Role Playing - what is expected?

I might be interested in trying a little role playing in Second Life. I've never done anything like a LARP, although I have some experience with very old RPG's such as AD&D and Traveller. Showing my age eh?

I've seen a lot of posts on where the role playing sims are, but I'm not quite sure how to get started or even if I would be welcomed. There are no guides to be found. Mostly there are empty sims that put me off with a notecard full of high handed "Thou shalt not's" I'm hit with on arrival.

So can anyone put into a few simple sentences what one DOES in role playing sims. And are there any that would welcome inexperienced role players. Not Gor - that is most decidedly not for me! Sci-Fi, fantasy, non-vampire horror, historical, mature or otherwise, any of these might be fun.

two words: Role Play

Anything above and beyond that is defined by the RP itself - usually found in the notecards full of "thou shalt nots"

Wish I could give you a narrower answer, but it's such a broad question about a broad genre.

Most "Thou Shalt Not"s are pretty basic, like Thou Shalt Not Be A Jerk or you will be banned. As long as you are willing to be polite, you will meet all sorts - from the hard core players who are never ooc, to occasional ones who just enjoy being around people with similar tastes...

It seems that most SL roleplay involves talking entirely in the 3rd person and not much else. For example if you want to slap someone you say "Susie Boffin slaps XXXX in the face" instead of actually slapping them. Go figure.

Fit in:
this doesn't mean you can't be different, just that your concept should fit the theme of the game

Cooperation:
it's ok to have unique style and personality, but no one wants to play with the uber person that can never be beaten / outmanuevered / tricked / etc... give and take

Details:
Flesh out the character you play, dress to suit, and ACT to suit. you don't have to have every life detail planned in advanced, but at least the general idea of how your charater 'grew up' and why they'd act that way.. you can add quirks along the way, new details etc

Combat:
a touchy subject for some, use it when it's appropriate, try to avoid it when you can, because after all you are playing a person(general term), and people don't spend all their time in combat, even gladiators sleep, chat up peers, get drunk, goof off etc, you get the idea

Have FUN ! :
it's a game, and if it becomes a pissing contest, no one's going to enjoy it...just like RL it's often better to just walk away. compliment people (OOC of course) on good use of skills, characterizations, etc... it goes a long way towards everybody gaining respect w/ each other, especially if you're big enough to do it when you've 'lost' in some aspect. this also helps people to remember it's just a game, and they should all be enjoying it

Don't expect to 'win':
the point of most RP isn't to 'win', it's to create a believable character, with real strengths and flaws, and become a person worthy of respect (if only for their skill at RPing a believable character) despite their flaws

that's all I can think of atm, I left out 'rules lawyering', because it usually only comes under the combat heading, and if you play within a fixed sytem, it's not really an issue.

There's the SL Games forum, it has mention of SL role playing games.

If you put Roleplay in the groups search inworld you get a bunch of results - some like Silent Hill th eRoleplay and Wheel of Time and if you put role play as two separate words you get a different set of results, which includes a western roleplay group called Tombstone Arizona.