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Most Roleplaying of them all
RazorAngel
Member Posts: 4
I was wondering what you guys would consider to be the MMORPG with the most roleplaying acually done? I know it certainly wasn't Everquest. Shadowbane had a few roleplaying guilds, but they are mostly gone now. So which RPG acually has people who roleplay in it?
Comments
Lol, neocron?!? Was this suppose to be a cruel joke?
If I were you I'd try some of the less popular rpg's such as Dark Ages which has a very RP based community. Oddly enough, the less known MMORPG's have the most role playing actually done.
-Obiyer
I have been told DAoC or AO too, although I have not played them myself. I have high hopes for CoH and I am happy to say alot of people playing there now have bothered to right an origin story and make a warcry and so forth that is in character. I think it will be easier to maintain a larger amount of low lvl RP just because the subject matter, i.e. hero comics, is much more mainstream than elves and orcs, and more people grew up wanting to fly than grew up wanting to be a ranger or cleric. Plus the character appearance customisation means that rather than just being another dark elf with different hair colour you get to design your whole look, so you can really set a character and get into it more.
There are already a few roleplay supergroups starting, so I am keeping my fingers crossed for a rich and varied community.
In all honesty: I doubt that there is a MMORPG that could hold your interest with a significant role playing element. Being a current AO veteran (played last two years), I have only encountered 2 real roleplayers (and they were merely running around spamming story-based cliches).
There are, however, countless HARDCORE roleplaying communities in NVN (neverwinter nights) and it's expansion. The roleplaying found in the most stringent servers is 100% authentic roleplaying (even an OOC is shunned), and I could only bear it for 2 months, since the people maintaining it enforce their own rules.
So if you can tolerate the despotic GMs, and are thirsting for roleplaying, go for NVN. But keep in mind that it is being maintained by people that aren't being paid, and will treat you however they please.
In any case there is no real roleplaying to be found in a mmorpg (with graphics beyond 16 bit). In fact mm and rp in one sentence seems to be a contradiction.
//\//\00 (oVV
This is a sequence of characters intended to produce some profound mental effect, but it has failed.
Sad to say but it seems the truth,
I personally have been role-playing for aproximately 22 years, and was termed hard-core. When my brother introduced me to mmorpg's I was excited, here was yet another outlet for roleplay. Uo was my first stop, we played for 2 years (husband and I another roleplayer) we did have a roleplaying guild on pacific. Very small guild but, whenever we conducted some sort of festival or gathering, we usually drew in a few of the seers at that time, the companions.
We moved to Everquest next, once again, i started up a role-playing guild with the help of my husband and brother, it was enjoyable. A new server at the time, vaz, we were able to find individuals who enjoyed roleplaying, maybe not as much as I did, but they too started lapsing into roleplaying and leaving irl behind. We held that guild together for 2 years, we were known then as being a great roleplaying and community oriented guild. From what I was told we actually was successfully at entertwining all races within our midst as our concept would fit them. Sadly we had to rearrange things in our life and thus had to be away for a while, so we gave the guild over to whom we thought were dedicated roleplayers. That unfortuantly turned out to not be the case. They are the term.. uber i believe and demanding raiding from the guild instead of encouraging and fostering roleplaying.
Currently we are on DAOC, surprisingly this is the toughest I have seen to get together role-players, im not saying there not roleplaying guilds out there. But its a chore sometimes to find them actually online and not lapsing into ooc talk in the main etc. Once again we have been at it for 2 years. (...might be time to change games))
So how do we handle it? Well i roleplay my characters to a hilt, no cliche's no stealing lines, each character is named appropriate time period names, each character has an image made up, each one has their own history and backstory developed. Whenever one of them wakes up, its a new day. They talk to npc's as if they are people, others within the community are greeted as strangers till known, etc etc.
I believe it's up to the individual. You will have to determine how much effort you wish to put in roleplaying and hang onto it. I have had many tells sent stating "wow i thought roleplayers on the roleplaying servers were a myth" and to me that is a shame.
I personally do not turn away an individual who is attempting to roleplay no matter what level of skill. In addition, we will group with non-roleplayers but if they attempt to get us to give up our character's ways, then we leave the group. My character's do not understand the things of this world. If someone ask "Do u want to join us?" she feels sorry for the imperative speaking they have, knowing they must have a hard life.
Names that appear Melvin Buffsalot...when she meets them..she feels pity that their parents obviously wanted to make fun of their children by giving them horrible names to induce mockery and contempt. Thus she attempts to overlook it and use a nickname or something else to call them.
I myself am waiting for that UO/DAOC/EQ type game to come out that incooperates daoc graphics and realm wars or some sort of conflict, UO's ability to chop wood, sheer sheep, heal with bandages, sit in chairs, eat food, etc etc and EQ's ability to swim (sorry i like it better than gulping fish water to breath underwater) and the way they at least allowed you to update your character's appearance.
For me its a social game, a game of discovery and danger. I'm not a big pvp person, but if there is a problem, then it needs to be dealt with, then again that opens an entire can of worms regarding abuse.
After trying the supposed server for an open beta game Lineage 2, i was surprise at the pretty characters, but the other things i won't discuss. However, i did note, not to many roleplayers were present. I was commented on being the only one seen and that is a tad depressing. So till something comes around that can cater to many of the base needs I have, I will stay at DAOC with my other half, working on a new life that was developed yesterday.
If you want hardcore roleplaying with actual individuals, you still can't beat a good tabletop or larp session. I haven't tried the servers for NVN, i don't have the patience for tight cliques (sp), I feel everyone is a roleplayer to some extent even if they don't realize it.
Safe journey and blessed be,
Sureal
Let me tell you one thing ALL and I mean ALL mmorpgs are made for roleplaying.It is players that decide not to roleplay.
You mentioned everquest.Were you there at launch?If you were you would certainly have not said EQ was not made for roleplaying.
People that were with EQ roleplayed for the first year and did a damn good job of it.
Along the line folks decided that loot and levels was more important(in EQ roleplaying days no one would group a DE cleric for instance).
So it died and despite how I hate SoE they tried to bring it back with roleplaying servers but again it died.
Take SWG for instance,there is so much in the game made for roleplaying.I mean come on you have a dancer,musician for instance.This are clearly roleplaying classes .And initally ,there was loads of roleplaying.I remember going to a player nightclub there.Remember wookies only saying "rorooo".
Remember folks going in stormstrooper uniform declaring they are seeking rebels despite the fact it painted a bull eye on them and often they died more then they found rebels.
But all this died very fast espically when the jedi craze hit the game and everyone wanted to be a jedi.
So in summary all mmorpg are designed with the elements to roleplay.But in every mmorpg I ever played(numbering close to 15 now) it died a fast and painful death due to players.
Phrozt - level 128 Battle Mage on Asheron's call DT
Aros de Phrozt - level 57 Bow
Dio dell'ascia - TANK axe
Lo Lo told you, You are play PK is Pig
++ Now playing Risk Your Life
Phrozt - level 177 Battle Mage on Asheron's call DT
Lo Lo told you, You are play PK is Pig
Current: Asheron's Call > Darktide, Wow (Just to check stats)
Old: Shadowbane, Dark and Light, Risk Your Life
I have played most of the major mmorpgs and still think I ran into the most roleplayers in EQ not to mention that game had the most potential for roleplay. EQ is definately the only game to make good use of npc factions to create a world were roleplay was possible and fun.
In most newer mmorpgs with no factions its a bit difficult to roleplay in games where you can have 500 dark elves in the middle of the dark elf city and have 3 or 4 light elves and some dwarves walking around doing quests and chatting with everyone. The guards and merchants will talk about how much they hate the light elves and are at war with them then gladly give them quests and sell to them...
There were a number of different roleplay only guilds on 2 of the EQ servers I played on. Maybe you just got on a server where few roleplayed?
If the "Were I there from the start" for me, then no. I was elsewhere roleplaying. As I stated it was on Vazelle, if you were there from the start, then you should know roughtly when that particualr period started. I ran a 5th seaon trained druid from the wood elf home, pausing in Riverdale (sp) long enough to beat on some creatures so a kind halfling could make her some leathers, to begin again running to find Qeynos a fabled city to her, at the ripe season of training of 6. This of course was before anyone was high enough to port another. ~mutters.
Now that was fun, a solo run that young, you had to use your wits and pray to the gods nothing bit your ahem..
In addition, as I stated its up to how much effort an individual puts into roleplay as to the extent of it. As indicated, most games roleplayer's are a dying breed or either they are reducing their interaction to private chats, guild channels or something similar, not to many roleplayers are using the open for communication, so that I have seen. When asked, I was told countless times, its easier, no interference from non-roleplayers, etc etc. My question then is...if we don't roleplay out in the open, how will other roleplayer's know we are at least of kindred spirits?
I will have to give Asheron's Call a look see, I was informed by another that it was not necessarily something I may be interested in, so had been waiting. Thank you Phrozt ~smiles
Yes I seen that faction stuff on a few recent open beta's it was amusing to say the least. We only played the one server on EQ for a little over 2 years, I usually stick to one and at the time when we started it was the newest server which gave people an equal footing in starting.
I can't wait for EQ 2 to come about, hopefully this will be it. I beta tested for SWG, it was ok, i did enjoy the entertainer and the doctor professions, however it brings it back to preference, I'm not to big on the sci-fi RP, on occassion its fine for me, but not as a long term answer.
Safe journey and blessed be
Sureal
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Turn me on, dead man.
S: 86% E: 60% A: 33% K: 20%
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Turn me on, dead man.
S: 86% E: 60% A: 33% K: 20%
There are several roleplaying guilds in EQ on Xegony, but I have noticed that they no longer RP where anyone can hear them. It's weird to see several of them gathered around, saying nothing, and then one of them does an emote-- laughing, for instance-- with no context. Frankly, I miss it, but I know that they sometimes take a hard time from non-RPers. But I think they miss a lot of interaction opportunities by limiting their RP to chat channels that only they can hear.
I saw two newbies named Dukeleto and Ladyjessica at the gates of Qeynos acting out some sort of sappy love scene, just the two of them, and I will admit that I emoted puking... Maybe their amorous grapplings would have been better suited to a private channel. Or a motel. And the Dune theme was way out of place... But I will confess that in that action, I might have helped in a tiny way to drive RP underground, along with the thousand other people. All I can say is that I am sorry, guys, and I miss all y'all
~*~
neschria
Bludgeoner of Bunnies
...
This is where I draw the line: __________________.
Eyes contact. Real time reaction. Voice...all major hinderances to roleplaying. There is Roleplaying server in EQ(Firiona Vie) and it have some success.
I have come to the following conclusion althought: I will try to return roleplaying when I meet it, but I will certainly not work hard without what I consider basic tools, like real voice, eyes contacts, real time reaction(not well thinked typed reaction).
That been said, many of my best friends are great roleplayers, yet I was able to make them compromise on their roleplaying, to stop it when it harm folks.
I recall seeing 2 of them shouting : "Die pale skins" while folks where been owned by mobs...I make them understand it was not nice to roleplay Dark elfs to such extend and the folks been owned didnt appreciate it mostly.
Yup, Uberness and roleplay often come into clashing, I could rant more against evil raiders, but Uberness is the cause behind it and no matter how you work the system out, it will come clashing against roleplaying. Prolly the folks been given commands where roleplaying because it was the uber choice to do when the GL was a roleplayer...when they become leaders, the uber choice was to raid, so they raid. If the uber choice would have been to handle weddings, they would prolly have handle weddings!
Maybe you should hold "events" in your home town, those events can be full of roleplaying. Could be a supper/diner, a week end, can be some plots, can be medieval, futurist or CHTULU minded, all make great roleplaying experiences. If you just want to start it fast and get young folks, make it cheap and easily accessible and put something interesting in it(like a place they are unlikely to have visit). If you are looking for more serious stuff with olders folks, include another expensive activity, like a supper of high gastronomy. Wearing a costume and talking is not like typing behind a computer, yet it is hard to be playing a gnome for most peoples that way! Great roleplaying experiences dont need much of a system behind it, and it may very well be between you an a few players or with a particuliar NPC that you will get the most fun experience. You wear a big robe and you are with 3 "peasants", there is no fighting option there, no system, and the humans playing the 3 peasant in rebellion will prolly talk harshly to a noble or be very submissive, yet, all remain to be seen as to how folks talk and all, if they *attack* you, there is no need to do the fight, you can just leave earlier that day and let everyone else wonder and be looking for you and maybe leave an item or two in the brushes or whatever, yet, matures players will not remove you from play so, for them it is funnier to be trying to avoid capture and maybe they blackmail you so you cant talk to the knights, yet, your tongue might slip with the cool looking guy and tell him to not tell the knights to not get *whatever the blackmail is*, again there is no need for any fights system, a knight crush X peasants, while X+1 is to much, and nobody know those values but the organisators, so to say you fight with that enemy with those allies is always risky and the fight is not interesting itself, yet, might be a last resort, not to mention to roleplay a wound is fun but crippling in the long run, just pass to something else should they say they fight...much much better then a computer, the computer is great for a fair complex system with fights precisely, which have nothing to do with roleplay. If you want to have a combat system for those events, I suggest you buy any book made by whitewolfs for such events, they have a combat system detailed there, you can ignore all the *vampiric/werewolfs/changeling* powers and just do for your, yet, you can give some of those powers and use them in another way to add some complexity... There is nothing like sneaking and hiding for real, and trust me, most of our friends have a very lacking perception, yet, usually there are 1 or 2 hunters that are very good at seeing sneaked folks, but will they talk or will they ignore/blackmail you...
If you play EQ still go to FIRIONA VIE, the roleplaying should be better there.
A lot better, but still, the obstacles with a computer seem to much for me.
- "Coercing? No no, I assure you, they are willing to bring my bags and pay public transportation just to help me, it is true!''
- "If I understand you well, you are telling me until next time. " - Ren
Life can be tapped
Hello Fellow Gamers!
I've been Role Playing since the early 70's. Thats right. I remember when D&D was a tiny blue pamphlet you could buy and play with 3 six sided die. Ah the days before all the crazy multi-sided die!! Chuckle. Anyway, I still roleplay in whatever format I happen to be in at the moment. Role play is a personal choice and I, for one, have found a happy balance between RP and IRL. I am forever the coarse, tough, warrior-mercenary. Short on words, long on wisdom, and viscious in battle. Whatever it takes to win, thats the mercenaries creed. When people speak to me in an MMORPG, they are drawn into my RP experience wether they are aware of it or not. Before they know it, they find themselves learning about my characters mannerisms, (I GRYM-ly chuckle during battle), and background story. When I leave a party or group, they have come to know something about Grym Goblinsbane, the warrior. They don't know jack about my real life. When I play a spell caster, I usually macro the words or emotes to accompany my spell casting. Does it annoy some of the players? Probably, but nothing I am doing is a bannable offense. I tend to ignore them if they have negative comments, but for the most part, people try to join in and emulate my actions. You see? There is a way to incorporate RP into your gaming experience. Some are better than others, but I never bash anyone for trying. In the long run, it just makes the play more enjoyable for me. At present I am still Open Beta in L2. Unlike many of the beta testers, I am not charging ahead as quickly as possible seeking all the latest loot or coolest upgrades. I am happily exploring and building my persona within the L2 world. When it is all said and done, I will have enjoyed the experience more than those who chose to rush to the end-game. Don't give up on Role Players, we are still out there.
Cheers!
Grym Goblinsbane
(My son speaking to his Japanese Grandmother) " Sorry Obaba, I don't speak Japanese, I only speak human."
The problem is that there is no reward for roleplaying on any game.
You are always going to get a few people (like me) who enjoy roleplaying and would happily have a feast or contest or whatver in the spirit of roleplay. But the only way you are going to make this appeal to most people is to reward them for doing so.
Maybe you could get xp for playing 'in character' rather than just for questing. A dwarfen fighter will get xp from slaying orcs, then come back to the tavern and get drunk on ale. As this is in character you should be rewarded for doing it.
This will help appeal to those who want to be Uber, because even those who love roleplay would like rewards for it. A game will need gearing towards roleplaying, where interaction is promoted and rewarded and out of character playing is punished, or at the very least unrewarding.
Muahahahahahahaha
MUAHAHAHAHAHA
Aww my rank has gone from 5 stars to 2
Damn work banning this site!
Muahahahahahahaha
MUAHAHAHAHAHA
If only it was possible to give rewards for roleplaying, I do like the getting drunk one as a dwarf, although then you would get people arguing dwaves are industrious sober types (at least until they get to Ankh-Morpork, but thats a different story ;-) )
I do think there could be more penalties for doing things out of character though, like back on EQ where you were seen as mildly insane if, as a wood elf you didn't want to group with a dark elf or vice versa, I mean they are supposed to be mortal enemies but instead it seems to be just a quuestion of deciding that blue suits you as a skin colour.
On a slightly different note, while the whole 'rest state' thing has gotten out of hand in WoW I can see how the idea that you actually might want to go to an Inn and sleep is appealing in an RP sense, and if they do have inn common rooms, and maybe a few things to do in them (like get drunk) it could really help add a socialising and RP element to the game, with the Veteran adventurers telling the young hopefuls about their experiences over a frothing mug of ale
I am sure as MMORPGs become more and more common and numerous there will be more out there for the true roleplayer to have fun with.
I totally agree with Hercules. All mmorpg are meant for roleplaying. The gameplay and open-ended structure allow many different types of players to enjoy them, and over the years, the uber lewt dudes have taken hold of them and are now the dominant population of mmorpgs. It is sad.
I think SWG has the most content included for roleplaying. It by far was my best mmorpg experience as far as RP. Easrly Everquest, in the first year, was a joy. Do you know I was not even concerned with getting levels? Imagine that.
Dark Age of Camelot has some roleplaying. You may have to look around some, but you will find it. There are less opportunities for RP as far as game content, but roleplayers with imagination (which most of them have) will create their own roleplay events and interactions. I just re-activated my DAoC account and I was pleased to still see some roleplayers scattered across Albion on the Guinevere server. I had played on Percival for a couple of years which had many roleplayers as well.
I still think the real voice of each player NEED to be behind each toon to help roleplaying.
I rather hear a 10 years old kids trying to sound mean then read well thinked stuff! He is trying, in real time, no well thinked lie, roleplaying need a direct reaction.
A real game is the ideal setting for roleplaying, with humans, direct eyes contact and all, the game system lack since you use paper and sheet and it is long and tedious and all. The computer have a wonderfull game system, it goes smoothly, but for roleplaying, the hinderances outmatch the game system.
I usually roleplay with folks in RL, but on computer, I will only return roleplay and avoid doing major non-roleplay action (I recall been cursed, insults, consider the most lowly when I always refuse to enter Plane of Growth, I mean, I am a High elf, I follow Tunare, She didnt summon me, I will not go bother her and sit on her laps even if I WANT to do this, and I will certainly not hunt there, for the same reason, I never hunt the Dain either, gruff little useless dorfs, but there is no way I would go hunt them, they are on our sides even if they are useless and they say they are neutrals, they fight the Kromriff or the kromraff or whatever, the giants that try to invade PoG, thereby, they are my allies). But will I choose to roleplay with a nice roleplayer or rather go kill that extra kobolds for loot and XP, I am a mean mean High elf, I dont care that much for *insert whatever the player is, even another high elf, since he is all about talk when actions need to be done*, I will roleplay with the roleplayer as long as they dont hinder me on my way to Kobolds/orcs/whatever mean mob Slaying and farming Inc! I will gladly use any evil race to kill other evil stuff, and I will treat them fairly, so they may redempt and become good, or maybe eventually die fighting evil(I will help them to not die with me around althought), whatever they pick! I am not the group leader, yet...if my views come clashing with the leader I just leave them and go kill more(that often rally the group leader, yet, my view rarely differ). I *giggles* all the time, the Giggling machine is on...that is about it, I am above talking to much, let's us kill more! I recall a paladin once that refuse to group with evil toons, was funny to tell him he have the choice to *escort* me and make sure I am fine or leave me with all those evil folks...:) He did join under those terms but he was having heavy discussion with the group and I giggles a little more then usually. I think he would have attack me if he could to stun me and bring me back out of the group, but impossible to do on a blue server! I recall my guild trying to make me understand that SERU humans are evils...I never hunt humans, they may be good or evil, but they can always change toward goodness, orcs cant change(or almost never change), thereby I focus where I know I need to focus and let the talk with the humans to others, the day there is no pure evil races(MASS CARNAGE!!!) or that a evil human faction plan to move against the elfs(or a very good ally, like the useless dorfs), I will reconsider my status toward any evil humans. Seru humans where maybe evils, but they where killing lot of evil stuff, so I would not have bother them and would have walk peacefully among them.
Computers games are such a wonderfull toy for a complex game system maintenance (for evolution itself, but some kind of kind competition as well with others players, I will help them all advance, as long as it help me in the same time). For roleplaying, well, let's just say I need to see new features which will call to my funny side more then the game system call to my murderous side, and since the game system is so evolved compare to RL events, while the roleplay is so backward, it is a pretty hard task.
- "Coercing? No no, I assure you, they are willing to bring my bags and pay public transportation just to help me, it is true!''
- "If I understand you well, you are telling me until next time. " - Ren