The closest I get to RP is the "concept" characters I make in CO and previously in CoX. Day 1 CoH I did RP my character in vent and chat, but being annoying bratty kid RP lasted only a few hours before everyone hated me.
So doing concepts and picking skills and clothing and such for the character and making nice flavor text for the character is enough. then everyone once in a while do some in character things. But most, technically all my chat is ooc.
So since I have already invested a lot of gold into my Dwarf DK, I think I'm going to just speed level him to 80 and then race change him into a gnome. Whether I transfer servers to Feathermoon remains to be seen (and is dependent on how much neyla wants to be my sugar momma)
I don't usually RP, but I do usually come up with light back stories for my characters. Nothing too detailed, usually just a reason for abandoning a civilian life. I don't do the whole age/likes/dislikes/measurements/weight/etc thing.
I play a lot of female characters but I can't RP one. Selecting dialogue for a female character in a game like Mass Effect is one thing, typing my own dialogue is another. Any character I do RP uses a mind set very close to my own. Straying beyond an aspect of my own personality too far makes the dialogue seem forced instead of natural, so I gave up trying to RP any of the more "colorful" characters I've created.
Also the only MMO I'm currently playing is WoW, and WoW RP servers (as has been discussed) aren't really all that RP friendly. I started a character on an RP server a couple months ago and played up until I went to the capital city (Silvermoon in my case). Here I was greeted with the bullshit "Anal <link ability>" garbage that my normal server had gotten over more than a year ago. Seriously? On a RP server?
I've never been able to get into RP in fantasy MMO's like WoW and WAR, mainly because every character comes locked into a really confined pre-set role based on the lore and setting of the game.
Unless you think up some wacky gimmick character, every single Orc is going to have pretty much the exact same background and whatnot. It's like being in a cover band, or playing a PnP RPG where the DM not only rolls up your character for you, but tells you what their backstory is except for a few minor details.
Plus, I'm just not that inspired by fantasy game settings.
CoX and now CO are very different stories, since there's a fuckton more leeway for me to create a unique character concept, look and backstory. Which I always do, since I know a character without an entertaining concept will get really boring for me really quickly. I don't do a lot of in-game RP'ing though, since I'm mostly soloing and the pre-determined RP hangouts seem really artificial and annoying.
I roleplay rogues on every server, providing me the moral justification I need to ninja loot everyones gear.
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Kai_SanCommonly known as Klineshrike!Registered Userregular
edited November 2009
When PA made that RP guild a long time ago I had somehow spun one of my character designs perfectly into wow, and just in time for Zul Gurub which was brand new. I loved that char and how I could kind of throw hints at its story out there every once in awhile to almost produce JRPG like character development. It was sad very few people really wanted to do the RP thing though and most of those who did mgrated back to OS to raid. Myself included.
That was probobly the only time I successfully roleplayed. But if I could find a real solid RP guild I would get into it again. I cant just RP on my own.
Here I was greeted with the bullshit "Anal <link ability>" garbage that my normal server had gotten over more than a year ago. Seriously? On a RP server?
idiots think it's cool to troll the 5 actual RPers on those servers. I wish blizzard would actually enforce RP rules on those realms. There are shitloads of servers to play on, let those guys have their fun.
Personally, I don't RP my characters beyond like a 2-3 sentence background when I create them. (and the feeling of unease/disgust with certain quests with 'good' characters)
If there were actual 'enforced' RP servers, I might make a guy there to check it out / interact with people occasionally, but it wouldn't be a priority.
I built a few for my brief time in MxO. It was more or less the only thing going for it, but got some enjoyment out of the non "I'M A VAMPIRE GUYS" or "LOL I'M THE ONE OR A DESCENDANT THEREOF" writings I saw. Even if people had an annoying tendency to decide characters they killed off didn't stay that way.
When PA made that RP guild a long time ago I had somehow spun one of my character designs perfectly into wow, and just in time for Zul Gurub which was brand new. I loved that char and how I could kind of throw hints at its story out there every once in awhile to almost produce JRPG like character development. It was sad very few people really wanted to do the RP thing though and most of those who did mgrated back to OS to raid. Myself included.
That was probobly the only time I successfully roleplayed. But if I could find a real solid RP guild I would get into it again. I cant just RP on my own.
I loved DTB while it lasted. There wasn't too much RP going on, but when it happened, like the guild meetings, it was pretty awesome. It's a shame that once the server matured and people started hitting higher level and raiding, RP pretty much died out. At the beginning I actually had a few random in-character RP encounters with people out in the world, just running past each other or questing in the same area. Was nice while it lasted.
I don't really understand why people roll characters on RP-* servers when they have no intention of roleplaying. There are plenty of other servers out there. It's just dumb.
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Kai_SanCommonly known as Klineshrike!Registered Userregular
When PA made that RP guild a long time ago I had somehow spun one of my character designs perfectly into wow, and just in time for Zul Gurub which was brand new. I loved that char and how I could kind of throw hints at its story out there every once in awhile to almost produce JRPG like character development. It was sad very few people really wanted to do the RP thing though and most of those who did mgrated back to OS to raid. Myself included.
That was probobly the only time I successfully roleplayed. But if I could find a real solid RP guild I would get into it again. I cant just RP on my own.
I loved DTB while it lasted. There wasn't too much RP going on, but when it happened, like the guild meetings, it was pretty awesome. It's a shame that once the server matured and people started hitting higher level and raiding, RP pretty much died out. At the beginning I actually had a few random in-character RP encounters with people out in the world, just running past each other or questing in the same area. Was nice while it lasted.
I don't really understand why people roll characters on RP-* servers when they have no intention of roleplaying. There are plenty of other servers out there. It's just dumb.
Well, sans the people going back to thier servers to raid thing, there was the problem of many people going to DTB just to join a fresh PA guild with no intent of RPing. And half those people left the guild at 60 anyway. But I will always remember the one time some random dude had this important 'meeting' thing outside UC and we all went as a group to represent out little guild.
The small group of people we did get who were serious about that RP were extremely fun to play with too.
So since I have already invested a lot of gold into my Dwarf DK, I think I'm going to just speed level him to 80 and then race change him into a gnome. Whether I transfer servers to Feathermoon remains to be seen (and is dependent on how much neyla wants to be my sugar momma)
I don't RP at all in MMORPGs, which is strange, because I do it damn near everywhere else (forums, IRC, MUSHes, etc.). I like writing, and I like playing characters, but MMORPGs are simply not my expected venue. Even on servers like Twisting Nether, an RP-PvP server, probably 95% of all players aren't interested in actual "roleplay" at all, and even less than that actively do so. I joined TN because I was into roleplay at the time and the "RP!" tag enticed me, but years later, seeing roleplay actually being performed makes me roll my eyes because gawwwd, what are those noobs doing.
Which is completely insane because it's a roleplay server, but somehow roleplay has become antithetical to my expected experience in World of Warcraft. I don't log on, after all, to sit around in an inn trying to prise the attention of the dude playing a girl character off the dude pretending to be a chick playing a girl character. What I *do* log on to do is to hang out with my friends and raid, away from the pressures of always having to worry if I'm writing well, and free from having to deal with the kind of inane characterizations that make me want to gouge my eyes out.
The small population of roleplayers is also a soul-crushing barrier to spontaneous RP. Unless you're part of an official RP guild, the odds that you're going to have an ongoing "plot" with someone is pretty low. If you don't have some sort of continuity, most interactions devolve into first meetings in bars or street corners. And at that point it's very hard to keep going, because seriously, by then: Who cares? You could stop RPing tomorrow forever and no one on the server would notice.
That's never a good feeling.
I'd love it if things changed, though. I'd love it if lots more people started roleplaying - and not just self-insertion, but actual, well-thought characters with human flaws. I'd love it if I could engage in long-term stories with people that gradually evolved over time into something that could fit into one, or maybe multiple, novellas.
I'd also love it if people would just stop hating each other, if Michael Jackson would come back to life just to sing me to sleep with Smooth Criminal every night, and if I had a toilet that ate poop and transmuted it into [Gold Bar]s.
I always infuse some level of RP into any character I play on an MMO. The world is static yes, and logically speaking, what you're doing is not unique to the server--or likely even unique to the server that hour. But for me, I simply pretend that there are no other personalities beyond the immediate ones within my hero's sphere.
I don't bother to RP with random passers-by. It's much more interesting to roll with a crew of like-minded individuals and see how the characters react to each other and the missions/quests that are unfolding.
I find it difficult to RP in a medieval setting where I essentially have a futuristic communicator that links me with everyone who has joined my guild, party, whatever. And chat channels. The first time someone asked what spec I was, etc, directly referring to game mechanics, it'd really detract from my ability to continue RPing. And MMORPGs are games above all, so that means that game mechanics will exist.
Further, there are an insane amount of actions that are prevented by the limitations of said games.
That said, my character has always had a little bit of RP to him. I'm a fury warrior, and have always played that aspect up - I'm overzealous in doing damage a lot of the time, and generally enjoy just going crazy and cutting some bitches with my giant swords. Plus I stay Fury even when Arms is better DPS, to the disappointment of people I run with (though not really disappointment, as I have always, also, played very well).
How do those of you who RP deal with the contant, necessary game mechanics that are utterly incongruous with the world you're RPing in?
How do those of you who RP deal with the contant, necessary game mechanics that are utterly incongruous with the world you're RPing in?
Serious answer: by ignoring them.
Although......I don't think anything is really "incongruous" with the Warcraft setting. If you think instant communication is any more ridiculous than...well...anything else in the game, I don't think you really thought it through.
How do those of you who RP deal with the contant, necessary game mechanics that are utterly incongruous with the world you're RPing in?
Serious answer: by ignoring them.
Although......I don't think anything is really "incongruous" with the Warcraft setting. If you think instant communication is any more ridiculous than...well...anything else in the game, I don't think you really thought it through.
How about killing the same dudes every week, and them always being surprised to see you?
How do those of you who RP deal with the contant, necessary game mechanics that are utterly incongruous with the world you're RPing in?
Serious answer: by ignoring them.
Although......I don't think anything is really "incongruous" with the Warcraft setting. If you think instant communication is any more ridiculous than...well...anything else in the game, I don't think you really thought it through.
How about killing the same dudes every week, and them always being surprised to see you?
Well, I can only speak for myself, but I never raided back when I was actually into RP, and never actively RP'd during dungeon runs (though I wouldn't say anything strictly out of character).
All the best villains where the horde players. Or ours, if you look at it the other way.
Raiding was fairly antithetical to RPing from the beginning. You'd have people who would leave their guild to join raiding guilds, and sooner or later, they'd just be focused on grindan new loots. I should know, it happened eventually to me.
How do those of you who RP deal with the contant, necessary game mechanics that are utterly incongruous with the world you're RPing in?
Serious answer: by ignoring them.
Although......I don't think anything is really "incongruous" with the Warcraft setting. If you think instant communication is any more ridiculous than...well...anything else in the game, I don't think you really thought it through.
Always played it out that the hearthstones everyone carried about not only allowed you to return to a safe place, but also magically contact any people who agreed to 'link' with your own stone. Seemed like a fairly simple answer at the time.
VariableMouth CongressStroke Me Lady FameRegistered Userregular
edited November 2009
I loosely remember being in a PA build and having a meeting in the ratchet inn. not that it went anywhere, and I was never dedicated to it... I like RP only as far as giving my characters a background/story and that's more for me than something I want to play out.
do play on an rp server though. it just seems natural to me to be loosely interested in actually becoming part of the world the game takes place in. fits more with the style. but that's obviously just preference and like I said, even after believing that, I don't really RP actively.
How do those of you who RP deal with the contant, necessary game mechanics that are utterly incongruous with the world you're RPing in?
Serious answer: by ignoring them.
Although......I don't think anything is really "incongruous" with the Warcraft setting. If you think instant communication is any more ridiculous than...well...anything else in the game, I don't think you really thought it through.
How about killing the same dudes every week, and them always being surprised to see you?
I don't actively RP, but I do slip into a sort of in-character mind set in any game I play. Anyway, for this, the first kill's the only "real" kill (since Ulduar, I've sort of reimagined it as the first hard mode kill is the only real kill). It's the hardest won, the most epic, and it's the one that gets celebrated the most.
The few kills after that, the fight's still hard, but there's always the point where you're really just clocking in to collect your loot. By that point we're just killing a big bug, the elite general of the lich king and leader of the Nerubians has been dead for weeks, this is just cleanup work on the leftovers.
I'd love to see an MMO go back towards the roots of the genre and create a massive and vast, difficult to explore world with hidden text based on /hail responses. I miss that aspect of EverQuest. Who wants to help me create one?
SkyCaptain on
The RPG Bestiary - Dangerous foes and legendary monsters for D&D 4th Edition
While I have never got into RP in wow seriously (a brief dabble back in the day) I find it hard to play without assigning some kind of backstory to my characters. This has made server and faction transfering far more of an agonising decision that it might otherwise have been. I have played most of my games over the years with my cousin and we usually have some small story that connects our characters. My favourite was our Night Elf Druid/Human Rogue pair. He was the rogue and had created him with grey hair and beard. The deal was that I, being long lived/immortal, had dragged him out of retirement for one last sally against the encroaching demons of Outland. He liked to play up the grumpy cantakerous old man thing even though we weren't on an RP server.
As with the fury warrior above I am reluctant to change specs because they fit into my mental view of the character. My dwarf warrior will always be fury, a small raging whirlwind of ankle-crushing death. My orc on the other hand is protection, a steel-clad bulwark behind which his allies can shelter.
I don't think I could RP fully in an MMO though because it seriously impacts the advancement of the character within the game structure itself. I will save my RP for the freer world of pen and paper gaming and indulge my min/max side with an MMO.
I play on Kirin Tor, an RP server in WoW. There's... there's definitely a lot of RPing that goes on, but it's mainly confined to guilds who focus on it, and the occasional friend of mine turns out to be an RPer.
My experience is a bit different - I'm in a top-end raiding guild on the server, so whenever I'm on I'm either raiding or getting prepped for raiding. No time to RP. A few of my guildies - including our Guild Leader - RP on the side, however.
For me, I guess my actions in-game and during raids fit a sort of "in-character" image I have - I don't do emotes or talk "in-character" or anything, but my cow does have a predilection to strip naked, get boozed up, and /flirt at random people.
I wish I had more time to RP - hell, I do it outside of WoW all the time. It's just... it just feels goofy for me to do WoW-related RP since I'm not really involved in the story, and being the sort of MMO that it is, there's not much opportunity for me to influence the game world.
Now, in Champions Online, my filthy RPer instincts run wild - I come up with crazy character concepts, write out backgrounds, the whole nine yards.
I don't RP in MMOs. I tried once with CoX, and it ended up in someone trying to do something non-consentual to my character. It was so bizzare. Given the interface issues, it just made it less and less fun... so I'm now one of the silent people that will show up on your team, help you kill shit, and then walk off afterwords. I don't even join guilds any more because it's like, why bother, these people are all gonna disappear in a couple of months anyway and in the meantime, they're gonna wanna talk about random shit I don't really care about. I wanna do game stuff, not hear about how your wife is hen-pecking you.
I used to RP a lot in MU*s and in PnP games like D&D, WoD. Still do, but it's so rare to find solid PnP groups any more. I used to pop up on stuff like OpenRPG as well, but only with friends and such. I've never tried a pickup D&D group.
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citizen059hello my name is citizenI'm from the InternetRegistered Userregular
edited November 2009
I used to RP my character in Asheron's Call. I never found it that difficult; my method was to approach it as though I were just another NPC in the world for everyone to interact with.
There are so many misconceptions people have about how to RP a character effectively, and I think this is what kills it off. All you really have to do is just be yourself, since that's usually who your character winds up reflecting anyway. Just don't make references to the outside world. :P
I used to RP my character in Asheron's Call. I never found it that difficult; my method was to approach it as though I were just another NPC in the world for everyone to interact with.
There are so many misconceptions people have about how to RP a character effectively, and I think this is what kills it off. All you really have to do is just be yourself, since that's usually who your character winds up reflecting anyway. Just don't make references to the outside world. :P
This!
I think we should add in personal tips and things we do to make the game a bit more immersive...aka RP.
Personally, I 'interact' with NPC's. Citizen has the right idea- act like an npc!
When taking a quest reward I thank the npc (/thank), I use emotes during most quests I do (when with other people) and I generally am chatty even to NPC dialogue.
I will add in things, comment, talk to other players.
RP is not all about "FOUR SCORE YEARS AGO PRITHEE FORSOOTH" and "A/S/L/YAR/YAR/HUMP/HUMP"
Act as though your character has a vested interest in the game world and is not an autonomous kill bot and BAM you are RP'ing.
Well if you RP growing up in a normal family and working hard, thats like real life, so it's less interesting.
I guess you could RP a well to do character, but then why are you out fighting? No well to do character I've ever seen had a good reason to be fighting other than "this is fun, stabby"
I used to RP my character in Asheron's Call. I never found it that difficult; my method was to approach it as though I were just another NPC in the world for everyone to interact with.
There are so many misconceptions people have about how to RP a character effectively, and I think this is what kills it off. All you really have to do is just be yourself, since that's usually who your character winds up reflecting anyway. Just don't make references to the outside world. :P
I don't feel like I can be myself, because I don't feel that my personality would ever occupy the body of some battle-hardened warrior in a land constantly trying to kill him. And by the same token, I expect other characters to adopt a "likely" personality for that world as well.
Septus on
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citizen059hello my name is citizenI'm from the InternetRegistered Userregular
90% of "RP'd" characters grew up abused, mysterious past, parents are now dead, and the character has an ominous scar over their eye/cheek.
The more you know!
(I think they're seeking some in-game sympathy... like... "Oh man, I'm so sorry that your fake parents died... that must be so hard for you...")
I encountered this so frequently in NwN that I just migrated to "action" servers where nobody bothered.
But before I did that I munchkin'd up a halfling cleric/monk with high AC and lots of "searing light" spells to, *ahem*..."brighten" their days. :winky:
I used to RP my character in Asheron's Call. I never found it that difficult; my method was to approach it as though I were just another NPC in the world for everyone to interact with.
There are so many misconceptions people have about how to RP a character effectively, and I think this is what kills it off. All you really have to do is just be yourself, since that's usually who your character winds up reflecting anyway. Just don't make references to the outside world. :P
According to your method that makes me a giggly female who likes to smash things. Hmm maybe I do need an operation.
I used to RP my character in Asheron's Call. I never found it that difficult; my method was to approach it as though I were just another NPC in the world for everyone to interact with.
There are so many misconceptions people have about how to RP a character effectively, and I think this is what kills it off. All you really have to do is just be yourself, since that's usually who your character winds up reflecting anyway. Just don't make references to the outside world. :P
I don't feel like I can be myself, because I don't feel that my personality would ever occupy the body of some battle-hardened warrior in a land constantly trying to kill him. And by the same token, I expect other characters to adopt a "likely" personality for that world as well.
Well in my case it worked out - in AC my character was a high-strength/endurance/coordination axe warrior, with little magic to speak of. He was the "warrior" type through and through, so he was at his best in the thick of battle. Friendly, outgoing, loyal to his friends, lethal to his enemies...the "regular guy" in town who avoids guild politics and drama and just enjoys life. A dependable ally who doesn't make a lot of noise but is always ready to help no matter what the situation, and is damn near impossible to kill.
I'm a pretty optimistic type by nature, so combine that with my character and the fact that I routinely threw him into pits full of Olthoi...well it was the perfect environment.
(Standing in the middle of an Olthoi swarm...ahh, home sweet home.)
Great, I'm getting nostalgic again.
Anyway...I was just being myself, I just crafted my story and my character to fit the environment. It wasn't such a radical departure that my personality wouldn't fit. Not everyone in a hostile world has to be dark and gloomy. :P
It worked well for me, more so than I realized. I was never a "famous" individual on the server, my name rarely popped up in forum discussions...but when I finally retired from AC the number of people, both "famous" and not who knew me (or knew of me) in a favorable light was really humbling. In the end I did exactly what I set out to do, my character was to everyone exactly what he was to me.
It's the best RP and MMO experience I'll probably ever have.
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citizen059hello my name is citizenI'm from the InternetRegistered Userregular
I used to RP my character in Asheron's Call. I never found it that difficult; my method was to approach it as though I were just another NPC in the world for everyone to interact with.
There are so many misconceptions people have about how to RP a character effectively, and I think this is what kills it off. All you really have to do is just be yourself, since that's usually who your character winds up reflecting anyway. Just don't make references to the outside world. :P
According to your method that makes me a giggly female who likes to smash things. Hmm maybe I do need an operation.
Considering I wound up being a jovial axeman who liked to smash things, I can identify with this.
Friendly, outgoing, loyal to his friends, lethal to his enemies...the "regular guy" in town who avoids guild politics and drama and just enjoys life.
See, that's my problem. I have a hard time accepting that the characters(aside from being mentally unstable) would appear to enjoy life in a land that tries to kill them at every turn.
Just like I always have a problem with some happy go lucky 14 year old in a JRPG adventuring and smiling and flitting around when armageddon is looming.
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citizen059hello my name is citizenI'm from the InternetRegistered Userregular
Friendly, outgoing, loyal to his friends, lethal to his enemies...the "regular guy" in town who avoids guild politics and drama and just enjoys life.
See, that's my problem. I have a hard time accepting that the characters(aside from being mentally unstable) would appear to enjoy life in a land that tries to kill them at every turn.
Just like I always have a problem with some happy go lucky 14 year old in a JRPG adventuring and smiling and flitting around when armageddon is looming.
I can understand that, but in the setting of Asheron's Call, the Isparians (basically humanity) had successfully carved out their own pockets of civilization where they were able to live a fairly normal life. Naturally as the various story arcs progress, the tone of that life changes, but again - not everyone has to be dark and depressed. There's always going to be some optimists pulling everyone forward.
I should also say this, just in case there's any sort of misconception based on what I've laid out - just because my character was an optimist enjoying his life in Dereth doesn't mean he was oblivious to anything bad that might happen. He was enjoying his life under and often in spite of the given circumstances, just because that's my nature as well. Dealing with the negatives wasn't always a happy, sunny event, but that's just part of the RP. If you're going to do it right, do it like you'd expect to do it in real life.
But again, you can't let the hostile environment turn you into a dark, brooding hero/antihero type obsessed with the horrible state of the world, because really...that's depressing and the whole point of playing a game is to have fun. Some people might get off on that sort of thing, but playing that type of character just doesn't seem entertaining to me.
The Isparians had been there for like, 10 or 15 years. The world was still largely a dangerous and alien place.
And certainly, I would not roleplay a character like Tenebrous Shadowfell Darkness, I think my ideal would be serious characters who have the capacity for lightheartedness on occasion but were generally focused on their goals. Like, the Lord of the Rings cast for instance.
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So doing concepts and picking skills and clothing and such for the character and making nice flavor text for the character is enough. then everyone once in a while do some in character things. But most, technically all my chat is ooc.
:-p
I play a lot of female characters but I can't RP one. Selecting dialogue for a female character in a game like Mass Effect is one thing, typing my own dialogue is another. Any character I do RP uses a mind set very close to my own. Straying beyond an aspect of my own personality too far makes the dialogue seem forced instead of natural, so I gave up trying to RP any of the more "colorful" characters I've created.
Also the only MMO I'm currently playing is WoW, and WoW RP servers (as has been discussed) aren't really all that RP friendly. I started a character on an RP server a couple months ago and played up until I went to the capital city (Silvermoon in my case). Here I was greeted with the bullshit "Anal <link ability>" garbage that my normal server had gotten over more than a year ago. Seriously? On a RP server?
Unless you think up some wacky gimmick character, every single Orc is going to have pretty much the exact same background and whatnot. It's like being in a cover band, or playing a PnP RPG where the DM not only rolls up your character for you, but tells you what their backstory is except for a few minor details.
Plus, I'm just not that inspired by fantasy game settings.
CoX and now CO are very different stories, since there's a fuckton more leeway for me to create a unique character concept, look and backstory. Which I always do, since I know a character without an entertaining concept will get really boring for me really quickly. I don't do a lot of in-game RP'ing though, since I'm mostly soloing and the pre-determined RP hangouts seem really artificial and annoying.
That was probobly the only time I successfully roleplayed. But if I could find a real solid RP guild I would get into it again. I cant just RP on my own.
idiots think it's cool to troll the 5 actual RPers on those servers. I wish blizzard would actually enforce RP rules on those realms. There are shitloads of servers to play on, let those guys have their fun.
Personally, I don't RP my characters beyond like a 2-3 sentence background when I create them. (and the feeling of unease/disgust with certain quests with 'good' characters)
If there were actual 'enforced' RP servers, I might make a guy there to check it out / interact with people occasionally, but it wouldn't be a priority.
I loved DTB while it lasted. There wasn't too much RP going on, but when it happened, like the guild meetings, it was pretty awesome. It's a shame that once the server matured and people started hitting higher level and raiding, RP pretty much died out. At the beginning I actually had a few random in-character RP encounters with people out in the world, just running past each other or questing in the same area. Was nice while it lasted.
I don't really understand why people roll characters on RP-* servers when they have no intention of roleplaying. There are plenty of other servers out there. It's just dumb.
Well, sans the people going back to thier servers to raid thing, there was the problem of many people going to DTB just to join a fresh PA guild with no intent of RPing. And half those people left the guild at 60 anyway. But I will always remember the one time some random dude had this important 'meeting' thing outside UC and we all went as a group to represent out little guild.
The small group of people we did get who were serious about that RP were extremely fun to play with too.
Depends how much tram time your gonna give me
brownchickenbrowncow
Which is completely insane because it's a roleplay server, but somehow roleplay has become antithetical to my expected experience in World of Warcraft. I don't log on, after all, to sit around in an inn trying to prise the attention of the dude playing a girl character off the dude pretending to be a chick playing a girl character. What I *do* log on to do is to hang out with my friends and raid, away from the pressures of always having to worry if I'm writing well, and free from having to deal with the kind of inane characterizations that make me want to gouge my eyes out.
The small population of roleplayers is also a soul-crushing barrier to spontaneous RP. Unless you're part of an official RP guild, the odds that you're going to have an ongoing "plot" with someone is pretty low. If you don't have some sort of continuity, most interactions devolve into first meetings in bars or street corners. And at that point it's very hard to keep going, because seriously, by then: Who cares? You could stop RPing tomorrow forever and no one on the server would notice.
That's never a good feeling.
I'd love it if things changed, though. I'd love it if lots more people started roleplaying - and not just self-insertion, but actual, well-thought characters with human flaws. I'd love it if I could engage in long-term stories with people that gradually evolved over time into something that could fit into one, or maybe multiple, novellas.
I'd also love it if people would just stop hating each other, if Michael Jackson would come back to life just to sing me to sleep with Smooth Criminal every night, and if I had a toilet that ate poop and transmuted it into [Gold Bar]s.
PSN: ShogunGunshow
Origin: ShogunGunshow
I don't bother to RP with random passers-by. It's much more interesting to roll with a crew of like-minded individuals and see how the characters react to each other and the missions/quests that are unfolding.
Further, there are an insane amount of actions that are prevented by the limitations of said games.
That said, my character has always had a little bit of RP to him. I'm a fury warrior, and have always played that aspect up - I'm overzealous in doing damage a lot of the time, and generally enjoy just going crazy and cutting some bitches with my giant swords. Plus I stay Fury even when Arms is better DPS, to the disappointment of people I run with (though not really disappointment, as I have always, also, played very well).
How do those of you who RP deal with the contant, necessary game mechanics that are utterly incongruous with the world you're RPing in?
Serious answer: by ignoring them.
Although......I don't think anything is really "incongruous" with the Warcraft setting. If you think instant communication is any more ridiculous than...well...anything else in the game, I don't think you really thought it through.
How about killing the same dudes every week, and them always being surprised to see you?
Well, I can only speak for myself, but I never raided back when I was actually into RP, and never actively RP'd during dungeon runs (though I wouldn't say anything strictly out of character).
All the best villains where the horde players. Or ours, if you look at it the other way.
Raiding was fairly antithetical to RPing from the beginning. You'd have people who would leave their guild to join raiding guilds, and sooner or later, they'd just be focused on grindan new loots. I should know, it happened eventually to me.
Always played it out that the hearthstones everyone carried about not only allowed you to return to a safe place, but also magically contact any people who agreed to 'link' with your own stone. Seemed like a fairly simple answer at the time.
do play on an rp server though. it just seems natural to me to be loosely interested in actually becoming part of the world the game takes place in. fits more with the style. but that's obviously just preference and like I said, even after believing that, I don't really RP actively.
I don't actively RP, but I do slip into a sort of in-character mind set in any game I play. Anyway, for this, the first kill's the only "real" kill (since Ulduar, I've sort of reimagined it as the first hard mode kill is the only real kill). It's the hardest won, the most epic, and it's the one that gets celebrated the most.
The few kills after that, the fight's still hard, but there's always the point where you're really just clocking in to collect your loot. By that point we're just killing a big bug, the elite general of the lich king and leader of the Nerubians has been dead for weeks, this is just cleanup work on the leftovers.
As with the fury warrior above I am reluctant to change specs because they fit into my mental view of the character. My dwarf warrior will always be fury, a small raging whirlwind of ankle-crushing death. My orc on the other hand is protection, a steel-clad bulwark behind which his allies can shelter.
I don't think I could RP fully in an MMO though because it seriously impacts the advancement of the character within the game structure itself. I will save my RP for the freer world of pen and paper gaming and indulge my min/max side with an MMO.
My experience is a bit different - I'm in a top-end raiding guild on the server, so whenever I'm on I'm either raiding or getting prepped for raiding. No time to RP. A few of my guildies - including our Guild Leader - RP on the side, however.
For me, I guess my actions in-game and during raids fit a sort of "in-character" image I have - I don't do emotes or talk "in-character" or anything, but my cow does have a predilection to strip naked, get boozed up, and /flirt at random people.
I wish I had more time to RP - hell, I do it outside of WoW all the time. It's just... it just feels goofy for me to do WoW-related RP since I'm not really involved in the story, and being the sort of MMO that it is, there's not much opportunity for me to influence the game world.
Now, in Champions Online, my filthy RPer instincts run wild - I come up with crazy character concepts, write out backgrounds, the whole nine yards.
sup
wondered how long it would take you to find this thread
I used to RP a lot in MU*s and in PnP games like D&D, WoD. Still do, but it's so rare to find solid PnP groups any more. I used to pop up on stuff like OpenRPG as well, but only with friends and such. I've never tried a pickup D&D group.
There are so many misconceptions people have about how to RP a character effectively, and I think this is what kills it off. All you really have to do is just be yourself, since that's usually who your character winds up reflecting anyway. Just don't make references to the outside world. :P
This!
I think we should add in personal tips and things we do to make the game a bit more immersive...aka RP.
Personally, I 'interact' with NPC's. Citizen has the right idea- act like an npc!
When taking a quest reward I thank the npc (/thank), I use emotes during most quests I do (when with other people) and I generally am chatty even to NPC dialogue.
I will add in things, comment, talk to other players.
RP is not all about "FOUR SCORE YEARS AGO PRITHEE FORSOOTH" and "A/S/L/YAR/YAR/HUMP/HUMP"
Act as though your character has a vested interest in the game world and is not an autonomous kill bot and BAM you are RP'ing.
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I guess you could RP a well to do character, but then why are you out fighting? No well to do character I've ever seen had a good reason to be fighting other than "this is fun, stabby"
^also they die
I don't feel like I can be myself, because I don't feel that my personality would ever occupy the body of some battle-hardened warrior in a land constantly trying to kill him. And by the same token, I expect other characters to adopt a "likely" personality for that world as well.
I encountered this so frequently in NwN that I just migrated to "action" servers where nobody bothered.
But before I did that I munchkin'd up a halfling cleric/monk with high AC and lots of "searing light" spells to, *ahem*..."brighten" their days. :winky:
According to your method that makes me a giggly female who likes to smash things. Hmm maybe I do need an operation.
Well in my case it worked out - in AC my character was a high-strength/endurance/coordination axe warrior, with little magic to speak of. He was the "warrior" type through and through, so he was at his best in the thick of battle. Friendly, outgoing, loyal to his friends, lethal to his enemies...the "regular guy" in town who avoids guild politics and drama and just enjoys life. A dependable ally who doesn't make a lot of noise but is always ready to help no matter what the situation, and is damn near impossible to kill.
I'm a pretty optimistic type by nature, so combine that with my character and the fact that I routinely threw him into pits full of Olthoi...well it was the perfect environment.
(Standing in the middle of an Olthoi swarm...ahh, home sweet home.)
Great, I'm getting nostalgic again.
Anyway...I was just being myself, I just crafted my story and my character to fit the environment. It wasn't such a radical departure that my personality wouldn't fit. Not everyone in a hostile world has to be dark and gloomy. :P
It worked well for me, more so than I realized. I was never a "famous" individual on the server, my name rarely popped up in forum discussions...but when I finally retired from AC the number of people, both "famous" and not who knew me (or knew of me) in a favorable light was really humbling. In the end I did exactly what I set out to do, my character was to everyone exactly what he was to me.
It's the best RP and MMO experience I'll probably ever have.
Considering I wound up being a jovial axeman who liked to smash things, I can identify with this.
See, that's my problem. I have a hard time accepting that the characters(aside from being mentally unstable) would appear to enjoy life in a land that tries to kill them at every turn.
Just like I always have a problem with some happy go lucky 14 year old in a JRPG adventuring and smiling and flitting around when armageddon is looming.
I can understand that, but in the setting of Asheron's Call, the Isparians (basically humanity) had successfully carved out their own pockets of civilization where they were able to live a fairly normal life. Naturally as the various story arcs progress, the tone of that life changes, but again - not everyone has to be dark and depressed. There's always going to be some optimists pulling everyone forward.
I should also say this, just in case there's any sort of misconception based on what I've laid out - just because my character was an optimist enjoying his life in Dereth doesn't mean he was oblivious to anything bad that might happen. He was enjoying his life under and often in spite of the given circumstances, just because that's my nature as well. Dealing with the negatives wasn't always a happy, sunny event, but that's just part of the RP. If you're going to do it right, do it like you'd expect to do it in real life.
But again, you can't let the hostile environment turn you into a dark, brooding hero/antihero type obsessed with the horrible state of the world, because really...that's depressing and the whole point of playing a game is to have fun. Some people might get off on that sort of thing, but playing that type of character just doesn't seem entertaining to me.
And certainly, I would not roleplay a character like Tenebrous Shadowfell Darkness, I think my ideal would be serious characters who have the capacity for lightheartedness on occasion but were generally focused on their goals. Like, the Lord of the Rings cast for instance.
Then I guess ur doin it rite.