Putting the RP in MMORPG

Anslem · March 2013

When was the last time you role played in your game of choice? If that's your thing, of course.

When I played UO I would see people role playing often, usually silly shenanigans by the banks. Still, it was something.

So much of that game was player-story driven. I remember one time watching several guilds fight over a player-owned house that was about to fall and there were "server rares" supposedly in the house. A few folks pulled out chairs and sat nearby watching the fight and talking, ala Bill the Butcher in "Gangs of NY."

I never rolled on an RP server in WoW but maybe that could reinvigorate my excitement toward gaming again.

I never got too into the lore of Warcraft though. The upcoming "A Song of Ice and Fire" has a story line I know and love, but that game may not be promising.

Community driven is what rocked when I had fun gaming, going to find that again, even if I have to make a Game of Thrones subworld in Azeroth.

Sansa Stark would be such a damned alliance pantywaste. Obviously.

tazarconan · March 2013

From my expirience so far in mmorpgs rp goes along well under 2 circumstances. Community and what game provides.

If we are talking about a high fantasy based gameworld aka d&d worlds for example much of the game community will be ex pen n paper players,d&d fans and rp is synonynum to them and u ll see rp flourishing in this game. Also the game tools help alot . I used to play possibly the best multiplayer mod in nwn1 named d&d narc's blood and i witnessed loads of things and situations i never expirienced after 5 years in wow's best rp-pvp server. By roleplay keep in mind its not like ppl do some foolish childish acts like lets sit in the bar for a drink etc. When we are talking about good rp it means players actually act and behave in the game according to their character class,race , i used to party alot in narc's blood with a humanoid kitten like race fellow he always finished his senstences with a roawr and staff like that he was very easy to get upset and every time i teased him in public /say mode or mocked him with my barbarian he always got annoyed with grr and staff like that he was also greedy and always after the money (he was a rogue) he also convinced me once to abandon the rest of the party members after we looted a chest in a dungeon and run away (lol). What i mean in real rp games players try to stick in character behave and talk in a way that matches their toon's appearance and general what he is orc, human ,a noble elf etc etc and all that staff create alot of fun to witness around situations. Game masters if the game support this which is rare and hardalso provide rp situations and events. All thease things play their roll to really get an idea what a real role playing mmo game could be like.

Livnthedream · March 2013

Originally posted by tazarconan
From my expirience so far in mmorpgs rp goes along well under 2 circumstances. Community and what game provides.

If we are talking about a high fantasy based gameworld aka d&d worlds for example much of the game community will be ex pen n paper players,d&d fans and rp is synonynum to them and u ll see rp flourishing in this game. Also the game tools help alot . I used to play possibly the best multiplayer mod in nwn1 named d&d narc's blood and i witnessed loads of things and situations i never expirienced after 5 years in wow's best rp-pvp server. By roleplay keep in mind its not like ppl do some foolish childish acts.

I have to disagree. Without a dm/storyteller there to keep things moving it almost always turns into some trite fanfic crap, or retard level godmodding. Now, I do larp. I understand the "people" to an extent. It does not change the fact that the majority of it is terrible, just like every other peice of player created content.

tazarconan · March 2013

Originally posted by Livnthedream
Originally posted by tazarconan
From my expirience so far in mmorpgs rp goes along well under 2 circumstances. Community and what game provides.

If we are talking about a high fantasy based gameworld aka d&d worlds for example much of the game community will be ex pen n paper players,d&d fans and rp is synonynum to them and u ll see rp flourishing in this game. Also the game tools help alot . I used to play possibly the best multiplayer mod in nwn1 named d&d narc's blood and i witnessed loads of things and situations i never expirienced after 5 years in wow's best rp-pvp server. By roleplay keep in mind its not like ppl do some foolish childish acts.

I have to disagree. Without a dm/storyteller there to keep things moving it almost always turns into some trite fanfic crap, or retard level godmodding. Now, I do larp. I understand the "people" to an extent. It does not change the fact that the majority of it is terrible, just like every other peice of player created content.

In narc's blood there were always 2-3 online dm's interfering to various situations or creating random events with ppl not always know that they were dm's. As i said above rp quality has also to do with the players also if u r lucky and be in a server with goo rp'ers it can be loads of fun.

Livnthedream · March 2013

Originally posted by tazarconan

In narc's blood there were always 2-3 online dm's interfering to various situations or creating random events with ppl not always know that they were dm's. As i said above rp quality has also to do with the players also if u r lucky and be in a server with goo rp'ers it can be loads of fun.

Online dm's in that capacity are not economical. You will not see a major release that needs to cater to 500-1m players with them. It just will not happen. Even EVE is sparse on that front, and that is with a single server/instance.

As for "good" rpers, what would be your definition? In my 15 years of pnp and LARP, attending several large events, including being part of a local pirate troop, I have met very few.

LeaningKidGoku · March 2013

When I use to play FFXI (When it was first released) I roleplayed constantly as my character to point in our guild we was a family to the point we were, "Brothers & Sisters" to eachother and kept that to a serious point. It got to the point where I didn't even play to just level up and get stronger, I got on just to chat with the family.

I miss it all to this day and still keep in contact with most to this day, but I have to say theres a difference to some when they hear, "Roleplay." Sometimes it's like a quick, *Bump on the nose* and *Kiss on the cheek. But when I was playing it was,

* Ascending his index towards (The person) he gently gave him/her a slight tap on the tip of their nose.*

Lol, I know it sounds like a lot but trust me once a roleplayer always a roleplayer, but I can't find any games where they actually roleplay to that extent. If there is one in which they do, I am all for giving it a try.

SupportPlayerMM · March 2013

Once upon a time the people who played games and especially MMO's for that matter would all really put pride into their character and it seemed to me back in the UO/EQ days there were no troll names, a ton of guild pride and a lot of virtual only drama that heated up community interactions... Modern day communities aren't the same, very few care about drifting off in a virtual world under a new alias and most communities want to keep every game a casual experience(regardless to the 40 hours a week they spend in it) where their social traits revolve around IRL talk and removing themselves from the said reality. It isn't considered "cool" to role play so even people who stay in game, have a fantasy name and never retort to ooc conversations would deny being in character because they don't say "Thou must be tired, Cometh here and siteth upon my camp fire". Honestly all games should eliminate troll names by blocking most of them from the get go and not allow numbers to be a part of their name. I don't know if communities will ever feel as in-game involved as they once did but I assume there could be some ways to generate a better overall community.

LeaningKidGoku · March 2013

Originally posted by SupportPlayerMM
Once upon a time the people who played games and especially MMO's for that matter would all really put pride into their character and it seemed to me back in the UO/EQ days there were no troll names, a ton of guild pride and a lot of virtual only drama that heated up community interactions... Modern day communities aren't the same, very few care about drifting off in a virtual world under a new alias and most communities want to keep every game a casual experience(regardless to the 40 hours a week they spend in it) where their social traits revolve around IRL talk and removing themselves from the said reality. It isn't considered "cool" to role play so even people who stay in game, have a fantasy name and never retort to ooc conversations would deny being in character because they don't say "Thou must be tired, Cometh here and siteth upon my camp fire". Honestly all games should eliminate troll names by blocking most of them from the get go and not allow numbers to be a part of their name. I don't know if communities will ever feel as in-game involved as they once did but I assume there could be some ways to generate a better overall community.

Haha, you just explained my thoughts exactly. I remember when I use to think hard as hell for a cool ass name like, Lysander, Ryoku, and Oviian. I use to mostly try a japanese type name because for one im an anime fan-boy, and for two they have the best names in my opinion. Back in the day making a character I had to think hard on a name because of the fact it's a whole new world.., it's like naming a baby, if you fuck up on it you gotta live with it forever ( Or make a New Char.) And trust me I deleted my character and started over countless times just because of the name.

Now it's all, "N00bKill3r" or "Tr0llMan". Just by seeing players with names like that makes me want to quit the game, and start all over. But I just got use to it.

jtcgs · March 2013

Two weekends ago in Neverwinter beta. That is 100% due to the setting, not due to RPing aspects implimented in the game.

Sometimes it only takes a little in a game to give people reasons to do it....take WoW for example, one of my long time guildies never got to max level in that game because he roleplayed a drunk Orc most of the time.

He would even do it out in the field, start drinking all of a sudden and after a while he would start peeling off his armor starting fights off on his own, get killed, come back...yell at a tree for hitting him...

SupportPlayerMM · March 2013

Originally posted by LeaningKidGoku
Originally posted by SupportPlayerMM
Once upon a time the people who played games and especially MMO's for that matter would all really put pride into their character and it seemed to me back in the UO/EQ days there were no troll names, a ton of guild pride and a lot of virtual only drama that heated up community interactions... Modern day communities aren't the same, very few care about drifting off in a virtual world under a new alias and most communities want to keep every game a casual experience(regardless to the 40 hours a week they spend in it) where their social traits revolve around IRL talk and removing themselves from the said reality. It isn't considered "cool" to role play so even people who stay in game, have a fantasy name and never retort to ooc conversations would deny being in character because they don't say "Thou must be tired, Cometh here and siteth upon my camp fire". Honestly all games should eliminate troll names by blocking most of them from the get go and not allow numbers to be a part of their name. I don't know if communities will ever feel as in-game involved as they once did but I assume there could be some ways to generate a better overall community.

Haha, you just explained my thoughts exactly. I remember when I use to think hard as hell for a cool ass name like, Lysander, Ryoku, and Oviian. I use to mostly try a japanese type name because for one im an anime fan-boy, and for two they have the best names in my opinion. Back in the day making a character I had to think hard on a name because of the fact it's a whole new world.., it's like naming a baby, if you fuck up on it you gotta live with it forever ( Or make a New Char.) And trust me I deleted my character and started over countless times just because of the name.

Now it's all, "N00bKill3r" or "Tr0llMan". Just by seeing players with names like that makes me want to quit the game, and start all over. But I just got use to it.

I found myself changing servers a lot to find communities with the least amount of trolls I generally just go to RP servers in hopes of community.

LeaningKidGoku · March 2013

Originally posted by jtcgs
Two weekends ago in Neverwinter beta. That is 100% due to the setting, not due to RPing aspects implimented in the game.

Sometimes it only takes a little in a game to give people reasons to do it....take WoW for example, one of my long time guildies never got to max level in that game because he roleplayed a drunk Orc most of the time.

He would even do it out in the field, start drinking all of a sudden and after a while he would start peeling off his armor starting fights off on his own, get killed, come back...yell at a tree for hitting him...

I would love to meet this man. Lmao

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