I'm calling it quits

[Warpnow]

The game has lost its appeal to me. One in every 50 players here realizes the fun of rp, and the rp enforced side of the game has been neglected. Silent pk outweights rp'd pk 100 to 1 and each time I log on I am left in bitter disappointment. I deleted my pinnacled chars because I was convinced it was just my characters, but I've come to realize its not so. Roleplay has been sacrificed.

If you can't see what I'm talking about, just try typing who every once in a while. See the number? Now compare it to some older whos, when we actually had a quality game and quality players. When immortals would come down to rp with you, but you didn't really need it so much because other players were running rp plots, rather than saying its rp when their evil bashlocks a paladin. That's not rp...its pk...that should have arisen from RP, but if the RPs not there it didn't.

I've heard claims that its a good thing because it means we're gaining players, but that is not true. Its not the newbs committing trash, its people who've been here almost as long as me or longer. The newbs will rp with me every time I try. They may not be good at it, but they will try...and they will have fun. I saw this on Crelle alot, being a teacher at the academy.

My fellow players have forgotten that RP isn't implied, its done. Its not a way of thinking, its something you do. Its an action you take, not something that backs an action.

Again, I will probably be flamed and torn apart for this post, and that is because those who still play here are those who have not left...and those who have created a game that only 20 people at a time want to play, rather than the one I enjoyed which flourished with people.

I will still be hanging around the forums because I enjoy the community, but I won't be logging in.

My Last Char.

/---------------\/----------------------------------------------\

| Jocari        ||  the Blade of Honor                          |

\---------------/\----------------------------------------------/

| Str: 17(17)   || Level: 37 Sex: M      Age  : 34(24h)         |

| Int: 17(17)   || Class: blademaster    Ethos: chaotic         |

| Wis: 21(21)   || Race : halfling       Align: good            |

| Dex: 25(25)   || Hp   :    1/540       Exp  : 2867/373773     |

| Con: 20(20)   || Mana :    1/416                              |

\ Lck: [|||---] \/ Move :  385/385       +Hit: 3    +Dam: 4     /

/---------------/\------------------/\--------------------------\

|    ARMOR      ||      SAVES       || Deity : Irumeru          |

| Slash :   -20 || Spell      :  0  || Faith : Purity           |

| Pierce:   -20 || Afflictive :  0  || Weight: 0/272            |

| Blunt :   -20 || Maledictive:  0  || Items : 0/41             |

| Magic :   -20 || Mental     :  0  || Prac  : 24    Train: 3   |

| Weapon: high  || Pos: middle      || Gold  : 0                |

\---------------\/------------------\/--------------------------/

/ Condition: You are in the prime of your health.               \

| Anatomy :Mob Human Elf Dwarf DemiHum Giant Beast Flying Uniqu |

|           57    8  100    0     25      9     3     3     63  |

| You are a ghost.                                              |

\---------------------------------------------------------------/

[Pali]

My experiences so far haven't been that people aren't willing to RP, as I've actually had a lot of fun with random RP with people, but I feel that you are right in that a lot of people aren't RPing the PKing as well as they should. I can't really figure any way to fix this other than to lead by example and try to RP my darndest!

[Designated_Driver]

To say that the game lacks RP just because you haven't experienced it the way some people have, is a fundamentally incorrect statement.

I will try to be honest without being derogatory. As long as I've known you at FL, you've never been inclined to PK. As far as I can tell, you've actually tried to avoid PK INTENTIONALLY, for the purpose of remaining safely able to RP. And while this is most likely good intentioned, you are also making a sacrifice. You are sacrificing one half of the game, for another, as many people do every day. While most people make the sacrifice of RP, for the PK half, what you're doing is just as, for lack of a better term, "bad".

Let me give you an example. When you created your healer, whose name fails to come to memory at this time, who was committed to non-violence. You created the character in order to represent a lesser known faction, and more importantly, portion of the game; the portion that is RP. However, the way you went about it, for all intents and purposes, made you simply another evil, to combat a more prominent one.

While I will agree with you that the game lacks, again, for lack of a better word, balance, that is not for lack of trying by immortals and players alike. I see IMMs actively attempting every day to engage players in RP. Some players respond well to said attempts, and some players blow them off. Unfortunately, something you must understand, is that Crypticant, Virigoth, Rathe and Behrens did not spend countless hours to create a glorified chatroom. Along with an extremely dedicated builder staff, they developed a world. A world that, by its very nature and namesake, is violent and unforgiving. And unfortunately, in a real-life society where violence is often more statistical than emotional, a number of people are inclined to lean toward violent acts that lack consequences, and thus PK is born. One thing your argument fails to recognize, is that playerkilling is, in itself, a fundamental form of RP. Namely because roleplay can be defined as acting in a way other than one's normal self, and how many people go around killing for hire, or brutally capturing criminals?

So, while I can understand your frustration at a lack of the use of the "emote" command, I believe I can honestly say that every action taken in this game constitutes roleplay. While you may not understand that action at the moment it is taken, someone is using that action to relate something that they cannot convey through conventional means. I'll admit it. I have a dark-knight in the mid-thirties that, when I'm frustrated, either at something in game or out, I will sometimes log onto in the hopes of taking those frustrations out on an unsuspecting victim. And while the victim may in turn grow angry, this act is a means of conveyance that I cannot use in the real world. Thus it is, as I said, fundamentally based in RP.

In conclusion to a somewhat long-winded response, I will not attempt to claim that you are totally incorrect. But nor will I insinuate that you are correct. The balance has shifted, some say for the better, some say for the worse. It tilted VERY dangerously right after Virigoth left, but things had been on the decline even before that. However, having temporarily seen things from the limited view of the test port, and the diligent work of the immortals, I can present you with the opinion that things are definently looking up.

It's your choice whether or not to spend time on the MUD anymore. But I think to lose such a strong advocate of RP cannot do anything to better the community. I realize your frustrations, and I hope that venting them in a public venue is helpful. But I merely wanted to point out that while you have some good points, there are many good things happening in game, even if you don't see them.

[Designated_Driver]

PS - There are 29 characters on, the most on since startup was 37.

[mya]

I think you need to create a pure PK character.

It is happening to you what happens to me, you create a defensive character in hope that you can use it to RP and you get assaulted left and right by silent types and cannot find anyone to RP with you.

Then you die and get extremely frustated.

Start a human paladin (one god), get some mithril and make a rule.

Everytime you log in you have to attack some evil player.

Then when you are confient about attaking evils without a reason other than them being evils, you start RPing.

Every time you kill someone wait for them to return and talk to them.

Inflict into them the high moral talk a paladin would have.

Then as you grow start yelling Taunts before atacking them.

You as a paladin can aford to to so and still win.

Sometimes RP is what you make of it. Remenber the the old Orc Blademaster ?

He was the last person who actualy RPed an assault on me, and he is long gone. He is a classic example of this.

If you start doing this you will see that people will start to take your lead.

Look at Samaet, most people would RP with him because he was famouse for his RP.

Sometimes you just have to shove your RP right in the face of players.

"I wonce defeated a Gazilion Bards."

Everry time i listened to this i was thinking "I cannot belive he just said this barbarity.".

But it WORKED.

And i can tell you this kind of RP beats by far the stupid "so and so speak from a dark hood/ in a high pitched voice..." thing.

Or those insane plots about the soul of ??? and the lost shell and the incarnate memory of ...

There is nothing better than down to earth RP.

Side note:

The Human Paladin is so that you have a fast ranking, non vial/gyvel dependent combo.

The One god is so that you do not get into the error of thinking of aplying/aiming for Avatar + best bless.

RP is what you make of it.

[npc_death]

There used to be upwards of 80 or so players on at a given time. And I feel the current players aren't as involved in RP as much as the players of old. Doesn't mean I'm quitting. Just means I'm trying to deal with it because the game is still fun...even though it sucks when you get trash PK'd without any RP to justify it. It's happened to be about 8 times in the last three days. It just happens.

[Belegriel]

PS - There are 29 characters on' date=' the most on since startup was 37.[/quote']

There are 39 characters on, the most so far since startup.

[Designated_Driver]

And what you have to realize, is that this is a Wednesday evening. Not Friday or Saturday.

[Nightmare_from_hell]

There are 39 characters on' date=' the most so far since startup.[/quote']

There are 37 characters on, the most on since startup was 40.

[Icor]

I'll admit it. I have a dark-knight in the mid-thirties that' date=' when I'm frustrated, either at something in game or out, I will sometimes log onto in the hopes of taking those frustrations out on an unsuspecting victim. And while the victim may in turn grow angry, this act is a means of conveyance that I cannot use in the real world. Thus it is, as I said, fundamentally based in RP.[/quote']

...Nothing that happens in the real world should affect your character in game. Ever. Using the game as an outlet for your Real Life frustration is just as bad or worse than flaming the game OoC.

...

Anyway, it'll suck not having you around Warp'. Crelle was pretty cool.

[Designated_Driver]

Thanks for picking the one part out of my whole statement that didn't even really have an impact on said statement, and using it against me.

By the way, I'd wager very few people play this game because their life is happy, lovey-dovey all the time. Those certainly aren't the people that play vampires and demons and go on mass PK sprees.

[MeleeCrazy]

My experiences so far haven't been that people aren't willing to RP' date=' as I've actually had a lot of fun with random RP with people, but I feel that you are right in that a lot of people aren't RPing the PKing as well as they should. I can't really figure any way to fix this other than to lead by example and try to RP my darndest![/quote']

Couln't have said it better, leading by example will help, and really is the best way of going about it.

That said, I have always had this lingering feeling that what Warp said is true, the newbs aren't the only ones dealing out RPless/Tasteless/Trash/whatever you want to call it PK. It's frustrating but everything has it's ups and downs, and don't take this the wrong way Warp, but quitting isn't going to solve the problem. If Fl loses all it's vet/dedicated players, It won't ever get better. Here's an idea, just Pwipe and start from scratch how bout it?

On another note I'm going to jump back into it. My time off is been good but now things are getting a bit more relaxed and my time is less and less stressful. Time to roll something up.

[The Forsaken]

I seem to find plenty of RP.

[Icor]

Thanks for picking the one part out of my whole statement that didn't even really have an impact on said statement' date=' and using it against me. [/quote']

Well, I found it amusing that you were so quick to tell him he was wrong, and amongst your lecture, you basically said that you would occasionally be part of the "problem" he described.

It's okay to just let him go. He feels a certain way. Give him a break.

[Iyorvin]

Another of those things I despise.......players who 'love' this game, apparently, then post threads about them leaving because of all the bad things in the game. Go ahead and leave, but do the game a favour and stop with the crap. You ran into some bad rut of rp? Suck it up. Generalizing the mud based off of your own limited experiences is bad logic, bad argument, and bad environment for everyone.

Bye.

[Celerity]

The premises are not reasonable. The logic is ... oh nevermind.

Edit: Added a

Edit 2: Such generalization insults everyone who does attempt to RP. Sorry, I'm not up to par!

[Deykari]

I don't share your feelings Warpnow, but a shame to see you go nontheless. I pretty much agree with Bali, and with Mya to some degree (I love how you have an absolute obession with paladins ).

Just remember that FL is a game. If you aren't enjoying it, don't play it. Simple.

Dey

[Anume]

If the mountain won't come to the prophet, the prophet should go to the mountain.

If you want some intense rp, initiate it. Always works for me, Imm and mort alike.

[Warpnow]

I offered a million gold for people to at least try and take part in my rp plot with Crelle and got a response of one person. heh.

With Telden I tried to start a player run clan and found basically no one interrested in the rp.

On Tizz I tried to create a rebellion against Martineius, no one joined me.

I chase the mountain, the mountain grows legs and runs away.

[savnt]

good, bad, or indifferent... things in game have changed since 1.0.

immortal rp :

1.0 == 2.0 > 3.0

Well, with 1.0 and 2.0... 1.0 the imms had to make a new pbase stay. that was done by hard work, countless ig hours of rp, as well as creating fun reasons to stick around. in 2.0, there were so damned many new imms, it was wild... each one wanted to out interact the other one. Trob for example.

With 3.0, it seems most have become quite comfortable.

player rp :

1.0 > 2.0 > 3.0

I would have to say 1.0 was superior in rp, because there was just a plain lack of much else to do. New people getting their pk-wings and building up cabals. Scary qclasses and races... and no one knowing the slightest about them.

2.0, with the influx of 1/3 people being caballed, rp was picked up as well. by some anyways. none the less, there are several caballed individuals now at pinnacle that play their chars like lvl 20 2.0 caballed chars. including me, unfortunately.

3.0 read above. its declined, but it just takes a patient individual to bring it back.

ooc game help :

3.0 == 1.0 > 2.0

well, despite imms being wizi'ed way too much now, they are always willing to "an immortal tells you" whenever they are about.

in 1.0, it was the same way, but they were ALWAYS visible. I remember virigoth always having the "coding" flag going... and crypticant bopping around doing his thing as well. mircea always hunt out in cs for some reason, and streantian would do his thing yelling at people who broke the law when no justices were around.

in 2.0, they were too enthused with rp, and would slay you for trying to go ooc sometimes.

immortal staying power (same imms over a long period of time) :

1.0 > 3.0 > 2.0

ah, the old imm revolving door. wasn't around in 1.0, happens occasionally now... but god... 2.0 was bad. no one every week. got to the point where you would write a bible with pencil, for easy erasing.

pk :

3.0 > 2.0 > 1.0

pk is good now. seems even the newbs know what they are doing sometimes. the old newbs are now vets, and the vets are now renewbed (as they are just coming back to see wierd new classes and skills)

in 2.0, things were decent, especially the cabal warfare.

1.0... there was a reason why the scary players were scary. they were, alot of the time, imm's or imp's morts. not only that, but they were in the know, where as the general public was not. about secrets and tricks anyways.

codeside :

3.0 > 2.0 > 1.0

the code is evolving. enough said. i'd bet it still looks like spaghetti, but it is evolving.

area wise :

1.0 > 2.0 > 3.0

1.0 was good because the large world was supported by a large pbase. 2.0... well, the world grew... the pbase shrunk.

now we're sitting in 3.0... where you have a few two many areas. suggestion? combine them so the where scan area is increased.

[Deykari]

I offered a million gold for people to at least try and take part in my rp plot with Crelle and got a response of one person. heh.

With Telden I tried to start a player run clan and found basically no one interrested in the rp.

On Tizz I tried to create a rebellion against Martineius, no one joined me.

I chase the mountain, the mountain grows legs and runs away.

Ahh, now I see. The thing is, because people aren't taking part in plots you're throwing out there doesn't mean that people aren't RPing. Successful plots take an awful lot of time/patience to pull off. I'm not going to lecture you because I know you're an incredible RPer but RP is not just sending a note out to people about an idea you have in mind and hoping people respond. You need to be persistant and dedicated, and have some 'groundwork' laid down for your character, to make people want to follow your RP plot.

With my last char, when I wanted to RP, I typed 'who' and picked a random person to speak with. If they didn't respond to me, I used the fact that they were silent to my advantage, and told them that it's alright to be intimidated. Now that brought a response from almost everyone who would stayed silent. If they continued to be quiet I just told them stories, or wrote notes to them if they ignored me. There was not a single person who couldn't be cracked by forcing my RP on them.

Again, I'm not doubting your ability to RP well, I mean, you've left me unable to think of a suitable response at times with some of your characters. But, I've also seen some of your posts spouting about getting full-looted or multi-killed and suchlike, and if I'm being perfectly honest, it seems to me like those things are getting to you as opposed to a percieved lack of RP. Because the majority of 'silent killers' out there can be made to talk if you think outside of the box. NOTE: Thinking outside the box doesn't mean sending them tells saying "What was the point in that?".

Dey

[EyeSeeU]

Blah blah blah I thought that I was still in the shoutouts.... so got nothing to say sorry....

[Acerbity]

I'm not really feeling sorry for you. Someone kills you, and just because they didn't RP to your standards, you decide to leave, and then insult all the other players who do RP.

Deykari is right. Just because people hate how you RP, or try to RP, doesn't mean they themselves don't RP. How about you try to join someone else in their own RP, or keep to yourself. Several of my characters have been VERY successful just because I stuck to it, and didn't try to CHANGE Aabahran in a large *** plot. I did every day things, shaped my characters, and got more satisfaction.

Anyway. Goodbye. Don't let the door hit your *** on the way out.

[Lethereal]

And what you have to realize' date=' is that this is a Wednesday evening. Not Friday or Saturday.[/quote']

I've actually noticed there are less people on during Friday and Saturday night. It's like MUDers finally got a life or something... so strange...

I have definitely noticed a huge difference in the number of people on now as opposed to the number of people on that there used to be.

It's funny though, looking through the forum - I've found threads from PKers who say the MUD has become too soft and full of RP and threads from RPers saying the MUD has become too hard and full of PK. Maybe we are in a happy medium and don't even realize it. I've had no problem finding RP and PKers have had no problem finding me, that's for sure!

If you are trying to hard to find RP, it can feel forced - sometimes you just have to stumble across it and go with it.

I hope you don't leave as it's always sad to see someone so good at RP go. But, if you do, it's your choice and you'll be back anyway.

[Pali]

I've actually noticed there are less people on during Friday and Saturday night. It's like MUDers finally got a life or something... so strange...

I have definitely noticed a huge difference in the number of people on now as opposed to the number of people on that there used to be.

It's funny though, looking through the forum - I've found threads from PKers who say the MUD has become too soft and full of RP and threads from RPers saying the MUD has become too hard and full of PK. Maybe we are in a happy medium and don't even realize it. I've had no problem finding RP and PKers have had no problem finding me, that's for sure!

If you are trying to hard to find RP, it can feel forced - sometimes you just have to stumble across it and go with it.

I hope you don't leave as it's always sad to see someone so good at RP go. But, if you do, it's your choice and you'll be back anyway.

*poke* Hah! Got the last poke on you after all these years!