Consider placing your character into difficult circumstances more often

Argent Dawn
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It’s getting grating to see people constantly assume what I do and don’t know, honestly. It seems like every time I form a response, someone comes up with another grand assumption about my “understanding” that I need to reply to because I didn’t write 15,000 word opening statement in my OP listing the qualifications I apparently need to make an opinion.

Umay - just because I haven’t gone onto springhole-dot-com and regurgitated what “tension means in role-play” doesn’t mean I don’t know what it is and how to write it effectively. You aren’t making a point. You’re just defining the term that we all know and take for granted like you always do.

I:

expressed his opinion and frustrations coming from his own experience when RPing in the major HUBs - which I believe is shared by many of us.

And:

the problem is that the OP (and a fair few other people, such as idk, myself) sometimes expect or come with the expectation that random people can perform better than their favourite big brand game or novel.

It doesn’t matter if I write a character that’s vulnerable or is caught between a rock and a hard place at the moment Umay because the fact is there aren’t enough capable writers and services available (in Stormwind). And before you call me pretentious for saying that, am I really being pretentious for pointing out the issue and putting myself in the firing line by making this God-honest suggestion? Our main hub is dead and decaying because there are no stores, no restaurants, no quest-givers, nobody playing NPC’s, victims, and no one challenging anyone, no one providing tension.

No one has any sway over anyone on this realm. I don’t either, thank God, but that’s also a problem, as we’ve ended up with a community full of neurotics and weirdos and egotists that instead of coming together to solve the problem, they bicker relentlessly and swap jokes - see this thread. The few who do make constructive comments usually get overshadowed, sadly.

Writing isn’t “subjective,” either. It’s just hard to detect what is and isn’t good writing, even to the people who claim (or are proven) to be good at it - (which I never have claimed to be or proven, I’ve actually said I’m trying my damnedest to improve) >

ae-lib.org.ua/texts-c/chandler__the_simple_art_of_murder__en.htm

'n also, god damn.

Man imagine if people actually didn’t take one specific phrase out of context.

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Tbh.

If Bill the student/plumber/tax man wants to come home and have some mindless fun by just having social RP in a tavern with drama that even Gossip Girl would shy away from. Who cares? Who genuinely cares?

Roleplaying is a hobby, we all have our likes and dislikes. Beyond your personal opinion, there’s nothing inherently wrong with what Bill does.

You can’t expect everyone to be < insert revered author > or some da vinci of plot-building, role-play is a casual (and sometimes fleeting) hobby at best. Dude, just find a group you enjoy roleplaying with and stick with them.

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That’s reasonable Aerilen, and fair, but I am in guilds and I do enjoy the role-play they provide - I suppose I just want to see Stormwind and Silvermoon as the hubs I know they could be with just a little organisation and effort made by the right people on this realm. I’m an idealist, I guess. … But that person who organises it ain’t me - I know that. I ain’t got the personality type. I can plan, but I can’t lead, s’why I posted this in’t first place - to bring this issue to people’s attention. 'n that’s all.

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The hubs are always going to wildly range in quality and always have, it may be quite jaded and pessimistic of me but I always assume threads like these tend to be an excuse to curl one out on a group seen as “lesser” roleplayers.

Hub rper bad, me quality. Etc.

Sure, you can host events and the like and gather interest for little expeditions or whatever. But ultimately no one is obligated to the community. Back on my old realm (I left the Sha’tar just before Cataclysm launched), there was someone who actively went around correcting lore mishaps/spelling/grammar. And he was very much loathed because he was impeding on peoples sense of fun™. Which is ultimately what roleplay is about.

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I mean like a few people, who you can openly find on this thread.

If Bill the plumbing student with taxes wants to come and RP Gossip Girl in WoW that’s his sub money and there’s no rules about what is considered RP, and what we should accept and not accept.

But what if, like, Bill the dude ruins my experience by being an inconsiderate escapist? We impede on poor Bill’s right—and what about mine? Freedom of speech & the offense of politically incorrect language: colourised, circa 2016.

We say that WoW’s a game, not a dating site for cyber & ERP. Well WoW’s a game, not a psychotherapist that helps you cope with everyday PTSD from a bad job or whatever.

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349

So why are you playing master warlock who is searching for apprentice?

This “there are no NPCs” argument is also unbelievably selfish and you never see it from people who want to play said NPCs. No, it´s always the “hero” that is complaining, because when he wants to come on his glorious quest, there is no townsfolk to send him on that quest, no helpless maidens to save, no villagers whose purpose in the story is to say “I heard bandits have lair in the eastern mountains, sire.”, no butcher who sells hero meat for his journey.

Instead, there are citizens who live their own lives (often owning store, restaurants and so on…no idea what Stormwind you walked through) and don´t really care about hero who wants to save their miserable existence, because their existence isn´t really that miserable.

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My remark didn’t include Bill trashing other people’s enjoyment*.

*Naturally, trashing on other people’s roleplay is bad. Don’t do that. Don’t be a Spoilsport Steven.

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You’ve ignored ninety percent of my post to zero in on one point in isolation -

Oh, the irony.

As I said - either you don’t understand tension or you don’t understand roleplay. I suspect now it’s the latter.

As I said, it’s up to you to provide tension for yourself via your own character. You seem incapable of doing this, wandering around Stormwind in search of NPCS (for some surreal reason) and carrying a pocket’s worth of plots and constructed situations. Why are you trying to impose structure on walk-up RP? Why are you trying to assert control using your plots and situations? Why don’t you simply act as your character would act in that situation, i.e, roleplay?

If your character is stuck in a tedious and anodyne conversation, won’t he become bored? What will your character do if he becomes increasingly bored and restless? How will he react? Will he become cruel, merely in hopes of getting an interesting rise/ reaction? Will he become increasingly frustrated and histrionic?

Personally, for me, I’m entertained by writing my own character. I’m entertained by the way they speak and act, and their emotional reactions. I can use any character or situation as fuel for my own roleplay, whether I judge that character to be poorly written or not. Because I am roleplaying, my character doesn’t judge other characters based on OOC opinions. They react to them as real people.

Can it be frustrating, boring, exasperating when there’s a lack of characters that convince as real people? Yes, of course it can - but generally speaking, it’s very easy to find somebody with a well-written TRP and a solid grasp of spelling and punctuation to bounce off for a few hours.

Also -

Stormwind isn’t dead or dying because of a lack of restaurants or stores, because retail RP is mind-numbingly boring and utterly pointless. Stormwind is suffering to a lack of active subscribers and thus, characters - none of which need to conform to the “victim” role you’re so obsessed with.

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what if bad rp hurts me physically though aerilen?

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That’s an absolutely fair assumption to make mate, I am not that person though. I did try and offer role-playing lessons to the community a few months back, but sadly it was met with little interest, (and I did format it in a presentable way. The initial thread got a bunch of up-votes and initial interest, but it just didn’t take off - no one showed, etcetera.)

I just can’t sit idle and be a pessimist, it just isn’t in my system. Not to say I’m judging anyone who is, I’m just explaining my line of reasoning.

I was on Sha’tar too, fella. Good times :slight_smile:

It’s true, there’s a stark difference between elitism and being critical in the right capacities, sadly it’s hard to differentiate which is which online.

And I’m ignoring you Umay because you feel the need to slag me off now and then in in your post and you’re coming @ me again and again with definitions and “I know better than you because” assumptions, so I don’t see why I’d validate you with a proper response tbh. :confused: Telling me “I don’t know what role-play is” is a bit of a joke tbh.

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Cool suggestions where you call others “no-lifer who needs role-play as a substitute for socialising”.

Here’s my “suggestion”:

I would suggest that you achieve something in your reallife instead of trying to solve problems in roleplay.

See what I did? I just did a baseless assumption in an insulting manner for the way how you enjoy roleplaying.

All of this sounds more like a problem that YOU have. I would suggest you solve it by either accepting that the majority doesn’t want to roleplay boring things or you provide them yourself. Alas my question: why do you not be all of these things yourself? Provide it for others. Solved.

:thinking:

Let me quote ya:

“You don’t know anyone enough to make assumptions like that”.

:thinking: Not sure if you’re trolling or? Yes, writing is subjective. Your writing might be good to someone but bad to someone else. Making it -subjective-.

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Yes, I do tend to support my arguments with reasoning and evidence, as and when I can. I’m sorry you feel attacked by my definitions.

This is the entire premise of your thread and every post you make - “I know better than the whole server, who should RP according to my standards and remit”. I respect your opinion, when I write a post I am of course disagreeing with it and challenging it, which isn’t an attack, it’s debate. If you don’t want people to debate you on a public forum, don’t make posts on a public forum that are subject to debate.

I was perfectly serious, actually. I was trying, in fact, to educate you, an impulse you certainly recognise, understand and respect considering your valiant attempts to tutor the server in the art of roleplay. I do emphatically and sincerely believe you are fundamentally mistaken in your understanding of social RP, the server, and the medium itself.

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To be fair though, you did out of nowhere just call people who socialise on wow no-lifers, while in a -very- smug tone describing how you, as a writer, use it to “improve your craft” and explained how you see roleplay and how it is the correct way.

I think you can avoid these types of arguments by not going of like that out of nowhere.

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I’m getting out of this thread whilst I still have an inch of sanity left, for good, but - Umay. You’ve never role-played with me, and don’t even know me, so when you have, and you do, I’ll take constructive criticism from you - once you’ve actually seen my writing.

To be fair though, you did out of nowhere just call people who socialise on wow no-lifers, while in a -very- smug tone describing how you, as a writer, use it to “improve your craft” and explained how you see roleplay and how it is the correct way.

… No, I didn’t. Go back and look at the quote that page is on then read my next post three or so posts down. That quote is taken out of context.

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Are you handing out homework now?

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This thread is filled with so much pretentious bollocks not gonna lie.

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I did. You briefly mention that people can rp how they want and its great if they can socialise, but you also stand by the fact that they are no lifers for not using it as some sort of writing practise, and bring up how you is such a writer again. Your posts -breathe- smugness and contempt for people you think use WoW diffrently/wrong.

Or atleast thats how it comes across. And if that wasnt your intention, then maybe work on how you phrase it.

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Never saw someone getting so high on smelling their own farts in ages.

I’m impressed.

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Here is the quote again. You didn’t? Well… You sort of did. Your arguments went from:

“You are not taking my constructive criticism and misunderstanding my intention” to calling everyone who doesn’t roleplay the way you roleplay “no-lifers”.

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It is a curse and no-one likes us. I’d keep it quiet if I were you.

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