F2P - A roleplayers paradise.

A lot of games are going F2P in one way or another these days.

The F2P model thrive on the core problem of most MMORPGs. There are always someone else before you who've done the quest you are about to do. The epic boss you are about to slay has already been slain by thousand of other players and then respawned, hence should you boast of the deed, you will only be met with laughter. To stand out from the crowd, you would either need to be stronger or -look different- than those who surround you.

1) Players who wish an edge over others and over the game itself can buy themselves to power. In a lot of those games it is not only possible to bring your character to a state you could have obtained "fairly" in the game by spending time playing, by means of real money spent, but also to buy power beyond the balance of the game. Hence a F2P game tend to put little to no value on keeping the game balanced, because it is the players desire to buy themselves to power that funds the game and keeps the servers running.

2) Players who wish for their character to stand out from the crowd can buy vanity items from the in game store. Combining cosmetic outfits both sold in the store and present to in game players might with a little creativity make it rather unlikely to meet another character that looks like yours.

It is something MMORPGs have largely ignored until now - human desire to stand out from the crowd and be unique. Sure there are crafting in most of these games that creates more options for putting together an outfit, but the chance that someone else around your level wearing the same stuff as you do is high.

To be unique in an MMORPG is to be known. To be known is power. Sure you can be known for your looks, and you can be known for your skills of playing the game and your characters strength. But it is highly likely that somewhere out there, there are other players and characters that are known for the same things. Bottomline is, you never really stand out. If you run through a crowded street, others will not stop and consider you unique. You are just one among thousand of other players in the game.

This is where roleplaying enters the picture. Roleplaying is not necessarily becomming your character or speaking in fancy language as many thinks. Roleplaying, in my opinion, is about creating a story for your character. You can identify with your character just like you can identify with a character you read about in a book. The interesting thing is that characters you read about becomes unique. There are no other character like Frodo in the Lord of the Rings novels, nor is there another Harry Potter, or Tyrion Lannister, each from their books. This is what roleplaying is about - making your character unique through story.

Let me give a few examples:

I played World of Warcraft during its beta and then some months after the game had launched. During those days I founded a guild, a holy order of knights. I met with others always roleplaying my character, and slowly the guild gained momentum. More wanted to be a part of the story. Within a few months the guild was one of the most known roleplaying guilds on the server, we had a lot of members, who became a part of the story. A bunch of unique characters that I can remember the names of to this day. And my character, despite him never reaching the highest level (because I was busy running the story), became famous. Characters I had never met treated my char as a king on open street, and other guilds became friends and foes as they themselves became a part of our story, and we became a part of theirs. In addition to this, my character became incredible powerful, one word from him, and all his followers would do as commanded, and if willing, our guilds allies as well.

Yesterday when I was playing the MMORPG "Age of Conan", just recently made F2P, I stumbled upon a fellow in the City of Tortage who was walking. Seeing someone walk in an MMORPG screams "Roleplayer", because he has no need of hurrying somewhere, he is looking for a story. I walked up to him and we began speaking. Soon we were joined by his comrades and a story was created between us. I do not remember the names of those I've been in a group with in AoC, they were just there when I needed them to complete a goal. Slay this or slay that. But the names of those people I met in Tortage I remember, because they became a part of my characters story, and my character became a part of theirs. They became unique.

In The Lord of the Rings Online I once met a female character. One thing led to another and soon the two characters were racing on horseback across green fields, ending up in the old forest by a lake where the sunlight able to get past the leaves above created reflections of stars in the water. There we sat, talking for hours while other players now and then rushed past us on some quest or another. In the middle of that leveling frenzy, we created a story.

And now to the point, if you are still here reading: The F2P model is a roleplayers paradise because as a roleplayer we do not have to spend real money on standing out either by buying ourselves power or unique clothing. We can if we want to, of course, but we can also simply choose to play the game without ever paying a single dime and play it for the stories we create and by those means have our characters end up unique.