01 January, 2000 - (SEASON ONE/S1)

Roleplay Training Centre
Welcome to the newest addition to Soccer all Stars. The Roleplay Training Centre (RTC) is the best place to come to brush up on your RPing skills and get advice from the highest people in SAS today, the SAS Executive Board. Managers and other people from around the Fantasy Internet Management Scene will also give some hints and tips to help you on your quest to become the best.

The RTC is here to advise you on how to RP efficiently. Everybody writes and thinks differently as well as everyone has different opinions on a wide range of RPs. Hopefully though, the RTC will help you learn the bare essentials and help you develop your own style's and technique's to RPing.

The remainder of this page will have several snippets of RPs taken exclusively from the official SAS managers and will be given in depth reviews and hints and tips on what could have made it worse or better.

Let's start off on this journey. First of all, you want to know what you can do to make your RPs better right? Well take a look at your current RP(s) if you have any and select out what you think is your very best one and have a good look at it and think hard about what you could have done to make it better.

Let's take a look now at one of SAS's managers, Tottenham Hotspurs Brian Thompson. The comments in [...green...] are official RTC comments and not part of the RP.

THOMPSON'S PRESS CONFERENCE

[...Don't forget your subject headings. They can play a vital role in your RP. They are there to give a first impression. Nothing fancy here but it gets the job done perfectly...]

***The North London Press Centre is packed with reporters and people from the football world curious to hear what Brian Thompson's views are on the recent and controversial events at Tottenham. He finally walks in amidst a barrage of cameras flashing. With him is THSA leader Kevin Sherman and Tony Inglewood, the senior press secretary and spin doctor at Spurs. The men take their seats and the press begin to calm themselves.***

[...Notice how the RP has a beginning indicating between a series of '***' This gives the RP a feel and atmosphere to it, and describes the location in detail, whose at the location and why. A very simple but effective part of any RP which many managers tend to leave out... Also notice how all the main characters within this RP are mentioned in the opening sequence...]

Inglewood: Gentlemen please, take your seats. The questions will be read out in the numbers you have been assigned. No preliminary statement has been arranged so could we begin now please.

[...From the moment the first person speaks, in this case it's Tony Inglewood, we can see the press conference is live and you get the feeling you are a member of the audience from the way Inglewood address the situation. You feel you are very much their at the scene because of this...]

1st Reporter: Gentlemen, where do you stand on the proposed merger plans?

Thompson: (to Sherman) Shall I go?

Sherman: (to Thompson) Go on.

[...Here you can visualize how Thompson and Sherman are speaking to each other. You can see Thompson looking at Sherman and asking him if he should speak and this is indicated by the brackets used '( )'...]

Thompson: (back to everyone) Well gentlemen, and ladies, I can say to all of you now that both me and Mr.Sherman here are completely against this move and will not accept it under any circumstances!!

[...This is another good line from Thompson... where he says 'Well gentleman, and ladies,' Notice that it is purposely done like that as the proper saying would be ladies and gentlemen. However it adds in the fact that football's very much a man's game but let's not forget the ladies. You can almost hear him saying those lines and then pausing to add in the ladies section after...]

***Cameras flash and everyone seems to speak at once, shocked by this statement***

[...In this section we see the '***' again and this indicates that something is happening which is common sense to all. It's almost again as if you are their seeing with your own eyes that there are tonnes of cameras flashing and there is a shock amongst the packed press conference...]

Inglewood: Please, could everyone settle down now.

***Order is restored***

Thompson: I've always said my priorities lie with the club and it's supporters and I believe this move benefits neither.

Sherman: The THSA completely denounce this move also and we are delighted we now have the support of the club manager.

2nd Reporter: So what will you say to the Tottenham Executive Board?

Sherman: We will say what we believe is right and what helps our club and this move is rubbish, of course we'll tell Gordon and the rest of them that.

2nd Reporter: Mr.Thompson?

Thompson: Yes, this is outrageous and shouldn't be allowed. The game isn't ready for such moves yet, it would effectively bring an end to football as a sport and make it completely a business.

3rd Reporter: Gentlemen, there is a rumour that Gordon Smith has not contacted either one of you since the move was announced, is that true?

Thompson: We have not been able to contact Mr.Smith since the news was announced and have no idea where he is at the current moment in time.

3rd Reporter: So where is he?

Sherman: Like he said, we don't know.

4th Reporter: Mr......

***Suddenly an extremely loud noise is heard outside and everybody ducks! The press conference is stopped and everyone goes outside to see what has happened. Police and ambulance sirens can be heard already in the distance. In the middle of the road outside the conference centre is an exploded car. It sits there burning and the traffic has come to a halt on both sides of the road. debris is littered everywhere and no one is sure what has happened.***

[...Here we see the '***' again and this time it's explaining something that has happened which shocked everyone in the conference. This is another original idea from Thompson and adds flair and flavour to his RPs. What was at first an ordinary press conference has suddenly turned into something far more intriguing and exciting...]

TO BE CONTINUED....

[...Finally the ending which is also quite superb... the final three words leave you excited and eager to know what happens in the next installment. It's important to remember that RPs don't necessarily have to be completed in one go... you can always make a story have split it into several RPs over a short period of time. This ending is fantastic in doing that and gives you a feeling of wanting to see the next one as quickly as possible...]

Overall this would have normally been the average RP that most managers are capable of doing. However Thompson has added in several extra pieces to his RP which makes it far more enjoyable to read. He's added a beginning, a middle and his end is yet to come but has made the RP explode with anticipation and excitement for his next one... His presentation is smart and well laid out, his text is readable, his spelling is good and all in all it's a very solid and good RP. Marks out of 100 for this type of RP would be high in the 80's and low in the 90's. Without the added extra's it becomes an average RP that the average manager can produce.

RP's can vary. Think of an original idea and story and exploit it to the maximum.

RP's should contain a beginning, a middle and an end... Suddenly cutting into your RP midway through without a beginning, introduction or opening explanation takes off a huge chunk of expression in your RP.

RP's can span out over several RP's during a short course of time. Don't think that you should have the whole story in just one RP...

The same routines become stale and boring. Only RPing press conferences about new signings, sales or match reports become far too repetitive.

Locations are vitally important. Why not try out new avenues and places? RPs don't always have to be taken at clubs press conferences, at the training ground or in the national newspapers. Find new ways of getting your points across to add variety

Try out different techniques and styles to your approach. You don't always have to be in third person perspective, try out being inside the head of someone, or something else... original that is.

Use as many different characters as possible. It's not always essential RPing as your manager. You can use your staff and create different characters with different personalities and opinions.

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