Who Killed Role-Playing in MMOs?

Yes many forget that there is no clear line drawn between roleplayers, pve'ers and pvp'ers, many of us enjoy all aspects of the game ^.^

 

*walks into the room and looks around*
Hmm, what is this?
*looks down*
Is this yours? *hands the mysterious item to Themo Lock*

(The note reads)
"I am from a land not far from here.
If you are reading this note, I have most likely lost my life.
I have no descendents, so please find my life's savings hidden deep within Owl's Head Sewers.
It's probably been looted by an evil lich by now... Oh well.."

I doubt anyone wishing to RP would be flagged open pvp, however it isn't unheard of for there to be battles, but for anyone finding the note given by a player this could have been overheard by a thief down the road who wishes to steal the treasure for themselves and kill the traveler who was privy to the note. This thief is RP'ing, the note giver is RP'ing, and themo lock would be RP'ing just by reading the note, and probably following the note's direction. It would be nice if we could drop items in random chests/barrels/satchel's on the ground to involve others in RP scenarios that spread beyond PvE, PvP, etc.

 

When I was young, I largely role played by writing out large paragraphs on forums creating stories with other people. Before that, there was MSN chat. Interestingly enough, I always put a bit of myself in my characters. Anyways, I've never seen a game ever be able to recapture the ability for multiple players to come together to craft their own experiences. I have played RPGs where you played a character with their own personality and then other RPGs where the actual "avatar" had no personality (and sometimes no lines!) so that you could put yourself in that shoe.

Role playing isn't just about walking in someone else's shoes. Sometimes it's about transporting yourself into another world-in fact that's what SOTA's entire principle is: you inject yourself in an avatar. You're not playing as someone else: you are playing yourself as a visitor into the world. Or you are playing someone else who is visiting the world if you don't like that.

The point is this: role playing can be many things and I refuse to put "MUST BE SOMEONE ELSE" as a constraint on my imagination. And the good news is that if someone did make that MMORPG, you wouldn't have to play it.

 

IRC roleplay was great, we used that /roll command and all was well in the land ^.^

 

im gonna rp the greased up deaf guy from family guy

 

Good post and yes that is RP . All the NWN servers I played on were open PVP servers. However you couldn't run around attacking people at your leisure. I was threatened a few times and killed once BUT I had disrespected a druids grove and the head Druid came after me. I took my smackdown and everyone lived happily ever after.

Now on your idea of dropping items. It would really be nice if there could be a DM client in game to help DM events. What would the limitations of the client be?

 

I killed role-playing in MMOs.

 

Role players killed role playing.
I've rarely met one that wasn't using "Role playing" as an excuse for some sort of unsavory behavior or another.

All you have to do is go to the next Steampunk convention in your area...
Look for the guy in the Dr Who outfit who claims to be "Time traveling" to the Steampunk universe.
Watch the other people at the conventions reactions...
The anger
The hate
I've no idea who's wrong in that fight. But frankly I don't care. If the role players can't even tolerate themselves, why the heck should I?

 

*blows whistle* Guards!! Guards! Apprehend that fish, bird, owl flute playing person! Guards! Guards! GUARDS!

 

I think perhaps you don't fully understand the concept of role-play

 

Hopefully we can show you a good example here in SotA! We have a few people that are dedicated role players, as with anything though, people are going to have their own definitions, and they wont be argued with!

 

Instancing killed roleplaying. *ducks*

 

I also killed the radio star. Video just took credit.

 

Honestly, i think WoW's raids killed roleplay.

*Eats a pie*
*Gets trampled by 70 of the Horde*

 

Exactly. This is a good point. PvPers can in fact be role players, and I think that got lost on some of the other games out there that segregate PvP from the rest of the game. In UO many of us were role players, and we had to be ready for PvP (because there was no other option). Which leads to why SotA should be ripe for Role Play.

With Shroud we will not only have the ability to opt out of PvP but the role play element will likely be quite rich. I didn't read the article but I bet it does leave room for a game like SotA to really have a thriving role play community since there is little segregation in this game.

We are all in one world, and there isn't some special shard for PvP only, and there isn't rp only. I think we will hear the tales of the great warriors even if we don't PvP, and I'm sure many will buy good and interact socially between all those groups since there really isn't "groups". Then there is also the great idea of having our avatars being us that came from this world, and there is some similar types of technology so the talk that might break role playing immersion might be less in this game due to that as well. It is easy to role play as yourself in another world (even if it is a different physical body).

 

any mindless gaming activity that you do not have to "think" to do contributed to it in my opinion lol. Role play gives a reason or meaning to a game, not just logging in, doing achievements, doing dailys because you have to keep up with the jones's. This kind of crap lol.

 

I agree, that the premise is, or should I say was, supposed to be you playing yourself lol. I fully understand this point. I am somewhat dismayed though if we are supposed to play ourselves, then how can we have elves and multiple char slots. Thats one complaint but it does not really matter, that is just an observation. One can still just play one char if he chooses.

 

Man we are on the same page! Isn't that the truth.

 

They said we can choose the sex of our avatar and the color of our skin. I can play a tan skinned redhead female with green eyes if I wanted. That doesn't mean it isn't me. So like a Doctor Who type regeneration is in effect here. We travel to this world but we can take a different form, or we can look like we do now, but the inner being is played by us.

 

Well the powers that be do not know who YOU are. So make up that person... For example my idea was to create a "TONY STARK" type human that ended up in SOTA. This braniac used his knowledge to amass riches and help the king win wars with technology he created and because of all the wars he helped win he was then crowned Duke and the rest is history. "SPOILER ALERT" Similar to Titan Technology

Also who is to say that an "ELF" was not human before? "SPOILER ALERT" Or do the Obsidians create elves without needing a living host to transform? Hell I think a human that was captured and turned ELF would make an incredible backstory.