There is very clear indicators of what is valid rp and what isnt though, call it elitism, but there is a clear quality that most rp’ers are aware of, nothing wrong with a degree of quality control in terms of who you do and dont interact with, if someone is clearly a trash tier rp’er with no intention of improving? f em, dont engage, ignore n move on, headcannon “any rp is good rp” sh*t goes too far if left unchecked/entertained to much
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There is still a distinct difference as WoW is much more tame than either of the 3 aforementioned fantasy settings. Bureaucracy and politics are far less prominent in WoW than in Game of Thrones, for example, and to just apply concepts from these other franchises just doesn’t always fit and is more often than not used as a free pass to further a power fantasy. I’ve seen it every time I visited Stormwind the last few months.
It’s hard to put “the Spirit of Warcraft” into words. It’s not as grounded as The Witcher or Game of Thrones, not as gritty and harsh. WoW is more lighthearted, even with its darker themes. It’s a world of wonder and magic but it has its limits. And it has history. We came out of a world war last year, battling across four continents (2 of which are sub-continents, technically), a world tree burned, an entire city blighted. Countless perished, and while the canal streets of Stormwind are lined with refugees and burn victims, you have a Blood Elf chatting about adult hugging in graphic detail two meters away, although their people met a similar fate at the hands of the Scourge in Silvermoon. Is that really the spirit of Warcraft?
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It’s all just so very sad. If we tolerated any kind of RP in WoW, then the world would just feel like an unorganized Lego box with half a Bionicle in it.
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My big unorganized lego box has at least 4 disassembled Bionicles in there
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In all fairness though the theme of SW politics and the noble house rp can also be incredibly fun/dope to delve into, only issue I find with “political” rp is it tends to get OOC political very very quickly, people equate their chars IC position with OOC antics very often, example, someone rises ICly quickly, they enjoy the benefits of that rise and all those kissing their buttocks, all of a sudden someone else comes along, threatens that position ICly, then begins the OOC politics to ensure not losing said position/clout ICly.
God you just gave me flashbacks to my childhood, so many bionicles… : ’ )
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Thats the issue with IC political/noble rp imo, is that many people start a guild for the wrong reasons, and when they obtain IC clout/authority ect it gets to their head OOCly, they start a pyramid scheme and before you know it waste years of their life OOCly politicking to keep an IC position, instead of just allowing a coup/passing of the torch and starting a fresh char or doing something else with that char.
Edit: I learned this myself, as someone who had guilds during Wotlk of some reasonable IC clout/“powah” and then having basically taken over the supernatural community of ESO, best to just allow your end to occur when its meant to occur, many people in IC/OOC positions of “power” come across a “its not the right time, I dont want to lose it all yet” mentality, and it ruins rp for them and others and becomes an OOC issue, its because they are addicted to the a$$kissing and “clout” that came with that position, imo anyway.
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I think the majority of RPers know better than to make that case, though I posit the opposite is just as unhealthy for the overall community. Having standards is absolutely fine, but being entirely unwilling to compromise on matters of standards leads to an increasingly fractured mosaic of players. That way lies “ignores XYZ” and years worth of grudges.
Blurred lines between IC and OOC was ever a source of troubles, and imaginary power does tend to bring that to the fore like little else.
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It does, rp is escapism, and alot of people in rp communities want to be “powerful” “respected” pillars, and will do anything to gain and remain, to the point of it becoming an unhealthy obsession, I dont mean to insult those that do, but for some people, the only validation of how great they think they are is what they find in rp communities through power playing, and its abit of a cancer on our rp communities, often such people are lauded as rp legends and pillars, and they ultimately do more harm than good, I went for a council system in my own community me n some made in ESO, instead of the singular leader role many tried to convince me to take, being a singular pillar paints a target on your back and ultimately becomes a chore to keep hold of.
Quality is not validity, however.
I get that, we have 25+ years and have invested what, 5-15 years of our life in playing pretend on a fictional character. Sure, everyone feels that their the hobby is important and others should take it seriously: some of us want to receive the golden globe of RP because our unpaid, underappreciated hobby is a serious affair and everyone who doesn’t play like us deserves to be blamed and crucified under our unrealistic, judgemental parameters.
Feel free to go and get the prize. Have your RP High Quality certificate, for what it is worth. But don’t disrupt other people’s enjoyment of the game while doing so.
If speaking with them doesn’t work, just ignore them and leave them be. You can share your experiences with like-minded people, and move on together.
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I agree, there is nothing to be gained from either party by harassing people we deem “badrp” what good comes from making someone elses evening terrible? just the gratification of a nasty/spiteful individual, I would hope we can all lean away from such a mindset, as naive as that may be, also agreed as far as the ignoring part, for me I would never have a full blown argument with someone who wishes to rp a certain way, if they wish to ignore the lore and be Varian Wrynns long lost son by Sylvanus fair enough, I dont pay their sub, is what it is, I usually have the time of day for the “lower” tier rp’ers to an extent though, until it gets too silly and I know there is no hope of trying to get a good rp experience with them.
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One thing that could do well to get rid of faction mentality on AD though is the mindset of “Anything outside the PCU is trash” thats a blatant lie at this stage we all know there is trash tier rp’ers both inside the PCU and outside, and good rp’ers both inside the PCU and out, subtly implying that anyone with a modicum of decent rp will naturally go to PCU is laughable and only continues the faction mentality that many truthfully dont actually believe in, not a dig, just an observation from another comment made in this post further up, be nice if one day AD is all one huge community, but wishful thinking I guess.
true actually
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Not true, I class myself a decent rp’er and am not a part of the PCU, I’ve roleplayed with many PCU rp’ers. some great…others? not so much, you get good and bad in everyone, having a community tag and some people to back you up doesnt guarantee you being any better than the average Elwynn rp’er in terms of quality.
these are not mutually exclusive statements.
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Like I said, you get trash tier rp’ers in every community, and good rp’ers, PCU is no exception imo, being a good rp’er doesnt guarantee you’ll be drawn to one community over the rest, given the rest (from my experience) are just as good in terms of quality across the board.
Edit: Ive had fantastic rp experiences with both PCU and non PCU groups, so for me I couldnt pretend that being PCU means good and not being PCU means bad, for me thats entirely bullsh*t and not worth pretending, who would I convince? people know that isnt true.
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Wait, I’ve always thought it was Valley of Strength? My life has been a lie.
For what it’s worth I turn on the maturity filter for this reason. Not necessarily because it makes these idiotic tendencies go away, but at least I find it more immersive and just assume they said something naughty in their native language/dialect and to my characters it’s just gibberish.
That and I lose absolutely nothing by not having to read the abusive drivel some players want others to see OOC. If they swear with the typical Worgen, Dwarf or pirate accent then I report them for circumventing said maturity filter, which has reportedly worked in the past and got the player silenced in-game.
Other than that, good thread OP. Our resident dragonoid idiot seems to have been triggered, every point you covered rings true and I abhor nothing more than the current state of anti-conflict teatime second slice of life RP that dominates the Alliance Stormwind and unfortunately Duskwood scenes.
Hence my character distributes Violence Permits, signed by a Grand Marshal of the Alliance, to any volunteer bounty hunter who wants the Alliance lands free of Darkfallen, Vrykul, Feral Worgen, not-Void Elf Blood Elf and other reprobates who are feasible to be either spies, ticking time bombs or cultists who should keep their heads low and their uppity voices lower.
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Lol lure them into the harsh mountains of alterac on a promise they will be accepted there, red wedding style