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General: Cult of (Multiple) Personality

StraddenStradden Managing EditorMember CommonPosts: 6,696

MMORPG.com's Jaime Skelton uses her Player Perspectives column this week to talk about the darker side of the role-playing sub-culture in MMOs.


Jaime Skelton

You've just started your adventures into the newest game to hit the market. Without thinking, you select the server with the coolest name, the best balance of population, or some other criteria in your head. As soon as you step into this new world, you're greeted by a friendly sort who helps you along your way. They make you feel warm and fuzzy, secure and comfortable all at once. In fact, you'd be more than happy to hang out with them, but something doesn't seem right. Little things pop up here and there, and suddenly, the dreaded question arises.

"So, how are you role-playing your character?"

At first glance, a niche group such as role-players seem relaxed and welcoming. In many cases, they are. They create helpful little topics like "How to role-play" and "Role-play 101" on the forums. Sometimes they even hold in-game tutorial sessions to get people comfortable with the idea of role-playing. They publicly role-play in the hopes that others will join in, even if new to the idea of acting a part in-character. It all sounds kind, fluffy, friendly. Like cotton candy dipped in honey and covered in sprinkles.

Read Cult of (Multiple) Personality.

Cheers,
Jon Wood
Managing Editor
MMORPG.com

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Comments

  • xaldraxiusxaldraxius Member Posts: 1,249

    Yeah, role players can be some real prima donnas. It's important to find a role-playing group that you fit in with which can be hard if you don't already know somebody in a group. Just walking up and inserting yourself into a group's roleplay can be seen as rude, and more likely than not they are just going to ignore you. Most large roleplay guilds will have a webpage with rules and lore and some sort of application process. It's almost always easier to start roleplaying on the forums before moving on to the in-game RP.

  • astoriaastoria Member UncommonPosts: 1,677

    I rarely met any of the extreme RP variety. I seem to have been received well even when I got PUGed into raids etc. with RP guilds by simply using 'ooc' or () to denote out of character. Maybe it is easier for me as a general non-RPer because thw two things I DO like to do are to come up with a story for my characters and read missions texts (depends on game tho i admit).

    "Never met a pack of humans that were any different. Look at the idiots that get elected every couple of years. You really consider those guys more mature than us? The only difference between us and them is, when they gank some noobs and take their stuff, the noobs actually die." - Madimorga

  • MMO.MaverickMMO.Maverick Member CommonPosts: 7,619

    There's several levels of awesome in this article.

     

    'Many times, guilds only role-play with themselves in haughty disdain for the rest of the people on the server, all in the ideal they are trying to, "rescue role-playing" on the server. In reality, they're doing quite the opposite, turning away others to feel better about themselves.'

     

    Great stuff, and oh so true image

    The ACTUAL size of MMORPG worlds: a comparison list between MMO's

    The ease with which predictions are made on these forums:
    Fratman: "I'm saying Spring 2012 at the earliest [for TOR release]. Anyone still clinging to 2011 is deluding themself at this point."

  • solarinesolarine Member Posts: 1,203

    I've been in some "Light RP" guilds and the experience was usually fun. I've seldom seen annoying nitpicking, the warnings were usually about stuff that's outright designed to be immersion breaking - like giving your character a celebrity name (or a famous vampire character's name in a medieval fantasy setting). And whenever I had a hard time keeping up with the RP, the other players usually helped me out with it while sternly managing to stay in character - the saves they came up with were oftentimes absolutely hilarious!

    So I would recommend people who are hesitant about the whole experience to find a "light" or "casual" RP guild. You do have some bad stuff out in the world", but it's nowhere as bad as I've experienced on, say, PVP servers. And the good stuff  can be priceless. :)

  • LiltawenLiltawen Member UncommonPosts: 245

    Wow, that's a bit paranoid. Maybe I just haven't run across any of these people yet. I work in theatre so role-playing in an MMO is pretty second nature to me-doing adventures ' in character' is simply the way I do them.  Although the whole 'third person' thing (Liltawen is morose and sits on a log) freaks me out a bit. I realize it is from the old desk-top RP days but still. One of the reasons why I like MMOs in fact.

  • BeezerbeezBeezerbeez Member UncommonPosts: 302

    Too much paranoia and generalization to take this opinion piece very seriously.  Sure, we've all seen some degree of this stuff but this level of analysis borders dangerously on the negligent and prejudicial side of things.    

  • ColdrenColdren Member UncommonPosts: 495

    An interesting article.

    But has already been stated, or will be repeatedly in the future, I believe that you either have terrible luck, or you are hanging out with with a really bad group of them.

    I have seem some very, very dedicated RP'ers who, even if they don't approve of your approach or the rules you break, are exceptionally mature. I've found some very hardcore RP'ers who share all of the traits you describe, except the poor attitude and pettiness.

    I assume you have mostly been RP'ing in WoW or LotRo?

    Immature, simplified games filled with immature, simplistic people are bound to produce immature roleplayers.

  • alkarionlogalkarionlog Member EpicPosts: 3,584

    lol its article make me remember my days when I played RFonline, no Role Players there, but all the hate griefing and drama you describe as there XD, so its still make wonder? what is the diference of the RP over the non-RP?

     

    none all are people who have nothing else to do.... just exist to annoy you, I guess it was a reason for me to love pvp games, I kil the moron and move on, if he come back kill him again XD, nothing like make a kid thrown a tantrum for you killing him, and don't forget the block XD

    FOR HONOR, FOR FREEDOM.... and for some money.
  • xaldraxiusxaldraxius Member Posts: 1,249

    Originally posted by Coldren

    An interesting article.

    But has already been stated, or will be repeatedly in the future, I believe that you either have terrible luck, or you are hanging out with with a really bad group of them.

    I have seem some very, very dedicated RP'ers who, even if they don't approve of your approach or the rules you break, are exceptionally mature. I've found some very hardcore RP'ers who share all of the traits you describe, except the poor attitude and pettiness.

    I assume you have mostly been RP'ing in WoW or LotRo?

    Immature, simplified games filled with immature, simplistic people are bound to produce immature roleplayers.

     Maybe you've just been lucky, because I find everything that the OP said to be a pretty accurate presentation of the Role Playing cliques I've encountered through the years. It's not always that way, but as far as generalizations go, it's a fair representation.

  • OzmodanOzmodan Member EpicPosts: 9,726

    I really would not include your so called rule breakers in the role play community.  I don't see any form of role play in your description of said group.

    I have worked with some very dedicated role play groups in SWG and Wow in the past and found that vast majority fall in the casual group.   The hardcore are usually so few that they usually end up with the casual group just to have someone to roleplay with.

    I'd pop into a roleplay group any day in the week rather than groups over those that haggle over who has more dps.

  • GrayGhost79GrayGhost79 Member UncommonPosts: 4,775

    With 12ish years of MMO's and many different MMO's under my belt I'd have to say that this article is pretty dead on lol.

    While there are some casual groups that have been alright they are out weighed by the bad by to much lol.

    2 groups you didn't list though and those are the ones that irritate me the most.

    ERP'rs (Erotic Role Players) and Furries (Erotic Role Players that like to pretend they are animals)

    both should have gotten some attention in the article because those 2 groups have brought the most bad publicity on to RP'ing in MMO's.

  • MMO.MaverickMMO.Maverick Member CommonPosts: 7,619

    Originally posted by GrayGhost79

    2 groups you didn't list though and those are the ones that irritate me the most.

    ERP'rs (Erotic Role Players) and Furries (Erotic Role Players that like to pretend they are animals)

    both should have gotten some attention in the article because those 2 groups have brought the most bad publicity on to RP'ing in MMO's.

    I agree.

    They ought to be mentioned too especially bc of the OOC (Out of Character)  drama and added emotional involvement (which often leads to more drama) that often accompanies those crowds. A lot of those people often pose as 'true roleplayers' while they're in reality only busy with the ERP.

     

    And yes, it's not only doom & misery in the RP communities - there are many creative RP guilds and great roleplayers to encounter - but what the article describes is regularly occurring too.

    The ACTUAL size of MMORPG worlds: a comparison list between MMO's

    The ease with which predictions are made on these forums:
    Fratman: "I'm saying Spring 2012 at the earliest [for TOR release]. Anyone still clinging to 2011 is deluding themself at this point."

  • Hopscotch73Hopscotch73 Member UncommonPosts: 971

    Agree with Grey and Cyphers, ERPers cause ructions wherever they pop up.

     

    I played on a RP server in WoW the whole time I played the game and was always in RP guilds.

     

    One I left because of a combination of an ERP-ing dolt (who was also an utter drama queen) and the hardcore RP strutting on the forums done by a few of the members (threatening to report players, going on and on and oooonnnnn about RP "rules" etc.). I learned from that guild that I'm neither a hardcore nor a rule-breaker. Also, I was in the guild for a year, and found it really really hard to break into the main clique. The main clique ran dungeons together and raided together so not being in with them meant pugging. Always felt "on the outside" as it were. Eventually I realised I just didn't care about fitting in or being in with the in-crowd and /gquit.

     

    The guild I stuck with the longest (and the one which made me stick playing WoW for longer than I should have) was a raid-progressing RP guild. There were RP events, and whenever you ran into guildies there'd be a bit of RP going on, but no-one screamed rules at you and no-one god-moded anything. It was relaxed and laid back. They were one of the top raiding guilds on the server too, so there was always people to run a dungeon with, or raid with, and everyone got to play how they wanted. Very very good people.

     

    It really seems to come down to luck, you can be put off RP for life by hardcores or god-moders, but if you fall in with a laid back bunch then you can have a really great game experience.

     

    I had forgotten about all the RP rules nonsense from WoW until this morning, when I was playing FE and someone was using brackets in Region chat. A couple of players asked what was up with that, and I realised what it was. I mean, seriously? Brackets in region chat? That's like using brackets in trade on WoW, just OTT and superfluous. But then that's my opinion, and I'm sure there's many a hardcore would disagree with me. One of my RL friends prefixes every /w in WoW with "ooc:" which got on my nerves a bit too. I tend to confine my RP to /say /em and the guild RP channel. Whispers, team/group chat and global channels are all fair game for non-RP stuff as far as I'm concerned.

     

    So yeah, I'm softcore....but I can really see where you were coming from with that article Jaime, people who think RP-ers are all unicorns and rainbows should spend some time around certain types of them.

     

  • KhalathwyrKhalathwyr Member UncommonPosts: 3,133

    Here hoping this RP piece doesn't grab the hostility the last one did a while back that portrayed all RPers in a negative light. This one is somewhat more...diplomatic(?) but still...

    I used to be all for RP in MMOs. Seeing that it is hardly supported by game mechanics these days I've just went back to keeping it in my table-top D&D and Shadowrun gaming.

    "Many nights, my friend... Many nights I've put a blade to your throat while you were sleeping. Glad I never killed you, Steve. You're alright..."

    Chavez y Chavez

  • WightyWighty Member UncommonPosts: 699

    Damn now I have that Living Colour song stuck in my head...

    What are your other Hobbies?

    Gaming is Dirt Cheap compared to this...

  • NifaNifa Member Posts: 324

    A good article, Jamie, but like others who have already posted, I wonder if maybe you have just had some rotten luck.

    I've been in a number of RP guilds, most of which would be considered "hard core" but none of which have ever been critical or "nazi-like" about it.  They've welcomed both non-RPers and folks new to RP happily and been mature and friendly about handling sticky situations - and as another poster stated, some of the "saves" have been positively hilarious.

    Depending on the game, I can be 'hard core' or 'casual' about my RP - it also depends on my mood that day, but I am also careful not to ruin others' immersion as a matter of courtesy - but I don't demand that others do the same for me. *shrug*  I enjoy RP, as do my guildmates, but I and others understand it's not everyone's cup of tea.

    As with any subset of players, though, you're bound to run into jerks...just please don't lump us all into the "elitist jerk" category, if you don't mind. ;)

    Firebrand Art

    "You are obviously confusing a mature rating with actual maturity." -Asherman

    Maybe MMO is not your genre, go play Modern Warfare...or something you can be all twitchy...and rank up all night. This is seriously getting tired. -Ranyr

  • BowWakeBowWake Member Posts: 54

    I await your identical articlse about the other radicals of player population: The achievers, min-maxers, financial maniacs, gltchers/exploiters, and the people who bring their RL hate into the game.

    Oh, and the people who only post in forums when they disagree with something. (snrk)

  • dzikundzikun Member Posts: 150

    I'm a roleplayer. I've been roleplaying long before my first MMO...  Met many wonderfull people this way.  A few of those RP jerks you talk about.

    I do agree its as full of action as any social group...Even moreso because roleplaying is a deeply social and sometimes too personal of a game. Roleplaying is indeed as you said something of a "cult" or... a closed circle. Sometimes its really hard to get in (even when they "invite" people in by gatherings or social events) those circles as most of the time those circles have one or two elitists in them.

     

    Still most longterm roleplayers are a bit elitist (gods know i'm sometimes like that... ) but there are things that are hard to tolarate... Especialy people that intentionaly break the lore to mock roleplayers... For all you non roleplayers imagine some noob team-kiling you all the time just out of pure malice... Or because he is SO NOOBISH that he doesn't know who to shoot. It can get on ones nervers.

     

    The whole problem with this "cult-like" behavior is the lack of tolerance for roleplayers. People not only mock us because of it but sometimes (more often then you think) they just break our fun out of pure malice, like goig to our gathering just to spam some idiocy... Or jump around our "camp" breaking the immersion... Thats why rolplayers cut themselves from most of the MMO society when they roleplay. 

     

    Still we stay open to people... The overwhelming mejority of us are open to new roleplayers and the mostly enjoyed type of roleplay is the random encounter with someone that roleplays while grinding... or just standing next to a quest giver. Nothing more fun then meeting a new roleplayer. :) Surprise RP FTW! 

    I've been uplinked and downloaded, I've been inputted and outsourced. I know the upside of downsizing, I know the downside of upgrading.

    I'm a high-tech low-life. A cutting-edge, state-of-the-art, bi-coastal multi-tasker, and I can give you a gigabyte in a nanosecond.

    I'm new-wave, but I'm old-school; and my inner child is outward-bound.

    I'm a hot-wired, heat-seeking, warm-hearted cool customer; voice-activated and bio-degradable.

    RIP George Carlin.

  • VuDu_DawLVuDu_DawL Member Posts: 65

    Another thing I've found in-game roleplaying to mimic the real life roleplaying. Remember the little group of play-friends you had as a child? Remember how there were usually one or two of the group that were the "deciders"? They alway seemed to be the one to appoint the roles. They were always the mom/dad/hero/boss and you were always the child/minion/villain/victim? Th best solution? Don't play with them. I have seen some of the rabid types mentioned in the article. I laugh at them and move on. Because they *need* control and there is no way to change that behaviour. Just like the bossy, bullying children, they *need* to have their way to feed their own egos.

    Playing (of any kind, not just role) with others involves thinking about how you impact them, and how they impact you. To be successful, there has to be give and take. And just like real life, you must remember that the relationship may not take the exact direction you wish it to. If the people you are playing with are reasonable and mature (keywords, here) then RP can be fun and a good break from the mundane reality. If you end up with the kind of RP'ers described in this story, it can be more stress/drama/grief than it is worth.

    As for ERP? Meh. Lots do it. It doesn't bother me. I can play along, or no, whatever trips their trigger (but sometimes they can be incredibly surprised at how bizarre that trip can be... hahaha... especially fun when RPing two characters at once).

    My main hobby is writing. I love plot twists. RP is a lot like writing in a present, ongoing tense, but doing it collaboratively. Not always easy. But it can be fun, and a great creative outlet.  :)

    Very good story, Jamie. You bring up a lot of interest points. If you ever get to Liberty server in CoH, you can 'meet' my little 'family' (but only over the summer, *sigh* - the rest of the year I am chained in a cave surrounded by books). I promise I am not cliquish at all and I won't show up with ears and tail looking for love.   :P

  • RenkovRenkov Member Posts: 13

    I've been in a number of RP guilds. The most hardcore of which your could consider Omni-Pol Bureau of Investigation (or OPBI)

    To those who don't know, Omni-Pol is (or was, it went quiet for a while) an "official" RP "corp". meaning it was run by the devs (or were they GM's) themselves- It was very nerve wrecking the first time when I found myself on guard duty in Omni-1 having to go through the whole "Yes sir, no sir" thing with patrols (we did get attacked). But that was nothing when I had to stand in for my CO in the Omni-Pol central meeting... I had been away for a week and I had no idea what was up and down (something about neuts or claners raining leets on a Neut-Omni leadership meeting). I should log in again, see if there's anything going on....

    My second memorable dabbling with RP was in Tabula Rasa. I loved it. I really, really did. We had a pretty laid back punch. On Centaurus I was part of the 2nd Mobile Infantry before joining the AFS Black Ops (more like merging, later was run by Martin Seraph). On Cassi, however, I was part of the Umbra Seraphim, or Shadow Saints, as they were later known. They moved mostly over to Fallen Earth (http://fallenearthroleplayers.mmoguildsites.com/ if you're interested) after TR closed down. 

    RP is a nice way to get to know people and just let the creative juices flow. It takes a while to get the hang of it. And by that I mean seeing the stupid things you do. No one's against having an awesome character, but just, tone it down to tolerable please. No one likes the whole "1 up!" thing people have going sometimes. 

  • TrausenTrausen Member Posts: 8

    You can't say that all role-playing guilds are evil.... I've been involved with a role playing guild for 8 years now. They are great people and try to enhance the communities they are a part of by making fun events and generally entertaining other players and themselves. It's fun because it makes you feel like the game is more than a game but an actual experience. That's what's so great about role-playing.

    I'll admit there have been some bad RP guilds... but those are the RP guilds that even ME AS AN RP-ER looks down upon because they are full of themselves. When I RP, I put on a character and my character becomes me.  The RPers that I don't like are the ones that put their own real life experience into their RP experience. That's not RP. RP is getting away from your real life to have a different experience.

  • DracondisDracondis Member UncommonPosts: 177

    Someone got burnt reacently...

    Not that I can argue with most of the article.  It's fairly accurate.  Still, there's usually no reason to post articles like this unless its fresh and still stinging.  Time heals all wounds, even those caused by RPers.

  • DinendaeDinendae Member Posts: 1,264

    Originally posted by Beezerbeez

    Too much paranoia and generalization to take this opinion piece very seriously.  Sure, we've all seen some degree of this stuff but this level of analysis borders dangerously on the negligent and prejudicial side of things.    


     

       Yep. The author is focusing on the extreme people and groups, and using them as a broad brush to paint most that way. That doesn't hold true for roleplayers any more than saying every PvPer is a twelve year old smacktard. There are heavy RP guilds out there who don't engage in this stuff, and some that do; if you want to roleplay, but don't wish to be around those types, then stick with a medium or light roleplay group.

       If things were as bad as the author makes them out, then why do people who are not interested in RP always flock to those servers? The answer I always hear is that the community on those servers is generally better. Guess what? It's true.  Sure you have your fanatics, every group of people in the world does, but by and large roleplayers are no worse than anyone else. There's an old saying: You will find what you were looking for. It means that if all you expect to find are bad roleplayers, then that is exactly who you will find. If the only roleplayers that you ever encounter are the bad ones, then maybe you should broaden your horizons a bit more?

    "Oh my, how horrible, someone is criticizing a MMO. Oh yeah, that is what a forum is about, looking at both sides. You rather have to be critical of anything in this genre as of late because the track record of these major studios has just been appalling." -Ozmodan

  • GrayGhost79GrayGhost79 Member UncommonPosts: 4,775

    Originally posted by Dinendae

    Originally posted by Beezerbeez

    Too much paranoia and generalization to take this opinion piece very seriously.  Sure, we've all seen some degree of this stuff but this level of analysis borders dangerously on the negligent and prejudicial side of things.    


     

       Yep. The author is focusing on the extreme people and groups, and using them as a broad brush to paint most that way. That doesn't hold true for roleplayers any more than saying every PvPer is a twelve year old smacktard. There are heavy RP guilds out there who don't engage in this stuff, and some that do; if you want to roleplay, but don't wish to be around those types, then stick with a medium or light roleplay group.

       If things were as bad as the author makes them out, then why do people who are not interested in RP always flock to those servers? The answer I always hear is that the community on those servers is generally better. Guess what? It's true.  Sure you have your fanatics, every group of people in the world does, but by and large roleplayers are no worse than anyone else. There's an old saying: You will find what you were looking for. It means that if all you expect to find are bad roleplayers, then that is exactly who you will find. If the only roleplayers that you ever encounter are the bad ones, then maybe you should broaden your horizons a bit more?

     Actually if you want something that does point out it being that bad just look how RP'rs are treated generally.  It's do to the abundance of the worste of the bunch.  I have run into a few good rp guilds, clans, ls's, etc. But for the most part .... lol.

    RP'ing in MMO's is mostly not worth the time, you may luck out and find a good group but for the most part you got to wade through a bunch of muck to find them.

    To much drama most of the time in MMO's when it comes to RP. When I get the urge to RP I go for pen and paper groups.

    And lets be honest, a good RP group rarely needs to go ooc in any MMO. Basically you just stay clear of real life words and your solid. A good RP group would really be hard to distinquish from a normal group of players. Which is why they may seem as rare as they are.

    Bad RP groups tend to stand out and give a very bad impression to all however lol.  This right here may be key though. Regardless of how many good RP groups may be out there the ones recieving all the attention are the drama filled bad examples lol.

     

  • TalthanysTalthanys Member Posts: 458

    Wow. The ham-fisted generalizations in this article border on the staggering. This isn't to say those groups of RPers don't exist, but it seems you've gone out of your way to portray and categorize role-players in an overtly negative light. You've plumbed the depths without giving so much as lip-service to role-players who try and simply enhance the world atmosphere without being intrusive or pushing it like a religion.

    If this has truly been your experience, then I can only be very sorry for whatever string of bad luck that led you to associate with what is truly the worst and most egregious offenders (though, as someone correctly pointed out, indiscrete ERPers are a category of their own). There are far more role-players out there who, like me, test the waters or judge a situation first to see how RP-friendly it is before jumping into character, as it were. We are the unspoken, unseen, (and apparently uncelebrated) majority who are judicious in our practices, but can go from completely objective player-driven speech to full blown theater if we see doing so does not seem out of place.

    I hope you come to see that while role-playing does have its share of prima donnas and elitists (like any other neatly categorized demographic of online MMO players), there are far more that tread politely, if silently. Who knows, you might even feel compelled to write an article about the positive aspects (you know, for the sake of balanced viewpoints and all).

    -tal (renegade role-player)

    image

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