Jump to content

RolePlaying, My hopes and Dreams from this game.


Linxie

Recommended Posts

TLDR: I hope to see systems that support a heavier & immersive base of RP.

Note, no idea if this is the right place to post it.

 

The RP I speak of:

Classic RP, with /emotive and in /say Text basis with simple D&D rolls on aspects. 

 

The back bone:

So in a lot of games in the recent RP is often pushed aside, and often the community is the group that has to pull together to make a proper RP collective. - External Websites and such to unit RP under one banner and so on, choose a RP Hub... and so on so forth.

 

So what I hope is that the systems in place will be there to also not only have the gameplay fun but detail more RP aspects, in an Optional manner... 

With In-game support for the RP community, like a few details where everyone can add in details, like a status, Character looks, history and any other details the writer chooses (Moderate the 18+ out if the developer has hands on with it. IE: no more "Warcraft goldshire effect")

 

Next is the group of people who think RPing is purely for fat people in their basements with no life, and their idea of fun is Killing and making fun of the RP community... I ask there be a form or reporting people for this annoyance, or immersive breaking... it is not fun when a group for example could be doing a escort mission and folks jump in that are NOT apart of planned RP events jumps in and kills everyone.

 

I am unsure of the gameplay so I can't assume as much, so please keep the small group of people who enjoy this aspect of games...

 

 

What I would be drooling over:

- Emotes for characters... - LOTS OF THEM! different sitting styles to different walking ways, things that define characters.

- Creative clothing choices and crafting where we can edit clothing, attack bags or belts to clothing with drag and snap on way...

- in-depth character creators... Something like Black Desert online... 

- A detail chat system, and RP addon tools... Like above a Character sheet to add in character details. *nod* (For non Rpers It can be used to add their achievements or a Fraction Alignment.

- Knowing cosmetics COULD be a buy on the store, keep in mind, should be at least decent looking clothing for non-store things.(assuming)

- A good tutorial base intro... A simple break down on RP, just to inform that people do these aspects and external link to forums to show a guide or so on.

- Knowing only a little there will be factions in the game, and RP community will be a buzz over it, to make it more detail could there be an In-game "data base" where you can see status of each person.. who is on the "Kill list" or something like that, with the about and history of the character is there to be seen... the Current status can be locked to when you meet the character...

This can be interesting as factions war and you have bounty hunters where you can 'give a usb' to the hunter with the details your character knows about X to hunt...

 

 

I hope some of this helps in some way!

Ask questions.. :D

- Li Li 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

+1

 

Would be nice to see a developer put some thought and effort towards the Roleplayers of the gaming community. Can't deny there has been a lot of neglecting for the past several years. Everything in this post gets a fat upboat from me. 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

TLDR: I hope to see systems that support a heavier & immersive base of RP.

 

 

Next is the group of people who think RPing is purely for fat people in their basements with no life, and their idea of fun is Killing and making fun of the RP community... I ask there be a form or reporting people for this annoyance, or immersive breaking... it is not fun when a group for example could be doing a escort mission and folks jump in that are NOT apart of planned RP events jumps in and kills everyone.

 

 

 

 

I hope some of this helps in some way!

Ask questions.. :D

- Li Li 

 

Welcome, I am not sure how much of the Dev blogs you have read to get an understanding of the overall game. 

 

While RPing is expected, and can take many forms, but I dont think you will get this. I'm sure for flat out harrassment there will be some sort of system in place, but I hope the take Eves viewpoint an are passive about most thing. I am sick of these games that cater to the 12 year old and must create a 'safe space' for evey time they get but hurt from something.

 If I cant attack someone just because they are RPing a scenario, then I would just always be RPing a scenario where no one kills me. Or maybe I was roleplaying a scenario where I attacked your escort, whos RP takes precedence then? The game will be a single persistent universe, meaning everyone is present in one world. While you can create what ever scenario you wish and RP it as you choose, you cannot expect others to follow along with it. Unless you have the military might to stop them, others can and will kill you or blow up your ships. 

 

Now there will be the pvp free zone around the Ark, here you will at least be free from someone killing you and blowing up your stuff. 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Welcome, I am not sure how much of the Dev blogs you have read to get an understanding of the overall game. 

 

While RPing is expected, and can take many forms, but I dont think you will get this. I'm sure for flat out harrassment there will be some sort of system in place, but I hope the take Eves viewpoint an are passive about most thing. I am sick of these games that cater to the 12 year old and must create a 'safe space' for evey time they get but hurt from something.

 If I cant attack someone just because they are RPing a scenario, then I would just always be RPing a scenario where no one kills me. Or maybe I was roleplaying a scenario where I attacked your escort, whos RP takes precedence then? The game will be a single persistent universe, meaning everyone is present in one world. While you can create what ever scenario you wish and RP it as you choose, you cannot expect others to follow along with it. Unless you have the military might to stop them, others can and will kill you or blow up your ships. 

 

Now there will be the pvp free zone around the Ark, here you will at least be free from someone killing you and blowing up your stuff. 

 

This ^

 

But i'd like to add to the RP side of things here.

 

If you want to RP a escort mission and don't want to get attacked by pirates or other players then you will have to 'RP a Protection Service'. You will have to sort out the aspect of getting someone or a group of people to follow your escort to and from it's destination and protect it in case of other players.

 

In my mind the whole game is one big RP game.

 

The players need to decide the rules, the players need to make the cities, the players need to design the ships, the players almost make up/ design everything but the planets and Arkships.

 

If you really really don't want people to attack you when you are RP'ing a escort mission, or any RP event for that matter, then you can create you own game laws to account for this. The only thing is you will need to back up your law with punishments ect like real world laws creating a whole level of politics to your RP now.

 

However like 'DD' said, if you want a totally 'free to RP as you like' situation without worrying about other players i'm afraid you might be out of luck. The only restricted PvP area that we know about is the starting Arkship that you spawn on (and potentially Alien Ruins, but that's not confirmed) and i hope it stays that way.

 

I'm all for RP, but RP that is created through the systems in place using the emergent gameplay idea of Laws and Politics ect. any dedicated system would be immersion breaking for me.

 

nora,

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Was more of an example first of all, but what the main idea is that, it is not fun being grieffed for being a RPer at times.

 

I don't want to have to deal with a group that their main ideal is to come in and always attack the RP group, I really don't mind random events taking place while RPing...

 

I am purely worried on the aspect of being hunted for RPing, as most RP will not be always in our ships dog fighting... Like in many other RP-PvP MMORPG, there are groups that purely there to hunt and RPers and think it is fun to call us names and just kill us on a continues note while all we are doing is non-attacking RP... I will fight back when attacked, but when bombarded and never having a peace time in limited time to play and enjoy my aspect of gameplay it isn't fun anymore.

 

The RP community always sorts its own rule sets out in that aspect, but we can't control Trolls who soul idea of enjoyment is to ruin ours.

 

 

________

Either way this is not the reason for my post, as it was PURELY an example as said... - The idea is that there would PLEASE be added support for the heavier RP community in general.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Was more of an example first of all, but what the main idea is that, it is not fun being grieffed for being a RPer at times.

 

I don't want to have to deal with a group that their main ideal is to come in and always attack the RP group, I really don't mind random events taking place while RPing...

 

I am purely worried on the aspect of being hunted for RPing, as most RP will not be always in our ships dog fighting... Like in many other RP-PvP MMORPG, there are groups that purely there to hunt and RPers and think it is fun to call us names and just kill us on a continues note while all we are doing is non-attacking RP... I will fight back when attacked, but when bombarded and never having a peace time in limited time to play and enjoy my aspect of gameplay it isn't fun anymore.

 

The RP community always sorts its own rule sets out in that aspect, but we can't control Trolls who soul idea of enjoyment is to ruin ours.

 

Understandable, but if there is enough of the RP'ers playing the game you could ban together and make a RP planet where you all are based.

 

If you set the rules there and someone comes in to attack then they are breaking your laws and every RP'er could rally to help or defend.

 

I understand your concerns about the 'RP Hunters' but everyone will have that person/group that is just out to get them given that they do something they don't agree with. It is still early to say what will happen in the game, but if there is ever a problem like that i'm sure there are people you could 'employ' to get revenge or assist you in defending yourself.

 

Other than defending/employing defense, I'm not sure how you would counter the 'RP Hunters' as you couldn't ask for special privileges as their RP might be hunting you. Like 'DD' says, who's RP wins?

 

How would you like for the 'RP Hunters' to be dealt with or how would you like the system to work to protect you? Given that you cannot restrict other peoples actions by implementing it.

 

Ideas for protection or changes to how the game is played are constantly being taken on board by the Devs so if you think of any way to help RP in the game, it might be listened to. :)

 

nora,

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Emotes came up a while back and it got some good feedback. The NovaQuark community manager, Nyzaltar, responded positively, asking for some emote ideas. You should check the thread and add your specific emote ideas. https://board.dualthegame.com/index.php?/topic/366-emotes-sitting-on-chairs-leaning-against-a-wall-more/

I'm all for detailed character creation and a place to write about background, etc. We don't have any solid info on this yet but nyz has said it is something they consider to be important.

Regarding protection from griefers, I'll just add a little to what DevisDevine and nora have said. A defining aspect of this game is the continuous single shard cluster. Every player lives in the same virtual world. It is a single story, a story of rebuilding a civilisation, and every player has a piece of it. So essentially there is a single roleplay that includes and impacts everyone and therefore has much greater meaning than isolated roleplaying. Incorporate this into your role playing by knowing that there are nasty characters out there. There is strength in numbers but there is also strength in preparation, innovation and many other things besides.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Emotes came up a while back and it got some good feedback. The NovaQuark community manager, Nyzaltar, responded positively, asking for some emote ideas. You should check the thread and add your specific emote ideas. https://board.dualthegame.com/index.php?/topic/366-emotes-sitting-on-chairs-leaning-against-a-wall-more/

 

 

I'm going to be a dear and add to your link here by showing a tweet of emotes in action. Yes it's only a screen shot but it shows that emotes are 100% in the game already.. Link: https://twitter.com/dualuniverse/status/738077235211538432

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 1 year later...

In such a game, you can't introduce roleplay out of nowhere like scenario, character creation, lore creation. The world will evolve out of the control of any GM. And the lore is simple when the game will begin : we all were on Earth just some minutes ago, in our mind. So any lore is litteraly beginning the day of the last DU server wipe.

 

It is more a "RP event" kind of game, with an objective and a team. And they deal with real attacks, real problems, real personnality.

 

As for me, roleplay in this kind of game should be limited to this : define a Big Objective, define a method to reach it in the long term and choose some behavior rules. And the most important : stick to it whatever it happens and stay consistent. But it doesn't imply a different kind of gameplay ingame like talking and acting weird.

 

The griefer part is a real issue. I like the concept of full PvP full loot, because it induces real behaviors, real alliances, real need of protection, in short, the foundation of any civilisation. But for some, PK is the core of their gameplay because unlike real life, there is no death penalty nor lifetime jail for murder. So  this is easy to target carebears and above all, this is riskless ! A game developement studio will never introduce  a temporary ban if the player is caught and put in jail.

 

This is the main unbalance when dealing with the PvP/PK issue in any game. They only have rewards and no punishments.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

1 hour ago, Jon Oxdale said:

In such a game, you can't introduce roleplay out of nowhere like scenario, character creation, lore creation. The world will evolve out of the control of any GM. And the lore is simple when the game will begin : we all were on Earth just some minutes ago, in our mind. So any lore is litteraly beginning the day of the last DU server wipe.

 

It is more a "RP event" kind of game, with an objective and a team. And they deal with real attacks, real problems, real personnality.

 

As for me, roleplay in this kind of game should be limited to this : define a Big Objective, define a method to reach it in the long term and choose some behavior rules. And the most important : stick to it whatever it happens and stay consistent. But it doesn't imply a different kind of gameplay ingame like talking and acting weird.

 

The griefer part is a real issue. I like the concept of full PvP full loot, because it induces real behaviors, real alliances, real need of protection, in short, the foundation of any civilisation. But for some, PK is the core of their gameplay because unlike real life, there is no death penalty nor lifetime jail for murder. So  this is easy to target carebears and above all, this is riskless ! A game developement studio will never introduce  a temporary ban if the player is caught and put in jail.

 

This is the main unbalance when dealing with the PvP/PK issue in any game. They only have rewards and to punishments.

I agree, having no punishments can cause a big difference in behavior of some people when they play games like this. 

 

I do believe though, that in DU there is still punishment. The people who have this behavior (going round eliminating people) are most likely going to be targeted and regarded as high-value targets by governments in colonies or large planet civilizations or even bounty hunters seeking a profit. This will discourage them to commit their crimes as they will gain a very high reputation, which if you are a pirate or murderer, will only result in the destruction of their possessions (ships, possessions on the character). This alone is a big punishment because it is apparent that ships are VERY costly to produce not to mention that you will maintain your rep even after death.

 

So I'm pretty sure people preying on other players isn't going to be a big issue, you might have the occasional encounter with a person who is bent on destruction but life is full of unexpected encounters, and that is something that we will have to just accept as this game makes up for this problem in so many other areas. 

 

I haven't had the opportunity to experience this game yet but from what I have seen the devs have thought thoroughly about how everything from the RP side to game mechanics is going to work. Hopefully, they reach the full potential of this game and make a space MMO like nothing ever seen before.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

To me it's possible to create a scenario and plays it in a full PVP MMO, as long as the players involve in such roleplay activity considere that loosing is also a possible outcome of a scenarised event. If we accept to loose because of the involvment of unwanted party within our scenario, then the RP experience will offer a great benefit to everyone. And the ''RP Hunters'' will loose their ability to disturb other players experience.

 

Roleplaying often means creativity, then a defeat in PvP, may result in interesting outcomes to plays.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Yeah, it's a slight text wall, but potentially interesting for some here. Recap is in bright green down here. If you have problems with colors, it says TL;DR in front of it. Duh. Foolproof.

 

Mostly in response to the last statement, but also the general topic, perhaps it should be said (for the dear reader right now who may or may not have had much RP experience or interest, and even for those with RP experience) that...

 

Many people define or view roleplay in a different fashion

 

I think that's generally the gist of it.

 

A little excursion or addendum - just skip it if you don't want my views on how RP is viewed in general or how you could break it down a bit:

Spoiler


My own experience is somewhat diverse, I like to think. No, I never sat in front of a table, rolling some di(c)e, nor did I run around in the woods in some costume or pretended, for those into LARP and whatnot. My experience is solely "digital", but even that is highly diverse or can differ. There's many different technical genres that dictate how RP would look like in greater detail. There's also many ways to define it.

 

I generally apply or divide into two categories: Active and passive RP

 

Of course you can define or divide or categorize further, but that's something that let's me easily explain it to non-RP'lers too. Speaking of "non-RP'ers" like there's an "us and them": Please keep in mind there's no "unified RP front", at least in my book. To close this off, I refer to the big centered message above. Some people are into X, others into Y, some a lot, some a bit.

 

But back to "active" and "passive" RP - what's that? Simplified, passive RP is a playstyle where text is a dominant form of playing out a role. Usually seen in (classic) MMORPGs due to how those games are coded or work, on average. Active RP on the other hand would incorporate gameplay into the roleplay. Think of all these life mods in the game "Armed Assault" where actual skill is part of the RP or gameplay, such as you actively driving around in a vehicle, you actively using weapons, you actually shooting, instead of, say, describing combat in text form which bears pros and cons or restrictions.

 

On a personal note, I was never really a fan of pure passive RP, it often looked odd, people / characters standing near each other, staring and texting. It doesn't feel as immersive to action going on and time dilation comes into play sometimes, making things odd. In addition, there's a huge quality gap between private communities in, say, shooter or first-person based RP games or mods and classic public MMORPG servers for example. Private communities can run quality control or define their own rules and settings, whereas any Mary Sue snowflake will be drawn to classic MMORPG RP. Trust me, I've seen enough shit over the years in both types of communities, private run communities also have problems but on average a bigger feeling of immersion or quality control and in case of disputes, admins can step in. In MMORPGs... well, you just have to get along somehow in that wild west setting, quality-wise.

 

But enough ramblings about quality. On a closing note, "Passive RP" and "Active RP" does not always have to be mutually exclusive. For example, in some games, such as good old Garry's Mod, you can find RP servers that kind of require or offer both, dynamically. Other modded servers or communities largely only offer one depending on the genre. You will not find much "passive RP" in Arma life mods for example, and basically only find it in MMORPGs.

 

 

 

 

Alright, those still relatively short ramblings above kind of describe how I view things. Some people like this, some like that. I, for one, started all that in MMORPGs but when I discovered communities where active gameplay was part of the whole RP shebang, I started to prefer it more. It all had more flow to events, was more thrilling, appeared better than playing a text and walking simulator in some MMORPG in essence.

 

In my honest opinion, with the notable gaps I see between average MMORPG RP and living (and surviving) in such sandbox universes, I don't think the "classic MMORPG RP'er" will be having a good time depending on their expectations. Now, you can throw tomatoes at me, but after years of having been around these and other people, I like to think I can compare a bit. I've noticed that what I would call "average MMORPG RP'er"s usually have less of a thick skin and are relatively quickly offended. Mind you, I do not speak for all but I have seen a few patterns over the time in various people.

 

In most MMORPGs I've seen there may be "RP servers" around, but often those were just labels bumped on a server, there was no deeper "quality control" from the devs. End result was that many non-RP'ers would also play there or people who wanted to annoy RP'ers. In a nutshell, as RP'er you had to share the server with non-RP'ers. Sometimes people (drunk or not) would annoy RP'ers by running around them or shooting some AOE skill with lots of visual effects or noise into or at the characters, to annoy or distract. Some people almost threw hissy fits about it in local say chat or whispered that to me where I could simply blink and shrug.

 

And this ties in to your quote there, to some extend: 

8 hours ago, Deirdre Skye said:

To me it's possible to create a scenario and plays it in a full PVP MMO, as long as the players involve in such roleplay activity considere that loosing is also a possible outcome of a scenarised event. If we accept to loose because of the involvment of unwanted party within our scenario, then the RP experience will offer a great benefit to everyone. And the ''RP Hunters'' will loose their ability to disturb other players experience.

 

Roleplaying often means creativity, then a defeat in PvP, may result in interesting outcomes to plays.

 

What I basically want to say is: People who come here with a fixed definition or idea of how to roleplay should perhaps reconsider or expand their horizons or try something new. This isn't a classic RP game or MMORPG-RP scenario where people can live in their bubbles and pretend anything. This will be, very much, an active setting as it's a sandbox game with emergent gameplay. Safe-zones aside, if you run around or mess with people in an RP context or not, then:

 

You will have to expect to lose

 

In other words I'd describe it as "RP-PVP" or something. It's something I personally like, RP'ing in such sandbox games in such a fashion where it is mild and yet very seamless. Some games offer this by default due to how they work, I'd say Star Citizen and Dual Universe would be among such games. People already "roleplay" to some extend by creating groups, cities, ranks, pretend they are someone else or at least appear on state with titles, ranks and so on. With a bit of mild immersion you can already have a blast and good time and lose yourself in the game (world).

 

In the end I don't want to or cannot really convince people with vastly other goals or views on "RP" to change their ways. But I highly encourage anyone to get out of the "MMORPG-RP bubble mentality" if you want to do anything remotely connected to RP in Dual Universe.

 

My suggestion: Embrace the open-ended sandbox or "RP-PVP" mentality that will persist and you'll have a good time if you incorporate losses or the on-goings of the server community into your gameplay and interact with the general community instead of trying to create your sealed (RP) bubbles where you "passive" all day. I mean you can do that and that's fine, but if you're open to more, you'll likely have a better time.
 

TL;DR In a nutshell, my point basically is: Open your mind or expand your horizons and you'll have a better time. Losing can be part of the fun and not everyone can always win anyway - whether in an RP context or not.

 

On a closing note, I also try to avoid using the terms "RP" or "Roleplayer" by and large. In the past in Star Citizen and group promotion, it was shown that the term itself confused some people at times, and as stated way above, there's still wildly different views and (mis?)conceptions about that.

 

I, instead, like to speak or talk about immersion. Something anything can relate to, or do so better at least. I want to mix up things and have a seamless experience where, at a second glance, you make it so that you and those around you already are kind of "roleplaying" by playing what you portray, whether that is some pirate, businessman, faction leader, trader, diplomat, etc.

 

As this is a modern setting, it's also fairly easier to do for all. You don't have to speak in some odd twisted language or wording. You just play your role and immerse yourself mildly at least. You can still do anything including hardcore super serious passive RP, but nothing will really annoy you if you stop expecting this to happen from everyone or everywhere and just laugh at other stuff.

 

Okay, enough text for now. Don't throw stones at me.

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

If your "RP" makes you an easy target, you will get hit.

 

So weave your RP into the fabric of the game, there will be no "special protections" for RP-centered activities. There's nothing stopping you from integrating a healthy dose of RP in the way you play the game, but it needs to seamlessly fit with the nature of DU's game play.

 

I'm sure we'll have emotes, and with luck we may even be able to sit in chairs !

 

As far as MMO's providing specific RP support, that concept died long ago due to the ROI on developing those features. The user base that uses them is simply too small to make it cost-effective.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

19 minutes ago, NanoDot said:

As far as MMO's providing specific RP support, that concept died long ago due to the ROI on developing those features. The user base that uses them is simply too small to make it cost-effective.

Citations please? Case studies? Comparative analysis? 

What about the large player bases who use and enjoy the role play features in WoW and LotRO for instance.

 

I would perhaps argue that Role Players avoid games where there are no penalties for negative, oppressive, or anti-social behavior.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

19 minutes ago, Tordan said:

What about the large player bases who use and enjoy the role play features in WoW and LotRO for instance.

What % of the overall playerbase do they represent ? And what kind of "RP-specific" features are they using ?

 

MMO developers look at the metrics of player activity to decide where to spend their dev time. Most devs would jump at the chance to increase player numbers, so if they're ALL "ignoring" the RP crowd, my guess is that their data simply doesn't support spending money on that niche...

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I have not played LOTRO and not much WoW in RP, but spoke to someone who was actively involved in the RP there in some special official event organizer role or similar a decade ago and if I remember his stories right, it was on a relative decline.

 

From my own experience in a hand full of MMORPGs, RP never seemed to be long term Dev focus or officially supported or moderated through employees. And frankly, RPers do not need much if you think about it content wise. Sure, clothing, etc. But RPers mostly generate their own content. The other PvP and PvE crowd kinda expects regular or reoccuring content additions and care.

 

RP servers in MMORPGs were often just labeled as such to let RPers "rally" there, but never saw any special rules apply as far as I know or have seen in a few games. SWTOR even had a disclaimer for this when you clicked on the RP server.

 

RPers may not need much to start doing their thing, but at the same time (or due to this?) never seemed to have received overly much dev attention.

 

They, in the end, just seem like a niche group in comparison to the overall community they exist in.

 

Keep in mind I mean all of this in a subjective and generalized fashion regarding your usual theme park MMORPGs.

 

Exceptions and so on can or will obviously exist.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

5 hours ago, Tordan said:

I would perhaps argue that Role Players avoid games where there are no penalties for negative, oppressive, or anti-social behavior.

If that is the case they better stay in the safe zones as there wont be penalties for negative, oppressive, or anti-social behavior in DU. Its the wild wild west out there!

 

Then again, what is stopping some role players pretending they are pirates and start attacking, robbing and pillaging?

 

Ah the fun of role play, and, DU ;)

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

At the very end, rp depends mainly on you. DO it should you like it, or don't if do not like it, what matter is the experience you gather from it. Because we don't work on DU, we PLAY. I believe we should not forget it: DU is a game, and the roleplay is just another manner to benefit of this game. On a personal scale, I believe that rp enrich the game, give it a special flavour, but I won't forget the rest of the gameplay when I'll roleplay.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I suppose that's one way to put it.

 

Perhaps, to try to explain it to people who do not think they have a solid grasp of what roleplay can be about, here's another attempt to put it and maybe encourage it, at least very very mildly:

 

I want you to think of a great game you have played. An immersive game, perhaps an RPG or just a good shooter with a storyline that gripped you at one point and made you wonder what could happen next. That drew you into the story or plot and your character or the challenges. Now I want you to think of a few good movies that slowly dragged you into the setting or plot. For me, it's usually any good RPG, but it can also be a shooter. I generally like to play roles or mildly pretend or immersive myself in the more modern TES or Fallout games for example. On the other hand, I must admit I had a great time playing Call of Duty: Infinite Warfare. I simply liked the plot and changes, and challenges you went through, cliché story or not.

 

In all those games or movies, do you really always mentally detach yourself from the setting? Do you just see protagonist, antagonist, NPC, movie actor? Would that even be fun? I personally doubt it.

 

And that's what, in my book, RP is or should be all about in games and online or even in singleplayer. Try not to force yourself to see yourself as some dude or gal sitting on front of the PC all the time, only playing a game. Well, I mean technically that is what is happening, but with just a bit of "head canon", imagination, that is, it can be so much more fun and you do not have to pretend you're suddenly an actor or a very different person.

 

For me, it's basically a fun booster. A big one, even. And I think more people subconsciously "RP" or apply such elements to their groups than they like to think. At least I get that impression when I look at countless great organization promotions here, including the big ones. Sure, if you read between the lines or take it at face value, many posts or ads do not have to hint at a special RP level or "classic RP" at all - at the same time, all the wordings, promotions, ads look like they come from organizations that would or do basically exist in the game world and all these groups will interact with each other.

 

That's, kinda, already roleplaying.

 

---------------------------------------------------------

 

Perhaps my point I want to try to get across here to others smirking when they hear roleplay is:

 

In reality, it can be or is much more diverse and dynamic than just a bunch of whiny kids or adults trying to play in their bubble-sandbox and complain when anyone tries to disturb their little dream worlds or playgrounds. Yeah, those people also exist and I kind of dislike them, but on the other hand they usually can be found in classic themepark MMORPGs where they indeed have their "safe spaces". I'm not saying it's bad to have that preference, but these people usually have problems with certain types of conflicts.

 

And with that in mind, (competitive) sandbox games with emergent gameplay and PvP involved are usually not games or environments they end up in or end up staying in. They'll either stick to true safe zones, adapt or leave for some other "haven".

 

TL;DR: RPers aren't all that homogeneous and bad and a bit of immersion never hurts gameplay in my book.

 

I basically RP here in a way where I try to make a group look realistic and the feedback gotten over the years proves this point to some extend at least, while I do not actually pretend I'm some corporate CEO or whatever both on paper and in mindset. I can still shit-chat and yet, dynamically immerse myself in the game and speak to clients in a more business-like approach trying to avoid words that make it clear again we're just a bunch of people playing a game right then. Another example of how I envision adding a level of immersion could be this:

 

You want to meet someone, have business talks maybe. You could just send them a message with all details and have a PM discussion. Or you invite them to a discord chat. That's all fine and viable. And usually done by most people due to practical reasons. What I find or assume is that most people would, however, usually not think about actually meeting in-game in their offices, bases, etc. in conference rooms and talking it out for real, assuming VOIP and so on would be a thing. Even if not, you could chat.

 

Would it potentially be more of a hassle as you have to set up this meeting, find a date, and have to travel there? Sure. But it would feel more natural I think. You actually invite someone or get invited yourself to some high business meetings or diplomatic sessions and debate or argue things out. I think the whole action or intend would get several new vibes if done like that instead of just throwing text at each other in PM or Discord, for example.

 

That's just an example of how people can, in my view, slightly or notably enhance their gameplay. They still don't have to speak all exotic n' crap - not that this would be a medieval setting, just saying. At the same time, if you represent some corporation or player state in some meeting, I wouldn't go "Yooo dude that's a lit base man, how many gaming sessions did it take you to build it?" You can ask the same thing, but worded slightly better or more natural. E.g. "An interesting well designed building you have here. How long did construction take?"

 

 

...

 

 

...

 

 

Oh, I'm still writing? Enough text again - for now.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 1 month later...

I ran a pretty large guild in DAoC (I know, ancient) and I once role-played my own disappearance. 

 

The guild was looking for me while I was hunkered down in a challenging dungeon that would take a lot of people to clear.  What's more, I asked others in the community to help me pull this off by standing in areas around the world (4 or 5 locations) and offering hints.  Now, I was also encumbered and could barely move (the escort out part would be against respawns all the way) - unarmed with only a server-first massive sword in my inventory.  When the participants arrived, I was shocked to see, not just my entire guild, but members from all over the community come to "my rescue".  I gave that cool sword away to one of the community members that really rallied everyone on the server.

 

I used to do "wave training" too.  Try to kill a massively impossible NPC by throwing wave-after-wave of optimized "squads" at it that were far below the creature level.  RPG-ing some training exercises was inspiring for everyone.  (we killed it by the way - took a while and several tries - haha).

 

Why these two crazy, ancient stories?  Because I wanted to make the point that RPG-ing is always fun.  To have that fun, you must work within the limits of the game framework, however.  You will have more challenges if you're trying to play a different game within the game.  But 'using' the game to roleplay is crazy fun (not to mention inspiring, instructional and sometimes emotional).

 

Know your environment - keep safety relevant and urgent at all times - devise your plan - execute your plan without hesitation - embrace all the things that suck - own it and do it until you get it right.  Do this hard stuff and the rewards will come 10-fold.

 

If you want to run an escort mission (for example) without being griefed, then devise a way to protect that mission.  Make it a part of your storyline and solicit some griefers to come try their hand at your security escort (don't tell anyone in the group though).  Build it up - involve the players across the universe - make it fun on a grand scale.

 

And if you fail ... well do it over with a new approach.  Risk something and receive more.  :)

 

 

 

We're all role-players after all.  Heck, I told my wife I was rich, stable and liked her mother ... lol

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

On 6/14/2016 at 6:06 AM, Linxie said:

TLDR: I hope to see systems that support a heavier & immersive base of RP.

Note, no idea if this is the right place to post it.

 

The RP I speak of:

Classic RP, with /emotive and in /say Text basis with simple D&D rolls on aspects. 

 

The back bone:

So in a lot of games in the recent RP is often pushed aside, and often the community is the group that has to pull together to make a proper RP collective. - External Websites and such to unit RP under one banner and so on, choose a RP Hub... and so on so forth.

 

So what I hope is that the systems in place will be there to also not only have the gameplay fun but detail more RP aspects, in an Optional manner... 

With In-game support for the RP community, like a few details where everyone can add in details, like a status, Character looks, history and any other details the writer chooses (Moderate the 18+ out if the developer has hands on with it. IE: no more "Warcraft goldshire effect")

 

Next is the group of people who think RPing is purely for fat people in their basements with no life, and their idea of fun is Killing and making fun of the RP community... I ask there be a form or reporting people for this annoyance, or immersive breaking... it is not fun when a group for example could be doing a escort mission and folks jump in that are NOT apart of planned RP events jumps in and kills everyone.

 

I am unsure of the gameplay so I can't assume as much, so please keep the small group of people who enjoy this aspect of games...

 

 

What I would be drooling over:

- Emotes for characters... - LOTS OF THEM! different sitting styles to different walking ways, things that define characters.

- Creative clothing choices and crafting where we can edit clothing, attack bags or belts to clothing with drag and snap on way...

- in-depth character creators... Something like Black Desert online... 

- A detail chat system, and RP addon tools... Like above a Character sheet to add in character details. *nod* (For non Rpers It can be used to add their achievements or a Fraction Alignment.

- Knowing cosmetics COULD be a buy on the store, keep in mind, should be at least decent looking clothing for non-store things.(assuming)

- A good tutorial base intro... A simple break down on RP, just to inform that people do these aspects and external link to forums to show a guide or so on.

- Knowing only a little there will be factions in the game, and RP community will be a buzz over it, to make it more detail could there be an In-game "data base" where you can see status of each person.. who is on the "Kill list" or something like that, with the about and history of the character is there to be seen... the Current status can be locked to when you meet the character...

This can be interesting as factions war and you have bounty hunters where you can 'give a usb' to the hunter with the details your character knows about X to hunt...

 

 

I hope some of this helps in some way!

Ask questions.. :D

- Li Li 

Your stuck between a rock and a hardplace when it comes to providing indepth support for role-play communities. Every person role-plays at different levels, with different tools. Hardcore players use /me’s and do’s, others are creative writers that do forum role-play, and majority feel as though simply assuming their role of captain in game is role-play. All of which are different forms and calibers, which is why you can’t generalize or make rules around role-playing in a game that doesn’t require it.

 

My organization is made up of hardcore role-players from a GTA SA mod called SAMP where strict rules were enforced for role-play and standard, while it was fun and realistic it wasn’t ideal for a mass player base, its much to hard to police. 

 

While I would love hardcore role-play here, it just isn’t feasable, but I support role-play organizations playing together and hosting events and deep political negotiations, all of which we’ve been given tools for in game to carry out! 

 

My advice about the section of your post for players who just pvp without reason and ruin peaceful role-playing, is that you treat them as ruthless pirates in your role-play scenarios as we do, we actually plan to keep a list of pirates who are kill on sight and will share this with whatever alliances we make. 

 

Its also not fair to call these pvpers annoying, they just play the game for different reasons and we as RPers need to plan for every in-game situation!

 

On a side note, if you’re in a heavy role-play organization, shoot me a PM I’d love to get our organizations involved with each other! 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 1 year later...

Different vision of RP here. We think RP is just positioning his avatar and/or his organisation in the world, define identity and method and act accordingly with logic, lore and game mechanics. This is not playing an artificial role with full created background, lore and capacities (like "we are a people from another galaxies with telekinesis powers" or "we are a millenar empire".... No we are all All naked in a cryopods until the release, and coming directly from earth!).

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Create an account or sign in to comment

You need to be a member in order to leave a comment

Create an account

Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!

Register a new account

Sign in

Already have an account? Sign in here.

Sign In Now
×
×
  • Create New...