I don’t mean to dictate how anyone role-plays, but there’s a noticeable problem with the role-play offered in cities and hubs - and I’m not talking about all the usual red flags. What I’m talking about is tension.
Play a baker. Play an adventurer. Play a general, a beserker, or a necromancer, play anything you want, but for the love of God - please provide tension to the characters around you. The stage we all share is supposed to be an entertaining one and if your character is permanently content, well-off, healthy, or has no drama going on, then your character might as well be considered irrelevant.
If you, as a role-player, are not providing a character to the community that encourages constructive interaction, even if it is only small like a baker telling a tough-looking fellow that she’s having problems with her father-in-law’s ill-health, then you aren’t role-playing. You’re just socializing online. Your character is the equivalent of a SecondLife avatar.
I don’t really have a problem with a small few playing this game like its a chat window, but when I log on at peak hours and can’t find a single character who has an issue to engage with, then there’s something seriously wrong, and maybe someone needs to be given the authority to start dealing out issues to stop role-play getting sedentary and stale.
As a disclaimer: I don’t have a problem producing role-play for myself. I can do that. That isn’t the issue. I can write plots and construct interesting situations. But what is the point of most role-players playing powerful, or capable characters when almost no one is making an effort to be the victim, the clueless apprentice, or the flawed character who needs help. There is no point having 50 heroes, if there is only 1 person who can benefit from their help. The ratio of character concepts on this realm is - frankly - f**ked.
In other news: I’m looking for a warlock apprentice for this character and a couple adventuring/mercantile squadmates for my Blood Elf. Let me know if you’re interested in some actual roleplay in-game or in this thread and I’ll add ya.
Cormier is an old man who limps around with the help of a cane and is physically weak - the only thing he has to offer is what he knows. What I’m saying is: there isn’t enough tension to engage with at the moment in our communities - for any characters.
You’re dictating what people should be doing though. Besides I think when it comes to tension or anything along the lines of drama personally it’s better when it’s well timed and built up towards rather than consistently happening around ever corner your go.
I see no problem personally with the pace of roleplay coming from others right now, and am always pleasantly surprised when something does pop up in a good way.
I wouldn’t really call it socialising, since you’d just be talking as if you were yourself which is pretty much OOC behaviour, messing around for the sake of doing so. So long as you’re putting your shoes in the player of another character and acting them out, how you the player believe they would, it’s roleplay. Tension or not.
? Making a suggestion for something he’d like to see people do, and even stressing that it’s not a demand, means he’s dictating what people should be doing?
I don’t know if I’m missing the point, but I feel inclined to agree with this part particularly. Warcraft is a mesmerizing fantasy universe and we’ve got so much room to create unique, magical and exceptional figures which feel entirely at home in the setting.
But then, to quote Syndrome from The Incredibles; “When everyone is super, nobody is.”
Maybe I’m just unlucky with my experience in Duskwood (as an example), but all the ambient threat and danger Blizzard worked hard to generate in the zone is almost entirely overshadowed by all-powerful Paladins, elite Undead heroes in Saronite armour, Magi of frankly infinite power, and even the average joe seems to be able to snap off witty one-liners in the face of what could be genuinely scary scenarios like they’re the main character in an action movie.
Narrative is spurred on by the changes in an environment- Caused by the characters themselves or others around them.
Your character could be the most happiest, dandiest and well-going of all people, until somebody suddenrly rips them down from that pedestal and/or changes the scenary.
That doesn’t mean that the time RP’d prior to that change is irrelevant or somehow bad. I’ve met plenty-a-roleplayer who are pretty well off, all things considered (at least it seems that way to my characters) who are interesting and nice to interact with.
…How is that a negative thing?
Ah. So you wish for a more struggling/growing character RP experience? You wish for the feeling of uncertainty, the thrust to the unknown and excitement? Well, you could always make a character that acts like tha-
…Oh.
So to put it straight:
You don’t like that other people aren’t playing vulnerable and/or inadequate characters.
You don’t like that they enjoy the RP they have just for the social interactions alone.
You don’t like that you can’t engage with the players in a way you’d like- That is, to play an apprentice to your warlock, in this case.
…So why not play as an apprentice to somebody else?
If you want to see some change, be it yourself. Expecting it of others is quite frankly not going to end well for you. You’ll be disappointed.
I don’t agree with your point, bluntly. I’ve led campaigns in the past and DM’d month-long plotlines. I shouldn’t be expected to constantly spoonfeed role-players who can’t wrap their head around a very simple storytelling concept: tension is integral to interesting writing.
Posted on the wrong character because I’m out /w my mobile. This’ OP.
You Atahalni, for insulting others unnecessarily on an online forum.
Moving on, my honest suggestion would be to create a small community or a guild of purposefully flawed characters that go out and engage and provide interesting interactions and opportunities to the rest of the realm. Maybe the guild leader of said guild hands out issues IC’ly to his members.
There’s also another point to make. The “good people” role-players are oftentimes worse than the villains, and most of them do whatever they can in their powers to bring them down, just because “that’s how it is.”
Also, every character must have flaws and every character must have strengths. I don’t care if your feelings are hurt, if your character has neither of those, then you’re a poo-poo pee-pee tier role-player.
I didn’t insult you. I just pointed out the absurdity that you expect others to change, while you actively contribute and enable that problem.
Since the only one who you can change (truly) is yourself, I always start from the question of “What can I do differently?”.
Also I don’t really understand your suggested fix to the problem: If you criticize the community for the lack of better word, not RPing the way you’d like them to, do you think they’re going to improve if you make a coalition of them to make changes lol?
Another thing I’d like to say is that difficult scenarios are all fine and dandy, but they’re hard to have them go smoothly if you are among players that you personally don’t know.
Playing with friends as always been nice in my experience because even if our characters were against each other, we were all fair and made it so everyone had a saying in how the story was going.
That’s right, the most important thing about ANY role-play: the plot, the overarching theme. Put your character in a difficult scenario if the plot dictates it, you and the others around you are making the story, your character ( and by extension yourself) are just along for the ride.
You may as well be writing a short-story / novel by yourself if you specifically want to dictate how and when it is all going to end.
If you don’t agree with this, duel me outside Orgrimmar tomorrow after class.
@Moody, I’m not here to socialise, mate. I’m here as a writer and a hobbyist. I don’t role-play to socialise (although that’s not to say I don’t make friends doing it), I do it to hone my craft and practice and gain feedback for the creative aspect of my life that satisfies me intrinsically. If I wanted to socialise, I would use social media or ring up a mate, because that’s what that’s for, but role-playing and socialising are two very different things. One takes talent and an education (because the ability to read and write well is a skill - and not one that’s widely available, either) and another is something you should be doing anyway.
