Greetings Everyone,
Before we get started, I'd like to take a moment to reflect on what it means to be an Élitist any way. Forget everything you think you know about Élitists, including whatever you've been taught before in the past. Élitists have developed a bad reputation over the years, due to the many misconceptions about them. Several advanced roleplayers prefer not to be labelled as Élitists, simply because of the many comments people say about them. However, you must keep in mind that most of the great on-line fighters who battled against Élitists in the past were only spreading lies and negative comments about them because they felt sore for losing. With such ugly gossip about them happening over a long period of time, and because most Élitists never tried to argue or gossip back, eventually the crowds would play a part in spreading the false rumors about them, until eventually the Élitists fell out of favor and became fewer in number. I'm one of the few who remain.
Élitists do not care about winning or losing, therefore they do not become proud when facing a victory, nor sore when faced with defeat. Élitists are a different breed of advanced roleplayers who evolved over time, improving the skills they passed down from generation to generation. They are Élitists because they do not have a written set of rules that they follow when roleplaying, yet somehow they still manage to display an advanced set of skills as if practicing an unspoken code of honor. This silent tradition has been a part of Élitist history since the very beginning. Almost everything about Élitist fighters is different from non-Élitist fighters, even their very thought process is different. Élitists are not competitive on-line fighters by any means, they are just advanced roleplayers with an interest in textual combat. The reason Élitists evolved so differently is because they originated from small secluded web-sites that were completely segregated from the rest of the roleplaying communities which were all connected together on the internet during the earliest years of chatroom fighting.
Élitists did not need written rules in order to roleplay, because the sites they originated from were already well advanced. Instead of newbies and oldies, Élitists recognized a difference between novices and masters. Élitists of an even higher calibur were recognized as grandmasters. It wasn't until later on that Élitists started recognizing founders of different writing styles and fighting systems. Before there were founders, Élitists did not differentiate between roleplaying and textual combat. It was all the same thing to them, because they had not learned to develop a competitive ego. Élitists weren't nearly as concerned with winning as they were with evolving their characters and developing their story-lines. Despite the slight differences between them, Élitists made no distinctions between novices and masters. Everyone was treated equally, as roleplayers who all had something to learn and share with one another. Élitists kept a tight OOC bond to one another, as they believed that OOC relationships between players was more important than any dispute or argument that might happen due to an IC misunderstanding. Friendship was a key thing, and many Élitists would even PM their opponents in OOC to discuss IC actions ahead of time, instead of trying to explain their actions afterwards like most roleplayers do.
Skill was also an achievement that was viewed differently by Élitists, and earned differently as well. To most on-line fighters nowadays, one's skill is usually determined by how many wins they have on record. The more wins you have, the better you are at fighting. However, this is considered a foolish idea to Élitists, who don't really care about winning or fighting. Élitists view skill as one's ability to be disciplined without rules. It's almost as if they are handing you all the power in the universe, and then telling you never to use it. In fact, a more powerful or higher level character on most roleplaying forums is usually considered to be a weaker or lower level character to Élitists, since they view energy as being a limited source which should not be abused. Élitists generally try to fight unarmed or with melee weapons only, since they view skill differently as one's ability to restrain themselves. If you try to use magic against an Élitist, they will most likely assume you're either a novice at hand-to-hand or a coward at fighting.
Restraint plays a major role in Élitist culture, as it applies not just to IC, but to all things in general. Élitists are highly disciplined roleplayers in that they show restraint even during OOC sessions. Élitists do not go around flaming, trolling, arguing, or calling people names. They do not act arrogant or self-centered. You will usually never catch an Élitist posting one-liner sentences to a forum, nor do they usually post large paragraphs that would cover the whole screen in a real-time chat room. They are normally humble and polite, honorable and respectful. Élitists do not need to be told how to act, because they do things naturally. Restraint has become like a golden beacon to them, in that it is the highest skill most of them wish to achieve. This very notion of skill even applies to the way they write. Élitists love to socialize with other players, so being articulate and literate is another one of the many skills they wish to master some day. It's also good to note that Élitists will never achieve their goal because they believe that perfection is impossible. Yet they will strive for it any way, because they also believe that practice makes perfect.
This concludes our session for this evening.
~ A Grandmaster