BeepRoles define behavior of Beep peer against other peer. As RFC3080 defines, both peers must define their role - one is Initiator (similar to Client), and another is Listener (similar to Server).

Once connection is established, both peers have same rights against each other, but usually it is considered that Initiator will open channels and send requests, while Listener will automatically respond to them.

Role may be important for transport service, since initiator will usually connect to remote side, and listener will accept connections - although it may be different - depends on transport service implementation.