Is RP dead?

[mmajunkie]

It all is intertwined. The way the world is influenced effects the nature of RP.

[Archbishop Monk]

There are several problems with RP attitude currently and anyone who wants to talk about RP being dead should think about these steps:

1) How willing are you to validate another person's RP? (You don't have to agree with it, just acknowledge it and react somehow)

2) How well are you portraying your own RP? (Don't expect everyone to get all your RP at once. Especially when you're playing in hints, riddles, and secrets)

3) How wiling are you to cram emotes, pmotes, and smotes through my eye sockets? (They really do take you to the next level)

4) How interested/up to date are you keeping your character on current events? (The more a part of the world you seem, the more interesting you and everyone around you becomes)

If we cannot critically self-reflect on ourselves before we begin to problematize a general situation then things are going to decline starting with us. Most things start at home like math. Start inside, then work your way out.

And this is it in a nutshell. We RP now for the things we want. I have to admit I've done it too. Rping so that we can get a reward for it. That very idea is what leads to the 'funnel vision' angles and a static environment. My last char got dragged (well, asked be part of) into something they had no plan/thought of being involved in. What did I do? At first I just accepted it and went about my way. But I found that when I 'owned' it LOTS more people were willing to get involved and it developed and broadened into being bigger than just me. Just my two cents.

[f0xx]

Don't get me wrong, but some RP plots really seem... odd - having in mind the ingame environment.

I don't want to criticize anyone's (cookie cutter) RP, but we play in a world where survining is our prime target. Do you really expect body building contests, lotteries, fashion weeks, rock concerts and so on to attract much attention (especially when they are housed by the most aggressive character out there atm)? In the end the players are your ultimate judge - if your event didn't get enough attention (despite the announcements), then perhaps they didn't found it interesting?

*shrug*

It is very easy to come here and blame the players that they don't RP, just because a certain event didn't get the reaction you were looking for.

[mmajunkie]

If it were one or two events, I would say sure Foxx, it is just people upset because their little storyline didn't make it big. But it's not. It is multiple people with multiple events in game experiencing the same thing.

There are exceptions. there always are. But the general consensus is the same.

[f0xx]

There are exceptions. there always are. But the general consensus is the same.

Or perhaps that is actually good RP standing out of the crowd?

Draw a parallel with RL here - if there is a rock concert would you go? No, unless your favourite band is playing. If the gornment is rasing someone's house down, would go to check it out? No, unless it is your own house or the house to someone you care about.

People will not take part of an RP plot unless it affects them or unless the person organising the plot is someone special. Surprised? Why? That's just how things in real life work too.

[mmajunkie]

I would argue that you are wrong.

Real life is different. Why?

Because this is a game. And there is a right and wrong way to play any game. Just saying to hell with any RP that does not concern you directly is the wrong way to play.

I'm not saying you need to be balls deep in every little RP thing happening. But if multiple characters are never reading in game notes or concerning themselves with what is going on...it is a problem.

I would call it people being stuck up and not immersing theirself TRULY in the world. All they want to do is stick to their own RP because that is what is most comfortable and what they might have the most fun with.

That's all well and good, not saying anyone is breaking the rules doing that.

But IT IS detrimental to a dynamic RP world. If no one wants to interact and share and get involved with everyone else and instead they just want to only have ppl around that will focus on THEIR RP and help them meet their own goals....

You don't have an RP world. You have a big stage where people take turns showing off hoping their own personal flavor is left in many mouths. The others are easily forgotten and not cared about.

[Imoutgoodbye]

Comparing RL to FL does not work. As close in the history of the world as FL gets to RL is medieval times. Why? Because survival was of great importance, as Foxx points out.

However, Death is not lurking around every freakin' corner for everybody. Only our true sociopaths here sit around corners to do that (I refer to characters, not players).

Apples/Orangers/Coconuts/Foxx/Mya.

[The-Nameless]

RP is dead when it takes a back seat to what your character is doing. If your making that Ogre reaver warrior because of pk not rp, then RP is dead for you til you decide that it takes priority over your actions. I have had so many humbling lines of rp come out of random chars that I cannot accept RP is dead. I always try to come up with rp, and stick to it. Sometimes I come up with off the wall original rp, other times its cookie cutter. THe thing is you have to stick to it or you have wasted time bothering to come up with RP. Noone cares more about your experience here than you should so it is up to you to make it enjoyable. If your not seeing enough rp, or player started plots then maybe you need to get started on one.

[samag08]

I tried, then had a doctor tell me to avoid things that raise my heart rate for a while. Which by the by had been going well, maybe I can tinker again

[The-Nameless]

Oh well. Time to roll a Herald.

[jekyllvhyde]

To say something without further igniting the fire in this thread. Sometimes it is honestly hard to find time to really sit around and have an in-depth conversation with someone, especially at 50. Danger sometimes IS lurking around every corner, I know because it's me! Muahaha...JK I think if people would stop attacking someone they've never spoken to, unless they perhaps attack your cabal, it would increase RP a lot. If people only fought people they felt a personal opposition towards after seeing their actions, not just their race and title.

[mya]

If people only fought people they felt a personal opposition towards after seeing their actions' date=' not just their race and title.[/quote']

Bingo!!!

[mmajunkie]

While I would agree with this, I think too often people complain when they get killed no matter what.

No full loot? But they took my 1 item!!

No loot at all? Why did you kill me?!

No loot, ur good, they are evil? We've never even met!!

No loot, ur good, they are evil, you have a history? Why do you keep killing me?!

People will always find a reason to whine. I am experiencing it a lot on my one of my current characters and it is starting to get under my skin. No matter how much RP I have, no matter the circumstances of the fight, no matter how much I loot or don't loot....there are many people who play here that take death way too seriously.

So yeah, I'm not sure that suggestion would change much in the game unfortunately.

I think what needs to change is the people who kill with absolute BS rp. Like a DK who kills you when they have 5 ranks on you and all they can say is "Why do you think?" That's blatant lack of RP and obviously a character who only cares about ranking their malform. I understand DKs need to rank their weapons to get stronger, but if you can't even come up with at least some sort of RP...you are a waste of breath in Aabahran. (yes i understand a DK can have an RP that's simply killing/destruction/weapon feeding for their God...but RP that. The point is people should enrich this game with RP/PK not go around intentionally pissing the players off)

[Pali]

I'm not saying you need to be balls deep in every little RP thing happening. But if multiple characters are never reading in game notes or concerning themselves with what is going on...it is a problem.

I would call it people being stuck up and not immersing theirself TRULY in the world. All they want to do is stick to their own RP because that is what is most comfortable and what they might have the most fun with.

What if people are playing chars that simply would not care about these kinds of things? How are they failing to RP, when their RP demands that they ignore the things you or others are trying to do?

My current guy is an Illithid with an RP that is very focused around one goal. Fulfilling it is his purpose, and it's all he really cares about doing (and if somehow RP ever goes down where he manages to actually do so, chances are I'd delete him on the spot). Sure, if he happened to wander by a bodybuilding contest he might pause and observe out of curiosity... but it's not something he's going to read about and decide to go see, because such events just seem like weird behaviors of the younger races that don't merit any real consideration.

To be perfectly honest, most of my chars that I've been told were very well RPed wouldn't bother going to many of the events that people attempt to get going, for very similar reasons as above - they simply have other things that demand their attention from an RP perspective (edit: or they have direct RP reasons not to attend - none of my paladins would have competed in a bodybuilding contest sponsored by a DK, for instance).

Also, most events are scheduled at times where I'm either asleep or working. Makes it hard to attend even at the rare times when I would otherwise do so.

P.S. Your last post contains complaints that, frankly, do not address anything that hasn't existed since the start of FL. Whiners and trashy PKs are a constant of online gaming - deal with it. I don't think anybody here is going to be arguing with the idea of "people should enrich this game with RP/PK not go around intentionally pissing the players off"... but saying it doesn't change anything.

[mmajunkie]

Which is why I don't just say it.

And I'm not saying every single person has to be involved in everyone else's RP every time. I'm saying the ratio of ppl being involved to ppl who aren't is sad.

[Pali]

Which is why I don't just say it.

You said it was the "point" of your last point. Sure, you expanded on the basic concept a little prior to the exact sentence, but... I have very serious doubts that most of the forum readers feel that they personally need to be told not to be douchebags in game - instead, we see it, nod in agreement, and otherwise it's ignored.

And I'm not saying every single person has to be involved in everyone else's RP every time. I'm saying the ratio of ppl being involved to ppl who aren't is sad.

And I think you may be overestimating the draw of such events. The big RP plot kind of events, those are epic and interesting and make me want to be a part of them. Things like those discussed in this thread - bodybuilding contests, lotteries, etc. - they don't interest me at all. I mean no offense to those involved in them by saying this, but even when ignoring RP and thinking as a player, these kinds of things simply don't appeal to me. I'd much rather spend that playtime just chatting with a single other character, ranking, etc. I don't play video games to see and participate in things I can do in real life - I play them to see and participate in things I can't.

[Imoutgoodbye]

I'm going to bed. Got school tomorrow. Pali has this well in-hand. And, I do tip my hat to you, Pali. I wasn't going to walk the path they're headed down. Don't have my machete on me tonight.

[Pali]

You know, Valek, you and I get along so well except on the religion threads.

[mmajunkie]

You said it was the "point" of your last point. Sure, you expanded on the basic concept a little prior to the exact sentence, but... I have very serious doubts that most of the forum readers feel that they personally need to be told not to be douchebags in game - instead, we see it, nod in agreement, and otherwise it's ignored.

And I think you may be overestimating the draw of such events. The big RP plot kind of events, those are epic and interesting and make me want to be a part of them. Things like those discussed in this thread - bodybuilding contests, lotteries, etc. - they don't interest me at all. I mean no offense to those involved in them by saying this, but even when ignoring RP and thinking as a player, these kinds of things simply don't appeal to me. I'd much rather spend that playtime just chatting with a single other character, ranking, etc. I don't play video games to see and participate in things I can do in real life - I play them to see and participate in things I can't.

Ignoring something does not fix it. Nodding in agreement in silence and not doing anything about it does not fix it.

What i meant was I don't JUST say it. I try to lead by example in game when it comes to RP.

And obviously anyone in FL is entitled to pick and choose what they want to do. All I am saying is that it does not motivate people to try and create a real-world (concept of a real world, not OUR real word) feeling in Aabahran when the majority of efforts go unnoticed.

It is just my opinion that if everyone ONLY participated in the large-scale, world changing RP plots this game would cease to be a credible RP game. People join those large RP plots to get noticed. That's all well and good, but it takes away from a TRUE world feeling when the majority of player-sponsored events just get ignored. It just shows that no one cares to participate unless it is something that either personally affects their character or is going to gain them some sort of props.

And I stand by my statement, it is just my opinion - if you personally choose to ignore/not participate in the majority of the stuff that goes on in game then you are NOT playing this game to it's true potential. Doesn't make you a doucher, doesn't make you a crappy player, and i'm not holding anything against you, but if everyone stepped up and really tried to interact on a global scale you would see things come to life more in game.

[Pali]

Ignoring something does not fix it. Nodding in agreement in silence and not doing anything about it does not fix it.

What i meant was I don't JUST say it. I try to lead by example in game when it comes to RP.

You're missing my point - which is that you're preaching to the choir through this entire line of thought. We all agree with you. We all already try to do this as best we can.

Would it be ideal if every time a player decided to run a little event like these, tons of people showed up? Yes. It'd also be ideal if we had tons of players capable of showing up at these, but we don't. We've got a very limited playerbase right now, and many of the remaining players have much more limited playtime than we used to, and there is simply no easy fix for these problems right now. You may as well be complaining that it isn't easy to get a group at low levels.

And as you mentioned before - this is a game. YOU, as a player, cannot dictate to other players how they must play the game to get its full potential, because not everybody is going to be enjoying the game in the same way you do. Some people are simply going to enjoy PK more than RP - some people are going to be the reverse. Some people are going to enjoy participating in events like these, some are only going to like the bigger events, and some won't care to join events at all... because they simply don't want to.

And there is nothing wrong with that. You make it sound like they couldn't possibly be doing something equally valuable to making the MUD worthy of playing... but as I said, I'd take a one on one chat over one of these events any day, and if I've found someone else who feels the same, then we're both helping each other enjoy the game more than your event is for either of us (even if it has every other player online there).

There is no correct way to play FL. Telling people that they are playing the game wrong, except when pointing out technical errors or rule-breaking, is arrogance.

[jekyllvhyde]

I personally know a couple players who really do nothing but silent pk. It's all they're here for. Whether they full loot also I'm unsure of but I think people like them who really take away from the game and make new players to the mud not want to stick around. Also, I keep hearing people mentioning we have a small playerbase these days, but yet I find that rares are much less available than they used to be. Does everyone just have a lot of alts?

[mmajunkie]

You are wrong Pali. Not everyone is doing as best they can. And yes there is a wrong way to play this game, which means there is a correct way.

You are the one failing to see a point. When 2-3 multiple different events occur on both evil and good sides and virtually ZERO people affiliate themselves, something is wrong.

Not saying this person or that person is wrong, I am saying collectively there is something wrong. It isn't arrogance, it is a statement of fact.

I am not telling any one person directly that they are playing the game wrong. I am attempting to offer a line of thinking for people so that perhaps they may view RP on a more global scale.

Getting a group at low levels is a totally ridiculous way to try and discredit my argument. There are multiple ways to get exp. There are NOT multiple ways to have character RP develop on a global scale without a global effort.

I saw a note go out from the KNIGHT Imm to his cabal and his clan asking for something to be done RP-wise. Guess how many Knights/Hopes did it? Zero.

There is something wrong with the line of thinking when it comes to RP - that needs to change. You can either help try and facilitate that change or you can try to show off this higher-level of thinking that you think you have and argue more with me.

You keep using 'some people' - some people do this, some people do that. There was no 'some people' took part in the RP scenarios I'm referring to. THAT is my point. I never said everyone needs to be a part of everything. But when NO ONE is acting on many things...something deserves to be discussed.

Edit: Last I knew you were hardly even playing, if at all Pali...so how can you talk about what is and is not going on in the game? Do not point the arrogant-stick at me, Sir.

[Atebos]

Everyone calm down, or else I will draw my OWN arrogance stick and beat it out of you.

[mmajunkie]

I was hoping for a hyperlink to some sort of amazing piece of technology...and all I got was 1/10th of a burned calorie clicking my mouse.

Shame on your use of colors, Atebos.

[Imoutgoodbye]

Everyone calm down' date=' or else I will draw my OWN arrogance stick and beat it out of you.

I think the bigger question is, Can you beat the cuteness out of me, Ate Baby?