<1> In her delineation of these 3 types of roleplaying, Benedikt describes commonly-understood conventions within a small group of people who have had years of experience interacting in TinyMUDdom.

Figure 4: Heavy Roleplaying

<2> Benedikt writes that "heavy" roleplaying describes when:

The Player (the person typing) and the Character (the personality on the screen that you are dealing with) have no necessary connection to each other...If the character is angry, or happy, there is no obvious correlation to the Player's emotions at all. It is not safe to assume that what this Character feels has anything to do with what the Player feels ("How to Treat a Newbie").

<3> The images of heavy and classic roleplaying illustrate the distinction Benedikt draws between in-character (IC) and out-of-character (OOC) modes. In addition, the window drawn inside each person represents the player typing, in contrast to the character or personality that is communicated textually on the screen. So in the heavy roleplaying model in figure 4, each player is obscured, with lines drawn across the internal image of the person typing at a computer. But in the classic roleplaying model in figure 5, each player is made more accessible and visible to the other, which is represented by the removal of the lines criss-crossing the internal image of the player at the computer.

Figure 5: Classic Roleplaying

<4> In "classic" roleplaying, the Player has assumed a role which employs his or her actual personality ("How to Treat a Newbie"). Benedikt explains:

Say the player's name is Bob, and the character is a Slaver. What you see onscreen is "Bob-as-a-Slaver." If the Slaver is angry, or happy, Bob probably is too. This kind of roleplaying does not represent much of a gap between the emotions of the Player and the Character. It deals merely with the "employment" of the Player's personality ("How to Treat a Newbie").

<5> Most analogous to Benedikt's conception of classic roleplaying would be the traditional Stanislavski style of acting, known in the United States as "method" acting, in which actors employ emotions from their real-life experiences to depict character.

Figure 6: Environmental Roleplaying

<6> Benedikt notes that in "environmental" roleplaying:

The Character is merely what the Player would be if the Player were in that environment. Another way of seeing it is as the 'RL self immersed in VR.' There is no separation between the Player and the Character. They are effectively identical. What differences there are probably lie in behavior, and those behaviors rely on the environment. For example, if the Character climbs on people's laps constantly, with this sort of roleplaying it is the same as saying, 'Well, if in RL I could climb on everyone's lap, I would. But it's considered rude. So I don't. But here on ThystMUSH it's not considered rude. So I do.' " ("How to Treat a Newbie")