Bro, do you even Role Play???

In a thread on zoning into a hex only to find campers, I had a momentary psychotic break and started ranting about looting. I'm feeling much better now, thank you, but rather than hijacking that thread further, I figured a separate thread would be a much better idea.

Shroud of the Avatar is a Role Playing Game, or so I have been told, yet particularly when it comes to looting in PvP, I'm seeing a whole lot of non role playing approaches being advocated.

To me, if I am playing a role playing game, I would like it to be as realistic as possible. This is a big reason why I prefer role playing games that feature PvP. In a multiplayer game, there are...other players. In a realistic medieval setting, some of those would be neutral, some friendly, but outside of protected areas, some would be downright hostile. If I am role playing living in a medieval setting, why would I expect any different?

Not everyone shares that view, and so PvP in SotA is by consent. People who share my views consent to PvP.

Having selected PvP, then we have looting. Again, I would prefer to role play in the most realistic environment possible, so if I am slain in the wilderness, I have every expectation that the bad guys would strip me of everything possible, to include cutting a finger off to get a ring if it doesn't come off easily, and knocking out my gold teeth.

"But NO", some cry. "That wouldn't be nice!!!"

Killing you is OK, but taking your stuff is somehow unreasonable? As role playing approaches go, I find this one to be lacking.

But even that should be permissible in SotA. If that is your definition of role playing, then by all means, play that role.

What should also be permissible is a full loot option in addition to Open PvP, for people who want that role playing experience. That experience involves being in a world where you have to conduct yourself more cautiously and carefully. In a world where people don't just do careless things because, what the heck, death isn't a real threat. It's just a minor inconvenience. In a world that isn't one big foam padded, safety belted, air bagged comfort zone.

I'm not here to tell other people how to role play. I'd just like the opportunity to role play as I see fit, without others trying to tell me how to play MY game.

 

i can just say im a true roleplaying pvper and i love harcore pvp

i several times met a bad geared guy alone in my jungle in mortal online or somewhere, instead of killing him , i told him he can decide go with me in the battle and fight my enemys or die here and now . most players i told that, followed me in there death but after a funny fight XD
i loved to collect taxes from farmers they could decide pay me some gold and you are allowed to farm in my jungle and i protect you or we murder you guys now.
several times i did nothing elese then protecting the jungle bridge when someone wanted to cross it he had to pay some gold coins , if not... he had to fight me, if he want to enter (was the only bridge you could enter the jungle through) so i fought sometimes 2 people alone and defened the bridge, or a zerg was comming for me to prevent me from doing it.

good and evil have to be a part of a role playing game , some are cruel but in my opinion you not need to murder everyone but you should have the option

sometimes i wanted and played the good guy and wanted to make a guild ,called the tindrem police department in fabernum to save all the noobs crying for help , in the help channel when they get attacked. or a bounty hunter guild hunting pks or blue people for gold so pve player which are not so strong could hire me to kill there worst enemy.

i personally love more the roleplaying between players then between players and npcs

 

We are on the same page, then. Hopefully, SotA will provide an option for us to be able to role play as we wish to role play.

One size does not fit all.

 

So, Role play.

You murder someone, you are witnessed doing it, lets go realistic. You get arrested and spend time in prison or are hanged. Problem is, those options don't seem to be as fun, so no one does it. Weird, not so realistic.

A realistic medieval setting does not have fireballs and lightning bolts flying out of spell casters as well.

I find realistic is only ever used when people tend to gain something from it....not when it actually causes them grief.

 

*Takes a swig out of a vile to take the grit out of his voice*
I will indeed be playing as a role player, and at times I practice here on the forums. I will accept that because of my "nature" (alignment) I will not be accepted in the npc towns and will be freely attacked by guards(if they implement that). I will however be able to go into pvp player towns, pvp zones and wilderness areas. I will always be flagged. But I will always try to stay in character, but no one is perfect. My goal is to give people that want to rp a villain in there story. I understand that I will die a lot. But it will be fun for me to try to achieve this goal. I know many people do not like what I am, but that is incentive to try even harder to get rid of me, or join me if you are so inclined. Muhahahahaha!

 

Oh Rune, now you are just toying with me. As an Anti-PK, those options sound terrific, assuming that they implemented so that players carry out the sentences.

I KNOW. Wouldn't be great to have that too? Someone needs to suggest that.

Your milage may vary. Like I say, role play in the fashion you prefer, but afford me and players like me the same option. I don't interfere with you, and you don't interfere with me. I think SotA is pretty good at catering to various play styles so far. This is just another play style.

 

Back in midevil times I'm sure the justice system wasn't the only police. So if I murder someone and say he stole from me or something else very bad, and I tell the witness and the authorities that, they will most likely believe me unless I have a bad record of hurting others.

Games are made to represent another reality of a world like ours with things that might not be possible in this world that we live in. . . Now if you want a game to simulate our world in the midevil era. Well that's called a simulator, lol.

 

If that's what some players would like, a combination of both, I don't see why not. Assassin's Creed, from what little I've seen, tries to combine history and science, and is pretty successful.

 

That is great that you go out of your way to role play in combat.

Clearly the rest is a preference thing. I have a different view. 'Role play' does not mean complete 'real life simulation' to me. I would say that more people role play as escapism for real life, than as hard core simulation. And plenty of gamers who PVP do not care about role playing. To them, its a game of combat only. Therefore, it does not follow for me that because PVP can be role played, that unlimited looting follows simply because it is realistic. Just how I see it.

If role playing PVP demanded looting on the basis of it being realistic, then I think Rune has it right - let the rest of the axe fall too - flag looting as a criminal behavior that kicks you into PVP outsize of PVP zones or creates a bounty, have jail penalties, or maybe even perma-death flags for someone who does it too much. If we want to play the realistic simulation card to get the goodies, then the downsides for reaching into the cookie jar a few too many times must be simulated too. Ultimately, some form of balance is needed. At the end of the day, yes, someone does have to tell us how to play to create that balance. The developers must juggle the upsides and downsides in a way that are fun for a vast majority of players so it can maintain its paying customer base and sustain the game.

 

You mean 'role play' doesn't mean that for you. Role play means exactly that for a lot of people. In another context, why do people take part in civil war or revolutionary war reenactments? Role playing for them resides in that context, just as folks in the Society for Creative Anachronism have their context, or CosPlay folks have their context.

It's a straw man argument, however. I'm not asking for a complete real life simulation, but I don't think it's a stretch in a game like this to expect that outside of safe areas, there are bad people who want to kill me and take my stuff.

Some people who are not me, and many like me. Generalizations are typically faulty. So is this one.

A non sequitur if I've ever heard one. I'm not saying that full loot has follow just because PvP can be role played. I'm saying that there exists a class of role players who want that option. If you are not a member of that class, that's fine. SotA caters to many player styles, including Single Player Offline. This would just be another option. Choose to participate, or not. It would be your choice.

Again, there is no demand. It would be an OPTION.

Sounds great to me. What do you suggest? Permadeath? I wouldn't select the option myself, but others have suggested it. That is what we are here for, to provide suggestions. Portalarium decides what to implement.

UO Siege Perilous supported an open PvP full loot environment for a period of years very successfully. People who chose to go there, including me, enjoyed it immensely. It is a legitimate market that Portalarium should consider attracting if they can provide it without the downsides you mention, and with Selective Multiplayer, I see no reason why they can't do exactly that.

 

What downside are you willing to accept for being able to loot openly all the time?

 

Losing all my stuff?

 

Role played?

 

Yea, verily. I'd probably even emote a 'Gadzooks' or a 'Yoiks' in there somewhere. There might even be an 'Ods bodkins!!!"

What kind of downside did you have in mind?

 

The problem with trying to use reality is also this, in real life we are governed by what our society and laws dictate. We know what will happen to us if we do break those rules and then we act according to what we are willing to do. That's generally why we don't have a mad max society with people outright slaughtering each other, might makes right mentality.

What you are proposing is might makes right without any of the rules that make that a tough choice.

 

I don't know. I was curious of what your ideas were

How does a wounded knight or knight stripped of a weapon role play on a PVP battle field otherwise? It would seem a handicap. I would bet in most PVP scenarios, nobody would care if we were limping off, carrying a white flag.

 

I think there are 2 different scenarios of pvp that we know of. One would be general flagged pvp, and one will be guild pvp. I believe the guild pvp would be much easier to role play in and would have a better audience that would play along.

 

Guild wars are already in the game, I'm pretty sure, which is ideal for people who want a little more control over their PvP. Less restrictive than an arena match, but not as much of a free for all as Open PvP.

 

The dev's have not announced a criminal justice system to my knowledge yet, but that is a different design. Whatever criminal justice system they come up with, I don't see how full loot would conflict. In a game based upon Virtues, I think there will have to be such a system.

As in UO, if you loot a person illegally (however that is defined) there would be consequences (however that would be defined). We'll have to see what the devs come up with.

 

A knight stripped of his equipment has to retire from the field until he reequips. That adds an element of logistics to PvP. You have to maintain supplies, and you can't just res and run right back into the fight, so full loot adds both tactics and strategy to PvP, for those who like that sort of thing as I do.