shit. You don't have the clout to go around making demands, so don't do it.

-Are you over Made Man and demand people don't pickpocket you? Ok, do you actually do anything about if some lower ranked guy does pickpocket you? It's easy to say 'yeah I do in private; but just as a social experiment, When I was lower than made, I pickpockted, or attempted to pickpocket, 16 made + members who had some variant of 'no pps!'. There was never any repurcussions to this. Bad RP.

-Ever asked for a promo, or demanded where you promo was? Awful RP.

-Ever moaned about any of the following in the streets:

• 'Free speech'
• ______ isn't fair
• Think of the newbies!
• Why did my father die ;/

If so, guess what? That's bad RP. The game has three major forums for areason.  Outside is not game related, The Streets is where you act in character. Starting a speech with "Sprozz smokes a cigar and is wearing a suit!" is not RP. RP is about acting like a mobster. Mobsters don't operate on a democratic free speech template, they don't operate on the misconception that life is fair (hardly any adult actually does) nor are they concerened about the recruitment proess the mafia uses. This is a reason why the forums are split, if you want to discuss these conerns, go to OOC! That's where discussions belong. Don't try and force something into being in character when it's clearly an issue that is best discussed OOC.

Again, I will concede that things will always happen in the streets that are not accurate to the Mafia - Dons conversing with gangsters, Civilians having intimate knowledge of the Mafia world, public discussions in general; but listen up little keyboard crusader, next time you're writing a street thread - think about whether it is actually a something a Mobster would ever do and whether it would actually be better placed being a game issues that is discussed in the out of character forum.

Toodles!

"-Ever moaned about any of the following in the streets: 'Free speech' [...] If so, guess what? That's bad RP."

I, for one, don't know what you're talking about. Free speech is a part of the fabric of America and is something we should embrace in all its forms. Except those Occupy fellows. They're abusing the meaning of "free speech" in order to disrupt the daily lives of ordinary Americans and cause turmoil throughout the country. Free speech is about speaking your mind, not standing in the way of others just trying to go to work.

I am Herman Cain, and I approve this message. Hop on board the Cain Train today!