My only roleplay in MMO's was in DAOC, SWG, and ESO. SWG was obvious because I got to live out my childhood dreams. I did Star Wars RPG games with friends in college so that was natural for me.
In DAOC, I was in a roleplay guild on Gaheris which was a non-RP server but the PVE one. It was a lot of fun and enjoyed. I RP'ed a Troll thane . I have had no desire to RP in any game since ESO though. I was going to in ESO and was with a pretty hardcore RP guild but it broke up after a short time. We had backstories and we would have like seasonal stories where characters would play roles and you would "act" so to speak. I RP'ed a Khajit and loved it for the very short time I got to do it.
For me, RP died with voice communication. I know others prefer it but it just makes it less immersive for me.
Posters have been talking about the difference between immersion roleplaying and 'actual roleplaying'. To me both are roleplaying, but unless you are interacting with other roleplayers what are you doing in a MMO that you could not do in a solo RPG? Immersion was born in solo RPG's but you don't have to carry on wearing what are in effect blinkers about the world of roleplaying in MMORPG's.
Ongoing development of the game, incidental cooperation with strangers, and buying what other players provide in the market are things a solo player can get in a MMORPG that they can't in solo RPGs.
Posters have been talking about the difference between immersion roleplaying and 'actual roleplaying'. To me both are roleplaying, but unless you are interacting with other roleplayers what are you doing in a MMO that you could not do in a solo RPG? Immersion was born in solo RPG's but you don't have to carry on wearing what are in effect blinkers about the world of roleplaying in MMORPG's.
Ongoing development of the game, incidental cooperation with strangers, and buying what other players provide in the market are things a solo player can get in a MMORPG that they can't in solo RPGs.
What incidental cooperation with strangers, just turning up for a world boss? Unless there is strategy involved, even unspoken strategy without live communication I don't agree. I do regard the use of an auction house as interactive though.
Posters have been talking about the difference between immersion roleplaying and 'actual roleplaying'. To me both are roleplaying, but unless you are interacting with other roleplayers what are you doing in a MMO that you could not do in a solo RPG? Immersion was born in solo RPG's but you don't have to carry on wearing what are in effect blinkers about the world of roleplaying in MMORPG's.
Ongoing development of the game, incidental cooperation with strangers, and buying what other players provide in the market are things a solo player can get in a MMORPG that they can't in solo RPGs.
What incidental cooperation with strangers, just turning up for a world boss? Unless there is strategy involved, even unspoken strategy without live communication I don't agree. I do regard the use of an auction house as interactive though.
Any incidental cooperation. That can't happen in games with only one player. It does regularly in MMORPG, with some more flexible in that regard than others.
For example, in ESO many abilities have effects that can only be triggered by other than the character that initially cast them. Any other character present can do so whether grouped with the caster or not. This can happen whenever more than one character happens to be near each other in combat which happens regularly just in the course of basic play, never mind world bosses.
The biggest issue, the elephant in the room if you will, is that RPG stands for "Role Playing Game" with an emphasis on the word Role. ?
So that's your definition?
What if someone puts an emphasis on the word "GAME"?
Are those people wrong, that they are taking what they want from a product and leaving something else behind? Their dollars aren't as valuable as yours, or they are a lesser market?
In a sense, perception is reality, or needs to be dealt with as such. Some folks just want the game part, and don't give a damn about role-playing. While I agree that the roleplaying aspect has inherently been a part of the genre, there are all sorts of way that could be interpreted. The "trinity" in a party is a role, isn't it, and plenty of games have given that choice to players, so they are playing that role.
Solution? Give players tool to play the way they want, and then let them decide how they want to play. As the article postulated, there is a reason folks that folks tend to drift away from roleplaying servers. Although some still enjoy small, tightknit communities.
The biggest issue, the elephant in the room if you will, is that RPG stands for "Role Playing Game" with an emphasis on the word Role. ?
So that's your definition?
What if someone puts an emphasis on the word "GAME"?
Are those people wrong, that they are taking what they want from a product and leaving something else behind? Their dollars aren't as valuable as yours, or they are a lesser market?
In a sense, perception is reality, or needs to be dealt with as such. Some folks just want the game part, and don't give a damn about role-playing. While I agree that the roleplaying aspect has inherently been a part of the genre, there are all sorts of way that could be interpreted. The "trinity" in a party is a role, isn't it, and plenty of games have given that choice to players, so they are playing that role.
Solution? Give players tool to play the way they want, and then let them decide how they want to play. As the article postulated, there is a reason folks that folks tend to drift away from roleplaying servers. Although some still enjoy small, tightknit communities.
ROLE Playing describes the TYPE of Game...
All time classic MY NEW FAVORITE POST! (Keep laying those bricks)
"I should point out that no other company has shipped out a beta on a disc before this." - Official Mortal Online Lead Community Moderator
Proudly wearing the Harbinger badge since Dec 23, 2017.
Coined the phrase "Role-Playing a Development Team" January 2018
"Oddly Slap is the main reason I stay in these forums." - Mystichaze April 9th 2018
There are various ways to roleplay. I have mentioned this before how I used to decorate homes for people in Everquest 2. My house used to have a lot of things for sale and when people came to my house to buy things they would see the way it was decorated and asked me if I would help decorate theirs. It was heaps of fun.
When I was playing Everquest 1 I belonged to a guild whose guild leader to put it mildly was an A-hole. He was the type of person that would place Ogre players in front of Solusek' Eye to prevent folk from zoning in to do Nagafen so our guild would get to do him. He was very bad when people asked to raid with us he would let them come and not roll on loot. So when people got stuck in planes with corpses piling up I would help them recover the bodies in spite of him scolding me many times about helping others who weren't in our guild. I would pretend to be this very silly housewife who never really listened to him and I guess he didn't want to attack a woman so he let it go.
I took on this role where I would go and help in spite of my guild tag and got two clerics to join me and I had access to a friend's paladin account I would use that to drag corpses to the entrance where my guild clerics would rez them. I would easily spend 6-7 hours helping when I could and I think it was a role I played. So it's not only about class roles but also about the character you're playing in a game.
Any incidental cooperation. That can't happen in games with only one player. It does regularly in MMORPG, with some more flexible in that regard than others.
For example, in ESO many abilities have effects that can only be triggered by other than the character that initially cast them. Any other character present can do so whether grouped with the caster or not. This can happen whenever more than one character happens to be near each other in combat which happens regularly just in the course of basic play, never mind world bosses.
That's really minor but yes it counts, my concern would be what other interactions has the game got, but sure that's strategy even if it is not being called out.
Comments
In DAOC, I was in a roleplay guild on Gaheris which was a non-RP server but the PVE one. It was a lot of fun and enjoyed. I RP'ed a Troll thane . I have had no desire to RP in any game since ESO though. I was going to in ESO and was with a pretty hardcore RP guild but it broke up after a short time. We had backstories and we would have like seasonal stories where characters would play roles and you would "act" so to speak. I RP'ed a Khajit and loved it for the very short time I got to do it.
For me, RP died with voice communication. I know others prefer it but it just makes it less immersive for me.
Any incidental cooperation. That can't happen in games with only one player. It does regularly in MMORPG, with some more flexible in that regard than others.
For example, in ESO many abilities have effects that can only be triggered by other than the character that initially cast them. Any other character present can do so whether grouped with the caster or not. This can happen whenever more than one character happens to be near each other in combat which happens regularly just in the course of basic play, never mind world bosses.
So that's your definition?
What if someone puts an emphasis on the word "GAME"?
Are those people wrong, that they are taking what they want from a product and leaving something else behind? Their dollars aren't as valuable as yours, or they are a lesser market?
In a sense, perception is reality, or needs to be dealt with as such. Some folks just want the game part, and don't give a damn about role-playing. While I agree that the roleplaying aspect has inherently been a part of the genre, there are all sorts of way that could be interpreted. The "trinity" in a party is a role, isn't it, and plenty of games have given that choice to players, so they are playing that role.
Solution? Give players tool to play the way they want, and then let them decide how they want to play. As the article postulated, there is a reason folks that folks tend to drift away from roleplaying servers. Although some still enjoy small, tightknit communities.
All time classic MY NEW FAVORITE POST! (Keep laying those bricks)
"I should point out that no other company has shipped out a beta on a disc before this." - Official Mortal Online Lead Community Moderator
Proudly wearing the Harbinger badge since Dec 23, 2017.
Coined the phrase "Role-Playing a Development Team" January 2018
"Oddly Slap is the main reason I stay in these forums." - Mystichaze April 9th 2018
When I was playing Everquest 1 I belonged to a guild whose guild leader to put it mildly was an A-hole. He was the type of person that would place Ogre players in front of Solusek' Eye to prevent folk from zoning in to do Nagafen so our guild would get to do him. He was very bad when people asked to raid with us he would let them come and not roll on loot. So when people got stuck in planes with corpses piling up I would help them recover the bodies in spite of him scolding me many times about helping others who weren't in our guild. I would pretend to be this very silly housewife who never really listened to him and I guess he didn't want to attack a woman so he let it go.
I took on this role where I would go and help in spite of my guild tag and got two clerics to join me and I had access to a friend's paladin account I would use that to drag corpses to the entrance where my guild clerics would rez them. I would easily spend 6-7 hours helping when I could and I think it was a role I played. So it's not only about class roles but also about the character you're playing in a game.
There are so many ways to roleplay.