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Poll: The roleplaying is better in text games. Y/N?
Aktillum
Member Posts: 22
Just gathering opinions, I was on a RP server on WoW and while I did get invited to join a guild and they had weekly meetings to talk about their guild agenda, I didn't feel like my character was actually contributing to the storyline of the game. Blizzard was always going to release a patch that updated the game and my character was just kind of a nobody in this huge game. Also everyone kept using 
faces on public channels which just ruins roleplay for me. Public channels are like telepathic communication, so I can't hear your smiley face
However in text games (I particularly play Iron Realms games like Achaea but others might be familiar with Simutronics, Gemstone IV, etc) the communities are always much more mature and I feel like my characters actions can actually have an impact. on the world. Like if me and my friends roleplay a bunch of bloodthirsty evil knights, and we go do a 'ritual' to blow up a small village, the admin staff might actually be watching us and really blow up that village for us. And then other players will hate us for blowing up that village. Little things like that could never happen in a 3D game.
Its like classrooms. World of Warcraft = a huge classroom where the teacher can't focus on all the students.
Text games = much smaller classrooms where the students can have a much better experience because the teacher is able to focus on them.
Comments
Nope,http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AtVSmLkaNBg probably nsfw, the ability to role play lies solely with the player.
I found that it's easier to be in character in the text form. I did come across a bit of bizzare rping once in EQ2 where the guild was using vent to rp it out. The beautiful elf templar had the voice of one of the hairy bikers and a troll sounded like a 8 year old american kid missing his two front teeth... just didn't work for me tbh.
You are right in the sense that if its text based rp, it does give you that moment to react, whereas with voice rping, it means that you can completely miss what someone said and tends to dillute the atmosphere a bit.
Text only RPGs have the best grafix anyways.
... what else can beat your own imagination ?
Using text is really the only way to rp without drawing attension to one's self and/or breaking immersion. If you can't act via voice then it can cripple peoples thoughts of you. Stick to text for rping. It just works better (not to say a bunch of drama majors couldn't have tons of fun voice acting with each other). I suppose this response was a little off topic, sorry.
IF WoW was you're only MMO rp experience then I dont find it strange you dint like it. not to bash WoW but there are very few RP guilds in that game that are any good. (in the "hardcore" type of rp speaking)
Its also a themepark game and those have a natural disability toward RP. In a good sandbox game (what is in basic a life simulation) in the right type of guild it can beat any and every txt game there is. a good rp guild or role-player will never ever use smilies or omw,wtf,brb. they will basicly do and type the same as in a text based game and you have a nice fancy gfx to watch.
While graphical mmo's and roleplay limited you somewhat pure text based game do the opposite and give you to much freedom, what one user thinks of a character is very hard to image since you image your own thing when you read words like.. "a slim dwarf whit a long grey beard dressed up in mithril armor bearing a shield whit a cross" the basics are there but it leaves allot to guess whit in a graphical mmo you actually see the character.
also never ever think you can be part of a games world lore, games are not made at all around roleplayers, everyone defeats evil mastermind Fireblazer the Wizard of all things and more. thats why theme parks have a hard time working for role-players.
im going to rp in sw:tor , but I bejust a <insert class> , a nobody, someone who does the thing he/she does for whatever reason he/she got but I know that everyone else will do that as well and at some point it will bore me and I stop playing. my best hope for a good rp friendly game will be archeage, else it will that other project that aims to continue the Far Far way story.
Sir, you just made my day...
"Only in quiet waters do things mirror themselves undistorted.
Only in a quiet mind is adequate perception of the world."
Hans Margolius
It is the demographic and intent. The younger crowd will stick with the graphics so you get a more mature crowd in a text based game. But those picking a text MMO do realise that it will be more involved, more rpg.
Thanks for the great thread. You really summed up the great fault of graphic MMOS. When we have the tech breakthrough that allows our stupid jock avatars to comunicate in a human manner and properly express our feelings with natural ease we might finally match the memorable immersion of the better MUDS,
Oh my god... this is so good... I have to try this mod out.
Thanks :]
SexuaLobster's Grease Portal
Nope,http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AtVSmLkaNBg probably nsfw, the ability to role play lies solely with the player.
Best thing i have ever seen in im life hahahahahahaha.
lol realy nice vid
your summed so great?i have to try this mod out?thank you?
More than 900 verbs (with multiple modifiers--in an 18 year old MUD) vs. 150 (plus or minus) emotes (no modifiers) in WoW.
The biggest difference is that graphically presenting an emote forces you to hardcode it; models, skins, animation. If the emote's animated presentation isn't exactly what you were looking for, oh well, try and RP around it.
Items and props: tens of thousands of custom-made fully-personalized items vs. a handful of dead props and some pets & toys (some of which are available only from cash shop). Again, anything you can manipulate must be modeled, skinned, and maybe animated, a very slow process.
We knew, prior to '97, that an animated MMO would straightjacket certain aspects of roleplay inherently. It doesn't mean that RP is impossible in MMOs (obviously); but it does mean that text is by nature a more RP-supportive format.
You will never ever see a GM ("merchant") doing custom alteration (personalizing) of items in an MMO--the player to GM ratio makes it pretty effectively impossible in any sizable game. In my MUD, the GMs could (and did) do several hundred items a day, custom items, to player's specs.
When's the last time you heard of a truly unique item in an MMO?
Self-pity imprisons us in the walls of our own self-absorption. The whole world shrinks down to the size of our problem, and the more we dwell on it, the smaller we are and the larger the problem seems to grow.
adding thousands of text commands won't help and won't be helpful. The kind of available tech im talking about is a web cam program that interprets your real life expressions, gesticulations and combat moves and displays them on your avatar. Language interpretation software converts your real voice imput into the tone and language of an orc - to another orc it would be english, to another race it would be in orcish.
I want weather effects that affect movement and health and visibility. I want crafting that require real skill for the high end (see tad william's otherland series). I want a game where real heroes are exceptional in their own way, not because they can grind better than me. I want pets that act like animals - you and they must earn the others respect and admiration. I want clan property to mean something. I want church bells to ring for marriages and taverns cater for clan meets with some imaginative input.
Im tired of people telling me it can't be done. It's this attitude that leads to a mighty company like Blizzards sad demise.
I'm usually RPing on graphics games because it's just what I prefer, but sometimes in the weekends I go to my dads house, he's got a cruddy computer so I mass play text-based games.
Dragon Tavern mainly. It's a way to pass the time, especially when you have 20 characters.
Personally, this is why I've stopped roleplaying on MMOs and simply enjoy the gameplay now. Since there are (relatively) few people on your average MUD, the admins have the time to snoop around and check on players. They can read your character bio and see where your character's coming from, so when they set up an event, they can figure a way to implement you. Events are common and a welcome addition to the game as they build a tight-knit community. Not to mention that MUDs can actually enforce roleplaying.
It's not WoW's fault or anything. The game just can't cater to roleplaying. Not because of the whole themepark/sandbox deal, but just because there are so many people playing. What is it, one GM for every 50,000 players? You can't blame them for being busy. That said, you can still find a great guild that knows how to roleplay - they are just much harder to find, typically not recruiting, and if they are, they are pretty selective. Again, it really has nothing to do with the mechanics of the game as you can still find great roleplay in WoW - it's just that naturally, WoW is not a good environment for roleplay, so the players need to put more effort in storytelling, setting plots, and organizing events.
I don't think so. In UO and EQ2 you RP to tha max.
^^ THIS ^^
Hahaha.....nice one. Thats what I call roleplay enthusiasm.
But seriously, text game roleplaying have proven so far to be much better choice for roleplayers.
I fully agree with that in text games, one of my favourite also achaea, that you can actually impact those around you. For example if I am in the Good city there (Shallam) and I want to piss off the Evil Mhaldor city, I can just go hunt their allied village in the Enverren swamps and castles, so then they get mad and maybe want to kill me if they find me hunting there. Just one example of the many ways text games in my opinion are stronger than visual 3-d games
Nope!
Its no where near as good!
Join STAR WARS: Age of Alliances!
Text based Role Playing for the win!
starwars.xidus.net 5500
d6 Star Wars Role Play!
LOL..... was only able to watch the first 50 seconds... had to stop lol.... indeed the roleplay lies with the player.
IMO it should have some balance with graphics and story telling. If want to read, I better get a book. OTOH, if i want to see graphics, I better go see a movie.
A well-written text MUD can create mental images that surpass any graphics. That is because they fully engage the player's imagination. They also proceed at a much more deliberate pace due to the fact everyone has to type. This allows time to think and craft your actions and responses - a much easier way to stay in character.
I wonder sometimes if this all will be going the way of the Dodo. Sort of like how at one time people sat around while someone read a book aloud, or huddled around each other in the living room listening to radio dramas. If so, I think we will lose something precious. All too often, the finest graphics reverse the process and make you a spectator, an observer rather than a participant.
If you really do like role playing and you've only ever donei t on an MMORPG and never on a text based game... You really should try a text game some time.
A good text game is really superior, there's just no way around that. It just is. The good ones sometimes supply you with pictures and maps to simplify things for your brain, tho not always.
Its just more immersive than an MMORPG that wasn't designed for it, which some are better than others, but still, none of them are designed for it.