Role-Player?

gameshogun

by Enosh at http://www.lostorder.com/vforums/showthread.php?t=57

 

You know I was thinking today, which I know is a bad thing, and I can remember a time when MMO's were about role playing, when they were still called MMORPG's. I honestly can't remember actually being "in character" myself for a very long time now, since the first couple of months of AC1 actually. That got me to thinking about exactly how we (as players in the genre of online games) got to where we are today.

First, I think we have the game development houses to blame. While the blame does not only rest on their shoulders it first falls upon them, because they give us the world, as well as the lore and history of that world to base our play acting on. Ultima online was the last MMO I played where there were a noticeable number of actual role players in the game (mind you I left that game some time in the summer of ’99 so it’s been a while). I believe that at least part of that relative abundance of role players was due to the reality of the game. True there was magic and adventure and what not to be found, but the game actually allowed a player to be, almost, anything they wanted to be.

In Ultima online there were those that spent their hours happily chopping trees and making bows before setting sail for some high seas adventure. Others found pleasure in finding the right seam of ore to mine to make a suit of highly coveted armor. Still others found their joy at the bottom of the most dangerous dungeon, or brushing the soot from their robe after taming a wild dragon. The point is there were many professions that did not require blood to be spilt or swords to be drawn. There were professions that allowed a player to put on the cloak of another identity, and go to work and have something to show for it after an hour or two. The system wasn’t perfect but it actually worked.

Since Ultima online we’ve seen MMO’s make a steady progression away from this more realistic profession based game play and towards a more adventure based, hero based style of play. Now this is not to say that I don’t enjoy laying the smack down on a big a^Hhuge monster once in a while, but if that’s all the game has to offer, there is less to actually develop a virtual, role played persona around.

I think role playing would be a bit more common and more enjoyable if there were activities out side of combat and adventuring for players to engage in. That said there is of course a fine balance between non-combat activities that are realistic and enjoyable and overly realistic and tedious. At times games that have tired to add a crafting system have managed to add something that takes so many hours of game play repeating the same set of mouse clicks over and over again as to make them feel more like work than most of our day jobs. Even still it is a very worthy pursuit to try to find that line and get as close as possible.

Apart from creating worlds where adventure is the rule without exception, some developers have delivered worlds short on lore and quest content in game. I can only speak on the games I have played of course, but I do not believe game developers have done enough in recent years to ensure the player can learn about the ongoing story of the game without having to leave the game and read a web site.

Of course that assumes that the game has an ongoing story.

Personally I think the game with the best in-game lore was Asheron’s Call 1. Now perhaps I’m biased by having played that MMO longer than any other, but I found the in game lore, while far from perfect, was a step in the right direction. The quantity of NPC that could be interacted with, and the scraps of books and other items with detailed descriptions added a deal of character to the game. Also it’s use of a novel and new mythos lent a fresh air to the back story, which was slowly revealed to the players as the on going story unfolded.

That said, Ultima Online did one thing right that Asheron’s Call failed to do. Ultima online allowed for player created, persistent books. Having large amounts of lore in game is all well and good, but for role playing to flourish, players must be able to leave behind their own story. If a player could write a tale and leave it in a library or at a bar or a remote chest in some hidden dungeon, they would have more motivation to think up and write that story. Of course in order to do it right there would be a rather massive administrative over head to prevent lewd, obscene and offensive out of character writing from being left littering the landscape but this could be done in part with a trusted volunteer core of reviewers.

We, the players, are also to blame. Between the “d3wds” and the “l33t”, many that would role play, even in the most strictly adventure based game, revert to the hack and slash style of play. With the sad fact that many grief players can and do play these games it is hard to really think of a solution. Perhaps if a game dedicated a server to the role players, and then set about to enforce and encourage role playing with in game, story based intervention and character transfers from world to world, the concentration of role players on one server would reach the critical mass necessary. I know that Everquest has (or at least once had) such a server, but I do not know first hand how well that experiment worked.

Also as the use of voice chat grows, it becomes harder for one to hide behind the curtain of text chat and wrap ourselves in the veil of another identity. Of course this is also partly a symptom of adventure based gaming. When adventure is the main focus, effective real time communication becomes more critical and thus the temptation to replace or supplement in game systems with external voice chat.

Still in the end it is the ultimate task of the player to actually put thought and effort into their character, and then live out that character in game, as well as to mentor those that will be taught to role play in game. Of course I’m terrible at that myself so “Hi, I’m a pot, how are you doing kettle”.

Well I’ve already lost the full head of steam I had when I sat down to write this so I’ll leave with this: perhaps some day the right combination of in game systems, in game lore, in game admin encouragement and the right players will come along and restore the RP to an MMORPG.

can’t leave a three page letter on the death of role playing without offering at least some hope though. There are development groups working on MMO projects that are listening. Shadowbane started that way, but sadly I think took far too long, with too much emphasis on PvP to really succeed, but still gives hope that developers can listen to the wants of role players. Should a company come along with Shadowbane’s willingness to listen and try to cater to role players and Turbine’s level of developer interaction with the players, there may be room in the market for a good RP based game.

Until that happens there are some things you can do to begin to bring about a renaissance of role playing. The first step always starts with the story. Write down a detailed bio of your character, preferably in the first person. Then study that bio and keep it should you ever need to refer to or post it. Then start basing your actions in game around that bio. Don’t worry about the actual language you use, the thee’s, thou’s and aye’s, but do try to keep the things you say and the things you do in line with the biography you’ve written. It can’t hurt, and if role playing is your thing it should be a lot of fun, especially when those you generally adventure with start to do the same thing when you’re around.

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My reply which can also be found at the original thread at by Enosh at http://www.lostorder.com/vforums/showthread.php?t=57



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Interesting, good observation, and touching.

I share everything that you've said. I noticed the same thing, Role-Playing in general when it comes to MMOGs (atleast, at MOGs or MU*s, still active though) has dropped significantly that you can't call them MMO"RPGs" anymore.

It's really sad. So I thought it was only at Ragnarok Online, now you opened up my eyes that it's the same problem with all the other supposedly MMO"RPGs". Sad thing to hear.

Well the companies will always cater to everyone be it a role-player or not. They don't care as long as they have income. That's always the hindrance. Unless these companies learned Role-Playing themselves and the FUN "in" it, we can't expect much from them. Look at .hack series, heck, they're talking OOC stuffs most of the episodes, and that's based on MMORPGs in the first place.

If we're only going to get such games in the future, then don't even create MMORPGs anymore.

You are correct. That's what I'm doing here in the Philippine Ragnarok Online, encourage everyone to Role-Play, teach them to Role-Play, and start Role-Playing eventhough we're getting criticisms that we are weird. (One reason why no one RPs anymore because they are told they're weird.)

In my guild "Holy Order of the Light", everybody is encourage (though not required) to Role-Play by atleast 75%. I cannot force them to Role-Play by 90% to 100%, they will leave.

In fact, many of my members were formerly Role-Playing haters, now they love Role-Playing (I'm not kidding). I saw and learned that if you start one, teach them, and "show" them, they'll know how fun it is to Role-Play, or go IC.

When pRO first went online last June 2, I am all alone in the battle to promote Role-Playing, now I'm not, we're in fact going to have a meeting of Role-Players, newbie RPers, and wannabe RPers to discuss how to further promote RP-ing in general and locally. Plus what stuffs we can offer the whole pRO community so they'll keep their eyes "on" eyes and watch us role-play.

The fight here at pRO is slow but we're winning every battle. We're looking forward to winning the war and hopefully we can bring it on other MMORPGs as well, especially the new ones like WoW.

- Seraphim WhiteLight (http://Holy-Order.org)

To add...

it's true, the developers have huge influence on this.

They must FIRST at all cost provide features like the real world. No not 3d stuffs or virtual reality, but as one mentioned (which we did at the MUD where I was an IMM or GM) is city election and country-wide elections.

If the "society-Basics" is provided (they already provided the Sims-like houses) then Role-Playing is indeed easy to pick-up from there.

I think we Role-Players should organize and list down the "society-basics" and email them no barrage the developers and new developers to do and provide those.

And oh, let's not forget "citizenship", and a very feature-packed guild system and party system. If possible, not level base and not skill base. Make it full blown reality-role-playing (which will be really really hard).

So there, society-basics I can think of right now:

Election (as was mentioned by one of the repliers)
Citizenship
Houses/Stores
Build ships, items, etc.
Kingdom creation (I only saw this in a MUD which I will not mention).
More races
let the classes be learned and not 'chosen' (as in the real-world)

what else?

 

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Latest report in the Philippine front line:

The move is growing.

We have adopted what Enosh termed as "Role-Playing Renaissance" and we're going to have a meeting soon and form the "Role-Players Association".

(Can also be found at http://ragnaboards.level-up-games.com/modules.php?op=modload&name=phpBB_14&file=index&action=viewtopic&topic=6367&38)

 

Hoping there'll be good response here as well and you'll join in this challenge to return back what was.

Have fun!!

 

 

http://Holy-Order.org (Holy Order of the Light)
http://Laibcoms.com/forums

Rasuke

Have to say this before I actually read all of it...

LONG POST!  I don't think many even go 1/50th the size of this one hehe...

I'll edit this and have a good response once I read...

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