It's between two schools of thought. Script and Story role-playing.
In script role-playing you would most likely always type in present tense, use action marks to describe actions, and may type your name before the action (If you're on a forum and not in the actual game.)
Ex: Regan: ::pants for breath, reaching into her backpack for a glass of water:: I thought you said it was only a few miles?
In story role-playing, you may speak in present or past tense, use quotations for speaking, and type in the form of paragraphs describing the actions and surroundings instead of using the action marks.
Ex: Regan panted for breath, reaching into her backpack for a glass of water. "I thought this was only a few miles?"
or
Ex: Regan pants for breath, reaching into her backpack for a glass of water. "I thought this was only a few miles?"
Over a linkpearl or other chat device, role-play is most likely to be almost entirely audio-based, which would favor the script style of role-playing.
However, in person, whether walking through the woods of Eorzea together or bumping into one another in town, it would favor using emotes to aid you in creating a story based role-play encounter.
In script role-playing you would most likely always type in present tense, use action marks to describe actions, and may type your name before the action (If you're on a forum and not in the actual game.)
Ex: Regan: ::pants for breath, reaching into her backpack for a glass of water:: I thought you said it was only a few miles?
In story role-playing, you may speak in present or past tense, use quotations for speaking, and type in the form of paragraphs describing the actions and surroundings instead of using the action marks.
Ex: Regan panted for breath, reaching into her backpack for a glass of water. "I thought this was only a few miles?"
or
Ex: Regan pants for breath, reaching into her backpack for a glass of water. "I thought this was only a few miles?"
Over a linkpearl or other chat device, role-play is most likely to be almost entirely audio-based, which would favor the script style of role-playing.
However, in person, whether walking through the woods of Eorzea together or bumping into one another in town, it would favor using emotes to aid you in creating a story based role-play encounter.